The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/HD2951xC776/co35 or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/HD2951xC776/co35 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION ORGAN OF THE Consumers' Cooperative Movement in tKe U. S. A. VOLUME XXI - January—December 1935 Published by The Cooperative League of U. S. A. 167 West 12th Street, New York City i/, INDEX CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Ralvaaja Prtat. 2 Fitchburtr, Mass. PAGE Accounting, Cooperative .................................................. 43, 102, 111 Agricultural Missions Foundation .................................................. 177 Alanne, V. S. .................................................................. 12 Allied Cooperatives, Inc. ........................................................ 180 Alton (111.) District Cooperative Association ....................................... 211 "America Must Choose" ......................................................... 204 "America's Answer" ............................................................. 72 "America's Capacity to Produce" ................................................ 2 Architecture, Swedish Cooperative Wholesale Society's .......................... 147, 168 Arnold, Mary E. ................................................................ 104 Augustus, E. K. ................................................................ 98 Austria, Cooperation in ......................................................... 211 B Babson, Roger .................................................................. 204 Baker, Jacob ................................................................... 66 Banking ...................................................................... 53, 55 Barclay, Wade Crawford ........................................................ 212 Beard, Charles A. .............................................................. 137 Becker, Carl .................................................................... 123 Belgium, Cooperation in ......................................................... 85 Bowen, E. R. ....................................................... 72, 159, 172, 198 Brody, C. L. ................................................................... 29 Burial Cooperatives ............................................................. 133 Buying Clubs ............................................................... 40, 174 C Cafeterias, Cooperative ...................................................... 69, 170 Calendar, Cooperative League .................................................... 101 California Cooperative Council .......................................... 117, 150, 165 California, Cooperation in ....................................................... 46 Campbell, Wallace J. ....................................................... 132, 198 Canada, Cooperation in .......................................................... 171 Canadian Price Spread Investigation .............................................. 165 Capitalism and Cooperation Compared ... ....................................... 124 Carlson, Edward ............................................................... 11 Catholic Rural Life Conference ........................................ s.......... 214 Central Cooperative Wholesale ............ 4, 70, 99, 102, 109, 151, 165, 166, 196, 197, 213 Central States Cooperative League .................................... 116, 150, 182, 212 Chain Stores and Cooperation ................................................ 45, 213 Chase, Stuart ................................... ............................... 209 Cherington, Paul T. ................. i...!.!....!!...'.'.'!.....'.'................... 106 China, Cooperation in ........................................................... 177 "Christ's Alternative to Communism." E. Stanley Jones .............................. 183 Church and Cooperation ........ 50, 70, 97, 101, 104, 125, 127, 130, 136, 142, 153, 155. 167, 177, 180, 184, 185, 186, 192, 197, 202, 214 City Consumers' Cooperatives ............. ..... .... ......................... 84 Cloquet (Minn.) Cooperative Society ..................................... 46, 102, 198 Clusa Service .............. ....... 38 Coady, M. M. ...............................................................] 16 ^Collective Bargaining for Consumers" ............................................ 199 College Cooperatives ......................................... 87, 88, 104, 132, 166, 171 Colombia, Cooperation in ........................................................ 100 Colorado Cooperative Educational Association ...................................... 212 Columbus Consumers' Cooperative ....... . . ......... 180 Conroy, Thomas F. 1Q4 Consumers' Advisory Board INDEX PAGE ____„ .._.„_., ___ ...................................................... 198 Consumers' Cooperative Association, INorth Kansas City 46, 71, 85, 99, 103, 167, 179, 195, 2fl Consumers' Cooperative Services, New York City ....................... 46, 99, 134, 170 Consumers' Cooperative Services, Chicago ......................................... 165 Consumers' Cooperative Trading Company, Gary, Indiana ........................... 173 Consumers' Cooperatives Associated, Inc., Amarillo, Texas ........................... 199 Cooley, Oscar .............................................................. 128, 150 "Cooperation," by Hall and Watkins ............................................. 92 "Cooperative Democracy" ................................................... 133, 180 Cooperative Distributors .............................. 22, 42, 71, 118, 134, 199, 212, 213 Cooperative Economic Democracy ................................................ 72 Cooperative Insurance Society, England ........................................... 37 Cooperative Trading Company, Waukegan, Illinois ...................... 33, 117, 179, 188 Cooperative Wholesale Association of Southern California ........................... 196 Cooperators Life Association ................................................... 37, 87 Cowden, Howard A. ..................................................... 28, 114, 128 Cowling, Ellis J. .................................................... 47, 104, 168, 192 Credit ................................................................... 27, 56, 98 Credit Corporation, Agricultural .................................................. 83 Credit Unions .............................................. 53, 55, 57, 70, 84, 86, 175 Crews, Cecil R. ................................................................ 198 Current Literature on Consumers' Cooperation............ 22, 47, 72, 88, 104, 120, 136, 152, 167, 184, 200, 216 Czechoslovakia, Cooperation in ........................................... 85, 202, 210 D Denmark, Cooperation in .................................................... 137, 203 Design Service, Cooperative ............................................... 78, 79, 147 Directors' Meeting .............................................................. 92 "Doctor and The Public, The" ................................................... 199 Douglas, Paul H. ............................................................ 47, 105 Eastern Cooperative Wholesale .................................................. 195 Eastern Cooperators Study Tour .................................................. 117 Eastern States Cooperative League .................................... 45, 96, 126, 182 Eastern States Farmers Exchange ........................ 4, 70, 99, 118, 133, 151, 161, 195 Economic Democracy, A General Plan for an American Cooperative .................. 172 Editorials .............................. 2, 25, 49, 73, 90, 105, 121, 137, 153, 169, 185. 201 Education in Cooperation ............. 77, 84, 86, 96, 101, 103, 111, 117, 119, 123, 134, 169, 175, 176, 179, 188, 193, 195, 204 Edwards, Ellen ................................................................. 48 Edwards, Wyndham I. .......................................................... 178 Electrification, Cooperation in ............................................ 82, 140, 169 Enfield, Honora ................................................................ 179 Employee Education ............................................................ 12 Employment, Statistics Here and in Great Britain ................................... 214 Ethiopia ....................................................................... 188 Europe, Cooperation in ................................................. 69, 85, 93, 106 Europe, Social Effects of Cooperation in ......................................... 205 Evanston (111.) Consumers' Cooperative ........................................... 212 Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company .................... 21, 39, 151, Farm Bureau Services, Michigan .....................-••-••••••••••••••••••••••••• Farm Credit ....................................•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Farm Supplies, Cooperative Purchasing of ...................-•••••••••••••••••• '"• Farm Tenancy .................................•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Farmer-Bankers Take Over Rural Finance ................-••••••••••••••••••••••• Farmers Become Cooperative Consumers ...........-••••••-•••••••••••••••••••••••• Farmers' Consumer Cooperation ..............•.••-••••••••••••••••••••••••••• y'_' Farmers' Cooperative Buying .....................••••••••••••••••• " • • • • ~::j i—' Farmers Union Central Exchange .....................•--••-••••• 4' 45- 99, 11/. 133, Fascism .............,...........,...........-•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• y_y Federal Council of Churches .,.,,............-••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ' 166 29 58 215 203 98 113 189 213 197 202 205 INDEX PAGE Federal Emergency Relief Administration ....................... 21, 45, 103, 159, 171, 196 pilene, Edward A. .............................................................. 50 Financial Control ............................................................... 36 Finland, Cooperation m .......................................................... 185 Flvnn, John T. ................................................................. 186 Folk Schools ..................................................... 10,21,74,202 Fowler, Bertram B. ........................................................... 47, 170 Frank, Glenn .................................................................. 123 Franklin Cooperative Creamery Association ................................ 32, 118, 165 Gandhi's Policy ................................................................. 154 Geer, Owen M. ................................................................. 183 Germany, Cooperation in ........................................................ 210 Gilbert, Joseph ................................................................. 26 Gill, C. O. ..................................................................... 205 Goss, Albert S. ................................................................. 58 Government and Cooperation ........................................ 148, 171, 187, 201 "Government in Business" ....................................................... 209 Graham, Abbie ................................................................. 153 Graham. Chester ................................................................ 74 Grange Cooperative Wholesale .......................................... 101, 135, 198 Great Britain, Cooperation in.... 37, 39, 69, 85, 93, 100, 135, 154, 170, 171, 177, 178, 186, 187 Greater Boston Cooperative Society ............................................... 198 Greenleaf, Esther ............................................................... 79 Grenfeld, Wilfred ............................................................... 155 H Halonen, George ............................................................... 12 Hayes, A. J. .................................................................... 13 Health Protection, Cooperative ................................................... 199 Herren, L. S. ................................................................... 189 Holmes, John Haynes ................................................... 26, 170, 187 Holt, Arthur E. ................................................................. 90 Hosie, Laurence T. .......................................................... 97, 127 Hull, I. H. ..................................................................... 93 Hunter, James Boone ......."...................................................... 47 Hutchinson, Carl R. ........................................................... 7, 157 Hyde, William A. ....................................................... 38, 73, 200 I Iceland, Cooperation in .......................................................... 177 Illinois Agricultural Association ................................................... 36 Incentives in Cooperation and in Business ....................................... 106. 203 Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ........................ 5, 99, 102, 127, 195 Institutes ....................................................... 13, 21, 171, 182, 212 Insurance .................................. 20, 35, 36, 71, 83, 87, 150, 151, 166, 196, 202 International Cooperative Alliance and Peace ....................................... 210 International Cooperative School, 14th ............................................ 176 International Cooperative Women's Day ........................................... 86 International Wholesaling ........................................ 103, 114, 122, 135, 212 Italy, Cooperation in ............................................................ 211 "Introduction to Consumers' Cooperation, A Short" ................................ 104 J Jacobson, George W. .......................................................... 9, 46 Japan, Cooperation in ...'.'. ". '. ". ". ". ". ". ". ". '. ' '. ". '. ' '. '. '. ' ' '. ". ". '. ". ' '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. ' '. '. ' 18, 100, 178, *194 Jessup, John ........... 96 Johansson, Albert ...... " •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 7Q Johnson, General Hugh .........................................'.'.'.'..'...'.'.' ',',',' 76, 187 Journalism, Cooperative 13 Jones, E. Stanley ....................................................... 126, 138, 183 INDEX K PAGE PACT? rnnnpratinn in Tanan 1R in« 11Q 176 1 S4 170 iS Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. .... 15, 35, 83, 102, 117, 133, 179, 180, 188, 195, 196, 204, 211 M ........................ 18, 108, 1 19, 126, 154^ 170, 97 ^OCooperat^es . . 27, 45, 69, 81, 86, 90, 103, 106, 1 17, 1 18, 122, 151, 179, 180, 199, 211, 212 : ! !! : ! " !! ^ ! : !! ! : : : !! !! " !! :: :: !! " " !! :: !! : "i! ! : ! ! . .'. . . : . . .' 7\ ou Age Security ............................................................... 39 King, Starr ..................................................................... 27 Oison, Floyd B. ................................................................ 69 Knapp, Joseph G. and John H. Lister .............................................. 215 H. G. Labor and Consumers' Cooperation ....................... 101, 104, 127, 137, 146, 170, 199 Labor, Consumers' Conference on ................................................. 87 Laidler, Harry W. .............................................................. 136 Lane, Harry L. Larson, R. R. .. La Sille C H 161 30 "Î7 ? l Lever, E. J. .......................................... ........................ 42, 88 Libraries, Cooperative ........................................................... 102 Libraries, Traveling ............................................................. 118 Lincoln, Murray D. .............................................. 35, 90, 121, 127, 138 Lindenberger, J. H. .............................................................. 49 Liukku, J. ................................................................... 33, 105 Long, Huey .................................................................... 73 M Marketing Cooperatives ......................................................... 82 Massachusetts, Cooperative Education in ........................................... 207 Massachusetts League of Cooperative Clubs ....................................... 213 May, Henry J. ................................................................. 210 Medicine, Cooperative ............................................... 81, 102, 170, 199 " " ~- . . . ................................... 9, 11 ................................................. 125, 215 ... ........................................ 29 Midland Cooperative Wholesale ........................... 21, 86, 99, 118, 152, 195, 214 Milk, Cooperative Distribution of .................... 30, 51, 85, 86, 90, 121, 137, 166, 203 Mitchell, John T. W. ............................................................ 155 Monopolies and Consumers' Cooperation ........................................... 148 __*_.__ * j 1 rjr* * lf\ Moore, James R. ......................................................... 14, 73, HO Morgan, Arthur E. .............................................................. 107 Motion Pictures of Cooperatives ................................................. 88 rs, Joseph ................................................................. 195 N "National Being, The" ........................................................... 88 National Cooperatives, Inc. .................................................. 74, 103 National Recovery Administration ....................................... 49, 63, 76, 139 Nebraska Farmers Union State Exchange ................................. 4, 74, 99, 189 Negro Finds a Way to Economic Equality ......................................... 173 New Day Cooperative, Oakland, California ....................................... 165 New Deal ................................................................... 52, 61 News Service, The Cooperative League ....................................... 118, 213 Niemela, Waldemar ..................................... ..................... 31, 88 Noble County (Indiana) Cooperative Association ................................... 158 Pacific Northwest, Cooperation in ................................................ 46 Pacific Supply Cooperative ...................................................... 133 Page, Kirby .................................................................... 106 Palmer, C. C. .................................................................. 7 Parker, Florence E. ............................................................. 23 Parodneck, Meyer .............................................................. 103 Petersen, V. S. ................................................................. 37 Patriotism ...................................................................... 26 Peace and the International Cooperative Alliance ................................... 210 Peace, Economic and Political ........................... ........................ 201 —— " r ..................................................... 22 Cooperative Association .......................... 75, 195, 211 Must We Develop a ..................................... 77 Consumers' Cooperative Club ........................................ 150 ), Arthur .............................................................. 100, 122 Roneers ....................................................................... 1 Plan of Cooperative Action ...................................................... 3 Plan for an American Cooperative Economic Democracy ............................ 172 Platt, Warren C. ............................................................... 22 Press Boosts Cooperation .............. 22, 47, 72, 88, 104, 120, 136, 152, 167, 184, 200, 216 Press Circulation, Cooperative .................................................... 135 "Producer-Consumer, The" ...................................................... 166 Production, Cooperative ...................................................... 69, 111 Profits ................................................................. 12, 122, 154 Promotion and Education in America, How Shall We Finance ........................ 76 Public Utilities and Cooperation .................................................. 186 R Reddix, J. L. ................................................................... 173 Radio Broadcasting ...................................................... 15, 101, 133 Range Cooperative Federation .................................................... 69 Ratzlaff, C. J. .................................................................. 48 Recovery and Consumers' Cooperation ............................................. 171 Recreation, Cooperative ............................................ 7, 71, 86, 157, 188 Regli, W. E. ................................................................... 43 Resolutions .................................................................... 50 Restaurants, Cooperative ...................................................... 99, 134 Retail Trade, Who Owns ........................................................ 107 Reynolds, Quentin .............................................................. 61 Richberg, Donald .................................................... . ...... . 2 Ricker, A. W. ........................................................'..'. 75, 84, 105 Rochdale Centennial ............................................................ 178 Rochdale Cooperation, Ninetieth Year of .......................................... 4 Roosevelt, President Franklin D. .................................................. 169 Roosevelt, Theodore ............................................................ 138 Russia, Cooperation in ................................. ............. '" ... 211 Russell, George W. (AE) ...................................... ... 88, 159, 170 16, 74, n William F Sankari, H. O .......................................................... l// ''''^^^ 1 INDEX I I "Self-help for the Unemployed" ............................................ Shadid, Dr. Michael ....................................................... "Skin Deep," a review ..................................................... Smith, Robert L. .......................................................... Social Security ........................................................... "Socializing our Democracy," a review ............................................ 13( South Takes to Consumers' Cooperation ........................................... 14) "Spider Web, The" ............................................................. Ifij Spider Web of Wall Street, The ................................................. % Stanford, Senator Leland ...................................................... 73, f] Starr, Mark ................................................................. 101, 127 Statistics .......................................... 45, 112, 138, 154, 171, 187, 213, 21« Steinhauser, Joseph ............................................................. 4J Stevens, Harry ................................................................. l; Stolpe, Herman ................................................................. 19] Stores, Consumers' Cooperative Retail ............................................. 3i Student Christian Movement ..................................................... 18( Sweden. Cooperation in .................. 70, 85, 105, 121, 122, 139, 144, 171, 186, 193, 20f Sweden, Land of Economic Democracy ........................................... 14; Swedish Munitions Control ...................................................... 7j Taxes ........................................................ 105. 153, 186, 202, 212 Taylor, Alva W. ............................................................... 186 Taylor, Lewis .................................................................. 25 Technique of Democracy ........................................................ 9i Ten Year Plan, Great Britain .................................................... 178 Tennessee Valley Authority .......................................... 81, 88, 134, 141 Tennessee Valley Authority Cooperative .......................................... 133 Thompson, Carl ................................................................ 137 Toad Lane Store ............................................................... 17C Tomlinson. C. E. ............................................................ 169, ITS Tompkins, J. J. .......................................................... 49, 95. 203 Topping, Helen ...................................................... 18, 68, 119, 12! Tour, European ........................................ 46, 93, 103, 119, 122, 128, 16f Trade Unions .................................................................. 2i Tugwell, Rexford Guy ...................................................... 154, 20: Twenty Years in the Wilderness ............. .................................... 12'. U Union Oil Company of Boise Valley .............................................. ¥. United Cooperative Society of Maynard, Mass. ......................... 35, 133, 166, 19! United Workers League of Upper Michigan ........................................ 16i Utilities, Cooperative .......................................................... 83, 8i W Wallace, Henry A. ............................................................. 21 War and Profits .................................. 91, 100. 106, 137, 139, 155, 187, 20! Warbasse, J. P. ....................................... 4, 63, 81, 113, 141, 180, 199, 20! Warinner, A. W. ........................................................... 40, llf Watkins, W. P. ................................................................ W "What Consumers' Cooperation Means to a Minister" ............................... 192 Whitewater, (Wisconsin) Consumers' Cooperative Association ....................... 19! Winchester, Harold P. ................ "......................................... 5i Wisconsin Law and Consumers' Cooperation .............................. 169, 181, 21: Women's Guilds ....................................................... 150, 196, 19! Woods, G. S. .................................................................. I« Workmen's Mutual Fire Insurance Society .................................. 86, 118, 15 Wright, Frank Lloyd ........................................................... IS "Young Man, What Now?" ..................................................... I3; Youth Educational Programs .................................................... 5, J Youth Leagues ................................................................ 8, «. Youth and Cooperation ..................................................... 169, 1» "CONSUMERS COOPERATION A National Magazine for Cooperative Leaders Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. à & Eternal as the Unending Circle Harcly as the Evergreen Pine Vol. XXI. No. 1 JANUARY, 1935 10 cents ALL HONOR TO AMERICAN AND ROCHDALE PIONEERS December 21st, 1934, marked the passing of the ninetieth year of Con sumers' Cooperation. America justly celebrates the founding of our republic by American Pi oneers in 1776. The Fathers of this republic founded 159 years ago on this continent a union of the people committed to the principles of political, educa tional and religious democracy. They set up forms of organizations to carry out the principles of democracy in these three fields, which have proven to be basic, necessitating only .such amendments as 'time already has or will teach, us are required to more fully realize these principles. The economic conditions of that time were such that there was then a large measure of justice in the dis tribution of the ownership of wealth. Accordingly, our American Pioneers did not incorporate in the forms of economic organization they set up such prin ciples as would have prevented the concentration of the ownership of wealth in the hands of a few and its even wider distr;bution among the people as a whole. v Sixty-eight years later in 1844, or 90 years ago, the Rochdale Pioneers found themselves in the midst of conditions of economic distress such as America is only now experiencing and, having become disillusioned over the possibilities of securing economic justice by political action, they formulated ~ ' adopted the form of organization called Consumers<^Cooperation which incorporates the principles of economic democracy. \. To the Rochdale Pioneers of economic democracy, as well as to the Ameri can Pioneers of political, educational and religious democracy, we, their de scendants of this generation, pay humble homage and pledge to them and to the generations to follow, our utmost efforts of heart, mind, and body to complete the great work they began by building Communities Beautiful on this earth where the greatest expansion of the individual personalities of every human being will be possible. —— 7660J f LIBRARY CONSUMERS COUPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION CONSUMERS COOPERATION An organ to spread the knowledge of the Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce 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. E. R. Bowen, Editor Contributing Editors V. S. Alanne George Jacobson George Halonen James R. Moore A. W. Warinner Entered as Second Class matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., un der the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. Vol. XXI. No. 1 Jan. 1935 Our New Name The name of the first issue of this magazine was The Cooperative Con sumer and was dated May, 1914. In the issue of January, 1919, the name was changed to Cooperation. Now at the close of 21 years of educating America to the principles adopted by the Roch dale Cooperative Pioneers, we are again adding the word Consumer and shall henceforth use the name Con sumers' Cooperation. There are two reasons for this change: first, to indicate more definite ly the purpose of The Cooperative League and avoid confusion with other forms of Cooperation as well as with the many general uses of the word Co operation; and secondly, to take ad vantage of the rapidly growing realiza tion by the people that we are first of all Consumers and must organize our selves as such in a day of plenty. A Sign of Political Disillusionment Donald Richberg says truthfully, "Our experiment with industrial self- government demonstrated all too clear ly that private business is not yet ade quately organized for collective action and self-discipline, and that political controls are a poor substitute for volun tary cooperation." America's Capacity to Produce and Inability to Consume The National Survey of Potential Product Capacity reports that "the American people in the last five year period have permitted themselves to be deprived of goods and services to the amount of 287 billions of 1929 dollars, or an average of 57 billions per year." This additional amount could have been produced "if physical factors and knowledge had been the only limitation on production." This lack of production, when we had the physical capacity and knowl edge to produce 692 billions of wealth rather than 405 billions, or a shortage of 287 billions, was the result of "un even distribution of buying power, The goods and services listed in our budget could not be consumed unless everyone helped in their consumption. They are not like dollars of which one man can possess a million and another none at all. This consumption of budgeted goods and services would require the cooperation of the entire population." We have concentrated "Purchasing Power" in the hands of a few. But "Consuming Ability" cannot be con centrated to the same degree. The few cannot consume the food and goods represented by the purchasing power they receive in the form of money in come. This holding of excess monetary power to consume by the few is what prevents additional production. Things that are produced must be consumed or we pile up what are miscalled sur pluses. They are not surpluses beyond the needs of the mass of the people but beyond the consuming ability of the few who hold the monetary counters controlling their distribution. The Jcey question is the distribution of purchasing power to match the dis tribution of consuming ability. Starting a cooperative and shunting the profits back into the hands of the people as a whole through patronage dividends in stead of concentrating the profits into the hands of the few through stock dividends is the way .to distribute pur chasing power to match consuming ability. What New Worlds have You Planned to Conquer for Cooperation in 1935? This question is addressed to The Cooperative League, District Leagues, Wholesale Cooperatives, Retail Coop erative Associations and Individual Cooperators. As to The Cooperative League the accomplishments of the year of 1934 could perhaps be summed up in two re sults: first, the Coming of Age of The League as a result of including in its membership a number of Wholesales and their affiliated retail Cooperatives which now make The League truly representative of the whole Con sumers' Cooperative Purchasing Move ment in the United States, and the celebration of this significant develop ment at the Ninth Biennial Congress; second, the enlisting of the aggressive support of the Movement by progres sive leaders of Church, School, and Political Organizations of Society. The General Plan of Action of The Cooperative League sets up as the prin cipal definite objectives of The League for 1935 the following additional ac complishments: first, the greater co- ordination of the various types of co operative activities, namely, Supply, Service, Insurance, Banking, Auditing ?nd Education; second, the enlisting of the activity of Farm, Professional and particularly Labor leaders in the prac tical organization of Consumers' Co operative Associations. At least one of the District Leagues has in the process of formation a far more concrete program of action than before, both in the way of Cooperative education and practical organization. Four Wholesale Cooperatives have completed or announced new building plans of significant size. Cooperatives have not only proven to be Noah's Arks in surviving the deluge of the de pression but their business and savings have grown so as to demand enlarged facilities after five years of collapse of the capitalistic system. Three new Co operative Insurance Associations will be actively functioning in 1935. Retail Cooperatives are so many in number that their plans cannot be dis cussed in detail. They plan to grow in volume of business, in 'kinds of services to their members and in numbers in 1935. It is equally important that each In dividual Cooperator and particularly Cooperative Leaders, likewise plan definitely at the beginning of another year to increase the spirit of Coopera tion in their souls, the facts of Cooper ation in their minds, and their own ef forts in organizing new Cooperatives and adding new services to Coopera tives already organized. We must all make every year count towards the realization of a Coopera tive Economic Democracy. There are only ten years more ahead of us to the centennial of the Consumers' Coopera tive Movement when we must be far nearer our goal. Found in America: A Great Philo sophical Cooperative Educator America has found a great philo sophical cooperative educator in the person of Dr. Horace M. Kallen, Pro fessor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, New York City. A large number have read and com mented on his series of articles in the Christian Century. In a recent address at the Judson Memorial Church in New York his talk glistened with jewel-like expressions. Some of them were: "A surplus is that which the masters cannot use—there are no surpluses in human terms—only insufficiencies." "A heaven is sheer consumption." "Through Consumers' Cooperation you can get self-fulfillment immediate- iy.;; "Consumers' Cooperation has been the basic stabilizer of Great Britain." "Consumers' Cooperation and war are the only alternatives for the dis posal of our so-called surpluses." "The right to live is a prior right to the right to work." "Others may stake their faith on Communism; I stake mine on Con* sumers' Cooperation," CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION American Cooperatives Celebrate Ninety Years of Cooperation by Expanding Cooperative Youth Education Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress Anthony Lehner, Educational Director Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association AS a fitting tribute ,to ninety years of Rochdale Cooperation, the American Movement, usually consid ered by European Cooperators as the baby of the family, celebrated by an nouncing an expansion of present equipment to include the purchase of a new warehouse, the construction of two new buildings to house the central offices and oil compounding plants of two other Cooperative wholesales and the completion of a $300,000 addition to a cooperative feed mill. This will make possible even greater economies in service by eliminating rent, interest and profits which were previously paid pri vate owners. Central Cooperative Wholesale, Su perior, Wisconsin, has already moved into its new home, a modern, four story steel, brick and concrete structure hav ing a floor space of 122,000 square feet. The building will serve as warehouse and central office and is equipped to handle efficiently the $160.000 monthly business of. the 125 retail cooperative stores affiliated., with the Central Co operative Wholesale. The larger quar ters will enable the wholesale to add several new services it has planned for some time. The new home of the Farmers' Union Central Exchange in St. Paul, which has been financed and authorized and will soon, be under construction will embody the latest developments in modern architecture. The building will be three stories high with ground di mensions 130 by 60 feet. Administra tive offices of the cooperative and of the Farmers' Union Herald will occupy the entire top floor. Machinery for the oil compounding plant, which will oc cupy the remainder of the building, in cludes three blending' tanks and vat storage for 215,000 gallons of basic stock and 70,000 gallons of finished products. An up-to-date blending pro cess and the finest available Pennsyl vania oils will be used. The organiza tion sold to its members more than a million gallons of lubricating oil last year. The plant provides for expansion to three times the present annual vol ume. The Nebraska Farmers' Union is now constructing in Omaha a modern building to house the Farmers' Union State Exchange, the Union State head quarters, editorial offices of the Neb raska Union Farmer and The Nebras ka Farmers' Union Mutual Insurance Company. The structure is 66 by 100 feet and represents a total investment of $150,000. The building is being erected entirely without the help of outside capital. The Eastern States Farmers' Ex change has completed a $300,000 addi tion to its feed mill in Buffalo. This is an outstanding example of the evolu tion from consumer purchasing into the field of production for use when de mand becomes sufficient to warrant it. The addition to the mill has been paid for out of reserve surplus savings of the cooperative. These four new structures stand as silent testimony to the growth of co operative enterprises in the face of economic distress while competitive businesses have been forced to retrench or fail. When Light Lengthened The birth of Cooperation on the 21st of December, 1844, in the little shop in Rochdale, is symbolic. That was the hour of the Winter Solstice, celebrated by the peoples of the East for ten thou sand years. On that day in December, the dreaded night ceased to grow longer and light conquered the dark ness.—Dr. J. P. Warbasse, President, The Cooperative League. IN the last few years the Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association has had a steady growth but it became more and more apparent that in order to car ry on successfully it was necessary to establish a definite educational pro gram into which should be brought the younger element of rural Indiana, which tomorrow must assume the lead ership of the organization. As it was not possible to secure as yet this edu cation and this type of training in the public school system of the state, the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative As sociation established a one, week's course of training and selected two places in the state to carry on this work. The complete responsibility for these schools was placed in the hands of the state organization, which in turn asked each county to .send a student or two to these schools and to finance the ex penses of the training. The total cost including board and room and tuition was set at $12.00 per student per week. We had a total enrollment of 163 stu dents, 38 young people from Noble County alone were included in this group. Students Build Local Schools The one requirement we made of these students was that they should go back into their respective counties and assume the responsibility of establish ing study clubs for the express purpose of giving at least one evening a month over to the study of the cooperative movement as nresented in these train ing schools. Most of them did a splen did piece of work and secured groups varying from 15 to 25 people in their home counties to meet once a month for the purpose of studying a particular phase of the cooperative movement. Stores—Agriculture—Trust Busting 1 he state organization submitted, in a mimeographed form, material for these county meetings, which were pre ceded each month by a district meet ing of the leaders from the various counties. The general outline for these study courses opened with the study of the cooperative movement in In dustrial England. The Rochdale prin ciples were held before the group at all times and were given fullest anal ysis. Then we moved over to Denmark where the cooperative development was built around the needs of an agri cultural population, which fitted itself to the highest degree into the Indiana background. The next discussion dealt with the developments in the other Scandinavian countries, primarily Swe den. Here big trusts and cartels, were effectively met by consumer coopera tives. From Sweden we moved across into Germany to study the develop ment of the Credit Union. The next discussion dealt with the general needs of cooperative education and the last month was given over to a discus sion of the development in Indiana. After the conclusion of our winter program we tried to develop ways and means to make these summer schools accessible to a larger number of peo ple. We shifted part of the responsi bility to the counties by suggesting to them that we would Bring the school into their county provided that they would furnish the location and food and shelter. In most instances we were agreeably surprised that within the confines of a large number of counties splendid facilities were available for the type of work we wanted. Twenty-Three Local Summer Schools The proposition we made to our various county units was that if they would furnish the facilities we would furnish the instructors, a service for which there would be no charges made. In most instances the counties were CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION able to make some very advantageous arrangements to secure camp sites with food and sleeping quarters furnished at very reasonable rates. This enabled u:; to secure a much larger group of young people from the various counties and we were agreeably surprised when finally applications were made from about 43 counties for a week's training school. A new problem arose. We had only a limited number of weeks in which to carry on our work. This meant that we had to consolidate several counties, and develop two staffs of instructors to run two camps concurrently. Begin ning on June 3 and running up to Sep tember 15th we had to crowd twenty- three weeks' work into fourteen weeks. This meant that the program had to be arranged so that at least part of the instructors could present the same dis cussion in both camps. Cooperative Economics—Cooperative Philosophy—Cooperative Play The camp opened on Sunday after noon with an address of welcome and a lecture on "Why Cooperate." Every evening at nine o'clock the camp fire session was held, which was very largely taken up in the playing of folk games and folk dances rather than competitive games. Beginning Monday five lectures and discussions were of fered each day dealing with a wide variety of subjects. Organization and Administration of Cooperatives based on the Rochdale Structure was given one and one half hours discussion each day. Producers and Consumers' Coop eratives, Their Place in the Economic Scheme, aroused the interest of the stu dents. Other topics discussed were: Cooperative Marketing, Wfty Cooper ative Education, Why Buy Coopera tive Goods, The Economic Depression, Its Causes and Remedy, Aids for Agri culture in its Present Crisis, Credit Unions and Their Place in the Cooper ative Movement, Cooperative Banking, The Woman's Place in the Coopera tive Movement, and as a final sum mary, Cooperation—a Philosophy of Life. Every evening the meetings were thrown open to the parents and friends of the young people and aside from the regularly enrolled students, approxi mately 700, we reached in excess of 4,000 people with a discussion on one phase or the other of the cooperative movement. Before each group left on Saturday, in every instance, where we had a suf ficient number of people from any one county, the students perfected the or ganization of a study club in their respective counties to go ahead this winter in the development of the pro gram. At the beginning of each week the group was organized for the duration of the school and took charge of the program, as far as presiding at the various meetings, the introduction of speakers, presentation of motions and so forth were concerned. They learned what Robert's Rules of Order mean and not only how to work together but how to play together, a thing which we have almost forgotten. Education for Economic Democracy These students of today, the leaders of tomorrow, have a broader concep tion of this whole cooperative move ment, its fundamentals and its philos ophy than some of us older ones were privileged to have. It is safe to say that if we are permitted to continue this program for the next five or ten years, that the purchase refund or the patron age earning will no longer be the driv ing motive in the development of the cooperative movement, which, we are afraid, has been very largely the foun dation upon which we built, but we will have developed in the minds of those young people a new and finer and higher conception of cooperation, no longer a mere word, as it is for many of us, but the basis for a new social and economic order for which the world is yearning today. A County Cooperative Youth Educational Program Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress C. C. Palmer, President, Noble County Farm Bureau IN the February issue of the Review of International Cooperation, the official organ of the International Co operative Alliance, were listed the seven fundamental principles of coop eration; and the last of these was the promotion of education. It occurs to me that instead of listing cooperative edu cation last, it might well be placed first, or still more logically it should precede the organization of a cooperative. During the winter of 1932-1933 some forty directors, employees, and other leaders and their wives in Noble Coun ty held monthly meetings studying the history, growth and principles of the cooperative movement. As a result of this crude educational program, our di rectors developed a vision of the need of youth education. In the summer of 1933 our state cooperative association held five cooperative schools, of a week's duration. Our directors saw an opportunity to extend these schools another week and sponsor one for our own group. As a result thirty-eight young folks were enrolled, the repre sentation was approximately three from each township. The total expense was paid by our cooperative associa tion. Those enrolling agreed to organ ize in each of their respective town ships a cooperative study club among the young folks. A Little Lump Leaveneth the Whole Loaf Eleven of the twelve townships held monthly meetings with an average total attendance of nearly four hundred young folks. These groups discussed cooperation an hour and played an hour. The results were so satisfactory that our cooperative financed another cooperative school the past summer, with a new group enrolled from each township to teach the history, magni tude, growth, and fundamentals of co- ooeration. Our County Superintendent of Schools, five high school teachers and thirteen grade school teachers joined the students in these two summer schools. In all of their college training, not one of these teachers had found a page on cooperation in their text books on economics or social service and many of them voluntarily expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to learn of this new social and economic order. Several of the teachers remarked that this week's training was more val uable to them than any eight weeks' term they had attended at a teachers' college. In two of the consolidated schools, the teachers have formed school supply cooperatives, with student directors and officers. What better way is there to learn something than by doing it? These township study clubs are being conducted this year with even greater enthusiasm and interest than last year due to the additional talent in each communty trained in this year's summer school. Special credit must be given to Mr. Carl R. Hutchinson for merly of the Chicago Theological Sem inary who has moved to Noble County and spends part of his time working with these groups of young folks in an educational and recreational pro gram. Mr. Hutchinson secured the services of Lynn Rohrbaugh .and held a recreational training school in the county the last four days and nicjhts of the past week, which was attended by a hundred and seventy-five young folks from every part of the county. These people can now help with recreation in their own community clubs, Groundwork for a New Order Our cooperative has been appro- 8 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION priating approximately fifteen per cent of its net savings for promotion of co operative education. If we continue our summer schools for four or five years, and have fifteen or twenty of these trained young folks in each township and retain the assist ance of Mr. Hutchinson for part of this time, I have a vision that within fifteen or twenty years this group of social minded, inspired, intelligent, unselfish, and idealistic young people will build a little cooperative democracy in Noble County. Organized Youth Educates Youth Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress H. O. Sankari, President, Northern States Cooperative Youth League AFTER four years of experience, the Cooperative Youth League of the North Central States lends firm conviction to the belief that cooperative education of youth can and should be tied up with the every-day work of the movement. No Paternalism Please The cooperative youth organization needs and deserves the unreserved sup port of adult cooperators, both moral and material. But the help given a youth organization must not become paternalistic. The wrong attitude may stifle the interest and enthusiasm of the young people. There have been cases where this has Tîâppened. The youth developed