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Show BE ' I j Co-Operative Farm I i Products Marketing j How It Is Done in Europe and May Be Done g in America to the Profit of Both I Farmer and Consumer g Z7y MATHEW S. DUDGEON ? (CopyrlKlit, WH. Wtfslem Newspaper Union.) I A VISIT TO PADDY GALLAGHER Whero the Co-Operatlvc Concern Now Buyo and Sells. Dunglow, County Donegal, Iroland. i ' This 1b a story of Uig grand uphill i light for solf-rcspcctlng, economic Independence In-dependence which Is being mndo by I . a bunch of cheery Irishmen In County Donegal, At tho head of this lighting , group Is Paddy Gallagher, an organ izer and d promoter If thero ever was ono. But Is n promoter, Hot of his own fortunos, but tho promoter of community welfare. This Is also Iho story of what a godsend a co-operatlvo organization can bo to a community -which has been, In an economic sense, 1 hard stricken by nature Nnturo -seems to havo exhausted herself In the agricultural gifts sho showered on eastern and southern Ireland and to Tiayo reached Dunglow, In County I Donegal, with nothing left In her gift I taff except a few little patches of cold, 1 unresponsive sil which sho scnttored " I lioro and thoro among tho hugo out- - f cropping rocks of tho barren hillsides ' 1 rising between tho wldo stretches of 1 desolate poet hogs. s 1 In fact, wo nro hero becauso Sir t( 1 lloraco Plunkett has snld that this 1 Js tho place of all others to visit, If H -vo Americans wish to see what co- -.f", operation will do toward holplng nn Lw Jrlfil! -iiBJnunly. scratch a.llvjng out 'if thorocJHplTa on the bleak north- I "western coast of Iroland. I Who Paddy Is. '" Paddy Gullaghor was born forty i years ago in ono of tho poor one-room I cottages on a barren three-acre ten- I ant holding a cottage that had tho 3 -wolf always at tho door. When Paddy j -was nine ho was put out to work at 'jj three pounds for six months' work. 1 Ills father did not do this sort of I thing becauso ho wanted tho little , linlf-starved shaver to work beyond Ills strength, hut becauso It was either j -work for Paddy or starvation for still younger and weaker children. After that thero waB nothing for Paddy but j 2mrd work, and low wages until ho -was grown and had started a family of his own. Hut his work had taken him Into other places, Into Scotland and Eng- I land, and ho catno back with tho real ization that llfo jn Dungalow was not -what It ought to bo. Uneducated, -work-worn, without auy outlook of promlso for himself or his family, 1 something brought Paddy Gallagher, iho realization that he and his neighbors neigh-bors together might do what each separately sep-arately could not do. So, with tho asslstanco of tho Irish Agricultural Organization society, co-oporatlon was brought to Dungalow. How It Started. Gallagher, who had been studying soils and manures, learned that according ac-cording to government analysis tho aoll pf hlB section needed cortain dell-ulto dell-ulto chemical elements. Ho asked local lo-cal traders If thy could glvo him any guaranty of analysis of tho manures sold by thorn. Ho was Informod that they novor got such a thing, know nothing about It and could glvo no guaranty. He wroto to tho agricultural agricul-tural department about It. They roll ro-ll iorred him to tho Irish Agricultural a Wholesale socioty. From them no 1 learned that this society at that tlmo 1 loalt only with local co-oporativo I concerns. 1 So this farm boy, with surprising 1 persistence, gathered together tho I small farmers and pointed out to them 1 tho ndvnntnges to bo gained as to 1 -quality and price by purchasing guar- h iinteod manures direct from tho co- M oporatlvo wholosalo socioty. Tho roll ro-ll suit was that tho farmors ordered a ' ?.Mon lot of fertilizer through a little co-oporativo society In an adjoining I village. Thoy found that thoy saved ;1 $200 on tho mnnuros and besides soft so-ft curod 'supor-phoBphato of 30 per cent. I inBtcad of 22 por cent, strength, and a dissolved bone lnstcnd of worthlosB m compounds. Tho battlo for co-opora-M tlon was already half won, for thoro Si was no further question nB to tho ad-I ad-I vantnges to bo gained through co-I co-I i operation. 