A DEBATE ABLE POINT 173 



a " Union of the Agricultural Associations of 

 Eastern Switzerland." 



Meanwhile the question had arisen whether 

 the local organizations created with the primary 

 object of supplying agricultural necessaries should 

 not, also, furnish household requirements, after 

 the fashion of ordinary co-operative stores. 



The same point has been discussed in France 

 and elsewhere, but, generally speaking, the more 

 prudent advocates of agricultural combination 

 have been averse to the mixing up of business 

 and domestic considerations, and have advocated 

 that the co-operative purchase of fertilizers and 

 implements for the fields should be kept distinct 

 from the co-operative purchase of coffee and 

 sugar for the household. In Switzerland, how- 

 ever, different views prevailed, and not only did 

 some of the local agricultural associations take 

 up both branches, but the Union formed at 

 Winterthur in 1887, as mentioned above, organ- 

 ized two departments, one for agricultural and 

 the other for domestic purchasers. 



The adoption of this principle led to a con- 

 troversy which undoubtedly retarded the progress 

 of the movement from a purely agricultural 

 standpoint, and roused against it the whole body 

 of general traders. While accepting the claim of 

 the peasants that they were entitled to conduct 



