The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/HD2951xC776/co34 or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/HD2951xC776/co34 COOPERATION ORGAN OF THE Consumers Cooperative Movement in the U. S. A. VOLUME XX January—December 1934 Published by TKe Cooperative League of U. S. A. 167 West 12th Street, New York City INDEX PAGE Action Program of The Cooperative League ........................................ 178 Alanne, V. S. .................................................................. 3 America's Answer—Consumers' Cooperation ..................................... 67, 82 American Institute of Cooperation ................................................ 124 Annals for May, 1934, The ...................................................... 126 Architecture, Swedish ........................................................... 109 Artists Barter .................................................................. 15 Austria, Cooperation in .......................................................... 53 B Banking ..................................................................'..... 93 Becker, Michael ................................................................. 158 Bibliography .................................................................... 78 Book Reviews ............................................................ 30, 47, 127 Borodaevsky, S. ................................................................. 13 Bowen, Eugene R. .................................................... 66, 99, 114, 174 Brewster, Eldredge .............................................................. 126 Brooks, John Graham ............................................................ 130 Brookwood Labor College .................................................... 142, 157 Buying Associations ......................................................... . . 25, 26 c Calendar, The League ................................... ....................... 143 Cance, A. E. ................................................................... 98 Canada, Cooperation in .......................................................... 142 Capitalism ................................................................... 68, 115 Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior, Wis. ................. 17, 18, 23, 40, 61, 88, 156 Central States Cooperative League ............................................ 89, 110 "Century of Progress" ........................................................... 188 Chain Stores .................................................................... 116 Chicago Daily News ............... ........................................ 186, 191 Chicago Forum ................................................................. 189 Christ and Japan ................................................................ 126 Christian Century, The ...................................................... 185, 192 Churches and Cooperation ........................................................ 142 Clubs, Consumers' Cooperative .............................................. 77, 79, 94 Codes and Government .............................................. 4, 5, 7, 21, 37, 92 Competition .................................................................... 13 Cooley, O. .............................................. 2. 7. 18. 42. 52, 53, 59. 60, 110 Commodity Exchange, Palo Alto, California ........................................ 24 "Commonwealth Plan" ........................................................... 98 Commonwealth, The Cooperative ................................................. 9 Communism .................................................................... 69 Congress, The Cooperative Leaque ........................ 97, 114, 129, 134, 161, 165, 18? Consumer Comes Into View, The ...................... ........................ 21, 47 Consumer, Department of the ..................................................... 4, 7 Consumer Emerges .......................................................... 163, 177 Consumers and the Government ............................................... 5, 55, 95 Consumers Cooperative Services, New York City ............................. 23, 93, 123 Consumers Cooperative Methods .................................................. 126 Consumers Guide .................... ........................................... 95 Consumers' Research ............................... .............................. 30 Cooperation Abroad ............................................................. 74 Cooperation in Simple Terms ...................... . . .... ................ 8 Cooperation in Washington .................................................... 37, 38 Cooperative League, The ....................... ............................. 81, 165 Cooperative Trading Company of Waukegan, Illinois ............................... 41 County Councils, Consumer ...................................................... 6 INDEX PAGE Cowden, Howard A. .......................................................... 54, 92 "Credit," by Esopus ....................................................... 12, 29, 45 Credit Cost as Extended by Farm Supply Stores .................................... 5 Credit Unions ................................................................... 15 Czechoslovakia, Cooperation in ..................................................... 12 D Danish Butter Export ............................................................ 51 Debate Outlines ............................................................ 11, 14. 46 Denmark, Cooperation in ...................................................... 94, 157 Dillonvale, Ohio, Cooperation in ................................................. 91 Dobkin, A. ......................................... ........................... 27 Dudley, Sir William .................................. .......................... 187 Eastern States Cooperative League Convention .................................... 107 Edberg, Gideon ................................................................. 20 Editorial Comment from Other Journals ........................................ 159, 185 Education and Advertising ..................................................... 11, 34 Electricity, Cooperative Distribution of ............................................. 14 Elliot, Sidney R. ................................................................ Ill Elsinger, Vera .................................................................. 124 Employees. Cooperative ...................................................... 40, 162 Endorsements ................................................................ 98, 114 England, Cooperation in ............................................... 15, 47, 54, 111 Epworth Herald, The ............................................................ 191 Executive Order, The President's ................................................. 39 Extension Bulletin, The ............................................................ 51 F Fairchild, Henry Pratt ............................................................ 162 Farmers' Cooperation .......................................................... 42, 98 Farmers' Union Central Exchange of St. Paul, Minn. ............................. 109 Fascism ......................................................... 52, 53, 69, 100, 147 Finland, Cooperation in .......................................................... 10 Fitchburg Cooperative Institute ................................................ 61, 157 Ford, E. C. ..................................................................... 155 Forum, The ........................................................ 131, 143, 189. 191 Free Society, A ................................................................. 127 Germany, Cooperation in ......................................................... 24 Gilbert, Joseph ................................................................... 23 H Hanson, Paul ................................................................... 157 Henderson, Fred ................................................................ 82 Holman, E. H. H. ............................................................... 158 Holt, A. E. .............................'........................................ 70 Hosiery Workers Launch Housing Project (Philadelphia) ............................. 41 Housing .................................................................. 14, 41, 143 Hubbardston Cooperative Club ................................................... 62 Hull, I. H. ........................................................... 51, 54, 118, 158 Illinois Farm Supply Company ................................................... 92 Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ........................ 38, 90, 102, 118, 142 Ingerson, Ralph ................................................................. 35 Insurance ......................................................... 14, 41, 61, 109, 189 International Cooperation ......................................................... 46 International Cooperative Alliance Congress ........................................ 148 International Cooperative Wholesale Society ....................................... 190 INDEX J PAGE Jackson, Arthur C. .............................................................. 51 Japan, Cooperation in ............................................................ 123 Johannson, Albin ................................................................. 23 Johnson, General Hugh S. ........................................................ 98 K Kagawa, Toyohiko .............................................................. 126 Kallen, H. M. ............................................................... Ill, 127 Kauppinen, Ilmari ............................................................... 62 Kong, Woo Keh ................................................................. 62 Kress, A. J. .................................................................... 71 Labor ............................................................... 27, 115, 132, 141 Leach, Henry Goddard ................................................... 131, 143, 191 Leaders of America, Challenge to the .......................................... 80, 104 Lehner, Anthony ................................................................ 90 Linnell, F. J. .................................................................... 154 Literature, Outline of Cooperative League ......................................... 179 M Macy, Thad .................................................................... 102 Magna Charta, Our .............................................................. 49 Marquer, Newman ............................................................ 20, 124 Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Minneapolis, Minn. ......................... 41, 106, 156 Milk Cooperatives ...................................................... 120, 141, 158 Milk Distributing Companies' Profits ............................................. 50 Minneapolis, Cooperation in ...................................................... 92 N National Cooperatives Inc. ............................................. 54, 55, 109, 190 Northern States Cooperative League ........................................... 124, 152 Nebraska Farmers Union ................................................... 24, 40, 92 Negro Cooperatives ............................................................ 8, 22 National Recovery Administration ................................... 4, 6, 21, 37, 50, 116 Noah's Ark Up-to-date ........................................................... 140 Nordby, Harold I. ............................................................... 20 Nurmi, H. V. ................................................................... 150 o October, Cooperative Month ..................................................... HI Ohio Farm Bureau Federation ............................................ 92, 108, 124 Oil Cooperatives .......................................................... 38, 59, 154 Orr, Harriet K. .................................................................. 62 Overlooking Cooperation ........................................................ 56 Pacific Cooperator, The .......................................................... 51 Pacific Supply Cooperative ...................................................... 54 Peoples Cooperative Society, New York City ....................................... 61 Peoples Cooperative Society (New York) .... .................. .................. 61 Peoples Cooperative Society, Superior, Wisconsin ......................... 13, 33, 36, 62 Planning Field Trips ..... ........ . ................................... 63 Political State, Cooperative Democracy Unlike the .................................. 137 Power Production .............................................................. 67, 82 Producers and Consumers Cooperation Contrasted ................................... 15 INDEX R PAGE Range Cooperative Oil Association ............................................... 10 Relief Administration, Federal Emergency ....................... 5, 18, 19, 37, 50, 109, 157 Resolutions, Congress ............................................................ 180 Retail Management Practice, Survey of ............................................ 10 Rochdale Principle, Eighth ....................................................... 184 Rock Cooperative Company, Michigan ............................................ 14 Rockingham Cooperative Farm Bureau, Virginia ..................................... 86 Roosevelt, President Franklin D. ............................................ 39, 130, 146 Russell, George W. ............................................................. 70 S Sanderson, W. E. ............................................................... 54 Savings, What Should Cooperatives Do With Them ................................ 66 Scarcity vs. Plenty .............................................................. 133 Schools and Institutes ........................................ 90, 110, 125, 156, 157, 190 Schools Teach Cooperation ............................................ 82, 98, 142, 190 Self-Help Cooperatives .................................................... 81, 155, 189 Shiplacoff, Abraham ............................................................. 40 Slogans ............................................................. 1,3, 14, 28, 130 Smith, Robert L. ............................................................. 107, 127 Solutions, Four Proposed ......................................................... 68 Statistics ................................................................ 92, HI, 156 Sunnyside Cooperative ............................................................ 13 Sweden, Cooperation in ............... .................. ......... 123 139. 143, 158 T Tanner, Vaino ................................................................ 24, 25 Tennessee Valley Authority ...................................................... 51 Tires, Cooperative ............................................................... 124 Tour, Cooperative European .............................................. 58, 122. 158 Trenary Farmers Cooperative Store ............................................... 14 u Union Oil Company Cooperative, North Kansas City, Mo. ...................... 51, 60, 61 United Cooperative Society of Maynard, Massachusetts ............................ 61, 109 United States, Cooperation in .................................................... 