COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES 1. Importance of cooperative 8ocieties.—No ac count of the methods of controlling business concerns would be complete without some description of the co operative societies, altho of themselves they are com paratively unimportant. The United States Census reported that in 1909 cooperative societies gave em ployment to only two-tenths of one per cent of the wage-earners of the TJnited States, and that in manu facturing industries the value of their products was only five-tenths of one per cent of the total value re ported for all establishments. But there are certain signs which indicate that these societies are growing popular, and that they may later assume consider able importance.
In the first place, cooperative control in trading and industry has taken fast hold of England. In that country, a decrease in the number of societies is taking place, owing partly to consolidation ; but the number of members is increasing. There is now a total membership of about 3,500,000. The English co operative societies do a business of over $300,000,000 annually, and their assets amount to about $165,000, 000. All over Europe, also, this type of organization is growing in favor, and in this country cooperation among the farmers, as producers, and among urban artisans, as consumers, is becoming established in one form or another. In many states, including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, special laws have been passed to aid the formation of cooperative societies or corporations.
2. Nature of cooperative following definition of cooperative societies has been given: "Associations of men who seek to better their condi tioTiMTITT—Miting eir capital anc—Tr—eir effort demo erotically in the common pursuit of honest trade or industry."' These societies have many different char a7CreTgics and may be variously classified. In gen eral, they may be grouped as those that exist for economic purposes only, and those that are combined with an undertaking to serve some social end. The two producing industries in the United States that have been more largely brought under Cooperative or ganization than any others, are the printing and pub lishing business and the butter, cheese and condensed milk industry. In the industry first named coopera tive undertakings are usually controlled by lodges, clubs and labor unions. In the butter, cheese and
condensed milk industry there are important business societies in some localities ; in Iowa, they control more than one-balf the production of the industry in that state.
The strictly business societies have generally proved the more successful, altho even these generally in clude some form of welfare work carried on for the benefit of the members.
Cooperation must not be confounded with socialism, which tends to bring about the same results thru the agency of government rather than thru that of co operative private ownership. As a matter of fact, complete independence of government aid has gener ally been an essential to the success of the cooperative societies.
In Germany, and indeed, in all these Continental Coun tries (Italy, Denmark and Holland), the movement has sprung up, as it were, sporadically and by voluntary effort. But where it has been assisted by the State, as in France and Austria-Hungary, and even more flagrantly in South Africa, it has usually degenerated and become a system of spoon-feeding hardly to be distinguished from politica.] bribery.1 In the United States, however, the governmental agencies for promoting agriculture have been gener ally successful in cooperating with the rural societies.
3. Producers' and consumers' most important practical classification of these societies is that which groups them as consumers and producers respectively. The members of the two groups believe in opposite economic theories, and in England, at least, considerable rivalry and jealousy exist. The one school believes that all the profit comes out of the con sumer's pocket ; the other believes that production is a cause, at least, of the profit. Those who have care fully followed the history of both groups believe that the ultimate outcome of the cooperative movement is already presaged by the experience of certain success ful enterprises. They are of the opinion that the producers' and consumers' societies will federate and open their membership to one another, and thus give workers and consumers a share in the joint profits of production and distribution. In this country and else where consumers' societies are gradually becoming producers as well.