1 Tho "Gombeen Man. 1 "Tho old methods of buying and sell- M ing worq tho cause of much poverty in ji thlB district," said Mr. Gallagher. jm "Tho traders havo gonorally kept tho II ' public houses. Thoy wore gombeon fl mou monoy londoro. Poor farmers 1 ' IBL hero could not pny cash for what thoy bought. Thoy had to get goods on credit. Onco a farmer got into debt to theso retail dealers ho seldom got freo from tho big man's clutchos. Whllo ho waB In this stato ho was no better than a slavo. Ho was charged tromcndouB prices and had to pay big Interest. I myself havo been charged Interest on what I bought on credit at tho rato of 144 per cent, per annum. My fathor had this sort of Interest to pay whllo ho was bringing up his family. fam-ily. That Is whero tho threo pounds wont that it took mo six monthB to earn when I started to work. , What Co-Opcratlon Is Doing. I notwltstandlng tho smallncBS of tiu. hidings, and the poor soil, conditions con-ditions in Dunglow aro Improving. I nover know an organization to do so much for a community as tho Templo-crono Templo-crono Co-operatlvo Agricultural! society soci-ety Is doing for Dunglow. Tho society so-ciety started In a little ono-room cot-tago cot-tago on a farm whero I lived. Wo began be-gan by buying manures and later a fow grocorles. Wo had fierce opposition opposi-tion nt first from tho gombeon man and traders, as flcrco as any community communi-ty over had. Some of tho members vero in debt to tho gombeen moruand had to como Into tho co-operatlvo quarters quar-ters at night nnd over tho back walks in order to conceal from tho gombeen man that thoy were members. If tho gombeen mon found out that any-ono any-ono trading with them waB trading with ua thoy refused him credit and Issued a writ If ho owed them." A Little Democracy. "Wo wish no ono nny 111. Wo do not do business that way. Wo havo simply demanded tho right to attend to our own little affairs'. Wo meet in our llttlo parliament hero to discuss our business. Wo havo given some entertainments which havo brought tho people nearer together and given them a good tlmo. This year wo organized or-ganized an industrial show in which wo exhibited everything which wo produced pro-duced hero, Including laco and knit goods, as well as some of our farm products. Wo did this to oucourago others to mako theso things. Now wo aro looking around to get some llttlo local industry started. Wo need something of tho kind badly so that moro monoy can como Into tho community. com-munity. Laco making, knitting and work of that kind is important, too, for every llttlo helps here. We aro willing to work when wo can. On the Up-Grade. "Tho boys aro learning to form bettor bet-tor than their fathers farmed. Wo aro raising better cows, and pigs and chickens, nnd producing better eggs, poultry and meat than wo over did beforo. Through our llttlo co-opora-tlvo society wo havo a steady market at good prices for all wo can raise Wo aro not rich, for this Is not a rich country, and never can bo. There nrq too many stones and bogs in Donegal Don-egal for that. But wo aro doing our best, ami wo aro going to reach a point soon whero ovory man can go up and down Dunglow and say that ho owes no man anything. Co-operation has brought us togothor, and wo aro all good friends. Wo aro not fighting with each other any moro. Wo aro helping each other. Wo aro still doing business on a very email scalo, of course. Wo aro poor people, and wo must alwayB bo that. Thero 1b no chanco for wealth in a flvo or slx-acro farn. We ralso a llttlo patch of oats for oatmeal for our family. Most of ub got enough potatoes off our llttlo places to last ub through tho year. Wo couldn't live without potatoes. pota-toes. You know tho great famlno of 1848, when so many died In Ireland, was caused wholly by potato blight. Tho children around here ore almost brought up on potatoes. Thoy get mashed potatoes, with a llttlo milk In It, beforo thoy are weaned. Thoy grow up on It and somotlmos havo llttlo elso. Co-oporatlon has helped ua to sell what wo havo, and we aro doing first rato. Cost of Living. "By purchasing goodB direct from original sources, this socioty has mado It poBslblo for tho poorest farmer to i fort,lllzo his potato patch and Increase In-crease tho crop which ho raises. Tha seeds which come through it are teat-' ed and guaranteed nB thoy novor were beforo. It has lowered tho prlco and1 Improvod tho quality of toa, Indian meal nnd sugar. In ono caso, for ox-nmplo, ox-nmplo, whero a rival trader was charging charg-ing $3.07 for sovon stono of flour wd wero offering tho samo flour nt $2.25 for tho seven stono. "You may bo Interested in knowing about what an avorago family hero has for an income, whero ho gots It and what ho has to cat. I havo mado out a llttlo statomout so you could flguro that out To begin with, ovory farmer has his own potatoes and oats. Besides this, his lncoino is something ltko this: "Eggs and poultry, per wook, about-flvo about-flvo shillings ($GG por year). "Butter for about 18 or 20 wookB In summer, ono to two shillings ($7 por year). "Salo of cattlo possibly 12 pounds each year (JC0 por year). "Salo of sheep, ono pound ($5 por year). "A total of $137 por