216 THE FARMER AS A COOPER ATOR. 



capital grows larger, it can not be " turned " so often, and after a 

 time expenses would increase, as tlie manager would tire of 

 working for next to nothing, and no one would expect it; but 

 that is the secret of a successful cooperative store: buying and 

 selling for cash, and keeping the profits in the business, until 

 the capital is sufficient, when cash dividends can be paid. 

 Our uneas}^ and show-loving populations are not likely to be 

 willing to practice this self-denial; successful managers want 

 more and more of the profits, because they too are easily 

 affected with the notion of keeping up a certain "])osition." 

 It seems to be this national characteristic which has usually 

 rendered cooperative mercantile enterprises unprofitable in 

 America. The reason of this is very obvious. It would prob- 

 ably be easy in any community to find a shrewd, hard-headed 

 workman or farmer, who could lay out $1,000 in staple mer- 

 chandise wisely; but if he were called to invest $30,000 in the 

 same way he would be all at sea. Sharp salesmen would be 

 almost sure to load him up with unprofitable stock. It is a 

 very puzzling thing for a new man to lay in a stock of mer- 

 chandise. He must have the ability to say "No" to very 

 persuasive men, pretty much all day long. But as the busi- 

 ness increases it becomes easier both to determine what you 

 should buy, and to refuse what you do not wish. The 

 manager's ability grows with his business, so that there is 

 much more hope of an enterprise starting with a very small 

 capital than of any other. But cooperative "stores" have 

 proved very hazardous things in America. 



Cooperative and individual business enterprises are subject 

 to the same statute laws governing "trade," which are in some 

 respects diff'erent from the laws affecting transactions between 

 persons not in trade. If a farmer does not pay his note at 

 maturity, he is of course subject to suit and judgment and the 

 sale of any property that can be reached to satisfy the judg- 

 ment; a "trader," however, will ordinarily be in debt to many 

 persons, and have many more indebted to him. In case he 

 should fail to pay some obligation when due, the creditor, if 

 permitted without restraint to take the above course, might 

 unnecessarily break up a business and render it impossible to 



