10 AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN FRANCE. [Sept. 1894. 



tion for soundness in business affairs is in itself a moral 

 guarantee. It very rarely happens that a farmer fails to meet 

 an engagement contracted through his syndicate, for default 

 invariably entails expulsion. 



It has been maintained that the system of purchase in 

 common, inaugurated by the syndicates, has had the effect of 

 reducing the prices of manures and other articles used in 

 agriculture by 20 to 30 per cent. This benefit has not been 

 confined solely to the members of these bodies, as the publicity 

 given to the prices paid, and the increased competition amongst 

 manufacturers, have tended to make the reduction general. 



Many of the associations have extended their purchases to 

 grocery, clothing, crockery, and other household requisites. 

 In several cases the transactions of buying and selling have 

 been so numerous that it has been found convenient to organise 

 this branch of the business in the form of a separately registered 

 " societe de consommation," or general co-operative store, 

 supplying every requisite both for the farm and the house. 

 This course enables the syndicate to devote more attention to 

 the improvement of the social condition of the members. 



There are indications that the tendency to the establishment 

 of general stores in connection with the agricultural associations 

 is likely to increase. Two or three departmental agricultural 

 syndicates have already opened central depots of this nature in 

 the towns, with branches in rural districts. Where this has 

 been done the members are able not only to purchase their 

 domestic requirements at cheaper rates than before, but they 

 have likewise the advantage of finding a ready and profitable 

 outlet for the disposal of some of their produce by supplying the 

 central depots with butter, eggs, poultry, and vegetables. 



Much remains to be done by the syndicates in the direction 

 of co-operation in sale. When it is remembered that corn, 

 vegetables, meat, and dairy produce have usually to be sold in 

 separate markets, under entirely different conditions, it is not 

 surprising to find that facilities for the sale in common of 

 these products exist in only a few societies. Then, in addition 

 to the difficulties of distribution alluded to, the interests of the 

 individual members are not always identical, and, as may be 

 imagined, it is frequently to the advantage of a seller that his 

 neighbour's goods should not compete in the same market. This 

 conflict of interests is less operative in syndicates situated in 

 the vicinity of large centres of consumption. Where these 

 bodies have established general co-operative stores of the nature 

 described above, it has been possible to apply the principle of co- 

 operation in sale to butter, cheese, eggs, and similar produce with 

 comparatively satisfactory results. 



But although few attempts have been made to deal with the 

 co-operative disposal of agricultural produce in bulk, numerous 

 and successful efforts have been made to provide readier and 

 more profitable channels of distribution for certain products of 



