CO-OPERATIVE STORES

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 83, 8 April 1922, Page 11

CO-OPERATIVE STORES

WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE

Co-operation has beou very much in tho air since the conclusion of the war. Sober-minded men, sick with what seemed the result of international compatition, hive been turning eagerly towards co-oporative forms of activity. Belgium in 1913 had 271 co-operative societies, doing a trade a Httio over £2,000.000; last year the trade amounted to £10,000,000. Norway in 1914 | la< j j^g societies with 30,000 members; there are now 90,000 members. Co-operation did not start seriously in Poland till 1913----already there are 4000 distributive cooperative societies with 1,300,000 members. . In Italy, as a consequence of the .war, the co-operative movement has undorgono remarkable extension; the number of societies has almost trebled, while the membership has doubled, and is now estimated lat 3,000,000.

There aro four familiar forms of tho co-operative- principle—banks, agricultural societies, workers' societies, and distributing societies or stores. The first throo have received considerable attention ;. the fourth is by no means a familiar Australian or New Zealand institution. Yet every citizen who has come from the Old Country must have a picture of the local store burned in his memory. In practically every English and Scottish town, the store is a prominent feature. Its advantages or disadvantages as a, trading medium are not, a matter of immediato concern, but, the story of its, origin and growth in Britain is sufficiently remarkably to be called romantic. SALES TOTAL £254,000,000. In Britain to-day there are 1379 cooperative stores, with a membership of 4,500,000, owning £76,000,000 'in shares.' T':s sales last year amounted to £254,----000,000; the profits were £25,000,000. Yet this giant organisation is barely 80 years' old. . It began vey humbly in 1844. A little shop was rented' by 28 poor men, flannel weavers, who had gathered, together £28 by means of twopenny subscriptions. Tho shop was in a back lane in the town' of Rochdale, Lancashire, and the day the- shutters were first taken down the great British co-operative movement was launched. Each of the pioneers took his turn to serve in tho shop after hi? day's work was over in order to further the success of this combine of "consumers on behalf of consumers." There had been previous attempts, but these had failed chiefly because the promoters had always sought to establish a self-supporting community. The Rochdale pioneers cherished the same ambition. Naturally they never achieved it, yet they prospered amazingly, and all of because the judicious method they adopted in disposing of the profits. In other experiments profits had been divided among all members equally, or according to the amount of share capital each had invested. It is easy to see that the arrangemont would not' long prove satisfactory; the richer would have too great an advantage over the poorer members. .The Rochdale men decided to pay 5 per cent, for capital, and to divide the rest into proportion to purchases. That did tho trick. The more a member purchased the moro, each six months, he was paid. The idea caught on instantly; the co-operative movement spread rapidly. Stores wore started in hundreds of towns. Many of them failed, but others, profiting from these exa-mples, made their own organisation more secure. DEMOCRATIC AND SIMPLE. Store government is democratic and simple, says an English paper. .Membership is obtainable on\ payment of a shilling and a pledge to take up a £1 share, the amount paid gradually out of tho member's dividend. Shares can bo withdrawn at any time. Each member, man or woman, has a vote. A committee of control it) appointed from among the members; tho chosen are usually conspicuous for their integrity and sagacity, and they supervise the officials who actually carry on business. Sales are made to non-members, who are usually paid half tho rate of dividend. / Tho .dividend is the great attraction. To the hard-working,' poorly-paid women of Great Britain it appears as a nice nest egg at the end of each six .months. As the 6tore claims to sell at market prices, the dividend is in the nature of a prize packet. It is freely suggested that, "dividend hunting" is a more accurate- term than "cooperating" ; but benefits, loss tangible though not less real, also accrue. ' The movement has given many working men valuable experience in selfgovernment and in the business administration. II has trained the improvident in tho , habit of cash payment; it has opened up to the workers an excellent field for small investments; it has encouraged thrift; it has subsidised education; it has distinctly raised the status of millions of working people. ,A« the British co-operative movement grew stronger it became obvious that some form of federated organisation would give it a better position as a buyer. In 1863, therefore, the English Wholesale Society was formed; Scotland started one five years later. These two societies are tbo apex of tho Consumers' Stores Movement, and their success has been continuous since their inception. . The Wholesale Societies are producers, industrial and agricultural; % survey of their works and depots would involve a journey round tho world. They are their own shippers for the North Sea traffic; they are the largest firm of flour millers in the United Kingdom ; they control one-sixth of the United Kingdom's tea trade;, they own . 30,000 aores in England and extensive estates abroad, including tea gardens in Ceylon and corn lands in Canada. £128,000 FOR EDUCATION. ' ' The educational conscience of the British store member has always been active. The old Rochdale men made grants • for education, and their example has not been neglected. Something- like £128,000 a year is allocated for educational purposes; over 25,000 students attend the classes. Summer schools are arranged annually, and aro attended by about 800 students. Two scholarships tenable at Oriel College, Oxford, are provided by the movement. A fund of £50,000 is beingl raised for the purpose of establishing a co-operative college, which will provide facilities for continued education in advanced subjects of co-ope-rative importance. The store movement has always oblerved strict neurality in religion and politics. Following the lead of the Rochdale Pioneers, it "does not inquire into the political or religious opinions of those who apply for membership." But there has been a new development lately. The British Co-operative Movement has decided to enter politics; soon it will bo a force to be reckoned with. For many years store leaders have sought and secured representation on local administrative bodies. Now Parliament is to be invaded.

British politics are destined to become complicated by the addition of another party. It will be financed by grants from tho two wholesale societies and contributions from the stores on the basis of one halfpenny per member. The first attempt the party made was in 1918; one man stood as a purely co-oporative candidid.ate. and was defeated. At the general election in 1919 there were ten co-operative candidates, and only one elected: Mr. A. E. Waterson, who was returned for Kettering, is the first co-operative member of the British Parliament. A NEW FACTOR. At the next election a larger number of seats will be contested, for the new political party is enthusiastic and confident. But there are many co-operators who refard the matter with serious misgivings, t is almost certain to engender disagreement. Already the question.is arising as, to the desirability of an alliance with the Labour Party. That party certainly seems the most natural ally, yet, in many ossential particulars, their aims are widely at variance. Somo of the fantastic theories of Labour extremists are so alien to the spirit of co-operation that friction would inevitably follow, with the possible effect of splitting the co-operative movement and with the certain effect of relarding its progress. So, in some respects, the British store movement is at the parting of the ways, and the way it seems inclined to take is certain to be a troubled ono. But, even if it is destined lo deslruction through becoming the tool of tho politician the record of its achiovomonts will endure us a noble monument ■_ to its founder, tho ' twenty-eight flannel weavers pi Rochdale.