no initiative to work things out for themselves. They had been taught to expect too much. Youth can and will play an impor tant part in the forward march of co operation, if they are consolidated into a working group. Their work has al ready earned recognition, though it still is small. The Work o£ the Youth League The Cooperative Youth League of the Northern States, the Central States Cooperative Youth League, and the Massachusetts Cooperative Youth League have a total membership of around 2,000. Of the 34 young people who attended the Cooperative Train ing school conducted by the Central Cooperative Wholesale and the North ern States Cooperative League, about 50% are active members of the Co operative Youth League. About 25% of them are former students of the co operative youth educational courses held there in previous years. Short term summer schools have proven very valuable in developing a group of cooperatively minded youth. Experience on educational committees and boards of directors of local coop eratives has developed conscientious workers. Attendance at meetings and lectures, the cooperative press, and other factors have been valuable to many more. But the most dependable for permanence, the most effective and the broadest in its scope is youth's own cooperative organization. Help youth organize, give them sup port and guidance, and you will have an enthusiastic, energetic army of co operative builders. Not only will the future be assured for Cooperation, but valuable aid will be returned right along. Let us build first local groups, then district leagues, and then a national league of cooperative youth. Let us re member "He who has the youth has the future." The Cooperative Movement loses a friend in the N.R.A. organization through the recent death of Mrs. Mary Harriman Rumsey. Mr. A. C. Millington, Treasurer and Manager of the Farmers' Union Cooperative Insurance Company, Omaha, was a pioneer in the development of cooperative insurance. His death is a great loss to the cooperative movement. Cooperative Member Education Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress George W. Jacobson, Midland Cooperative Wholesale DUCATION among the rank and -I—' file members of cooperative organ izations should accomplish two objec tives. First, it should develop at least a small group of conscious cooperators in every community where cooperatives exist. Secondly, it should build good will among all members, patrons, and consumers in general. Creating Conscious Cooperators Among the membership of every co operative there is always a handful of community-minded individuals who serve as the backbone of the organiza tion. It is this intelligent, active, in fluential minority of social-minded men and women we must seek out in the membership of every cooperative asso ciation, arm them with the essential facts to make their cooperative operate with maximum effectiveness, and in spire them with a vision of the cooper ative movement as a potent social sys tem which is capable of gradually and constructively displacing our obsolete profit system. Personal Contact and Institutes It has been our experience that key persons can first be won over to a vi sion of the cooperative program in its broadest aspects best through personal contact. Another effective method of building a nucleus of cooperators in each Ipcal- ity to supplement personal contact, is to hold a cooperative institute or short course in the locality. The Midland Cooperative Wholesale is planning this coming winter to experiment with these local schools. The local cooperative will furnish a place of meeting and ar range for attendance at the course; and the wholesale furnish the instruction and needed literature. Participation and Responsibility Other effective means to reach the minds of key men are to get them to read the literature and periodicals of the movement; attend the district and wholesale meetings, cooperative lec tures and cooperative courses to get the inspiration and bird's-eye view of the movement as a whole. Get them to participate in the meetings and organi zational work of the central organiza tion, because nothing convinces a man more effectively than experience itself. Key individuals with ability, enthu siasm, and social vision and at least one employee and one director, should be induced to constitute the educational committee in every local cooperative. This committee should have a definite appropriation of money from the earn ings of the organization. It should have full power to carry on cooperative edu cation, publicity, and entertainment ac tivities among the members and pa trons, responsible, of course, to the board of directors. At least once a -year these educational committee men should attend a local or district institute to learn new methods, to enlarge their knowledge, and to kindle new enthu siasm. These committee men should meet at least twice a year with the fieldmen or educational director from the central organization and should be supplied with outlines and suggestions at regular intervals to guide them in their work. Experts in Education Educational work is a very special ized job. Before we can hope to have effective educational work we must have people in charge who are espe cially trained for that purpose. Coop erative organizations will have to ap propriate more funds for the personnel of educational departments than they have in the past. We must get over the idea that cooperative education can be achieved without expending money, and that it can be carried on by any Tom, Dick or Harry. We need people trained to do educational work, and must give them sufficient funds with which to work. Then we should expect 10 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 11 very definite results from these educa tional departments. People who carry on educational work and conduct co operative schools must have both edu cational background and practical ex perience in cooperative organizations. These two qualifications are essential; only a person who has had actual ex perience in a cooperative organization can hope to go out and teach other people the essentials of cooperation. An educational department should direct and motivate a well-organized educational machinery functioning in every member cooperative. Only in this way can real results be obtained. Without such local machinery, period icals, literature distribution, local edu cation programs, annual meetings, speakers, entertainments, etc., can be only partially effective. The Purposes of Member Education The purpose of the education should be, first of all, to build understanding and critical loyalty among the members of the movement, and increase member ship and patronage from the consumers in the community as a whole. But the most important aim should be to build understanding, loyalty, and confidence, so the consumers of the community will support the cooperative with patronage and capital, so it can always be grow ing and expanding into new fields of service. They should be sold on a uni fied movement going from the retail unit to the wholesale, on into produc tion, and then to the sources of raw materials. The cooperative oil move ment at present reaches from the farm er's gasoline barrel and the motorist's gasoline tank through retail and whole sale units back to the refinery itself. The first step to make a cooperative popular is to make it succeed as a busi ness enterprise so it can pay patronage dividends and render service. But these results must be popularized and dram atized through publicity. This can be done through advertisements, snappy lectures, illustrated and brief circulars, newspaper articles, write-ups in our own official organs, essay contests in the schools, presentation of plays, fes tivals, moving pictures, entertainments, radio programs, etc. Efficiency and the New Economy In our publicity we should emphasize how the cooperative is distinct and dif ferent from ordinary business. We should present the movement as a na tional and world proposition. This we should do through a uniform slogan, standardized trade brands and de signs, as is now being done in the Na tional Cooperatives, Inc., through uni form color schemes and uniform mer chandising methods. Our brands, ad vertisements, and places of business should symbolize a consistent quality of merchandise, and an enticing sys tem of service. Displays of goods should be attractive, attendants should be neat and courteous, prices competi tive, and service adequate. Every cau tion should be exercised to create a consumers' confidence in our system and consumers' acceptance of our branded goods. We must make our business system modern and nation wide. Americans like the band wagon. We can make Consumers' Cooperation America's band wagon, if we adopt big business efficiency in practical matters, and the zeal of a social missionary in our educational activity. Our publicity and education must present cooperation not only as an ef ficient economic system, but as an in strument for the just distribution of wealth and control of economic power; as a means of retaining personal liber ty, priming private initiative, and re gaining rank and file ownership of America. Folk Schools for America We should make every effort to get the existing school system to help us in teaching the facts about consumers' co operation. As we attempt to make fun damental changes, however, it may be necessary for us to increasingly es tablish our own schools and mediums of conveying information to our pa trons and the public at large. The co operative movement of Denmark was made possible because it established the folk high schools which were free from the domination of the established school system of that day. The labor movements both of this country and of European countries have had to es tablish their own schools to teach the facts of workers' economics to the masses. The consumers' cooperative movement will also find it necessary to follow this same course of action in its educational work, if we plan to train workers and educate members who will become conscious of the job of building a better economic system. Local Membership Education Condensed from an afldress to the Cooperative League Congress Edward Carlson, President, Central States Cooperative League THE education of the members in a small cooperative society is much easier than in a large society. In a small society nearly every member is ac quainted with every other member or perhaps they are related or bound to gether by personal friendship. The members of a small cooperative society very often take as much interest in their society as they do in their own family. Of course there are members in small societies that care very little whether the society exists or not, but this is al- sc true of members of a private family. As a rule, if the society has a good cooperator for a manager, an intelli gent board of directors, and the charter members well informed of the coopera tive principles there will be very little difficulty in getting the new members to attend meetings, read the literature, join the guilds, youth leagues, study circles or to take part in any other ac tivities that the society or movement is sponsoring. Personally, I believe that when any new society is organized the education of the members should be done before any business activities are started. If this is done, many costly er rors will be avoided. The education of the members of a larger and older so ciety is, of course, a more difficult task. I believe that there are very few, if any, of our American cooperative so cieties that have a membership of 2,000 or more that can get more than 500 to the meetings. This lack of interest from the large portion of the membership in their own affairs is mainly the lack of cooperative education, but there are other reasons also. First, the meetings are not properly conducted and too dry. Second, the reports are too tech nical for people without an economic education to understand. These diffi culties could easily be removed by con ducting classes in parliamentary law, by opening and closing the meetings by singing cooperative songs in unison, or by having someone make a talk on some timely subject. Even if these suggestions were carried out, and would bring good results, we should still be confronted with the problems of how to make cooperators of those members who are inactive or active in other movements which are indifferent to the cooperative movement. This is a very vital problem for every coopera tive society in the U. S. A. and it must be solved before the solution of other problems can be possible. The education of all the members cannot be accomplished unless the edu cation of the general public is also in cluded. Leaving out the great number of educational activities that are mak ing progress in this country, I suggest only the three following proposals: 1. That every member should be a sub scriber to at least one of our papers. 2. That The Cooperative League send out a weekly or monthly bulletin to all friendly newspapers in the U. S. A. 3. That the cooperative societies take the initiative for calling county con ferences of friendly organizations in their respective counties for the pur pose of greater contact between the consumers cooperative societies and the different labor and farmers labor groups. 12 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Cooperative Employee Education Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress George Halonen, Educational Director, Central Cooperative Wholesale Jan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 13 A LTHOUGH definite figures are •*• ^- lacking, we can safely assume that the consumers' cooperative move ment in the U. S. A. hires at least ten thousand employees. What a for midable force to strengthen and expand our movement, if these employees were imbued with the cooperative ideas and knowledge of its principles and meth ods. The history of the American coop erative movement proves that in the past as well as at the present time, many societies which failed can trace the cause to lack of cooperative knowl edge on the part of management and employees. We should learn from the past, dearly bought lessons. In connec tion with the general cooperative edu cational work, special stress should be laid on employee education. In the Northern States the Central Cooperative Wholesale has been pio neering in this field. It has conducted eleven annual Cooperative Training Schools, mostly on eight weeks' basis. These schools have been partly tech nical but a great part of the curriculum consisted of such subjects as history, principles and methods of consumers' cooperation. Also such schools have been conducted under the auspices of the Northern States Cooperative League. The Cooperative Youth League has arranged three summer schools. The Northern States Cooper ative League has been instrumental in organizing Summer Institutes for both employees and membership in general. The last annual meeting of the Central Cooperative Wholesale instructed the Educational Department to arrange at least two technical lectures in six sub- districts of the Wholesale territory. A few lectures of this type have already been held. However, taking into consideration the whole nation, it becomes clear that first of all we need unification of em ployee education. And we expect that The Cooperative League will be the main factor in this work. First of all we need a cooperative Hand Book, which should contain both technical and theoretical information. We have now many cooperative wholesales and dis trict Leagues and therefore can assume that, if properly handled, this Hand Book would be a paying proposal. Our cooperative movement is ex panding. Let us not forget the impor tance of the education of cooperative employees. Schools For Cooperative Employees Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress V. S. Alanne, Executive Secretary, Northern States Cooperative League BOTH the Central Cooperative Wholesale and the Northern States Cooperative League have conducted special courses or training schools to develop managers and bookkeepers for the cooperative societies and to im prove the efficiency of the cooperative employees in general. The initiative in this field was taken by the Central Co operative Wholesale. The first "Co operative Course" was conducted in Superior, Wisconsin, in 1918 and cov ered only one week. Bookkeeping was the only subject taught. The following year cooperative subjects were added and the courses extended to cover a period of four weeks. This year the Northern States Co operative League cooperated with the Central Cooperative Wholesale in con ducting an eight-week training school in Superior, Wisconsin. The school has now become so popular in the C. C. W. group that more than 80 applica tions were received for the present ses sion. Of these applications nearly 60% had to be rejected on account of lack of accommodations and because a class of more than 35 students was consid ered too cumbersome to handle. Training Cooperative Managers The subjects taught at this training school are those considered most im portant in developing good managers and bookkeepers for the cooperative stores. To show the students the eco nomic and social background of Con sumers' Cooperation, they are taught Economics and Social Theory. Educa tion directed specifically to the crea tion of intelligent cooperators includes courses in: Principles and Methods of Consumers' Cooperation, Organization and Administration of Cooperative So cieties, Merchandising, Cooperative Store Management, Business English, Business Correspondence and Com mercial Arithmetic. Lreneral class pe riods are devoted to special lectures. This program has been developed the last 16 years and could be easily modi fied to suit also the requirements of the cooperative gasoline and oil associa tions. Trends of Development All of the 34 students enrolled in the course this year were between the ages of 20 and 25. The school has become more and more a school for the training of people already employed by the cooperatives. About. 70% of the students "attending had served as full- time or part-time employees in various cooperatives. The number of students who have finished a high school course before attending the cooperative train ing school is increasing from year to year. The majority of those who at tended the most recent school in Su perior are high school graduates. It is impossible to over estimate the importance of this kind of a training school, particularly for a group like that of the C. C. W. stores. Most of the managers of these stores have at tended the cooperative courses or co operative training schools conducted in the past years either by the Central Cooperative Wholesale or the North ern States Cooperative League. They are the staunchest supporters of the Wholesale and keenly appreciate the importance of education in coopera tion. Summer Institutes The Summer Institutes, conducted by the Northern States Cooperative League, are another instrument of co operative employee education the im portance of which should not be over looked. Last summer (1934) two dif ferent institutes were held (at Maple Plain and Moose Lake in Minnesota) with a total attendance of 81, an in crease of 280% over the attendance in 1933. The majority of those who have so far attended our summer institutes have no.t been employees of the cooperatives but a consiuerable number of coopera tive managers and employees have availed themselves of the institute as a means of becoming familiar with the principles and methods of the Coopera tive Movement. Cooperative Journalism Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress A. J. Hayes. Editor, The Cooperative Builder ' I 'HE development of a flourishing -*- cooperative journalism in America is necessary if the consumers' move ment is to become a national factor in the economic life of this country. To reach millions of people with our mes sage, information and guidance, is a matter that requires use of the most ef fective, consistent and authoritative channels of publicity; that means the widest possible use of all those me diums which are commonly included under the one word, "press." The question might be broadly di vided under two heads: (1) the devel opment of oiir own cooperative press; (2) the extent to which the non-coop erative press, and particularly labor 14 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Jan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 15 F and progressive journals of all kinds; may be utilized. As far as our own press is con cerned, we undoubtedly have very good beginnings in the various publi cations already being issued by The League itself and by the central organ izations affiliated with it. Better coor dination among them than heretofore is the present need for further improv ing them. That means working out some plan for convenient exchange of news and other material to keep all sections in touch with each other. This would greatly assist those publications which otherwise tend to remain entire ly too self-centered and localized, by providing them with current news and views of the entire movement. It would also assist in unifying the policies of all of them along bonafide cooperative lines. The other important question re garding our cooperative press concerns the movement's recognition of its value and consequent willingness to support and finance it adequately. In this res pect there is much room for improve ment, especially where "economy" is preached shortsightedly at the expense of vitally necessary educational work and the development of our own pub lications. No opportunity should be overlooked to impress upon the move ment that maintenance of our coopera tive journals and their future develop ment should be considered one of the really necessary and worthwhile obli gations if we are to expect our enter prises and the movement at large to thrive. Some of the labor papers and an en couraging list of liberal and progress ive publications, including organs of a number of religious groups, are today giving no small attention—and space— to consumers' cooperation. It is obvious that, for the most part at least, they are dependent upon our organizations and cooperative writers for their material. A cooperative news exchange could readily serve them also. In addition, we should encourage cooperative leaders and those of our members who have especial journalistic ability to contrib ute to the outside press as well as to our own. Developing Channels of Enlightenment Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress James R. Moore, Editor, Ohio Farm Bureau News 'T'HE function of the journalist in the J- cooperative movement is more im portant than the function of the jour nalist in a private organization. Coop eration has yet to be sold to most of the people and it is through publicity that most of this "selling" will have to be done. Cooperation, in this country, is rela tively new and somewhat unproved. It is operating on a comparatively small scale. Against the forces of strongly organized and formidable big business, with its million-dollar advertising budg ets, its intrenched powers and influ ence, the lone cooperative, struggling for a foothold, finds itself quite out weighed in the matter of influencing those whom it attempts to convert- the public. It is my opinion that a carefully or ganized system of publicity can do much to change this situation. The average man, were he fully acquainted with the purposes and ideals of cooper ation, would prefer it to the present system of competitive business, which is today so sadly demoralized. Of all enterprises, the cooperative movement has been almost the only one that has grown steadily and noticeably during the depression. This is to be attributed to the fact that cooperation has demon strated its superiority over other sys tems and that people are learning about it. Yet by far the majority of people ac cept the old system. It never occurs to them, in fact, that any other method is possible. That cooperation has but made a beginning is due primarily to the fact that it has scarcely made itself heard. Prospering When Competition Fails The problem of educating the great mass of American citizens to coopera tion is not an easy one, principally be cause they have so long lived in a sys tem where private profit and produc tion for exchange are accepted as the purposes of the system. In a time of economic uncertainty, such as we have witnessed during the last four years, this great mass of people is more re ceptive to an idea that will restore their lost security. In such times cooperation tends to grow and private business tends to slump. It succeeds in times of adversity, when private endeavor does not. The success of our existing coop eratives can be duplicated if a sufficient appeal is made to the public, through an extensive system of publicity de signed to enlighten people on the prin ciples of a movement that can succeed when capitalism fails. "Every Farmer a Cooperator" In our own cooperatives, affiliated with the Ohio Farm Bureau, under which are organized cooperative auto mobile and fire insurance companies, cooperative purchasing and marketing associations, and cooperative credit as sociations, we have attempted to make every farmer a cooperator. The extent to which we have succeeded is indi cated by the fact that in eight years our automobile insurance company has grown to a 3J/2 million dollar company, insuring more than 135,000 cars. Our cooperative marketing and purchasing associations have an outlet in nearly every county in Ohio, supplying our farmers with petroleum products, ma chinery, coal, food, seed, paint, fence, twine, harness, etc., on a cooperative basis. Our business has grown every year. We have had, of coures, some thing tangible to offer them, but we have also let them know about it. Our monthly magazine, the Ohio Farm Bureau News, goes to every member of our organization. It is a thirty-two page publication to which both authorities on cooperation and our leading members contribute. It is put out to be read and not simply admired and' has converted many luke-warm farmers into enthusiastic cooperators. Our weekly press service is sent to each of Ohio's 500 newspapers. The results are checked in our office by a clipping service and we have been very much satisfied by the cooperation given us by editors. Channels of Enlightenment Special articles are written to news papers or magazines upon request. One large Ohio newspaper has printed a series of articles in its Sunday editions on Cooperation in Ohio that was sup plied by us. We supply articles for other cooperative publications, as well as trade papers of any sort. We also encourage each of our county Farm Bureau units to issue a .small, four page newspaper each month for the benefit of members in particular counties. We send out a monthly bulletin of material suitable for use in these county papers. The remainder of the paper is to be filled with local news. We reach another large class of peo ple by the radio. We have a regular half-hour weekly broadcast over sta tion WLW, Cincinnati, and a daily broadcast of half an hour over station WAIH, Columbus. Any degree of effective publicity, of course, depends on a well trained and capable staff. Cooperative organization budgets too often neglect publicity and as a consequence many of the potential possibilities of cooperation are not real ized. More and more it is becoming evi dent that cooperation offers the best way out for a nation economically sick. We find religious agencies, churches and church groups, economists and col leges supporting it. These are the peo ple who have been enlightened on the subject. There is no reason, in my opinion, why the public in general could not be influenced to give the same support if they are given the in formation necessary. And when that time comes we will find ourselves in the midst of a profound economic change — a change that promises to bring ownership back to the people. 16 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 17 A University Promotes Cooperation Condensed from an address to the Cooperative League Congress Rev. Dr. M. M. Coady, Extension Division, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia A CCORDING to the last census •*•*• Nova Scotia, Canada, had a pop ulation of slightly over 500,000. In race the people are mainly of Scotch, Irish, English and French origin. On the 5,500 miles of eastern Canadian coast line, 40,000 fishermen are scattered in small towns and villages; 12,000 coal- miners and 4,000 steel-workers are to be found in two areas in eastern Nova Scotia. For the rest, the population is mainly engaged in farming of various kinds, and lumbering. The immediate constituency of St. Francis Xavier's College is the seven eastern counties of Nova Scotia, with a population of approximately 200,000 people. In this territory nearly all the coal-miners and steel-workers are to be found. The People's School During the past 25 years St. Francis Xavier's College has tried in various ways to carry knowledge to these adult groups, especially to the farming groups. One of the most notable at tempts was the formation of what was called the People's School, carried on for two years at two different points in the area. The success attending these rather spasmodic efforts finally re sulted in the foundation of an Exten sion Department in 1928 which would carry on a systematic program of Adult Education among the people. The St. Francis Xavier movement is not a correspondence or lecture course. Members of the Extension Staff go out to the people and organize them into small study groups^—an average of ten to a group. A leader is selected by the members of each group and these members are pledged to meet weekly during the fall and winter ; aonths, and to carry out a series of ! tudies outlined by the Department. I 'uring the last year 952 such groups, both men and women, were actively engaged in study. Study material is furnished these groups through a bi-monthly publica tion called the Extension Bulletin, a circulating library, and an Open Shelf library, from which the people may borrow books and pamphlets according to their needs. In addition to this a school is conducted for four weeks at the University each year, for the pur pose of training community leaders to carry on the various activities arising out of the people's studies. Educating for Democratic Action The first essential in promoting the welfare of the common people is to have a program that will point to a so ciety built upon Social Justice. There are two possible ways of bringing men to a realization of the kind of society that we would call so cially just. The first is through dic tatorship. The second, democracy, is based, not on external force, which is so characteristic of all the dictatorships we know, but is rather founded on the force of ideas operating in the minds of a free and enlightened people. This has been the fundamental idea which has brought the peoples of the western world thus far, and the effectiveness of such philosophy is now on trial. We feel that democracy will stand or fall on the realization of this ideal. Can the common people of North America be sufficiently educated and motivated to do voluntarily what dic tatorships of the right or left are trying to do? That is the great question con fronting all of us. Scientific investiga tion has demonstrated with sufficient certitude that adults can learn. In our Antigonish program we begin by or ganizing the people to explore their economic possibilities. A simple people are not likely to study just for study's sake. They must see their mental ac tivities issue in some concrete results. Their thinking must pay, in other words, if they are to be long interested. As practical educators, we therefore proceed on the fundamental principle that adult study must issue in economic ventures of various kinds to be inter esting and permanent. Again, the eco nomic question looms so big today that one might say it is the great social, political, and even religious question of the hour. Everything is in danger as long as this universal problem remains unsolved. How the People Control Their Own Economic Destiny The question now arises how the common people of the earth can manip ulate financial forces for their own good—how they can get their hands on the throttle of their own economic destiny, and, as it were, climb into the driver's seat. The solution of this is at hand. The general remedy for this state of affairs is to bring the common people to that point of intelligence and effi ciency where they can do for them selves what they have been paying others so dearly to do for them in the past. Not only will such a move give them some measure of economic free dom but it will also serve as the great est possible instrument of their educa tion and their intellectual and spiritual advancement. This opens the door to the whole realm of group action in the economic field, or what is commonly called Cooperation. Fields of Activity Following this principle, we in Anti gonish are putting forth every effort to have the people engage in group action in the four possible fields open to them. (a) The Consumers' Cooperative Society, or the so-called Cooperative Store, is gaining great ground. Already 18 such societies are functioning in eastern Nova Scotia alone, and some of them are among the most successful on the North American, continent. (b) The field of finance opens up great possibilities -for the common peo ple. Those who control money and credit in the nation control most other things too. To give the people some measure of financial independence we promote the Credit Union of which Sir Horace Plunkett once said: "The Credit Union idea is a discovery as im portant for the financial order of the world as steam was for the industrial order." After a little less than two years of activity we have succeeded in establishing among very poor people 27 Credit Unions, and the total money controlled by these little groups to date is $90,000. It may well be that this means of taking care of their own credit needs is the foundation for other activities that will result in the recon struction of society. (c) Already in Nova Scotia many plants such as processing and manu facturing plants are owned and oper ated by the primary producers. This idea can be extended among labourers. In England the cooperative movement now operates 150 manufacturing plants. There is the germ here of an or dered society where production is for use and an ascertained need. The great cooperative retail business of the Old Country serves as the distributing agency for this production and elimi nates to that extent the scramble for markets which is so characteristic of the present industrial set-up. (d) Primary producers of all kinds can get further control of their own business by organizing for marketing purposes. Not only is group action ab solutely necessary in this field for greater economic returns, but it is im possible for small producers in any other way to have volume of quality and standard goods without it. A large part of our people are small farmers and fishermen, and their success will be determined in great measure by the growth of this movement. We are pro moting a great variety of organizations in this field. Cooperation and Human Values The institutions growing out of this group action will give new shape and form to our civilization. They will be the concrete embodiment of justice and 18 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 19 charity. Througn them the people will have an opportunity to rise to the full stature of citizenship. The common people of our respective countries in the main, up to the present, have not been permitted to function in the fields of business and finance. All their think ing has been done for them, and yet ac tivity in these fields is a very vital part of citizenship. They are supposed to carry on cooperative ventures of a civic and political nature in the running of their respective communities and coun- tries, but have not yet learned to carry on successfully group action in the eco nomic field •which is, as everybody •knows, fundamental to real and ef fective political action. As a conse quence the rank and file of our people are not taking serious responsibility in the political field where their will is supposed to be law. Something new has to come into the life of the people. Something is funda mentally wrong with our present way of training for citizenship. Our church es and our schools have worked in cessantly for generations, but their ef forts, judging by results, have been nullified to a great extent by the sys tem under which we are living. Permit the common man—the labourer and the primary producer—to cross the line and enter the field of business and finance, and the way is clear for a new type of citizen. Without this it is prob ably true that there are not enough teachers or preachers in North Amer ica to clean up the mess in which we find ourselves. Kagawa and Cooperation in Japan Condensed from an a'ddress to the Cooperative League Congress Miss Helen Topping, Secretary to Toyohiko Kagawa, the Great Ethical Leader in Japan A MERICA is the youngest, biggest, •L\ and richest of the great world powers; Japan the oldest, smallest and poorest of them. Such extremes of dif ference tend to misunderstanding, espe cially just now when cheap Japanese goods, sold in American markets, are creating a feeling of economic competi tion. The solution lies not in war and violence. The solution of the problem of competition between Japan's and America's trade lies in the development of the Cooperative Movement in both countries, and in all countries of the world. Japan's .cooperatives began about 1900 and now embrace a third of her population. Japan's cooperative maga zine is the largest in the world in its monthly paid up circulation. By meas ured gains of twenty to forty thou sand monthly this magazine is now nearing the million mark and will reach it before the year's end. The cooperative magazine is within the comprehension of every primary school graduate in Japan, which means 99 per cent of the total population. For one subscriber the magazine has twelve readers, and all over the rural districts the farmer families meet informally in the evenings for recreation and to read this publication, which is designed to educate non-members of the coopera tives up to the point at which they, will join the movement. The promotion of the use of this magazine is part of a five year expansion program of the co operatives in Japan, which has made its goals, year by year, since it started in January, 1933. Save Society First The most outstanding person build ing the cooperative movement in Japan, is Toyohiko Kagawa. He was taught Confucian precepts by Buddhist priests in his boyhood, "Be a saint!" "Be a gentleman!" Kagawa-spent his days in agony because he had neither saint nor gentleman around him to imitate, and all society was rotten. When an Amer ican missionary introduced him to the character of Christ in the English Bible, he discovered the saint he was needing and prayed to be like him. At 21 Kagawa went to live in the slums to try to abolish them. After five years, during which he served the personal needs of individuals without limit, he said, "One individual working for in dividuals cannot change society." Labor Organization For five years Kagawa organized the Japan Federation of Labor. He started the first labor school, and first labor newspaper, then the Federation. But employee-control of the tools of labor could not be won, Kagawa found, on any large scale, without winning other goals first, and besides, it was only part of the picture. Political Organization After organizing the factory labor ers, Kagawa organized also the Farm ers' National Federation, and then got both farmers and laborers together to get the universal manhood suffrage which was needed beîore anything could be done to secure voter-control through government. The farmers and laborers together put over the top a movement for the suffrage which had failed for thirty years with only the in tellectuals behind it. Now Kagawa is continually at work to elect farmer and labor candidates to .the National Diet. His closest associate, Sugiyama, has been leader of the farm bloc in the Diet since 1932. Voter control is coming slowly, but is after all, like employee- control only a minor part of the pic ture. Consumer Organization Kagawa has learned to place his main emphasis on consumer control and on organizing farmers, laborers, and all classes in Japan into the cooper ative movement. After having organ ized the farmers and laborers, Kagawa went on to win also the social workers and the church workers to his concep tion of society, and they are being edu cated by him in large numbers to the cooperative movement. Since 1918 he has devoted his con centrated efforts to the cooperative movement, starting consumers' cooper atives among city laborers, working to make the rural credit unions serve the tenant farmers and developing trained and ethical leadership. Creating Cooperative Leadership Kagawa founded one folk school based on the Danish system to serve as a model and has several others un der his personal control scattered over the country, and has stimulated about 90 schools in all into existence by preaching the idea. He is recruiting leaders from univer sity students in five big Tokyo univer sities, in each of which he has started consumer cooperatives, held together by a federation and full time secretary. Thus the intelligentsia are learning to spend their lives after graduation in the cooperative movement. University graduates find it hard to get jobs now. Kagawa teaches them that no grad uate need ever be out of a job. Let him organize a cooperative and then run it. Thus he can create his own job. There are plenty of communities waiting for his services in such a capacity. He says the same to the clergy. Many ministers are now unemployed in Japan as elsewhere. Kagawa tells them to go and organize cooperatives, and to organize the theological sem inaries so that their students, in student days, may master the technique of co operatives. Kagawa is also educating the physi cians and nurses of Japan to participa tion in the cooperative movement, and in the last three years 140 medical co operative hospitals have been started largely due to his promotion work. The percentage of poverty caused by sick ness is a large and well known factor. The medical cooperative has reduced the amount the farmer spends for doc toring from 28 to 9 per cent of his an nual income, on the average, in some of Japan's northern and most famine- stricken provinces. Kagawa has now the opportunity to educate social workers to the coopera tive movement, province by province. The governors gather them in for an nual institutes and give Kagawa the entire time of the meeting. He tells the in "linn 20 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan.1935 Jan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 21 111 iilll" social workers that all philanthropy, charity and relief will eventually be taken care of by the surpluses of a ful ly organized producer-consumer econ omy, on a democratic basis. He calls this type mutual aid cooperatives, and includes under it the cooperative hos pitals above mentioned. Teaching the Masses Economic Democracy Kagawa educated the mass of the Japanese people through his books, of which he has published more than six ty, and through his audiences. He has had more than a million in his recent meetings and is counted as eloquent as any Japanese speaker. More than a mil lion others have bought copies of hts books. Kagawa is an important potential factor on the horizon of the interna tional cooperative movement, partly because of the way in which he is edu cating the hitherto unreached classes. He is to go to Australia next February to its Centennial celebration, and was in the Philippines last February. He has been three times to America and once through the Continent of Europe, but many times to China. Translations of his books into European languages have an increasing sale, and he is re ceiving many invitations, to India, etc. In 1931 in America he spoke in 16 uni versities and colleges on the coopera tive movement. They did not know what he was talking about then, but they will know next time. When he comes to America in 1936 his visit should be capitalized to introduce the cooperative movement to new groups in intellectual and religious headquar ters. Economic Foundations for World Peace Although only 46, Kagawa is already a world wide authority among pro testant Christians. With the Coopera tive Internationale as his avowed ob jective, his word carries in twenty countries. Lenin tried to save his coun try by violence and a dictatorship of the proletariat. Gandhi eschews vio lence and in the most caste-ridden country in the world, aims at reconcil iation among all classes. Kagawa is with him in these points but goes way ahead of him in the matter of coopera tion. He cooperates with his govern ment without becoming a slave to it, but rather giving a valuable example of how government can be made to serve the cooperatives organized by the peo ple. He cooperates with the machine age, teaching that the machine can be fully subjugated to the service of hu manity, through the cooperative owner ship of the means of production. Kagawa is a great prophetic example to Western Christians of leadership in the cooperative movement. His con centration on, and commitment to, the cooperative movement makes him one of the world's great cooperators, and there is much to be looked forward to in cooperating with him in the future. Cooperators in Action Cooperative Insurance Tackles New Jobs Close on the heels of the announce ment of the formation of the Coopera tors' Life Association, designed to take the exploitation out of life insurance, came the announcement that Work- mens' Furniture Fire Insurance Com pany of New York has been reincorpo- rated as the Workmens' Mutual Fire Insurance Society, Inc. This change makes it possible to insure dwellings as well as furniture and to extend the. service of cooperative fire insurance to states other than New York in which Workmens' Furniture Fire Insurance Society has been doing business. This, organization has been in active opera tion for sixty-two years on a sound financial basis. Application is being made and cooperative furniture fire in surance will probably be available on a national scale after the first of July, 1935. Protection for household fur nishings without the toll charged by private profit insurance companies will provide insurance at a uniformly low rate in what are usually high cost areas. The Farm Bureau Mutual Automo bile Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio, has been advanced to an "A Plus" (Excellent) rating on the basis of its financial statement as of Septem ber 30, 1934, according to the Alfred M. Best Company Bulletin Service. This is a rating accorded to very few insurance companies. The Farm Bu reau Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. has enjoyed an "A" rating for several years. Efficiency, coupled with the economy of non-profit operation places the cooperatives again ahead of private business. The Continuation Committee on In surance and Banking appointed at the Congress of The Cooperative League headed by Murray D. Lincoln, Execu tive Secretary of the Ohio Farm Bu reau Federation is taking steps to meet the immediate problem of concentrat ing insurance on cooperative associa tions in insurance companies within the movement and makina possible collec tive purchasing of insurance which cannot at present be furnished by co operative companies. One of the first results from the insurance committee will be the early possibility of placing fidelity bonds for cooperative employ ees in an established cooperative in surance company. A single clearing house for the movement may be es tablished with the existing machinery to facilitate collective bargaininq with such "old line" companies as the co operatives may find it necessary to patronize. • More Schools in Cooperation Education is the basis of Coopera tion. With this slogan in mind, Union Oil Company Cooperative with head quarters in North Kansas City com pleted a series of nine Managers' and Directors' meetings early in November. More than a thousand leaders repre- sentinq 183 local associations attended. Midland Cooperative Oil Associa tion is now conducting a series of mem ber schools. Courses are taught one night a week at local cooperative or ganizations with rotating dates so that speakers from the wholesale give lec tures consecutive nights throughout the week. Midland is also sponsoring an "Oil School" for employees early in January to instruct managers and at tendants in the technical aspects of the oil business. Midland will also conduct a five week Employee Training School early in February to give employees a general background in the economics of Cooperation as well as technical training for immediate jobs. The Cooperative Institute at May- nard, Massachusetts, sponsored by the Eastern States Cooperative League, began its sessions early in November and is furnishing instruction in ele mentary economics and philosophy, current events and cooperation in theory and practice. The Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association in cooperation with the , Adult Education Division of the FERA . conducted a teachers' training institute Dec. 17-21. During this institute 160 teachers were provided the fundamen tals of cooperative history, principles and recreation, preparatory to an ex tensive program of general education of members and non^members throughout the state. The Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association's education program conducted with the assistance , of the FERA, was launched in Novem ber with 196 teachers and an enroll ment of approximately 12,000 adult stu dents. Central Cooperative Wholesale, working in cooperation with the North ern States Cooperative League grad uated 34 students from its eight week training school November 17. An Institute of the Cooperative Movement was held at the Ashland Folk School, Grant, Michigan, Novem ber 23-25 with Carl R. Hutchinson acting as Dean. Mr. I. H. Hull, man ager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Co operative Association addressed the Institute on "What I Saw in Europe." Several round table discussions were held on Cooperative Purchasing, Mar keting and Credit Unions, and the n lii CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan.1935 Tan. 1935 CONSUMERS COOPERATION 23 delegates to the Institute laid out an educational program for the coopera tive movement in Michigan. Judson Memorial Church, famous for its social service work in the heart of New York City, held a Cooperative Conference in November which was addressed by Professor Horace M. Kal- len, E. R. Bowen and Rev. Laurence Hosie, pastor of Judson Memorial Church. The Continuation Committee of the Conference is now conducting a six weeks' training course to prepare speakers for the cooperative movement. • Education Through Action It is a fundamental principle of edu cation that people learn by doing. Con sumers' Cooperation is no exception to that rule. Cooperative Distributors, 30 Irving Place, New York City, make it possible to combine education and action for individuals and groups who are con cerned with acquiring a thorough knowledge of and experience in Con sumers' Cooperation without organ izing a large scale cooperative oil sta tion, milk route, credit union or retail store. Cooperative Distributors com bines research into the quality of com modities with cooperative purchasing of tested articles and ships its products on a mail order basis to its members. The organization already has eleven full time employees and eighteen af filiated buying clubs in he United States. Its publication, Consumers' De fender, features articles of interest to exploited consumers and a catalog of goods available. It is now possible for individuals and groups to practice cooperative buying of tooth brushes, shirts, hosiery, ink, and a multitude of other commodities while they study the history and prin ciples of the movement. Cooperative Distributors offers education through action. Individuals or groups may se cure a catalog of products available by writing 30 Irving Place, New York City. Consumers' Cooperation in Current Literature "CTERE is one of the reasons for •** -*- America's "economic illiteracy." In the first 28 years since the turn of the century only 27 articles on con sumption economics (less than one a year) appeared in current periodicals. The public could not well learn of co operation when there was almost noth ing in the periodicals they read. Since the last issue of Cooperation went to press the following articles have come to our attention. A Kick and a Boost Warren C. Platt, Editor of National Petroleum News, wrote in his journal of November 14, an article on "The Cooperative Movement in America and What it Means to the Oil Industry and Private Enterprise in General." Mr. Platt, prompted by the tremendous in roads cooperatives have made in the petroleum industry, has made a careful study of the cooperative movement and concludes that the co-ops are here to stay. He suggests that private business can learn the following lessons from the cooperatives and must discover a means of meeting these advantages if it is to prevent further inroads into pri vate business. These are the advan tages he attributes to the movement: "It knows that the interest of the consumer must always be first. The members are actually owners of the business and have a pride of owner ship even though the member has on ly one share. The cooperative move ment is a spiritual, emotional move ment as well as a commercial one." Mr. Platt urges active opposition to these 1500 oil cooperatives which did $35,000,000 business last year and re turned $5,000,000 to members in pat ronage dividends thus cutting seriously into the profits of large oil distributors. 