CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 24 March 1910, Page 451

CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND

In the course of a series of articles in the Catholic Times the Rev. L. Mangan, S.J., gives an account of the spread of co-operation in Ireland. Writing with reference to creameries, he says:—Thirty creameries, consisting of 1509 shareholders, made a turnover of £140,780. The milk-supplying farmers e'stimated the increase of profit from their cows at from 30 to 35 per cent. The first step had been won. It had been proved that associations of farmers acting through committees elected by themselves, under their own rules, could subscribe capital and make it yield a handsome profit; and this result was due simply to following the advice and adopting the procedure given to them by those who had studied the question of co-operative organisation So great was the influence of this success that the burden of organisation soon grew too heavy for the shoulders of a small body of voluntary workers, and in 1894 was founded ,: The Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, with Sir Horace Plunkett as president and Father Thomas Finlay, S.J., as vice-president. It was joined by men of all creeds and parties, farmers, friends of farmers, philanthropists, and those interested in the welfare of Ireland. The aim and object of the society was enunciated in the president's speech at the inaugural meeting on April 18, 1894. - Such an aim seems simple enough and easily reached. Good, advice is notoriously cheap. But those who knew the agricultural condition of Ireland were under no delusion, and to-day the advice and assistance which the society is called upon to give tax the efforts of a body of experts whose ' ' - ; . Annual Working Expenditure, of Some £SOOO by no means represents the worth or the extent of. their endeavors. That work and its results will, perhaps, be seen best by an example. A body of farmers in, say, a parish of Connaught, have at last begun to realise that there is something after all in co-operation. They decide to

t a o an * a g ric « society, and apply : to : the 1.A.0.b. for advice and assistance. An expert organiser is sent down to explain the system of co-operation an the rules and procedure (which are: copyright of the 1.A.0.5.) necessary to ensure success. -If they decide to venture a small fee of £1 affiliates them to the 1.A.0.5, which will continue to help them over the numerous difficulties of detail which attend the first steps. -; The members now take £1 shares in the Agricultural Society according to their poor law valuation, paying up generally not more than 2s 6d per share. Every member, no matter what the number of his shares, has a voice in the election of the committee of management and the secretary, and as the Irish farmer is a man of considerable business capacity, he is learning rapidly to choose the committee for its business abilities and not for its religious creed or political complexion. The society being confined to a small area, every member's character and reputation is known to the committee, and undesirables are not admitted. The secretary, who is a paid official, learns the requirements of the members and 'bulks' their orders as they, come in. These ' bulked ' orders are despatched to The Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society, a body formed by the combination of the societies themselves to purchase their requirements in the best market, and to test the purchases before distribution. Irish cooperation as a system of 'wheels within wheels' will soon become clear to the reader. Our young Agricultural Society of the parish in Connaught is possessed of a full measure of Irish foresight. It decides to federate with the Wholesale Society by taking one five-shilling share for every member, paying up one shilling per share. ■ The balance is met by the Wholesale Society apportioning to it its. share of the profits made on purchases and sales. This federation will enable our young society to elect representatives on the board of directors, and thus have a voice* in the management as well as a share of the profits.. So we begin to work our local agricultural society. We find that we can buy costly agricultural machinery which will serve the purpose of many members requiring it, and, perhaps, afterwards be lent for a consideration to non-members we can send cash* for seeds, artificial manures, and implements which will be bought for us at bed-rock prices, and the . usual middleman's profit on the transaction going to our Federation, is apportioned to us according to the amount of our purchases. We are protected against fraud and adulteration by expert buyers and analysers, . and, as we are * a powerful body, the railway companies bow to us as railway companies should. Our requirements are being bought at the lowest possible price, and even after the addition of a profit of at least 5 per cent, to this to pay working expenses, we find that there is still a profit to be divided amongst our members in proportion to the amount of their trade, and something over for a reserve fund to meet emergencies. But the net result is not merely financial. We have begun to know each other better, to take an interest and an active part in our combined business, and to recognise The Possibilities of Further Scope. A goodly number of us are dairy farmers who have hitherto waged a hopeless fight against the co-operative methods of the Danish farmer. We decide to erect a Central Creamery in our midst, and again, . following expert advice, we subscribe from £IOOO to £ISOO to build a fully-equipped establishment. This sum is raised in £1 shares by four instalments of 58 each, with interest paid on them at the rate of 4 per cent., each of us, where possible, taking a share for every cow we own. The first two instalments are generally paid in cash, the. second two in milk, the shareholder consenting to a reduction in the \ price of his milk until his shares are fully paid up. : The remaining necessary capital is raised by an overdraft on the bank, with interest at 4 per cent. We manage,; as before, by means of an elected committee, which appoints an expert manager and other necessary assistants. ■ The milk sent in by farmers, if possible all shareholders, though that is not absolutely necessary, is tested scientifically and a price paid on the amount of butter contained; the separated milk is returned to the supplier, together with his share of butter-milk. We find that the gain per gallon \ of milk over the old system is |d~ or Id, which means a gain of £2 per cow for every season, so that my £1 share .■ is paid back in the first year. I have, moreover, made £1 and still possess the cow. All members may inspect the accounts, see their milk tested, and voice their complaints to the committee, which meets at stated times to examine , the accounts and transact business." - v * , , . The Irish Co-operative Agency Society -,-.■ exists to help us to put our butter on the market, to secure top market price, and some day to make Irish creamery butter, by means of a national brand, virtually a proprietary article. It' has high aims, and hopes - ere long to form a federation so strong and.effective as to make a sort of national ' corner ' in Irish butter in favor of the > united producers, setting up a standard of quality which will not only restore to ; ' best Irish' its lost ' reputation, but will persuade the careless ! producer i to v remodel ; his methods. With our usual foresight ' we become members of this s federation by taking twenty £1 shares on -which, in the first instance, we shall only be required to pay up 5s a share, and