75 Up From the Shadows ............ .............................................. 158 V Virginia, Cooperative Growth in ................................................ 13, 86 W Wallace, Henry A. ........................................................... 131, 146 Warbasse, J. P. ............... 5, 21, 37, 39, 47, 55, 56, 84, 100, 116, 137, 143, 148, 165, 172 Ward, Gordon H. ............................................................. 12, 86 Warinner, A. W. ............................................................... 4, 89 What Cooperators Want ........................................................ 1 Where the Tall Corn Grows ..................................................... 158 With Vision the People Survive ................................................... 84 Women's Guild of Great Britain ................................................... 15 Y Youth Leagues ................................................................ 15, 31 Vr 2$ COOPERATION V. - Organ of the Con- Movement in the sumers Cooperative United States Vol. XX. No. 1 JANUARY, 1934 10 cents -•*» s- What Cooperators Want 1. Plenty, not Scarcity. The burning of coffee, plowing under of cotton, slaughtering of piggy sows, forced restriction of oil production, bribing of farmers to cut down acreage, and all other methods of sabo taging production machinery are abhorrent to cooperators. 2. Distribution, not Concentration. The Plenty must be distributed to those who can use it, not piled up in the elevators, warehouses and coffers of the rich. To meet the present emergency, free distribution is necessary. But to prevent future concentration and to provide future distribution, a system of consumer and producer cooperatives must be built. 3. Lower, not Higher Prices; Higher, not Lower, Quality. Cooper ators want more and more for their money, a higher and higher living standard. 4. Higher Wages. That is, real wages. If prices rise-—as they are— wages and farm prices must rise more. The ratio must change, Cooper ators are ready to lead in boosting the wages of their employees. Who will follow? 5. Production Gauged to Satisfy Consumer Demand. No system of production yet known is so sensitive to consumer demand as the Con sumers' Cooperative system. It is a problem of control. Cooperators want-— 6. Control by Consumers. How? First, local consumers' societies (Rochdale) for retail functioning. Second, regional federations of local societies into wholesales for wholesaling, production and transportation. Third, federation of regional wholesales into a National Wholesale for centralized wholesaling, production, transportation, and trade with co operative wholesales in other countries. WHAT COOPERATORS WANT—AND WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO GET! i l-__ll___ltl COOPERATION COOPERATION An organ to spread the knowledge of the Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, produce and dis tribute for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th St.. New York City. OSCAR COOLEY, Editor Contributing Editors George Halonen A. W. Warinner V. S. Alanne George Jacobson ___________L. S. Herron______ ____ Entered as Second Class matter. December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York. N. T., un der the Act of March I. 187S. Price $1.00 a year. Vol. XX. No. 1 January, 1934 Plaster Cast THE consumer, floored by the de pression, is now being put in a plaster cast by the recovery. The world seems to have it in for him. Al most every government is rapidly ex tending its control over industry. Wit ness the import quotas, marketing boards, price-fixing, cartelization, li censing and other measures for cutting out competition. In Austria, for example, a store sell ing peanuts today must continue to sell peanuts tomorrow. The peanut depart ment must be continued; the State so orders. And no new department may be opened. As for starting a new store or business •—nix! In Switzerland, de partmental and chain stores, are pro hibited from expanding. Cooperatives there fear it is only a matter of time before they will come under the ban. In at least two codes being con sidered by the NRA, milling and furni ture, it is proposed that no new plants or concerns be allowed to enter the business. In England, the C. W. S. is being forced to buy home-cured bacon. It doesn't matter if Danish bacon is bet ter, or lower-ipriced—these factors which the cooperators have always as sumed as of some importance are being flipped aside by the governmental pun dits, who appear to think that they and they alone know what is best for the country. Meanwhile, Denmark is fran tically subsidizing her farmers, as is almost every other nation, to make up for the loss of export trade. It seems to be a race to see which country can wipe out its foreign trade the quickest. This wave of strait-jacketing threat ens the very life of the Cooperative movement. Cooperation depends upon freedom of competition. To progress, it must have the opportunity to pursue unhampered its method, which is to compete profit industry out of exist ence. In that work it should have the help, not the hindrance, of the State. For or Against? To be fair, we must admit that not every act of governments is against the consumer. For example, Poland recently dissolved its cement cartel. It was found that of the 17 factories belonging to the cartel, 8 were being subsidized on condition that they produced nothing, while the output of the other 9 could easily have been produced by 2 or 3 In England, the entire milk trade is being brought un der the government Milk Marketing Board, which is fixing prices and li censing dealers. But.—the -manager of this Board is Mr. S. Foster, late man ager of the London Cooperative So ciety. The co-ops may still pay "divi" on milk. And here at home, one day the government fixes the price of milk in a certain city at a profit-insuring, consumer-exploiting level, and the next it proclaims the right of cooperatives to pay the "profits" back to the con sumers. What do you make of that? In the war between producers and consumers, on which side does the State stand? Does it know? Isn't it about time it made up its mind? "Neighbor" In William Morris' "News from Nowhere," his picture of the ideal so ciety, the people invariably call one another "neighbor." It strikes us that the present sorry world would be im proved a shade if more of us got in the habit of addressing our fellows as "neighbor." It is particularly appro- COOPERATION priate for cooperators to do so, since their movement, more than any other, is a movement of neighbors. A cooper ative society is an organization of neighbors, acting together in a neigh borly way and in the interests of their neighborhood. "Fellow-cooperator" is a good word, but it has seven (7) syllables and when all are pronounced properly, the effect is like a double-header freight train getting started, noisily taking up the slack in the couplings all down the line. ^'Friends and fellow-cooperators" •—by the time the speaker has got this out of his mouth, the kids down front are stirring restlessly in their seats wondering if the speech isn't most over, and the old folks are beginning to think about the coffee. "Comrade." Well, the Socialists and Communists have a prior lien on this word, and let them have it, say we. Ever hear an American farmer use the word? No, to him it savors of "Roosia." A cooperative speaker who addresses a farm audience with a chummy "Com rades" might as well follow it with "Thank you" and sit down. Besides, the word calls up the suggestion of "comrade-at-arms," military comrade. Of war or the terminology of war, co- operators will have none. "Neighbor" fills the bill. It is short, sweet but not too sweet, and its pedi gree is OK with the home folks. We suggest that the cooperative move ment adopt this word and use it in passing the time of day. when ad dressing audiences and as a salutation for letters. It is a stout, blue denim word and will stand a lot of wear. a What's Your Answer? What is your answer to this ques tion: Should cooperative publications accept advertisements from private profit concerns, or from any organiza tions that are not consumers' coopera tives or affiliated with the cooperative movement? It is not unusual to see ads of profit goods—especially profit goods that are sold in the cooperative stores—in the cooperative press of other countries. Is it right or wrong? What do you say? V. S. Alanne Cooperatiet Leaders VIENO SEVERI ALANNE, Exec utive Secretary of the Northern States Co operative League, 2100 Washington Ave. N., Minneapo lis. Born at Hameen- linna, Finland, Oct. 23, 1879. Had 3 years at preparatory school, 8 years of "classical lyceum," 4 years at Polytechnic Inst. of Finland (degree in Chemical Engineering), 1 year post graduate work in Organic Chemistry (1903), and 3 months' special course at Univ. of Wyoming. If still you doubt him to be a scholar, dip into his. Finnish-English Dictionary. He read "Life of Giordano Bruno," Marx's writings, Van Loon's "Tol erance," and was influenced. Became interested in Cooperation in 1908 through interest in Socialism. A well- known cooperative educator in the northwest since 1920. "My views have Gradually developed from that of a ocialist-Cooperator and Communist- Cooperator toward that of a 'Cooper- atist,' with strong working-class (So cialist) leanings. I am confident that Cooperation will finally prevail all over the world." Married. Has 1 son, junior auditor for Central Cooperative Wholesale of Superior; 1 daughter, formerly co-op- stenographer. His wife, too, is a co- operator. When Alanne speaks, there are no errors or omissions. Covers the subject, dots the i's and crosses the t's. A thorough chemist. But not narrow. And gives himself without stint. Short, stocky, always good-humored. Clips his words short, moustache also. And he's fair—would make good justice of the Supreme Court. When cooperators want a good chairman for a meeting, they seek Alanne. e Cooperation is a way of capitalizing business without capitalism. COOPERATION ALLEN WOOD- SON WARIN- NER, Executive Sec retary, Central States Cooperative League, Bloomington, 111. Born Ray County, Mo., June 24, 1881. Attend ed public school and one year of college. Continued his educa tion in the School of Hard Knocks. He worked as railroad telegrapher. Married. Has a son and a daughter, neither active in the movement. But his wife is his secretary and right-hand man in the League, which is con veniently housed in the front room. And in the basement, where with a multigraph they turn out propaganda, good stuff when Warinner feels like "writing. He got interested in Cooperation in A. W. Warir "Pop" 1916-17, mainly through connection with Socialist Party. ('Score two for Socialism). Was manager of coopera tive stores at Brookfield, Mo., and Tucumcari, N. M., and for a time of the now defunct Central States C. W. S., E. St. Louis. Sees Cooperation "as a cause pro moting better human relations and a method of carrying on the business of the world which will make for greater security for all. If I did not see in it the only practical hope for building a better social and economic order, I would not be interested, especially to the extent of devoting my life to it." Hard-boiled, but "Pop" to the kids. Maybe due to long dealings with co- operators. Likes beer and beginning to show it. Favorite pastime: Refusing secretaryship of National League. Keenest about teaching the young "uns" Cooperation in the one-week summer schools, of which he ran seven last summer. Would Elevate Prostrate Consumer to Seat in President's Cabinet IN an open letter to President Roose velt, F. J. Schlink, director of Con sumers Research, Inc., of Washington, N. J., asks that a "Department of the Consumer" be formed, headed by a Secretary for Consumers in the Cabi net. We have a Dept. of Labor intended to serve the working-man, says Mr. Schlink, a Dept. of Agriculture to serve the farmer, and a Dept. of Com merce which very capably serves the business man. The consumer needs a department. Due to neglect of the consumer in terest, prices 'have risen more rapidly than wages. Taxes are deliberately laid on the consumer to pay the cost of destruction and acreage reduction. Prices are being fixed, which always puts the consumer in a fix. His re- •sponse is to quit buying. For example, sales of electrical household appliances 'fell 10% in October as compared with September, according to The New York Times. Among the "representatives of the consumer" who have been called to Washington to help make codes, Schlink names Lessing Rosenwald, of Sears, Roebuck & Company, called on the men's clothing code, a Mr. Nelson of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, on housing, and A. B. C. Dohrmann, of whom, says Schlink, even the NRA could not give any identifying information. He was called on the cling peach code. The Food and Drugs Administra tion and Bureau of Standards, sup- ' ported by public funds, do not serve the public, the open letter alleges, but rather function largely for the benefit of private business. Yearly the Bureau of Standards tests nearly 2000 dry cells, from a dozen manufacturers. The resulting data is given free to the manufacturers concerned, but is re- COOPERATION fused to consumers, and can not be had even by state and city govern ments unless they agree not to make it available to their citizens. These bureaus should be made a part of the new Department of the Con sumer, says Schlink. Other existing government units which should be moved into such a department are the Federal Purchasing Board, Federal Specifications Board, Office of Edu cation, and the Bureaus of Home Economics, Chemistry and Entomolo gy. The Food and Drugs Administra tion "should be expanded to include fruit and vegetables, dairy products, meat, poultry, eggs, fish, etc., and all aspects of public health questions di rectly important to consumers." This would be a real step toward solving the problem of the depression, thinks Schlink, "a step which reaches down to the fundamental causes of the consumer's inability to buy back the products of industry which the work of his hand or brain has made." The Consumers' Opportunities By J. P. Warbasse THE unorganized consumer is still in a weak position. He still bears the brunt of everything that is done to rescue the profit system and set it going. But when he organizes himself with his neighbors, it is surprising what he can do. There are institutions called con sumers' guilds and leagues of voters, and so fortlh, which are lists of names with little or nothing at stake. They really consist of the officials sur rounded by a faint adumbration of consumer consciousness. But there are also real organizations of consumers that have a definite meaning. The cooperative societies represent the consumers in the economic field. Each member, besides being a bona- fide and duly elected member, has staked an investment of from $5 to $1000. The cooperative societies are something genuine and tangible. In cidentally, the churches and social clubs represent consumers organized in their own behalf witili a property stake and a purpose. When such bodies of consumers ex press themselves to the NRA, the NRA takes notice. At the public hearing on the Restaurant Code, on November 28, after two tiresome days of the ordi nary milling and pulling on the part of industry and labor for their own particular advantages, something hap pened that set the hearing on edge. The representative of tihe Consumers' Cooperative Services of New York, as employer of labor in its restaurants, presented protests against the payment of 28 cents an hour and $15 a week, as the minimum wage, to which the Labor Advisory Board had agreed, and de manded that the minimum wage "writ ten in the code should be 40 cents an hour and $18 a week. Sleepy indus trialists and labor leaders woke up; and the presiding Deputy Adminis trator demanded to know, "Wihat kind of an organization is this?" Something different had appeared upon the scene. Wherever cooperation goes, asking for the rights of the consumers, it is discovered to be something different from the sort of business commonly in evidence in Washington. Representa tives of cooperation are recognized as being unique. They come with clean hands. They are not trying to get something for themselves at the ex pense of the public; they are obviously acting as the friends of the public, and acting on behalf of its interests. And to the credit of this Roosevelt Ad ministration, it can be said, this is the first government this country has had that has shown real sympathy for the cooperative movement. The consumers are now given an opportunity to organize themselves and become articulate outside of the cooperative societies. The President has created a National Emergency Council. This consists of the progres- COOPERATION What the Consumer County Councils Are To Do /^ONSUMER County Councils are to be set up in every county of every ^^ state of the U. S. Each Council is to consist of 5 to 7 members, with its headquarters at the county seat. Both urban and rural consumers are to be represented. The chief functions of these Councils, according to a letter from Dr. Paul Douglas' office, will be: 1. "To act as agencies for the consideration of consumers' complaints against undue price increases. 