23.5% Savings on Capital Stock Investment Miss Florence E. Parker of the United States Bureau of Labor Statis tics has written in the November issue of the Monthly Labor Review a sum mary of the "Operation of Local Con sumers' Cooperative Societies in 1933." The study deals chiefly with mercantile and oil cooperatives and does not at tempt to cover the entire field of Con sumers' Cooperatives. Miss Parker fur nishes some very impressive statistics. "534 societies which reported the re sults of their trading operations for 1933, made net savings of $1,935,996 which represented 5.5 per cent if fig ured on sales and 23.5 per cent if fig ured on capital stock ... In spite of the adverse business conditions the socie ties (534 of a total of 6,600 in the U. S. reporting) were able to effect, during the four year period, trading gains amounting to $7,419,990." Common Sense for December fea tured an article by Meyer Parodneck, delegate to the recent Congress of the International Cooperative Alliance in London, entitled "Cooperatives in Eu rope." Consumers' Guide, published by the Consumers' Counsel of the AAA, Washington, D. C., October 29, 1934, carried an article entitled "Pocketing the Difference" in which James R. Moore, Editor of the Ohio Farm Bu reau News described the rapid growth of the Farm Bureau Cooperative Auto mobile Insurance Company. In an ear lier issue of Consumers' Guide Mr. J. Liukku, Manager of the Cooperative Trading Company, Waukegan, Illinois, described the great development of co operative distribution of milk. The Commerce Bulletin, student pub lication of the School of Commerce, New York University, is running a series of editorials on Consumers' Co operation as a solution for the present problems of distribution. The World Call for December fea tures an article by Powers Luce on "Christ and Cooperatives," and Metro politan Church Life, published in New York City, announced December 13th a six weeks' training course in the philosophy and methods of Consumers' Cooperation. • The Index of Vol. XX. 1934, Coop eration will be sent free on request. The Canadian Cooperator Brantford, Ontario, Canada The organ of the Canadian Coopera tive Movement, owned by and coo- 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. 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. Raivaaja Print—Fitehburg, Mass. 24 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Jan. 1935 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 EDUCATIONAL PAMPHLETS Per Copy Per WO 76. What is Consumers' Cooperation .05 4.00 Toad Lane, G. StWart _________________ .05 4.00 69. Story < Chase 84. The Coop. Movement, J. H. Dietrich ________________ .05 4.00 85. Cooperation Here and Abroad, H. T. Hughes _________—— .10 7.00 86. Consumers' Cooperative Methods, J. P. Warbasse, 1934_______ .10 6.00 341. America's Answer—Consumers' Cooperation, E. R. Bowen—___ .10 6.0C 88. The Economic Foundations of World Peace. Toyohiko Kagawa .25 90. Up From The Shadows, Michel Becker—Translated by Arthur Albreicht ______________—— .10 7.00 91. Where the Tall Corn Grows, E, H. H. Holima« L________— .10 7.00 92. Other People's Money, Louiis D. Brandeis _——————————————— .15 ORGANIZATIONAL PAMPHLETS How to Start an.d Run a Roch dale Cooperative Association or Club _____________————— .10 Model By-Laws for a Rochdale Cooperative Society ___————— .05 Credilt Union Primer (By Ham and Robinson) ____———————— .50 Model Lease for Cooperative Apartment House ————————— .10 29. 51. 16. 30. 57. 62. 63. 67. 68. 72. 74. 77. 78. 79. SI. 80. 82. 93. 2.50 MISCELLANEOUS Model Co-op State Law _____ .10 "When the Whistle Blew" (Story, by Bruce Culvert) ———— .06 How a Consumers' Cooperative Differs from Ordinary Business .01 Buttons (League emblem), % inch diameter _—————————— .05 Sign or Transparency of League Emblem. Green and gold, 8 in. diameter _________—————— .26 Stock certificates, engraved, with League Emblem. Bound in books of 100, 200, or 250 To Mothers ________————— .02 Little Lessons in Cooperation The Burden of Credit _____— .02 The Most Necessary Thing in Life ___________________ .02 Are You Sure You Are Getting Your Money's Worth _______ .02 There Are Two Sides to Every Counter ________________ .02 Cooperative Youth Songs ____ .25 Consumers', Credit, and Produc- rtive Societies, Bull. 531 of the Bureau of Labour Statistics__ .25 What Cooperation means to a depression-siok America ————— .03 The Sure Way is the Quick Way .02 1935 Calendar _____________ .20 .75 2.00 15.00 1.00 .35 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 MONTHLY MAGAZINES Cooperation—(In bundle lots, $7.60 per hundred) Subscription, per year (foreign, $1.26) $1.00 Review of International Cooperation (Pub. by the I. C. A.) ____________ Per Year, $1.50 BOOKS The following books are recommended as con taining ithe best discussion of the modern Co operative Movement. They may be ordered through The League, postpaid on receipt of price. Blanc, Elsie T.: Cooperative Movement in Russia, 1924 ____________,_______ 1.50 Chase and Schlink: Your Money's Worth, A Book for Consumers ____________ 1.10 Flanagan, J. A.: Wholesale Cooperation in Scotland, 1920 __________________ 2.10 Gide, C.: Consumers' Cooperative Socie ties. American edition and notes, 1922 Cloth ________________________ 1.50 Hall, Prof. Fred: Handbook for Members of Cooperative Committees ________ 2.50 Holyoake: Rochdale Pioneers 1892 ____ 1.10 Hough, E. M.: Cooperation in India 1932 3.75 Jessness, O. B. : Cooperative Marketing of Farm Products _________________ 3.10 Kagawa, Toyohiko: Christ and Japan___ 1.00 Kallen, Horace M.: A Free Society_____ 1.00 Life As We Have Known It. Life stories of English guildswomen, telling what the Guild has done for them __________ 1.25 Madams, J. P.: The Story Retold _____ .85 Nioholson, Isa: Our Story ___________ .25 Odhe, Thorsten: Finland, A Nation of Co- operators _____________________ 1.50 Oerne, Andres: Cooperative Ideals and Problems _____________________ 1.36 Poisson, E.: The Cooperative Republic_ 1.85 Potter, B. : Cooperative Movement in Great Britain 1891 ___________________ 1.10 Redfern, Percy: John T. W. Mitchell,(1924) 1.00 Redfern, Percy: The Consumers' Place in Society, 1820 ___________________ 1.00 Russell, George (A. E.) The National Being 1.75 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 _______________ 1.60 Stolinsky, A.: The Cooperative Movement. (In Yiddish) __________________ 1.00 Totomianz, V; The Place of Cooperation among other movements ————_———— .25 Warbasse, J. P.: Cooperative Democracy (1927) ________________________ 1.50 Warbasse, J.P.: What Is Cooperation, 1927 .75 Warne, C. B. : Consumers' Cooperative Movement in Illinois 1926 _________ 3.50 Webb, B. and S.: The Consumers' Co operative Movement, 19:21 (Board cover) 2.00 Webb, Beatrice: My Apprenticeship, (1.926) 3.00 Webb, Catherine: Industrial Cooperation, ,1917 _________________________ L.-60 Woolf, Leonard: Cooperation and the Fu ture of Industry -___———————————— 1.66 Cooperation, Bound Volumes, 1915 to 1934 inclusive, each year _——————_———— 1.50 The People's Year Book, 1936, English, paper .75, cloth ..———————————————— 1.35 CONSUMERS COOPERATION Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. Volume XXI. No. 2 February, 1935 Eternal as the Unending Circle Hardy as the Evergreen Pine EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS The great game of "recovery by lying," as John Flynn so well describes it, goes merrily on. The administration reports "progress," yet the number on relief has increased by nearly twenty per cent. • The monetary reformers who recently met in Washington must eventually get down to bed rock. Instead of including in their program only temporary palliatives attempting to "control" the monetary sys tem they must challenge the people to re cover ownership of their finance structure through cooperative banking. • Those who wish to solve our problems by dictatorships will be pleased with the most recent news item from Italy to the effect that Mussolini is now the "major ity." Of thirteen cabinet posts he now holds seven. Now the world will have a still greater chance to compare the possi bilities of progress through a so-called super-man and democratic super-majori ties. • Dr. Paul H. Nystrom, Professor of Marketing at Columbia University, urged the National Retail Dry Goods Associa tion to "fight monopolies." This is help from a quarter tlhat is welcomed by Cooperators who are committed to the principle of eliminating private monop olies altogether by direct contact between the consumer and producer, with the pro ducers owning "use" property such as farms and homes and the consumers owning business and banking coopera tively. • The New President of the Indiana Farm Bureau Federation, Mr. Lewis Taylor, is on record for Cooperation. In the June 1933 issue of Hoosier Farmer under the title, "We are not Sufficient un to Ourselves," he said,"A critical study of the possibilities of substituting coopera tion for our present corporation system of doing business, might prove of inestimable value, not only to agriculture, but to all in dustry." That statement was prophetic and fortunately he now has the great op portunity of helping to put it more rapidly into practice in the State of Indiana. We welcome such a farm leader to our great cause. • Trade Unions must be awakened. La boring men must be taught that they are consumers as well as producers. The Ex tension iBulletin of St. Francis Xavier An organ to spread the knowledge of the Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. York Qt m°nthly by The Co°Perative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th St., New E. R. Bowen, Editor Contributing Editors ___V. S. Alanne. George Halonen, George Jacobson, James R. Moore, A. W. Warinner Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 26 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 27 University of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, says, "Trade Unions Will find in Credit Unions and Consumers' Cooperation tlhe stoutest reinforcements in their fight for social justice." W'ho can solve this prob lem in America of -how to awaken Labor to act as Consumers? It must be done soon. • Jos. Gilbert of the .Midland Cooperative Wholesale says .that "paying back all savings as patronage dividends is like grinding up your seed corn." Yet that's what a lot of cooperatives do. There are even better ways of paying .part of the savings back than in patronage dividends after the proper surpluses have been set up. One is in education, another is in recreation, another in medical services. It's all a question of which is best for the consumers—they own all the savings and can use them as they see fit. In America we have yet to learn .the most effective use of cooperative savings. • "Can anything good come out of Penn sylvania" would have been a pertinent inquiry in the light of the political history of the Mêlions, the Reeds, and others of that dynasty. It is surely a revelation to read from the inaugural address of the in coming Governor Earle this statement, "I see no reason for the relative present security which I personally enjoy by the grace of chance while most of my fellow citizens are never at any time separated by more than a hair from want and misery." A good start toward social thinking. Now let Pennsylvania Cooper- ators start into action and maybe they can produce an Olson in Pennsylvania who will support .tlheir cause. • It's an inspiration to get a letter from one of .tlhe greatest preachers in America, Rev. John Haynes Holmes, and to have him say, "Amen to your letter of the third. You may press me as hard as you please on this matter of cooperation and you'll always find me on your side!" We are urging him to preach a special sermon on Consumers' and Credit Cooperation, as did Rev. Dietrich of Minneapolis. Every-, wholesale Cooperative ought to foe able to get the outstanding liberal preacher in its territory to preacih such a sermon and then republish it. The Community Church of New York City is practicing Cooperation by becoming a member of Cooperative Distributors, Inc., and buy ing its requirements cooperatively. WELCOME TO OUR COMPANY Within a period of ten days thirteen managers of a large Petroleum Company in the Middle West subscribed to the magazine, CONSUMERS' COOPERA TION. We welcome these managers to the company of cooperative readers and will do our best to teach them the principles and business methods of .tlhe great con sumers' cooperative movement. Corpora tions have served America in combining little businesses into larger organizations in the interest of efficiency. This, of course, was ruthlessly done and the effi ciency was in the interest of profits for the few instead of in the interests of the people as a whole. We have now learned that greater efficiency can be secured through consumers' cooperation in the in terests of the common people. The dimes we formerly gave away are going back to the consumers who make these savings possible—to build units of an economic system which will solve our economic equation of "poverty in the midst of plenty." WHY SHOULDN'T A NATION BE PATRIOTIC TOO? We are all asked to be patriotic as in dividuals. And it is right tlhat we should love our country and sacrifice for it if necessary. But our country, or all of us, has just as great obligation towards each of its citizens. A news item says "Frank N. Fitzsim- inons, Chicago war veteran, was gassed and shell shocked while serving overseas in the first division. The other day his body was found. He 'had hanged himself with the cord from an American flag and the folds of the flag were draped about his shoulders in a final gesture of patriotic farewell." > Those who led us into the Great War failed to do as they promised every young soldier, to see that he got his job back when and if he returned. They have a weight of responsibility that makes one wonder how they can read such a news item and fail to do their-utmost to absolve their social sins by encouraging, instead of delaying, real social insurance of every kind as the means of alleviating distress that results in the loss of such a genuine patriot to his country. They also. fail in the still greater obligation they have as leaders to promote the building of the democratic cooperative economic order that will forever prevent war and poverty. MODERN PROPHECY (From the New York Post) "Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace stood before an audience largely composed of wealthy men at the Union League last night and warned them that they and their .kind must change their ways if economic and social change is to be avoided." "In 1929," he said, "36,000 families at the top of the wealth structure received as much income as 11,000,000 families at the bottom." "Upon these 36,000 families resolves the task of avoiding the errors of the Bourbons of France." "Otherwise," he said, "there'will come a day when the pyramid will be inverted and there will be a great shifting of the blocks with accompanying woe and, anguish while the new pyramid is being formed." WHO ARE THE WISE? Starr King says, "The chief 'difference between a wise man and an ignorant one is, not that the first is acquainted with re gions invisible to the second, away frrom common sight and interest, but that he understands the common things which the second only sees." ,• ..= i;j., The question might well be asked, when the workers can see and act cooperatively to solve the distress that is all around them, and the professors and journalists and preachers generally cannot do so, then who are the spiritual and wise ro£> the earth? Most so-called leaders are. dealing with misty vagaries while .the- common people build .the solution in icooperative organization. ., I have been in towns where a coopéra* tive has been organized and the preachers and professors had no appreciation of its significance as being the beginning of. the recovery of ownership by the people of that community of their farms and homes and businesses and banks, and in a few cases did not even Jknow the coopera tive existed. One man whom I asked as to whether there was a cooperative oil station there, answered that there was a "farmers" oil station but he didn't know of any cooperative. It's high time for preachers to inspire and for professors to inform the people about .this simple democratic solution if they are to continue to be supported as leaders—otherwise they should give way to those who will really lead out and fight the battles for the people. INNOCENTS AT HOME One cannot but wonder at .the inno cence of the American people. We have existed by the use of excessive credit fol lowed by deflation for tlhe last twenty years and now we are at it again as though we had learned nothing from ex-' ' perience. First we loaned billions to Europe and put war bonds in the Treas ury of the United States. A Commission headed by President Hutchins of Chicago University reports that we might as well be "realistic" and "take what we can get" which will be near nothing. Then we. re financed Europe after the war and bought the bonds privately and put them in our safety deposit boxes. These bonds are also included in the recommendation of the Commission as being worth' only "what we can get." Yet now we are on the third great credit spree and unwilling ;)0 to face the issue. President Roosevelt > •• estimates an increase in the public debt to thirty-one billion dollars in 1935 and thirty-five billion dollars in 1936-and yet says "I do'not consider it advisable at this time to propose any new or additional taxes for the fiscal year 1936," and then . declares that these loans are "within the sound credit of the government." What can such a phrase mean? We must begin to take from the top and feed into the bottom if we are ever to al leviate the agonies of this dying economic order. Cooperators must not confuse the issue of "spending" or "sales" taxes vs. income taxes. Spending'taxes are taxes on poverty and further deepen it —'""From him that hath not — even that little he hath shall be taken away" .—• income taxes equalize distribution of income and will start the wheels really rolling again. ill 28 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 29 Cooperative Purchasing of Petroleum Products Summary of an a-ddress to The Cooperative League Congress Howard A. Cowden, President, Consumers' Cooperative Association, formerly Union Oil Company Cooperative •r IN the past fifteen years, 1600 local co operative oil companies have come into being in the United States. These coop eratives were organized to bring together the buying power of the farmers in the lo cal communities, with two distinct pur poses in mind: first, to provide better service; and second, by buying at whole sale rather than at retail to save for the farmer-consumers of oil products a part of the waste which results from profit dis tribution. These local oil cooperatives have en joyed almost universal success. They are putting back into the pockets of the farmers $8,000,000 yearly, in patronage dividends. Figuring the average farm mortgage at $40 per acre, this sum saved by cooperative purchasing of only one line of commodities would pay off, yearly, the mortgage on 1000 farms of 200 acres each. In addition to these substantial cash sav ings, large reserves have been set aside for future development. One local cooperative oil company in Colorado has 1400 members, paid-in capi tal of $14,000 and a reserve of over $100,- 000. It has returned to the consumers of that community a total of $650,000 in patronage dividends. Following these Jocal cooperatives came the development of state and regional wholesale cooperatives to serve the local groups. The purposes of these wholesales are to furnish the member companies with high quality products, to take the profit and waste out of wholesale distribution and compounding, and to assist in the organ ization and educational work. Typical of these regional wholesales is the Uni on Oil Company'Cooperative (now Consumers' Cooperative Association). It was organized six years ago and estab lished the first cooperative oil compound ing plant in the country and began manu facturing the first cooperative brand of lubricating oils. The first year we paid a patronage dividend to our member com panies of 15% of gross savings, the next year 20%, the next 25%, and in 1932 and 1933 in .the depth of the depression we were able to pay \2l/-,*yc. Meanwhile we have accumulated reserves equal to our capital stock. Our policy is to build ample reserves for future expansion, believing that we must build strongly for the future. That our member companies are thoroughly in accord with this policy is indicated by the fact that at our last annual meeting the members voted to return to themselves a smaller patronage dividend than was at first recommended by their board of di rectors. We have 240 member companies at present, a number having joined since the first of the year. Our sales have in creased 44% in the first ten months of 1934 over the corresponding period of 1933. In the same period our net savings have increased 55%, showing that with increased volume our overhead becomes proportionately lower and consequently the benefits of cooperation are greater. We are distributing gasoline and fuel oils, lubricating oils, greases, tires, bat teries, accessories, electric lighting plants and paints*—all under the Cooperative brand. This brand is now the property of Na tional Cooperatives, Inc., which is the na tional federation of seven regional coop-' erative wholesales, bringing together the buying power of lhalf a million consum ers. By joint buying of gasoline, oils, greases, tires and other products, this organization has saved its members thousands of dollars in the short two years of its existence. The organizations have started to build a cooperative system on the basis of the distribution of oil products. They are genuine consumers' cooperatives, operat ing on Rochdale principles, and they have no intention of remaining content with activity in the line of one commodity. Their purpose is to serve the consumers with all of their needs, progressing grad ually but steadily toward the creation of a coopérative economic system. At present the consumers in certain cities are anxious to enter the cooperative oil purchasing movement. The farm or ganizations now in the field welcome them with open arms; the more combined volume, the better for all of us. We look forward to the more extensive organization of all consumers, of city and country, to secure cooperatively food, clothing and other necessities. These con sumers' cooperatives will buy from the farmers' marketing cooperatives, as is being done in Europe, thus eliminating all private profit in the processing and dis tribution of the necessities of life and benefiting consumers and producers alike. Cooperative Oil and Farm Supplies Summary of an address to The Cooperative League Congress C. L. Brody, Executive Secretary, Michigan Farm Bureau '"THE cooperative system of doing busi- In later years, particularly, the tendency -L ness is demonstrating that it is a lead- to partially or wholly participate in the manufacture and processing of supplies for our farmers as well as to purchase and distribute them has become increasingly stronger. We have found in Michigan the main considerations for a successful cooperative to be: ing and fundamental factor in the recov ery of our nation, from the economic catastrophe through which we have been passing the past three years. Not only is" cooperation of direct benefit to those ac tively participating, but its method of dis tributing goods to supply human wants and the redistribution of profits resulting from the transaction are automatically coordinating production and manufacture with consumption for the control of sur pluses, and developing and maintaining buying power in the hands of an infinite ly larger number of people whose wants constitute the basis of all business. Consumers Unite to Produce Since 1920 the Farm Bureau in Michi gan has been engaged in the distribution of general lines of farm supplies including principally seeds, feeds, fertilizer, fence, oil and gasoline, spray material, and farm machinery. There are three hundred lo cal cooperative associations and eleven branches located at the principal shipping points of the state. One hundred seven of these locals are now common stock holders in the Farm Bureau Services, Inc., the farm supply corporation of the Bureau, serving 75,000 farmers. Our state coop erative has joined with similar organiza tions, in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Illinois for the manufac ture and purchase of our supplies. This is accomplished through interstate coop eratives such as the Farm Bureau Milling Company, the Farm Bureau Oil Com pany, and more recently, the National Cooperatives, Inc. 1. A potential volume of business in the territory to be served sufficient to make possible a profitable cooperative organiza tion. 2. Adequate initial finances for fixed and operating capital. 3. A cooperative morale and attitude on the part of the members to be served. 4. Experienced, capable and coopera tively-minded management. The tangible considerations, adequate volume of business and fixed and operat ing capital, although self-evident, are sometimes overlooked in starting and operating cooperative enterprises. The intangibles or the morale and attitude of members and management have come to assume an importance in coopérative busi ness which in the past has not been fully appreciated. Selling Cooperation with Merchandise Our cooperatives must get away from merely selling merchandise. They must sell organization and cooperation to the member along with the goods. The cry ing need of the hour is conversion of the farmer to full-fledged cooperation. This can only be accomplished by carrying on 30 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 31 Ï a complete program of which the distribu tion and sale of merchandise is only a part, not the whole. The member must be made to realize that his cooperative is a machine with power harnessed ready to work for him and through which he can work to accomplish all his economic needs and not merely an entity to sell him some thing. He must see and feel the complete program if he is to stop trading with the old line competitor every time there may be a temporary price advantage. He must feel that the cooperative is his own just as much as his own farm. Likewise, the management must recognize that it is there to serve the members and not pri marily to make a maximum from their business. Profit for the institution, even though it be a cooperative, has not always meant advantage to the members. Joint Action in Legislative and Social Activities The cooperative, whether local or wholesale, must interest itself not only in a complete economic program for the farmer but in his social and educational needs as well. This program has been broadened so that it not only includes the merchandising and marketing activities, but the whole organization program as well, including legislation, transportation, social and educational activities. Each of these local business organizations, along with the County Farm Bureaus, has full- fledged voting delegates in the annual and special meetings of the Michigan State Farm Bureau itself, the parent corpora tion. While this coordination of organiza tions has not by any means achieved per fection, nevertheless, it has time and again enabled the farmers of our State to harmonize their view-points and pre sent a unified and aggressive front for their protection. One of the recent in stances of this has been the winning of a sales tax suit, meaning millions of dollars to our farm people. It is only by carrying on such a com plete program that the farmer can protect himself from the machinations of un scrupulous business competitors on the one hand, and exploitation by destructive leaders and misinformed groups within his own ranks, on the other. The great need of the time is to help the farmer to so help himself that he can actually control his own cooperative at all times. Honest, capable, and cooperatively-minded lead ership which itself is really converted to true cooperation is indispensable. Cooperative Milk Distribution Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress R. R. Larson, Vice-president of the Franklin Cooperative Creamery Association /COOPERATIVE Milk Distribution in ^-* our opinion is a timely subject be cause it has become such an important factor in the industrial world. At least one state is considering making the milk in dustry a public utility in view of the fact that milk is an important food and in or der to safeguard health must be kept un der very stringent regulations. We know that many communities are considering municipally-owned milk plants. There are many hundreds of producer cooperative creameries in these United States, and yet only a few consumer co operatives distributing milk. It is quite obvious that the distributing field has hardly been penetrated cooperatively, and yet many good reasons can be pro duced showing why. The condition surrounding the dairy worker in the city of Minneapolis prior to 1920 was without a doubt the real reason for organizing the Franklin Cooperative Creamery Association. The workers in the milk industry attempting to obtain bet ter wages and working conditions felt that the time had come when nothing much could be gained by constantly negotiating with the employers for improvement of such conditions. Several of the workers could visualize the dawn of a new day in their particular work if it were possible to establish a milk plant of their own. With this in mind these pioneers talked with other workers until eventually there was sufficient enthusiasm to really attempt making their dream a reality. All of these workers were members of the Milk Drivers Union, and because of this the Milk Drivers Union in reality fathered the organization of the Franklin Cooperative Creamery. The cardinal principles of a consumers cooperative, democratic control, one member — one vote, a limited interest rate on capital, open membership, and the return of savings to those who make the savings possible, were written in its by laws. Fortunately at this early stage there were hundreds of people willing to invest in shares in the cooperative. Private Interests Fight Back No sooner had the ground been broken than those engaged in the milk industry recognized the danger of a cooperative and before the building was half com- pieted the union milk drivers were called m to sign an agreement with their em ployer in which the worker signed away his right to go to work with any other milk company. Over sixty of them re fused to sign such an agreement, knowing that by so doing their cooperative would be at the mercy of inexperienced men. The following morning this group of em ployees were not permitted to take out their routes and were told either to sign the agreement or not to work. These workers then made a house to house can vass of their routes and explained to their customers the facts, which were of course somewhat contrary to what was being printed in the press. In three months the first eighteen coop erative milk wagons appeared on the streets of Minneapolis. Another three months passed and an addition was needed to the plant and in less than a year a distributing station was established in another part of the city. Recognizing that the first consumer cooperative milk dis tributing company in Minneapolis was going places, four of the largest cream eries consolidated into one—to reduce their overhead and consolidate their busi ness for the purpose of surviving—-or—-of possibly defeating the cooperative. Quality, Service and Education Knowing that the quality of milk could be improved upon considerably, the coop- erators were intent on having a quality that would be better than that required to meet health and sanitary regulations. They knew that price was a factor but believed that even the working man should have the best quality in such an important food as milk. By constantly en deavoring to raise the quality, by cooper ating with the producers' cooperative, by protecting the interests of the consumer, and yet dealing fairly with the worker, this organization won the admiration of many thousands of the more liberal- minded people. In 1922 a new plant was built 'having twice the capacity of the first one, and also providing for the distribution of ice cream. In 1924 the Franklin Cooperative Creamery was acknowledged as the larg est retail distributing plant in the North west; operating 150 milk routes. During the year the capitalization was increased from one million dollars to one and one- half million dollars. In November of that year during "Franklin Week" over 5,000 people visited our plants. During the same year the Board of Directors set aside $10,- 000 of the earnings to establish a nutri tional clinic for under-nourished children. An outstanding child specialist was en gaged and a nurse employed full time. Customers of the Franklin Cooperative Creamery were privileged to bring their children to this clinic for examination. No treatment or medical aid was adminis tered but many thousands of quarts of milk were donated to families who couldn't possibly afford to purchase the needed amount of milk. Today we have 170 vehicles in the milk department besides ten routes distributing ice cream exclusively. Throughout this whole period consid erable work was done in the educational field. Many thousands of pieces of litera ture have been distributed and the house magazine "The Minneapolis Cooperator" has been mailed to our shareholders quite regularly. The educational committee fostered a series of radio broadcasts deal ing with the principles of cooperation and has used to great advantage our own two- reel film "The Land of Health." We have other auxiliaries such as the male chorus of thirty-two voices, the band of forty instruments, and the Women's Guild, which have rendered a valuable service in their own way toward the progress of our Cooperative. Needless to say many attempts have been made to deal a death blow to this II 32 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 33 cooperative by price wars, false rumors, and other unethical methods. The first two years the Fran'EIin Cooperative Creamery declared a patronage dividend and returned to the consumer nearly $200,000 together with a better quality of milk at a lower original cost. Then those engaged in the competitive milk industry immediately took the necessary steps to eliminate the possibility of patronage divi dends by selling milk at cost. The follow ing year there were not sufficient earnings to pay patronage dividends. However, because of the existence of the Franklin Cooperative Creamery the citizens of Minneapolis have enjoyed indirectly the patronage dividend every year since, re gardless of whether or not they were shareholders or customers of the Franklin Cooperative Creamery. Labor Policy The Franklin Cooperative Creamery is a 100% union concern. We recognize that both the Labor and Cooperative Movements are intended to better condi tions socially and economically for the working man and we can see no valid reason why they cannot travel hand in hand. Organized labor stands for fair treatment, fair hours, and a good day's pay for a good day's work. The coop erative should believe in the same prin ciples. During our fourteen years of busi ness we have had several occasions where being a union concern has proven to be a disadvantage; but on other occasions very advantageous. As a whole we are satisfied that being a union concern has been high ly beneficial to tihe Franklin Cooperative Creamery as well as to the union. Is it not possible that in the labor movement we have fertile soil for the building of con sumers' cooperatives? In the matter of wages it would be well to sit down and ask yourselves how much we can pay tlhe worker, rather than how little we can pay him. It is a shameful in dictment that the President of these United States 'has had to step into our in dustrial world with a new emancipation proclamation in order to help the man who has had to sell his body and soul by the hour. The mere fact that you may pay his wages or hold his destiny in the palm of your hand does not, or should not, give you the privilege of taking advantage of the situation. No business.—'no institu tion—cooperative or otherwise—can hope to progress or even survive without good will. The only way that I can think of to have the good will of your employee is to deserve it. You earn it or deserve it by thinking deep in your own heart of the employee as a partner, and by treating him as a partner with fairness, justice, sympathy and understanding. I do not mean that you should have a soft and fatherly paternalism for the worker who is dependent on your institution or organi zation for wages and a living. I do mean that you should have a man-to-man, honest-to-god friendship for him, born of a sincere, intelligent and mutual apprecia tion of the need of each other. We must not permit this important factor to lie dormant within our cooperative move ment. Consumer Policy The good will of tihe consumer is the most real and liquid of all our assets. To have the good will of the public or the consumer, we must deserve it. That's about all there is to it. There is no short cut. We don't suppose there ever was. Honesty is not only the best but the most profitable policy. All the advertising in the world will not create a permanent demand for an inferior product. An honest product, honest advertising, honest and sincere service, and honest selling create good will and confidence in your organization. Poor service may do for a while but people do find out, and the way of the transgressor is hard. The public is ever learning and receiving wisdom, born through the pain and agony of a system that has stood for profit rather than service. Cooperative institutions must recognize these very essentials. Furthermore, if our cooperative enterprises consider seriously these principles they will be decidedly dif ferent from capitalistic businesses. People must not only be shown but must also feel that there is a difference. Relation to Marketing Cooperatives We have been asked from time to time which is preferable, the producer- consumer cooperative for milk distribu tion or the marketing cooperative work ing with the consumer cooperative but each in its place. We may not be right, but our opinion at this time would be that each one has its very definite field and we can appreciate the miserable posi tion of a management which endeavors to deal with the producer as a shareholder on one side and the consumer as a share holder on the other. The difficulty in the producer-consumer cooperative would be, of course, that the farmer on one side wants as much as possible for his prod ucts, while the consumer on the other hand would be desirous of purchasing as reasonably as possible. To draw the line, or strike that happy medium of fairness would undoubtedly be a very difficult problem for the management. On the other hand a marketing cooperative man agement meeting with a consumer co operative management, we believe, would reach a fair basis for both in a much more satisfactory way. We do not know which plan would be advisable or best in the smaller towns or cities, but can only speak from the view point of cooperative milk distribution in the larger cities. We have expressed this opinion based on our experience resulting from a close relation ship with the Twin City Milk Producers' Association, having a membership of over 8,000 farmers. Conditions in the future, of course, may change to such an extent that what we believe today may be ob solete a few years hence. The fall of 1934 finds the Franklin still moving on—every department efficiently organized and our people having a better understanding of the advantages of cooperation than ever before. As a mat ter of fact the present political party of the state of Minnesota has endorsed a cooperative program and we trust that we are approaching .the time when the coop erative principles can and will be applied to the fullest extent. Cutting the Cost of Milk Distribution Summary of an .address to The Cooperative League Congress Jacob Liukku, Manager, The Cooperative Trading Company, Waukegan, Illinois RETAIL milk distribution has become a grave problem in the larger industrial centers and middle-sized cities. In twenty years it has grown from the horse and buggy raw milk peddler to a highly specialized industry with very much capi tal involved. Like any other industry for private profit, it has duplicated its serv ices to .the consumers to the extent that it has become a burden for both the milk producers and the consumers. Competi tion for private profit has built the in dustry so top heavy that it has systematic ally forced the price of milk higher to the consumer and lowered it to the producer. This process has taken place in every city and town throughout the country. Waste in Private Distribution It is very common to observe half a dozen milk delivery vehicles serving the same city block. These vehicles come from different milk plants operated under different management and overhead ex penses. The men who go out to deliver milk are well instructed to fight for the privilege to sell to the consumer. They must spend a lot of time and energy in order to keep the housewife "sold on the best milk" and to convince prospective customers that they are selling just the kind of milk on which their families will thrive best. So intense is the high pres sure salesmanship in milk distribution that the consumers often do not feel free in choosing their milk man and making changes at their will. The loss in uncollected accounts con tributes immensely to the cost of milk dis tribution under the highly competitive system. Those less willing and less able to pay their bills put off the payment of the bill from day to day and if bothered too much call another milk man who is just too willing to take a new customer so that he may be able to report to his boss that he has been on the job. Bills of this kind left unpaid cost more to collect than they are worth. In the milk business they are very common. Business jealousy and keen competition between distributors make it hard to obtain credit ratings on prospective customers on the milk route. 34 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 35 The Consumer Pays Duplication of delivery and loss in col lections are items for which the con sumers pay dearly. But the fact is, that every time a new dealer appears on the street, he always gets his share of the trade. And the consumers, not realizing the fact that every new milk dealer is an added burden for them to carry, welcome him to their neighborhood. This absurd way of handling this im portant food can not be corrected under a competitive system of distribution. And if it is let to pass into the hands of private monopoly the producer and consumer will be even worse off. Eliminating Inefficiency Through Cooperation A genuine remedy to this complex prob lem is nothing less than Consumers' Co operation. Through education, we must show the consumers that by centralizing their purchases into their own cooperative distributing agency they will be relieved of maintaining the superfluous fleet of de livery rigs and unnecessary highly capi talized private milk plants. They will be relieved of unscrupulous hig!h pressure salesmanship now pestering them daily. The milk producers should also be inter ested in this program, for under coopera tive milk distribution, the producers will have a chance for their right share of the consumers' dollar. Wherever the con sumers ihave organized cooperative milk distributing plants they have proven to be of great benefit to both consumers and producers. The Cooperative Trading Company in Wauikegan is operating in the Chicago metropolitan area and has bought its fluid milk supply on the same basis as the pri vate distributors in that area. Up until 1932 the Cooperative Trading Company kept in Waukegan and nearby towns, the retail price of milk one cent per quart be low that of Chicago. During that period the Cooperative Trading Company was paying ten to twenty cents more for 100 pounds of milk than the private dealers were paying in Waukegan. Besides sell ing at tlhe reduced price, which private dealers 'had to follow in Waukegan, the Cooperative returned an average of 6 to 9 per cent in rebates on the consumers' purchase and one to one and one-half per cent extra dividend on the producers' sales at the end of each year. At the same time the Cooperative provided high quality products to the consumers and fair treatment of producers as to weights and tests and other incidentals. Much greater savings could have been made if all the milk distribution in Waukegan had been done cooperatively. Consumer and Producer Benefit On numerous occasions the Coopera tive 'has helped the producers to win better prices for milk in their negotiations with the private dealers. When the Coopera tive has agreed to meet the producers' de mands the private distributors have usual ly given in. In January, 1929, when the 15,000 milk producers in the Chicago milk shed struck for hig'her prices their de mands were based on the price that the Cooperative Trading Company was pay ing for milk. This fact was given wide publicity in the newspapers to the great annoyance of the private distributors. The .producers' bargaining organiza tions alone cannot offer a solution to the milk problem. It will be necessary for the consumer to organize and by doing away with the wasteful duplication of service and large private profit the consumer and producer both will receive a square deal. Consumers Cooperative Retail Stores Summary of an address to The Coopérative League Congress Waldemar Niemela, Manager, United Cooperative Society of Quincy, Mass. A grocery store is an excellent starting headquarters for cooperative activities, point in building up a cooperative However, the small town has very limited movement in a small town. It brings to- possibilities for expansion in retail gro- gether a large number of permanent resi- eery business and therefore it is important dents of the community and also provides to investigate and see what other services the cooperative can give its members be sides supplying them with groceries. In each section of the country there are some outstanding, successful cooperatives which are worth pointing out as examples. We in the East 'have one that is worth bringing to your attention while we are discussing the store organizations. The United Cooperative Society of Maynard is a successful organization and there are many activities in this society that should be of interest to those who are operating cooperative stores. Maynard is a small mill town in Mas sachusetts with about 7,000 population. The Cooperative there was organized in 1907 by a small group of Finns, with very little capital. For about nine years the store made very little progress. From 1916 on it has been forging ahead steadi ly. Starting with a grocery store, other departments have been added to it, one by one, until today this society owns and operates the largest up-to-date complete food market in the town with departments selling paint, hardware, furniture and radios. It also operates a modern bakery, modern milk pasteurizing and distributing plant, coal yard, grain and fertilizer ware house, fuel, oil and ice routes. It has one branch store in the town, and operated for about eight years a large restaurant. Just now there is under construction a modern automobile service station which will be in operation this year. The society owns all the real estate and buildings which it is using. Expansion into other lines has been financed from previous earnings. In the first six months of 1934 the United Cooperative Society of Maynard did a business of $154,285 and expects to pass the $250,000 mark before the end of the year. Here is one particular feature that I want to bring to your special attention. A few years ago the Maynard society opened a branch store. I would like to call it a "Sunday Store" because it is kept open from 7:30 in the morning until 10 p. m. every day of the year. It sells some groceries, cold cuts of meat, dairy prod ucts, bakery goods, ice cream, sodas, to bacco, etc. This service is greatly appre ciated by the consumers. It is well patron ized, sales run up to about $40,000 per year, and it shows a substantial net mar gin every year. This summer I also dis covered that when the Italian Coopera tive in Leominster erected a new building for their store it provided special space in front for a "Sunday Store." This store is open when the main store is closed. By giving efficient service to members and making an effort to supply them with as many commodities as possible, big business turnover can be built even in a small community with a limited number of consumers. The Maynard society Has .taken a long step in that direction. There are many other societies which can do the same thing. Cooperative Insurance Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress Murray D. Lincoln, Executive Secretary, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation "PERHAPS the first recorded example of -*- insurance was when Joseph, as Phar aoh's insurance man, counselled the wheat growers in the Nile Valley to lay aside in the days of plenty to provide for the days of want, so in the fat years they brought in their ten per cent premiums to stock the barns and later cashed in their policies when the lean years arrived. Industry has time and time again ap plied insurance to many of its hazards and speculative risks, and has lessened them by dividing up the cost with others. This enables them to fix definite costs in their operations, and to prevent losses to the individual, the factory, or the business, that might wipe them out or seriously im pair their earnings or financial standing. I do not believe that we have ever touched the possibilities of Cooperation as applied to insurance. The Road to Cooperative Finance As far as insurance is concerned, we are all consumers. We all need it. The same is true with credit and finance. So 36 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 37 those are .two things that should bring us together in very large groups for common well being. Insurance has become our secondary financial system in this country. Many economists view with alarm the concen tration of wealth in so few hands in America. A study of the relation of in surance to this problem is most interest ing. Get Senator Norris* pamphlet, "The Spider Web of Wall Street" and see how the control of the assets and reserves of our big insurance companies has enabled a few people virtually to control corporate America. Until we develop our own cooperative finance structure we'll never see tue coop erative development that you and I want and believe we must have. We do not dare to build great cooperative enter prises and run tihe risk of being ruined through lack, or shutting off, of necessary credit when needed. Insurance is our most important link in that chain. Like insurance, we must have finance for cooperatives, as well as for coopera- tors. Finance is a most important element in the cost of production and distribution of goods or services. It often exercises an unseen control. As an old statement goes, "Whoever finances a business con trols it." We must untie the hands of the people from any financial control, in order that they may feel free to buy and sell and act cooperatively. There are two phases of insurance that should have our attention: 1. Insurance for the individual or the cooperator. 