“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.