“_The housewife’s pocketbook can beat its owner at keeping thin._”--H.
C. OF L. PROVERB NO. 5.
Mr. Larry lounged in the doorway, watching Mrs. Larry array herself for
her next adventure in thrift. Lena, the young maid, similarly occupied,
sat on the shirt-waist box with Larry, Junior, and his wee sister
snuggling close.
“The money for the milkman is next to the sugar can,” announced Mrs.
Larry, settling her hat above anxious brows. “And you may boil rice for
the children’s luncheon.”
“There ain’t any, ma’am,” answered Lena.
“Oh, dear!” sighed Mrs. Larry, reaching for her veil. “I didn’t have
time to go over the groceries yesterday. When you take baby out, buy a
pound package at Dorlon’s.”
“Yes’m,” murmured Lena. “But he’s a robber, Dorlon is. Our grocer
sells two pounds for what Dorlon charges for one.”
“Yes, yes! But that is loose rice. The package is cleaner.”
“Then don’t I wash the package rice, ma’am?” persisted Lena.
“Why, of course, you do--you wash everything,” answered Mrs. Larry,
a bit irritably, as she drove a veil pin home. Whereupon Lena, the
tactless, pursuing her own line of reasoning, remarked with a mere
suggestion of triumph:
“If I gotta wash it anyhow, what’s the difference whether it’s clean or
dirty to start with?”
Mr. Larry suddenly ducked out into the hall. The telephone bell rang
sharply, and Mrs. Larry reached for her gloves:
“There are the girls now. One more kiss, dears, and then mumsie is off.”
The babies watched her going with mute disapproval. Lena was all right
in her way, especially during the daily outing, but mumsie was a most
wonderful person and greatly to be missed. But then, when one is
properly trained, one does not cry; so Mrs. Larry made her departure
without the accompaniment of childish wails. Nevertheless, the lines in
her brow had deepened, and as Mr. Larry started to open the door for
her, she laid a hand on his coat sleeve.
“Larry, dear, these investigations of the high cost of living are
getting on my nerves. I’m leaving the babies too much with Lena, and I
haven’t saved a penny yet!”
“The way of the investigator is hard, eh?” murmured Mr. Larry, as
he bent for a farewell kiss. “But think what you will save when you
have found out the right way! Anyhow, I believe it is good for you to
go about a bit. You were sticking too close to the house before you
started to look for short cuts in economy. Here you are--out of the
house and away at eight o’clock.”
Claire, Teresa Moore and Mrs. Norton were waiting in the reception hall.
“So you’re all off for Montclair, home of the Cooperative Store, the
Cooperative Kitchen and the School for Housemaids!” exclaimed Mr.
Larry. “May I have the honor of escorting you as far as the Hudson
Terminal?”
“Indeed, you may!” answered Teresa Moore, the audacious. “And you may
help the Cause by paying our fares--all of ’em.”
“Delighted!” answered Mr. Larry, falling into step. “Especially as I
expect these investigations to make a millionaire of me some day.”
“You may laugh, but I firmly believe that in cooperation, or, at
least, the cooperative store, lies our one sure hope of reducing the
cost of living. It works two ways--it actually cuts down the price
of foodstuffs, and it teaches the woman thrift through investment in
stock. You know this has really been proved.”
“No! Where?”
“In England. The International Cooperative Alliance was originally
founded to reduce the cost of living for the underpaid working classes.
From a sociological and economic experiment, it has grown to be the
soundest and most democratic organization of its kind in the world,
numbering among its shareholders men and women from all walks of
society. Before the war broke out, families to the number of two
million seven hundred and one thousand were buying their food, clothing
and homes through the Alliance. It employed more than eighty-one
thousand persons, ran a dozen factories to supply its different stores,
and it had its own fleet of steamships for transporting the output of
its various plants, which included plantations in Brazil and Ceylon.
It sold more than half a billion’s worth of goods annually on a margin
of two per cent. And in 1913 it distributed among its stockholders of
cooperative members profits amounting to eleven million dollars. Think
of the war breaking down an economic structure of such magnificent
possibilities.”
“Perhaps it will survive even war. But I don’t know what you mean by
its stockholders buying homes through a cooperative store.”