2. Insurance for the institution or the cooperative. If the present insurance for all coopera- tors and cooperatives were pooled, it would make a tremendous structure right now. The Cooperative League is mak ing a survey of these requirements. We should be developing our own fire, life, automobile, general liability, work men's liability, fidelity, hail,—a complete line of insurance. I doubt if we've ever had true coopera tive insurance except in the case of the old fraternal or burial societies and tue small township farm fire and other local mu- tuals. Most so-called mutual insurance companies are so set up as to allow con trol by a very few individuals. We have all been sold insurance. We have not bought it. Beyond the Experimental Stage I would like to quote you some ex amples of what has been done by coopera- tors in the insurance field. The Country Life Insurance Co., owned by the Illinois Agricultural Association of Chicago, if I am informed correctly, has the lowest cost life insurance in the country, and has written life insurance cheaper and has ac crued a greater volume in a shorter time than any company in the United States. Then take our own Farm Bureau Mu tual Automobile Insurance Company. In 1926 the Ohio Farm Bureau took $10,000 from its .membership funds and organized a mutual casualty company. We paid the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company of Bloomington, Illinois $30,- 000, for their forms, advice and counsel, in getting our company started. We are now eight years old. Our assets are $3,452,584.68. Our policyholders num ber 125,000. We are writing in eight states, being sponsored by the Farm Bureaus or cooperative enterprises in all but two states. Our surplus and reserves amount to $779,911.71 and during this time we have paid out many tens of thousands of dollars to the County and State Farm Bureaus for their sponsorship and assistance, and in turn, that money has been put into other cooperative enter prises or to pay for the educational work along all cooperative lines. Until the depression, one of the chief jobs of insurance executives was to find places in which to invest their surpluses, and tihat led to excesses—it 'always does. These surpluses could well .provide the fi nancial basis for a cooperative credit structure to free the cooperatives from outside credit control. Greater Development Ahead The possibilities of a cooperative life in surance program are tremendous. Along with a life insurance program could ao cooperative health examinations, grad ually leading us to cooperative medical treatment and hospitalization. If we are ever going to work out a proper old age pension or retirement sys tem, it ought to be a cooperative one. If we have the kind of cooperative set-up that we ought to have*—marketing, pur chasing, insurance, finance, electricity, manufacturing—I really believe the sav ings on these things over what we now pay the profit system would enable us to buy enough cooperative insurance to ena ble us all to retire at an early age and turn our economic places in the world over to the younger generation, .thereby perhaps helping the unemployment situa tion. And lastly, it's not the dollars saved that gives us this consecration to the Cooperative ideal—it's the translation of those dollars into terms of better homes, better communities, better individual lives, that should give us the courage and de termination to project the Cooperative ideal to its fullest use in Economic Amer ica. The British Example in Cooperative Insurance Summary of an address to The Cooperative League Congress V. S. Petersen, Secretary-Treasurer, The Cooperative Insurance Association FEW of us doubt the necessity for quick action in changing the economic order if we are going to avoid chaos in this country. We believe the new social order should be Cooperative Democracy. If the cooperatives are to succeed in replacing the capitalistic order enormous pools of funds are necessary. Insurance and banking are used by capitalistic business to create the pools of money necessary to finance its operations—why should not we do the same? The cooperatives in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio have shown how quickly a com prehensive program of" expansion can be put across where the necessary capital is available. In England they found the co operative movement handicapped as long as they were dependent upon capitalistic banks for funds for expansion purposes. This difficulty was overcome by the or ganization of their own C. W. S. Bank. Cooperative Insurance in England In the pamphlet "The Cooperative Wholesale Society of Today" we find the following comment: "Cooperative finance in Great Britain can be divided into two distinct ventures—the C. W. S. Bank and the Cooperative Insurance Society. Both are highly successful enterprises and make an interesting study in cooperative devel opment. The C. W. S. Bank is unique in many ways. It is not a separate institu tion like other banks—it is one of the many departments of the C. W. S. This method of banking is full of advantages, t enables the C. W. S. Bank to become the assistant to cooperative enterpris arise. The bank conducts ordinary banking business. It has individual customers who deposit their savings in the bank, and draw them out as required. Cooperative Societies, Trade Unions and other institu tions conduct their banking business with the C. W. S. On the other side of the counter, the bank utilizes these deposits for the mutual benefit of its customers and the cooperative movement. Nearly $3,- 500,000,000.00 passes over the counter of the C. W. S. Banik in deposits and with drawals every year. The capital resources of the C. W. S. represent a financial and trading system which is rock-like in foun dation and security. The combination of all the trading services and finance in one big institution is so economically sound and advantageous that the prosperity of the C. W. S. is in a large measure due to this method of organization." Similar success has been made by the cooperatives of other European countries. The Cooperative Insurance Society is under the joint ownership of the C. W. S. and the Scottish C. W. S. The assets of the Cooperative Insurance Society amount to $75,000,000,00. Its premium income is in excess of $25,000,000.00 yearly. It employs a staff of nearly 12,- 000. Preliminary Organization in the United States In January, 1933, the Midland Coop erative Wholesale sponsored the organ ization of The Cooperative Insurance Association. This organization handles a full line of insurance on a brokerage basis. 38 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 39 Considerable savings have been effected on the cost of insurance due to the col lective buying power of the cooperatives placing their insurance through this agency. The natural development of the idea of bargaining for insurance on a collective basis was that even better deals could be made for insurance coverages, required by cooperatives, if the collective bargain ing could be coordinated and put on a national basis, the ultimate goal being to establish a cooperatively-owned and controlled insurance set-up to underwrite the business. With this in mind a meet ing was held in Chicago, under the auspices of the National Cooperatives, on February 13th, 1934, and another on September 7th. Representatives from a large number of cooperatives attended both meetings. After considerable discussion concern ing insurance problems the sentiment of the group was expressed at the September 7th meeting by the following resolution: "Moved that this committee recommend to the League Congress that an organiza tion be formed to broker insurance on a nation-wide basis, preferably on partici pating contracts, with the ultimate goal being the conservation of savings due to participating dividends and commissions so as to put us in a position to start our own Cooperative Insurance organiza tion." We can do mudh to hasten the growth of the cooperative movement by working together on such a vital problem as this. Insurance is a medium whereby we can do a great deal to return to our people their lost sense of security. The Em ployees' Retirement Fund, coupled with a Life Insurance plan, can give cooperative employees a sense of security not offered by other business. A cooperative life insurance service such as developed by the C. W. S.—where the member of an insured society is automatically insured^- the amount of insurance being based on his volume of purchases, can do much to promote loyalty to our cooperatives. Immediate Steps in Cooperative Insurance Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress William A. Hyde, Manager, Clusa Service, Inc. THIS country has had cooperative in surance on a small local scale since long before Rochdale. Benjamin Franklin and some of his friends organized the first cooperative insurance association in the country in 1752, forty years before the launching of the first American stock fire insurance company. They called it "The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Payment of Losses by Fire." In 1934 it is still going strong in spite of the name. There are hundreds of small cooperative fire insurance societies covering farm property. The one in my home county in New Jersey was organized in 1838. Many are even older. Cooperative insurance practically stop ped with these farm fire companies. Cer tain large mutuals grew up, but they were usually controlled by insiders for their own benefit, and departed from Rochdale principles. Insuring the Individual A few years ago a new wave started; cooperative automobile insurance com panies were organized by some of the or ganized farm groups. A third wave^-co- operative life insurance—seems to be starting. None of these take adequate care of the cooperative society. Cooperative societies need fire insurance on business property, they need fidelity bonds, they need general liability insurance. In gen eral these are available only from com panies outside the cooperative movement. As manager of Clusa Service, I spend a large part of my time shopping around on John Street in New York City, buying insurance for cooperative societies from stock insurance companies. The profit on our business migrates three blocks south from John .Street to Wall Street, and that is the last the cooperative movement ever sees of it. Here in Chicago last month we said "No more." We may have .to buy some kinds of insurance outside the cooperative movement for a long time, but all our energy must go into making ourselves in dependent of the old line companies rather than in bargaining with them. Cooperative Insurance for Cooperatives We are tackling fidelity bonds first. The Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile In surance Company of Ohio, has agreed to start a fidelity department, the sole func tion of which will be to write fidelity bonds on cooperative officers and employ ees. The manner in which they propose to do this shows the breadth of their cooper ative understanding and the extent of their willingness to merge the good of their own organization in the good of the movement as a whole. The Farm Bureau Mutual of Ohio is just about the only co operative company in the country that 'has the prestige and the assets and the charter powers to enable it to undertake fidelity bonding for cooperatives. Nevertheless they realize as the rest of us do that it would be poor long term cooperative plan ning for a single regional automobile co operative to arrange to write fidelity bonds on a nation wide-scale indefinitely. Fidelity bonds for cooperatives will be written at an approximation of commer cial rates. A large part of the underwriting profit will be impounded in a fund to be used for launching a National Coopera tive Casualty Insurance Company, the function of which will be to carry insur ance on the property of cooperative insti tutions of all kinds. The next step will be general liability insurance on cooperatives, then perhaps fire insurance, and so on until all branches are covered. One essential in mapping out a program of insurance for cooperatives is knowledge of how much insurance is now being carried. The insurance com mittee gave The Cooperative League the job of making a survey of the present in surance budgets of cooperative wholesale organizations. A development of great importance, but which doesn't come so close to the indi vidual cooperator, is a plan to pool the re insurance of cooperative automobile in surance companies. Providing Security for Old Age When a man goes into the cooperative movement he gives up any idea of ever getting rich. We wouldn't have him if he didn't. This makes it doubly important for morale, and plain fair dealing, that the cooperative employee be economically secure. A proposal looking toward that security will be laid before you at the business session of the cooperative League Congress tomorrow. On instruc tions from the League Board, a plan has been drafted whereby cooperative em ployees and their employing societies can make joint provision for the employees re tirement on pension, for their maintenance if disabled, and for their dependents if they die. The plan, as drafted, calls for incorpo ration under the insurance laws of some state, probably New York. Any society and its employees could agree with the fund that the employees will permit 31 <% to be deducted from their pay and trans mitted to the fund with a like amount to be paid by the society. This amount at interest is calculated to be sufficient to provide a reasonably satisfactory pension for employees of long service. Both from the society's and the employ ees' points of view it is important that we make systematic provision for retirement. The employee needs it for obvious rea sons. The society needs it because it just isn't humanly possible to throw out an old employee without making some pro vision for his future. If we are going to have adequate old age provision for cooperative employees, now is the time to start accumulating the funds. The movement and its employees are young and we can accumulate our re serves as we go along. If we wait until our societies are manned by a bunch of graybeards, the cost of retiring them on adequate pensions will be prohibitive. • Cooperative Insurance Ranks High in Great Britain The Insurance Mail published in Lon don recently reported that cooperative in surance ranked eighth among the large British Insurance Companies in premium volume on industrial policies with a total volume of 2,927,138 pounds. 40 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 41 I- lr Cooperative Buying Clubs Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress A. W. Warinner, Executive Secretary, Central States Cooperative League 'T'HE wave of cooperative sentiment *• which swept the country during and after the war was due to the abnormally high commodity prices and the profiteer ing indulged in by profit business. Every body had employment at relatively high wages and it was easy to assemble the capital to finance cooperative enterprises. The result was that for a period of con siderably over two years a new coopera tive store came into existence almost every day. A Tool to Fight Unemployment and Lack of Purchasing Power The wave of sentiment that is now -sweeping the country is due to an almost opposite condition. Now we have low prices but widespread unemployment and a serious lack of both capital and pur chasing power on the part of the con sumers. When the attempt is made to translate the present cooperative senti ment into some sort of cooperative action by which the people can better their con dition, the most serious difficulty en countered is the inability of people to fi nance a cooperative enterprise. The Cooperative Buying Club idea is the natural answer to this problem and has been used on such a wide scale in cer tain sections of the country during the past two years that it is becoming a prob lem with which the Cooperative Move ment must deal. The buying club move ment has possibilities for great develop ment if it is intelligently directed but also the possibility of a great menace if it is not properly guided. Some Disadvantages of Buying Clubs Buying Clubs can operate with little or no overhead and no capital investment is required to finance them, each member fi nancing 'his own purchases at the time they are made. The little overhead they do have is met either by charging an an nual membership fee ox a small mark-up on the merchandise handled, or in some instances by both. Buying clubs set up for the purpose of buying goods directly from wholesales are able to supply these commodities to their members practically at cost. Very few of them follow the traditional Rochdale method of selling at current market prices and returning the surplus in the form of purchase rebates. Even those set up on the collective bargaining idea are able to secure some lines of merchandise and service for their members at prices con siderably below the current market price. This is practically the only immediate ad vantage of the buying club, but it does undoubtedly serve an immediate material need in times like the present when practically everybody is living on reduced incomes in the face of mounting com modity prices. The Future Function of Clubs The question naturally arises here as to what the future of these organizations is to be? What can we expect of them as component parts of the great Cooperative Movement of the future? What degree of loyalty can they develop in the member ship? What permanent advantage are they to the membership and to the Coop erative .Movement? If we as cooperators are trying to de velop a new economic system—'if we are pointing the way to a new social order, then these questions must be dealt with in an intelligent manner, not only in the light of their immediate advantage to the consumers but also in the light of their contribution to the development as a whole. These cooperative buying clubs can be come a powerful -means for carrying on cooperative education. Consciously or unconsciously; intentionally or uninten tionally, everybody who comes in con tact with one of these organizations is bound to learn something about Con sumers' Cooperation. They are one of the factors helping America to become con sumer conscious. A few of them have gone in for a systematic study of Cooper ation and have done a fine job of it. If they would all do this, their value as an educational medium would be beyond cal culation. On the other hand, when there is no capital investment we are not developing the physical property that must be the basis of a great cooperative movement: we are not accumulating the capital neces sary to finance such a movement; and we are missing that feeling of ownership of something tangible that is such an im portant feature of cooperation. This proprietary interest that comes from the individual's investment in the business is the strongest factor in promoting indi vidual loyalty to the organization and in guaranteeing the life and permanency of the organization as well. An Opening Wedge for Consumers' Cooperation While I do not believe that during such hard times as these it is impossible to fi nance a cooperative store and is therefore necessary to start with something like a buying club because very little money is needed to finance them, this feeling does exist among people in general and for that reason it is often possible to get people interested in forming a buying club when they give up in despair and refuse to even try to organize a cooperative store. Hard up as most people are in this country, the Rochdale Pioneers were even worse off economically yet they found it possible to start a store and I believe it can be done by any group in this country that has the faith and the courage and the will to do it. Cooperative Buying Clubs set up in an intelligent way and taking full ad vantage of the experience that has already been gained and with the future of the Movement in mind can form the basis of a sound development that will be perma nent and lasting. Realizing this, the Central States Co operative League has been insisting that first of all when a Cooperative Buying Club is formed it must taike up a sys tematic study of the theory, history and principles of Consumers' Cooperation. From Club to Retail Cooperative It must be understood from the first that the ultimate object shall be to convert the Buying Club into a cooperative store at the earliest possible moment. The people not only have an opportunity to gain experience in running their own busi ness while there is little or nothing at stake in the way of investment but they also have an opportunity to develop the funds sufficient to finance their coopera tive business enterprise out of their co operative activities. There are two ways in which these funds can be accumulated. One is by put ting all transactions on a current market price basis, and using the surplus to build up the necessary funds to finance the co operative business enterprise. Another ef fective way is to organize a Credit Union in conjunction with the Buying Club. By the means of small systematic deposits in the credit union, each member of the Buy ing Club can very soon build up sufficient capital to take care of his part of the capital requirements of the cooperative business enterprise and can do it without having to subject himself and his family to a serious sacrifice. A year or two at most should be sufficient for a group of people to develop the capital to finance a small cooperative store by this method. Building for Permanence Cooperative Buying Clubs organized in this way and with these objects in view can very well be the easiest and most practical way of starting cooperative en terprises which have every opportunity to develop into great cooperative institu tions. This is borne out by the fact that some of the largest and most successful cooperatives we have in this country started as buying clubs. So let us, by all means, encourage rather than discourage the formation of cooperative buying clubs but let us at the same time be very careful to see that they are organized on a sound basis and with a view to the ultimate aim rather than to the immediate material advantage. 42 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 43 Education Through Action Summary of an address to The Cooperative League Congress E. J. Lever, President, Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Accounting Werner E. Regli, Director, Cooperative League Accounting Bureau COOPERATIVE Distributors, incor- \~J porated in Nov. 1932, was formally established at an organizational meeting in New York on January 25th, 1933, and began distributing on April 1st of that year. Since then it has gained member ship in practically every state in the Union. The founders of Cooperative Dis tributors, due to their understanding of and belief in the principles of the Cooper ative Movement, were determined to build an organization which would be co operative in action as well as in name. This meant first, the support of estab lished local cooperative societies by mak ing them the local distributors of those products which Cooperative Distributors was to develop or distribute, and second, that the wide-spread organizing possibili ties of an association such as Cooperative Distributors should be used as a means to help strengthen the cooperative move ment by dramatizing cooperation, thus creating such an interest in the concept and the movement that consumers would run toward, rather than away from it. Creating Consumers' Consciousness The next step in the development of Cooperative Distributors was to establish local Consumers Clubs. Their major pur pose was to educate and condition unor ganized consumers toward an under standing of their problems, as well as to wards self-organization for their mutual benefit. Consumers Clubs thus fill a void in the consumers educational and organi zational front. CD Consumers Clubs do not go into store ownership. By borrow ing a leaf from the labor movement, they bargain collectively with distributors for their needs. This means that they function as local consumers unions. They carry on research work on local products and serv ices. The findings are published in bul letins and broadcast among their fellow consumers in order to accentuate con sumers issues in each community. These Clubs, by being affiliated with Cooperators Distributors, are in a posi- iton to use its laboratory facilities and technical guidance, which when tied up with their local activities, make it pos sible for them to function with real ef fectiveness. Geared to American Psychology There are now twenty-eight such Clubs in existence between the Atlantic seaboard and the Middle West. More are being or ganized. Mr. Warinner's criticism of the buying clubs as such is well taken. He has already enumerated their limitations. We fully agree with him that buying clubs form too narrow a basis upon which to build a powerful consumers' movement. But it must be recognized that the absence of cooperative stores and the complete lack of consumers' organization in most communities leaves a gap in the move ment which needs to be filled. CD Con sumers Clubs, in our opinion, fill that void. They are geared to the psychology of American consumers. Since millions of consumers are already trade unionists, the methods applied are that much better un derstood. As the number of these Clubs continues to grow and develop in unor ganized territory, it is to be expected that they will accelerate the growth of the Co operative Movement on all fronts. . • Cooperative Distributors hold Eastern Conference Representatives of Consumers' Unions in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey heard reports that 28 consumers' unions had already been organized and made plans for even more aggressive action at the Eastern Conference of Consumers' Unions held in New York City January 19 and 20. Con sumers' Unions are organized by Coop erative Distributors, Inc. for local col lective bargaining on behalf of consumers to supplement cooperative purchasing of mail order products through Cooperative distributors. Why Accounting Developed I wonder what kind of a world we would have today if, at the time when the workers in the city and .the farmers in the country began to employ people to help in the process of exchanging their prod ucts, they had also employed accountants to keep an eye on these new employees and had learned about the new methods of merchandising then inaugurated. I wonder if those employees, who have be come the middlemen of today and are masters rather than servants of producers and consumers, would have been able to manipulate affairs to such an extent that there exists today a state of chaos throughout the world. Accounting as a profession became or ganized long after the control of the tools and of the farms had shifted and, strange as it may seem, the very middlemen who should have been controlled and super vised in ,the first place were the ones who first saw the necessity for independent accounting. Ownership had become com plicated, business technique had become complex, business ethics were more or less a thing of the past: it was essential to create a neutral body of men, trained as investigators and as critics to find and give the facts as they were, not as they were interpreted by a biased ownership or management. What Can Accounting Do for Us? For the purpose of discussion, let us group the functions of the accountant in to four parts. His first function is proba bly the best known: to help assure honesty and integrity. The technique of book keeping and accounting is such that safe guards against dishonesty have been de vised and, although honesty cannot be assured, dishonesty can be made so dif ficult as to be generally avoided. The second function of the accountant is to devise a bookkeeping system that will furnish the management with such f °umation as is essential f°r tne success ot the business. If we think of the books as the diary of the business, we will more readily understand this. In reality, all of us make decisions and plans based upon the information furnished by diaries. It is true that most of our own diaries are not kept in writing but are recorded in our memory. Many a man has made the same mistake over again because his diary (memory) was so poor that he did not recognize an occurrence of the past that would have served as a guide. The diaries of a business, its bookkeeping methods, must be so devised as to record and em phasize those factors particularly neces sary for efficient management. And this brings us to the third function of the accountant, that of an historian. From the record of historic facts (the diary), the historian analyses and pre pares a report upon a certain period; just so does the accountant analyse and report upon a certain period in the history of a business. Suppose that a photograph were taken of the world every three months and that these photographs were filed away as the historic record of the world. We could see that certain changes had taken place, but we would not Toiow what had caused these changes nor how they had been effected. So could a business take a photograph of itself every three months—an inventory of all it owns and all it owes—and so determine whether it *^as making or losing. That fact is im portant, but even more important is the reason why it makes or loses. We are not only describing concrete things, we must also measure their action and their motion. It is in the interpretation of this motion that we find the real value of his tory, and so also the real value of the history of our particular venture. And so we come to the fourth function of the accountant, that of interpreter. Up to this point he has just been following the rules of his profession, of his particu lar training, and he was subject to the rules and regulations of his profession. From here on, his personal point of view comes into play. Just as the historian, af ter a study of the facts and the prépara- 111' 44 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 45 tion of his report from these facts, now uses the experience of the past to clarify and interpret the present and even to at tempt a forecast of the future, so the ac countant must act as an interpreter and and an analyst. However, and this is im portant to remember, he interprets as an accountant, not as a manager, and the value of his advice must be judged from that angle alone. The interpretation and the forecast may be good, it -may be bad, but it is a personal opinion just as is that of the manager or the educational direc tor. If the advice should be bad, just as if the manager's judgment should be faulty, there is only one remedy, that is the em ployment of a more capable man. How ever, no proper interpretation is possible if the accumulated facts of the report are faulty; no report of value can be made if the books do not give the vital facts; ac curacy and honesty can hardly be as sured if the necessary safeguards of book keeping are not there. If the accountant is to perform his duty, the prerequisite is training, and a set-up in which he can function without undue pressure from others interested in an entirely different aspect of the business. How to Control the Accountant If the basic principle of Consumers' Co operation is consumer control and owner ship, then accounting is no exception to this principle and the value of coopera tive accounting instead of public account ing or state accounting becomes quite ob vious. The clients of the cooperative ac counting organization are its consumers, and these consumers, through their feder ations, must exercise the same control as an individual exercises in his organiza tion. The clients of the cooperative ac countant iknow each other and so the ac countant is continuously appraised and supervised. But let me be very clear on this point.—it is not the individual man ager of a society, not the individual board of a society who are his supervisors and controllers, no, it is the group as a whole that performs this function through their federation. In this manner, the independ ence of the accountant from specific man agement influence is safeguarded. In the federation of the societies, accounting must stand as a separate department on a par with the other departments, under the same control of the general constituency if it is to 'keep its most important aspect, that of being neutral and independent and always ready to deal with the facts as shown by the records, uninfluenced by any other factor. There is another method of control that is not new in the movement. The indi vidual members of a cooperative society control their manager through their board of directors, but the board is generally not capable of technical advice and aid; this is usually provided by the managers meeting together as members, let us say, of a wholesale to discuss and clarify their buying and selling problems. Just so must the accountants employed in the coopera tive movement form a joint professional organization in which they can discuss and clarify professional problems and where they can work out rules to guide the individual accountant of their group. c ha professional association can prove ot benefit both to the movement employ ing cooperative accountants and to the accountant himself. Jointly these account ants can supervise eadh member of their group and so assure the consumer of that vital safeguard he depends upon. He de pends upon the accountant to ikeep him informed about the affairs of his business a,nd about the people he employs to con duct that business, because to him the proper management of his endeavors means the regaining of the control he has lost. It is therefore to the interest of all wtio hope for the rapid and sound growth of the movement, the consumer, liis man agers, his accountants, that professional standards be kept high; that accounting be kept out of factional disputes and free from undue influence. Individual societies and federations as well as accountants share in the responsibility of making it possible for the consumer to have faith and trust in his investigator. Cooperators in Action Co-ops Growing in Face of Chain Store Competition One hundred and one cooperative re tail stores affiliated with the Central Co operative Wholesale in Minnesota, Wis consin and Northern Michigan reported average sales increases of thirty-one per cent for the first half of 1934. Sales in creases for individual stores were from 12 to 45 per cent more than for the same period the previous year. This was in marked contrast to the data recently re leased by "Chain Store Management" in which Safeway Stores, Inc., reported 9.8 per cent sales increase up to November 3. The National Tea Company sales de creased by 3.4 per cent during the same period. The Kroger Grocery and Baking Company reported a sales increase of 7.6 per cent and the American Stores Com pany a r< : ..of 4.6 per cent for the first ten months of the year. 10,000 Study Cooperation in F.E.R.A. Schools in Ohio Sixty teachers of Workers' Schools in Ohio FERA Adult Education Projects, following the example of Rural Adult Education teachers, devoted several ses sions of the recent teachers' training course to lectures and discussions of Con sumers' Cooperation. The FERA Divi sion of Adult Education, working in con nection with the Ohio Farm Bureau Fed eration, in rural areas of the state trained 112 teachers in cooperative economics and recreation. Six thousand people re gistered for courses on cooperation and the first week's attendance exceeded the registration by four thousand. Union Oil Reports Additional Co-op Each Week Union Oil Company Cooperative re ports the addition of sixty retail oil coop eratives in 1934 or an average of more than one additional cooperative receiving service through the wholesale cooperative each week. Part of these are newly or ganized cooperatives while the rest repre sent individual cooperative organizations rormerly purchasing petroleum products independently of a cooperative wholesale. Eastern States League Launches Educa tional Program The Eastern States Cooperative League, representing cooperatives in New York, New England and the Atlantic States has taken steps toward the forma tion of speakers and writers bureaus to supply speakers on request, write pam phlets, articles and news releases, con duct seminars on cooperative economics, and train additional speakers to present a more ambitious program than ever be fore presented to make the East consumer conscious. Ten thousand individuals pat ronizing cooperatives in the Greater New York area have been called upon to assist in the project. Farmers' Union Central Exchange Con demns Profit System Stockholders at the Annual Meeting of the Farmers' Union Central Exchange December 13th, approved unanimously a ;,-solution condemning the profit system and urging the extension of consumers' cooperation to other commodities as rap idly as possible to replace the profit sys tem and establish the cooperative com monwealth. The annual report showed the addition of 39 retail outlets during the year, bringing the total to 211 affiliated cooperative associations. Tire sales jumped from $75,000 in 1933 to $95,000 in 1934. The Exchange Handled 3,300 tank cars of gasoline and kerosene and almost a million gallons of lubricating oil last year. 2,400 Members—$25,000 Per Month Volume—Idaho Oil Station Less Than Two Years Old An eight-page pamphlet has just been issued by the Cooperative Union Oil Company of Boise Valley, Caldwell, Idaho, containing extracts from various cooperative writings and a complete copy of a paper read at the annual meeting by Mr. George G. Barrett, Manager, who is also President of Pacific Supply Co., of Walla Walla, Wash. Mr. Barrett reports on January 31, 1935: "Here in this western country we are attempting to build a Consumer Cooperative on strictly 46 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 February, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 47 •I h Rochdale principles. I feel that we are making progress and that some day we shall have something of which we can justly be proud. We now have more than twenty four hundred members with a volume of business around twenty-five thousand dollars a month and have been operating less than two years." Second Cooperative European Tour Preliminary arrangements are now being made for the second annual Co operative Tour this summer, sponsored by The Cooperative League. The tour last year included England, Scotland, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Denmank and Germany in its itinerary of outstanding cooperatives in Europe. The trip has tre mendous educational value for active co- operators and was conducted last year at a cost of approximately $360 per per son. As the personnel of the tour must necessarily be limited, those interested in making the trip should communicate with Meyer Parodnecik, 1270 Broadway, New York City, The Pacific Coast Turns to Consumers' Cooperation A genuine consumers' cooperative movement appears to be arising out of the political disillusionment following the de feat of Upton Sinclair in California. In response to urgent requests George W. Jacobson of Midland Cooperative Whole sale, Minneapolis, and a Director of The Cooperative League, was sent to advise in the formation of a Consumers' Cooper ative Council which will lay the ground work for the formation of a more per manent district organization in the near future. Representatives from the larger educational, religious and political groups interested in the formation of coopera tives comprise the Council and an active campaign of education and organization is underway to bring together existing Rochdale cooperatives and promote the formation of new cooperatives. A legis lative committee has already drawn up a state law governing the organization of cooperatives to be submitted to the state legislature. Permanent headquarters have been established at 606 Fay Building, Third and Hill Sts., Los Angeles. . Following his work in California Mr. Jacobson went to Seattle to advise in steps taken toward the unification of the cooperative movement in the Pacific North West. A regional conference was held in Seattle, January 9, at which repre sentatives of existing farm supply and oil cooperatives, student cooperative associa tions, unemployed self-help cooperatives and local retail cooperatives attended, as well as interested individuals from educa tional, labor and religious organizations and credit unions. A temporary Coopera- tice Council to continue the work of the conference was named with Leonard Jenson, 4746 19th Avenue, N. E. Seattle, as secretary. Cloquet Consumers' Cooperative Pays Big Patronage Dividend The Cloquet, Minnesota, Consumers' Cooperative .Society, which operates sev eral retail cooperative stores, paid its members and customers $17,000 in trade rebates and $3,900 in interest on capital in 1934. A substantial increase in mem bership and patronage was reported with a total membership of 1,800. Business for the year was nearly $750,000. Eating Their Way into Prosperity Members of Consumers' Cooperative Services, a chain of eleven consumer- owned eating houses in New York City reported the payment to themselves of the highest dividend rate since the onset of the depression. The rates of patronage" dividend for 1934 were: first quarter 21/2%; second quarter 3%%; third quarter 4J^%, and for the final quarter 5]/2%- This was in addition to the ad vantages of high quality food at reason able prices. Union Oil Company Cooperative Backs Five Year Plan at Annual Meeting -r, Union Oil Company Cooperative be came the Consumers' Cooperative ASSCH ciation by unanimous vote of the directors because its business is no longer restricted to petroleum products and it had "out grown the name." . The annual meeting of the Union Oil Company Cooperative held at, North Kansas City, Missouri, February 5 and 6 went on record for an aggressive plan to coordinate the cooperative education, legislative and cultural activities of farm and city groups interested in cooperation. Among the groups directly affected by this project are National Cooperatives. Inc., National Credit Union Association, the National Grange, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers' Union, The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., National Cooperative Market ing Council, and the Farmers' Equity Union. Speakers featured at the Annual Meet ing included I. H. Hull, president of Na tional Cooperatives, Inc., Mrs. O. H. Ol- son, educational director of the Farmers' Union of South Dakota, A. J. Kuntz of the St. Louis Bank for Cooperatives, C. C. Talbott, president, Farmers' Union Cen tral Exchange, St. Paul, and Ivan Lanto, sales manager, Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior, Wisconsin. Advance Speaking Schedule (We are printing- here the present advance speak ing engagements of Mr. E. R. Bowen, General Sec retary of The Cooperative League for the con venience of those interested in Consumers Coopera tion in the areas in which he is scheduled to speak). First Methodist Church, Peoria, 111., February 24. The Merging Councils of Illinois, Springfield, Illinois, February 26. Cooperative Consumers' Society, St. Louis, February 27. Christian Youth Building a New World, Riverside Church, New York City, March 9. Central Pennsylvania Conference Methodist Church, Shamokin, Pennsyl vania, April 25. Social Service Commission, New York East Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, Central M. E. Church, Brook lyn, New York, May 10. Consumers' Cooperation in Current Literature In 1923 professor Paul H. Douglas, economist at the University of Chicago, referred to the growth of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement as "one of the relatively unnoticed marvels of the cen tury." Today the general press is begin ning to take notice of the advances of the movement. The conservative New York Herald Tribune December 21st ran a fea ture article on the Ninetieth anniversary of the Cooperative Movement. The World Telegram, also of New York carried an article January 26 on the growth of Coop erative Buying Clubs. The Christian Science Monitor devoted an entire page in its magazine section January 30 to an article by Bertram Fowler entitled "To ward Economic Democracy" which de scribes brilliantly the growth, methods and objectives of the Consumers' Coop erative Movement. The Christian Century, now a staunch apostle of cooperation, completed its se ries of four articles by Professor Horace Kallen, January 9, with '"Consumers' economy an,d Its Rivals" which sets forth tor the first time in an American peri odical Consumers' Cooperation as an economic system as one of the four pro posed ways out of our economic distress. A feature editorial a week later headed "Cooperatives Beat the Chain Stores" concluded "while other critics of capital ism indulge in merely argumentative bat tles they (cooperators) are quietly and steadily building an alternative institu tion." The World Call official organ of the Disciples of Christ printed two artides in the January issue dealing with Consum ers'^ Cooperation, the first "I Visit Kaga- wa" by Joseph Boone Hunter tells of the work of the great cooperative leader in Japan; in the second article Rev. Ellis Cowling discusses the practical applica tion of the principles of Christianity in "A Good Sermon—But How?" The Christian Register in an editorial January 10 declared, "Without a devel oped system of voluntary, democratic cooperation we shall be forced into Fascism or possibly Communism, both of which involve dictatorship and the re pression of the individual conscience . . . Here is a non-partisan movement for con structive reform on a large scale, wel coming every consumer who is alive to his own and his neighbors' welfare, which the churches can heartily promote." 48 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 The Epworth Herald January 19th printed in detail a practical plan for the promotion of consumers' cooperatives con cluding "This will require brains and in telligence and hard work and courage. But it is a practical way to move toward a Christian economic order." The Guilds- man for January 1935 reported the forma tion of "The Cooperative League of Wis consin." Rev. Joseph Steinhauser of Au- burndale, Wisconsin wrote the article. In labor journals, the January issue of the Electrical Workers' and Operators' Journal carried the first of two articles by Professor C. J. Ratzlaff on "How Sweden Fights the World Depression" and the Railway Clerk, November 1934 featured an article by W. J. Campbell entitled "Labor on the Half-Marc'h" which ad vocated cooperation as a weapon to pro tect wage advances gained through mili tant organization. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Enginemen's and Firemen's Journal maintains a department on Con sumers' Cooperation as a monthly feature of the magazine. The Weekly News Review which is used in high school history and civics classes throughout the country published a discussion of "Denmark.—Land of Se curity and Cooperation," on January 6 and articles also appeared in Consumers' Notes published by the Consumers' Divi sion of the National Emergency Council and the Consumers' Guide issued bi weekly by the Consumers' Counsel of the AAA. Cooperators should read as much as possible of this literature and see that it is passed on to those who have not yet joined in building a cooperative economy BOOK REVIEWS SKIN DEEP, M. C. Phillips. Vanguard Press. New York, $2.00. "Truth is Beauty" is the message M. C. Phillips of Consumers' Research brings to the American women in her book. Skin Deep, the truth about beauty aids. Written with the same fearlessness as "100,000,000 Guinea Pigs" it points out the dangers lurking behind the subtle claims and false advertising of the cos metic industry. Whether such products as powder, cold cream, rouge, hand lotion, hair and eye lash dye, soap, etc., are good or bad, safe or harmful, expensive or economical is frankly and humorously treated by Miss Phillips. She spares no names in her expose of 'standard' prod ucts which under the subterfuge of re storing youth and aiding beauty actually cause suffering, disease and even death. From these dangers the average Amer ican woman is unprotected. The Federal Food and Drug Act is out-dated, state and local governments following the lead of the national government afford little protection to the consumer in the matter of cosmetics, and the so-called women's magazines accept cosmetic advertising primarily for the business of making money and secondarily if at all, with any idea of protecting the consumers' health. Miss Phillips urges a "vigorously func tioning Department of the Consumer in Washington with a Bureau of Cosmetics in charge of competent, active chemists" and a determination on the part of the American women to be "fooled" no longer as the solution to the problem of making the pursuit of beauty via the cosmetic route much safer than it now is. Ellen Edwards Two New Pamphlets on Cooperation "Kagawa—Gambler for God," a pam phlet describing briefly the work of the great Japanese Cooperative Leader has just been received at the office of The Co operative League and a limited number of copies are available at ten cents a copy. "A Trip to Cooperative Europe," a pamphlet describing the cooperative movement in Europe as seen by an Amer ican cooperator. Howard A. Cowden, president of Union Oil Cooperative at tended the Congress of the International Cooperative Alliance in London in 1934. After the Congress he made a study of cooperative methods in several European countries. He has pictured very graphic ally his impressions. The pamphlet may be secured directly from the Consumers' Cooperative Association (formerly Union Oil Cooperative) North Kansas City, Missouri, at five cents per copy. The Canadian Cooperator Brantford, Ontario, Canada The organ of the Canadian Coopéra tive Movement, owned by and con. ducted under the auspices of The Cooperative Union of Canada. Published monthly 75c per annum CONSUMERS COOPERATION Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. Eternal as the Unending Circle— Hardy as the Evergreen pine Volume XXI. No. 3 Ten Cents March, 1935 EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS Just what signals is the Administration Quarterback now calling? There seems to be quite a confusion as to whether the play is to the left or to the right, or per haps a reverse. A New York Post edi torial makes this comparison: "It is im possible to sail a ship in a straight line. But it is also futile to sail a ship in a circle." The NRA Research and Planning Division reports on America's first in dustry, automobile manufacturing, that there is great labor unrest, some foremen are indistinguishable from Simon Legree, workers are cast off at 40, employment is increasingly irregular, espionage is prac ticed, work is speeded up beyond human capacity to produce, men are driven at an inhuman pace by the spectre of fear, fore men saying, "Look out the window and see the men waiting in line for your job." The automobile speed-up has swelled un employment; for example, in some in stances 19 do the work of 250, and 30c does the work of $3 by contrast with 1929. Father J. J. Tompkins of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, says that in building Co operation, "You can go around a circle in either direction.