Gillespie, Illinois
History    &    Genealogy

Gillespie, Illinois
Miners Co-operative Store

A Store Erected by Miners to Supply Their Own Needs Gillespie, Ill.		Photograph from : Coal Age2
This appears to be the same building as it is in 2010 located on the sothwest corner of Spruce and Macoupin streets (Macoupin St. is the main street) (and is also IL RT 4)		Photographed June 17, 2010
A Miners' Co-Operative Store2 By H. D. Easton Instructor, Illinois Miners' and Mechanics' Institutes 1142 West Monroe St., Springfield, Ill.
The Gillespie Coöperative Society, of Gillespie, Ill., had a formal opening of its $1400 store building on miners' election day, Dec. 8, 1914. This is said to be the first miners' coöperative store in Illinois. The Scotch bandmen made a picturesque feature with their pipes and kilts while furnishing the music for the occasion.		Photograph from : Coal Age1 The Gillespie Pipers Composed of Miners Working in the Superior Coal Co.'s Mines
John H. Walker, president of Illinois State Federation of Labor, was the speaker of the day. He enlarged upon the coöperative plan and encouraged the present society to look forward to the extending of their activites until a series of such stores are built over the state and all of these units do their purchasing through a coöperative wholesle house. This store, the first of the series, has already been occupied for a few weeks, but the formal pening was deferred until the day of the Gillespie first-aid meet. The speaking was in the Clan McIntosh Hall. See also : Gillespie's Coal Mine First-Aid and Rescue
The store is of brick, two stories high, and has a large basement. The ground floor is used for groceries and foodstuffs in general, the second story is for dry goods and the basement for general storage. The building occupies a corner site on the main street which makes possible excellent window displays.
No One Can Hold Over $25 of Second-Mortgage or Over $500 of First-Mortgage Obligations.
The Gillespie Coöperative Society was organized Apr. 21, 1913, with a capital of $1600. There are about 118 local members. To become a member, the applicant must buy a share at $5; each member is limited to five of such contributions. The money thus raised is called share capital. Each member is given a book with a number, on which is his name does not appear, so that the private affairs of the shareholders are not divulged should anyone find the book.       After a member has purchased his five shares, he is allowed to deposit money which is called loan capital; but of this he is not allowed to obtain more than $500. These two forms of capital are somewhat like common and preferred stock; the share capital draws 5 per cent interest, and the loan capital 4 per cent, each being paidf quarterly. In case of financial difficulty, the loan capital has first claim on any available assets.       The division of the net profits, after paying all running expenses and the interest on the two forms of capital, is proportioned according to the amount of purchases made by members. Amember buying $100 worth of goods would receive twice as much dividend as another who had purchased but $50 worth. Of course, none but members participate in this dividend.
Details of Management
Quarterly meetings are held and each member is fined 25c. for failing to attend a meeting. There is a board of directors consisting of nine men, three of whom are elected each quarter. There are three auditors, one of whom is appointed each quarter by the directorate. This plan always leaves experienced men both on the board and acting as auditors. A manager, the present incumbent being Herman Sies, is hired by the directorate. He, through the board, employs the necssary assistants.       The society plans to handle practically everything that a family needs and to carry none but first-class goods with prices according to value. No prices are to be cut. At present, the second story of the store is devoted largely to ladies' coats; there is to be special attention paid to certain lines in season and the, as members become stocked up with the particular line, other goods will be taken up in the same manner.
Credit Given within $10 of Holding
The system of bookkeeping is greatly simplified by allowing and encouraging each member to purchase on credit goods of a value aggregating $10 less than his total capital. Fifteen dollars must be invested before credit can be given. As stated, a capital of $15 allows a $5 credit.       Many of the members prefer to invest their savings in loan capital rather than to leave the money in a bank. The Society not only allows 4 per cent interest but compounds this increment quarterly.       The present board members are: Peter Harris, Jim Harris, Clyde Bernard, David Shaw, Doctor English, Mike Blaske, John L. Templeton, William Osborne and L. P. Preston. The other officers serve for one year and are: David McKaig, president, James Cowan, vice-president, Robert McKechan, secretary, and W. E. Schmidt, treasurer. Both the board members and officials are eligble for reölection but cannot serve for more than two consecutive terms. The auditors' report shows the number of meetings attended by each official.       The coöperative plan is not new but is being followed with success especially in some colleges and universities. It is a long step from the old-time company store to the coöperative, but a step in the right direction. When miners become active in keeping up their own first-aid societies, coöperative stores, etc., they will have acquired an interest in local affairs that will lead very naturally to owning their own homes. All these movements favor the building up of a community of earnest, contented men and that in turn brings much help towrd gaining peace and prosperity for both operators and miners.
Some Details as to Finance
[The auditors prepare a full and detailed report each quarter. From it we learn that $2802.25 of share capital is owned by 118 members, making an average $23.75 per membe, which closely approximates the possible maximum possible holding of $25. The loan capital amounts to $3111.15 and is held by 91 members, making an average of #34.18 per loan holder. The largest holding is $325.89 and the smallest $0.11.       The grocery stock is valued at $2772.45, the dry goods at $2121.67. The cash on hand and balance in bank total to $2526.65. The total resources were $7921.44. There are $1374.14 of outstanding bills. Teh quarterly interest on shares and loan capital aggregated $46.63; the dividend on purchases for the quarter amounted to $423.47. The total sales are not given but the purchases of the store are recorded as $7702.68 in the three months past. During the same time $850.25 was paid for salaries and delivery of goods.       The figures are not large but the showing is commendable and it must be remembered that it closes already the fifth quarter of trading. - -Editor.]

