260 THE PARMER AS A COOPERATOR. 



injures the producer by restricting his market. As a matter 

 of fact, this condition does obtain as to many products, and 

 in California it is a subject of continual complaint among 

 producers. 



The question is, By what means, if any, can cooperative 

 associations of producers control the retail distributive agencies 

 as to prices charged to consumers?* This can be best under- 

 stood by a brief exposition of the customary profits of retailers. 

 The expenses of conducting a retail business probably range 

 from ten to fifteen per cent of the gross amount of business 

 done; the profits range from five per cent or less on such 

 sta])les as sugar and flour, to fifty per cent and even more on 

 certain lines of fancy groceries. I have before me a retail 

 catalogue which gives a rate of twenty-five cents per pound 

 on some imported goods which, I happen to know, can be 

 delivered in moderate lots at twelve and a half cents; there 

 are doubtless many articles on the list with whose cost I am 

 not acquainted, which yield an equal profit. In the ratio in 

 which any article approaches the list of "staple" goods, in 

 large demand, and of general sale, the retailer's profit tends 

 to grow less. The average profit, of course, must exceed the 

 cost of doing business, or the business must cease; every hun- 

 dred dollars' worth of goods sold at less than the cost of doing 

 business must be offset by an equal amount sold at an equal 

 rate above such cost. 



From the above it is evident that, in so far as any product 

 can be brought into general demand, the retail profits tend to 

 lessen, which in turn helps to extend the market. A very 

 desirable product wili, in the course of time, work its own way 

 into consumption, as people learn about it from one another, 

 and no undesirable product, however strongly })ushed, can 



* It is evident that this field, so far as it is covered by cooperation, properly 

 belongs to cooperative societies of consumers, united to purchase supplies. This 

 subject I do not wish to enter upon. It is evident, moreover, that any coopera- 

 tive society of consumers is likely to be organized to escape high retail price.* 

 of any single product. If a cooperative "store " is started, it will be to secure 

 lower prices on all ordinary supplies. I confine this discussion in the text to 

 cooperative methods of selling. 