2. "To serve as channels for the dissemination of accurate information concerning NRA and its effects upon consumers. 3. "To act as an agency through which consumers may become articulate on ques tions of national economic recovery. 4. "To aid in development of a more economical and efficient distribution of goods to consumers. 5. "To cooperate with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration to speed reemployment by development of sound civic projects." sive members of the Cabinet and the Chairman of the Consumers Advisory Board of the NRA. The purpose of this body is to organize in each of the 3005 counties in the United States a County Emergency Council. The county bod ies will be under tlie supervision of a State Director in each state. The Councils will be the centers of infor mation concerning the NRA. They will carry on education. They will have to do with public policy and the codes. •price fixing, and compliance. They will promote the distribution of milk and •other farm products from farmer to consumer. In each county in connection with this development will be organized a Consumers' County Council consisting of seven members. The chairman of fhis will be a member of the Executive •Committee of the County Emergency Council. It is proposed that wherever there is a cooperative society, a co- opprative group, or an individual espe cially interested in the cooperative movement, such a cooperator shall be appointed on this Consumers' Council. The other members will be persons especially concerned for consumers' in terests, such as the county agent, a member of the housewives' league and league of women voters, ;a home economics teacher, a farmer, and an industrial worker. These Consumers County Councils will have issued to them bulletins on consumers' problems, prices, commodity standards, and on the organization of buying clubs and how to start and run consumers' co operative societies. The Consumers' Councils will have as a special function reporting to the NRA upon the working of the codes in their communities, with particular reference to the interests of the con sumers. They will also be the centers of information on consumers' problems. The cooperative member will be in a position to promote cooperative educa tion and organization in his communi ty. He may make use of the agencies already existing in the Government for fhis purpose. It is also planned that the Consumers' Advisory Board shall set up an instrumentation for the supply of information on cooperative educa tion and organization. This work has been placed under Dr. Paul H. Douglas, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, who is a member of the Consumers Board. He is chairman of the newly created Bu reau of Economic Education of the CAB, and is aggressively promoting this work. The Cooperative League has been called upon by the CAB to supply names of cooperators in every state and county, wherever possible, for ap- COOPERATIO N pointment on the county councils. The societies of The League will be written to from Washington to make nomina tions to the councils. The League has already supplied the names of all of its societies and individuals and from its lists of cooperators; and the work of organizing these county bodies is now in progress. It is important that cooperators watch these county councils. There is no limit to the possibilities of their services to the cooperative movement. In every county where there is a co- operator he should be sure that a co- operator is made a member of the Con sumers' County Council of his county. He will have the support of the Con sumers' Board, from which this project sprung. What will come of this no one can say. Indeed, the uncertainties of the future are so great as to make it pos sible that these plans to cause the con sumers of the whole country to be ex pressive may miscarry. But the fact remains that an attempt is now being made, in good faith and with intelli gent and able backing, to help the con sumer to help himself. Another significant event is the movement to add a Department of tlhe Consumer to our national government, with a Secretary in the President's Cabinet. This has been proposed to Mr. Roosevelt by Mr. F. J. Schlink, Technical Director of Consumers' Re search. The proposal is so reasonable and the cogency of Mr. Schlink's ar guments so challenging that the matter will not be easily evaded. The more persons who telegraph 'and write to the President in approval of this plan, the more attention it will receive. The NRA is susceptible to the in fluence of the public. Attention is given to every complaint concerning the working of the NIRA that comes to Washington. Once it was futile to send telegrams to Washington, but that is not now the case. Cooperative societies should telegraph protests to the NRA concerning all code matters that affect cooperatives adversely. A copy of the telegram should be sent to the Con sumers' Advisory Board. This is now most useful in the case of the Code of the Retail Fuel Industry (coal), of tlhe Apartment House Industry, of the Salt Industry, of the Iron and Steel In dustry, and many others. The cooperatively organized con sumer is now in favor and should take advantage of his opportunities. The people of the United States have suf fered such defective education and so cial environment of such a character that thev may be counted on to put back in power in due time a political administration which expresses more nearly their own intellectual and moral quality. This present administration is exotic. Cooperation should cultivate its garden while the sun shines. Cooperation in Simple Terms TS there some capitalistically-inclined -*- soul to whom you would like to pre sent the idea of Consumers' Coopera tion in such simple terms that he can not refuse to understand it? Try the following approach: Once men lived alone in caves. The economics of a cave-man's life were simple: When he got hungry he went out and killed game, brought it in and ate and was satisfied; when he was cold he skinned the quarry and wrap ped the skin around him. Thus he produced for his own needs as a con sumer. . .' '"1 Later he became a family man, but his family group lived just as he had lived, going out and securing from Nature what -they needed as the need arose. Each family was self-sufficient. If it did not supply itself with enough, its members went hungry; if with more than enough, they lived in abundance. And if they ate poisonous toad-stools instead of mushrooms, it was their own funeral. Nothing could be simpler than this kind of economy. Then, somebody, having a surplus of one thing, offered to trade it for some thing which his neighbor had in abun- 8 COOPERATION dance but he was short of, and thus exchange and specialization in produc tion commenced. Now watch out, for the soup is thickening. Several things now began to happen, and each thing as it happened made life a little more complex and difficult for man's feeble brain to understand and cope with. First, certain commod ities, like gold, which all valued, were accepted as mediums of exchange, now called money. Then, some men, being cleverer than others, in the act of ex change, tipped the scales in their own favor and so got more than they gave. This more they saved up for a time of scarcity, when they were able to ask and get a high price for it from the people who needed it to consume. Thus began the exploitation of the consumer. Also, when specialization came into vogue, and especially after the inven tion of clever specialized machinery—• because so long as each man or each family produced a little of everything, there was no call for machines, but as soon as one man in one place began producing merely one article with thousands of duplicates, machines for turning out these duplicates became very desirable—'then certain men be gan to hire others and pay them wages. These wage-receivers became depend ent upon the wage-payers and this was the beginning of the exploitation of the laborer. It all came as a result of specialization, which, coupled with the use of machines, we call industrialism. But the really big change which came about, but which must have hap pened in the dark of the moon, because nobody seemed to see it, was that now no one, neither the wage-payer nor the wage-earner, was producing for his own consumption, but all were giving their lives to the turning out of some product or gadget which they planned to sell to others, and grow rich in so doing. This was a revolutionary change, which all came about within a com paratively few years, and it is no won der that man, accustomed for so many centuries to the simple plan of pro ducing for his own use, has not yet learned to operate under this new plan. The early cooperators were in the thick of this industrial revolution. It bore terribly upon them and they said, "Let us produce for our own use, as of old, but let us do it jointly and cooper atively, for the old individual life is gone. As individuals we have not ac cess to the land any more. We are herded into cities. But here in the cities, cooperating as consumers, we will get back to the old sound production-for- use philosophy." And so they started the first consumers' cooperative society and set up the first production-for-use "plant," a cooperative retail store in Toad Lane. (Retailing, it should be re membered, is as truly a part of the process of production as manufacture). Thus, Consumers' Cooperation is a method or system of going back to the simple and obviously sound economic philosophy of the cave-man and the cave-family, and at the same time re taining and making use of 'the scientific advantages of specialized production. It is a way of adapting the simple and fundamental verities to our highly com plex industrial society. • Cooperation Cuts Waste Cutting the costs of retail distribu tion through the method of consumers' cooperation is well illustrated by the operations of the Young Negroes Co operative Buying Club of Philadelphia. Orders for groceries are taken in ad vance; the goods are bought for cash and sold for cash. One Saturday re cently the delivery boy went out with goods to fill $50 worth of orders. Meanwhile the manager, Lewis An thony, waited at the wholesale house for the boy to bring back the $50, so that goods to fill another bunch of or ders, on another route, might be bought. Twice the boy went out, and twice the manager waited for the cash, so that he might buy for cash from the wholesaler. When night fell, all the orders were filled, and the manager could go home without a worry about credit on his books. This co-op buying club of negro workers started on a shoe-string about a year ago and has built up a volume of'$350 a week. COOPERATION The Cooperative Commonwealth (As envisioned in 1918 by Leonard Woolf, author of "Cooperation and the Future of In dustry," one of the best of our books, which may be obtained through the Cooperative League for $1.65.) "In the Cooperative Commonwealth every citizen above the age of 17 would be a member of the association of consumers, the Cooperative Move ment. The organization of the move ment would be the same as today ex cept that the individual societies would be federated in a national organiza tion and would therefore be themselves only the local units for the control of industry and for distributive purposes. The initiation of all industrial enter prise and its direction would be in the hands of the association of consumers. . . . The whole body of consumers in the country would determine what should be produced for consumption. Production would thus be based upon and spring from the only proper motive and object, use. But within the walls of industrial production and distribu tion the industrial workers would themselves be organized democratical ly, and a balance of power would be established be-tween the consumers and the workers. This balance of power would be concerned only with the con ditions of employment. . . "The labor necessary for industrial production is an unpleasant necessity and the world must treat it as such. If conscription for any national purpose is justifiable, it is justifiable for in dustrial labor. Every consumer, male and female, should be required to per form an equal share of this labor. .. Once a year every consumer above the age of 23 would be called up for medical examination under the In dustrial Service Act. The examination would be conducted by what is now the local cooperative society, but which would by that time have become the Local Consumers' Authority. Each consumer would be classified in one of four classes: A. Fit for heavy labor, which would include labor in specified occupations such as mining; B. Fit for moderate labor, which again would in clude certain specified occupations; C. Fit for light or sedentary labor; D. Totally incapacitated for any kind of industrial labor. "Every Local Consumers' Authority would send a return of the inhabitants thus classified to what is now the C. W. S. but which would have devel oped into the National Consumers' Authority for Productive Purposes, The C. W. S. under this system of out dreams knows through its statistical department the estimated quantity of each kind of commodity required for the coming year. When all the Local Authorities have sent in their returns, it fcnows the amount of labor available for the different branches of industry. Simple arithmetic will therefore show the number of days' labor in the coming year necessary for each divi sion of industry. "The C. W. S. then sends a state ment to the Local Authority of, let us say, Mayfair in the following terms: 'Classified in Mayfair as fit for heavy labor, 2000 men, 1000 women; you are required to supply for the year 19.., 1000 coal-miners to work two months, 1000 navvies to work 2^ months, 500 railway porters to work 3 months, 500 general laborers to work 3 months: total 3000 heavy laborers.' The 3000 persons classified in Mayfair in Class A are then summoned on a certain day and draw lots as to whether they shall work as coal-miners, navvies, railway porters, or general laborers, provided that any person may voluntarily ex change occupation with any other per son within the same class. The sane process will be repeated in every local ity for each class. The performance of the year's labor will entitle each per-, son to a fixed wage of say, £4 a week for the year. Every person would probably have to perform a maximum of about four months' industrial labor during the year. In the other eight months he would be at liberty to pur sue the work or hobby of his choice, whether it happened to be coal-mining, writing books, painting pictures, pol itics, science, or philandering." 