Co-operative Society.

The Cooperative Society is now in a more prosperous condition than ever before. The membership is much larger and the business has doubled since Mr. Lyford took charge, five years ago. The society now contains 1904 members, while at this time last year there were 1668 and the total for the whole year was 1679. This year there has been about $14,000 more business than in the same period of time last year.

There has not been an enlargement of space to meet this pressure of business and consequently the quarters are very much cramped. The furnishing department is the most crowded. Several new departments could be added to great advantage if the space permitted; for example a department for shoes and one for hats. The office is too small for the amount of bookkeeping which must necessarily be carried on, and the superintendent has no separate office. There is no probability, however, that any additional space can be provided for some time.

The department of ready-made clothing, which was started this year, has proved a great success. The shoe repairing department is also doing a large business. Last month alone 175 pairs of shoes were heeled and soled, and outside of that number there were many smaller jobs. This year the society keeps a larger stock of miscellaneous books and many new publications have been put on sale.

Mr. F. K. Ball, who went from here to the University of North Carolina, started there the idea of a cooperative society. The society was organized and a stock of goods worth $2,000 was bought from the Harvard society. The society continues to supply the one in North Carolina. It has also sold the University of North Carolina $1,000 worth of books for its library, bidding for the contract against several New York firms. A large wholesale business is carried on with colleges all over the country. All this outside business helps to increase the dividends of the members of the society.