l62 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 243 



This statute led to a considerable increase in the number of co- 

 operative stores, and cases occurred in which the privilege was 

 abused ; and the real object of the society itself, or of individual 

 members, was to defraud the octroi by introducing goods for pur- 

 poses of trade. In order to prevent similar occurrences, the con- 

 stitution of most co-operative store associations expressly forbids 

 the members, under pain of expulsion, from allowing strangers 

 to deal at the store in their name, or from selling the goods ob- 

 tained there. 



No statistics respecting the number or capital of these stores 

 have yet been published. 



Co-operative associations for purposes of production exist in 

 Italy under various forms, but they are not very common, though, 

 since the new commercial code came into force, their numbers 

 have increased considerably. 



They are generally established by and limited to members of 

 the same trade or occupation, and exist at present among masons, 

 bakers, macaroni-makers, tailors, milliners, rope-makers, printers, 

 etc. 



The associations for production are either intended (a) for the 

 purchase of raw materials, tools, etc., or {h) for the exercise in 

 common of the trade to which they refer, whether in a co-opera- 

 tive workshop or otherwise. 



The fundamental difference between the German and Italian co- 

 operative banks consists in the varying degree of responsibility im- 

 posed on their members. While the German institutions are based 

 on the unlimited liability of their shareholders, the Italian banks 

 have, from the first, adopted the principle of limited liabiUty. With 

 regard to this difference, Italian writers point out that the assump- 

 tion of unlimited liability would have deterred persons of means 

 and education, whose assistance at the outset was more indispensa- 

 ble in Italy than in Germany, from becoming members, and at the 

 same time the character and habits of the people themselves would 

 have disinclined them from entering any associations involving so 

 great a risk. 



Some co-operative banks with unlimited liability have, it is true, 

 been established in Italy during the last few years, chiefly in Vene- 

 tia, at the suggestion of Dr. L. Wollenbourg, but these are only 

 about ten in number. 



Industrial co-operative stores are very generally established in 

 Belgium, having as their main object the wholesale purchase, and 

 retail sale at wholesale prices, of the chief necessaries of life to the 

 working-classes, such as food, clothing, boots, linen, etc. Credit is 

 not usually allowed. A certain portion, sometimes as much as fifty 

 per cent of the profits, is set aside to form a reserve fund, the re- 

 mainder being shared amongst the members in proportion to the 

 amount of their purchases. A member, on joining one of these 

 societies, is bound to pay in, either at once or by instalments, a cer- 

 tain sum to the fund. Should he not have paid it up when the 

 dividend is declared, his share of the profits is withheld, and goes 

 to complete his contribution. 



If a co-operative society has only a small capital, no store need 

 be opened ; but contracts are made with the local tradesmen, who, 

 in return for the society's custom, undertake to sell their goods at 

 reduced prices to the members. The usual practice in such cases 

 is for the members to buy their goods at the same price as the pub- 

 lic, receiving at the time of purchase a ticket on which is noted the 

 amount of tlieir purchases. The owners bring their tickets at 

 fixed periods to the committee of the society, and receive in ex- 

 change their share of the percentages allowed by the society's 

 tradesmen, and paid direct by the latter into the common .fund of 

 the society. Such percentages rarely exceed six per cent. 



Sometimes, as a substitute for this ticket-system, the societies 

 distribute to their members counters or tokens, representing 5 fr., 

 2 fr., 50 c, 20 c, such tokens being of a different color for each 

 tradesman. For instance : a member who wants to buy meat ob- 

 tains from his society a counter in exchange for his money, repre- 

 senting the cost of the meat he requires, which he receives from the 

 society's butcher at the ordinary rate, his purchase being entered in 

 a special register kept by the butcher. At the end of each month 

 the society's tradesmen receive from the committee the money 

 equivalent of these tokens. Supposing that the butcher brings 

 100 fr. worth of tokens, and has agreed to allow a reduction of 10 



per cent, the society pays him 90 fr., and the 10 fr. percentage go 

 towards the society's general dividend fund. 