10 COOPERATION New Co-op. Building in Finland 'T'HIS is the beautiful building, re- -*-. cently completed, of the Finnish Cooperative Wholesale (O.T.K.) in Helsingfors. It is modern in every re spect. In it are housed both the •whole sale and the cooperative insurance so ciety. On the top floors are up-to-date laboratories for the testing of goods to be sold through the society. The in- —Courtesy Federated Press terior is as modern and attractive as the exterior. O.T.K. is owned by 109 distributive societies, which operate 1720 stores and have a membership of 248,000. Flour mills, match factories, a tailoring establishment, a ladies' dressmaking shop, an underwear factory, coffee roastery, margarine factory and a chemical plant are operated. How the Best Stores Do It A "Survey of Retail Management Practices" by the U. S. Dept. of Com merce brought out the following points: Stores selling for cash only were found more frequently to be operating at a profit than stores on a cash-and- credit basis. Stores run at a profit showed more positive methods for collecting delin quent accounts than unprofitable stores. Stores not giving delivery service were profitable in a greater proportion of • cases than those which gave such service. A greater proportion of the profit able stores used sales promotion meth ods, and used them more completely and consistently, than did the unprof itable stores. A larger proportion of stores show ing a profit determined their costs and profits by each of the various depart ments of their business. A greater proportion of the profit able stores made provision for training and instruction than did those stores which indicated a loss. • Fair Business Net earnings of the Range Co-op Oil Association, northern Minnesota, in six months of 1933 exceeded the total share capital. This is a federa tion of 11 co-op stores. COOPERATION II More Pointers on Propaganda * I 'O win converts to Cooperation in -*- any community, one may ap proach individuals directly, or one may work through existing organizations. We will consider the latter method here. In your Youth League, or Woman's Guild, you have ambitious young workers, zealous for Cooperation, anx ious to do something concrete to fur ther the cause. Some can speak (if en couraged), others •write, others con duct classes and forums. All can speak more or less effectively to an audience of one. These cooperators also belong to other organizations in the communi ty, such as the churches, women's clubs, Grange, labor unions, lodges, civic associations, taxpayers' leagues, schools, colleges, Y. M. C. A., Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc. It is true that most of these are conservative, even reactionary, groups. But most of them are non-sectarian and non-factional, like the cooperative. And like the co-op they are •working, presumably, for gen uine community betterment. To some extent at least, they should be natural allies of the cooperative. To •what ex tent, can only be found by testing them out. The natural approach to these or ganizations is through those of your members who are also their members. For example: Mattie Smith, who is a member of the Women's Co-op Guild, is elected lecturer of the Grange. That means she gets up the programs for Grange meetinqs. Mattie. how about giving those Grangers two or three pood speakers on Cooperation during the year? Then Johnny Brown, the Methodist minister's son, is running with the Co-op Youth League crowd. Per'haps Johnny can get his father and mother interested in a kind of social re construction that really reconstructs. Maybe he can qet Cooperation on the list of Men's Forum subiects, or have a cooperative movie shown at the Community Services on a Sunday night. And George Spivak, of United Textile Workers Local No. —, at the suggestion of his •wife •who is a co operative guildswoman, gets up in union meeting and moves for a com mittee to study a cooperative housing plan similar to the Amalgamated in New York, •which he describes and shows pictures of. Do It Systematically This kind of work should be carried on systematically. Canvass your mem bership and see 'what other organiza tions are represented. Then call to gether all -who may act in this •way and discuss strategy. A special committee on this form of propaganda may be advisable. Don't pass up the schools. Members of Youth leagues •who are also school students should suggest Cooperation as a subject for debates in English and Public Speaking classes, for talks in Assembly, for essays, etc. How about "The NRA vs. the Cooperative Move ment" as a timely subject? Movies if available are also usually gladly ac cepted by schools. A "field trip" to the premises of the cooperative society by the class in economics or social science may be proposed. A Hospitality Com mittee should be ready to receive them and show them around. Such features are often •welcomed by teachers be cause it gives them something "dif ferent" to do with their classes. Have speakers at meetings and func tions of other organizations •whenever possfble. First it is necessary to have such speakers prepared, both men and •women. The Youth League should get up a class in Public Speaking, having a qualified adult hear and coach the speakers. This class will study both Cooperation and how to talk about it. The community is always ready to listen to one of its young -people •who has something concrete to say and can say it. Then set yourself a quota of "speeches in other organizations," de pending on the number of such organi zations in your community, frequency of meeting, contacts -with cooperators, degree of liberal sympathy, etc. Don't hesitate to ask for more than 12 COOPERATION lip-service support from members of other organizations. Urge them to join and support the co-op with their pur chasing power as consumers. A speech "What Cooperators Are Doing on Abroad" may be very interesting to your audience, but it will not accom plish the effect you desire unless it brings the subject back home and ends with an appeal to "join the co-op." The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men By Esopus The third of a series of tales concern ing the life of the tyrant, Credit, born of the love of the merchant, Dollar, for a bewitching wench named Profit. III. NOW, as the reader will remember, the peasant whose family was in tatters and himself in rags, and who, although his pocket was empty of money had nevertheless gone to the marketplace, hoping that by some miracle he would be able to obtain clothing, returned home rejoicing. The weight of the bolt of cloth across his shoulders was as nothing. Now they would all dress in warmth; they would even go to church and strut before their neighbors. And all because of that good mer chant. Dollar, who had allowed him to take the cloth for nothing. For noth ing? Ah, for a mere promise to pay on Monday after next, when the corn would be harvested and in market. So easy; so simple. But—"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." This time it was the plans of men, not of mice. For even while the peasant had been in the marketplace, dickering for the cloth, the mice had been making free in his corn field, chewing and chanking and laying waste over half the crop. It was a sober peasant who, clad in his new warm shirt, hauled his few sacks of corn to market. There he was terrified to learn that corn was a glut on the market, due to some strange reason well understood to the buyers but quite mysterious to him, and the price whic'h he received for his whole crop would not pay for one shirt. Straightway he hurried to the mer chant, Dollar. Holding out the few coins, he said, "This is all I have with which to pay. Prithee give me more time. Mayhap I can sell my goat and pay thee all." Dollar frowned and sternly said: "I took thee for a man of (hy word!" Whereupon the young boy, Credit, who the reader will observe was al ready cutting his eye teeth, said: "Be not hard on him, Father. Give him another week." And Dollar, hu moring the lad, said to the peasant: "Very well. I see you have had bad fortune. I will give thee until Monday week. But you must pledge me your farm. Here, I have already written the pledge. Sign thee here." Trembling with joy, the peasant em braced the young man, Credit, and signed and hurried home, only to be met at the door by his eldest child, who wept and said: "Father, we have no milk for sup per. The goat got hung by the neck in a thicket and is dead." The peasant crossed himself and went into the home that he knew was no longer his. The following week, Dollar took possession. He tore down the hut and built a villa proper to house his beau tiful spouse, Profit, and their son, Credit, who was a lusty fellow and needed room for expansion. The peas ant and his family took to the road and became beggars. Or, as such were called in that land, "unemployed." Thus Credit began life posing as a benefactor of the poor, a pose which, we shall see, he was to hold with ever- increasing cunning and effectiveness throughout his abominable career. How he lost a leg at Rochdale in 1844, and how he has since grown seven new ones, more or less, to take its place, will be told in the next and succeeding tales. COOPERATION 13 Cooperative Growth in Virginia A vigorous cooperative movement is developing among the farmers of Virginia. Gordon H. Ward of Blacksburg, cooperative extension worker, informs us as follows: The Virginia Seed Service is now the Southern States Cooperative, and aims to manufacture and distribute for farmers throughout the South Atlantic region. The cooperative purchasing associations of Maryland and North Carolina may consolidate in the new regional. A subsidiary, known as Southern States Cooperative Mills, has been established and is fast completing a feed mill on deep water in Baltimore, which will have a capacity of 40 cars per day. Fertilizer manufacturing ac tivities are also being expanded with mills in Norfolk and Petersburg. The G. L. F. Cooperative fertilizer plant at Baltimore is being used to serve north ern Virginia. Under the fertilizer code, prices are to be stabilized at a point which will enable the old line companies to make a profit. Since they had an average loss last spring of $4 per ton (while the cooperatives more than broke even), prices will probably be raised at least $4. The cooperatives will have to charge the same price, but they can re fund the $4. Thus they should get the business. Another fertilizer co-op is the Vir ginia Truck Growers Mfg. Corp., which this summer came under the Virginia cooperative act. It was started in 1926 by truck farmers around Nor folk, and has its own fertilizer plant. From the start cooperative principles of one man, one vote and limited divi dends on stock (8%) have been fol lowed. Locals have been organized and given membership through the distribu tion of shares. The secretaries of these locals are being bonded and will handle purchase of supplies for members of the local. In time it is hoped this or ganization will become a general farm ers' purchasing association, integrat ing wholesale and retail operations. Can a Co-op Compete? Ask George Schemm of Valentine, Nebr. He needed a grain binder, ac cording to the "Nebraska Union Farmer." The local dealer wanted $230. George bought his from the Farmers Union State Exchange. When the local dealer found this out, he came down to $150. But George didn't change his mind; he had paid $132.50. • What the Czech Cooperators Are Doing The organized consumers of Czecho slovakia in 1932 got their food products through the cooperative societies 9.6% cheaper than did the consumers who depended upon private stores, accord ing to Prof. S. Borodaevsky. The Central Union of Cooperative Societies in that country is about to celebrate its 25th birthday. The Union consists of 220 consumers' societies, 185 producers' societies, 193 building associations, 174 workers' and peoples' houses, 43 credit societies and a num ber of others. Total membership is 470,000. 75% of the business is done by the consumers' societies. Dollar volume was about 15% less in 1932 than in 1930. e Bon Voyage, Sunnyside! Sunnyside society, Long Island City, opened its store on Dec. 2, with a full line of groceries, delicatessen goods, fruits and vegetables. A "department of natural foods" is planned. The milk and laundry business is reported grow ing steadily. • Superior To Go Ahead The People's Cooperative Society of Superior has voted to go ahead with the opening of a branch store in the heart of the shopping section as plan ned. 14 COOPERATION Sales Are On the Up Sales of cooperatives are on the in crease. For instance, Trenary Farmers Cooperative Store nearly doubled its sales in November over the same month of 1932. Its Munising branch jumped from $1100 to $2600. • Save 40-50% by Cooperating The Associated Cooperative Fire Insurance Companies, Woodridge, N. Y., cut their losses almost one-half last year—from $136,340 in 1932 to $79,300 in 1933. "Our members," writes Boris Fogelson, secretary, "paid from 40 to 50% less than they would have had to pay if insured by stock companies." • Co-op Current Twenty-four farmers in Granite Falls, Minn., says Federated Press, have formed a cooperative for electric power distribution. They buy current from the municipal plant for 5c and retail it to members for 7c. With the difference they put up poles, lines, transformers, etc., and provide for re serves. A good article in November "Har pers," by Marquis Childs, tells how rural cooperatives in Sweden distribute electric power in much the same way. That's right, there are a few Swedes in Minnesota. • Co-op Housing for Minneapolis They are considering cooperative housing in Minneapolis. The Workers Housing Corporation has been formed and an application for a loan of 2}/2 million has been made to Public Works Administrator Ickes. • Total sales of Rock Cooperative Company, Michigan, for the first 7 months of 1933 were $52,899.92, net gain $1484.20. • Sound Sense "If you have invested money in a cooperative society, protect it with your trade."—'The Canadian Cooper- ator. Debate Outline (Editor's Note: My class at Commonwealth got quite hot over this question. That is why I suggest it. O. C.) Resolved, That a candidate for an elective position in a cooperative society (such as member of the Board of Directors) should make an active campaign for election. Affirmative. 1. Makes for intelligent voting—lets members get acquainted with candidate. 2. Stimulates interest in the elections-gets out the vote—makes democracy work- gives the co-op new life.—makes publicity around town. 3. Elevates importance of office and stimulates desire to hold it.—creates pride-and- prestige appeal. In too many societies, office is accepted unwillingly and endured, not sought for and prized. 4. Gives chance for newcomer—'not so likely that the old gang be reelected over and over. Negative. 