A SUKVEY OF TYPICAL COOPERATIVE STORES. 23 
the stores studied by Harvard as against 17.7 per cent for the 30 
cooperative stores for which the gross profit could be calculated. 
The circumstances under which this investigation was made did not 
permit the investigator to go back of the accounting system in every 
case to see whether the data upon which gross profits could be 
estimated were sufficiently reliable. 
For some of the stores not included in this percentage column 
of gross profit, it was quite certain that the manager was working 
in the dark, and did not actually know the amount of his gross 
profit. For example, in several cases a manager who handled prin- 
cipally groceries and farm produce said that his gross profit was 
about 21 per cent. Upon analyzing the statements, however, the 
amount was found to be very much below what he estimated. This 
was due to the fact that certain commodities, such as butter, eggs, 
sugar, flour, and practically all farm produce was handled upon a 
very close margin, and sometimes at an actual loss. These items 
bulked much more largely in the total business than the manager 
realized. One store, for example, went bankrupt within a period 
of 10 months because its manager thought he was running upon an 
average of 20 per cent gross profit, while in reality he was running 
at a net loss of 7 per cent on sales, and his gross profit was only a 
little over 10 per cent. 
Eeferring once more to Table X, we find that the average cost of 
all salaries and labor amounted to a total of 6,4 per cent of the net 
sales as compared with 11.7 per cent for the total expense. That is, 
the salaries and labor form 54.7 per cent of the total expense of 
running the business. This surely is not excessive. The Harvard 
-survey of grocery stores disclosed the fact that the salaries in- the 
average retail grocery under private management were 60.6 per 
cent of the total expense, or almost 6 per cent higher. This is borne 
out by Table IX, which summarizes the results of the investigation 
of wages paid. For 42 stores the average salary paid the manager 
was $106 per month. But if 6 of the stores which pay their manager 
$150 per month or over are eliminated, the average for the other 36 
amounts to only $79.50. The average salary for the bookeeper was 
also too low to secure efficiency. The 10 States in which these stores 
are located have average wages considerably higher than the average 
woidd be for the country as a whole ; from this it is seen that the 
wages paid by the cooperative stores are very low. 
In addition to the regular salaries and wages indicated in Table X 
there are insignificant outlays for officers and directors, and often for 
an occasional helper. The most common policy is for associations 
to pay their directors $1.50 for each meeting attended, except where 
they occupy a position in the business on regular salary. Occasional 
help costs the daily wage of from $1 to $2.50 a day, with an average 