—no matter where you begin, you take in all the people." You may start from Cooperative production, like a creamery or a lobster factory, or from Cooperative consumption, like a store or oil station. If you keep on going, you will end in building a complete Co operative Community Beautiful. A super statement from a letter from }. H. Lindenberger of Louisville, Ken tucky: "I believe that unless this con sumers' movement expands very rapidly and effectively we are in serious danger of being overwhelmed by fascism. It is only through the vigorous development of the spirit of cooperation that we can hope for future happiness in the world. In fact, I believe it is true that the extent to which the peoples of any age are able to cooper ate within groups and to cooperate in in ter-group relationships is a just measure of the civilization of an age." An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce 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. E. R. Bowen, Editor. Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 50 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION February, 1935 March, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 51 The Ohio Council of Churches passed this motion at its Convention: "to recom mend to the Program Committee that time be provided in next year's convention for the discussion of Consumers' and Pro ducers' Cooperatives." The Illinois Church Council put Consumers' Cooper ation on its program this year. Every state and regional church meeting will do the same if cooperators will urge it upon them. The Ohio group passed the usual favorable resolutions, but now they are going beyond resolutions and are going to really discuss the subject on their reg ular program. • President Loree of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, quite generally known as a reactionary, told the Binghamton Chamber of Commerce that, "It is no longer necessary that one be rich; we live in and enjoy a rich world." When such business leaders recognize that in an Age af Plenty all should have plenty, it's a re markable development. The "best ever" illustration of "rate base padding" by a power concern is shown in the New York State Legislative Committee's investigation of public utili ties. The Associated] Gas system con trived to leech consumers of $250,000 a year in the form of higher rates in the following hypothetical legerdemain: they estimated that dormant property worth $2,271,000 could, by an expenditure of $3,500,000 be made to produce an earn ing power of $800,000 a year, "if the cur rent generated could be sold." They then capitalized $800,000 a year at 8%, which figured a potential valuation of $10,000,- 000 for the property "if the improvements had been made," then deducted the $3,- 500,000 they düd not spend on the im provements, and reached the figure af $6,500,000 on which we, the people, are paying rates. SOCIAL SECURITY? The Administration has promised so cial security but the social insurances it proposes to adopt are to be paid for not out of the purses of those to whom the American people have given great wealth, but out of taxes on payrolls and sales. This means that the 80% of the families who statistics show now ex pend all they receive excepting 25c per family per week, on the average, will have to reduce their own present meagre poverty expenditures to still less in order to help those who are even lower in the ranks of the dispossessed. Senator Nye's comment upon reading the bill was, "We are led to the mountain top by the gen eralized prospectus and rudely dropped by the detailed program. It seems to me the bill proposes too cautious an experi ment." NOT "CAN WE"—BUT "HOW CAN WE?" The Labor Information Bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of De cember, 1934, prints a chart giving the number of families in various income groups in 1929, with this caption under neath, "Can the American People Con sume as Much as They Have the Capac ity .to Produce?" The answer to that question would surely only put us all in the kindergarten class. The real question is not "Can?" but "How?" Answering the question "How" will require our growing up and developing adult education rap idly. EDWARD A. FILENE COMBINES SOCIAL VISION WITH SOCIAL ACTION Edward A. Filene's name will go down into history as a rare business man. He was and still is one of the few of his kind in America. He built a great business and applied social attitudes towards his em ployees as did Robert Owen. But unlike Robert Owen he did not then discontinue active business and follow will~o'-the wisps in forming paternalistic colonies where a few were to live together as brothers and let the rest of the world go by. Edward A. Filene saw the nation as a whole. He saw the need of cooperative credit first. He poured hundreds of thou sands of dollars of his wealth into teach ing and organizing credit unions which are cooperative baby banks. Then he set the organization on its own feet and cut it off from philanthropic support and started it off to help absorb the financial structure of America for and by the people. Now he still sees visions and dreams dreams. Having gotten cooperative credit unions under way he announces plans for a chain of cooperative department stores. It's an inspiration to meet such a great man who has and still is helping to lead America out of the wilderness and who apparently never proposes to rest until America is a Cooperative Economic De mocracy. HOW MANY REAL RULERS HAVE WE? First it was said that 46 men ruled America. Now Secretary Roper has of ficially set up a Council of 52 of the "largest names in American industry." This time it's one a week. Perhaps we might try out a new kind of a revolving dictatorship and see which one could dic tate best. These 52 men are to sit in on the drafting of administration bills. Gov ernment by business and business in gov ernment is right! Some Results Where Middleman-Monopoly Milk Control is Eliminated THE following statistics have been furnished us by the St. Cuthbert's Cooperative Association, Limited, of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is a Con sumers' Cooperative Dairy distributing 75% of the milk in the City of Edinburgh. These figures indicate the .possible re sults when a city Consumers' Coopera tive deals directly with a farm Marketing Cooperative, with Middleman-Monopoly ownership and control of processing and distributing eliminated. Comparisons of these figures with those in your own home city might well be made with profit to yourself as a consumer of milk if you are interested in building everywhere in America Consumers' Cooperative Asso ciations which will serve as "trust-bust ing organizations," as they are termed in Sweden. Edinburgh per Quart City Consumer Pays, Gross ............ .$.12 Patronage Dividend .................. .01% City Consumer Pays, Net ............... Farm Producer Gets .................... .07 Processing and Distributing Expenses...... .03% Wages ........... 1.055c Expenses ......... 1.255c Transport ........ 1.065c Total ........ 3.375e or 3%c Of the total net retail price QÎ l which the City-Consumer pays for a quart of milk, the processing and dis tributing expense of 3%c is only 32.5%, while the Farm-Producer gets 7c or 67.5% of the consumers' dollar. The Farm-Producer thus profits through deal ing direct with a Consumers' Cooperative by receiving an increased percentage of the consumers' dollar, while the City- Consumer profits in two ways, first di rectly in a reduction in the price he pays, and secondly indirectly in the fact that the payment to Farm-Producers of a profitable price enables farmers to pur chase goods and services which in turn provides employment for City-Consumers at higher wages. The further advantages to the City-Consumer in positive assur ance of quality in his milk, when his own Consumers' Cooperative Association pur chases, processes and distributes it for him, are unnecessary to be stressed, as it is naturally apparent that City-Consumers will not cheat themselves in quality standards through their own organization which they own and control. A Milk Institute report concludes that "reduced milk consumption is due to the depression." The cause of the depression, however, was not suggested. It lies in th.e high percentage of the consumers' dollar which private-profit distribution takes, •the elimination of which by Consumers' Cooperative Associations will end the depression a.nd increase milk consump tion. if 52 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 1935 March, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 53 The Real Results of the New Deal IT should be clearly understood by everyone reading this editorial that we are in accord with the announced ob jective of the New Deal of redistributing purchasing power into the hands of the mass of the people. Inasmuch as we have not yet organized ourselves as consumers into a self-controlled economic system, we necessarily had to use our political citizenship organization to help ourselves out as best we could. Everything that workers can accomplish through our political government in redistributing in come is all to the good in relieving the agonies of a dying economic order. Co- operators know that political control of a private-profit system is not the final an swer but only a temporary palliative, but palliatives are useful to ease the pains of poverty and give time for thinking things through and organizing the new coopera tive economic order. However we believe in the slogan of one scientific association, "Face the facts, you'll have to sometime anyhow." And a factual analysis of the real results of the New Deal, or our attempt in America to redistribute income by political action, is in order. We do not want "recovery by lying" as Jolin Flynn calls deceiving our selves about the real success of our ef forts. What have been the real results of our efforts thus far to politically regulate our private-profit economic system and re distribute income more equitably? As to real wages or the actual pur chasing power of paychecks, prices have been raised faster than rates of pay so that real wages have gone down. The actual standard of living of industrial workers is lower. As to employment, President Green of the A. F. of L. reports that there are more unemployed than a year ago. Business activity touched the same low point of 60 as it was at the same time the previous year, according to the New York Post's Weekly Index. Income tax reports for 1933 released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, show an increase in number of persons re ceiving $25,000 and over and a decrease in number of those receiving less than $25.000. The figures for 1934 will likely continue to indicate that "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" as do these figures for 1933. It is stated that the names of those re ceiving a million and over who have grown in numbers from 20 in 1932 to 46 in 1933 are closely guarded from pub licity. Whether they should be might be a debatable question, but at least any re action which the American people may have when they face these figures of the real results of our attempts at political control should not be heaped upon the heads of any few people who happen to be the recipients of the larger incomes. If democracy means anything at all it means that we, the people, are all responsible for the conditions we are in. We have in our hands the peaceful remedy to prevent them. That remedy is to use the freedom our forefathers handed down to us to or ganize ourselves into cooperatives to pre vent these inequalities. If there is a sunny side to such statis tics as these, it can only be found in the fact that the historical foundation of co operative action was in a combination of economic distress and political disillusion ment; we have real economic distress for the first time in America and disillusion ment over political remedies is spreading. As the soil becomes more fertile it is to be hoped that cooperative economic organi zation will also grow here, rather than that there be a tendency toward stil! greater control by the Political State as has taken place in some countries. Political leadership cannot do for the people what they have the power to do and fail to do for themselves in organ izing as consumers. If the people of a community cannot organize to operate •their own retail stores cooperatively, they cannot intelligently select political repre sentatives who can control their busi nesses successfully for them from Wash ington, Cooperative Credit Unions and Banking Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Comgress Roy F. JBergengren, Executive Secretary, Credit Union National Extension Bureau FROM my viewpoint, the cooperative management of money should come first in the cooperative program. In the Swedish cooperative movement the cen tral cooperative has now accumulated sufficient reserve capital so that it can adequately finance itself and also enter such additional fields of cooperative ef fort as seem to be imperatively demanded from time to time. I appreciate that in most countries where there has been sub stantial cooperative development the management of other things cooperative ly has preceded the cooperative manage ment of money; I have wondered whether or not this is the most scientific way to advance the cooperative movement. What is a Credit Union? A credit union is a cooperative society, organized on the one-man one-vote basic cooperative principle, operating in ac cordance with state or federal law, self- managed and supplying its members with two essentials of bank service, a depos itory for money and a source of credit. A basic principle of' successful credit union operation in the United States has evolved from our rather extensive organ ization experience; to be successful a credit union must be organized within some specific group of people, the mem bers of which group have easy access to accurate knowledge of each other. Our experience in the United States deviates somewhat from the European experience where credit union development has fol lowed quite closely along parish and small community lines. Our own credit unions, which have shown the most consistent progress, have been organized within specific groups of employees within indi vidual industrial units. We are, however, experimenting with credit union organi zation within small communities where a real common interest among the people of the community is possible. We have many successful credit unions organized within specific Catholic parishes and a rural credit union development within the Indiana Farm Bureau Federation which may be fraught with extraordinary re sults at that not distant day when the farmers of America come at last to a full appreciation of the fact that the way out for them—the permanent way out leading to a sounder and more hopeful economic condition—is through cooperative effort. How Credit Unions Grow The first credit unions were organized in Germany by Schulze-Delitzch and Raiffeisen in about the middle of the last century. Raiffeisen" perfected his first credit union in Germany in 1852; lie died in 1888 and at the time of his death there were 425 credit unions in Germany. When I visited the printing plant of the German credit unions at Neuwied five years ago the credit unions numbered 52,000. The cooperative credit idea spread from Germany to all parts of the world and in every country great men were found to whom this effective plan of co operative association had that appeal which makes for consecrated effort. In 1908 Edward A. Filene was in Ger many and came in contact with the Raif feisen banks. He discovered something of the spread of cooperative credit through out the world and later made personal visitations to credit unions in countries as far apart as India and Japan—as Italy and Egypt. He found that Alphonse Des jardins had, in 1900, organized the first credit union in North America at Levis in the Province of Quebec and other credit unions within Catholic parishes in the Province; and that the then Bank Com missioner of Massachusetts, Pierre Jay, had been making a book study of the same subject and had referred at length in his 1908 report to the possible value of cooperative credit to the people of the United States. Cooperative Credit in America Mr. Filene induced Desjardins to come to Boston and he collaborated with Des- ijardins and Jay in the preparation of a bill offered to the Massachusetts legislature 54 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 193s IIP march, CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 55 in 1909 which made the credit union form of cooperative banking possible in Mass achusetts. The immediate reaction was not particularly favorable. It is an alto gether human inclination to reject the new and better way. Between 1909 and 1921 Mr. Filene and other public spirited men of Boston spent liberally of their sub stance to popularize 'the new law and to assist in the organization of credit unions in Massachusetts. Well satisfied with this experimenta tion, Mr. Filene and I organized in 1921 the Credit Union National Extension Bu reau. As the Bureau completes its work and closes its office for good on March 1 st 1935, this affords an excellent opportunity to make a survey of what the Bureau has accomplished for cooperative banking in the United States. Legislation Our first objective in the Bureau was to obtain the enactment of the necessary cooperative banking laws to make pos sible credit union organization every where in the United States. Thirty-eight states have enacted such laws, thirty- three of which originated in the Credit Union National Extension Bureau. In 1932 we presented, through Senator Cap per of Kansas, a bill to make it possible to organize credit unions in the District of Columbia, which bill was enacted. In the following Congress we offered, through Senator Sheppard, Senate Bill 1631 which, when enacted, made possible the organization of credit unions under Federal jurisdiction anywhere in the United States and the territorial posses sions thereof. This law will be most use ful (1) in states which have no credit union laws; (2) in states where the state credit union laws are defective; (3) in states where the administration of the state credit union laws is hostile (there are a very few states within this group); and (4) as a blanket insurance policy in all states, supplying us with an alternative method of credit union organization. Senate Bill 1631 is also of great value in that it makes possible active credit union organization through the Credit Union Section of the Farm Credit Administra tion. The second objective was to experi ment courageously with the credit union plan until we could find how it could best be applied to conditions as they are in America. The Extension Bureau has pro duced over sixty well defined types of successful credit union. This experi mentation must go on uninterruptedly in order that we may produce the most ef fective forms of rural, parish and com munity credit union organization. State Organization In the accomplishment of our third ob jective—to organize enough state leagues of credit unions on a self-sustaining basis to determine just how a state league should operate—we have organized cred it union state leagues in Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Missouri, and Illi nois, and have recently added ten addi tional leagues which indicate that ef fective state leagues will result. Finally, we have approximately 3000 credit unions with close to 600,000 members and re sources of better than $55,000,000. The number of credit unions in the United States is increasing now at an average rate of approximately eighty new credit unions a month. The Bureau needed one more cir cumstance before testing its work and making sure that it had been operating on permanent principles, a test which I had hoped would never be made—the test of a sustained industrial depression. Oui credit unions are composed of the sort of people 'hardest hit by the depression-^ average wage workers and small farmers, We have been through four years of ex treme industrial difficulty, subjected to a test of unprecedented severity. In 37 of our 38 states we have had no involuntary liquidations; in the 38th state a few credit unions, set up years ago without group significance, failed. We have had an equally outstanding record as regards defalcations. We have made the best record for cooperative banking made by any type of bank during this period of prolonged economic disorder. Cooper' ators have a right to be proud of what the credit unions have accomplished during the depression. We have proved out durability and our worth to endure. The Movement Comes of Age Our fourth objective was to perfect the organization of a Credit Union National Association and to turn over to it the permanent direction of the credit union movement. During August fifty-two credit union leaders from twenty-two states met at Estes Parie, Colorado, and brought forth the Constitution and By laws of the Credit Union National Asso ciation which instrument is now in pro cess of ratification by the states. As this is being written fourteen states have rati fied the national constitution and by laws. It is anticipated that the National Association will assume control of the credit union movement as of March 1st 1935 and carry it on thereafter, forever. In conclusion—what of the real func tion of cooperative credit in America? I am not particularly interested in remote functions; there is so much to be done today, so many extraordinary problems to be solved, that I cannot seem to find much time to spend speculating on the morrow. The credit union is now devel oping rapidly because the problem of short term credits for working people has always been left to the abuses of usury and the need for some better way of han dling such credits has been so long ob vious and so long out of the range of banking in the usual sense that men and women everywhere have been willing to turn to cooperative effort as the way out. Creating Social Security The attainment of happiness for all the people is the real mission of America. It seems to me that we have ample evidence that the gradual development of sane, ef ficient and successful cooperative en deavor may well be consistent with the attainment of greater average happiness. I am, however, more interested in this day on which I type these words; I am in terested that in America usurious money lending be abolished as against every precept of human rights on which my country was created. I am interested that the hundreds of millions of earnings wasted by our people in over installment charges annually be turned into new pur chasing power for our people. I am anx ious that today and tomorrow and next week the American people, by an in creasing use of cooperative credit, be able to conserve what they earn and to get out of every dollar they win by the sweat of their labor a fair return in the things which they need to make for a happier life. I am interested that the man who wants work, gets it—at a fair wage which will enable him to maintain a decent standard of living and put aside some surplus each week against the rainy days which seem to be so inevitable; that he ' have a life insurance program so that, on his death bed, he shall not suffer the pangs of a premature Hell as he worries himself into his final sleep, wondering whether his wife must, on the morrow, take her place in the bread line; I am in terested that there be such sane unem ployment insurance reserves that the man out of work will not become an object of charity. I am interested in these things, these immediate problems and the extra ordinary service which cooperative credit is going to render in their very practical solution. Financing Consumption Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress Harold P. Winchester, Director, New York State Credit Union League T WOULD like the privilege of making •*• a comment on Mr. Bergengren's ex cellent paper on Cooperative Credit Un ions and Banking and to project the whole subject a step beyond the limits to which he was of necessity confined. His paper makes the point that a Credit Un ion is a real bank because it fulfills the two primary functions of a bank, acting as a common depository, and the loaning of money from this common pool. This analysis does not mention a third func tion of a commercial bank, and one that is most important though not generally recognized, that of the creation of money through loans or the power of the issu ance of credit. In our Credit Union system we cannot loan any more money than we have cash on hand. We have no checking priv ileges. In the commercial banking system it has been found, through long practice, that by the use of checks very little actual cash is needed. People may deposit cash 56 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 1935 march, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 57 but either draw against it by .check, in which case the clearing house system among banks cancels out the transaction without the use of cash; or else they leave a considerable portion of their balance in the bank undisturbed. In recognition of the commonplace fact that checks do 90% of the work of money, there is a rule in banking that 10% of all deposits be kept in reserve in cash. This means in ef fect that the bank can loan up to at least ten times its cash on :hand. Banks do not loan money but create credit. You can, therefore, see what a very important function has grown up in our banking system almost by accident. Through their power to issue credit and pyramid loans, the present banking system is really in control of our monetary system, for the currency controlled by the government is but a drop in the bucket compared to check money controlled by the private banks. Sometimes those who are a little intox icated by the success of the Credit Union movement in rapidly expanding its num bers, make the claim that we can rival the regular banking system of the country some day. We can never do it until we have the checking privilege and can man ufacture credit money through bookkeep ing entries. So long as we can loan out only the cash, which someone has put in, we will always be limited to the savings of our members in actual cash. In addi tion, we will need a central bank of our own with rediscounting privileges, which is another function of banking not pre viously mentioned and which is most im portant to the pyramiding operation. Nor can we rival the banking system until we see the possibilities in the Credit Union movement as a financing medium for the general cooperative movement. Such vi sion is practically non-existent in the Credit Union movement today. Purchasing Power for Consumers Our Credit Union movement has seen itself only in terms of giving the poor workingman, who is a victim of the loan shark at rates of interest from 42% up to the sky, a place where he can go into debt at a cheaper rate. We have not yet seen that loan sharks, Morris Plan, and personal finance companies, and Credit Unions have grown so rapidly of late years because our wage earners, on the whole, have not been provided with suf ficient purchasing power to allow them to save enough to take care of emergen cies. While we have developed mass pro duction in our economic system, we have not yet developed along with it any mech anism for furnishing sufficient mass con suming power to buy back the goods pro duced. Installment selling and the growth of the personal loan business has been but a natural though feeble attempt to pro vide this mass purchasing power. The commercial banks have missed their op portunity and lost out on this business be cause they are only geared up to finance production and 'have not yet realized that financing of consumption is the 'heart of our problem. Credit Unions have grown rapidly because they finance the con sumer directly but we, as a whole, have not realized this compelling necessity as the cause for our growth but attribute it rather to our generosity in merely charg ing 6% to 12% for a service for which some rapacious people charge all the way up to 1,000%. After all we should face the question as to whether we are not charging our selves too much when we charge our selves up to 12%. The rate of creation of debt is in direct proportion to the rate of increase in production, and this is con firmed by the fact that the total debt structure, governmental and private, of this country, is about the same as the total wealth of the country. The country is in hock when interest on loans averages 6%. What would 12% do to us when it doubles the cost of the article purchased with the loan in eight years? The Real Basis of Credit It may sound crazy to ask why pay in terest at all when credit is extended you, but it doesn't sound so foolish when you analyze what credit really is. As a credit man, I used to give the credit men's stock answer to this question by saying that a man's credit is compounded of his char acter, his capacity, and Jbis capital. It was something personal belonging to him, but the depression emphasized quite clearly that a man with all three of these things and insufficient sales to make a profit could not get credit. Credit rests ulti mately upon a man's capacity to work or a concern's capacity to make a profit, both of which are determined by whether our economic system is functioning ade quately or not. Millions of upright and trained workers have no credit now be cause they are out of work through no fault of their own and so with thousands of businesses with fine management and up-to-date equipment which have no credit because they lack orders through no direct fault of their own. Credit ulti mately is a possession of this country as a whole and does not belong to each in dividual citizen. It rests upon the capacity of our economic system to produce goods when and where desired. If credit is something belonging to the country, as a whole, why should we as citizens be com pelled to pay 6% or 12% for something we own collectively? Why should I pay 6% at a bank for allowing them to make a bookkeeping entry to enable me to use some of my own credit to get tickets to purchase needed goods? New Functions for the Credit Union However, if we can't just yet take over the function of borrowing against our real national credit, which as we have seen is the ability of our economic system to function to its full capacity, we must make the Credit Union movement the banking system of the cooperative move ment, securing for it the checking priv ilege, the privilege of creating credit, and a central bank for rediscounting. The cooperative movement in America must realize clearly the importance to it of the proper use of the function or credit. Un less we make an intelligent study of it and are prepared to support a monetary program in the light of our findings, we can struggle along cooperatively without much success by the side of a badly func tioning capitalistic system. When the members of cooperative societies can't create the credit to buy the products they cooperatively distribute or produce, our cooperatives are hampered and limited in their development and expansion. This limitation is a fundamental flaw in the financial and economic system and must be corrected before we can hope for any great growth of the cooperative move ment or for its financing through cooper ative Credit Unions. Credit Unions for Farm Cooperatives Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress C. H. LaSelle, Manager, Insurance Department, Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association '""THE promotion and organization of •*- Credit Unions in the United States in the past ten years has been devoted chiefly to industrial, mercantile, religious and racial groups, and there has been little development of the Credit Union plan in agricultural communities, and none whatever within organized farm groups. Taking the Credit Union to the Farm In 1931 Mr. I. H. Hull, Manager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso ciation, Inc., visioned the possibilities of this plan among the farmers of Indiana and decided that it was just as feasible for the farmers as it had been for the labor ers and employees of industrial corpora tions. He decided that the plan should be tried out within these farm groups; and, with the cooperation of the Credit Union National Extension Bureau, four counties were selected to try out this plan. Meet ings were called in these counties, the plan presented to the members, applica tions for charters obtained, and they were organized with just a few dollars paid in on shares,—in no case in excess of $100 at the start. Three of the four counties became active; and their growth, while slow, has been gradual and successful—« other counties became interested in the movement, and today we have 33 County Farm Bureau Cooperative Credit Unions organized in as many counties. Most of them are progressing very nicely, with a steady growth in membership and sav ings. They are rendering a real service to cooperative Farm Bureau members in ex tending credit of these savings so accu mulated. In no case has there been any cam paign of education by the State Coopera tive Association to organize Credit Un ions in these counties. Those that have been organized have been requested by I) 58 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 193S March, 1S35 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 59 the Farm Bureau Cooperative members in -these respective counties. There is no doubt that a larger number of counties could have been organized if the promo tion had been pushed, but our State de partment deemed it best for the farmers in the counties to ask for the establish ment of Credit Unions rather than to use "high pressure salesmanship" methods in their promotion. Credit without Loss The average age of our active County Credit Unions is one and one-half years; the total members or shareholders 2,018; the total accumulations and savings dur ing this period of financial stress were $55,971.98, an average saving per mem ber of $27.74. They have made loans of $98,537.06, serving 1,424 members in the extension of credit, and not one penny has been lost on these loans. As you will observe, in this plan of cooperative sav ings, during this short period there was more than $55,000 that did not find its way into Wall Street to be gambled away, but was retained in the counties where it was produced and rendered a service to its members who were in need of financial aid. This credit has been ex tended to members for numerous pur poses; payment of medical bills, taxes, purchases of feed, and supolies from their cooperative stores. It has enabled nu merous farmers to obtain credit and cash when it could not be obtained any place except from finance companies, demand ing an exorbitant rate of interest. We find, in our experience so far, that agricultural Credit Unions are somewhat different in their personnel and workings than industrial Credit Unions. Our agri cultural Credit Unions are all established within cooperative organizations that market and purchase their own commod ities cooperatively, and this form of co operative finance "dove-tails" in their present set-up. From Credit Union to Cooperative Bank The Industrial Credit Union member may use his Credit Union as a savings bank for his surplus, or entire pay check, withdrawing a part thereof as he is in need of cash, his funds being available as he is in daily contact. The farmer living out in the country away from his local Credit Union, is in need of a plan in con nection therewith whereby his funds would be more available for the payment of small bills or the purchase of items, when in need of ready cash. If our Credit Union Law could be broadened to pro vide checking privileges in these Credit Unions or through a central credit union bank for the members of each group, ii would, no doubt, materially assist in the growth of this Credit Union Movement in the agricultural communities. We sin cerely believe that a law should be passed by the state or the national government, allowing Credit Union group members to do a commercial business, and also au thorizing the Federal Reserve Banks to clear credit union checks through the Federal Clearing House, the same as for other banking institutions and trust com panies. When this is accomplished, the farmer will not need ttie assistance of government or corporate credit. He pro duces new wealth each and every year, and all he needs to do is to pool that wealth to take care of all the financial credit needs of his group. We have plan ned to do this job in Indiana, and we think we can. Farm Credit The Cooperative Way Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress Albert S. GOSS, Land Bank Commissioner Farm Credit Administration, and Member of the Board of Directors of The Cooperative League YOU will recall that on the 4th ot March, 1933, every bank in the country was closed; there was no source of credit of any .kind or description. Farm commodity prices had sunk to the lowest level in our history. Unemployment was at its peak while doubt and fear were on every hand. With the banks closed busi ness was largely suspended and debtors were unable to carry out the obligations which they had assumed. Over a million and a half farmers were facing fore closure. Not that foreclosures had been started in any such volume, for such was not the case, but the delinquencies which would ordinarily justify foreclosure easi ly totaled this number and few of these delinquents had any assurance that they miqht be able to save their homes. However, President Roosevelt had not approached this problem unprepared. Al most from the day of his election he had arranged for studies of these economic conditions by the ablest economists and students available. Industrial Prosperity 1919-1929 It might be interesting to review briefly some of the essential facts which they found. They found that the whole depres sion had its inception, to a large degree, in the condition of agriculture. Fortunate ly, very accurate figures were available for the 10-year period immediately pre ceding the depression, for the census fig ures covered the period from 1919-1929. This 10-year period will probably be characterized as the most prosperous in our history, for American industry and labor, aside from agriculture. The wealth of America, aside from agriculture, in creased at a phenomenal rate. The an nual income, other than agriculture, in creased from 49 billion dollars to approx imately 79 billion dollars. Money was made easily and spent freely. Agricultural Depression 1919-1929 While industry and labor were en joying this phenomenal prosperity agri cultural wealth dropped from 79 billions to 58 billions. Farm income dropped from 17 billions to 12 billions and was soon to drop to half of the latter figure. The farm ers' share of the national income dropped from 18.5 per cent to less than 9 per cent. Farm labor had doubled, taxes had trebled, and the farmer's cost of produc tion went up by leaps and bounds, while his income went down. This could have but one inevitable re sult. Farmers could not pay their bills. Bank failures jumped from an average of less than 50 per year to over 500 per year, the total for the 10-year period amounting to the unprecedented figure of 5,290. Over 90 per cent of these failures were in rural America, clearly indicating the storm which was brewing. Farm Purchasing Power Destroyed The purchasing power of the American farmer had been gradually destroyed. It had been bolstered temporarily by loans to foreign nations and by a campaign of installment buying, but the farm price structure had been destroyed. Now, approximately 45 per cent of our people are either engaged in agriculture or directly dependent thereon, and it is impossible to destroy the purcasing power of 45 per cent of any people without bringing down disaster upon the whole people. That is exactly what happened. No permanent recovery could be at tained until agriculture could be estab lished upon a sound basis, and it is high ly significant that the first Executive or der signed by President Roosevelt and the first major recovery measure were aimed to solve this fundamental problem. The first Executive order created the Farm Credit Administration, which I will speak "of later. The first major recovery measure was the Emergency Farm Mort gage Act. This act created the Agricul tural Adjustment Administration, the prime purpose of which was to assist in raising agricultural commodity prices to a compensatory level. It provided for re funding debts and prevented the whole sale foreclosure upon farms which was pending and provided for monetary sta bilization. These three principles were selected as the major factors upon which recovery depended, and I want to call your atten tion to the fact today, 18 months later, these are still the three basic principles essential to recovery. It might be pertinent to point out why farm credit is different from any other type of credit, for it is quite evident why the credit structure of rural America had broken down. The commercial and in dustrial credit of America has been built upon short-term paper. This is not adapted to the needs of agriculture. "No More Patchwork" It is to the everlasting credit of these men who made the studies to which I have referred that they said, "We have had enough patchwork legislation. What we need is a fundamentally sound system of credit which is fitted to agriculture's needs." They had found that the Federal Land Bank System had been created dur- III 60 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 1935 March, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 61 ing the period of extremely high prices, but had functioned successfully in spite of a 10-year delfationary process except dur ing the extreme boom days when call money was worth 15 per cent and during the disaster when farmers could not get the cost of production for their crops. They found that this system was built upon the principles of cooperative credit, and they said, "We will build a per manent system of long-time and short- time credit upon those cooperative prin ciples which have proved successful throughout this trying period." Cooperative Credit for Agriculture Twenty-five years ago a plan was pro posed for a cooperative credit association. The farmers said to the investors, ''A hundred of us, all living in a community and all needing credit, will form an asso ciation and guarantee each other's loans. If one of us fails to pay his interest or taxes, the rest of us will chip in and meet the bill. If necessary, we will take over the property and farm it, or sell it, and stand between the mortgage company and loss." They thought that surely such a joint guaranty should give enough pro tection to lenders of money to warrant their lending on longer terms and at lower rates of interest, not only because of the joint guaranty but also because of the basic character of the security. But their efforts proved unsuccessful. In 1916 the Federal land-bank system was created, based upon the same co operative principles which the farmers had tried to put into effect voluntarily. Twelve Federal land banks were created, authorized to make loans on farm mort gages and to sell their bonds to the in vesting public based upon these farm mortgages. Cooperative farm-loan asso ciations were authorized to assemble the mortgages, endorse them, and thus enable their members to borrow from the Fed eral land banks. Let me illustrate how the system works. How Cooperative Credit Works John Smith wishes to borrow $5,000 upon his farm. He goes to the secretary- treasurer of the local national farm-loan association and files his application. His application is referred to a loan commit tee made up of members of -his own asso ciation, probably his own neighbors, who know more or less about Mr. Smith and his farm. They first determine whether he is a reliable sort of individual, one who will make every possible effort to repay the money which he borrows, and whether he is a capable farmer. If he passes muster in this respect, they will then take a look at the property to see if it has sufficient value to secure such a loan. Under the law, they may not lend more than fifty per cent of the value of the land, plus twenty per cent of the value of the insured improvements there on. If they are satisfied with the appli cant and the security, they forward his application to the Federal land bank, in dicating their willingness to endorse his note. Upon receipt of the application, the Federal land bank sends a Federal ap praiser to check up on the property. He is employed by the Farm Credit Adminis tration, he represents the investing pub lic and is sent out to protect its interests. He makes a very complete appraisal and analysis of the property,, and he also looks up the character of the applicant. If his report is favorable, it is acted upon by the executive committee and later by the board of directors of the Federal land bank. If the applicant and the security pass all these tests, the loan is made, the note is endorsed by the farm-loan asso ciation, and the mortgage is given to the Federal land bank. The borrower sub scribes for stock in the farm-loan asso ciation to the amount of five per cent of his loan, just as all the other members have done, and the association takes a similar amount of stock in the Federal land bank. From Farmer to Investor Then the Federal land bank is per mitted to issue bonds against this mort gage. These bonds are then sold to the investing public, and that is where the loanable money comes from. Except for some emergency funds which I will touch upon later, not one dollar of Government money is used in the transaction. The system is merely a machine set up by Federal statute and operated under Federal supervision, which enables the farmers to pool mort gages, make joint endorsements through their associations, and issue bonds which are sold to the investing public. The Farm Credit Act was passed in Tune of 1933 and under it four agencies were created. The first agency was the Federal land bank system which I have briefly described. This was left almost unchanged. The second agency was the production credit system providing for production credit associations, very similar .to farm loan associations. The third agency is the intermediate credit bank, which is wholesaler of credit. It gets its money by selling its short-time notes called debentures, to the investing public just as the Federal land bank sys tem sells its bonds. The fourth agency is the Bank for Co operatives, which is capitalized by the Federal Government and may lend mon ey to cooperative associations for capital or operating purposes or upon facilities such as warehouses, cooperative cream eries, cotton gins, or cooperative pro cessing plants. Preserve the Cooperative Principle I have outlined the permanent credit structure which was built. You will note that it is based upon the cooperative prin ciple, and it will serve in direct propor tion to the care which is exercised in keeping it upon a sound basis. In addition to setting up a system of cooperative credit for agriculture, definite steps were taken to meet the present emergency. We have felt that our responsibility lay in two distinct directions. First, was the responsibility of meeting the emer gency. Happily this is now largely ac complished, although there is still much need for further emergency treatment, particularly in the drought areas. Our second responsibility, and to my mind by far the most important, is building a sound cooperative credit system which will exist on down through the years, and furnish for agriculture a type of credit designed to meet farm needs. If this is done, we will have passed on to future generations a system which has been lacking for all these years and a means which in large measure will serve to avoid catastrophes such as that through which our Nation, happily, is now pass ing. Consumer Cooperative Business and the New Deal Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress Quentin Reynolds, General Manager, Eastern States Farmers Exchange WHILE the New Deal and Consumer Cooperation each seek to serve the people of the country, the two efforts ap proach the people's problem from dif ferent points of view. The New Deal at tacks the problem with established Amer ican customs. Consumer Cooperation at tacks the problem with old American ideals. New Deal activities are based on the premise that since privileges provided by government agencies appear to have brought prosperity to the privileged, the way to straighten out the country's dif ficulties is to extend government-pro vided privileges to each and every per son and each and every group. Opposing Extension of Privilege Consumers' Cooperation fundamental ly opposes privilege. The true cooperator, jmf ndin9 n° favors- protests being tax ed that others may receive them. Cooper ation asks only that the government pro tect the legitimate interests of its mem bers by exercising effectively and im partially the duties of democratic govern ment and it is prepared to pay the cost of that service. In cooperation the individual is the master. The collective agency is his tool. He does things for himself in cooperative effort. Cooperation is the economic ex pression of the ideals behind our "Dec laration of Independence." And it works. Where it is soundly practiced it demon strates that intelligent individuals can order their own affairs in their interest and without trespassing on the legitimate interest of their neighbors. As long as the New Deal seeks sin cerely to further the interest of all the people, of the consumers we represent, and others like them, cooperative business should work with it instead of fighting it. 62 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 193S mrch> 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 63 1C I" 111 III President Roosevelt has assured us in ef fect that he is not particular about the road we go but that he is profoundly bent on filling with intelligent forethought and effective effort, the pitfalls in our econom ic ups and downs which until this time have been filled only as cavalry filled the sunken road at Waterloo—with their own ranks, horses and men. It is our job to see that we demonstrate through works that the ways of consumer motivated coopera tion are the ways to attain the goal sought by the New Deal, and while doing so to see that activities of the New Deal do not interfere with the rights of our mem bers. In connection with codes, many of us have had to explain to code authorities and to administrators what our associa tions really are, how they actually differ from profit-seeking agencies. Patronage Dividend a Right—Not a Privilege Obviously, the National Recovery Act could not take the inherent rights of bona fide cooperatives from them. But cooper- ators have too often helped confuse those to whom we have gone for protection. When some cooperative purchasing asso ciations read that the codes of fair prac tices were ruling rebates out, several of them asked at code hearings that the Erivilege of paying patronage dividends e guaranteed cooperatives. The trade in dignantly refused to yield the privilege until it was acknowleged by the NRA that the payment of patronage dividends is not a privilege but an obligation on co operative purchasing associations. If a non-profit purchasing association cannot pay patronage dividends, how can it dis tribute savings? Cooperatives missed a valuable opportunity to serve the interests of 'their members when they failed to emphasize properly the significance of the patronage dividend. When cooperatives succeeded in securing a series of Execu tive orders from the White House acknowledging the right of cooperatives to pay patronage dividends they empha sized not the inherent right but the Ex ecutive orders, flaunting these orders in the face of businesses with which they were in competition thereby losing a glori ous chance to inform intelligent compet itors, the public at large and their mem bers. Our tactics left the impression throughout the country that cooperatives were being babied with special dispensa tions when in reality they were receiving wihat the Constitution and the Congress so justly assure them. Codes Put the Consumer at a Dis advantage The NRA has served to bring out un fair and unsound tactics which must be banished from cooperative practices. In the interest of their members and of the cooperative .movement, the cooperative purchasing associations should jealously preserve the benefits which proper rela tions with their patrons guarantee to their membership. Insofar as NRA has brought home some weaknesses in actual practice, it has benefited and not penalized the as sociations working under its codes. While many of the provisions in these codes defeat sound economies which consumers secured through the establishment of co operative purchasing associations, these same provisions are also trying to their competitors. They do not put the cooper atives at a disadvantage but they do in terfere more or less seriously by putting consumers generally at a disadvantage. Under NRA we shall continue under some sort of regulation. The history of such regulation indicates that the con sumer purchasing as an individual will be expected to pay prices which reflect average costs. Such prices for goods re flecting as they do mediocrity in produc tion and distribution provide margins to finance extra sales costs for the more ef ficient producers and distributors. The more efficient manufacturers, in other words, use the advantage of their skill for sales work and profits rather than to lower consumer prices. We should be able to demonstrate that consumers who otherwise have to pay prices based on average costs should profit by working together in cooperative consumer asso ciations which bend intelligent effort to reduce costs and to improve quality for the advantage of consumer members. A Breathing Spell in Ruthless Com petition Cooperating consumers are going to find the more efficient producers inclined to sell to them. The more intelligent manufacturers of most of the things they buy know that their profits lie in greater volume of sales and that one of the great est hindrances to greater volume today is the costly method of distribution which the competitive profit system has devel oped. Many such producers resort to ™sf'lv selling methods in self defense. Co- CLföLiy ^ a . ... 