The Rangitikei Advocate TWO EDITIONS DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1920 THE CO-OPERATIVE IDEA.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 12085, 24 June 1920, Page 4

The Rangitikei Advocate TWO EDITIONS DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1920 THE CO-OPERATIVE IDEA.

j THE rapid development of the cooperative idea ia one of the most significant signs of the times. What are called co-operative societies were first established by workers about a century ago, and since then the cooperative principle has been applied feo many other operations than those of trading. Moat of our companies are practical)} co-operation 3 for various purposes, such as insurance, banking and other things, while our dairying industry owes its success principally to the application of the principle of «. o-operation, and our freezing companies embody the same idea. The plan is now being adopted by farmers, not, however, aQ yet, in their own occupation, but in bnsi' ness concerns of various kinds. The workers are also applying and developing the idea and we note that a business carried on under the aupaices of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council has gfown to fairly-large dimensions. At a recent meeting of Wellington workers one speaker declared that "the cooperative movement was essentially a class movement, and it should be regarded as an important factor in the industrial fight.'' Passing over, for the present, the very debataDle question of whether any class is justified in attacking the interests of other classes to promote its own, one ia tempted to examine whether the signs of the times indicate the possibility of the extension of the cooperative for the benefit of all classes, so that possibly out of the turmoil and strife between capital and labour a new order of things may bs developed in which both will work together for mutual bene- | fit. Still, in the meantime, some ] classes will suffer and among these ] will be the smaller traders. The j large traders, or wholesalers, can afford to regard the movement with indifference, for they will still be the chief suppliers. It is

the small traders, or retailers,- who will feel the pinch and whose bnsi-. nesa will be detrimentally affected ..co-operative services, One cannot expect these to regard with kindly eyes the cotn-

p^itio^of^co-opeTative - institutions by farmers 'or workers. regard these as invaders against whom r ,they .have to fight undor great disadvantages, for they bayejVrely on their own capital and of cn3tomers. Until co-operation has become universal every co-operative society is, of course, only another competitor to be fought by each individual trader and, indeed, by every other competing co-operative society. For instance, ;the .Farmers': Co operative Society and the Workers' Co-operative Society in each town will be as keen rivals of each other as];each will be of every 'individual trader? It is "difficult ~to what will be„ the in the near future, ,butj we movement will have a.very markad

; ,~The, sen all traders, who are very numerousperhaps, too numerous—are HoTil'keiy to - give Jt political support either to a Labour Party or a Producers' Party, the members of which are shareholders in competing business institutions. u The movement is likely to produce come very unexpected resu Its.

THE following remarks from the Mercantile Gazette may be taken as c spreasing _ the _ ~ opimon s of commercial men on the financial position abo at to issue a loan for £2,000,000 for pnblic -wcrke, and a loan for a much^largeramount is to_,.be_ issued later,ln the year. The two million loan to be is to bear interest at 5 per cent., and to be price is jpar, subscribers the right* toj'accept ',inscribed sfcoeK";*or bqndsJjgTnls loan, according tooths Prime encourage thriffcjjn'j; "and .it might>e safely'added, .extravagance on .of the Government. How.'the loan to encourage thrift in the community is a difficult matter to believe. The money must as upual come mainly from banks and insurance companies, and other large joint stock concerns, and very little may be expected from farmers and merchants, who will have troubles of their own to contend with in the new produce season, when the b&nevolence of the Imperial Government will be missing. If subscriptions to the loan are to be com pulsory, that will put a different eomplexion on the matter, and in that case investors would be justified ic demanding a higher rate of interest, or a rate on a parity with that ruling in London. For exchequer bills the average raters over 6 per cent., and for a housing loan L of £5,000,000 the British Government had to pay well over 6 per cent. For butter, thereon"! sumers in\New pay!the London and there can be no sound argument against inv3stors_ here receiving a rate of interest equal to that obtainable by them should they choose to transfer their credits to London."