1. One candidate may be able to afford more advts., more torchlight processions, etc., than another. (Before the debate, the following question should be decided: If cam paigning is to be encouraged, should the society pay a certain campaign expense for each candidate, as English societies do? If expense is to be left to the candidate, should this expense be limited?) 2. One may be a silver-tongued orator, or clever publicity man, while another is tongue-tied. Both may be equally well qualified for the office. 3. May encourage bribery, ballot-box stuffing, and other political chicanery. 4. May stir up personal animosity and cause dissension which may spread to other affairs of the co-op. 5. May involve politics, religion, race, or color of hair of candidates. COOPERATION 15 Artists Get Barter Bug Even the artists are having to go back to barter. They bring their work to the Art Exchange Bureau, 156 West 45th St., New York City, which ar ranges swaps for them. Sometimes the swaps are three- or four-cornered be fore the artist gets what he desires. • The Cooperative Women's Guild of Great Britain has over 70,000 member guildswomen. • Producers' and Consumers' Movement Contrasted \Vhere the consumers' cooperative movement in this country seems to devote its educational work first to development of a cooperative commonwealth and second to efficient coopera tive buying, we (the farm co-ops.) reverse the formula by placing our primary emphasis on efficient cooperative business and secondly upon the development of cooperative spirit. Frankly I believe that is one reason why the farmers' cooperative movement has been moving a little more rapidly in most areas of the U. S. than has the consumers movement. I don't mean this as criticism, because I am well aware that you have faced problems more difficult than ours to solve. (Extract from a letter by a farmers' coopera tive leader.") • Cooperative Youth New Youth League Organized Early in November, a movement was started to organize a Youth League of the Waukegan- North Chicago Cooperative Association. The preliminary meeting was a great success, par ticularly in the number of individuals present. The second meeting completed the job of set ting up the organization as a working group. The constitution as presented was accepted after some amendments had been made. At the third meeting, the following officers were elected: President, Miss A. Ogrin, Vice- President, Edward Koncan, and Secretary- Treasurer, Miss Jennie Popit. Committee chair men were elected, and they in turn selected their committee members. Preparations are being made for quite an ex tensive educational program, and the entertain ment committee has already shown itself to be very efficient. The Youth League of the Waukegan-North Chicago Cooperative Association, is affiliated with the Central States Youth League, and has a membership of over forty persons. It is ex pected to increase this number considerably in the near future, making this organization one of the largest, if not the largest Youth League in the country. Slowko. Credit Unions in the U. S. Of 1612 credit unions in 42 states, 1472 reporting to the Bureau of Labor Statistics have 301,119 members and share capital of nearly 22 million dol lars. 1345 unions loaned to 161,941 member-borrowers in 1932. Their loans totaled over 16 million dollars, an average of $16,475 per union. The average size loan was $156. The Canadian Cooperator Brantford, Ontario, Canada The organ of the Canadian Coopera tive Movement, owned by and con ducted under the auspices of The Cooperative Union of Canada, Published monthly 75c per annum The Cooperative Builder The official organ of Northern States Cooperative League Central States Cooperative League Central Cooperative Wholesale An interesting and lively cooperative journal published semi-monthly at Superior, Wis. Subscription rate $1.00 per year. CENTRAL COOPERATIVE WHOLESALE Superior, Wis. FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S FURNITURE FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St., New York, N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. Under supervision of N. Y. State Insurance Department. 16 COOPERATION STUDY CONSUMERS' COOPERATION The books and pamphlets listed below are available through The Cooperative League, 167 W. 12, N. Y. C. Read them and pass them on to your friends HISTORICAL Per Copy Per 100 38. Consumers Cooperation In the United States (IIIus.), 1830.... .10 8.00 48. Story of Toad Lane (By Stuart Chase) ...................... .05 4.00 S4. The Coop. Movement. J. H. Dietrloh .05 4.00 &^. Cooperation Here and Abroad, H. T. Hughes ................ .10 7.00 TECHNICAL 4. How to Start and Run a Rochdale Cooperative Society .......... .26 16.00 6. Model By-Laws for a Rochdale Cooperative Society .......... .06 2.50 88. Credit Union Primer (By Ham and Robinson) .............. .50 El. Model Lease for Cooperative Apartment House ............ .10 MISCELLANEOUS 16. Model Co-op State Law ........ .10 88. "When the Whistle Blew" (Story. by Bruce Calvert) .......... OS 67. How a Consumers* Cooperative Differs from Ordinary Business .01 .76 6Z. Buttons (League emblem), % inch diameter ............... .06 1.00 63 Sign or Transparency of League Emblem. Green and gold, 8 in. diameter .................... .25 16.09 €7. Stock certificates, engraved, with League Emblem. Bound In books of 100. 200, or 250 «8. To Mothers ................... .02 1.00 id. Farmers' Cooperation, A Way Out: An address by L. S. Herron.. .05 4.00 72. "Little Lessons In Cooperation" 35 74. The Burden of Credit ......... .02 1.00 76. What Is the Cooperative Store.. .03 2.00 76. What is Consumers' Cooperation .05 4.00 11. The Most Necessary Thing In Life ......................... .02 1.00 78. Are You Sure You Are Getting Your Money's Worth ........ .02 1.00 78. There Are Two Sides to Every Counter ...................... .02 1.00 '86. Consumers' Credit, and Produc tive Societies, Bull. 631 of the Bureau of Labour Statistics.. .25 '81. Cooperative Youth Soners ...... .25 82. What Cooperation mpans to a de pression-sick America ........ .03 2.00 83. What Is the Cooceratlve Leaeue "What Consumers' Cooperation Means to a Depression-Sick America" Try it on your depression-sick friend A new leaflet, mostly pictures 3 cents per copy, $2 per 100 We also recommend "What Is Consumers' Cooperation?" by Dr. J. P. Warbasse. A clear, concise definition. 5 cents per copy, $4 per 100 Order from The Cooperative League Raivaaja Print—Fitchburg, Mass. MONTHLY PUBLICATIONS Cooperation—(In bundle lots, $7.50 per hundred). Subscription, per year (foreign, J1.26).... $1.00 REVIEW OP INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (Pub. by the I. C. A.) ........ Per Tear, S1.5& BOOKS The following books are recommended as con taining: the best discussion of the modern Co- operaitive Movement. They may be ordered through The League, postpaid on receipt of price. Blanc, Elsie T.: Cooperative Movement in Russia, 1924 _______ ________ 1.50 Brightwill, L,. R.: Animal "Co-op" Book— For Children ........................ .IE Chase and Schlink: Your Money's Worth, A Book for Consumers ................ 1.10 Flanagan, J. A.: Wholesale Cooperation in Scotland, 1810 ........................ J.l» GIde, C.: Consumers' Cooperative Societies, American edition and notes, 1&22, Cloth l.oO Hall, Prof. Fred: Handbook for Members of Cooperative Committees ............. 2.50 Holyoake: Rochdale Pioneers 1192 ....... 1.1* Hough, E. M.: Cooperation in India 1932.... 3.75 Indian Cooperation, Children's story ...... .16 Jessness, O. B.: Cooperative Marketing: of Farm Products ....................... 8.10 Kress, A. J. :CapitalIsni, Cooperation, Com munism, 1932 ......................... 2.00 Life As We Have Known It. Life stories of English guilds-women, telling what the Guild has done for them.. 1.25 Madams, J. P.: The Story Retold ......... .85 Nicholson, Isa: Our Story ................ .26 Odhe, Thorsten: Finland, A Nation of Co- operators ............................. 1.5(1 Oerne, Andres: Cooperative Ideals and Problems ............................. 1.85 Owen, Robert: Autobiography ........... .75 Polsson, B.: The Cooperative Republic.... 1.85 Potter, B.: Cooperative Movement In Great Britain 1S91........................ ... 1.10 Redfern, Percy: The Story of the C. W. S. 1.16 Redfern, Percy: The Consumers' Place in Society, 1920 .......................... 1.00 Smith-Gordon & Staples: Rural Recon struction in Ireland, 1918 ............ 1.00 Smith-Gordon and O'Brien: Cooperation in Denmark ............................. 1.10 Smith-Gordon and O'Brien: Cooperation in Many Lands, 1920 .................... !.*• Stolinsky, A.: The Cooperative Movement. (In Yiddish) ......................... 1.00 Wajrbasse, J. P.: Cooperative Democracy, (1927D ............................... 1-60 Warbasse, J. P.: What Is Cooperation, 1927 .76 Warne, C. B.: Consumers' Cooperative Move ment In Illinois 1926.................. 8.6» Webb, B. and S.: The Consumers' Coopera tive Movement, 1911 .................. 6.0* Webb, Catherine: Industrial Cooperation, 1917 .................................. !•«• Woolf, Leonard: Cooperation and the Fu ture of Industry ..................... l.*6 Cooperation, Bound Volumes, 1915 to 19S2 inclusive, each year ................ 1.26 The People's Year Book, 1933, English. paper .75, cloth 1.35 Year Book of The Cooperative League, 1932 .75 COOPERATION Organ of the Con- Movement in the sumers Cooperative United States Vol. XX. No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1934 10 cents FE6 26 Front Page News "GEVERAL Co-ops that have sur- *^ plus cash on hand are depositing it with the Central Co-op Wholesale in the form of advance payments on their future purchases, rather than keep it in the local banks." The Cooperative Builder, Superior, Wisconsin, Jan. 6, 1934. I_____ 18 COOPERATION COO PERATION An organ to spread the knowledge of the Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, produce and dis tribute for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th St.. New York City. OSCAR COOLEY, Editor Contributing Editors George Halonen A. W. Warinner V. S. Alanne George Jacobson Entered as Second Class matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. T., un der the Act of March 3, 18T9. Price J1.00 a year. Vol. XX. No. 2 February, 1934 WE view with pleasure the increas ing articulateness of the con sumer in Washington and his in creasing influence in the New Deal as the effect of its policies on the con sumer is pointed out. Now The Co operative League is asked for pamph lets and leaflets on consumers co operation to be reprinted and distrib uted by the Consumer County Coun cils. Good! Let the presses roll. In addition each County Council should assemble a library of books, periodicals, and pamphlets of consumer information to be loaned throughout its county. Public and school libraries should assist. "Traveling libraries" might be utilized. Give the people knowledge and they will set them selves free. Concerning Revolutions The world has seen but one great change worthy of being called a Revo lution. That was when man changed from production for use to production for profit. The first shot was fired when the first sale was made, that is, when the first goods were exchanged rather than used by the producer. The fight began to get hot when Private Ownership was instituted, and hotter still when Specialization got a-going. The old order was not decisively crushed, however, until the invention of clever machines ushered in Indus trialization, Mass Production, and Capitalism as we now know it. We are now on the gathering wave of another Revolution: the change from production for profit to production for use. That, you say, lodks like going back where we came from. In philos ophy, yes; in techniques, no. We will not go back to the crooked stick plow, but we are in process of returning to the common sense motives of the crooked stick plowman. This Second Revolution began with the first people who perceived the danger into which the profit motive was leading us; with Karl Marx, let us say, for he was perhaps the first to be come really articulate about it. As long as men produced for profit on a small scale, the curse of profit was not so ap parent. When the Machine, the Fac tory and Industrialism came along, men could no longer remain blind to the deviltry that was afoot. Thus the full flowering of the First Revolution gave birth to the Second. Marx and Engels pointed to the danger and said Socialism would save us. Robert Owen and Dr. King also pointed to the danger and predicted Cooperation. All were right, but none were all right. Socialism has developed and is developing in an ever-swelling flood; so is Cooperation. Cooperation and Socialism are separately contend ing for the service motive. Just as a war may be fought by land forces and by sea forces, this Second Revolu tion is being fought by more than one kind of force. Think a minute and you will see that the First Revolution lasted quite a spell, 10,000 years maybe. In compari son the Second Revolution hasn't been going on long, only a hundred years or so. Cheer up! The smallest co-op store in the fur thermost neck of the woods of Michi gan is an outpost in this Second Revo lution. So is tlhe English C.W.S. Soviet Russia is playing a part, a big part. So is the Tennessee Valley Authority. This Revolution manifests itself in a multitude of forms, some of them not easily recognized. There's no call to get excited when COOPERATION 19 some young enthusiast begins to fulmi nate about the "coming Revolution." The real Revolution is here; we are in it. We have been for a long time, and • will be for much longer. Why get lathered up about it? Of course the "coming Revolution" which our young enthusiast heralds is not the Revolu tion that we speak of. There are waves in the ocean; there is also a tide. It's not a bad idea for Cooperators to take a long-term look at these mat ters. It gives them a better idea of where they stand. It also gives them a broader sympathy with all other forces working for the success of the Second Revolution. NRA Nonsense Under the proposed trucking code, Farmer Smith would not be able to haul a can of his neighbor's milk to market for pay, without getting a li cense and filing a schedule of rates. Next thing we know, the small boy who carries tlhe old lady's bag across the street and gets a penny for it will be required to file his schedule of rates. What if Farmer Brown pays his neighbor Smith by helping him butcher, or by giving his kids a lift to school? In that case Smith's "schedule of rates" is going to be interesting reading. The Man from Mars, recently ar rived on the Earth, espied an old Model T in a plowed field, wandering aimlessly and laboriously about as if lost. Out of curiosity he drew nearer. The bus was labelled "The Economic Machine." The driver, a happy but dumb-looking dolt, was tagged Capi talist. Behind him was what appeared to be a back-seat driver, labelled So cialist. Hanging on the running board and watching his chance to hit the driver over the head with a piece of iron pipe was a Communist. A fourth man, labelled Cooperator, had got out of the ancient vehicle and was walking down the road where a sign pointed "To the Cooperative Comm on wealth.'' Odd Lots When gasoline hit 25c in Porto Ri co, the consumers struck. Tourists were scared onto their ships and of ficials were afraid to drive their cars for fear of nails. Porto Rico must have heard our appeal, "Consumers, A- wake!" • The President in his message to Congress said: "We would save and encourage the slowly growing impulse among con sumers to enter the industrial market place equipped with sufficient organi zation to insist on fair prices and honest sales." Sounds suspiciously like cooperation, Franklin. • Add to the growing number of able friends of the cooperative movement at Washington Robert Lynd, one of the authors of "Middletown" and now a member of the Consumers Advisory Board. • "Cromwell, Minn..