A SURVEY OF TYPICAL COOPERATIVE STORES. 
21 
year, and are listing at full value goods which are shopworn and 
upon which it will never be possible to realize in full. Then, too, 
the accounts receivable, bills receivable, and miscellaneous assets, with 
a total of over $700,000, an average of $15,000 per store, contain 
many items which can never be collected and should be dropped, 
as they only becloud the financial condition of the store. As an 
illustration, one small store has been carrying $1,200 worth of notes 
taken for shares of stock, although they are all past due; and the 
same association has on its books over $2,000 in accounts which might 
almost as well be wiped out and charged off to loss and gain. This 
large proportion of more or less fixed and doubtful assets probably 
goes far toward explaining the reason why dividends can not be paid. 
Table VII. — The balance sheet. 
[46 stores.] 
Total. 
High. 
Low.i 
Average. 
Resources: 
Cash 
Merchandise 
Equipment 
Accounts receivable. 
Notes receivable 
Miscellaneous 
Total. 
Liabilities: 
Capital stock 
Bills payable. 
Accounts payable . 
Surplus 
Undivided profits. 
Unpaid dividends. 
Miscellaneous 
§95,439.97 
830,272.96 
75,449.40 
339.758,05 
95; 255. 10 
259,583.69 
S20,997.40 
98,460.12 
10,195.88 
48,549.71 
12,253.77 
28, 502. 83 
§28. 15 
800. 00 
23.00 
$2,074.78 
18,049.41 
1,640.21 
7,386.05 
2,070.76 
5,643.12 
1,695,759.17 
201,091.24 
1,113.00 
36,864.33 
733, 592. 74 
236,986.04 
232,579.93 
200,242.68 
238,408.18 
8,844.96 
45, 106. 64 
106,200.00 
22, 000- GO 
18,363.84 
33,318.14 
13,750.60 
3,343.92 
19,200.00 
Total. 
Total resources - 
Total liabilities, exclusive of capital stock, surplus, 
undivided profits, and unpaid dividends 
Total net worth. 
1.695,759.17 
201,091.24 
1,695,759.17 
514.672.61 
1,181,088.56 
267.00 
6.02 
5.57 
30.00 
15,947.67 
5,151.87 
5,056.00 
4, 353. 10 
5,182.74 
192. 28 
980. 58 
1,113.00 
35,864.33 
36,864.33 
11, 188. 54 
25,675.79 
1 Figures in these eolumns are independent of each other, and the totals represent high and low totals 
not totals of the other figures given. 
OPERATING EXPENSES. 
Table VIII shows the annual operating expenses of 41 stores. 
This table shows salaries and labor, which appear separately in 
Table IX. The comparative statement of expenses in relation to 
net sales is found in Table X, which should be studied carefully in 
this connection. The number of stores reporting each of the various 
items' in Table VIII indicates how difficult it was to get satisfactory 
figures under the different subheads in the questionnaire. In fact, 
it was found to be impossible to make a segregation of the expenses 
on account of the difference in classification used by the stores. Many 