1-1 operative purchasing associations which know definitely what they want and can check their purchases accurately can ap proach responsible producers today with a good chance of obtaining what their members need most at advantageous prices because they do for less cost what manufacturers otherwise must do for more cost. Under the trade practice features of the codes, cooperative purchasing asso ciations have an opportunity to devote more attention to things which make prices significant, to expand their activi ties more effectively with savings to their members than when ruthless price com petition was in vogue. This should enable them to develop an initiative on the part of the consumer members which will make it easier for them to accept their responsibilities in the cooperative pro gram. Vested interests with whom coopera tives compete are fighting for their lives. They are paying whatever they feel they must for executives who will produce the results they seek. These executives sup ported with the resources of their organi zations have discovered ways of mar- velously influencing the judgment of con sumers against their own best interests. The consumer acceptance of costly serv ices is a case in point. The cooperative which meets such competition by dupli cating it is missing a chance to do its members real service. Cooperatives Gain in Face of Adversity That cooperatives can compete with such methods is demonstrated from coast to coast. Purchasing cooperatives have gained in volume and efficiency right through the last five years while some of the most highly respected businesses with which they are in competition have passed through one or more reorganiza tions. But great as these accomplishments have been, they do not prove that co operative purchasing associations can widen their influence further. To enable them to do so, cooperating consumers themselves must take vastly more initia tive than they have as yet demonstrated. Here lies a challenge to cooperative lead ership and an obligation for the educa tional forces dealing with consumer prob lems. The New Deal is giving consumer cooperative organizations the benefit of a breathing spell during which they should aggressively try to put their houses in order with improved methods of direction, management, publicity, mem bership relations, etc. With the govern ment attempting to enforce fair competi tive methods and with the public general ly seeking a way out of the mess into which the mad race for profit and ma terial prosperity has placed it, we have a great opportunity to "sell" the country on the soundness of Consumers' Cooper ation. Consumers' Cooperatives and the National Recovery Administration Summary of an address to The Cooperative League Congress J- P« Warbasse, President of The Cooperative League, Member of the Consumers' Board of the National Recovery Administration T N the early part of 1933, there were in 7- the United States about twelve mil lion unemployed workers. Fully twenty per cent of the population were subsisting wholly or partly upon private or public charity. A large proportion of the 25,000 banks were insolvent, as were insurance companies, mortgage institutions, and Private business corporations. The total income of the population had declined from $8,8,000,000,000 in 1929 to $44,000,- 000,000. The depression, which had lasted more than three years, had fixed itself upon society as an established situa tion. The dominant economic and political forces were bent upon a restoration of the conditions that had preceded 1929. 64 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 1935 March, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 65 They were exerting every energy to re establish the very practices of business that had precipitated the collapse of the economic structure; competitive business, the predatory methods of individualistic profit getting, and exploitation of the con sumer. Props for a Tottering Economic System Upon this scene of the collapse of the profit method of business and the de moralization of a nation Franklin Roose velt came to the presidency. Mr. Roose velt is not an ordinary politician. He is possessed of the qualities of statesman ship. Although he believes in capitalism and the profit method in business and hopes for their reestablishment, he is a- ware that the old method of unrestrained competition is no longer practical. He is for controlling it for its own good. He is in favor of a big navy and the other props essential to a tottering economic system. His administration, however, has been characterized by one method never be fore employed by any other president. It is .the appointment in advisory and ad ministrative .positions of many of the best intellects and the ablest experts the coun try possesses. The National Recovery Administration was created for the purpose of rehabili tating a shattered business structure. But the masters of industry were so fearful that the permanent collapse of profit busi ness was imminent, that they were willing to make concessions to labor and even to the consumers. Such a desperate situation had never before been seen in the United States, and the means for its alleviation were accordingly desperate. In all other depressions, business itself has alone un dertaken the solution of the problem. In this depression the President was given dictatorial power not less than that en joyed in the autocracies of Russia, Italy, and Germany. So desperate was the situa tion that, in the organization of the Na tional Recovery Administration, three separate departments were set up. These were represented by an Industrial Board, a Labor Board, and a Consumers' Board. Concessions to the Consumer. But Busi ness Controls To have given the consumers any rec ognition at all was an event of extraor dinary significance. This was something unprecedented' in the history of the United States. From the time of its found- ing the business of the government was to serve the interests of business. The laws, the teaching, the habits, and the traditions of the country were attuned to buying at the lowest possible price and selling at the highest possible price. This was the purpose of the economic life. The consumers were regarded as the unorgan ized sea, in which everyone might fish and take out all that he could. The winnings of business were the goal of life. Property was exalted as the great possession. Busi ness was in control. And little was known of the teaching of Plato, that "Ruin fol lows when the trader rules." The act which created the NRA pro vides for codes of "fair competition" to be framed by each industry. These codes, when accepted by the Administration and approved by the President, became the national law. The NRA proposed to reg ulate industry. The old method of free competition having broken down, the Government now compels business to conform to certain rules which eliminate much competition among businesses and require all to conform to certain pre scribed standards. This is on the whole a movement toward combinations and monopoly. But it is wholly controlled by the Government. However, the Govern ment, being in favor of the profit prin ciple, gives business much latitude and control of its own affairs. In fact, it can be said' that the whole NRA machinery is dominated by the business interests of the country. The NRA is an effort on the part of the Government to compel the profit system to save itself for a little while longer by making some slight con cessions to labor and the consumers. Isolation of Consumer Interests Of the three Boards established in the NRA, the Consumer Board stands isolated and alone. In the development of the codes for the control of business the owners and labor work together planning for the division of the profits among themselves. These two have common in terests although labor in the process is always at a disadvantage. They contend for high prices—(he employers with an eye to high profits and salaries and labor with an eye to high wages and short hours. These two have succeeded so well in framing the codes that prices beyond the purchasing power of the consumers have in some industries been the result. A tripartite control of the NRA or any other economic system, is impossible. But one element can control. And in the situa tion under consideration, that control is vested in the owners and masters of in dustry. In the NRA labor and the con-, sumers are the secondary and tertiary elements. A consideration of consumers interest prevents the addition of profit to the cost price. And here enters the significant fact that to make the interest of the consumers the supreme interest in the economic scheme means the elimination of the profit motive. The addition of profit to cost is incompatible with the consumers' best access to the things he consumes. It is for this reason that consumer represen tation in the NRA must be deprived of much influence, if the purpose of the NRA is the rehabilitation of the profit system. My own particular relation to the Government, as a member of the Con sumers' Board, has been peculiar. While ostensibly appointed to represent con sumers, I have accepted as my particular charge only those consumers who have had the sagacity to organize themselves in consumers' cooperative societies. These represent a clientele who are ar ticulate and for whom something definite can be done. For the unorganized con sumers, whom my colleagues endeavor to represent in the Consumers' Board, I have little to offer but my tears. Use Codes in Attempt to Destroy Cooperatives Many of the codes have contained pro visions that were harmful to the coopera tives. Among these were the codes of the petroleum, fertilizer, iron and steel, coal, housing, and restaurant industries. The Petroleum code for example, contained a section written in it to destroy the 1500 cooperative oil societies. It forbade the payment of savings returns to member patrons. It also prevented the accumula tion of surplus savings to the credit of a non-member patron, for the purpose of buying a membership when the accumu lation reached the value of a share of stock. The Petroleum Code like many other codes, prohibited manufacturers and producers from selling their product to cooperative wholesales. This was on the groand that such sales were not permitted to be made to consumers, and that co operative wholesales were owned by the consumers. On this ground the Steel Trust refused to sell to farmers' coopera tive wholesales wire fencing, of which the farmers use large quantities. President Roosevelt in his first message to Congress said: "We would encourage the slowly growing impulse among con sumers to enter the industrial market place equipped with sufficient organiza tion to insist on fair prices and honest sales." This is the nearest that a Presi dent can come to advocating consumers' cooperation, but it indicates a conscious ness of its possibilities. The various provisions in many in dustrial codes that were harmful to co operation have been removed, thanks to the assistance of the sympathetic officials of the NRA. To solve these problems re quired in two instances Executive Orders specifying "bonafide and legitimate co operative organizations" signed by the President. Then a definition of "bona fide and legitimate cooperation," became ne cessary. The Cooperative League was called upon to provide such a definition. This definition has been adopted by the Administration of the NRA and is now the statute law of the United States. The Cooperative Movement of the United States for the first time in our his tory has made and is making an impres sion on the Government. Cooperatives Protest Wage Cuts Consumers' Cooperative Services is a cooperative society in New York which operates ten consumer-owned restau rants. When the Restaurant Code was the subject of public hearings, representa tives of this society went to Washington and protested against the provision of the code that fixed the minimum wages of restaurant workers at twenty-eight cents an hour and demanded that the minimum rate be fixed at forty cents an hour, even though the twenty-eight cent rate had been approved by the Labor Board of the NRA. They also demanded that the pay of men and women be the same for simi lar work even though the Labor Board had approved of lower wages for women. It was a constant series of experiences 66 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 67 such as this that has astonished the Gov ernment and has caused it to take sym pathetic notice of the cooperative form of business. Until the consumers' cooper atives appeared upon the scene the NRA had never before seen employers spend ing time and money and exerting energy to establish higher wages for their work ers. Where the ten million unemployed are dealt with by the several federal relief administrations, experience has showed that profit business takes advantage of these unfortunate people. Gradually the methods of consumers' cooperation are being applied. Time will not permit the description of these cooperative organi zations of the unemployed, but the in genuity displayed and the encouragement and rehabilitation they have brought to disheartened men is one of the thrilling chapters in the history of the enlightened uses of adversity. Consumers Secondary While Profit System Stands Under the present administration the concern of consumers can not yet be made the supreme interest. While there is yet hope for the profit system, the con sumers must still stand aside. Should the rehabilitation of profit business ta"ke place, the progressive measures and the present advantages enjoyed by the co operatives will fade away and become a memory. If satisfactory profits, salaries and wages return, the getting of money will satisfy both employer and workers and the getting of things will concern only that small part of our population found in the consumers' cooperative so cieties. Cooperation makes hay while the sun shines but for us in America unhap pily that sun is the red flare of distress which swings through its dreadful orbit as a periodic blight. Self-help Cooperatives and the Consumer Movement Condensed from an address to The Cooperative League Congress Jacob Baker, Assistant Administrator, Federal Emergency Relief Administration I WANT to present a problem a little outside of your ordinary field. To set up consumers' cooperatives, you pool buying power. You take the profit out of things sold to the consumer. We have a situation in tlhe United States where there are now 30 million consumers who have no buying power. Some of these con sumers want to form consumers' coopera tives but have no money. That is the problem that has confronted people who have had cooperative ideals all over the United States and out of an attempt to solve that problem has grown a type of organization that is rather distinctive. It is hardly unique because it has happened at other historical moments but it is dif- ferent from the ordinary consumer co operative. Why Self-helps Have Grown Self-help Cooperatives are primarily cooperatives of the unemployed. The name has been tac'ked on to them by members themselves because it pretty well defined what they were attempting to do. The self-help cooperative typically is a group of people without money but with a desire to turn labor into food and clothing. They figure they can do it bet ter together than they can alone and that is the reason they attempt to set up a co operative. In every great depression of the United States organizations of that sort have grown up. In 1893-1894 they were called chiefly labor exchanges. Groups of people got together who were out of jobs, or ganized themselves into associations and offered their labor in exchange for things they needed. In the latter part of 1894 a National Convention of these associa tions was held and at that time there were 500 organizations in the United States and over 100 representatives at the con vention. Between 1897-99 they disap peared. In the current depression, with so much organization and so much effort it seems there may be some possibility of making something permanent out of this movement. In 1932-1933 chiefly in the West, this movement drew probably 500,000 people. Attempts were made to organize every type of production by using unemployed people in their own trades. Working Capital for the Self-employed In the spring of 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief act was passed and be cause of the apparent importance of the effort of these organizations of unem ployed the relief act provided that the Federal Relief Administration might make grants to the states in benefit of these cooperative associations of unem ployed for barter of goods and services. Relief Administrations were set up in May, 1933, and by July or August we were prepared to deal with applications for funds from these several cooperatives. The Relief Administration felt that to be of any value to the cooperatives it should give them aid in a way that would separate their efforts from the ordinary problem of relief. The question was asked, "How can co operatives be organized if they have no money to buy anything?" so we started out with the idea that we would put up money for working capital and that has been done pretty generally. We have made grants to about 220 different self- help cooperatives. About one million and a half in Federal funds have been granted to be used for working capital; not for food stuffs, not for regular relief, but for working capital and necessary tools of production. These organizations are pretty well spread over the United States. However, about half of them are in the West. Cali fornia, Washington, Idaho, Colorado ac count for more than half of the member ship of cooperatives which have received Federal grants. The FERA has attempted to maintain a "hands off" policy as much as possible, placing the responsibility of the development of these groups upon the local communities. Consequently, there has been a wide range in type of develop ment. Production for Use The self-help cooperatives have gone into production of all kinds of things; a very wide variety of clothing, furniture, various kinds of service, leather goods, and shoes. These folks have been able to scratch a little bit of material together, get machines somehow and then make and distribute to their membership or trade with other people, with other co operatives, or occasionally with business people, to get the things that they need. Some of their work has been extremely ingenious, displaying commendable effort; it is thrilling to go into a machine shop and find machines and drills made up out of old pipe, springs made out of bed springs—you get excited about it. At the same time it is a little bit tragic—having to use junk when what they want to use is efficient equipment. To remedy that situation, the Federal government ma'kes grants for working capital. Everyone of these cooperatives is a trading center as well as a producing center; almost all of them operate stores. Their intention is to operate stores as consumer cooperatives. Eventually it may turn out that a good many of their members will get jobs. They will have money to buy things. They then may carry on their production activities as consumer cooperatives do all over the world, under consumer coopera tive ownership. In many of these we have perhaps the foundation of a consumer co operative movement. But efficiency is one thing that they lack. They need leadership. The Con sumer Cooperative Movement has work ed for years with the problem of cooper ative organization. You know how to get folks together in a non-profit organiza tion and get efficiency out of them. These unemployed people, confronted as they are with fear, upset in having no jobs, are up against a tougher problem than yours in organization. They need help and guidance. When these cooperatives are being formed in your several communities give them special attention. We have found in the Northwest some of the con sumers have given a lot of help to the co operative unemployed. Some of their leadership is derived from them. A Basis for Consumers' Cooperation This movement of the unemployed is very significant. Although it has shrunken down from 500,000 to somewhere under 100,000 members, 80,000 are putting in practically full time in the activities of the cooperatives. There is a real future for these cooperatives. There are a large number of people in these cooperatives 68 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, 193s March, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 69 who are over 40 years of age who will not get jobs again. We doubt very much if any agency will give them continuous employment but some of these unem ployed cooperatives offer a possibility. As we see it, the chances are favorable that half of their members will get reg ular jobs and become consumer members while the other half will operate special ized industries. Consumers' cooperative organizations should 'help these cooperatives of the un employed develop. They may buy some of the things that these self-help coopera tives produce and there may be a real possibility to help them educationally. We have on our relief rolls in the United States 50,000 to 100,000 teachers. We have set up an educational program so that these teachers may receive a mini mum wage. We are very glad to see adult education projects consider social problems, labor organizations, labor un ions and particularly cooperation. Money is made available to each state for employment of teachers in the adult teaching field and projects for adult edu cation can be developed in each com munity, teaching the things the communi ty wants. If you want to develop courses in cooperation in conijunction with relief administrations, I suggest that you dis cuss it with your county or city relief administrator or with the state relief ad ministration. You can develop definite courses in consumer cooperation or if you want more technical courses there are teachers on relief rolls or eligible on this program to teach technical courses. It will surprise you the tremendous range of ability of the four million people that now receive relief. They can do everything from industrial and scientific research to building sky scrapers. From them came the inspiration of the self-help cooperatives. They can also be important factors in building the Consumers' Co operative Movement. Cooperative Leaders Hold National Meeting THE week beginning February 18th might well have been designated on the calendar as "Consumers' Cooperative Week." During that week many signifi cant meetings of Cooperative Leaders were held in Chicago. All day Monday the Directors of The Cooperative League considered vital mat ters having to do with the future of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the United States. The major matters considered were: the coordination of the various divisions of the Movement such as supplies, services, insurance, finance, auditing and education; the general pro gram of action and literature of The League; the relationship of the Move ment to other organizations of society to 'help promote Cooperation; and the pos sibility of an increased budget to provide for a more definitely organized educa tional program in the way of study courses and pamphlets for school use. National Cooperatives, Inc., held its second annual meeting on Tuesday. In asmuch as, in America, wholesales have grown up independently in various States, rather than as divisions of a single national body as in smaller countries, the process of learning to work together is not altogether easy. Further progress to that end was made at the annual meeting. The first of what is hoped will be reg ular events in due time was the meeting of the Educational Committee of The League authorized at the Congress. Those present included the Educational repre sentatives of the various Wholesales and District Leagues. The program of action and literature of The League was dis cussed in detail in a full day's session and vital decisions reached for the coordina tion of the educational programs of the various groups represented. During the same day the Insurance and Finance Committee of The League held its meet ing in an adjoining room and upon ad journment the members attended the clos ing session of the Educational Commit tee meeting. As the result largely of a spontaneous demand which was the outgrowth of the visits of Miss Helen Topping, Secretary to Kagawa of Japan, to various centers in the middle West, a call had been sent out to Church, School and Cooperative Lead ers for an informal Conference on Thurs day. The day was decidedly significant. Beqinning with individual reports from nearly all of those present telling of their interest in the Cooperative Movement and their activities in promoting it, the discussion then led to practical plans of organizing Consumers' Cooperatives. The deep interest of Church and School lead ers in the Cooperative Movement was evidenced by a unanimous motion to hold similar State or District Church, School and Cooperation Conferences upon re turning to their homes. These may be followed by a general Mississippi Valley Conference during the summer. Illinois Church Council leaders had alrea9y an ticipated the rapidly growing interest of their members in Cooperation and gave prominent place to a presentation of the subject on their regular program, as well as at their banquet and in a sectional meeting the week following. Announce ments will be made of other special con ferences as they are called. It is most noteworthy that Church and School lead ers are now beginning to be definite in recommending Consumers' Cooperative organization as the democratic evolution ary way out. Cooperators in Action Two new cafeterias have been opened in which the consumer gets what he wants at the price he wants to pay—be cause he owns 'his own cafeteria. Con sumers' Cooperative Services has opened its eleventh cooperative cafeteria in New York City and state employees in the Capitol building, St. Paul, Minnesota, have taken over the operation of the Gopher Cafe on a cooperative basis. itive • The New Consumers' Cooperative Creamery Association of Superior is over the top on a self paying basis. Farmers' Union Central Exchange of St. Paul, Minnesota, is now conducting a five weeks training school. • The Hoosier Farmer, published by the Indiana Farm Bureau, will feature a sec tion devoted entirely to consumers' co operation in its forthcoming issues. Ma terial for the section will be furnished by the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association. • The Ranqe Cooperative Federation of Virginia, Minnesota, has started produc tive work in the form of a creamery and sausage factory for their cooperative stores. • Governor Floyd B. Olson of Minne sota says, "I believe the government should devote its efforts to the building of Consumers' Cooperatives instead of attempting to patch up the failing capital istic system." • The Cooperative Oil Association of Minneapolis, which is a city cooperative oil association, has come through a price war successfully. The first office provided for the Co operative Youth League of Superior, Wisconsin, was on the fifth floor of the new four story Central Cooperative Wholesale building. Fortunately an ap peal started the elevator downward. Space was provided on the second floor. Howard A. Cowden, President of the Consumers' Cooperative Association, (formerly the Union Oil Company Co operative) in his pamphlet "A Trip to Cooperative Europe" says that in an swer to the question, "What pay do the directors of C.W.S., which is the largest business in Great Britain, receive?" the answer was "In terms of United States money, about $3,600 a year." A retail consumers' cooperative in Great Britain is not only a store but also supplies its members with the insurance services of C.I.S. and the banking serv ices of the C.W.S. bank. 70 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March' CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 71 Albin Johansson, General Manager of the Swedish K. F., says that since they broke the galosh cartel, galoshes sell for less than one-half what they did before. The cartel no longer exists. The produc tion of rubber articles is now virtually a cooperative industry in Sweden. • The American Consumers' Coopera tive Movement needs to take a lesson from the 1935 educational program of the Swedish Cooperative School which covers an employees' training course, co operative economics course, cooperative speaking, journalism, etc. • The United Church of Canada does not stop with "glittering generalities." One of its resolutions reads, "Besides re jecting capitalism the church is called upon to advocate positively the Christian economic order. Whereas the method of capitalism has been competition and pri vate acquisition, the essential law of a Christian system will be Cooperation." • The Cooperative Trading Company of Waukegan have on their new letterhead this significant, concise statement, "Pro ducers' and Consumers' Cooperation Can Serve You Better and Save You More." George O. Gatlin, unfortunately just deceased, who ought to have been a poet of the Cooperative Movement in Amer ica, says: "God! I had rather I'd been killed Than live forever and never build." Highest Sales Volume—Lowest Oper ating Expense As Central Cooperative Wholesale Passes Million and Three Quarters The Central Cooperative Wholesale sales in 1934 totaled $1,787,556.25. The business of the Cooperative Publishing Association, a subsidiary of the Whole sale, was $29,540.39 making a grand total of $1,817,096.64 which was $433,806.38 or 31.36% more than the corresponding volume in 1933. The efficiency of operation is reflected in the reduction of the ratio of expenses from 7.31% of net sales to 6.33% Or nearly 1% less than the previous low record. Notes receivable were reduced by $7,226.87. The accounts receivable were only $912.03 more than in 1934 and al though inventories climbed somewhat the increase was in proportion to the in creased volume. During the year the wholesale acquired a modern four-story warehouse and headquarters at a cost of slightly over $100,000. Seven Thousand New Members in Eas- ern States Cooperative—Sales In crease Twenty-six Per Cent Membership in the Eastern States Farmers' Exchange, drawn from the New England States and Pennsylvania, Dela ware and Maryland, reached a total of 56,200 at the end of 1934. This is an in- crease in membership of 7,700 over the 1933 total of 48,500—a gain of 16 per cent. The dollar v;olume of business in the cooperative manufacture and distribution of feed, seed and fertilizer jumped from $9,740,000 in 1933 to $12,300,000 in 1934, an increase of 26%. During the year a modern service build ing to expand the capacity of the cooper ative's feed mill at Buffalo, N. Y., and a one million bushel elevator were com pleted. The cost of these buildings, in ex cess of $300,000, was paid for from pre vious savings of the cooperative. Credit Union Reorganization As an evidence that the Credit Union Movement has come of age, a Credit Un ion National Association has been or ganized to replace the C. U. National Extension Bureau which carried on or ganization work in the early years of the movement. Roy F. Bergengren has been named Provisional Managing Director of the National Association and offices at present will be maintained at 5 Park Square, Boston, Mass. New Consumers' Clubs Formed in Michigan and Illinois Cooperative Distributors have recently organized Consumers' Unions number 31 and 32 in Peoria, Illinois, and Lansing, Michigan, to bargain collectively for bet- ter local prices, to buy cooperatively through the central mail order coopera tive at 30 Irving Place, New York City, and to learn, through action, cooperative methods of business which can be ap plied later in the organization of a co operative oil station, store, milk route, credit union or other form of cooperative activity. The March Consumers' Defend er lists more than 200 items for distribu tion to clubs and individual members. 45 000 copies of the Defender were print ed for distribution, a notable increase from 3000 of only two years ago. Cooperative Culture—Recreation Cooperative As additional evidence that Consumers' Cooperation is concerned with cultural as well as material advancement is the en thusiastic response to the organization and operation of the Recreation Cooper ative, Inc., with headquarters in Dela ware, Ohio. This new cooperative manu factures and distributes game boards, folk toys, plays and general recreation equip ment for church, school, social and com munity organizations as well as for indi viduals interested in the constructive use of leisure. Lynn Rorhbaugh is the man ager of the organization and persons ac tively engaged in recreation counseling are on the Board of Directors. "Two Cars in Every Garage" Herbert Hoover's slogan may at last become a reality if the project under taken by Midland Cooperative Whole sale is extended to other cooperatives and meets with the usual degree of success. Midland announced February 19, that it had been appointed agent for Dodge and Plymouth cars and Dodge trucks. All models of these cars are sold at market price with a patronage dividend declared at the end of six months which is esti mated will run between ten and fourteen per cent. New Steps in Cooperative Insurance rinal arrangements for cooperative bonding of employees of Credit Unions and Cooperatives are being completed following the meeting on February 20 of the Insurance Committee of The Cooper ative League and representatives of the Credit Union National Association and National Cooperatives, Inc. Bonding em ployees with a cooperative insurance or ganization rather than with a private profit company will ma:ke possible large savings and will lay the groundwork for other ventures in cooperative insurance and finance. A committee was appointed to consider the possibility of launching cooperative life insurance service which will make life insurance available to co- operators in every section of the country. A resolution was adopted urging co operative groups to establish (a) Credit Unions in every local cooperative group; (b) Cooperative Agricultural Finance Associations; and (c) educational pro grams in cooperative finance stressing application of cooperative principles in finance rather than dependence on gov ernment aid. Members of the committee attending the Chicago meeting were: Roland N. Benjamin, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Roy F. Bergengren and Tom Doig, Credit Union National Association, E. G. Cort and George W. Jacobson, Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Howard A. Cowden, Consumers' Cooperative Asso ciation, Arne Halonen, Cooperators' Life Association, A. N. Howalt, Cooperative Insurance Association, Wm. A. Hyde, Clusa Service, Inc., Ilmar Kauppinen, Central Cooperative Wholesale, Paul H. Lambert, Farmers' Union Central Ex change, C. H. LaSelie and I. H. Hull, In diana Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso ciation, Murray D. Lincoln, Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, V. S. Petersen, American Farmers Mu tual Auto Insurance Co., A. J. Schwartz, Wisconsin Farm Bureau, Silas Vance, Farm Bureau Service Co., Dr. J. P. War- basse, The Cooperative League. Sixty Attend Union Oil Cooperative School Sixty members of cooperative retail or ganizations in Missouri, Nebraska, Kan sas and Colorado attended the first co operative school held by Consumers' Co operative Association (formerly the Un ion Oil Company Cooperative) in North Kansas City, Missouri, January 21 to 26. 72 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION March, «35 The entire week was devoted to study of the history, philosophy, organization and business methods of Consumers' Coopera tives. Among the lecturers were Miss Helen Topping, secretary to Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese cooperative leader, V. S. Alanne, Secretary of the Northern States Cooperative League, Professor Merlin G. Miller of the College of Em. poria, Kansas, Howard A. Cowden, presi dent of Union Oil Company Cooperative and others. Those who attended the school agreed to conduct local cooperative schools in their own communities upon the comple. tion of the school. Consumers' Cooperation in Current Literature Stuart Chase, economic analyst and commentator, points out in an article on "Government in Business" in the March issue of Current History that "... public business is not necessarily carried on by the state alone. Cooperative enterprises, especially consumers' cooperatives on the Rochdale principle, are essentially public. Profit is returned through rebates or divi dends to participating members. In 1934, the total business of such cooperatives in the United States was some $300,000,000 •—about 1 per cent of all retail sales. This division of public business has not gone far in the United States as yet, though it may become very important in the future. In Europe its importance in many coun tries is profound." The Christian Century featured an ar ticle entitled "Kagawa on Cooperatives" in the February 27 issue in which T. T. Brumbaugh summarizes an address by the great ethical leader of Japan. The fol lowing week Christian Century reported editorially the .preliminary conference on The Church, School and Cooperation and declared that the cooperative movement conserves the democracy of our present order while building a new world. Scholastic, a news magazine used in history, civics and economics classes by 150,000 high school teachers and stu dents, published a Consumers' number February 9th. Articles by Dr. J. P. War- basse, Dr. Fredrick C. Howe, Stuart Chase, E. J. Lever and Roy F. Bergen- gren described the consumers and credit cooperative movements and what they are doing to prevent consumer exploita tion and to build a new economic system. The Guildsman for February carried a second article on the Cooperative League of Wisconsin, and an Editorial on the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. A New Cooperative Pamphlet The Recreation Cooperative, Delaware, Ohio, has published a new pamphlet en- titled "A Cooperative Economic Demoo racy," which sets forth in positive terms the four alternatives—Regulated Capital- ism, Corporatism (Fascism), Commun- ism, and Consumers' Cooperation—which lie before America. In the pamphlet, E. R. Bowen, General Secretary of The Cooperative League, describes the principles, practice and growth of the Cooperative Movement in Europe and America. The material is based on an address before the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Columbus, Ohio, December 21, 1934. The pamphlet can be secured from The Coopérât! e League, price ten cents. America's Answer "America's Answer .— Consumers' Cooperation," is proving a wonderful tool." This pamphlet issued by The Co operative League is intended to be just what Prof. Carl A. Norman of Ohio State University describes it to be in this statement. A comprehensive con densed summary of the whole Con sumers' Cooperative Movement, writ ten in language that makes it "A chal lenge and a call to action," as Dr. War- basse subtitled it. It should constantly be ordered in large quantities for wide distribution. The Canadian Cooperator Brantford, Ontario, Canada The organ ot the Canadian Coopera tive Movement, owned by and con- ducted under the auspices of The Cooperative Union of Canada. Published monthly 75c per annum CONSUMERS COOPERATION Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. Eternal as the Unending Circle Hardy as the Evergreen Pine Volume XXI. No. 4 April, 1935 Ten Cents EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS Consumers' Cooperation scores a jour nalistic hit. In this issue we publish for the first time in an American journal, quotations from Senator Leland Stan ford's founding grant and addresses spe cifically providing for the teaching of Co operation in Leland Stanford Jr., Univer sity. This specific provision of this grant has never been emphazised nor specif ically followed. It should raise the ques tion far more seriously in the minds of every cooperator as to what real possi bility there is of the people learning the whole truth through pur present public and private school systems or whether it is not absolutely necessary that the Con sumers' Cooperative Movement should sponsor the nation-wide organization of "People's Schools." Our interest in Senator Stanford's atti tude toward the Cooperative Movement was aroused by finding in a library a copy of his bill introduced in the Senate in 1887 providing for the organization of cooperatives in the District of Columbia, We are now greatly indebted to Mr. W. F. Hyde of Palo Alto, California, for of ficial documents quoting Senator Stan ford's founding grant and addresses pro viding for the teaching of the subject in Leland Stanford Jr., University. • Huey Long surely said one true thing in such simple language anyone should be able to understand, "The trouble is that too few of the people own too much of the wealth." • May America, as someone has said "chart a middle course between the all- is-well of the conservatives and the all-is- hell of the extreme radicals." • "I am a high school student, and 1 am interested in my functions as a con sumer." Here is a boy who will be a leader in the future consumer-producer economic organization of society. • James R. Moore, Editor of the Ohio Farm Bureau News, coins a new cooper ative phrase, "In the past agriculture has not learned the secret of 'group individ ualism', a term synonymous here with co operation." An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce 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. E. R. Bowen, Editor. Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 74 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 193s Sweden has adopted state control of the entire munitions industry. A bill just passed by the Swedish Parliament places the manufacture, sale and transportation of arms and ammunition under Govern mental supervision and control, and reg ulates imports from and exports to foreign countries. The measure becomes effective July 1, 1935. • If we're going to really live in a plenty age we must not only produce plenty but the people as a whole must be able to consume the plenty they produce. In 1929 the lower 20% of American families could only consume $450 per year on the aver age while they produced $3000 per year. As long as most of our families cannot consume what they can produce, just so long will there be scarcity for the many. • Mr. Chester Graham, Director of the Ashland Folk School says, "As a School, as a Community Church, and as a Com munity, we commit ourselves whole heartedly to the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. Our next step is to offer spe cific training in the operation and man agement of cooperatives." • It is inspiring to do honor to a great man such as President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia, and to call the attention of America on his 85th birthday to the fact that the two principal methods which he adopted to develop that country with in only a few years to a place of out standing prominence were a self-con tained democratic Folk School System and a self-contained democratic Con sumers' Cooperative Economic System, both independent of political state con trol. • Mr. H. G. Keeney, President of the Farmers Union of Nebraska, writes rela tive to their new building into which they have just moved, "It represents to us a milestone in our progress. Our members through their activities will own it entire ly—no debt from the government or banks to be taken care of." One of the reasons for the success of the coopera tives in Nebraska is that they have stood for the principle of financing themselves. The Extension Bulletin published by St. Francis Xavier University of Anti. gonish, Nova Scotia, evidently is aroused over the delay in cooperative "action" following cooperative education. They say, "The age screams for action more than words. Let's get going. If unjust middleman activities are not soon solved, we must perish. Talk without action wili never rid us of this capitalistic octopus" • Mr. Howard A. Cowden, Secretary- Treasurer of National Cooperatives, Inc., reported at its annual meeting the follow, ing statistics covering results of the seven regional wholesale cooperative members: "Volumes for 1934 increased from 30 to 70% over 1933, their total 1934 volume being $19,200,000, with aggregate net savings $349,620, and aggregate net worth $1,200,000." These statistics cover wholesale volumes, savings and net worth alone, and do not include the far greater volumes, savings and net worth of the cooperative retail associations affiliated with the wholesales. • A special study by the United States Public Health Service and the Milbank Memorial Fund reports that 210 babies are being born to every 1,000 mothers on the relief rolls, while only 137 are being born to those not living on relief. Our responsibility to these babies who are born into families Which society has forced to be disinherited should weigh heavily upon every cooperator to ad vance our movement faster to prevent such a tragedy of inheritance for the fu ture generations. Surely they are not "born free and equal." • At the National Education Associa tion's annual meeting at Atlantic City, Professor Jesse H. Newion, Principal ol Lincoln School, the experimental high school affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University, advised his fellow teachers to "learn the art of radical lead ership from the ministers of the nation. Oswald Garrison Villard in an article in The Nation commenting on a speaking tour, states that he finds church plat' forms are more open to the presentation of discussions of social change than are school platforms. April, 1935 _____ \Ve are flooded with applications for 'obs. Our answer is that the best way to ^ et à job in the Cooperative Movement is to start at the bottom, which means or- oanizing a retail cooperative club, store, aasoline station, dairy or some other kind of cooperative association and becoming the manager. • Extracts from a letter from a teacher in a Public School: "I am collecting as much of Cooperative material as possible for use in my economics classes to do all I can to acquaint the students with the cooperative movement and the philosophy underlying it. To my mind there is no question but what it offers a definite chal lenge to American youth and a practical alternative to our growing corporative economic autocracy." • We had a day in Pennsylvania with various officers, directors, fieldmen and managers of the Pennsylvania Farm Bu reau Federation and its affiliated Insur ance and Supply Cooperatives, which we will not soon forget. No formal program had been arranged. An urgent invitation was extended by President R. N. Ben jamin to meet with this group for a co operative talk-fest. All day long there was a round-table running fire of discussion. There are far more things of significance happening in Pennsylvania than the elec tion of a Democratic Governor. Behind the scenes a new cooperative economic system is being built. • A. W. Ricker, Editor of the Farmers Union Herald, announces in an editorial, "Consumers' Cooperation is the sound way to economic justice and democratic liberty. As a matter of fact, there is no other road -to individual liberty and eco nomic justice. It will be the policy of this paper in the future to use much of its space to teaching cooperation as it is known and used by many millions of Rochdale cooperators." He proves his in tentions by a series of outstanding edi torials on Consumers' Cooperation in the March issue, from which we quote this significant comparison: "Political salva tion is illusory and disappointing and sel dom effective. Cooperative salvation is practical, inspiring and lasting." CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 75 Harold J. Laski in his book "A Gram mar of Politics" says, "The present sys tem is inadequate from whatever angle it is regarded. "It is psychologically inadequate be cause, for most, by appealing mainly to- the emotion of fear, it inhibits the exercise of those qualities which would enable them to live a full life. "It is morally inadequate, in part be cause it confers rights upon those who- have done nothing to earn them, in part because where such rights are related to effort, this in its turn has no proportionate; relevancy to social value. It makes a part of the community parasitic upon the re mainder; it deprives the rest of the oppor tunity to live ample lives. "It is economically inadequate because- it fails so to distribute the wealth it creates as to offer the necessary condi tions of health and security to those who- live by its processes. "As a result, it has lost the allegiance of the vast majority of the people. Some regard it with hate; the majority regard it with indifference." • Dr. Horace M. Kallen declares that "the voluntary method is the American, method." • A pamphlet quoting addresses at the: annual meeting of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers is entitled "How Farm Machinery Creates Employ ment." It's a sad day when engineers who- have argued for years that power ma chinery would create "earned leisure" now attempt to defend the engineering' work they have done by arguing instead that it "creates employment." What we want in America is not more employment as a whole. What we want is more food and goods, which automatic power ma chinery makes possible, and a cooperative, economy which will enable us to have more food and goods with less hours of effort for everyone. One engineer who' was quoted did vision sufficiently to say that "the engineer's duty to society is not completed until the fear of unemployment and starvation is taken from the minds of the workers." Let engineers who have designed power machinery to produce plenty now help design a cooperative: economy to distribute plenty to all. 76 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION April, April, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 77 "AS DEAD AS A DODO" General Johnson ought to know. He sat on the eggs and hatched the bird. This is the way he now characterizes 'the NRA. General Johnson is gone; Clay Williams is gone; the Blue Eagle seems to be going. The announced purpose of the NRA was to redistribute income. The results have been the opposite. Interest and divi dend payments have risen to 150% of the 1926 level whereas wages are only 60%. To return to 1926 would not be justice in •distribution of purchasing power but is only a base for comparison of what has happened. Back to 1926 or to 1910-14 is not enough. "Ahead to economic justice" Is the only real rallying cry. Now what shall we do to really give labor more purchasing power and release the brakes from the wheels of industry g0 that all the food and goods which fac tories might produce can be distributed? The first thing to do is to abandon the encouragement of monopolistic practices, which the NRA adapted from the Ger man cartel system. Then to adopt the es sentials of the English system of minimum wages, leisure, housing, education, health, etc., to give more social security, with income and inheritance taxes as the means of supplying the necessary funds. The second is for labor to begin acting directly as "consumers" as well as pro ducers and voters and thereby build the permanent foundations underneath a new economic order where the people will democratically own and control industry, utilities, insurance and finance. HOW SHALL WE FINANCE COOPERATIVE PROMOTION AND EDUCATION IN AMERICA? The Consumers' Cooperative Move ment will never get into its real stride in this country until it faces squarely the question of financing itself in a more definite and substantial way. Today national cooperative promotion and education are financed by a charity method. Cooperative businesses make "contributions" to a budget. Even the amount which is paid in as dues is not on any uniform basis as a whole. Cooperative business leaders should accept these two simple facts: First, that national cooperative promo tion and education has a vital place along with similar retail, wholesale and district activities and is even now able to "save expense" by a coordinated national pro motion and education program. Certainly far more effectiveness would be possible by a minimum national program behind the spending of the tens of thousands of dollars which are now spent by retail and wholesale associations in their own terri tories. Second, that some uniform method should be adopted to provide the neces sary funds for such a national promotion and education program. There is only one place from which the funds can be gotten. That is from the savings made by co operative purchasing. Those savings are in the treasuries of the retail and whole sales associations. Cooperative managers, both wholesale and retail, must sell them selves on the economy and efficiency of a real national promotion and educational program to the extent that they are able to and will resell their Boards of Direc tors and have the money appropriated. Eventually the necessary minimum amount for such a national program must be allocated in a uniform way and ac cepted by all cooperative associations, both wholesale and retail, as obligatory upon themselves to pay their just and equal share on some agreed upon basis. Unfortunately in America we have grown up like "Topsy" in our coopera tive development with wholesale supply and insurance associations scattered all over our large country, without any ini tial connection with one another. In smaller countries one large wholesale developed to serve the entire nation with branches added as the needs of any sec tion developed. Now we are in the pro cess of amalgamation. The simplest form of united action which will pay every wholesale and retail "patronage divi dends" in greater efficiency is to unite on an effective minimum national promotion and educational program and to adopt some uniform way of financing it. Co operative leaders should give serious thought to this end so that the finances for such a program can soon be secured. Must We Develop A People's School System in America? If So, Who Will Do It? DEMOCRATIC action is founded on widespread education among the people in the basic problems which, as members of a democracy, they must de cide. These problems are many at the present time. Unquestionably our present public tax-supported schools and our pri vately endowed schools, on which we have depended, have failed to teach us the facts which it was necessary for us to know to act intelligently and prevent or solve a great social crisis. Can they ever do so, or must we develop a third or People's School System as Denmark did? The Danes gained their first "foothold on the slippery sides of the slough of de spond" through the adoption of a free educational system independent of the political State or private control. The groundwork for the development of ag gressive cooperative economic effort in Denmark was laid solidly in widespread education in these People's Schools. Edu cation preceded organization. A careful reading of various articles in The Social Frontier, a magazine pioneer ing in the social application of education, relative to the conservative viewpoint of our School Boards, Text-Book Writers, Superintendents, and Teachers, would lead one to question most seriously the possibilities of our learning the truth about the passing and the coming eco nomic orders through our present school systems. In a great change such as that through which we are passing from a competitive to a cooperative economy, the control of educational as well as religious and po litical organization of society is largely in the hands of the few owners of wealth who have profited under the old com petitive order and who blindly resist changes leading to a new cooperative or der, as did slave and serf owners before them. A few owners through their politically elected or appointed representatives de termine the tax appropriations and ac cordingly largely control what is taught m public schools. Privately endowed schools are largely controlled by representatives of the large donors. However, even when funds are given without attached reservations, the psychology of the administration and faculty is usually resistant to teaching relative to social change. A most notable example in the annals of educational his tory in America has just come to light after nearly fifty years, in connection with the Leland Stanford Junior Univer sity. The Teaching of Cooperation Specifically Provided The original grant of endowment of November 14, 1885, provided specifically in one clause: "To have taught in the University the rights, and advantages of association and coopera tion." This might have been construed as a generalized statement had it not been for the fact that Senator Stanford described in his address to the Trustees on the same day his exact meaning in providing for the teaching of "cooperation": "When we consider the endless variety of the wants and the desires of civilized society,, we must fully appreciate the value of labor- aiding machinery and the necessity for hav ing this of the best character. Too much at tention, therefore, cannot be given to tech nical and mechanical instruction, to the end' that from our institution may go out edu cators in every field of production. "Out of these suggestions grows the con sideration of the great advantages, especially to the laboring man, of cooperation, by which each individual has the benefit of the intellectual and physical forces of his asso ciates. It is by this intelligent application of these principles that there will be found the greatest lever to elevate the mass of human ity, and laws should be forced to protect and develop cooperative associations. Laws with this object in view will furnish to the poor man complete protection against the monop oly of the rich, and such laws properly ad ministered and availed of, will insure to the workers of the country the full fruits of their industry and enterprise . . . Hence it is that we have provided for thorough instruction! in the principles of cooperation." 78 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION April, 1935 April, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 79 On the opening day, October 1, 1891, Senator Stanford was even more definite in his phraseology, referring specifically to "cooperative societies" by name: "We have also provided that the benefits resulting from cooperation shall be freely taught. It is through cooperation that modern progress has been mostly achieved. Cooper ative societies bring forth the best capacities, the best influences of the individual for the benefit of the whole, while the good influ ences of the many aid the individual." In 1887, between the dates of his first and second addresses quoted above, Senator Stanford introduced a bill in the Senate of the United States providing for the formation of cooperative societies in the District of Columbia. Yet, after nearly fifty years, even though provided for in a definite way in liis founding grant, reinforced by his ad dresses, the subject of cooperation in its various types such as purchasing and credit is not taught in any way as pro vided. Must "We Develop a People's School System in America? After considering these facts about our present .public and private school systems and their leaders, we raise the first of the two questions in the heading of this ar ticle—'must we develop a third or Peo ple's School System in America in order to teach ourselves the truth? 'Such a con clusion seems inevitable for the time being at least until the great social change through which we are passing is com pleted and the people finally control their school systems. We have the general pat. tern for such a system in the folk schools of Denmark and have had enough ex periments in America to proceed on the right course. How Can We Develop the People's School System? This second question naturally follows. And the answer is clear. The one and only organization in America that repre sents the people as a whole and which has both the psychology, organization and funds to promote such a school sys tem is the Consumers' Coopérative Movement. The cost is more than re turned in increased volume of business and savings. The beginnings have been laid in a broad way in the States of In diana and Ohio by the Cooperatives in those states. We ihave state-wide pat terns already developed. The only prob lem is to perfect an3 duplicate them in other states. Thousands are already en rolled in such schools studying the prin ciples and practice of cooperation and en joying cooperative recreational activities. Wholesale Consumers' Cooperative Pur chasing Associations. in every state should begin to seriously take steps to ward the organization of Cooperative Teachers Training Courses next summer preparatory to the development of wide spread People's Schools next fall. We must discuss things out at crossroad- forums all over this country and thus de termine upon action in a popular way if we are to preserve and extend democratic practices in America. Artist's sketch of a cooperative oil station, the plans for which have been drawn by Coopera tive Design Service. A struc ture of this type combines beau ty, simplicity and economy of construction such as now char acterize the buildings of the Swedish cooperative movement described in the accompanying article. A Proposal for Cooperative Design Esther Greenlcaf, Director, Cooperative Design Service COOPERATIVE DEJICN 3EMICE RECENTLY I asked one of the lead ing architects in Stockholm, Sweden, for his opinion of the cooperative move ment there. He answered as follows: "In the cooperative shops one may be assured of the highest quality goods, priced at the lowest figure obtainable, sold with the finest service, and under the most attractive conditions. As you go about Sweden and note the shops of un usually fine design and the industrial buildings of the most outstanding modern architecture, you may be almost certain that you are seeing the property of the Cooperative Societies." Price, Quality, Service, Beauty This comment from a man who is not active in the movement and whose im partial judgment on such matters I re spect highly, constitutes a most unusual tribute to the Swedish Cooperatives and indicates, in simple form, the cardinal merchandising principles of this organ ization, namely, price, quality, service, and attractive surroundings. Henry Goddard Leach., editor of Forum and Century, confirmed this point in a recent article entitled '-'Sweden, Where Consumers Produce" when he said, "... these Konsum shops . . . are light, polite, expeditious. They are as smart as the New Yorlker or Rockefeller Center. They are modern in architecture and color and interior decoration. In America you must go to the Century of Progress to find anything as gay as these Swedish shops that sell at cost." The Visible Quality of Ideals It is not by accident that Kooperativa Forbundet has achieved international recognition for the fine design of its buildings, its merchandise cartons and its oromotional posters. Years ago the ex ecutive group decided that the coopera tive movement must reflect in its visible aspects the quality of the ideals which are so essential for a successful coopera tive undertaking. Consumers' Coopera tion was a new way of life, not merely an economic formula, and so they were im pelled to depart from the traditional style of design and architecture and to create in its place a modern, colorful and force ful style which was characteristic of the vigor and vitality of the movement itself. It is a vision which the cooperatives of this country, whose great growth is yet before them, might consider with profit. It is proposed, therefore, that the co operative stores and publications should be distinctive in their design, not only so that they will attract the most discrimi nating of patrons; but so that they will act as a positive cultural influence in the community, and so that the stores, the products and the publications of the move ment will reflect those qualities of a co operative enterprise which distinguish it from ordinary private business. What are these qualities which will characterize fine cooperative art and design? I shall enumerate what appear to me to be the essential qualities. ( 1 ) The cooperative design should be distinctly modern in character. Its first characteristic should be the distinction which comes through great restraint and simplicity. (2) The quality of this design is en hanced by the expressive use of color and modern materials. We have many beautiful colors and materials. Why not use them? (3) The shapes and forms of all things, buildings, furniture, and packages should be direct functional forms. (4) The designs of all things should be made to facilitate their efficient manu facture by machine. The machine, next to nature, is man's most prolific servant. It should be utilized to the greatest extent possible in serving our needs; and its products should be frankly machine made things, beautiful and satisfying because of the simplicity and restraint of the de sign, the expressive use of color and fine natural textures of the materials, and shaped so as to serve directly and effi ciently the purposes for which they are intended. 80 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 81 Greater Beauty—Less Expense A cooperative store designed accord ing to these principles would, first of all be planned so that customers would be served as expeditiously as possible in the space available. Its arrangement would be simple and direct so that an orderly arrangement of the goods would be facilitated. It would be light and airy with a maximum amount of window space to attract customers from the outside and to delight them with its beauty, simplicity and efficiency once they were within. All of the fixtures would be the simplest, the least ostentatious, and the most con venient. The colors would be carefully chosen and the decorative scheme wou'Id incorporate the inevitable decorative quality of the well arranged shelves of merchandise. A store so conceived should be a work of art and should be the pricle of the neighborhood. Surprising as it may seem, such a store would be less expen sive to build and maintain than any of the prevailing styles of architecture. Thus it would represent the visual presentation of the Cooperative Movement: the high est quality, at the lowest price and amid the most attractive surroundings. To those who appreciate the force of the constant repetition of a simple mes sage the effect of a stimulating and crea tive art as one of the essential policies of cooperative enterprise must be apparent. It should be borne in mind, however, that the style of design which I have outlined here is difficult to produce. One of the reasons why the old archaic styles of architecture are still employed in the de sign of new buildings and furnishings is that people are afraid to risk the possible unfortunate result in using new materials and new principles. Designers use non descript colors rather than positive colors, partly because they are less apt to pro duce a design which is conspicuously bad. Then it is difficult to employ vivid or positive color schemes and still achieve a dignified and harmonious result; too often the result is either garish or frivo lous and wholly unsuccessful as a design which discriminating people will appre ciate. Planning for Future Growth This question of design as applied to the stores and products of the Coopera tive Movement is pertinent today for two reasons. First, there is the question of cost. The style of design which is cho sen for the architecture of a building or the interior of a store controls a substan tial element of its cost. Time and again in Sweden when I commented upon some aspect of their design, the reply was, "It is the cheapest possible solution." We, in this country, have become so accustomed to accepting the theory that a fine solu tion must be costly that such a point of view appears strange. Yet it is a fact that the simple modern style permits prac tically the entire investment in a building or store interior to be put into essential utilitarian materials. The job of the de signer is to employ these materials so that the result is both inspiring and satisfying to the aesthetic sense. And second, co operatives in this country have their great growth before them. Now, before too much is invested, they have the op portunity to formulate a policy on design which may guide future investments. Otherwise if unregulated growth is per mitted for a few years, it will be extreme ly costly to adopt any consistent policy. Cooperative Art for a Cooperative Economy These two arguments for some imme diate action on cooperative design policy stress the matter of cost. Perhaps at the moment, this is a controlling considera tion. But in the long view I would give precedence to the broader influence of creative art and design in the visible aspect of cooperation. The world we live in, insofar as we have moulded it to fit our needs and wants, reflects both the materials and methods of construction which man has had at his command and the ideas and ideals which have pre vailed. For the most part our buildings, their interiors, our packaging, and our advertising material draw their philos ophy of design from previous generations which had neither the methods and ma terials nor the social ideals which we pro fess today. The cooperative movement seeks to break with the economic doctrine of the past and substitute for it one which will permit the productive facilities of the world to serve more fully the needs of April, 1935 those who consume. To me it seems in- styles and fashions which are rooted in «capable that if this movement is to previous cultures and create in their place chieve its high aims it 'must, in all of its a forceful style of modern cooperative visible manifestations, break with those design. The Tennessee Valley for Consumers' Cooperation Personal Observations J. P. Warbasse (Editors' Note. The great public power projects now under construction in the Tennessee Valley, the Columbia basin at Bonneville and Grand Coulee, and similar government projects which are to serve as "yanikud1^ for power •production" raise an issue of special interest to the cooperative movement. Exploitation in the distribution of power under private profit ownership is as great as the exploitation in production. Who shall dis tribute this cheap power after it is produced? In whose interest will the ultimate benefit of these projects be? Dr. Warbasse has sketched briefly some of the present developments in the Tennessee Valley for cooperative distribution of power. In Indiana and Ohio the Farm Bureau Cooperatives are organizing for cooperative distribution of power in rural sections. It is important that the co operative distribution of power be developed rapidly to supplement the public production of power if the interests of the consumer are to be safeguarded.) A TURN of the wheel of politics took the Tennessee Valley power con trol out of the hands of privilege. The consumers now enjoy consideration. When Mr. Arthur E. Morgan was ap pointed by President Roosevelt to the position of Chairman Administrator of the Tennessee Valley Authority, I dis cussed with him the organization of con sumers' cooperative electric supply asso ciations to purchase electricity from the T.V.A. at wholesale and distribute it among their members. Mr. Morgan was sympathetic to the suggestion. I have been in frequent consultation with the T.V.A. since that time, and can report the developments as more than interest ing. Medical and Petroleum Cooperatives for Tennessee I have just returned from a week's tour ot the Valley, where one is not given much opportunity for rest. The schedule ot activities which were arranged for me feuded the possibility of the mischief which idleness engenders. The program began with a conference with Mr. Mor gan at 9 o'clock Monday morning. He impressed me again with the fact that the farmers of the Valley have incomes of around $100 a year and are consequently not vigorous consumers. At a conference with the newspaper men, I told them nothing more than would be acceptable to their city editors. Then a luncheon meeting with the Engineers Club which lasted until nearly 4 o'clock, because of the capacity of engineers to ask ques tions. At 4:30 a conference with T.V.A. employees to discuss consumers' coopera tive organization in Knoxville. Out of this grew the beginning of a cooperative med ical clinic and cooperative oil supply. On the following day another series of meet ings, ending in the evening with a meet ing in the Y.M.C.A. The next day was spent at Norris where a dam two hundred feet high is in process of construction as well as a town of model houses. Here were meetings with engineers, heads of divisions, the T.V.A. Workers' Council, and a com munity mass meeting in the evening in the Recreation Hall. The following day, meetings with engineers and executives; and then in the afternoon to the John Campbell Folk School at Brasstown, North Carolina, where a mass meeting of the farmers of the countryside was fol lowed by dancing and games. The next morning was devoted to inr spection of the school, where Cooperation is a part of the curriculum and the farm director is a Danish cooperator. Here are a creamery, a farmers' cooperative sup ply association, and a telephone society. The creamery was set up by the T. V. Associated Cooperatives. The telephone group have apparently not yet been dis covered by the Bell System. The Farm ers' supply cooperative is managed by the local private, merchant who allows the farmers the use of his store for warehouse 82 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION purposes. Among these farmers I dis covered some who, up until manhood, had never worn any clothing but what had been raised, spun, woven, and made at home. One summed up his philosophy of life to me in the simple statement: "I never asked for no relief; I got a wife and two boys; I ain't got no mortgage on my farm; I work all the time—and I rests quite a little too." Marketing and Consumers' Cooperatives Then we went to Waynesville, North Carolina. Here is one of the twelve store houses of the Farmers' Federation. This is an organization which began with .mar keting, but experience has steadily in creased the amount of buying it does for its members until now its purchasing of seeds, feed, fertilizer, machinery, gro ceries, and other commodities has be come the most important part of the services to its members. Among other en terprises it runs several mills where it grinds both flour and feed for the con sumption of its members. At Waynesville the program included a dinner meeting with the Rotary Club in the Church base ment, and a mass meeting in the Court House. This was attended by farmers and town people. Among the latter was the head of the Standard Oil business of the county, who endured with patience the information brought out by questions, ap parently intended for his discomfort, upon the success of cooperative oil dis tribution in this country. This is a bird's eye view of my itinera ry. I went from place to place, and ended with the trip from Knoxville to Philadel phia in company with Chairman Morgan with whom I discussed my observations and to whom I made such recommenda tions as seemed best for the promotion of consumers' cooperation in the Tennessee Valley. Building Purchasing Power First among these recommendations had to come measures to improve the pur chasing power of the people of the Val ley. A farmer who sees only $46 a year and whose food consists almost wholly of cornmeal and salt pork, whose wife is clad in a dress made of flour bags, is not the best material for consumers' coopera tion—nor the worst. But something can be done to get him better rewards for his labor. The cooperative marketing move ment is the first essential. Already a num. ber of associations exist in the Valley. The T.V. Cooperatives Associated, under Mr. Arthur C. Jackson, has also estab lished five canning factories around which are organizing the farmer pro ducers. Weaving, wood carving, furni ture production, iron work, and other in dividualistic handicrafts are being pro moted by the T.V.A. The cooperative marketing of their products is in process of development. Consumers' cooperation is steadily developing in the Valley. Mr. Morgan is sympathetic to its expansion. Indeed in some fields such expansion is forcing it self upon the scene as an economic neces sity. It is currently agreed that the town of Norris shall be sold by the T.V.A. to the tenants—buildings, lands, streets and industries—'and made a genuine con sumers' cooperative community. The T. V.A. will lend the money to the housing cooperative for this purpose. Chairman Morgan, the town manager, the store manager, and the people themselves de sire this procedure. Included in this plan are the creamery and the hennery—'two model institutions producing pasteurized milk, ice cream, eggs, and poultry for the town of Norris; and now, like the town, owned by the T.V.A. The stores are in process of being made cooperative. Cooperative Distribution of Electricity The great product of the Valley is electricity. Some of this is sold to political municipalities. But there are now two consumers' cooperative electric associa tions, organized at the request of the T. V.A., consuming this current. These are the Corinth and Alcorn County Electric Associations, which are private organiza tions of consumers of these two counties in Mississippi. Here is something significant. Some day the electorate of this country may again put back into power the people who are opposed to government competing with business. They may demand the good old Pre-Rooseveltian Americanism back again. Or the Supreme Court may Apra, 1935 rule against the T.V.A. Or local muni cipalities may change their political con- ol and an administration hostile to "qovernment in business" may come into power. The public utility companies are not spending half a million dollars a week on propaganda for nothing. Such changes have often occurred in this country and in Europe. To place a service like elec tricity at the mercy of the vicissitudes of politics is hazardous. It is obvious that if the supply of current to the homes of the people is to be made secure, the farther it is from politics the better. The con sumers' electric associations represent private business—quite as private as any other private business. Municipal elec tions do not bother them, so far as their public utility is concerned. They are not going to be turned over to a public utility company; they are already one. The T.V.A. is hastening the organiza tion of all forms of consumers' coopera tives. A credit union is operating at Nor ris. Oil supply is to be set up at once. The Cooperative League is asked to supply or to recommend cooperative educators and executives to administer cooperative busi ness. All of this is imperative because of the uncertainties of politics. Everybody who wants to understand this simple principle in economics is beginning to un derstand it. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 83 Utility Cooperatives Were the American people consumer minded, had they finished with their com petitive gambling, were Cooperation taught in the schools and colleges, and did the people prefer things and services and life to money, then this problem in the Tennessee Valley would be easier. The consumers would organize coopera tively to ta'ke all of the current. They would next federate these organizations which use all of the current, and make themselves the owners of the dams, the turbines and the sources of the power. Then electricity might be so cheap and leisure so plentiful that people might reg ulate their time to suit their own desires. This consumer consciousness is slowly developing. It is penetrating the Tennes see Valley. And from there it may spread across the country. Consumers' coopera tive ownership is a more serious threat to the public utilities' profits and to the politicians than is local public ownership; because the public utility companies can more easily induce changing, political municipal authorities to turn over their electric supply works to them, than can they induce permanent cooperatives to relinquish their method of electric supply. Cooperation is wholly in the business field. It is business without profit privi leges for the few. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Leads Out r I 'HERE are a number of outstanding *- lessons to be learned by Cooperative leaders everywhere in studying the steps being taken by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and its affiliated cooperatives. Ohio is becoming cooperatively educated and organized with unusual speed under their leadership. Cooperative Insurance Within a short nine years Ohio has developed the largest automobile insur ance cooperative in the United States. Rather than taking a general agency for a private-profit automobile insurance company, they organized their own co operative which is already among the ten largest mutual automobile insurance asso ciations in the United States. Within the past year Ohio has added fire insurance and is in the process of getting under way a liability insurance service for the entire cooperative movement. Cooperative Finance The Ohio groups have long had the conception of the significance of finance which their Secretary Murray D. Lincoln has advocated for years. As a result they organized in 1931 an Agricultural Credit Corporation which has made loans of ap proximately $600,000 at great savings in interest charges to its members. Now Ohio cooperators are in a drive to extend credit unions into every county. The Ohio Farm Bureau Employees Credit Union has the signal honor of possessing 84 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION April, 2935 April, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 85 Charter No. 1 under the Ohio Credit Union Act. Cooperative Supplies Ohio has had long experience in both the marketing and purchasing of various kinds of farm supplies. The Bureau's Co operatives were later in entering into the petroleum field than cooperatives in other sections of the country, but are rapidly making up for lost time with some 29 new county bulk plants organized in 1934. Home supplies will come next. Cooperative Utilities When you are in Ohio you hear the phrase "cooperative utilities" even more often than you do "public utilities." At a recent meeting of county Farm Bureau Presidents and Cooperative Managers, resolutions were adopted recommending that the Board of Directors consider ac tion along the lines of rural cooperative electrification. It is evident that Ohio farmers are not satisfied to accept the fact that their city cousins are the only ones who should have the conveniences of electric light ana power but intend to proceed to get them through cooperative ownership. Cooperative Education Following the example of its neighbor ing State of Indiana, the Ohio Farm Bu reau organization has also gotten behind the FERA Adult Recreation and Edu cational program and is helping to put over the program in a great way. Over 10,000 attend the schools every week. Plans are already being laid for still further developments in curriculum out line and study material another year. A cooperative library at their State offices, with a special librarian in charge, has al so been set up and county libraries are being advocated and started. Propose to Take Lead in Promoting Gty Consumers' Cooperatives Mr. A. W. Ricker, Editor of the Farm ers Union Herald of St. Paul, describes the all-too-general attitude of farm or ganization leaders in these words, "It is not our job to organize city consumers, say the farmers." The country-city bar rier is a hard one to break down. Farm organization leaders have in many cases provided only for membership by farmers in their cooperative purchasing associa tions. Now, however, Ohio farmers have taken an outstanding step in advance. They have begun to accept the fact that we are all consumers under the skin, whether we live in the country or city. They have also accepted the interde pendence of country and city groups upon one another and the necessity of direct dealing between farm marketing coopera tives and city consumers' cooperatives. Even more than accepting these basic principles of economic democracy, they have now determined to take definite ac tion to put them into effect. It is not too much to say that the following resolutions which were passed by the Board of Di rectors of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federa tion at its last meeting are historical in the progress of cooperative development: "RESOLVED, that the officers and the staff be authorized to lend assistance and encouragement to the organization of the city consumers' cooperative movement including participation in the organiza tion of a consumers' wholesale society, and be it RESOLVED, that it be recommended to the Boards of Directors of the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the Farm Bureau Mutual Fire Insurance Company that they pro vide special classifications and make available their services to city consumer cooperative groups, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the officers and members of the staff be authorized to serve in such capacities in such city consumers' cooperatives as may be requested of them, provided, however, that at all times such participation shall in no way conflict with either the funda mental objectives of this organization or the effective conduct of our program." It would be hard to add to such a Co operative program as Ohio has under way. When cooperative services in the form of hospitals, recreational, burial and other facilities are added to their present program, it will be possible to supply al most every kind of need in a cooperative way. One can vision a future Cooperative Ohio Beautiful as the fulfillment of such a program. Consumers' Cooperation in Europe The report of the Cooperative Whole sale Society, Manchester, for the 13 weeks ending October 13, 1934, showed an average volume of 1,660,533 .pounds (roughly $6,640,000) per week. This was an increase of 9% over the weekly vol ume for the same period the previous year. Belgian Consumers' Cooperatives have advanced from distribution to production and now operate factories to produce boots, shoes, cocoa, chocolate, jam, pre serves, paints, confectionery, margerine, soap, syrup, hats, vinegar and chicory. The total production to supply the de mand in consumers' cooperatives totaled 18,985,000 francs in 1934. The London Cooperative Society, operating one of the largest retail busi nesses in Great Britain, distributes food through 200 cooperative retail stores, clothing and general merchandise in 50 department stores and maintains its own milk distribution, coal, laundry, shoe re pairing and theatre service. In December 7,000 new members were added in one working week—more than one thousand new members a day. The Federation of Cooperative Socie ties in Czechoslovakia has added three new factories to the productive works at Neratowitz. These include chicory, glu cose and starch factories. The operation of these factories has broken the monop oly on starch production formerly held by a starch trust. The Sixty-seventh Annual Congress of the British Cooperative Movement will be held in Cardiff, Wales, June 8 to 12, 1935. Kooperativa Forbundet, the national cooperative organization of Sweden, now maintains an Architectural Bureau with a full time staff of 56 trained architects who design new buildings, posters, win dow displays, cartons, packages, etc. for the cooperatives throughout Sweden. For this reason the cooperatives in that coun try are distinctive for beauty as well as economy and the cooperatives are known as "businesses saturated with beauty." Recently Professor Gregor Paulsson of the University of Stockholm referred to the Cooperative Architectural Bureau as "one of the leading architectural groups not only of Sweden but of the world." Cooperators in Action Lawler, Minnesota, is approaching a miniature "Cooperative Community Beau tiful." Included in its cooperative enter prises are a cooperative store, creamery, telephone system, oil station, credit union, and cooperative community hall. Glenn D.Roberts, law partner of the La- rollettes, at Madison, Wisconsin, writes in answer .to our letter, "Our milk cooper ative is getting along fairly well. We are de hvering on an average 950 quarts of ™lk per day which makes us the fourth da"T in the city." The Consumers' Cooperative Associa tion, with headquarters in North Kansas City, Mo., has launched a Five Year Plan of Cooperative Education and Coopera tive Business which calls for an increased line of commodities for distribution; the cooperative manufacture of certain com modities now distributed When the vol ume of sales is large enough to warrant manufacture; a long range educational program and a membership drive with a goal of 500 member societies and 168,000 individual members by January 1, 1940. 86 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION According to a report of the Farm Credit Administration, 141 Federal Cred it Unions have been organized in 28 states. These are in addition to coopera tive credit unions incorporating under state laws. The Consumers Mutual Milk Delivery Association in Seattle has been operating since the middle of last September and up to the close of 1934 made a total sav ing of $200 which was paid out to the members as patronage dividends. The Drama Department of the North ern States Women's Cooperative Guild, Superior, Wis., has available a coopera tive play called "The Answer" by Ellis Cowling. This three act play won the $50 first prize in a recent play competi tion, has a cast of 13 characters and is available on a small royalty basis. Frank Yetka, for many years attorney for the Cloquet Cooperative Society of Cloquet, Minn., and director of the Northern States Cooperative League, has been appointed Insurance Commissioner for the State of Minnesota. The Northern States Women's Co operative Guild celebrated International Women's Day March 8th with special meetings and Women's Day editions of the Cooperative Builder and the Finnish Cooperative Weekly. The Workmen's Mutual Fire Insur ance Society, (formerly the Workmen's Furniture Fire Insurance Society) had an increase in membership of 2,416 in 1934 bringing the total membership to 65,681 with a members' insured value of $82,- 778,345.00 as of Dec. 31, 1934. This co operative reincorporated during the year to enable it to be licensed in states other than New York, and to enlarge its field to include dwelling insurance as well as furniture fire. FOUR NEW CREDIT UNIONS A DAY Roy F. Bergengren, Director of the Credit Union National Association re ports that 94 credit unions were organ ized in the United States between the first and twentieth of March, more than four a day. Credit Unions are local organiza tions O'f individuals interested in pro viding credit for themselves on a coopéra. tive basis rather than paying exorbitant prices to loan Sharks for this service. La bor unions, cooperatives, postal clerks industrial employees in large industries teachers, farmers and parish groups—or ganizations of people with common in terests who are in a position to know each other personally—have organized for this purpose. They provide their own credit to meet such emergencies as sickness, ac cident, childbirth, and to finance install ment buying and other short term credit needs. More than 3000 credit unions have already been organized in this country. • NEW COOPERATIVE SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTHWEST Local Cooperative Schools are under way in several sections of Missouri, Kan sas, Nebraska and Colorado as part o[ the Five Year Business and Education Plan of the Consumers' Cooperative As sociation (formerly Union Oil Coopera tive). The first District Cooperative School was held in North Kansas City January 21-28. The students at this school have undertaken to conduct schools in their home communities to spread further the knowledge of cooperative history, principles and methods of operation and to discuss consumers' cooperation as it affects national recovery. Schools are being conducted from Warrensburg, Missouri, to Burlington, Colorado, with attendance ranging from 50 to 75 persons in each local school. • CO-OPS MOVE FROM THIRD TO SECOND PLACE IN GASOLINE DISTRIBUTION IN MINNESOTA Gains Made in Spite of Price Wars Cooperatives have moved into second place in gasoline distribution in Minne sota with only one private company lead ing the co-ops in volume of gasoline sold according to a preliminary report by the State Oil Inspector of Minnesota pub lished in the March issue of the Midland Cooperator. The cooperatives increased their sales volume more than 5J/^ million gallons in 1934 to bring total sales to 29,828,333 gallons for the year. The co-ops registered 18.8 per cent of the sales gains lor the year and a total of more jiprïUffl seven per cent of the total state gal- îônage. In 1933 only two of the older major companies were ahead of them. These gains, according to the Midland Cooperator, were made despite numerous price wars throughout the state and ex treme, drouth conditions affecting the farmer members or associations in the western part of the state. LABOR-CONSUMER CONFERENCE More than 200 chairmen of local un ions, organizers and business managers and'educational directors of the Interna tional Ladies' Garment Workers' Union gathered in New York April 6 for a con ference on "Defending the Worker as a Consumer." "With prices soaring more than ever—with the cost of living 34.2% above that of two years ago workers are realizing that it is not so much What we earn as what our wages will buy that is important," said Mark Starr, Educational Director of the ILGWU in calling the conference. Dr. Colston Warne, professor of eco nomics at Amherst College, Charles E. Sinnegan of the New York Trade Union Label League, E. R. Bowen, General Secretary of The Cooperative League, and E. J. Lever, president of Cooperative Distributors, discussed possibilities of de fending the worker as a.consumer under the existing order and the necessity of or ganizing cooperatives to build a new eco nomic order if the worker as a consumer is to be able to use the things he has pro duced. COOPERATORS' LIFE ASSOCIA TION HOLDS FIRST CONGRESS The Cooperators' Life Association, or ganized by the Northern States Cooper ative League to provide life insurance on a cooperative basis in Minnesota, held its First Annual Congress in Minneapolis, March 5th. T. A. Eide, secretary of Franklin Cooperative Creamery was elected president of the organization to succeed Frank Yetka who was recently appointed Insurance Commissioner for the State of Minnesota. Other officers elected were Arne Halonen, Secretary, A. J. Herbolsheimer, Medical Director, and V. S. Petersen, Treasurer. The Board of Directors elected at the Congress include: Joseph Flor, Franklin CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 87 Cooperative Creamery, Wm. Boie, Land O'Lakes Creamery, Paul Lambert, Farm ers Union Central Exchange, V. S- Alan- ne, Northern States Cooperative League, Jack Heino, Central Cooperative Whole sale, Ilmar Kauppinen, Workers' Mutual Savings Bank, Ed Sivula, Farmers' Co operative Society of Little Swan, John B. Vandenmyde, Kanabec County Coop. Oil Association, and Nestor Lahti, Cloquet Cooperative Society. Cooperators' Life Association was granted its charter October 2nd, 1934, • SURVEY SHOWS 49 COOPERA TIVES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES Reports from 102 colleges and univer sities in the United States in answer to a questionnaire mailed late in 1934 indicate that there are 49 cooperative purchasing organizations in American colleges. Co operative bookstores led the list with 21 colleges reporting the successful opera tion of such organizations. Harvard Uni versity with an annual business of over $150,000 had the largest volume with similar institutions at Princeton, Vassar, Cornell, University of Washington, Uni versity of California at Los Angeles and fifteen other colleges. Seven universities reported the success ful operation of faculty cooperative buy ing clubs. Eight cooperative cafeterias or lunch rooms are in operation. Seven co operative housing projects and six mis cellaneous cooperatives including gaso line, coal and grocery cooperatives as well as buying clubs were reported in answer to the questionnaire. The Univer sity of Washington Students Coopera tive Association last year saved its mem bership of 56 more than $5,000 in living expenses and has enlarged its membership this year and undertaken the operation of eight cooperative houses. In 24 colleges courses in the economics of consumption are taught in which Con sumers' Cooperation is discussed as an efficient method of distribution. The ques tionnaires were filled out in most in stances by professors of economics and sociology who are teaching the courses discussed. The majority of these edu cators requested bibliographies of litera ture on consumers' cooperation and five subscribed directly for the national maga zine as a result of the survey. 