“Oh, that is quite simple,” explained the enthusiastic Teresa. “A
member or stockholder decided that he wished to use his interest or
profits to buy a home. When the next dividend was declared, he did
not draw out his money. When his dividends had accumulated in the
association treasury to the amount of one-fifth of the purchase price
on the home he desired to own, the association advanced the remaining
four-fifths, so that he could pay cash for his home. The association
was repaid by future dividends. In other words, he could buy a home
through the association without loading himself with the usual mortgage
and its high rate of interest. The association was safe because it
knew dividends would be forthcoming, and that once a man or woman is
started on the path of thrift it amounts to an obsession to save and to
possess.”
Mrs. Moore stopped to open her bag and assure herself by means of a wee
mirror against its gray lining that her hat was at the correct angle.
Mr. Larry studied her in frank amusement.
“Teresa, you are a singular combination of the frivolous and the
practical. Can you leave your mirror long enough to tell me how they
have managed to keep this English association free from graft?”
“Through the high ideals of the men who founded and conducted it.
The association has never deteriorated from its original design of
saving through honest cooperation into any scheme whereby the mass
of stockholders would save only a mere trifle, while the executive
officers built up private fortunes through trickery, watered stock, et
cetera.”
“And you believe that men with the same high ideals can be interested
in such a project here in America?” inquired Mr. Larry.
“Finding the right men and women to act as directors is not the
problem,” answered Mrs. Moore soberly. “The trouble is to convince
individual stockholders, especially housekeepers, that cooperation
eventually spells saving--a lower cost of living. It may be the fault
of our bringing up, but we women seek economy in only one of two
ways--an actual and considerable reduction in the price of goods sold,
or the money we put in the savings bank. We lack the economic vision
of the man, which sees money invested, paying a profit six months or a
year ahead. The feminine instinct for chasing so-called bargain sales
blinds her to the bigger and safer saving which cooperation represents.
Here in America cooperation is a form of fanaticism, not of every-day
common sense.”
They were all sitting together on the elevated train, and Claire
remarked crisply:
“Then you consider that men have higher ideals than women?”
“No,” said Mrs. Moore; “but in financial matters they have a broader
vision. For example, a number of Boston men who had studied the plans
and ideals of the English association started a cooperative society
under the name of The Palmer Cooperative Association. It was designed
especially to help the employees of the New York, New Haven and
Hartford Road and its allied branches, to reduce the cost of living.
About two thousand of the railroad men subscribed to the stock, but
they were very slow about paying up. The men believed in it, but their
wives did not patronize the store. This was largely because all the
business was done on a cash basis. There was no sending Johnny or
Jennie around to have something ‘charged.’ Goods were delivered only
when bought in large quantities, and on certain days.
“The women did not figure that in the average retail store delivery
adds eight per cent. to the cost of goods. Then the wives of the
subscribers seemed to think that they should get goods at cost, because
their husbands held stock. The manager of the store, an experienced
buyer, saved them from fifty to seventy-five cents on a five-dollar
order. The profits of the store were to go back to the stockholders in
the form of dividends. The women, and some of the men, could not grasp
the idea of future saving, of dividend paying. They felt that they
were saving very little by paying cash; they were annoyed by having to
make out orders for large quantities, when they had been accustomed to
send round to the corner grocery three or four times a day. And so the
association died.
“When you figure that those allied roads employ sixty thousand men,
each of whom would spend a minimum of four hundred dollars a year in
a cooperative store, you find that such an association would do a
business of twenty-four million ($24,000,000) dollars a year. At least
three per cent. would go back to the men in the form of a dividend,
amounting in all to seven hundred and twenty million dollars. Then,
allowing an average saving of five per cent. on goods purchased, you
find that the store could have saved its stockholders one million, two
hundred thousand dollars at the time of purchase, plus seven hundred
and twenty thousand dollars in dividends, or one million, nine hundred
and twenty thousand dollars in a single year. This shows you what one
group of industrial workers, cooperating in the purchase of food alone,
could save themselves. The beauty of this system is that the more you
spend the more you save--”
Mr. Larry rose, laughing.
“It’s a good thing that this is my station, otherwise you might inspire
me to resign my position and start a cooperative store. Well, a
pleasant day to all of you, and more knowledge on the subject.”
The four investigators nodded gaily to their vanishing escort and then
settled down to the discussion.
“So you think the average housekeeper would rather chase the rainbow
of special sales than the more solid investment represented by a
cooperative association?” asked Mrs. Larry.