yeat. "Besides this, tho women earn a llttlo something by knitting sweators and making lace, etc. Marketing Eggs. "You will notice that eggs are our Btaplo product. Tho nverngo poor farm family around hero gets each year from 12 to 15 pounds out of their eggs, which 1b generally about half of their entire monoy lncoino. -Beforo wo took hold, howovor, egg raising was not at all profltablo. Thoro waB no Bteady market, tho farmcrB did not understand poultry, and no one had any nmbltion to learn anything nbout .It Th'ey didn't tako caro of their eggs well and fow wero sold. "Previously tho local prlco was two or threo ponco loss than tho prlco quoted In the nearest market In Straw-bono Straw-bono and Dorry. Now tho prices paid aro from ono to two ponco above tho prices quoted in theso markets. In othor words, wo havo increased the valuo of a dozen eggs from' threo to four ponco (six to eight contB). For the ontlro district, this amounts to qulto n sum. You must remomber also that whllo wo purchased only one-tenth of tho eggB sold In this parish, par-ish, tho fact that wo at Dunglow aro paying tho pricoB which wo pay has mado it necessary for ovory other buyer In tho entlro parish to pay tho samo prlco. Irish Lace and Knitted Goods. "Our co-operatlvo company looka after af-ter a good many things besides selling sell-ing eggs nnd butter. Wo aro holplng tho girls market their laco and knitted work. Two years ago wo asked tho govornment dopartmont to send ub an Instructor to teach tho girls to mako hand-knit sport coats (sweaters). Thoy sent a man to look It up. Ho talked with somo of tho mon h6ro who wero not friendly to this co-operative movoment Nothing was dono. Our girls woro ge(1fniir"VMJNBJBH six pence (36 cents) for knitting a dozen pairs of socks, using up from threo and a half to four poundB of wool. Theso Bocks woro purchased of tho women by nn agent of a wholesale whole-sale trader. "Tho co-oporatlvo society decided they could do hotter by tho girls than theso buyers. Slnco thoy started buying, buy-ing, tho girls got seven shillings six pence ($1.87) from tho socioty for knitting a swoator coat, using only two pounds of wool nnd taking only one-half one-half as long as a dozen pair of socks. Putting It another way, for tho same amount of wool and tho Bamo tlmo spent in knitting, tho girls got 16 shillings ($3.75) Instead of ono shilling shil-ling six ponco (3G cents). That is, our society is paying them ton times what they used to get from tho othor buyers buy-ers for tholr knitting. Formerly the girls who knit lace wero bound by a bargain under which if they sold to any ono privately they wero boycotted. boycot-ted. Tho buyer told them unless they sold him all ho would buy nothing. Now wo aro getting fairly good prlcos for tho laco, better than thoy got before be-fore and wo, of courso, permit them to soil wherever they can. They frequently fre-quently havo oportunlty to sell to tourists and others who como through hero. Whllo wo get fairly good prices for the laco, thero 1b no steady markot for It, as there la for tho knitted goods. Connected With Central Society. "Our llttlo local socioty could not stand alono and do what wo are trying try-ing to do. Wo are helped all tho time by Sir Horace Plunkett'a organization socioty and by tho Co-Operative While-Bain While-Bain society at Dublin. Each week tho wholesalo socioty sends ua a forecast fore-cast giving tho figures that should bo obtained for eggs, buttor and chickens, chick-ens, and stating whother or not thero is to bo a demand for theso products. Each day wo writo to tho wholesale socioty, telling them what wo havo on baud and what wo will likely have. Sometimes wo telegraph. Then they may either wrlto or telegraph back what thoy want us to Bond and when and whero to send it. Wo send it, not to Dublin, but directly to tho places Bolocted by the wholesale Boclotv;. In this way wo save freight, wo save rnmmlflRtnn ivn nnvn tfmn nnt wn commission, wo save tlmo, and wo Bavo tho oggs themselves. "You must not get tho idea," Mr. Gallagher continued, "that this concern con-cern la a largo morcantllo establishment establish-ment We know enough to know that wo can only do business In a modost way. "Wo think wo aro doing It well, and wo hope It will contlnuo to grow as It has In tho past I am moro and moro convinced," he ndds, "by what I seo ovory day, that If we want to havo a happy and contented people hero co-operation 1b tho best means for bringing it about." And bo thoy nro making a fight that would put the ordinary American community to shame a fight that 1b gradually mak ing this desolate roglon habitable nod thl3 hard-worklnjc doodIo hftunv, 1 v - - j (y l ABBBbvJbbJbBIBlh. fl |