Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Common Stock [Member] Class A [Member]	Common Stock [Member] Class B [Member]	Capital in Excess of Par Value [Member]	Retained Earnings [Member]	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Member]	Treasury Stock [Member]	Noncontrolling Interest [Member]	Total
Balance at Jul. 31, 2013	$ 27	$ 17	$ 20,017	$ 25,366	$ (85)	$ (1,798)	$ 3,095
Balance (in shares) at Jul. 31, 2013	2,685,151	1,708,574				143,911
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net (loss) income	$ 0	$ 0	0	(1,383)	0	$ 0	592	$ (790)
Foreign currency translation adjustment	0	0	0	0	(164)	0	(133)	(298)
Cash dividends declared	0	0	0	(2,066)	0	0	0	(2,066)
Unrealized investment gain (loss), net	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1
Repurchase of Class A common stock	0	0	0	0	0	$ (173)	0
Repurchase of Class A common stock (in shares)						16,091
Issuance of stock under stock award plan	0	0	(194)	0	0	$ 194	0
Issuance of stock under stock award plan (in shares)						(16,387)
Share-based compensation expense	0	0	353	0	0	$ 0	0
Tax impact of share based compensation	0	0	(32)	0	0	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0	0	0	(665)
Reclassification adjustment for prior period acquisitions of noncontrolling interests	0	0	(2,414)	0	0	0	2,382
Purchase of additional noncontrolling interests	0	0	(606)	0	64	$ 553	(1,157)
Purchase of additional noncontrolling interests (in shares)						(44,260)
Stock award plan forfeitures	0	0	0	0	0	$ 0	0
Stock award plan forfeitures (in shares)						5,999
Balance at Jul. 31, 2014	$ 27	$ 17	17,124	21,917	(183)	$ (1,224)	4,114
Balance (in shares) at Jul. 31, 2014	2,685,151	1,708,574				105,354
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net (loss) income	$ 0	$ 0	0	3,396	0	$ 0	804	4,200
Foreign currency translation adjustment	0	0	0	0	(1,540)	0	(611)	(2,152)
Cash dividends declared	0	0	0	(2,067)	0	0	0	(2,066)
Unrealized investment gain (loss), net	0	0	0	0	(3)	0	0	(4)
Conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock	$ 3	$ (3)	0	0	0	0	0
Conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock (in shares)	338,055	(338,055)
Share-based compensation expense	$ 0	$ 0	59	0	0	0	0
Tax impact of share based compensation	0	0	(92)	0	0	0	0
Tax impact of noncontrolling interests	0	0	(428)	0	0	0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0	0	0	(537)
Purchase of additional noncontrolling interests	0	0	(88)	0	0	$ 0	(200)
Purchase of additional noncontrolling interests (in shares)						0
Stock award plan forfeitures	0	0	0	0	0	$ 0	0
Stock award plan forfeitures (in shares)						1,692
Balance at Jul. 31, 2015	$ 30	$ 14	16,575	23,246	(1,726)	$ (1,224)	3,570	40,485
Balance (in shares) at Jul. 31, 2015	3,023,206	1,370,519				107,046
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Net (loss) income	$ 0	$ 0	0	887	0	$ 0	(278)	608
Foreign currency translation adjustment	0	0	0	0	(438)	0	(119)	(557)
Cash dividends declared	0	0	0	(1,895)	0	0	0	(1,895)
Unrealized investment gain (loss), net	0	0	0	0	21	0	0	21
Conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock	$ 0	$ 0	0	0	0	0	0
Conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock (in shares)	12,572	(12,572)
Issuance of stock under stock award plan	$ 0	$ 0	(6)	0	0	$ 52	0
Issuance of stock under stock award plan (in shares)						(4,533)
Share-based compensation expense	0	0	37	0	0	$ 0	0
Distributions to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0	0	0	(530)
Sale of majority-owned subsidiary	0	0	0	0	0	0	(310)
Stock award plan forfeitures	0	0	0	0	0	$ 0	0
Stock award plan forfeitures (in shares)						1,560
Balance at Jul. 31, 2016	$ 30	$ 14	$ 16,606	$ 22,238	$ (2,143)	$ (1,172)	$ 2,333	$ 37,905
Balance (in shares) at Jul. 31, 2016	3,035,778	1,357,947				104,073