— Reports on plans for the establish ment of a district sausage factory and a Co-op. Burial Association were heard and given approval.".—The Co operative Builder. Heavens, is this cause and effect? • Ely (Minn.) Cooperative Associa tion nearly doubled its volume in 1933 over 1932. • An electric bulb which gives the same candlepower as ordinary bulbs on about 1/50 the current has been in vented, says Stuart Chase, and is being held out of production by the profit power companies. Typical example of the profit system keeping the public in the dark. o They're going ahead with that co operative bank at the Head-of-the- Lakes. A meeting of 16 co-ops in Clo- quet on New Year's Day appointed a committee to draw up detailed plans. 20 COOPERATION Gideon Edberg Leaders GIDEON ED BERG, chair man. Auditing Com mittee, Franklin Co operative Creamery Assoc.; member, Co operative League Board; President, Minneapolis Coop erative Oil Associa tion; Director, Co operative Housing Association; Secretary, Twin City Co operative Council—'a busy cooperator. Born in Sweden 42 years ago. Went to grade schools and one year in high school, but got most education by the light of the midnight lamp. Three books that influenced him most are "Capital" by Marx, "Progress and Poverty" by H. George, and "Cooper ative Democracy" by J. P. Warbasse (Cooperative League, $1.50). Helped organize and was first presi dent of Cooperative Temperance Cafe Idrott, Chicago, 1913. Managed Ideal Cooperative Cafe, St. Paul. Came to work for the Franklin, chairman of Educational Committee for several years, secretary one year. Married, Mrs. Edberg is treasurer of Minneapolis Women's Guild. "I look to cooperation to establish a new value, based not on gold or life less things but on services and duties performed, beneficial to all the mem bers. I envision the organization of co operative societies in every field of human endeavor, by farmers and workers of every land. . . also by the so-called middle class. The national and international wholesale and in dustrial establishments are being built. . . . Through them free trade will be re established. ... I agree with Sidney Webb that 'Intelligent cooperation is the economic hope of mankind.' " A small frame but paciked with ener gy. Edberg wouldn't be happy if he weren't organizing a cooperative effort of some ikind. A little impatient that the world does not follow his lead more rapidly, which is probably be cause he lacks the pretense and pom posity of the boiled shirt type. • NEWMAN MARQUER, Execu tive Secretary of the Workmen's Furniture Fire Insurance Society, New York, (a cooperative with nearly 70,- 000 members). Born in Germany, Aug. 17, 1869. Went to public school, and at 16 became interested in cooperation through Socialist literature. Has been 14 years with the W. F. F. I., 8 years as its chief executive. He is also a mem ber of the Credit Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Agency—selected as an impassable watch-dog of bad loans. Is a widower. Has two sons and one daughter, none active in cooperative movement. "Since the capitalist system is doomed," says Marquer, "the only way to save humanity is to eliminate the profit motive. The prospects of the co operative movement are bright." A solid burgher is Marquer, an honest financier, an orthodox Socialist, a steadfast friend. His eyes are deep- set under a sloping forehead, his chin juts forward with strength. A modest man (his picture does not appear in print), he is proud of the W. F. F. I. but says little about his own great part in building it up. He with his elderly compatriots in their slightly antique office tucked away in Yorkville con duct an enterprise from which a less fanatical world might learn much. • Nordby Dead Harold I. Nordby, well known co- operator of Minneapolis, was drowned Dec. 17 when the automobile in which he and a fishing companion were riding broke through the ice. Nordby helped organize the Frank lin Cooperative Creamery Association and was its president from 1919 and its general manager from 1925 to 1932. He was also a member of the Board of the national Cooperative League for many years and active in the Northern States League. He was born in Christ- iania, Norway, in 1893. COOPERATION 21 The Consumer Comes Into View By J. P. Warbasse T)RACTICALLY all industries have •^ submitted their codes to the NRA. By the first of January, 195 codes had been approved by the President. Industry and labor have done most of their work. The consumer is grow ing steadily in importance. Now the fundamental and practical work of the Consumers' Board is making its im pression on the NRA. It is an interesting fact that industry and labor have had funds of their own to employ all the people needed to watch their interests. They have wages and profits at stake. But the consumers, either organized or not, have been able to send but few people to Washington to protect them from the codes. The Cooperative League, with 1400 cooperative societies in its membership, having 500,000 individual members, has represented the organ ized consumers. It is the one outstand ing consumer representation. Its mem bership is bona fide and tangible. The members have been elected, and every one has a financial stake of from $5 to $1000 invested in his consumers' socie ty. This is a very different sort of membership from that of many loosely put together organizations supposed to represent consumers. Some independent cooperative so cieties and the Consumers' Research have from time to time sent repre sentatives to look after their interests. But, compared with industry and labor, the consumer has had few people to serve him. We need more help in Washington. There is now open a nice job with The Consumers' Board for a cooperator who can finance himself. The Board has no funds for this, but if the job can be self-financed or financed by a co operative society, it can be made highly useful to the cooperative movement in particular and to the consumers in gen eral. The services that can still be per formed for the consumers are numerous and increasing. The other interests have been working for their own pocket all the time. They have been aggressive, pugnacious and efficient in their spe cial pleading. When the consumers' representative appears before a board or committee, he sounds an utterly dif ferent note. He is discovered as work ing for somebody else and not con cerned for his own profits. He is not trying to get something from the pub lic, but to do something for the public. Wherever his voice is heeded, the pub lic is benefited. This is seen in such situations as the Pure Food and Drug Act. The utterly disgraceful attitude of industry and the press and the indifference of labor may yet legalize lying about patent medicines, cosmetics, tooth and body applications, and the great gamut of humbugs that take a billion dollars a year for their worse than useless stuff. The Consumers' Board and Consumers' Research raised their voices for the public, and made the pious supporters of these frauds wince at the truth. If there is anything that reflects the low grade of civilization of this country it is the support given to the patent medi cine frauds by persons who sit in high places and are acclaimed as respect able. There is no dirtier money in America than theirs. The oil people are still hoping to stop the growth of consumers' cooper ative oil societies. In Massachusetts a cooperative organization has been re fused petroleum by the district oil code authority. This cooperative has been informed by the chairman of the Dis trict Oil Committee, that a cooperative oil distributing society is in violation of the law and subject to a fine of $500! This chairman is an influential politi cian who is president of a local oil company and member of the State Oil Committee. He has announced that no cooperative will be permitted to handle oil. The taxi drivers of Boston recently started to form a cooperative oil asso- 22 COOPERATION ciation and were stopped by the local NRA committee as in violation of the oil code! But they are going too fast. The rights of cooperative oil associations are fully protected by the President's Executive Order of October 23 last. The oil men are presuming that they may intimidate the consumer. But in the end the decision rests with Secre tary Ickes, who has shown sympathy with the cooperative oil societies. The Planning and Coordinating Board or the Oil Code is only advisory. The Secretary of the Interior has the final authority. On his staff are able and sincere defenders of the rights of the consumers to escape from the profit motive if they have the ability and if thev so desire. There remain still some cooper ative difficulties. Manufacturers in several industries refuse to sell to co operative wholesales, and jobbers re fuse to sell to cooperative retails, claiming that their codes forbid sales to the consumer. Some industries re fuse to sell to cooperatives because the cooperatives give patronage rebates. These difficulties have appeared in the petroleum, salt, wire fencing, coal, feed, fertilizer, and other industries. Another executive order signed by the President, is needed, ruling that genuine cooperative societies shall not be discriminated against by any busi ness, and that commodities and sup plies shall be sold to them in every market on the same terms as to other businesses engaged in the same lines; and that a cooperative paying saving returns, patronage rebates, or divi dends shall not be refused the privilege of buying at wholesale or from manu facturers. Then all of the obstacles in the codes, that industry has put in the way of cooperative progress, will be removed. Under these circumstances, the Code of the Cooperative Consumers will no longer be necessary. Their organiza tions will have gotten, by means of executive orders of the President, all of the protection that their own code could supply under the most favored conditions. In the light of the current of events, the consumer is coming into view and the cooperatively organized consumer is discovering the advan tages of his position. News and Comment Whites Don't Know the Half of It Negroes have all the usual diffi culties in organizing cooperatives, be sides some of their own, according to Dr. W.A.C. Hughes, of the Methodist Mission Bureau of Negro Work, who spoke at an all-day conference of co- operators held in Philadelphia, Jan. 11. Several years ago a group in Ar kansas decided that they were being held up by the .plantation stores, and that they needed a cooperative. Word got to the storekeepers, and the next meeting was shot up by a mob. During the afternoon session specific cooperative problems were discussed under the leadership of L. E. Wood cock, secretary of the Eastern States Cooperative League. In the evening John W. Edelman of the American Federation of Full-Fashicned Hosiery Workers described the house for 300 families which they plan to build, using government funds. According to plans, the store and several other enterprises in the house will be cooperative. Dr. Andrew J. Kress of Georgetown University, who has been active in protecting cooperative interests at Washington, talked on "The NRA Opportunity." Cooperative activities in Philadel phia have increased after being dor mant for many years. The United Con sumers Cooperative Association (for merly the Young Negroes Cooperative League) is building up its volume of business and plans to establish several branch depots where customers at a distance from the store can leave or ders and call for them the next day. Two barter groups, one in the suburb COOPERATION 23 of Media and one in the city, are con sidering converting their organizations into permanent cooperatives. • Central Wholesale's Volume Up Sales of the Central Cooperative Wholesale in November totaled $142,- 854.11, which was 52.4% more than in November, 1932. The first 11 months of 1933 yielded over $5,000 larger net earnings, a smaller gross margin, and smaller expenses than in the same period of 1932. • Joseph Gilbert has resigned as as sistant secretary of the N. S. C. L. to give his full time to the Midland Oil Association. He is editor of the "Mid land Cooperator," new monthly paper which contains news of the oil asso ciations as well as excellent editorials on Consumers' Cooperation. "Same to You!" Looking over "The Cooperative Builder," we see many ads by coop erative organizations extending New Year's greetings. Here are some of the interesting things that caught our eye: The Range Cooperative Federation minces no words; they are out "to abolish middlemen and their abomin able system of prof it-taking." Floodwood Cooperative Association invites members to come for their re bate (5%). "It has been saved as a sort of present that you have earned for yourself by supporting the Coop erative." "Happy New Year to all cooper- ators throughout the world!" is the greeting of the Cooperative Trading Company of Waukegan. This is signed by the 66 employees, and part way down the list of names in small type we spy "Jack Liukku". The general manager of one of our largest and finest cooperative societies signs his name along with the rest as simply one of the employees. • This is Station WEBC, Superior. Watch for opening of new co-op store at Be'lknap and Tower Aves., about Feb. 1st. Altoin Johannson Swedish Cooperators Here LBIN Johann son, Director of Kooperativa For- bundet, the coopera tive wholesale of Sweden, was a re cent visitor in Amer ica. He and C. A. Assarson, foreign purchaser of K. F., were entertained at supper by a group of New York co- operators. Mr. Johannson was en thused with the possibilities of building cooperation in this new country as compared with the slow but sure growth to be counted on in his 1000- year old land. To us Americans, how ever, the doings of the Swedish co- operators, especially their assaults on the trusts, are thrilling because they show the cooperative movement com ing to actual blows with the strongest forces of the profit system—and win ning. a Opens New Co-op Cafeteria C.C.S. is opening a new co-op cafe teria at 40 East 40th St., New York City, within two blocks of Grand Cen tral Station. For some time members have demanded a branch in this locali ty, where many skyscrapers were built during the boom period, attracting thousands of office workers, good pros pects for C.C.S. membership. This is the tenth unit in the chain. Chef Har ris, veteran co-op cook, goes from the Thames St. branch to preside over the cuisine in the new establishment. John Bland will be promoted to the Chef's place at Thames. Miss Smith, assistant manager at 25th St. branch, will be manager of the new restaurant. This is the first expansion of Consumers Co operative Services in the cafeteria field in several years. At the same time C.C.S. is experi menting with a cooperative food store at 452 Skillman Ave., Long Island Ci ty, in conjunction with Sunnyside so ciety and Cooperative Trading Asso ciation of Brooklyn. C.C.S. has fur- 24 COOPERATION nished the capital, the plan being that Sunnyside will raise capital among its members and patrons to buy the store, thus releasing the original fund to be used in establishing another store else where. The store is in charge of a man agement committee consisting of Leslie Woodcodk of the Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, Miss Arnold of C.C.S. and W. Niemela of C.T.A. Mr. Laakso, an experienced store manager and cooper- ator, is manager. J. A. Jessup of C.C.S. is working with the Sunnyside cooper- ators on the propaganda job. • The Farmers Union State Exchange of Omaha, cooperative wholesale serv ing the state of Nebraska, has made a net profit or saving for its consumers every quarter for the last 10 years. 