practical papers. 
283 
they appointed some responsible trader as the merchant of the so¬ 
ciety, who, with such a large and certain business, could furnish 
them their merchandise at prices much below those which rule 
under the present system. 
Again, it so happens that every year a half dozen members of 
the society get forehanded enough to buy pianos for their daugh¬ 
ters. They determine the kind they want, and, instead of buying 
of the local dealer, who pockets a commission of from $100 to 
to $125 on each instrument, they buy, through the agency of the 
society, right from the general depot half a dozen pianos, at a 
saving of from $100 to $125 each. In the same manner, the gar¬ 
rulous vender of sewing machines is dispensed with, and his 
grandiose vaporing is heard no more in the rural household. 
The savings in the price of what we buy are to people of small 
incomes very important items. Every farmer who has prospered 
knows that his accumulations are the result of savings, “ here a 
little and there a little.” 
The adjustment of the details of payment for and delivery of 
the articles thus purchased is attended with some apparent diffi¬ 
culty, but this all vanishes before an established system. Articles 
of machinery are delivered under the contract at such railway 
station as the purchasers designate. They are consigned to the 
purchaser, in care of the secretary of the club. The latter reports 
the delivery, and the purchaser having assumed the obligations of 
the general contract, must perform. He must pay his money or 
deposit his notes in the designated bank in accordance with his 
agreement, in default of which, by the contract, the whole pur¬ 
chase price becomes due and may be recovered by action. Thus 
the officers of the society have little or nothing to do with the con¬ 
trol of the funds. Out of the small sum paid as dues by the 
members, a per diem is paid to the secretaries and boards of trade 
directors for the time actually employed, which need be but little. 
For greater convenience, the secretary of the central society of 
the department of purchases at least, had better be the cashier or 
some officer of the bank, through which the business of the clubs 
is done. He would gladly undertake the duty of consolidating 
club orders and making orders upon manufacturers or wholesale 
