A SURVEY OF TYPICAL COOPERATIVE STORES. 27 
The manager of one of the most successful of the stores included in 
the survey expressed the conviction that the cooperative store is to 
the business community what the governors are to the steam engine, 
and that on account of its regulative influence there ought to be a 
cooperative store in every town. The same manager 'was of the 
opinion that it would be an equally undesirable condition to elimi- 
nate privately owned business from any town. 
In addition to whatever salutary influence the cooperative store 
may have upon the business community, the survey shows that there 
are possibilities in the cooperative store, if properly organized and 
managed, for the accomplishment of important savings to members, 
thus opening the way for a reduction of the high cost of living. This 
leads to a summary of the conditions of success and the causes of 
failure. 
Briefly stated, the conditions of success may be summarized under 
the headings 1 : (1) Leadership; (2) capable management; (3) favor- 
able environment; (4) adequate legal safeguards. 
(1) Leadership. — In every case where a store was found to be a 
conspicuous success, that success could be traced to the influence of 
some conspicuous leader. The part which leadership plays in hold- 
ing the membership of the association loyal to their store is not con- 
fined to the organizer. The outstanding leader who has the ability 
to round up the community must be supported, by others who have 
some talent for leadership. The manager himself must be " a good 
mixer." In fact, in the most successful stores every clerk has been 
chosen with a view to adding more enthusiasm and support to the 
business. Leadership, to be permanently successful, must build up 
an organization which will be self-supporting and self -perpetuating. 
A mistake frequently made by the leader responsible for the estab- 
lishment of a successful association is that he does not provide the 
necessary organization which will enable it to perpetuate itself after 
he has severed his connection. Where such is the case, the society is 
foredoomed to go to pieces as soon as the strong leader is removed. 
Cohesion must ultimately rest on education, on loyalty to an institu- 
tion, and on principle rather than on the blind following of a leader. 
(2) Capable manageTnent.- — After all that has been said, little need 
be added in support of capable management as an essential condition 
for the success of the cooperative store. It should always be remem- 
bered that business efficiency is as essential in the cooperative as in 
any other type of business organization. Unfortunately for the 
movement, the average enthusiast who feels a call to promote the 
cooperative movement has in the past laid more stress on sentiment 
1 Compare with the rules adopted by the Rochdale pioneers in 1844 and the causes of 
failure of cooperative stores as given in : Wisconsin State Board Of Public Affairs. Report 
upon Cooperation and Marketing. 1912, pp. 29, 34. 
