Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Social Movements - 1. Labour Questions and Social politics - Cooperative Societies. By G. H. von Koch
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cooperative societies.
703
The National federation, which has its registered office at Stockholm, with a
head office at Gothenburg, has hitherto transacted purely agency trade, except
as regards seeds, and the takings have consisted chiefly of the commissions paid
by the salesmen. Moreover the federation endeavours, by experimental
cultivation, by the publication of a periodical, and in other modes, to promote interest
in agriculture.
As for other agricultural associations the dairy societies are of great
importance. Their aim is to establish cooperative dairies, and through those dairies
to make and sell dairy products. In some places (for instance, in Jämtland),
they also regard it as part of their work to purchase strong food
(kraftfo-der), and so on, for the account of members. Dairy societies are now met
with in most of the läns of Sweden, but are still most numerous in Skåne and
Halland. The first known dairy constituted on a cooperative basis founded in
Scandinavia was the Vilan Dairy Company formed at the People’s High School
at Vilan (see p. II, 126). It was not until the nineties, when encouraging
experience of the cooperative principle had been coming in from Denmark, that
the movement began to get full way ahead. Whereas in 1890 there were only
73 cooperative dairies in existence, their numbers in 1910 had gone up to
542, 155 of which were found in Skåne and Halland. This increase is so
much the more remarkable, as the total number of dairies during this period
has been sinking.
Whereas, as a rule, it is easy enough for any farmer to get into one of these
societies, in some places withdrawal is attended by a certain amount of difficulty.
The amount of the contributions paid on admission varies, and is often
calculated on the number of cows (from 1 to 10 kronor per cow) owned by the
farmer. A large number of societies are constituted without personal liability,
while others stipulate a certain amount of liability, for instance, from 10 to 25
kronor per cow or per are of ground owned. The number of votes, as a rule,
depends on the number of the shares paid. The administration is in the hands
of a board and a dairy superintendent. The profit is, as a rule, distributed in
such wise, that, after amortization of debts and appropriation to the funds has
taken place, a dividend of 5 % is made according to the amount of milk
supplied by members. The cooperative dairies are largest in Malmöhus län,
where the average quantity of milk per day may amount to as much as 10 000
kilograms, and smallest in Norrbottens län, where the figure sometimes drops
to six or seven hundred kilograms. The working expenses vary between 0’6 and
1*3 ore per kilogram.
The agricultural machinery societies have for their object to provide facilities
for small farmers to employ expensive agricultural machinery — in the south
of Sweden steam thrashing-engines, in the north of Sweden often steam
sawmills and steam corn mills. The number of registered societies amounts to
about a hundred, besides which there are a large number that have not been
registered. In this group one may include the moss-litter societies, whose mission
it is to excavate and refine peat.
For the sale of products of the poultry trade there are some 70 egg selling
societies, most of them in Skåne. The butchery societies have not been a great
success; on the other hand the breeding societies whose object it is to supply
bulls and stallions for breeding purposes are numerous and important, though
only a few of them have been legally registered. A promising group is formed
by fruit-growers’ societies especially in the läns of Malmöhus and Gottland; they
have also a central association. A particularly important group, considered from
the economic point of view, is constituted by the 18 beet-growers’ societies, with
their central organization. Besides those that have been mentioned there are
many other cooperative- agricultural societies with divers objects.
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