“Not when they have grasped the true idea of cooperative buying,”
responded Mrs. Moore. “Boston now has a very successful association
known as the New England Cooperative Society, which uses the Rochdale
System in operating its stores. Its headquarters are at 7 Water
Street, and it operates the following stores in that city: Charles
River Cooperative Market, South Boston Cooperative Market, Tremont
Cooperative Market, Devonshire Cooperative Market, Charlesbank
Cooperative Market.
“I understand that markets of the same sort will soon be opened in
Allston and Melrose. Bucksport, Maine, also has a market under the
direction of this society. You remember that night at our house when
you met Mrs. Gregory of Boston? She told us that she belonged to a
marketing club in which the women took turns in marketing for the
entire organization. This saved money, but it was quite a tax on the
individual members. She did not know there was a cooperative store in
Boston until she heard it discussed at our house. When she returned
home she bought a ten-dollar share in the New England Cooperative
Society, resigned from her club and now does all her buying at the
Charles River Market. Only one share in a local society may be held by
any one person. Those who wish to invest more than ten dollars may do
so by purchasing what are known as preferred shares in the New England
Cooperative Society. These shares have a par value of ten dollars and
draw dividends at the rate of seven per cent. Shareholders, you see,
not only draw dividends, but they receive discounts, given at stated
periods, in proportion to the amount of cash purchases by members.
“The New England Cooperative Society, incorporated under Massachusetts
laws, is required by those laws to maintain a certain reserve, but
all net profits of the stores above this reserve are distributed in
discounts and dividends.”
“My dear Teresa, you talk like a man,” sighed Mrs. Larry. “Can’t you
put that into woman-talk?”
Teresa Moore patted her friend’s hand in a comforting way.
“I’ll try. The cooperative society secures as managers for its stores
men who know how to buy for markets which have earned from fifteen to
twenty-five per cent. net on the capital invested. Now, if you own
shares in that association, you get your share of the profits. Do you
see that?”
Mrs. Larry nodded.
“You also buy your groceries at the lowest possible price for desirable
goods. Instead of buying ‘seconds’ in groceries, and inferior meats and
fresh vegetables, fruits, etc., at slightly cut rates, you pay a fair
market price for the best the market affords, and at some future date
you get part of what you have paid out, in the form of discounts and
dividends. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly,” said Mrs. Larry. “Then it must also follow that if a store
is not properly run, there will be no discount and no dividend.”
“That is quite true,” said Mrs. Moore; “but the history of cooperative
societies in America proves that there are more failures from lack of
cooperation than from bad management. As soon as shareholders grasp the
idea and really _cooperate_, the store is a success; but, as I said
before, one must believe and understand cooperation to realize the
benefits which will eventually accrue from membership. It is what you
might call a waiting game.”
“Are there many such associations in the United States--in the West,
for instance?” inquired Claire. Then she flushed furiously.
“I really have no idea how many,” answered Mrs. Moore tactfully,
ignoring the blush. “But occasionally a guest tells me of a new society
formed in her community. For instance, Polly Sutton, of Washington,
was visiting me only last week and told me of the Civil Service
Cooperators, Incorporated, which has a very nice new store in her
neighborhood.”
Mrs. Moore opened her address book.
“Yes, here it is--located at 1948 New Hampshire Avenue, N. W., in a
very fine residence district. This society had a very peculiar start.
In the Forestry Service, a small group of men wanted to purchase a
superior brand of butter made in Minnesota. To secure it they had to
order in large quantities, and they were amazed at the large saving
eventually made. They had been banded together for the avowed purpose
of increasing their efficiency, protecting and promoting common
interests, cultivating harmony and good fellowship, and maintaining
high ideals in connection with public service. Their success with
purchasing butter in quantities showed them the practical possibilities
of the phrase ‘promoting common interests.’ Gradually the social and
civic betterment projects were abandoned, and the club devoted itself
to buying household supplies.
“After a year the members decided to incorporate, with a capitalization
of three thousand dollars. The shares are the smallest of any
cooperative enterprise I have heard about. They are of two kinds. There
are five hundred shares of common or voting stock, at one dollar each.
No member may hold more than one share of common stock, and every
member _must_ take one. Preferred stock costs five dollars a share,
and each member is expected to hold at least one share. By a very
helpful arrangement the entire five dollars does not have to be paid
at once. If one dollar is paid in toward a share of preferred stock,
the remainder may be accumulated through dividends, though on stock not
fully paid up only half the declared rate is allowed. Preferred stock
gives no voting privilege, but it receives a regular six per cent.
interest each year out of the profits.
