Co-operation  in  Washington,  D.  C. 
By  a  Former  Chairman  in  the  Home  Club 
Part  I. 
modest  salaries  are  permanent  and  constant,  but 
who  are  singularly  disinclined  to  save  any  of  their 
earnings,  furnish  a  high-class  market  for  dealers 
who  seem  to  take  a  pride  in  keeping  up  the  reputa¬ 
Avenue  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Department 
of  Justice  a  couple  of  years  ago,  by  their  efforts  to 
keep  up  high  prices  to  consumers  while  depressing 
values  to  producers,  and  30  of  them  were  indicted 
[Following  is  the  story  of  the  most  important  co¬ 
operative  organization  yet  formed  at  the  National  Cap¬ 
ital.] 
OCAL  CONDITIONS. — For  many  years  The 
R.  N.-Y.  has  been  fighting  the  battles  of  both 
producer  and  consumer,  with  a  view  to  lightening 
the  burdens  of  the  latter  while  adding  to  the  in- 
tion  of  Washington  as  an  expensive  place  to  live 
in.  Rents  are  high,  and  of  course  all  things  needed 
for  food  and  clothing  must  briug  a  good  price.  Cen¬ 
ter  Market  is  one  of  the  handsomest  and  best  kept 
markets  in  this  country,  and  the  stall-keepers  take 
pride  in  the  uniform  neatness  and  stiff  price  of 
their  wares,  and  it  is  to  Center  Market  that  the 
for  practices  of  that  kind.  I  do  not  know  how  the 
cases  turned  out,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  will 
lake  more  than  one  prosecution  to  uproot  the  evil. 
I  know  personally  of  one  farmer  who  brought  his 
Grimes  Golden  apples  to  dealers  on  Louisiana  Av¬ 
enue  and  sold  them  at  $1.25  per  barrel,  the  same 
apples  selling  in  Center  Market,  only  a  block  away, 
pl 
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come  of  the  former.  It  was  not  so  much  a  fight  average  government  clerk  goes  for  his  food  supply,  the  next  week  for  eight  to  15  cents  per  quarter-peck. 
I  From 
RURAL  NEW-tfOl 
/  Buy  from  R.  N.-Y.  Advertisers  Only!”  How  this  farmer  sifts  out  the  agents.  They  must  gives  the  password  before  they  get  a  look  at  this  man’s  money.  Fig.  512 
against  the  middleman  as  it  was  a  campaign  for 
better  and  cheaper  distribution  of  farm  products. 
The  cry  of  the  “35-cent  dollar  of  the  farmer”  has 
been  borne  afar,  and  is  having  its  results.  Today, 
cooperative  buying  is  in  the  ascendency  in  America, 
although  much  more  has  been  achieved  in  that,  line 
in  Europe.  A  new  departure  in  this  line  is  now  to 
be  found  at  our  nation’s  capital.  Washington  is 
different  from  all  other  American  cities,  in  that  it  is 
under  the  direct  conti’ol  of  Congress,  and  therefore 
lacks  the  civic  spirit  and  individuality  of  a  city 
like  New  York  or  Boston.  An  army  of  civil  em¬ 
ployees  numbering  about  forty  Lliousand,  whose 
Washington  also  has  a  well-organized  retail  mer- 
chants’  association,  whose  chief  cure  it  is  to  main¬ 
tain  the  high  quality  (and  incidentally)  the  high 
cost  of  living  necessities.  There  is  a  municipal 
market,  where  food  products,  and  especially  fish, 
can  be  procured  at  reasonable  prices,  but  it  is  not 
accessible  to  the  average  clerk  without  some  in¬ 
convenience.  There  are  also  other  markets,  such  as 
the  one  at  Seventh  and  O  streets,  the  one  on  K 
street  near  Fifth,  etc.  But  there  is  a  singular  unan¬ 
imity  of  stiff  prices,  indicating  a  common  under¬ 
standing  among  all  retailers. 
HIGH  PRICES. — The  wholesalers  on  Louisiana 
The  barrels  contained  11  pecks.  One  dealer  warned 
the  farmer  (a  neighbor  of  mine)  who  brought  in 
the  apples,  that  if  he  sold  any  of  his  crop  to  an¬ 
other  dealer,  he  need  not  bring  any  more  fruit  to 
him.  The  writer  had  some  beautiful  York  Imperial 
apples  in  his  orchard  just  outside  the  city,  but  could 
not  get  more  than  $1  per  barrel  for  them,  delivered, 
although  the  same  sort  of  apples  brought  at  retail 
from  20  to  40  ceuts  per  peek  in  the  local  market. 
BUYING  CLUBS. — Facts  like  these,  coming  to  the 
knowledge  of  consumers,  caused  buying  clubs  to  be 
formed  in  Washington,  but  these  generally  failed, 
the  chief  reason  being,  perhaps,  the  lack  of  real  in- 