this will enable us to take part in the election of the committee of management, to have our representatives at all meetings, and to participate in the agency's profits. r It is now a going concern, and in spite of initial failure transacted in its first ten years a trade of £1,229,620, with a profit of £3941, the bad debts incurred amounting to precisely £256; a negligible loss which was met out of the commission charged on , sales. The Irish farmer has still much to learn, but -he is learning rapidly, and now that State-aid has been brought to bear upon technical instruction and the improvement of agricultural resources, the day is approaching' when the English housewife will buy Irish butter, not because she happens to have been to Killarney or to the Irish village at the Exhibition, but simply and solely because Irish butter is the best in the world. But the work of the Organisation Society does not stop here. There are co-operative societies for the production and sale of eggs, bacon, poultry, flax, honey, and home industries, organised upon the same lines as the Creameries "and Agricultural Societies. The statistics at the end of this article will show that, though still in infancy, they give promise of becoming vigorous children. The central organisation keeps a paternal eye on all .■"■■■■ Affiliated Societies, "who support it by a small per capita annual contribution. Expert mechanicians visit the creameries, expert packers teach the latest methods of sorting and packing the varied produce, a uniform system of auditing accounts has been introduced, enabling each society to judge of its progress by comparison with others; a system of live stock insurance has been initiated; pressure has been brought to bear on the farmers' representatives in Parliament in order that their interests may be watched. In the official organ of the society, the Irish Homestead, the farmers have a medium for the exchange of ideas, as well as a fund of information touching their business, and* in the editor's leaders ' and notes, the finest exposition of Irish rural economics in writing at present. In short, all the power that the centralisation of individual strength can give exists, at least in potentiality, and as the 1.A.0.5. has not yet attained its majority, the agricultural world is at its feet, and it is full of splendid promise. The possibilities ot co-operation are by no means exhausted; they have only just begun to be actualities. The linking up of the units 'by large federations is still only in being, and the advent of the co-operative store and the union of the English, Scotch, and Irish Wholesale Societies will open out. new vistas for the co-operator. It must be clearly understood that each local society )is independent in its working. There is no obligation upon it to join any Federation. If it can buy cheaper than the Agricultural Wholesale Society or sell to better advantage than the Agency Society, so much the better for it. In the same way the introduction, of a national brand indicating high quality is not a measure ,of compulsion but a protection for well-managed creameries, and a stimulant to others to do better. We have left for another time the description of the co-operative credit system, which has been, and is, one of the most important branches of the movement The annual report, for 1908 shows that there are 913 societies, with a membership of 82,311, having a trading capital of £308,871, the annual turnover being £2,017,623. The figures speak for themselves, but we may add, for the benefit of those who read the numerous diatribes against the supposed social failings of . the Irish priests, that not less than six hundred of them give their active support to • these societies as chairmen or members of committees.