THE ECONOMIC GAIN OF COOPERATION. 269 



Credit, like everything else of value, must be paid for by those 

 who enjoy it. If the producer makes use of the credit of a 

 commission house, in order to get advances on produce before 

 actual sale, he must pay for it in some form, and it is entirely 

 proper that he should. If, by cooperating with others, a joint 

 credit is made available to those who need it, with compen- 

 sating advantages to those who do not need it, there is a dis- 

 tinct economic gain.* 



Finally, and possibly of more value than all the rest, there 

 is a great economic gain to cooperators in the knowledge of 

 business acquired. In California, ten years ago, producers 

 were in dense ignorance of the process necessary to convey 

 their products to distant consumers, of the location of 

 important buyers, and of the methods and their cost, neces- 

 sary to reach those buyers. This was true even of the most 

 intelligent. It is still true in the sections where cooperative 

 methods have not been introduced. The members of the 

 great cooperative societies, however, are coming to be well- 

 informed on such matters, of the competition which they must 

 meet, the cost, to producers, of competing products, and their 

 qualities, as compared with their own, and in general of all 

 the facts of which knowledge is essential to intelligent produc- 

 tion in marketing. The value of this training can not be 

 computed in definite amounts of money, but it is very large. 

 The members of these societies who give ordinary attention to 

 the cooperative business can seldom be taken advantage of in 

 trade by anybody. 



In these and similar circumstances, therefore, distinct 

 economic gains are possible thi-ough cooperation of producers, 

 as follows : — 



*The most valuable use of associated credit that I know of is in the case of 

 the cooperative loan associations common in Saxony, and spreading in other 

 parts of Europe. In these associations the entire property of each member 

 is liable, without reservation, for all debts of the association. Upon this credit 

 the association issues bonds, and loans the proceeds to its members. The secu- 

 rities are in great favor with capitalists, and in consequence money is borrowed 

 so cheaply that it can be reloaned to members, on mortgage, at from ihree to 

 four per cent per annum. 



