"soon I'-: u’.on In all industries.
Como■ 1.1 tlcn is said to bo the
life of trido, but our elm in
lif Is not. trL.de. uur aim is .
to Give end enjoy life. I have
yet to moot tho first merchant,
banner or c t .ror who 13
advocating competition in bis ov,n
lin-. of business. Tho business
men’s product of competition is
Just "dot rir”. It does not
accumulate on his shelves or
make it necessary for him to
build additional storage spree
to accomodate his blarney. 1t
does not require additional
capital or bocor.o sue If worn,
ror does ho pay ta#es on it, nor
does he no^d to dispose of it
c t loss co rrr.K; room i or r.c.ai
tion: l "brain Stror.s", And
when he cun nob u:ll liio floods
rt ' profit he "ill not buy an
cth.r full lino of stock to place
on his already overloaded shelve3
to for‘C3 hirsolf to trko a Iocs
on t’10 goods on hand a s well as
the ircomin-i s cock; hut no will
r dvoor t . bo the producer, who
air. ady has, may l., r. thousand
bushels o* yr.in on hand chat
he c'n not dispose of for the
cost of production, to break' his
back to 'add <- nothor thousand
to it. And this roctunulction of
unsold products of ,rours makes
you come to the tradesman with
yen'* hat in your hr nd, humbly
asking him to rolot ve you of
ycur waros at prices below the
cost of production. Also, remem
ber, the cheaper ho c n buy
your roods, the less capital ho
will rood to do busi.ne.ss with.
The manufacturer remulates his
output to correspond to his trade.
And ’.asides, his output is
usually not perishable, ue
realizes tier t competitions, as
far : s ho is. concerned, is
anarchy. And who wants anarchy?
They.don't. But they vent tho
farmer to produce in an anarchi
ical vry. And yet if'the farmer
turned anarchist in the common
conception of the term, they
would all ye .down in ruin.
Past experiences prove that co
operation is tho only salvation
for us. J.ho first cooper' tlon
was the family unit. IText came
the cirri, village and tribe
unite; then net lend units. All
for self-protection, then co
oper; lion for trails and hin‘h
KT.73, post' 1 system and public
schools. Anything the public is
interested An as a unit lees
proven to be better and cheaper
mc.mi *• cd by the people themselves
than by private individuals.
hy then, can not v/c do our om
mercantile business cooperative
ly? Y/o certainly cm not make
a vorso failure of it than pri
vate concerns. More than ninety
per cent ol private businesses
arc failures. That is much
greater than among cooperatives.
Tot, individuals usually have
capital to start with, rhilo
poverty forces people to cooper
r\ oC t
Vie of the Mr.tpnusl:c
c. better chance or
Valley hr ve
SUC CO b 3 f u!
cooperation than any community
I know of. The Government has
built ana wquipt a community
cantor of "a rehouses, cannery,
ere emery, parr ;:o and machine-shop
trading post, slaughterhouse,
cover plant, hatchery, etc.etc.
In short, a better oqaipt com
munity center than c ny othc'-*
place ten times its size. Let
us show the t we can males uso of
it. Mint wo nead no,r is a
community spirit and a rpirit
of cooperation. A willingness
to work together and help, and
not got to much out of patience
oven if t ho markets are congested
for a' whi}.G and wo have to t^ke
some temporary lossess on our
undertakings, and things, don’t
go as smooth and oasy as we
would like to have them. Vie must
remember that v;e can not go to
the merchants and demand that he
buy all our products at prices
sot by oursolves, and when ho
has not the trrde to dispose of
it. Nor can vie expect 'our co-.
operative to .do it; it has. to do
business on business principles
as long as we r.ro l iving under an
anarchistic-competitive system.
C .C .Prix