50 American Agriculturist, July 26, 1924 
What Makes Cooperatives Successful? 
We Can Take a Lesson from the Old Fire Insurance Cooperatives 
W HEN a farmer for the first time gets an 
automobile, with its smooth-running engine, 
its spic-span upholstery, and its glistening 
paint, he often forgets his old dilapidated 
surrey which has served him for years, stored away in 
a leanto back of his unpainted cow-barn. His thoughts 
are naturally with his newest purchase, which has not 
yet weathered any storms, but for which he has the 
greatest hopes. 
The majority of coopera¬ 
tive companies now operating 
in New York State have 
been organized within the 
last five years, and for this 
reason but few permanent 
fundamental cooperative 
principles can be learned 
from a study of their opera¬ 
tion. Cooperative fire insur¬ 
ance companies have con¬ 
tinually operated in New 
York State for over seventy 
years, and 135 assessment 
companies have averaged 
forty years of operation. 
About $450,000,000 insur¬ 
ance, which is approximately 
90 per cent, of the total insur¬ 
able farm property in the 
State, is written by coopera¬ 
tive fire insurance companies. 
The strength of these com¬ 
panies is shown by the extent 
of their scope, and the length of their operation. In 
the enthusiasm of forming new cooperatives, and getting 
them started, these older companies are often forgotten. 
The question is often asked “What makes coopera¬ 
tives successful?” Cooperative companies are success¬ 
ful when they successfully perform the principal 
functions for which they were organized. Cooperative 
fire insurance companies are successful because they 
have given their members reliable protection against 
fire losses at reasonable costs. Assessments to pay for 
By R. W. BARTLETT 
losses and expenses of cooperative assessment com¬ 
panies during the period 1910-1922 averaged $2.82 
per $1000 insurance. 
The reason why cooperative companies can give 
reliable protection at a low cost is because they have 
kept management costs low, and because they have 
Homestead of Mr. N. 
Relief Association for 
F. Webb, Cortland. Mr. Webb has been an officer in the Cortland Patrons Fire 
over twenty years. At the present time he is president of the New York State 
Central Organization of Fire Insurance Companies. 
greatly reduced moral hazards through the elimination 
of the poorer risk§. In other words, farmers who 
organized these companies entered into a business 
world and made good. Some factors as to why these 
companies have made good may be applicable to 
other cooperatives. 
The “good will,” which is the greatest asset of these 
cooperative insurance companies, has been created by 
giving. their members a complete knowledge of the 
facts connected with their business plans and practices. 
and a square deal at all times. In the early days of 
their existence, mistakes were sometimes made which 
were costly. These mistakes were admitted by the 
managements of these companies, explanations given as 
to why they were made, and provisions made so that 
they would not be repeated. This frankness, and com- 
plete lack of concealment resulted in making the 
members feel that they were “ truly ”a part of their 
particular company, and in re. 
turn they backed the manage- 
ment with their confidence. 
The pursuance of definite, 
long-time business policies 
which have proven economi. 
cally sound, has been a basic 
factor underlying the success 
of • these companies. The 
original farmer-managements 
of these companies believed 
that the prevention of fires 
was the best way to keep costs 
down. Consequently only 
farmers known to be thrifty 
and honest were admitted as 
members. 
Those who were known to be 
careless in looking after their 
buildings were considered bad 
moral risks, and were refused 
membership. As each mem¬ 
ber had to pay his pro rata 
share of all losses occurring 
in his company, a mutual 
interest was created not only in keeping fire hazards of 
his own buildings to a minimum, but in making sure 
that his neighbors kept the fire hazards of their buildings 
that way. 
The directors were usually farmers who looked 
after the company’s business in their vicinity when they 
were not busy with their own work. By this method 
management costs were kept down. These business 
practices, originating over seventy years ago, are 
substantially the same today. 
The Farmer and His Schools 
Why He Is Cautious—What Should Be His Attitude? 
I T sometimes seems that schools are teaching a lot 
of things that are of little use to boys or girls after 
they leave school, and at the same time, perhaps from 
lack of time, are failing to teach a lot of things that 
boys and girls should know if they are to make a 
success of life. I have known teachers who object to 
giving the time of the school for the purpose of allowing 
a lecturer to speak to them during school hours, because 
“there was so much work to cover that we really 
couldn’t afford the time.” I wondered if we weren’t 
putting the least important things first. I often feel 
that it would be profitable to stop, often, and ask 
ourselves just what it is that we are trying to accomplish 
in our schools, and whether we are making any progress 
toward our goal. 
In the first place, I think we are all too much inclined 
to think that attending school is “Getting an Educa¬ 
tion.” Consequently, when schools fail to teach what 
we as individuals think they should teach, we are 
inclined to conclude that “an education isn’t necessary.” 