“The society soon outgrew its original quarters, which were in a
basement near the heart of the business section, and it began to look
around for a new location. This was chosen by actually comparing the
size of the orders received from shareholders in different parts of
the city, with the map of the city itself. About this time, Mr. J. P.
Farnham, an expert accountant, who had been auditing the association
books, became imbued with the cooperative idea and was made manager of
the store. He believes that cooperative business solves the bulk of
our high cost of living problem, and he has developed many good ideas.
He has tried out the parcel-post plan of shipment and secured direct
dealings with farmers. The store is simply fitted, but immaculately
clean, and the white-washed cellar, dry and sweet smelling, is a joy to
the women who get a peep into it.
“Every Saturday morning each member receives a printed order blank on
which are listed the two hundred and sixty odd items carried in stock
for the coming week, with the current prices. A printed news letter
usually accompanies the order sheet, giving notes of the business,
frank explanations of changes in price, news of directors’ meetings,
and serving generally to keep the members in touch with one another.
“While telephone ordering and personal calls at the store are
permissible, more housekeepers prefer the mail order system, as the
fact has been well established that the quality of the goods never
varies, and that full weight may be depended upon. By Tuesday morning
these order sheets must be received at the store, accompanied by check
or money order for the amount indicated. This business is not only on
a cash basis. It actually requires its pay in advance. But as it can
proudly point out that it has never lost a dollar in bad debts, the
shareholders do not object.
“Polly sent me one of the price lists or order sheets, and on comparing
it with what I pay at my own corner grocery, I find the Washington
cooperator saves not less than two per cent. on her purchases at the
time of the purchase; in some lines of goods it runs as high as ten per
cent. but the real saving comes in the form of dividends.
“And with the Civil Service Cooperators, Incorporated, as with all
societies of this sort, the woman must figure ahead in order to save.
She must have money on deposit at the store or send check or cash with
her order; she must order in quantities practically for the week, and
she must be satisfied with a weekly or semi-weekly delivery. This plan
absolutely breaks a woman of the expensive habit of sending maid or
child to the nearest grocery store where she can have goods charged
and delivered at any hour of the day. I presume we will find the same
conditions at Montclair.”
“Dear me,” sighed Mrs. Larry, “cooperative stores present a very
complicated problem.”
“Indeed, they do,” admitted Mrs. Moore. “All economic questions
are more or less complicated, and it’s a great pity that we women
are rarely educated to see financial administration in our homes
as anything deeper than what we pay for actual groceries, meat,
vegetables, etc., at the actual time of purchase.”
“You must not expect Dahlgren equipment and decorations in this
cooperative store,” suggested Mrs. Moore as she led the way through the
crisp sunlight down Montclair’s well-kept streets to 517 Bloomfield
Avenue. “Dahlgren adds the cost of mirrors and white marble to your
cuts of meat, while a cooperative store is run without frills, at the
least possible expense.”
Thus prepared for simplicity, if not down-right unattractiveness, in
the cause of economy, the New York quartet almost gasped on entering
the store of the Montclair Cooperative Society. If there was an absence
of glittering mirrors and obsequious clerks in white caps and aprons,
there was no lack of up-to-date equipment and methods. Efficiency
and success shone in every corner of the plant, consisting of the
three-story and basement brick business block with a forty-foot front.
“In a material way this plant is one of the things we have to show for
our three years’ existence,” explained Mr. Leroy Dyal, the manager of
the store. “And when a cooperative society has weathered its first
three years, it may feel comparatively safe.
“The store is owned by over four hundred residents of Montclair, and
run in their interests by a board of directors as follows: President,
Emerson P. Hains; vice-president, Mrs. Alfred W. Diller; secretary,
Miss Florence Hains; treasurer, Henry Wheaton; directors, Ralph T.
Crane, W. W. Ames, H. B. Van Cleve, Edgar Bates, George French, Mrs.
William Ropes. You will note that we have women on our board of
directors and they are extremely interested and active.
“All business is cash, or the members may, if they wish, make a deposit
and draw on that. Once a week I make a budget of prices, and on
comparing them with the prices in other stores of the same class I find
that they run about four per cent. lower. In addition to this, while we
will deliver goods, we allow a discount of five per cent. to members
who carry goods home. Therefore, the housekeeper who markets here and
acts as her own delivery man, using her motor, carriage or trolley,
or even the family market basket, and walking, saves at the time of
purchase about nine per cent. In addition to this, as a shareholder,
she is paid her share of the profits on the business we do. Of this I
will speak later.
