important rules, a co-operative movement worthy of the name may, without doubt, be expected in this country. The people of Great Britain and of practically every advanced country of Europe can no longer declare with any sincerity that the working class has never shown its ability to conduct its own industrial affairs. The co-operative movement is a monumental example of the workers' ability to do this. Will the workers of America furnish a similar example? Will they provide for themselves the training needed to understand the complexities of modern industrial life? Are they possessed of sufficient imagination, sufficient practical executive ability, sufficient stick-to-itiveness, sufficient will to carry through this important experiment in industrial democracy? The future alone can tell. Judging, however, from the signs of the co-operative spirit which are now appearing thick and fast on the American horizon, the writer is convinced that these questions require an answer in an emphatic affirmative. PROGRESS OF THE CO-OPERATIVE The signing of the armistice has stimulated a new interest in the co-operative movement throughout Great Britain, where there already were some 2,500 industrial co-operative distributive and productive societies in operation, with a membership of three and one-half million persons, a total share, loan, and reserve capital of over $375,000,000, a total trade (distributive and productive) of just over $1,000,000,000, and a total profit in 1916, before deduction of interest or share capital, of about $90,000,000. On the whole the war has had a favorable effect on the progress of co-operation in Great Britain. Controlled prices have helped rather than hindered the movement, since in the case of the controlled commodities, for which everybody must pay a certain retail price, members of the co-operative society have an advantage over non-members in that they receive a dividend on all purchases. Co-operative stores are the only stores paying such a dividend, and in many cases this has been 1 From Commerce Reports, United States Department of Commerce. May 5, 1919. (p. 674-6). an excellent argument to prove the soundness of the co-operative system. The number of members of individual co-operative societies has shown a fair increase, and this increase would undoubtedly have been much greater had the societies been able to obtain sufficient supplies. Government restrictions, applying equally to all stores, made it very difficult for a stock of supplies to be maintained in any section of the country. During the last 10 days of the present month (January) British consumers have the option of changing their retail dealers, and this is expected to result in a substantial gain in the membership of retail cooperative societies, since it is believed that many persons who were not members during the war now appreciate to a greater extent the merits of the co-operative idea. The extent to which the war has interfered with the normal organization of co-operative societies can be realized when it is known that the British Co-operative Society alone had 6,000 employees called to the colors. The society undertook to make up the difference between their pay as soldiers and their wages by means of the payment of a separation allowance, and to date $3,000,000 has been disbursed for this purpose. As demobilization proceeds and former employees return the society will be in an excellent position to proceed with the new development schemes referred to below. The British Co-operative Wholesale Society (Ltd.), with headquarters at Manchester, England, and the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society (Ltd.), with head offices at Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, are the most important single units in this co-operative movement in Great Britain. The British society commenced business on March 14, 1864, and the Scottish society on September 8, 1868. The membership of both societies is made up entirely of individual co-operative retail societies. The British society now comprises 1,189 societies having 2,653,257 members. That the societies have prospered during the war is evident from the table given below, which covers the operations of the wholesale co-operative societies from January, 1913, to June, 1918: OPERATIONS OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES, JANUARY, 1913, .... $9,923,056 $10,370,312 $11,118,775 $12,914,591 $14,532,260 $15,068,903 24,735,398 26,760,713 31,165,441 40,894,776 44,903,400 50,908,851 Loans and deposits. Trade and bank reserve fund ........ Insurance fund Increase over previous .$152,671,721 $169,893,471 $209,783,851 $254,177,655 $280,846,357 $144,157,298 the board of directors to keep wholesale prices as low as posfrom those for the year 1917. This is explained by the policy of the six months ending with June, 1918, show a sharp decrease It will be noted that the profits of the trade department for sible, in order that the members of the retail societies may reap the benefit. The total sales of the wholesale societies for the first six months of 1918 are given as $144,157,298. It is estimated that the total sales for the year ending December 31, 1918, will amount to $311,456,000. Practically all of this total represents sales to co-operative retail societies-in other words, wholesale prices. Groceries and provisions make up the biggest item in the business of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. Up until the past two or three years the contact between the co-operative societies and the trade-unions has not been at all close. Recently, however, there has been a definite attempt to persuade trade-unions to do their banking business with the banking department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, and an important scheme of agricultural and industrial development which will shortly be announced by the society will tend, it is believed, toward establishing a closer working arrangement between the co-operative societies and the trade-unions. For a long time the leaders of the co-operative movement have sought to widen the field of co-operative trading, and efforts have been made to have the law governing co-operative trading so amended as to allow individual members of societies to increase their interest beyond the limit of $1,000. The Treasury has now sanctioned the proposal to issue what will be called "development bonds" in denominations of $100, $2, $500, $2,500, and $5,000 up to a sum of $12,500,000. Thes: bonds will bear interest at the rate of 51⁄2 per cent., payable half yearly, and they may be redeemed at par at the end of ten years. At a meeting of the shareholders of the Co-operative Wholesale Society held in Manchester during the past week this scheme for issuing developmental bonds was ratified. The directors of the Co-operative Wholesale Society believe that their scheme will appeal not only to individuals but also to trade-unions as a good investment for their funds. Already several hundred trade-unions are banking with the local cooperative society in their districts, which acts as an agent of the banking department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society at Manchester. Trade-unions also invest their funds in municipal, government, and railway stocks. The proposal which the Co-operative Wholesale Society now makes to the trade-unions is that it will be to their interest to invest their money in a co-operative scheme for development in the field of agriculture and industry. Among the projects contemplated under this developmentbond scheme is the acquisition and operation by the society of flour mills, tanneries, jam factories, boot and shoe factories, corn mills, dairy farms and similar enterprises. Not long ago the Co-operative Wholesale Society began the manufacture of textiles. It bought and is now running three weaving shedsone at Bury with 900 looms, another at Radcliffe with 500 looms. It proposes to extend its interest in cotton-textile manufacturing when it is in position to consume the yarn output of a moderate-sized mill. It intends to build a mill for the spinning of yarn in the near future. Another big development foreshadowed is the acquisition of large coal fields in Yorkshire. Already the society owns a coal mine near Newcastle. During the war the society has spent large sums for the purchase of farm lands and factories. For land in connection with factory extensions it has paid $573,480; for new factories and workshops, $3,049,650; and for farms and other land, $3,333,960-a total of nearly $7,000,000. It is estimated that the society now holds about 33,000 acres of farm lands, mostly in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Cambridgeshire. It is hoped eventually to establish 1,400 branches of the banking department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. THE CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMERS' Fundamental Principles 1. One vote only for each member. 2. Capital to receive interest at not more than the legal or minimum current rate. 3. Surplus savings (or “profit") to be returned as savings returns (or "dividends") in proportion to the patronage of each individual, or to be employed for the general social good of the society. 4. Business to be done for cash or its equivalent. 1 By James Peter Warbasse. The Co-operative League of America, |