A SURVEY OF TYPICAL COOPERATIVE STORES. 
11 
at a figure which has since been recognized as too low. In the stores 
under discussion the upper limit varied from $10 to $8,000, with 
some stores placing no limit. It is difficult to say where the line 
should be drawn. With voting power restricted to 1 vote, with 
interest on capital stock limited to not more than current interest 
rates, and with the cooperative policy of distributing profits in pro- 
portion to the amount of business transacted by each member, it is 
difficult to see how serious injustice can result from the concentration 
of the bulk of the capital stock in the hands of a few members. 
Of those stores reporting, 37 stated that interest was paid on the 
capital stock; the maximum given was 8 per cent, the minimum 5, 
and the average 7 per cent. These figures do not indicate any great 
advantage to the holders of capital stock. (See Table II.) 
Table II. — Practice as to the payment of interest and dividends on stock. 
Question. 
Stores 
reporting 
yes. 
Stores 
reporting 
no. 
Average 
rate. 
Remarks. 
37 
34 
S 
35 
18 
30 
3 
27 
3 
8 
Per cent. 
7 
3, 7 per cent; 2, 5 per cent: 12, 
8 per cent; 11, 6 p6r cent. 
9 
25 
14 
39 
9 
29 
Trade dividends paid to nonmembers 
Usually half rate paid mem- 
bers. 
2 pay by means of a monthly 
discount. 
Dividends usually paid in merchandise. . ; . 
35 
. . . 
The manifest purpose of the cooperative store is to make savings 
for its members in the purchase of household and other supplies. 
Patrons are charged the customary retail prices for the locality in 
which the store operates. Then, at the end of the specified period, 
the accumulated surplus is distributed in proportion to the purchases 
which each patron has made during the dividend period. Following 
the Rochdale plan, nonmembers are frequently allowed half the rate 
of dividends on purchases allowed members. 
The figures given in answers to questions 51 and 57 of the question- 
naire do not indicate the degree to which the cooperative stores are 
attaining their chief object — making savings for patrons. They in- 
dicate, rather, the provisions in the by-laws as to distribution of 
dividends and not the actual practice. While the information given 
was not satisfactory upon this point, it is believed that the vast ma- 
jority of the cooperative stores have been a disappointment in the 
savings effected for members and patrons. 1 
1 See appendix, p. 30. Notes on the payment of trade dividends. 
