CO-OPERATION. 



243 



right way. In 1875 the 310 councils reporting 

 at the annual meeting of the order returned a 

 membership of 27,984. Of these the majority 

 went no further than to obtain discounts at 

 private stores, and many stopped with merely 

 the educational features ; but in 1877, 94 coun- 

 cils, having a membership of 7,273. reported 

 an average capital in their stores of $884, and 

 a total business of $1,089,372, at an average 

 saving to the members of 14 per cent., or an 

 aggregate profit of $152,512. equal to a saving 

 of |21 to every man and woman belonging to 

 those councils. But the organization had its 

 birth at the worst time for success in the past 

 twenty five years. It was during the prolonged 

 financial depression following 1873, when thou- 

 sands who had joined the order could not get 

 work and felt obliged to resort to private 

 stores that would trust. Then, too, the growth 

 had been too rapid to permit of wise manage- 

 ment ; the knowledge of English methods was 

 too little diffused at the start, and especially 

 were there too few possessed of actual expe- 

 rience in the Rochdale stores who could be 

 made managers of the new enterprises. Fort- 

 unately, all these difficulties time and educa- 

 tion may remove, in fact are already removing, 

 as appears from the considerable number of 

 successful stores to be found in New England, 

 New Jersey, Kan-as, Texas, and in a less de- 

 gree in some other sections and States. Sev- 

 eral of the largest of existing stores are surviv- 

 als of the Sovereign enter]' 



In 1866 there were 53 co-operative stores in 

 New England, with an aggregate trade of 

 $2,000,000 and a capital of about $210,000. 

 In Texas there were 155 co-operative stores, 

 all connected with a central association con- 



amounted to $296,576.12 in merchandise and 

 N.7-">7 ba!< - of cotton, an increase of over 

 $100,000 during the year. Ten-per-cent. divi- 

 dends were paid on stock, and the remaining 

 two thirds of the $16,320.33 were in part 

 placed in the contingent fund and in part 

 divided among the 602 association and indi- 

 viduiil stockholders. The entire number of 

 stockholders of the central and subordinate 

 associations exceeds 6,000. 



Next in size is the Johnson County Co-op- 

 erative Association, of Olathe, Kansas, which 

 has been in business since July, 1876, on the 

 Rochdale plan of dividends on trade. Its sales 

 in 1887 amounted to $245,000 and its capital 

 to $66,000, if the surplus of $16,000 be in- 

 cluded. 



The Philadelphia Industrial Co-operative 

 Association, began in 1874 on the Rochdale 

 plan, reported a trade in 1886 of $171,278.04, 

 divided as follows: Groceries, $123,636.16; 

 meat. $19,772.11; dry goods, $8,908.33 ; boots 

 and shoes, $13,499.94; coal, $5,461.50; total, 

 $171.278.04. The capital, in the hands of 

 members, and invested in a central and 

 three branch stores, amounted to $40,000. 



At Allegan, Mich., is a co-operative store 

 with $30,000 capital and a trade in 1887 of 

 :;84.09, which sells everything at 4 per 

 cent, above total cost, and keeps down ex- 

 penses to 4'1 per cent, of the trade. This is 

 the best showing made by any co-operative 

 store as far as known in the United States. 



Among the other large and vigorously grow- 

 ing co-operative stores of the country should 

 be mentioned the ten next in size to the four 

 already considered. For convenience, the en- 

 tire fourteen are included in this table : 



All but Xos. 1. 4. ">, and 12 are on the Rochdale plan. 



ducted by the Patrons of Husbandry; the 

 total capital of these stores in 1885 was re- 

 turned at $744,500. and the trade was $l.'.i77.- 

 579.90. The central association, called the 

 Texas Co-operative Association Patrons of 

 Husbandry, whose headquarters are at Galves- 

 ton, reported at the tenth annual meeting, in 

 July. 1888, a capital of $63,835. owned by 226 

 co-operative associations and 376 individuals, 

 in all parts of the State. Each branch associa- 

 tion trades and divides the profits on its own 

 account. The trade of this central association 



In order to determine the growth of co- 

 operation in 1887 over that in 1886, when full 

 returns from most of our co-operative enter- 

 prises were secured, circular letters were sent 

 to the largest of these. Only two (and those were 

 small enterprises) are known to have failed 

 namely, an old store at Seneca Falls, N. "i ., 

 which" committed the fatal mistake of selling 

 on trust, and a new, poorly managed enterprise 

 in Buffalo, N. Y. These failures are more than 

 offset by the rapidly growing trade of several 

 new stores, one of which the Phillipsburg 