Both these systems obtain in large cities, where the working- 

 classes are much scattered ; but provided the society has sufficient 

 capital, and can open one or more branch depots, the store system 

 is, in the long-run, more advantageous to the members. 



One of the most powerful of the co-operative societies in Belgium 

 is the Flemish Vooruit Society, the centre of the socialistic move- 

 ment in Belgium. 



This powerful association counts on its rolls 2,700 heads of 

 families, each of whom is bound to pay a trifling subscription an- 

 nually to the general fund. The Vooruit is the type and model of 

 all similar institutions in the other Belgian cities, is well adminis- 

 tered, owns premises of considerable extent, and has already at- 

 tained a good financial position. Attached to it is an admirably 

 organized steam-bakery, which sells bread at a somewhat lower 

 price than the other bakers can afford to do, the society guaran- 

 teeing to the bakery a minimum profit of at least 10 c. the kilo- 

 gram. The profits of the bakery are. divided as foUows : a certain 

 portion is paid into the society's own cazsse de prSvoyance, or provi- 

 dent fund ; another into a fund for the support of the workingmen 

 in their economical struggles and strikes ; a third portion is devoted 

 to the formation af a library; and the remainder is divided amongst 

 the members, who receive the profits in kind, that is to say, in 

 loaves delivered gratis, according to the margin of profit left to be 

 distributed. This division of profits is made twice annually, — at 

 the new year, and at the summer ' kermesse ' fair. 



In June, 1885, the profits amounted to 43,738 fr. 20 c. ; in De- 

 cember last, to 46,233 fr. 80 c. This bakehouse may be regarded 

 as the mainspring of the whole Vooruit organization. It also has 

 a clothing-store, a pharmacy, and two newspapers. 



The Vooruit Society intend to push the principle of co-operation 

 to its extreme limits, and has already verj' seriously crippled the 

 small retail dealers, who formerly enjoyed the custom of the Ghent 

 workmen. 



Hitherto no official returns have been pubhshed showing the 

 progress of co-operation throughout the kingdom, but the present 

 government have recently re-organized an industrial department in 

 the ministry of agriculture, which, without infringing on the free- 

 dom of the societies, will furnish precise statistics respecting all co- 

 operative institutions. 



With the exception of the cotton-manufacturing districts in the 

 provinces of Drenthe and Overijssel, there are no great industrial 

 centres in Holland, and, although there is a considerable amount of 

 manufacturing industry in the country, it is too scattered to favor 

 the formation of co-operative institutions; besides which, the 

 southern Catholic provinces of Brabant and Limburg appear up to 

 the present totally inaccessible to any such efforts, which are not 

 encouraged by the clergy. The General Workman's Union of 

 Holland does not number more than 4,000 members, and the 

 efforts made to form regular trades-unions have as yet been at- 

 tended with but partial success. There are not more than a dozen 

 workmen's co-operative stores in the entire country, and none of 

 them are of any importance. 



Co-operative societies exist in certain parts of Sweden where 

 there are large industrial works in the country or in small towns, 

 the workmen subscribing together to buy the stock of supplies 

 wholesale, the same being then sold retail to the members at a 

 cheap rate. Any eventual surplus would probably be divided. 



Co-operative stores also exist in Stockholm and other towns 

 copied from the English system. Mr. L. O. Smith, a capitalist and 

 member of the First Chamber, went over to England some years 

 ago, and studied the system as worked at Manchester and 

 other large centres of manufacture, and started the co-called 

 A>-betarering, or Working-Men's Co-Operative Society, with stores 

 and eating-houses, or ' steam-kitchens,' as they are called, where 

 an ample dinner can be obtained for from about four-pence to four 

 and one half pence. These stores have been so far successful that 

 they have lovv'ered the prices of the necessaries of life for the work- 

 ing-classes ; but the hope of the founders was, that, when once 

 started, the workmen would take over the management of these 

 stores and keep them going. This hope, however, has not been 

 satisfactorily realized. The numbers frequenting the stores and 