1933 sales exceeded 1932 by $50,000. • Commodity Exchange at Palo Alto There are unemployed in California. In Palo Alto they consist of all kinds of people. A large proportion are ruined small shop keepers. A goodly percentage are artisans. These people had no money to begin business, but they did begin. The unemployed got the loan of an empty garage, a truck and the donation of electricity and water from the city. They took jobs of clearing wood lands. They trucked and sold the wood. Much of it they traded for commodities. They did a general trucking business. They traded with commodities as though they were cash. They picked berries and fruit for a percentage of the crop. They got a fishing boat and fished and carried cargoes of freight from port to port. All of this shows that business can be carried on without money. Cooperation is learned as soon as service instead of money is made the object of business. • Reducing the Pound of Flesh Mrs. Minnie Larson of So. Dakota is suing to have the mortgage on her farm cut from $16,000 to $6,400. Mrs. Larson claims that since 1927, when the mortgage was made, the farmer's dollar has dropped over 60% in value, and consequently for her to be forced to pay $16,000 would be confiscation. She bases her suit partly on Supreme Court decisions of 1920 wlhich allowed public corporations to break their con tracts with governmental units because the value of the dollar had dropped to 60c. The Larson case has insurance and loan companies scared stiff, says "The American Guardian." No deci sion has yet been reached. Figure it out, you money theorists, ought Mrs. Larson to win? Anyway, we hope she does. It would help the debt reduction process, which accord ing to the "Nebraska Union Farmer" is going on apace. Of the farmers who in 1933 secured land bank commis sioners' loans totaling over $60,000,- 000, 17.6% reported that their cred itors had granted a reduction in their debts. These reductions averaged 23%. Of the farmers receiving first mortgage loans, 5.3% got their cred itors to relent, to the extent of 18.4% on the average. • The insuring of standing grain was: undertaken by the Washington State Grange's Fire Relief Association last year for the first time. 375 policies, to taling nearly a million dollars, were written. • Germans Ban Co«op Periodical The "Review of International Co operation" is banned in Germany. The National Union of German Con sumers' Societies, Hamburg, claimed that the September "Review" con tained "hateful attaciks and calumnies against the new Germany and the Na tional Socialist movement." And so it issued a circular to its affiliated socie ties (over 900, with 3 million mem bers) ordering them to cancel their subscriptions, which they did. Previ ously the union had suggested that it publish a German edition of the Re view, purged and edited so as not to offend Hitlerism. Nothing doing, said the I. C. A. The November Review tells of Vai- no Tanner, I. C. A. president and well 'known Finnish cooperative leader, visiting Hamburg and having a talk with the heads, past and present, of the German union. He reported that many COOPERATION 25 members of cooperative societies had been forced to withdraw, and others have withdrawn voluntarily because they did not like Hitlerized coopera tion. The business of the German so cieties is decreasing. It is proposed, presumably by the Nazis, to hand over the co-op siiops to "professional busi ness men." None of the leaders at Hamburg are very keen about this. Mr. Tanner hopes, to quote the Re view, "that the innate moral force of the people and their leaders will enable the German movement ultimately to obtain the mastery over its present per secutors. Cooperative Cows Give Milk Cooperative consumers' societies in Europe not only pasteurize, bottle and distribute milk but have their own dairies on their lands. That they are learning how to succeed is evidenced by the fact that the Scunthorpe Con sumers' Society of England has a cow, weighing 1,000 pounds, which last year gave over 13 tons of milk,—26 times its own weight. This is the high yield cow of England. The same society has in its herd also the second and fourth high yield cows and holds the gold cup for the highest yielding herd in the country. Buying Associations Doing Well By A. W. McKay BUYING cooperatives are no longer step-children. Under the Farm Credit Act of 1933, they obtained the right to borrow through the Farm Credit Administration on the same terms as marketing associations. By an Executive Order of Oct. 23, 1933, they are authorized to pay patronage dividends to their members despite any codes to the contrary. Cooperative purchasing of farm supplies dates back to the sixties or earlier and formed an important part of early Grange activities during the seventies, but growth was slow for many years. In 1913, for example. 111 purchasing cooperatives were reported with a total business of approximately six million dollars. By 1915 the num ber of associations had increased to 275 and annual business had doubled. Later growth is shown by the follow ing table. Estimated Year Number Membership 1921 898 1925 1,217 1927-28 1,205 1929-30 1,454 1930-31 1.588 1931-32 1,645 1932-33 1,648 The decline since 1931 in volume of business expressed in dollars is ex- Estimated Business 247,000 398.000 533,000 542,700 $ 57,721,000 135,000,000 128,000,000 190,000,000 215,000,000 181,000,000 140,000,000 plained, of course, by falling prices of farm supplies. In part lessened ability of farmers to buy also has been a factor. However, the dollar volume of purchasing cooperatives has declined less than the price level and they have become an increasingly important factor in the cooperative field. The business of purchasing associations was 4.6% of all cooperative business in 1921. By 1930-31, it had increased to 9.0% of all cooperative business; it was 9.4% in 1931-32 and 10.5% in 1932-33. 1932 Record a Good One Operations of individual associa tions during 1932 show that they have come through the depression better than most businesses. Dollar volume of all declined from the peak of 1930-31, yet with two or three exceptions the wholesale purchasing associations maintained or expanded services to their members. What is equally im portant, they came to the end of the year with substantial net earnings which can be used to build up services or make patronage refunds to mem bers. Those young giants of the east, the From an article in the Cooperative Market ing Journal. Mr. McKay recently completed e. survey of farmers' cooperative purchasing as sociations for the Farm Credit Administration. '26 COOPERATION G. L. F. and Eastern States Farmers Exchange, made a record in 1932 which is excelled by few business en terprises, cooperative or private. The total business of the two was approxi mately 32 million and their net income over $700,000. Seven wholesale asso ciations in the middle west and south sold on the average $1,278,000 worth of supplies during the year and closed their books with an average net profit of $34,780. Ten associations in the same area had an average net worth of $162,871 at the end of 1932, which was 61% of their total liabilities. Retail purchasing associations as a rule were able to operate in the bladk during 1932. Sixty-six locals, operating in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michi gan, sold over 4 million dollars worth of supplies to their members and their total net income was $198,566. Thir teen of these associations showed a loss for the year, the largest being $1,- 991.66; fifty-three were able to make income and outgo balance. Seven in dependent local associations in New York made sales totaling $462,269, a decline of 21 % from the previous year, and a total net income of $5,832. Two out of the seven showed a deficit. Thirty- one local gas and oil associa tions operating in Minnesota and Wis consin sold supplies valued at $1,825,- 922 and made a total net profit of $198,515. None of these associations operated at a loss. As a group they were in the fortunate position at the end of the year of having $152,233 cash on hand with which to pay $134,- 311 of current liabilities. Their total net worth was $600,925 or 74.5% of all liabilities. These illustrations show that by and large the purchasing associations are making progress. They are making progress for two reasons—first, be cause of savings they effect for their members; secondly, because they give the farmer feed, fertilizer, seed and other supplies of dependable quality. They are not operating to make a prof it but to secure for the member the kind of supplies he must have at the lowest price at which they can be ob tained. Some Do's and Don'ts Naturally the depression has tested the purchasing associations severely and some "do's" and "don'ts" have been emphasized by experience during this period. The most important is, sell for cash only. The majority of the associations have learned this lesson thoroughly. They have learned that the losses and high margins which adhere to a credit business will drive away trade more quickly than a cash policy. In addition they will wreck the association. Conse quently associations in increasing num bers are refusing to extend credit ex cept in emergencies and then only for a few days. It is recognized now that the association that has more than fifteen days' sales outstanding on its books is headed for trouble as in such a case some accounts receivable will be more than 30 days old. Second, keep down operating costs. With some exceptions, due to services performed or products handled, over head and distribution costs of a whole sale association should not exceed 5% of net sales. Cost of a retail associa tion should not exceed 10% of sales. Third, volume of business. All things considered $750,000 and $50,000, ap pear to be minimum figures for whole sale and retail associations respective- ly- Fourth, keep down inventory. Retail associations should have sales at least 16 times their average inventory. Wholesale associations should turn over their inventory at least 12 times a year. Fifth, keep down investments in fixed assets. As a minimum, annual sales should be 20 times the invest ment in fixed assets. In the long run each association must develop its own operating standards because the conditions under which any two associations operate are never the same. Present Trends There is a tendency at present to set up wholesale purchasing associations as federations, with the overhead or ganization retaining some supervision COOPERATION 27 over the management and record keep ing of the locals. For many sections of the country this appears to be the best solution of the question of local versus central control. While encouraging local initiative and responsibility, it provides a needed checlk on the opera tion of the local associations. Some trend toward the consolidation of purchasing associations can also be noted. It is undoubtedly desirable to expand the territory served by whole sale purchasing associations beyond state lines. Some purchasing associa tions now operating in the south could be combined advantageously. In the middle west similar consolidations of purchasing associations could be made to advantage. Wholesale cooperatives in some instances are competing for business within the same state. It is of interest in this connection that associa tions handling petroleum products have formed a national purchasing organi zation. In the east the territory occupied by the G. L. F. and Eastern States Farm ers Exchange is now well defined and in each case includes all or part of several states. Development of the pro gram of Southern States Cooperative, Inc., will also provide purchasing serv ice by one cooperative over a region made up of three or four states. There is a trend, particularly in the South and East, to the development of a combined marketing and purchasing service. This begins with the local community where the same organiza tion handles supplies and also provides a grading, packing and marketing service for farm products. The plan contemplates that these products will be sold through commodity associa tions where the services of such asso ciations are available and that the overhead organization will provide a marketing service for miscellaneous commodities and maintain a marketing department or subsidiary for that pur pose. Combining marketing and purchas ing in local associations has many ad vantages when the volume of any product is comparatively small. Pro rata costs can be reduced and services offered to more farmers in the com munity. An overhead sales agency for miscellaneous products offers more dif ficulty and should be developed slowly. The Cooperatives and the Strike By Abraham DoKkin Student at Commonwealth College, Mena, Ark. IN the hands of the Trade Unions there lies a powerful weapon against the ruling classes: the General Strike. The difficulty in the use of this weap on is that it cannot be handled ef fectively by the Trade Unions alone. The Cooperative movement is a neces sary ally. During the English General Strike of 1926, this became extremely appar ent. In those ten holidays of labor, the importance of close cooperation be tween these two worlking-class ele ments was shown to be more than a theory.