BY IRA CROSS. NE OF the most perplexing ques ON tions to the one hundred and thirty thousand students now attending the colleges and universities in the United States, is that old question of "How can I cut down expenses?" This problem has been partly solved in a most unique manner by the students of Yale, Harvard, Cornell, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Northwestern University and the State Universities of California, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. In each of these institutions a "College Coöperative Book and Supply Store" has been organized, from which everything needed by the collegeman can be purchased. Books, stationery, athletic goods, college pins and pennants, drawing tools and photographic supplies are always to be found in stock in large quantities, while in some instances notably at Yale and Harvard, wood, coal, furniture and a complete line of men's furnishings are also handled. Membership in these associations is obtained by the purchase of a participation card, the price of which varies from 50 cents to $5.00. At the close of each college year, the profits of the company are usually divided among the holders of the membership cards upon a basis of the amount of goods purchased. It often happens that this dividend rises as high as 10 per cent. in cash and 13 per cent. in trade, which in addition to the low prices of the Coöperative Society means quite an annual saving to each member of the organization. Several of these associations sell goods at cost and declare no dividends. Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have a system of " Affiliated Tradesmen," i. e., retail dealers, who by special arrangement sell goods to members of these coöperative stores at a discount of from 5 per cent. to 40 per cent. Harvard was the first university to experiment with a Students' Coöperative Society (1882), and so successful did it prove to be in operation that Yale followed her example a year later, while in 1885 the students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fell into line and organized a similar association. In the meantime some good Samaritan had carried the seed of coöperation far to the westward, with the result that a students' store was started at the University of California in 1884. From that day to the present time, the establishment of College Coöperative Societies has made slow but solid progress. To be sure there have been some failures, and the coöperative stores of the University of Indiana, Oberlin and Syracuse have been temporarily abandoned, but these failures have been due to the lack of efficient management and to the fierce competition of local merchants. When one realizes that the annual business of the largest and oldest of these stores amounts to more than $200,000, while that of three others averages more than $50,000, it is easily seen that even the skeptics have no grounds for doubting their marvelous. success. HARVARD COÖPERATIVE SOCIETY. As stated above, the Harvard Coöperative Society is the oldest and the largest of these institutions. Established in 1882 in the little Drury Office and employing but one clerk, it has grown with tremendous strides until to-day it owns and occupies a commodious four-story building on Harvard Square, the old Lyceum Hall property, and regularly employs a force of forty-two clerks, although during the rush of the first few weeks of each school-year this number often rises as high as seventy-five. In the twenty-three years of its existence it has handed back to the members over $100,000 as dividends, in spite of the fact that most of its goods are sold at almost cost prices. The organization of the society is similar to that of any other business firm. A board of directors and other officers are elected annually by the members of the association and control its policy. Membership in the Society is open to any student or professor of Harvard University, Radcliffe College, and the Episcopal Theological School, as well as to the graduates of these institutions, and is obtained by the payment of an annual fee of $1.00. This enables the holder of the membership card to share in the annual dividends of the Society and to enjoy the advantages of trading with the "Affiliated Retail Dealers." The latter feature alone induces many of the graduates residing in Boston and Cambridge to renew their membership in the Society each year in order that they may have the benefit of trading at reduced prices with these city merchants. During the last year the association had 2,513 members and sold goods amounting in value to the enormous sum of $238,315.14. A veritable department store is this old Lyceum Hall! don, Paris or Leipzig. What Harvard graduate does not remember the excellence of the "Coöp's" stationery, notebooks and punched covers! So highclass are these articles that the Society does a wholesale business in them. Engraving, steel-die cutting and stamping are carried on in this department, as is also the sale of photographic supplies and toilet articles. A display of furniture occupies the second floor. This portion of the company's business has become so large that it has been found advisable to issue an annual "Furniture Catalogue." The top-floor is taken up with the workshops of the Tailoring Department, which are under the supervision of an experienced manager. Coal and wood are sold to the students in large or small quantities and last year resulted in $17,653.93 being added to the income of the association. The following table gives one an idea of the great amount of business transacted by this student organization during the last seven years. STATEMENT OF THE HARVARD COÖPERATIVE 1900 1901 1903 1904 289,218.04 245,517.59* 1905 238,315.14 *Decrease in the receipts of this year due to the sale of the Medical Branch. The cost of fitting up Lyceum Hall was taken out of the net profits, which accounts for the decrease in dividends. The basement is fitted up with a complete line of men's furnishings, laboratory 1902 coats and rubber aprons, together with an extensive assortment of sporting and athletic goods, while the first floor is taken up with the offices of the company and the book and stationery departments. Books of all kinds and descriptions are to be found attractively displayed, ranging from current fiction, fancy-covered gift-books and standard literature to the heavy leather-bound volumes of the law student and the costly imported treatises upon scientific subjects. If the book for which you are looking is not kept in stock, a daily messenger to Boston will bring it back with him, or if it has to be imported, one of the foreign correespondents of the Society will forward it to you from Lon YALE COOPERATIVE CORPORATION. One year following the establishment of the Harvard Coöperative Society saw the beginning of the Yale Coöperative Corporation. Its growth, like that of its predecessor, has been very rapid, until to-day it has become an indispensable part of University life. A complete line of athletic goods, gymnasium supplies, toilet articles, text-books, knives, station ery, flags, pennants, etc., etc., is carried in stock and sold to members at cost, the receipts during the last college year amounting to $60,504.72. Membership in the Corporation is obtained by the payment of $2.00 for a one-year ticket, $4.00 for three years, and $5.00 for four years. This ticket also permits the members to trade with any of the thirtyfive "Associated Tradesmen" who give a discount of from 5 per cent. to 30 per cent. upon all purchases. Ten clerks are regularly employed by the Corporation to serve the 1,200 members and all other persons who frequent the Society's store located in South Middle College. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Four hundred and fifty members, sales amounting to $54,651.58, and an annual dividend of 8 per cent. is the record of the Students' Coöperative Society of the University of California. This association was started in 1884 by the students and faculty members of the University because of the exorbitant prices charged them by the local merchants. Ever since its beginning it has had to meet the determined opposition of the latter. So bitter did this become last year that there were threats of introducing a bill in the legislature at their request calling for the abolition of the Coöp." This society is located in the basement of Old North Hall and is the daily rendezvous for many of the students. An annual fee of $1.00 is charged which permits the member to share in the annual dividends of the Society and to purchase his school-supplies from the store at a reduction of about 8 per cent. below market prices. Six clerks are regularly engaged in serving the customers of the association. THE M. I. T. COÖPERATIVE SOCIETY. The Coöperative Society of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Boston, was begun in 1886. It does not directly own a store or stock of goods, but throughout the year purchases supplies needed by members, and sells them at a small margin. The profits of the Society, as well as the money gotten from the sale of membership cards (50 cents) are placed in the "Coöperative Scholarship Fund" and given to needy students who are working their way through the Institute. Similar to the system used at Harvard and Yale, the membership ticket of the Society also enables one to trade with any of the thirty-five "Affiliated Tradesmen" in all lines of business at a discount varying from 5 per cent. to 40 per cent. COOPERATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. In 1892 the first steps were taken at the University of Wisconsin to start a Students' Coöperative Society. The prices charged by the local merchants for books and stationery were so exorbitant that the students were determined to endure it no longer. It was not until 1894, however, that anything definite resulted from this growing discontent. A mass-meeting was called in Library Hall, and the active support of over two hundred students was pledged to the proposed organization. The beginning was so small that at first all of the business was transacted on the steps of Library Hall, the stock consisting solely of lead-pencils and the historic Blue Books" of Wisconsin (a blue-covered eight-page notebook used exclusively in quizzes and examinations). The first year's business amounted only to $800, while at the present time more than three times this amount is handed back to the students each year in the shape of dividends. 66 For the first few years the opposition of the local merchants was exceedingly bitter and many underhand methods were used by them in their efforts to kill the young enterprise. But the "Coöp.” had come to stay. To-day it occupies the largest store-room in the vicinity of the University, sells more than $48,750 worth of goods, hands back about $2,720.45 in dividends to the 1,600 members, employs five regular clerks, and best of all, has an exceedingly high financial rating. The payment of $2.50 for a share of stock entitles the holder to a life membership and to a fountain-pen of standard make, the value of which is equal to the cost of the share of stock. With each purchase a member is given a slip of paper upon which is his number and the amount of the sale. At the close of the college-year, these slips are brought in by the students, and added up by the clerks of the store who return to the members their share of the dividends in accordance with the total amount of their year's purchases. The rate of dividends thus declared in June, 1905, was 10 per cent. in cash and 13 per cent. in trade. The "Coöp." is headquarters for all college supplies, including books, stationery, military uniforms, gymnasium and athletic goods, shoes, room decorations and student sundries. New students, who have difficulty in being identified at the city banks, as well as many others, find the "Coöp." a convenient place to cash checks and drafts. More than $300 worth of negotiable paper is cashed each day by the Society, while at the beginning of each semester this amount often rises as high as $800. books of current use and has charge of their sale upon the market. The above table is helpful in presenting a statement of the association's business for the last nine years. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS. The Coöperative Society of the University of Texas is different from other organizations of a similar nature because of the fact that at the close of the collegeyear it returns to the members of the association their membership fee amounting to $1.00, together with their share of the profits of the company, based upon the amount of goods purchased. The store of the Society is located in one of the rooms of the University, which has been set apart for it by the Board of Regents. Organized in 1896, to-day it has 249 members, hires five regular clerks, transacted $19,449.30 worth of business during the last year and declared dividends amounting to 5 per cent. upon purchases, in addition to handing back the membership fee of $1.00 to each person sharing in the profits of the business. The table below shows the rapid and STATEMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Annual meetings are held for the election of a board of directors and other * Store just being organized. †This store was begun in January, 1905, and the returns are for the succceding five months. Declares no dividends but sells all goods at cost. consistent growth in the sales of the Society from its establishment to the present time. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI. A Coöperative Society similar in many respects to that of the University of Wisconsin is to be found at the University of Missouri. This store was started in 1900 and has been so successful in operation during the last five years that it already has a membership of 500, with sales amounting to $27,000 for the last collegeyear. Dividends of 10 per cent. were declared upon purchases made by members of the association, while the prices. of books have been reduced more than 25 per cent. from their former cost. Three to six clerks are needed to take care of the rapidly increasing business. UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE. The Cooperative Society of the University of Tennessee, established in 1902, is rather unique in that all of the stock is held by seven professors and officers of the university. Dividends of 8 per cent. are annually paid upon the capital stock, |