“We do everything we can to popularize this store, not only with the
stockholders, but with the general public. You see, we have both a
dry and green grocery department, a meat and a fish department. On
Saturdays we have a special sale, known as the ‘no rebate and no
delivery sale,’ which runs from five to ten P. M. This is so popular
as a matter of economy with Montclair people that we have great crowds
during those hours, many customers arriving at four-thirty and waiting
the half hour till specials are on sale. This gives us a chance to
sell off all vegetables and other perishable foodstuffs that otherwise
must be carried over the week-end. I mention it merely to show you
that a cooperative store is not necessarily high-brow, as some women
think. We try to follow all modern business methods--but we permit no
substitution, adulteration, nor any other of the evils of so-called
modern merchandising.
“To explain the theory on which our store and society are run, I will
say that the requirements for this, as for all cooperative ventures,
are an adequate organization of consumers to act in their own behalf,
and a first-class plant. Our aim is not merely to transfer to the
pockets of our shareholders the small net profits made by other
storekeepers, but so to manage the journey of food products from
source to kitchen as to cut out certain evils from which the housewife
suffers--the cost of duplicate or wasted motion, and the adulteration
and unsanitary conditions which surround the handling of products.
We eliminate many of the cost items of ordinary retail trade in
competition, and we protect the society from loss by doing only a cash
trade.
“Our shares have a par value of ten dollars. Members may own one
share or more. The stock is non-assessable when fully paid, and the
subscriptions may be paid in cash or at the rate of two dollars per
share down, and the balance at the rate of one dollar per share
monthly. All sales are recorded on double sales slips. One is kept by
the shareholder and one by the society.
“After effecting an organization and proving the honesty and sincerity
of our members in supporting the venture, the next step was a plant
which would insure the most efficient handling of the trade.
“Of vital importance is to provide a proper medium for keeping fresh
foods, such as meat, vegetables, fruit, etc. This means an abundance of
dry cold air, in place of the ice supply with its unhealthy dampness
and general unreliability.
“For this purpose we have installed in our basement a Brunswick
refrigerating machine, which produces an amount of cold air equal to
the melting of six tons of ice daily. This cold air is piped through
ammonia cooling pipes which run through our glass counters, wall cases
and the regular refrigerators. This system of cold air protection saves
enormous waste in handling the stock. We also have driven our own well
one hundred and twenty-seven feet deep, which is capable of furnishing
thirty gallons of pure water per minute.
“Our plant follows in principle and construction the superb
modern public markets of Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester,
Massachusetts. It keeps the stock sanitary and enables us to regulate
temperature in different refrigerators to meet the requirements of
different sorts of food.
“All the foods sold in our delicatessen department are prepared in our
model kitchens on the floor above.”
The New Yorkers were shown through these kitchens, where colored women,
immaculately dressed, were preparing delicious salads. They studied
the method by which running water in the fish department positively
eliminated all odor. They were especially impressed by the freshness
and crispness of the vegetables and the high standard of dry groceries
on the shelves.
“The best of everything,” murmured Mrs. Larry, “and at exactly what
saving?”
The manager smiled at her earnest query.
“That can not be expressed in round figures. It varies. As I said
before, I think our prices average about four per cent. below those
of the competitive stores, largely because they must spend money to
attract trade which we hold through our membership. The housewife who
takes home her goods saves an additional five per cent. The member who
attends our Saturday evening sales saves a little more. And, finally,
stockholders get back money in these two ways:
“First, regular interest on their investment of not more than six per
cent.; second, gains or profits which the store has made, redistributed
every quarter at the rate of five per cent. on the amount of purchases
recorded on duplicate sales slips.”
“Then it is a success, your store and your society?” asked Mrs. Norton.
“And the women believe in it and support it?”
“They certainly do. They have the true cooperative spirit.”
“And what of your cooperative kitchen and your housemaids’ school,
and----”
“Those? Oh, they are another story! The cooperative kitchen is
managed by a different society, and the school for housemaids by the
Housewives’ League.”
“Shall we see them?” inquired Mrs. Moore, as the quartet walked down
the sun-bright street.
“Yes, let us make a day of it in this remarkable community with its
cooperative spirit, even if, as Mr. Dyal says, it is another story.”