This study was originally prepared for the Consumers' League of New York in 1921 by Mr. Cedric Long. It has been revised by the League in April, 1922. The Consumers' League wishes to express its appreciation of the valuable advice and assistance given by Mr. Louis B. Blachly of the Bureau of Cooperative Associations of the State Department of Farms and Markets both in the original preparation of the material and in its revision....

The principles established by the Rochdale Pioneers in England in 1844 and observed consistently by successful societies since that time are as follows: 1. Earnings of capital stock limited to legal or current rate of interest. 2. Surplus earnings to be returned to members in proportion to patronage. 3. One vote for each member regardless of amount of stock owned. No proxy voting permitted. In addition, the majority of societies adhere to the following principles: 1. Business to be done for cash

The Extent of Consumers' Cooperation . The Tenth International Cooperative Congress, held in Switzerland in 1921, disclosed the fact that since the last Congress, in 1913, the number of cooperators in the twenty-five countries represented had increased from approximately eight million to thirty million and that cooperative trade had increased correspondingly. Today in Great Britain the cooperative societies number more than four million members, nearly one-third of the entire population being re

The Utica Cooperative Society . At the corner of Court and Schuyler Streets in Utica stands a grocery store which is different from an ordinary store. It is different because it is a cooperative store and it belongs to those who buy as well as to those who serve. There is no need for the purchaser to be on guard lest the bargain be to his disadvantage, for he is dealing with friendly clerks who are there to help him find what he wants, not to sell him something he cannot use. In this store the p

When one has made mistakes the importance which is attached to them depends upon the gravity of the consequences. This being the case, the stones of cooperatives which follow are worth attention, for, as a result of their mistakes, they are now dead. One of the most pitiful aspects of cooperative failures is that one group after another will go on making the identical mistakes that have brought ruin to others. Sometimes it is the result of sheer ignorance, and sometimes of shameful negligence. I

The impractical cooperative which fails is bad enough, for it discourages many people from making a second attempt, but the false cooperative is a greater menace to the cooperative movement. The private promoter with his selfish interests rigs up a scheme to look like cooperation, but the actual purpose is to provide a channel whereby thousands of dollars will flow from the pockets of the working people into those of the promoter. Inasmuch as New York State has a law which forbids the use of the

In starting a cooperative enterprise two things must be considered: first, the kind of business to go into and, second, the method of organization. Any group desiring to engage in a cooperative venture should first of all, through a committee and by consultation with experts, determine what type of enterprise will serve them most effectively. Where competition is unusually keen and profit margins are low, cooperation is less likely to be of service than where the opposite is the case. Whatever e

There have been significant developments in the cooperative enterprise in New York in the last two years. In the first place while a number of small groceries closed their doors, the larger cooperatives have grown larger and more prosperous. At last there appear to have developed cooperatives which have passed that critical stage connected with the life of a newly-organized business. One of these larger cooperatives, which did over $200,000 worth of business in 1921, has turned its surplus into

Bubnoff, J.V. The Cooperative Movement in Russia. 162 p. Manchester, 1917. Faber, Harold. Cooperation in Danish Agriculture. 176 p. London, 1918. Gebhard, Hannes. Cooperation in Finland. 190 p. London, 1916. [ A ] Gide, Charles. Consumers' Cooperative Societies (trans. from the French). 251 p. Manchester, 1921. [ A ] Harris, Emerson P. Cooperation, The Hope of the Consumer. 328 p. New York, Macmillan Company, 1918. Howe, Frederick C. Denmark, A Cooperative Commonwealth. 203 p. New York, Harcourt