* During this period, local strike boards issued permits to cooperative * ~W. H. Crook: The General Strike. XI, XII. Chap. societies for the distribution of milk and other foods and to individuals to work at this task. This permit system was decided upon at the last moment and proved ineffective. In many communi ties, the boards acted unwisely. There was no adequate check on who re ceived food and other necessities, and sufficient vigilance was not used to prevent "volunteers" and scabs from receiving bread. In some communities there were not enough permits issued, and in others too many. Cooperative shops held to their policy of non-dis crimination and sold to all consumers, instead of to strikers and sympathizers only. The unloadina of foodstuffs at docks 28 COOPERATION and railroads was in confusion. Agree ments were entered into with the Gov ernment to provide for such unload- ings, and in some cases blacklegs and trade-unionists worked side by side. At other places, union officials refused to have even the smallest quantities of food or coal unloaded. On the streets tieups were caused by inexperienced truck and omnibus drivers, and the transportation of food was unnecessarily delayed. The entire machinery was chaotic, unplanned and militated against the success of the strike. Although, in the main, only food and coal trains ran, private trading was not at a standstill, due to the promiscuous issuance of permits. Many private business men transported wares under the pretext of shipping or distributing food and build ing materials (the latter was consid ered a necessity and licensed accord ingly). Had the thing been properly worked out before the strike took place, not necessarily during the few disturbing days before the event but at the Joint Councils of the Trade Unions and Co ops, the leaders of the strike might not have capitulated so readily. Would such tactics as the following be practical? We are assuming a Gen eral Strike in a country thoroughly organized in both Trade Unions and Co-ops. These suggestions might be useful on a smaller scale in local strikes, in those vicinities in which coopera tives exist. Let all strikers register with their local cooperative qrocers and coal or oil distributors. Besides strikers, the professional men, petty bourgeois, and all others who will refuse to carry on their normal occupations for the dura tion of the strike, should register. The only ones who are to work, and at the same time receive food, are those working in lihe co-ops (retail, whole sale, and factories), those on food trains and trucks, those in power houses (private, municipal, or cooper ative; in case more than one exist in any locality, only one is to be oper ated), those in co-op gasoline sta tions, and doctors and dentists. All other work must stop. Effective picket ing of small retail places of business, such as neighborhood grocers, must be done by the organized unemployed. Food and coal are to be supplied on ly to those having strike cards; the co op should draw a line, even among its own members, against those out of sympathy with the strike. Gasoline is to be supplied only to those working in lihe interests of the strike, and to doctors. Electricity must be provided indiscriminately, for it is necessary to keep power houses running, since the streets must be kept well lighted at night, and refrigeration is necessary in co-op groceries. Gas for cooking will fall in the same class as electricity. Whether the co-ops are to work on a cash, credit, or outright donation basis will depend on the conditions of the workers, the unions, and the co ops. There is no room here to consider the advisability of building up a special fund in the cooperatives for strikes, or to have a joint fund with the unions, but such preparation should be con sidered. At present, the English C. W. S. is capable of supplying the workers of England and Wales with food for a period of over ninety days out of its surplus alone. Local co-ops could pro vide many more, days of food, if neces sary.** This is not a blue-print; it is merely a suggestion. Our main purpose is to point out the necessity of harmony and cooperation between the two groups. Mutual funds should be created, the members of the two groups should be the same people, organized both as consumers and as producers. The Co operatives and the Trade Unions must realize that they are necessary to each other, that they must work together, if they are to establish the classless so ciety through peaceful means. • ** Data from The Statesmen's Year Book, p^ 16, and The Peoples' Year Book, pps. 76, 318. The production of goods should be controlled by those who are to use the goods—'this is the very essence of democracy. COOPERATION 29 War Declared on Credit By Esopus The fourth of a series o£ yarns about a scoundrel, who is named in the title. IV FOR many years, the tyrant Credit, had a clear field, and he waxed strong and mighty, like Gargantua. His mother Profit, unlike most women, grew more and more gorgeous and se ductive in the eyes of his father, the merchant Dollar. Their pride in their son was unbounded. He it was who had brought them together (the reader is referred to Tale No. 1), and he it was who rendered their union indis soluble. The first bit of wormwood in the family broth was introduced at Roch dale in 1844, in this wise. It seems that Credit took particular joy in bedeviling the people of Roch dale. He schooled them until they said "Charge it" as easily and naturally as a parrot says "Damn it." They even bought their mugs of beer at the tavern on credit. Thus he enslaved them. But he overdid the matter. Some of the people of Rochdale finally put their heads together and evolved an ingen ious plan to outwit him. They as con sumers of goods would become their own merchants as it were, cooperating to secure their needs. With the entirety of this plan, the most ingenious and yet the simplest imaginable, we are not concerned here. Our interest lies in the fact that one of the cardinal principles of the plan was that ALL TRANSACTIONS BE CASH, and that credit be neither sought nor granted. Thus war was declared and the first shot was fired. It struck Credit just below the left groin, and he took to his bed. His mother Profit, hovered fear fully over him, and his father the mer chant, racked his brain and even con sulted with his hated fellow-merchants to see what could be done to get the boy back on his feet. Now the Rochdalians having sound ed the call to arms, the people of neighboring towns, equally ground down by the tyrant, also raised their banners. The weapon which they used was a new one, invented at Rochdale. It was apparently a little like an old- time catapult, and a little like a mod ern machine gun. But few knew any thing about it, and consequently many were sceptical and laughed and haw- hawed whenever it was mentioned. This new gun was called Cooperation, and the gunners were called Cooper- ators. Laugh as one might at this odd new weapon, there was no doubt that it had badly messed up the left leg of Credit. Time passed and he got no better. Finally, in 1863, the Cooper- ators of all the towns including Roch dale got together to plan an alliance, and the news of what they planned being reported to Credit, he fell a- worrying, to the point that gangrene set in, and amputation was necessary. Now it became evident that the cli mate of this section of the land of Ex change was becoming unhealthy for Credit, and so he journeyed to a prov ince called America, and henceforth made his chief abode there, although he traveled widely. How he was met there by a new enemy called The Chain; how he dis covered and called to his aid a new and diabolically contagious disease, Instalmentia Praecox, or Instalmentia for short; and how a few of his Amer ican victims became Cooperators, but because of a deplorable astigmatism, perhaps induced by attacks of this same Instalmentia, failed to recognize him as their arch enemy, will be told in the next tale and those following. (Meanwhile, the reader is urged not to wait but to have his eyes tested for the astigmatism referred to, which the writer understands, with alarm, is spreading). 30 COOPERATION If You Want Really Good Jam, Ladies- "TT is a well known fact that the •*• quality of commercial jelly and jam is much higher relatively than that of other factory-produced foods be cause the housewife still retains a working practical knowledge of the home standard of ingredients and qual ity to which tihe store product must measure up."—Consumers' Research, General Bulletin, Oct. 1933. That is, the jelly manufacturers are afraid that if their product is not good enough the housewife will fly in a huff and make some of her own. And that must never, never be. CR goes on to recommend to con sumers the development, insofar as is possible and practicable, of their own resources of home production and manufacture. In other words, let the individual housewife make more jelly, bread, baked beans, etc., at home in her own kitchen in order that her com petition may force the profit manu facturer to malce a better article. All right. But for Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown to sparik Mr. Manufacturer with their kitchen competition, seems to us like a mouse attacking a lion. More likely they will succumb to the temptation to feed their families on Mr. Manufacturer's inferior product and so save themselves many weary hours over the hot stove. But is that the only thing left for them to do? No, they can unite in a cooperative and give Mr. Mfr. a real run for his money! A cooperative jam factory, producing the best jam possible and selling it at cost, would be a force to reckon with. Profit manufacturers would be compelled to raise quality of go out of business. This has happened time and again. As a consumers' cooperative gains strength in its locality, it sets the standard of quality and price which its profit competitors have to meet. We hear price-cutters condemned. One would think they are the meanest of rascals. But price-cutting is in the con sumer's favor (that is why it is con demned). And co-ops are indefatigable price-cutters; that is their object in life —to price-cut, or compete, the profit system out of existence. A producers' cooperative too, such as a co-op creamery, by paying the farmer as much for his cream as the profit creamery does, and then giving him his share of the profit besides, tends to set the price in its field. A single farmer making and marketing his own butter would have little if any effect on prices, but a co-op, even if it handles only a minor part of the out put of the locality, because it holds the threat of taking more and more if not all of the output, may become the price controller. If our friends of Consumers' Re search wish to tell their housewife- subscribers how they can really throw the fear of God into the manufacturer of jam or any other product, why do they not publish an article in their bul letin on "The Cooperative Way?" The Canadian Cooperator Brantford, Ontario, Canada The organ of the Canadian Coopera tive Movement, owned by and con ducted under the auspices of The Cooperative Union of Canada. Published monthly 75c per annum FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S FURNITURE FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St, New York. N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. Under supervision of N. Y. State Insurance Department. COOPERATION 31 Books "THE MODERN CORPORATION AND PRIVATE PROPERTY, by A..A. Berle, Jr., .and Gardiner C. Means. Macmillan's. 395 pages. $3.75. WE have in this country a few large cor porations, controlled by a few men. These corporations control enormous blocks of •our industry, employing millions of people, and producing goods which are consumed by mil lions of consumers. These corporations are owned by millions of stockholders, but not con trolled by them. This is the central striking fact brought out by 3erle and Means, (both of whom, by the way, are associated with the '"New Deal"). Ownership no longer means control. In order to control, you have to be one of the grand moguls who, by methods described here have gained the power of electing directors. The old-fashioned company was controlled In the interest of stock-holders. Now the ques tion arises, in whose interest will the modern corporation be controlled? The future, say the authors, will see the community bringing in- •creasing pressure to bear on the grand moguls to force them to control in the interests of the community. That puts it mildly, we should say. Here is a point of interest to cooperators: the modern giant corporation has just begun to grow.—has hardly cut its eye teeth yet, say Berle and Means. We are due to be industrial ized'a lot more. More and more specialization is coming. Now then, in the opinion of this reviewer, this may mean a great growth of consumers' cooperative societies, which thrive best, the record proves, in highly specialized economies. The Rochdale society was a fruit of the rank tree of industrialism. Farmers' cooper ation in America has followed specialization. It seems that not until men hear the chains actual ly clank around their ankles do they unite for mutual liberation. O. C. • THE CONSUMER, HIS NATURE AND HIS CHANGING HABITS, by Walter B. Pitkin. McGraw Hill Company, New York. 421 pps. $4. "X/fOST consumer studies, says Professor •*- •!• Pitkin of Columbia School of Journalism, are made by Babbitts whose intellectual curiosi ty regarding the consumer arises from their de sire to sell him more goods. There were times in the perusal of this tome when we feared the Professor was up to the same monkey business. The book has great value, however, since it calls attention to the all-importance of the con sumer in the economic scheme. For example— "The consumer is beyond economics, before economics and beneath economics. For con suming is living. .. What people want, think, plan and do makes up the mass of primary economic facts." "People have interest in loafing, in sleeping, in 'sitting around and talking, in lying on their backs on the strand and watching the fat green rollers of the Atlantic grunt and lather against the sands. In the eyes of all producers this is the unforgivable sin." Again, in a good chapter entitled "The war between Maker and User." Pitkin points out that under our present system things are not done because people need to have them done, but because they yield a profit. Thus farming, our most essential industry, because it yields little or no profit to capital, languishes. Consumers' cooperation isn't mentioned. Why not, Neighbor Pitkin? • Cooperative Youth New Year in Hubbardston Here it is the New Year again. Let's all strive for bigger and better cooperation. Chas. Hekkala of the Maynard Club gave us a talk on Cooperation in Sweden on Nov. 28. We should give him a big hand for giving us all the dope on it. Then on Dec. 12, we had the honor of hearing Alfred Baker Lewis of Boston talk on Cooperation and Socialism. Social affairs are being held once a month. On Dec. 21, a large crowd attended our pros perity raffle and dance. May I take time now to, thank both Fitchburg and Maynard Coopera tive Clubs for their full cooperation? The prize winners at the raffle were B. Valley of Hub bardston, A. Smith of Rutland, M. Fuller of Boston and H. Johnson of Hubbardston. R. Sutela has given up his Social Committee job because of lack of time, and Walter Hill is now in his place. Beginning with the new year, our club will have forums at the Farmers Hall, say V. Meri- kanto and O. Kujala. Hubbardston Cooperative Club wishes every cooperator the happiest New Year. The Mayor. • Waukegan Guild Elects Waukegan Cooperative Men's Guild had its annual membership meeting January llth. About thirty members were present. One new member was initiated to the Guild. The officers and committees for the coming six months were elected as follows: Chairman, Harry Carlson; Assistant Chair man, O. W. Waters; Secretary, Waldemar Petrell; Assistant Secretary, Wayne Rivers; Treasurer, Erhard Holmgren; Program Com mittee, Ed. Carlson, Toivo Hannula and Leo. Saari; Entertainment Committee, Toivo Jalka- nen, Harry Klass, Wayne Rivers, Arvo Kaner- vo, Frank Ilo, and Gust Clauson; Auditors, O. W. Waters, Bob Moses and Leo Saari; Dele gates to the Central States Cooperative Guild Federation, Ed. Carlson and J. N. Hautala; Delegates to the Local Action Committee, Paul F. Albright, Arvo Kanervo and Harry Klass; Press Correspondents, W. Petrell, L. Saari. The proposed Constitution and By-Laws of the Central States Cooperative Guild Federa tion were read and recommended to be ap proved with minor changes. 32 COOPERATION STUDY CONSUMERS' COOPERATION The books and pamphlets listed below are available through The Cooperative League, 167 W. 12, N. Y. C. Read them and pass them on to your friends HISTORICAL Per Copy Per 100 38. Consumers Cooperation In the United States (lllus.), 1933 .15 8.00 *9. Story of Toad Lane (By Stuart Chase) ...................... .06 4.00 54. The Coop. Movement. J. H. Dletrlcb. .06 4.00 55. Cooperation Here and Abroad, H. T. Hughes ................ .10 7.00 TECHNICAL 4. How to Start and Run a Rochdale Cooperative Society .......... .26 16.00 6. Model By-Laws for a Rochdale Cooperative Society .......... .05 2.50 89. Credit Union Primer (By Ham and Robinson) .............. .60 61. Model Lease for Cooperative Apartment House ............ .10 MISCELLANEOUS 16. Model Co-op State Law ........ .