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Excerpt from Magazine Article January 19183       A point which demonstrates what the advantages of operating a consumers' retail cooperative store means, is given through the effect of the cooperative store owned and operated by the miners in the village of Gillespie, Illinois. Some three years six months ago twenty-seven men started that little society and began their store. At that time more than 5O per cent, of the people of Gillespie were buying more than half their supplies from the mail-order houses of Chicago and St. Louis, because the mail-order houses were selling cheaper than the merchants.       In the first quarter reported, that society paid a 5 per cent, dividend to their members on the basis of purchases, besides 6 per cent, interest on share and loan capital, and put a little in their reserve fund for depreciation and extending their business. A few more members came into the society during those three months and in the second quarter they paid 8 per cent, on purchases, their interest and a larger addition to their reserve fund. The third quarter they paid a 12 per cent, dividend in purchases, their interest and made a larger addition to their reserve fund.       Then the merchants began to realize that unless they reduced the prices they were charging the dividends paid by the cooperative store would be so attractive that all of their customers would leave and go to the cooperative store, and they would go out of business; so they decided that they must reduce those prices, but at the same time, they agreed they must do it in such a way that the cooperative society would not get credit for it. So they began gradually lowering the price of first one article and then another, until today, no one in Gillespie is buying any goods from any of the mail-order houses in any of the large cities, because the merchants at Gillespie are selling cheaper than the mail-order houses; so that as a result of the establishment of that cooperative society in Gillespie there has been a reduction of an average of I5 per cent, in the cost of living given to everybody by the private merchants, even those outside of the cooperative movement, although many of the people who are enjoying this benefit not only don't give the cooperative society credit for it, but they actually antagonize it.       The cooperative society has, in addition to forcing this reduction in the general cost of living, paid to their members quarterly dividends on an average of 10 per cent, on the amount of purchases they have made, along with the interest and additions to the reserve fund, out of which they increase their stock; are paying for their own building; meet all losses, etc., so that in reality, the cooperative society in Gillespie has meant a 25 per cent, reduction in the cost of living to its members, and a 15 per cent, reduction in the cost of living to even the people who are not trading in the cooperative store.       This has been done simply through the advantages gained to the workers by reason of their having established a consumers' cooperative retail store, and it does not take into account the additional advantages that will come from a successful cooperative organization, once it is permanently established, which will mean the saving of at least an additional 10 per cent, or 15 per cent, through the establishment of their own wholesale department, and a possible greater reduction when they start manufacturing the articles which the manufacturers have not been willing to sell them at right prices, and also arranging for dealing with the farmer direct, thus eliminating all unnecessary middlemen and preventing any extortionate prices from being charged.       One attractive feature of the cooperative movement is, that once a retail store is started, the accumulating dividends which formerly the private merchant would have gotten as profits in excess of what he was entitled to, come back to the consumers, and, as the fund is added to continuously, they can extend the business as they have in Europe to wholesaling, manufacturing, establishing a direct relationship with the agricultural workers, and even buy and operate farms themselves, without it costing them one penny, other than what they would have paid formerly to the private merchant for the necessities of life.       If the workers of our country really want to get relief from the unreasonably high prices that the merchants are charging, from the unnecessarily large number of merchants and middlemen that are employed more than what are really needed, the cost for which is all added to the prices we pay for the wares they sell, the extortion of manufacturers who have a monopoly, and everything else that enters into the unnecessary and wrongful exploitation of the people in modern business life, they will start a cooperative store, based on the Rochdale system.       That some stores have failed is no argument against the soundness of the principles ,of the cooperative movement any more than that would be true of the trades union movement. No one thinks today of questioning the need for the practicability or the soundness of the trades union movement because of occasional failures on account of dishonesty or incompetency of officers. No intelligent worker either condemns or quits the trades union movement because of these things. They know that it was the weakness of the individuals that was responsible, so they simply plan to protect themselves in the future from those weaknesses and go on with the work of the organization, and this is absolutely true of the cooperative movement, and it is just as necessary that we treat it in the same way.       Participation as individuals in the ownership and operation of the machinery of the different phases of our modern business life on the part of a larger number of the common people, will mean a more enlightened understanding of this situation, consequently a greater intelligence in dealing with it, which, added to the greater interest that this ownership will create on the part of the people in these matters and its reflex in the accentuated representation they will have in business and political life as well, will not only mean a much more nearly just solution of this particular problem, but will mean bringing the Government itself closer to the common people and them closer to it, which will, without question, result in their fashioning it in such a manner as best to meet their needs. It is no accident that wherever the cooperative movement is strongest, the labor movement is strongest, and that labor has the strongest representation in all phases ot the Government.

Sources : 1 Coal Age; New York; Vol. 4 No. 26 2 Coal Age; New York; Vol. 7 No. 3 3 The Railroad Trainmen, Vol. XXXV No. 1, Published Monthly at Cleveland Ohio by the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen

© 2010     Wayne Hinton