I like to think of an education as having three sides, 
what one knows, what one can do, and how one thinks 
or the attitude one has toward life. It then follows 
that any one may get a good education without attend¬ 
ing school at all or that they may attend school and 
fail to secure an education. Why, then, should we 
have schools? Simply because a school is supposed to 
be a place where an individual can obtain knowledge, 
skill, and right attitudes, more quickly and with less 
likelihood of learning the wrong things, than they 
could any other place. Admitting their faults, I 
believe our school system provides such a place. 
Suppose We Had No Schools 
I sometimes try to realize what would happen if we 
had no schools. I am inclined to believe that if each 
generation depended on what it could learn from its 
parents, each generation would know less, because of 
the fact that not all of the knowledge of the parents 
would be passed to the children, and we would go 
backward, instead of progressing. It seems to me that 
we are constantly depending upon the school to teach 
more of the things that were formerly taught at home. 
Boys were apprenticed, in years past, and learned a 
trade, now they attend a technical or trade school. 
Girls formerly learned what they knew of house- 
By H. L. COSLINE 
keeping and sewing at home. Now we have Domestic 
Science taught at school. 
I do not believe that schools are meeting the need for 
taking the place of the home as a teacher, to the extent 
that the situation demands. It seems that schools 
first taught facts, or knowledge. 'Recently, schools 
have begun to teach skill, or how to do things with 
one’s hands. Perhaps in time we will come to believe 
that the school should also teach something about the 
proper attitude to have toward other people, toward 
government, and toward religion. In fact we already 
have made a start in that direction, because the study 
of civics in our schools, deals more with the proper 
attitude toward government and less with cold facts, 
than it did when I wrestled with the subject years ago. 
And yet the peculiar thing about the situation, to me, 
is that some teachers regret the change, and long for 
“the good old days.” 
Do Our Children Lack Practical Application? 
During the recent activities of the Committee of 21 
and the Downing Porter bill, one might conclude that 
farmers were sincerely opposed to any change in our 
present school system, and yet a few days ago at a 
farmers club meeting, one man said that it seemed to 
him that the boys who had been through school, 
weren’t able to do anything. They seemed to know 
plenty of facts but they didn’t make good help on the 
farm. I wonder if the attitude of farm people isn’t 
that they want to be sure what they are doing before 
they make changes. 
I have also heard some discussion regarding the cost 
of schools in the rural districts, particularly, where new 
schools are being built. The majority of the taxpayers 
hi these districts apparently feel that the buildings that 
they are required to build are too elaborate and costly. 
Again, I hear parents discussing the advisability of 
sending their boys and girls away from home to attend 
High School, especially when it means that they must 
stay in the village during the week. Many parents 
seem undecided as to whether the advantage they will 
receive will pay for the bad habits they are likely to form. 
All these questions leads me back to the original 
question, “ What should be the attitude of farmers 
toward our school system?” In' 'the first place 1 
firmly believe that this attitude needs to be a very 
tolerant one. We cannot get anywhere by saving 
that the results at present are not good, and at the 
same time objecting to change of any kind. If the 
results are not what we want, I expect that we will do a 
lot of experimenting, and make a good many mistakes 
before we solve the problem, but it wont help any to 
go back to the old system as soon as we make the first 
mistake. 
Greater Interest in Schools is Good 
I get a lot of enjoyment from reading in some farm 
papers, concerning the remarkable interest that is being 
taken by the people in some districts of late, in some 
schools in the State. It reminds me some of the interest 
that a child takes in a toy when brother or sister wants 
to play with it. I hope the interest continues, because ■ 
it is the second point in the right attitude toward 
schools; more interest. As I remember it, the principal 
reason for attending the district school meeting, was in 
order to decline the office of trustee, and to help elect 
someone who wasn’t present. A district superintendent 
of schools told me that he didn’t sympathize with the 
difficulties of some districts, because they failed to keep 
a good teacher, that was willing to stay. A change in 
trustees nearly every year, helps, along with other 
causes, to make a change in teachers nearly every year. 
Perhaps one trouble is to really know whether a teacher 
is a good teacher or not. When we use most of the 
time teaching facts, and neglect the other two sides of 
our education, namely skill and attitude, it becomes 
difficult to be sure whether the teaching is effective or 
not, and this difficulty is greater, when the facts that 
are taught are not used much outside the classroom. 
The Question of Expense 
What should be our attitude regarding expense? 
Perhaps that is particularly important at the present 
time. I know of no attitude that is satisfactory except 
to realize the importance of good schools, insist on good 
schools, and the efficient administration of funds, and 
then pay the price. I know of one school a few years 
ago, where the tax money for the year was worse than 
wasted, because the results were worse than nothing. 
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