88 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION April, NEW ENGLAND COOPERATOR TO ADVISE ORGANIZATION OF CO OPERATIVES BY THE TVA. The Tennessee Valley Authority has definitely undertaken the organization of consumers' cooperatives in the area of the New Deal's greatest experiment under the direction of Tennessee Valley Asso ciated Cooperatives. Waldemar Niemela, former manager of the United Coopera tive Society of Quincy, Massachusetts, has been engaged as special cooperative adviser and will have supervision of the organization of consumers' cooperatives in the territory under the jurisdiction 0( the TVA. Mr. Niemela has had a I0n' ' record of valuable service to the coopéra I tive movement in New England and Me% ' York, and as a Director of The Coopéra, tive League. He was for ten years man ager of the United Cooperative Society 0( Maynard, and served for two years as manager of the Cooperative Trading j\s. sociation of Brooklyn, N. Y. • A one hour 'motion picture of last year's trip to Cooperative Europe is now avail able through The Cooperative League. Consumers' Cooperation in Current Literature The New Republic, March 20 contains an article by Meyer Parodneck, director of last year's Cooperative Tour on "Con sumer's Cooperation in Europe." The American Observer, published in Washington, D. C., by the Civic Educa tion Service, featured an article in its is sue of March 25 describing the operation of consumers' cooperatives and discussing at length the growing importance of co operatives in America. The February issue of Economic Jus tice, Bulletin of the National Religion and Labor Foundation, was largely devoted to an article by E. J. Lever, President of Cooperative Distributors, on "Consumers Blaze a New Trail" in which he outlines the principles and underlying practices of consumers' cooperation. The Machinists' Monthly Journal for March carried an article on "Consumers' Cooperative Associations and Clubs" and the Brotherhood of Railway Firemen's and Enginemen's Magazine featured its regular page on cooperatives. In the student realm, the Student Out look, organ of the Student League for Industrial Democracy, published in the February edition "Consumers Battle Ex ploitation" by Wallace J. Campbell. The Intercollegian and Far Horizons printed in its March of Events for December a story of the operation of the Students Co operative Association at the University of Washington. Rev. James D. Wyker described in an article in the March issue of The Chris tian Community cooperative experiment in education conducted recently in Ohio. • THE NATIONAL BEING, (AE), George W. Russell, MacMillan Co., New York. $1.75. The strangest but perhaps the most beautiful combination of gifts bestowed upon man were vested in George W. Russell, better iknown as AE, the poet- economist of Ireland. Sir Horace Plunkett, the pioneer in the organization of rural Ireland drafted the young poet to serve as the secretary of the Irish Agricultural Society during, and for many years after, the World War. From the experiences of his position fostering the practical organi zation of cooperatives in rural Ireland, AE has drawn the insight into the phi losophy of the movement so beautifully presented in his little volume The Na tional Being. Economics, long 'known as the dismal science, is transformed into inspirational poetry as George Russell paints in delicate hues the intangibles of the cooperative method and sketches for those with vision the cooperative ideal. Cooperators who are looking beyond immediate economic savings to the more intangible qualities which will arise out of a cooperative civilization cannot afford not to read George Russell's book. Coffi' petitive society has stifled near to death cultural impulses of man which cannot be fully released until we create a democratic economic basis of society. CONSUMERS COOPERATION Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. Eternal as the Unending- Circle- Hardy as the .Evergreen Pine Volume XXI. No. 5 May, 1935 Ten Cents EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS Consumer organization is the key to a power-plenty age. • The Very Rev. Joseph Riesterer, pastor of Holy Trinity parish in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in an address on Credit Un ions declared it is "wiser to help people to help themselves than to make them dependent upon government or other agencies." • Cooperation is not demagogic. It at tacks no individuals. It recognizes that some had to be winners and others losers in an economic system which was built on a speculative foundation. As a whole it matters not whether the winners' or the losers' names are Smith, Jones or Brown. It's the system that's the evil genius and not those who operate the system. • Cooperative promotion and education are not like cooperative business in that definite results can be entered in a col umn and added u;p to make a profit or loss showing. Yet education is the "bread sown on the waters" that produces the business results. A person who buys and sells through his cooperative associations and an em ployee of a cooperative are living the nearest to heaven on earth that is pos sible today. A day's mail received at the office of The Cooperative League nearly always provides thrills. Letters from those with national reputations in America are in termixed with inquiries from "forgotten men." A single mail recently brought letters from such well .known leaders of liberal thought in America as Dr. Henry Pratt Fairchild, author of "Profits or Prosperity," Dr. Arthur E. Holt, Chair man of the Social Action Committee of the Congregational-Christian Church, Henry Goddard Leach, Editor of Forum Magazine, and Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Minister of The Community Church of New York City, all definitely supporting the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. All of these and other out standing Church and School leaders are now advocating Consumers' Coopera tion in addresses and articles. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the pe°Pk' *n voluntary association, purchase and produce 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. E. R. Bowen, Editor. Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Inoperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 90 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION y, 1S35 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 91 Murray D. Lincoln, Secretary of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, writes: "Our development goes on amazingly. The secretary of the Ohio Presbyterian group has asked that I talk at their con ference in June at Wooster. The Congre- gationalist group, meeting in Medina, has likewise requested -that I appear before them. The Association of County School Superintendents has asked that I discuss both our cooperative schools and the co operative program in general. These, I believe, are most significant trends and I am doing my best to keep up with the demand." 8 How much should preachers and pro fessors have to do with the Cooperative Movement, seems to be a question with some. There doesn't appear to be any question raised in Great Britain. The President of the coming annual Congress of the Cooperative Union is a professor and a son of a preacher. Apparently his profession does not disqualify him for one of the highest honors in the cooperative movement in Great Britain. Incidentally he also combines Trade Union and Labor Party experience with his cooperative activities. Dr. Arthur E. Holt, Professor of So cial Ethics of the Chicago Theological Seminary and Chairman of the Social Action Commission of the Congrega tional-Christian Church, long known as an outstanding social religious leader in the Central West, summed up his inter pretation of the cooperative movement in an address before the annual meeting of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association in a most significant manner: First, as compared with other movements which attempt to reform the other fellow, the cooperative movement starts with re forming ourselves; Second, cooperation emphasizes the need of developing wide-spread education co-equal- ly with organization, which is the essence of democracy; Third, cooperation most thoroughly ex emplifies the Christian philosophy of life. Dr. Holt has contributed a valuable addition to the literature of cooperation in the manner in which he has expressed his interpretation. One reason why "co-op" gas stations are able to continue to save members from 10 to 16% is due to the fact that there are at present 156,000 filling sta„ tions in the United States when it is es. timated that 45,000 would adequately serve our needs. 71% of these stations serve only the anti-social purpose of Jn. creasing costs through excess capitaliza„ tion and cut throat competition. 8 Cooperative speatkers and writers should keep constantly hammering on the fact that Cooperation is both an end and the means to that end. Most social think ers of every shade of opinion accept a cooperative economic democracy as the final end. Too many fail to recognize that building cooperative retail, whole sale and manufacturing units is the evo lutionary means to that end and is fat superior to any form of violent revolu tion and dictatorship, either of one man as in Germany and Italy or a minority as in Russia. 8 The Federated Press reports that workers in the J. I. Case Company, farm machinery plant at Racine, Wisconsin, have struck again. A year ago they won increases but most of the increases have been eaten up by the rising cost of living with the result that many men in the shop were forced to get relief to make ends meet. Farmers can't buy and pay for the machines they need. Workers who build farm machines cannot live on the wages they get. What's the answer? There's just one. Farmers must build their own farm machines and eliminate Wall Street control. 8 In the March issue of Consumers' Co operation statistics supplied us by the Manager of the St. Cuthberts Coopera tive Society of Edinburg, Scotland, were given showing that its cost of distributing milk was 3% cents per quart. Now the Federal Trade Commission has released a report covering the Connecticut milk sheds. Dealers' margins ranged from six to seven cents per quart. High rates of dividends on stock and salaries and other compensations of National Dairy Prod' ucts Corporation and the Borden Coffl' pany of more than $180,000.00 per year, account for the doubling of the cost oi distributing milk under the corporation determined to do something about re- method as compared with the cooperative ducing this excessive spread by organ- method. In Madison, Superior, Seattle izing themselves into Consumers' Co- and other cities consumers have recently operatives. War! What For? Profits. THE New York Times which carries on its masthead the slogan, "All the news that's fit to print," evidently did not consider that the cablegram, which has come to light after 17 years of suppres sion and which tells the American people for the first time the cold blooded fact that America's entry into the World War was for the purpose of making profits, was fit news for the American people to read. The Times was one of some twenty leading newspapers which did not carry the text of the cable. In audiences in Minneapolis, Columbus and elsewhere which have been asked how many read the cablegram, hardly a single member of the audience had ever seen it. The following cablegram was sent to President Woodrow Wilson by Ambas sador Walter Hines Page the day after Mr. Wilson had been inaugurated follow ing a campaign on the slogan "He kept us out of war." One month and a day after Mr. Wilson received the cablegram he signed the resolution declaring war. Ex tracts from the cablegram read: "The pressure of this approaching crisis, I am certain, has gone beyond the ability of the Morgan financial interests or the British and French Governments ... It is not improbable that the only way of main taining our present pre-eminent trade posi tion and averting a panic is by declaring war on Germany. "We could keep on with our trade and in crease it, till the war ends, and after the war Europe would purchase food and an enormous supply of materials with which to re-equip her peace industries. "We should thus reap the profit of an un interrupted trade over a number of years, and we should hold their securities in pay ment." As one member of a gold-star family which lost the flower of the family on the deceptive appeal to "Save the world for democracy," I could only wish that every word of this cablegram could be written m blood and read by every American. , Keap the profit!"—how cooperators should hammer home these words in ar ticles and addresses and in personal con versations. It's the only way of spreading the truth about war to all the .people. The commercial newspapers, who suppressed this cablegram, will not do it. Instead, they will lead us into preparedness and another war in order to attempt to make more bloody profits. One editorial now advocates doubling the Citizens Military Training Camps appropriation so that "more young men can be taught the arts of citizenship." As though giving one's life for munitions makers and financiers to "reap the profit" is the "art of citizen- ship." And even if the World War should be appraised only on the side of its com mercial efficiency, it would still have to be counted a business bankruptcy as well as an idealistic failure in preserving democracy. Newspaper headlines on the second day following the first exposure of this cablegram read, "War debts to con- .tinue as international poison." "We won't pay" was the summary of the notes of the debtor nations, our government hav ing collected only .15% of the amount due: 99.85% of the installment due on that day was not paid. Both idealisticaHy and practically we know now that the world war did not pay. We know now that it was fought "for markets and profits." Rumors of another war are now cur rent daily. Shall we be fooled again? Are those parents who have sons willing to sacrifice them again "for profits?" If you haven't a son, whose son do you want to die for you? Why should the next genera tion have to fight the battles for which this generation is responsible if a Avar comes? Grown men should accept their own responsibility. Broadcast the fact that "war is for profits." Do not let idealistic slogans fool you. Oppose its coming again by organ izing cooperatives with greater zeal. They are "the economic foundation of world peace." 92 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION The Consumers' Cooperative Movement in America Is On The Right Track CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 93 RANTING that in America we are far behind many other older coun tries in appreciating the need of organ izing ourselves as consumers because of our seemingly inexhaustible individual opportunities in the past, the more vital question is whether we are now on the right course in our consumer organization development. Most fortunately we have the great advantage of the long experi ence of trial and error in other countries by which to profit. With that hard-won experience as a guide, we should be able to apply the lessons we can learn from other nations to American conditions and develop with far greater rapidity without delays from costly mistakes. The story of the evolution of the ef forts of workers to organize themselves as producers and consumers in Great Britain is told with amazing clarity in the new textbook issued by The Cooperative Union entitled "Cooperation." It should ^fje. Discussed at our Board Meeting 1. We appointed a National Consumers' Co operative Committee to consider the coordination of all forms of cooperative activities such as sup plies, services, insurance, finance, utilities, audit ing, promotion, education, etc. This Committee should be significant in the development of the future organization of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in America. 2. \Ve discussed at length the relationship of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement to all other forms of consumer, producer, political, ethical and educational organizations in America and voted to endeavor to enlist all of them in the promotion of our Movement, of which there are now many en couraging signs. 3. We considered at length the necessity and possibilities of adopting a more definite educa tional program and further expanding The Co operative League organization to include a trained educator. 4. W^e discussed the important question of setting up the finances of The League on a more per manent and uniform basis and increasing the budg et to include a national coordinated educational program. W'hile we are admittedly many years behind in our cooperative development in America, we can be grateful that we have the experience of other older co operative organizations to guide us. Such be the next book on the reading list of every cooperative leader in America Copies were not available until after the recent meeting of The Cooperative League Board of Directors in Chicago jj February. Now that we have had an op. portunity to read this book, it is of great interest and significance to compare what leaders of cooperative business and edu cation in America were considering a> this meeting with discussions and deci sions which have been previously made in the development of the Cooperative Movement in Great Britain. Had all of us who took part in forming our own pro gram of action been fully advised as to the history and experience of our English cooperative friends, we should perhaps have been more clear in our understand ing of what we were attempting to think our way through to doing in our own country. A general comparison will un doubtedly be worth while as the founda tion for future discussions and decisions. British Experience as Described in "Cooperation" 1. Even though a number of cooperative activi ties are already joined together in Great Britqii in the C, W. S., they have likewise found furt&r coordination advisable and accordingly organized in 1932 a joint committee under the name of the Na tional Cooperative Authority, with representatives of the Cooperative Union, Cooperative Whole sale Society, Cooperative Publishing Association, Cooperative Party and Productive Federation. 2. "COOPERATION" describes the course ol evolution of such relationships in Great Britain over the course of their entire history and tie working arrangements which have developed as a result of their experiences, which are of great value to us as a practical guide, 3. The realization of the need of genuine educa tion in addition to promotion and organization lei to the appointment in 1915 of an Advisor of Stud ies, there having previously been "no member ol the staff of the Cooperative Union thoroughly qual; ified to advise in the Movement's educational work 4. In 1911 the Congress of the Cooperative Un ion replaced the old anomalous scale of subscrip tion support by a flat rate of \Yi pence per ns& ber payable by all Cooperative Associations «j gardless of size, which was later increased to ' pence or four cents. a comparison as the above of our ow" evolution with the experience of Grea' Britain indicates that we are not off "J blind byways but are on the right trac* in our thinking and planning. What I Saw in Europe I. H. Hull, General Manager, Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, President, National Cooperatives, Incorporated AS a member of the European Cooper ative Tour in 1934, I visited the birthplace of the cooperative .movement at Rochdale, England. The very humble ness of the store, built to last for cen turies but crude in the extreme, told the story of a sturdy and substantial, though desperately needy group of men that got together ninety years ago to establish the new philosophy and put the Golden Rule into everyday business. A Product of Economic Distress Cooperative associations do not begin in prosperous times or under prosperous conditions. They begin when people are in financial distress and the Rochdale so ciety was no different from others. 1844 was a time when the people got together to think and plan for the future. In their plans the Equitable Pioneers determined to set up an economic democracy under the control of the patron members them selves; they realized their own unfitness to carry on general commercial activities in a successful way, and-as a fundamental requirement for success they determined to carry on an extensive educational pro gram to fit themselves to do more wisely the job which they had up until that time entrusted to trained specialists. Any democracy, whether an economic democ racy or political democracy can only be as wise or as foolish, as good or as bad, as the average intelligence or wisdom of the people who constitute that democracy. In the modern development in Roch dale, three large department stores, co- operators have not lost sight of the need of education. The building, a half-block up the hill on Toad Lane from the Old Weavers' Shop, has been equipped with a library of 16,500 volumes and an enor mous reading room where the members themselves gather to study and improve their own minds and their own culture, ihis has been a fundamental necessity without which the growth and success ful history of the movement would have been entirely impossible. The C. W. S. Today In Manchester about 10 miles from Rochdale, at the headquarters of the British Cooperative Wholesale Society, we visited the giant factory where Co- operators produce everything from furni ture to jam. We visited the C. W. S. bank which does three and a half billion dollars worth of banking business a year; and the Insurance Society where every known type of unknown hazard is being created into a known risk. The educa tional organization, housed in a magnif icent building of its own, publishes pe riodicals, magazines, and literature for distribution to the seven million families who constitute the members of the Co operative Wholesale Society. In Man chester we saw one of their own ships which now sail the seven seas pull into the harbor with a load of wheat. We saw the enormous flour mill where the wheat was being converted into flour, the bakery shops where the Co-op flour was being baked into Co-op bread and bis cuits, and innumerable local stores where they are distributing their own Co-op bread to their own member families. When we went into one of these stores to inquire the price of bread, they told us that they were selling bread for 3%c per pound. When I returned to Indianapolis, right here where the wheat is grown, my wife informed me that we pay 8c a pound for bread. Fitting Supply to Demand To me this was one of the most signifi cant things which we learned. I do not pay 8c a pound for bread, perhaps, be cause the local storekeeper is robbing me, but because the system of distribution is wrong. When the Cooperatives transport the wheat from America to England they do not use twice as many ships as neces sary, but employ only those ships which they need for transportation. When they build and operate flour mills they do not build two or three times as many as they need to take care of the service. They 94 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 95 know what their requirements will be, and they only make preparations to give as much service as is needed to supply their wants. When they build bakeries they do not build three or four times as many bakeries as are needed to produce the bread which they want. When they build their Co-op stores, instead of put ting in three or four grocery stores as we do where only one is needed, they build only as many stores as are needed to give service to the members. This is possible because they build their economics from the point of consumption with a service motive rather than from the point of pro duction with a profit motive. They have a well-measured, known demand and have complete control of their production program. They have fit their production to a known consumption. They can and do fit supply to demand. They are not worried with troublesome surpluses, nor with the hazards of shop idleness in their factories. Servant, Not Master of Mankind The Cooperatives have demonstrated that you can make the law of supply and demand a servant of mankind rather than a frightful monster to be feared, but it can be done only when our economic structure is based upon the consumers' requirements as measured by the con sumers' own organization. My own observations in Europe were all colored by my agricultural back ground. I looked at everything with the eyes of an American farmer, and won dered what effect those great consumer movements were having or could have upon the future welfare of the Indiana farmer. To me the 3J^c loaf of bread meant that the poor people in Great Bri tain with a limited buying power were able to buy twice as much bread with the same amount of money as the poor people in Indianapolis, who have a similar limita tion of buying power. I thought of the ten million families of unemployed and the other millions in this country that have a mere subsistence income, and have not bought all the bread and all the cloth ing that they have needed or wanted for several years. The very fact that our millions of poor people in America can not buy the things that they need and want has been one of the vital factors in building up the surpluses of agricultural products. If we could by some similar scheme have doubled the buying power of the poor people in this country, those people would have bought enough more agricultural products to have gone a lonq way toward wiping out our agricultural surpluses. This added buying would have created a stronger demand for wheat, and that added demand is the one thinq which will give our farmers parity. There is a law of supply and demand, but the word demand does not mean want. It means want plus the ability to pay, ana the want and the ability to pay must be in the same hands, if that individual can demand bread or any other commodity. Buying Power for Those Who Need to Buy What they have done in Great Britain has been to so distribute among the seven million families the earnings of their busi ness and the consequent ability to pay that they have been able to go a long way toward making it possible for the people to buy the things they need. The Britisli Cooperative Movement is the greatest single commercial institution in Great Britain. The earnings of that movement are divided among seven million families. The largest commercial institutions in America in several instances return their entire earnings to a single individual, giving that individual literally an un limited buying power, but we cannot give that individual an unlimited appetite or an unlimited demand. We have devel oped a tremendous buying power in the hands of a few people who could not have wants commensurate with their buying power, while the system in Great Britain has, as in all other Cooperative countries, put that buying power back in the hands of the people who have the wants, mak ing it possible for them to demand and buy the things which our poor people have not been able to demand and buv. Results of Cooperation in Europe At the time of our return to America the buying power of the common people of the British and Scandinavian countries had advanced so much farther than the buying power of the common people in America that they had actually bid good bye to the depression while we were still faced with the problem. In September the - X.rfrial production of Great Britain had turned to 103% of normal. Industrial „reduction in little Japan where they r 15000 active Cooperative Societies, had returned to 139% of normal. Indus trial production in Sweden had returned to 167% of normal, and unemployment in Sweden had been reduced to 1 % of the population. At the same time our own in dustrial production in the United States had only returned to 77% of normal. During -the five depression years the British Cooperatives after having sold their bread to their members for 3^c per pound and after having built up some re serves for the expansion of the business actually returned to their members $600,- 000,000 in cash patronage dividends. The economical system of distribution, plus the actual payment of the $600,000,- 000 has made it possible to put that money baclk into circulation in such a way that the people have demanded all sorts of industrial products and have put industry to work. Certainly no fair- minded person would deny that the eco nomical plan of distribution of products and distribution of wealth have been a vital factor in helping to bring the Eng lish and Scandinavian countries out of the depression and placing their whole economic structure on a more secure and happy basis. The Technique of Democracy Father J. J. Tompkins, Antigonish, Nova Scotia (Editor's Note: The Author of this article is re ferred to by many as the father of the Extension Service of St. Francis Xavier University, Anti gonish, Nova Scotia. More than 900 study clubs have been set up in rural Nova Scotia. The University goes to the people where they are and teaches them what they want to learn. This they believe to be the groundwork of democracy.)' IF we are to build a real democracy, our most serious attention will have to be given to the foundation. We must build from the bottom up and not from the top down. We must, in other words, build on the foundation of the average common- man. Democracy Builds from the Bottom Up The very nature of democracy is op posed to dictatorship, no matter how be nign the dictator. If he is benign he will not be needed. If 'he has to rule by force, it is no longer a question of democracy. Democracy run from the top is not practical first, because vested interests are so powerful that they will render null any plans of a benign dictator; second, if a democracy is so impotent that it has to bnng in a dictator or quasi dictator, its ineptitude will block the best efforts of those who try to help it. Such so-called democracy becomes an easy prey to vested interests and sells out its friends and liberators. The sure builder of democracy will realize that the quickest way of achieving his program is to go down and build up the crowd into fit instruments for putting across its ideals. Any other method of procedure would be like building a foundation on sand. True Leaders are Developed by Great People Let us suppose that some benign dic tator comes along to save democracy so- called. That supposition is not postulated by the idea of democracy. The essence of democracy is that people are intelligent enough to manage their affairs in such a way, that, in case of necessity, the right man appears at the right time and in response to the express will of the people. A leader might come as if from heaven. While this is possible, it ought not or dinarily be necessary in a democracy. The ordinary way is that the people, by intelligent action, throw up the man who is able to do the job. He is appointed and commended to take the lead. It is not a question so much of finding a man on the top to work down, as of getting a people who are in a position to force the appear ance of such a man, from their midst. No man will serve democracy and preserve it unless the free will of a people has forced him to appear. 96 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION May, 193S 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 97 How Can a People Develop Greatness? What are the proper steps to be ta'ken in Canada or the United States of Amer ica to so condition the nation that it can produce or call forth such leaders? The first call is for the exercise of greater intelligence and this can only be achieved by widening the field in which men's minds function. It is a fairly safe principle to assert that a large number of the dominating class in society today are great, because of the fact that they had a chance to function in important fields of human endeavor, rather than by reason of their native ability. In the rank and file of common men today there is to be found just as much brains as among those who run things. The next call, therefore, is for ways and means of organizing the people to ex ploit every possible field within reach and especially the economic field. To use a phrase of John Dewey's the place to be gin is at their own doors and they must learn to act with and for others while they do their own thinking. They must turn their backs on the philosophy of rugged individualism that has left so many of them ragged. Having explored the fields at their own doors, intelligence will be stimulated and they will gradually become great by the things they do. First, by the exercise of intelligence; second, by beginning at its own doors; third, by increasing the scope of its activi ties—these are the legitimate means by which society grew to its present stature. We are not looking primarily for lead ers. What we want is a people. No body of men is worthy of a socially just so ciety unless it is able to merit it by its in telligence and its moral backbone. If they got it otherwise they would not appre ciate it nor long maintain it. Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks It is not yet ten years since we learned through the scientific study and research of Dr. Thorndike and others that the average adult is educationally worthy of his place in the sun. Up to that time we judged what Coriolanus contemptuously called the "musty superfluity," by a rule- of-thumb psychology, and settled the question by dogmatically affirming that old dogs could not be taught new tricks; that they cannot "get" anything new. We did not discover until very recently that "age, in itself, is a minor factor in either success or failure, that capacity, interest, energy and time are the essentials, that adult education suffers no mystical handi cap because of the age of the student." The old saying "Childhood is the time for learning" is being replaced by the new slogan: "The time for learning anything is the time when you need it." It is fundamental that the friends and promoters of cooperation should give serious attention to this new development in the field of education. The experiment only needs to be given a fair trial to con vince one of the vast amount of latent talent and energy that awaits release to be used for the common good. Eastern Cooperators Launch Educational Program John A. Jessup I HE Eastern States Cooperative *• League has launched a program of activities in New York City designed to test and apply new techniques for cooper ative educational and business promotion under urban conditions. The way in which the program was made public is itself significant. At a meeting of Cooperators on March 25, five leaders in as many fields, each told in brief but interesting manner the work his group is already doing. These fields in clude colleges, church organizations, con sumers' clubs among employees, suburban neighborhood buying units, and young .people's groups. To make possible con tinued expansion in these fields the mem- bers of Consumers' Cooperative Services voted to make available additional funds for educational work and the Eastern States Cooperative League plunged id' mediately into the job of building a uni fied program of education. American city dwellers generally d° not have the neighborhood interest which holds consumers of smaller communities aether. This fact has long stood as a stumbling block in developing retail co- peratives in the big centers of popula tion. The Eastern League's new program takes this essential difference into ac- ount and plans to build on the basis of Groupings which are natural. It faces very frankly the fact that new forms of co operative distribution, or at least new adaptations of old forms, may have to be developed to carry urban Cooperation forward. Three Agencies for Action Activities center in three agencies: 1. An Eastern Cooperative League Metropolitan Extension Committee has been set up to assume direct charge, un der the League, of the local program, to coordinate the activities of all interested elements, and to initiate new cooperative expansion. M. E. Arnold, General Man ager of Consumers' Cooperative Services, is Chairman. 2. The League's Educational Depart ment, headed by Robert L. Smith, acts as a clearing house and administrative cen ter for cooperative education through numerous channels. A speakers' bureau schedules Cooperators to carry the story of Consumers' Cooperation to any meet ing in the Greater New York area that may produce the nucleus of new cooper ative endeavor. This may be a labor un ion, a mothers club, a socialist club or other liberal or radical group, a young people's conference, a business group, or an economic forum sponsored by a city church federation. These engagements are followed up with additional meetings, where interest warrants, and aid in or ganizing discussion groups, study classes, buying clubs or consumers' societies. Pamphlets, course outlines and other written educational material are being prepared under League direction by ca pable writers and educators within the cooperative Movement. 3. The Eastern Cooperative Whole sale, close affiliate of the League, not only acts as purchasing agent for many com modity needs of old and new groups but is giving technical assistance to research committees studying new forms of dis tribution. Cooperative Distributors, with consumers' unions in the major cities of toe country but with headquarters in New York City, is assisting in the tie-up of cooperative education and cooperative business. The Workmen's Mutual Fire Insurance Society, Consumers' Coopera tive Services, Amalgamated Cooperative Apartments and other Eastern cooper ative societies are also cooperating in this program. From an educational meeting the new cooperator can turn at once to cooperative purchasing. Coffee, milk, tires, shirts, socks, cosmetics, meals, in surance and apartments can be purchased at once in established cooperatives, and Buying Clubs or Consumers' Unions offer the possibility of collective bargaining as consumers for products privately pro duced. Mr. L. E. Woodcock, Secretary of the Eastern States Cooperative League heads this work. Concrete Results One instance will indicate the essential lines along which the educational pro gram is working. In the historic Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, Rev. Laurence T. Hosie, pastor, recently invited progressive ministers and lay leaders in the metropolitan area to a Con ference on Consumers' Cooperation. So far as known, it was the first such meet ing called in New York City to bring to gether religious leaders to discuss ways in which church people, as individuals and groups, can support and promote the cooperative movement. These concrete results have since been traceable to that gathering: A six weeks' discussion course on Con sumers' Cooperation attended by 30 to 40 young church leaders. Getting Coopera tion on the programs of several large church conventions where hundreds have heard of the movement for the first time. Numerous requests for speakers. The development of a study course on Co operation especially adapted to small groups of church young people. New sup port for existing cooperative business so cieties in the city. A second similar con ference on Cooperation in Brooklyn by a church federation of that Borough, and organization of several buying clubs by church groups and the projection of more. Similar programs are being planned by the Eastern League through Labor Un ions and New York's liberal organiza tions. 98 CONSUMERS' COOPERA-i'ÏON 2935 Farmer-Bankers Take Over Rural Finance E. K. Augustus, Manager, Ohio Farm Bureau Agricultural Credit Corporation 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 99 (Editor's Note: This article was requested from the Ohio Farm Bureau Agricultural Credit Corpo ration in order to place before cooperative leaders elsewhere the possibilities of further extension of cooperative activities in the field of finance.) LONG a believer in that venerable economic maxim, "He who finances a business controls it," the Ohio Farm Bureau has been see'king in recent years to place the reins of rural finance in the hands of the man most logically suited to guide them: the Ohio farmer. Toward this end, the Farm Bureau incorporated the Farm Bureau Agricultural Credit Corpo ration in April, 1931, under a law which allowed it to discount farmers' notes through the Federal Intermediate Credit Bank. At that time, capital stock amounting to $25,000 was invested by the Farm Bureau organization. Bonds .purchased with this money were deposited as collateral for loans to be made as the corporation got under way, the interest from these bonds naturally reverting to the corporation. Under the terms of the law, the organiza tion was allowed to discount notes up to ten times the amount of capital stock. Actually, however, this ratio was limited by the Federal bank to a ratio of 4-8 to 1. (The number of times discounting is al lowed varies obviously with the type of loan submitted, and with the manner in which the individual credit group handles the loan and maintains its good stand ing.) Cooperative Credit This credit program provides a corpo ration which is owned and operated en tirely by farmers. It is a cooperative in the best sense of the word, all capital stock being owned by its members who are entitled to share in the patronage dividends. It is significant to note here that the farmer not only handles all the voting stock, but the capital stock as well. The first loan was made late in the fall of 1931 after a trained farmer-appraiser and inspector had been appointed in practically every county of the state, and a county credit committee of two Farm Bureau members had been set up in each township to provide a source of confi dential information about the credit risk of local applicants. Since the motivating purpose of the project has always been to place the pocketbook of rural finance in the hands of the farmer, and in view of the fact that corporation officials regard such action as one of the best and most-feasible solutions to the myriad problems facing agriculture today, the organization has sought to keep itself entirely a farmers' venture. Farm Needs—Not Financier's Profit This program provides the farmer with a source of money for working capital of fering terms in line with all his needs. A note may be discounted which does not mature for from 9 to 12 months with the privilege of one or two renewals under favorable circumstances. Formerly, local baniks supplied credit in short term notes of from 30 to 90 days. A term of such duration is disadvantageous to the farmer in a number of ways. In the first place, he is largely dependent upon seasonal activi ty and climatic conditions. Secondly, most of his produce has to be raised, reaped, and marketed over a period of three or four months. And lastly, since the quantity and quality of his crops can never be specifically determined before hand, he encounters a difficulty which the manufacturer, with his definite number of production units, never meets. The corporation also provides lower interest rates than are available through most local bariks because of its coopera tive set-up. Organized on a theory of service rather than profit, and distributing its funds on the most economical basis possible, interest rates have been lowered appreciably. Because of its affiliation with the gen eral Ohio Farm Bureau organization and its thousands of members, the company has been able to demonstrate to the fed' eral bank that it can make and collect loans and keep in touch with borrowers even though it covers the entire state of Ohio. It has shown also that county man- aqers, handling the Farm Bureau's Co operative Purchasing and Marketing, can tie the credit program in with their other duties with a minimum of effort. These county men know the customers, their farms and their finances, and they con stitute the best possible field agents for the credit association. Since this idea for a new form of agri cultural finance solidified into a strong, effective organization four years ago, loans have been made in 77 of the state's 88 counties, reaching a cumulative total of approximately $600,000. Only two losses, amounting to less than $600 have been sustained, a fraction of less than one tenth of one per cent. The success of this cooperative credit venture has a more than immediate sig nificance. It means more than the mere rendering of financial assistance to a group of Ohio farmers. It demonstrates beyond any doubt the possibility of co operative credit offered over a wide area to a large group of people. It points to a new day for rural finance, and a time when the purse strings of agriculture will be controlled by that most logical of per sons: the American farmer. Great Things Are Happening in Consumers' Cooperation in America IT isn't just the fact that the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in America is growing at a constantly accelerated speed in the United States, it's the fact that it is doing it after five years of the greatest depression ever known, which makes the news of what's happening in the cooper ative world so significant. The last quar ter of 1934 and the first quarter of 1935 have marked unusual progress. After a year when a new retail cooper ative was added to its membership every week on the average, the Union Oil Com pany Cooperative of North Kansas City, Missouri, changed its name to Consumers Cooperative Association to correspond with its plan to enter fields other than petroleum products alone, announced a five year plan of progress and inaugu rated the plan with a series of Coopera tive Schools. The Farmers' Union State Exchange of Omaha celebrated its twenty-first birth day by opening a new $150,000 building, all paid for without a dollar of bank or government indebtedness. Midland Cooperative Wholesale of Minneapolis is promoting the wider ex pansion of Cooperative Automobile In surance and has opened a branch at Mil waukee. Central Cooperative Wholesale of Su perior has moved into a four-story buil'd- ™? .formerly owned by a private-profit wholesaler. if v Farmers Union Central Exchange of St. Paul is now building a new $100,000 building which will not only be a ware house and office but will house an oil compounding plant as well. A training institute for employees to more efficiently fill their positions has just been concluded. As a result of two years of cooperative schools, Indiana is fast becoming con sumer-conscious. With the support of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso ciation a new law providing for the or ganization of rural electrical cooperatives has been passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation has promoted a State-wide program of co operative schools, has started an inten sive drive for the organization of credit unions in every county, is making plans for rural cooperative electrification and has passed resolutions announcing its in tention to take the lead in the organiza tion of consumers cooperatives among city as well as farm residents. The Eastern States Farmers Exchange of Springfield, Mass., has added a $300,- 000 extension to its mills at Buffalo all of which was paid for out of accumulated savings through cooperative purchasing. Another cafeteria has been added to make eleven in the chain owned by the Consumers Cooperative Services of New York City. At a stockholders' meeting 100 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 1935 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 101 held recently it was unanimously voted that the organization would get behind a drive for the organization of study clujps and cooperative associations of all types in the greater New York area. The press and platforms of church, school, political, farm, labor and profes sional groups are now giving a signifi cantly increasing place to the Consumers' Cooperative Movement generally over the United States. It is being recognized that permanent recovery lies in the exten sion of the principles of freedom and jus. tice on which American political democ racy was founded to the organization o( an economic democracy, and realization that consumers' cooperative purchasing and production is one of the evolutionary means to that end. Cooperators in Action International News The official magazine of the Japanese cooperative movement has reached a total paid up circulation of almost a mil lion copies a month. Articles by Toyohiiko Kagawa, the great cooperative leader ap pear regularly in its columns. The Cooperative League of Japan ex pects 10,000 delegates at the Annual Co operative Congress in May. More than 6,000 delegates attended the convention last year. Of the one million shops in England, Scotland and Wales twelve hundred are run by cooperators. The "coops" do a little over 12% of the retail trade in the United Kingdom. Twelve one thou sandths of the stores do twelve one hun- dredths of the business. The average co operative therefore does ten times the volume of business of the average private profit store. "Cooperation may not be a New Deal; its principles are as old as Christianity. But it is the Best Deal yet offered to the workers everywhere," so said Mr. Arthur Pickup, CWS director and president of the 1934 Cooperative Congress, in an ad dress at an opening meeting of Propo- ganda Fortnight. The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain has had tariffs, unjust taxation and restrictive production and marketing schemes choked down its throat long enough to start a reaction. These schemes advocated for distributing purchasing power, which were only subterfuges for perpetuating capitalism, have now ex ploded and the Cooperative Movement has been proven right in its opposition. As a result, the Cooperative Union has now decided that the time is ripe to enter upon an intensive campaign to educate the people to the general attack on the standard of life which is being made by the National Government. "Cooperative women are leading against war," says Fred Longdon in The Cooperative News. They are not simply talking against war but are organizing for peace, which is far more important. Opposition to war will have little effect until the profit reason for war is removed by substituting cooperation for competi tion in our economic system. The Republic of Columbia has recent ly passed a law under which consumers' cooperative societies are considered by the national, county and municipal au thorities as the regulators of prices in the districts in which they distribute goods. Accordingly they have the right to be consulted and represented on all organi zations which provide foodstuffs. In the same way, the Credit Cooperatives are considered by the law as organizations regulating the rate of interest on capital in districts where they exist. They have the right to be consulted on every ques tion which concerns the regulation of credit, and of being represented at all of ficial inquiries into the problems of credit. The Columbian Government evidently regards the cooperative movement in its several branches as an organization which should serve as a model to all other forms of organization as an element of order and planned progress exercising a beneficent influence in the general an archy of industry and commerce. 2100 farmers went to school in Penn sylvania in February to learn what "co op" farms supplies mean in terms of qua lity and service. Cooperative purchasing in the Pacific Coast States totaled $26,000,000 in 1933 and 1934 according to the Cooperative Division of the Farm Credit Administra tion. The main Summer Institute of the Northern States Cooperative League at Maple Plain, Minnesota, will be extended to cover twelve days instead of one week as in previous years. The institute will be held from June 11 to 22 at a total cost for food, lodging and tuition of $18 for the 12 day session. The Grange Cooperative Wholesale, with headquarters in Seattle has an nounced the opening of three new co operatives in the Pacific Northwest. Cooperator follows cooperator in Carl- ton County, Minnesota. Frank Yetka, member of the board of directors of the Northern States Cooperative League was appointed Insurance Commissioner for the State of Minnesota. Rudolph Rautio, Cloquet, also a member' of the board of NSCL stepped into Yetka's position as County Attorney in Carlton County. Cooperation is not only "in the air" it's on the air. E. R. Bowen, General Secretary of The Cooperative League spoke to a New York and New England Audience over station WNEW and the Yanlkee Network of NEC Saturday evening, March 30 as one of the speakers on the National Religion and Labor Foundation series. Robert L. Smith, As sistant Secretary of the Eastern States Cooperative League spoke over a coast- to-coast hook up of the Columbia Broad casting System April 17 as one of the featured speakers of the National Student Federation Broadcasts. Mr. Smith's talk dealt with college and national organiza tion of consumers' cooperatives was and entitled "Joe College as Consumer." Mrs. James P. Warbasse represented The Cooperative League in a discussion of The Cooperative Movement on the Na tional Broadcasting Company's coast-to- coast chain May 2. The broadcast was one of the L. I. D. series arranged by the Economics Division of the Committee on Radio in Education. Two hundred and fifty religious lead ers attended the First Brooklyn Confer ence on Religion and Consumers' Co operation in Brooklyn, New York, April 2. Among the speakers were, Dr. Horace M. Kallen, Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, E. J. Lever, President of Cooperative Dis tributors, and John A. Jessup, Educa tional Director of Consumers' Coopera tive Services. Saturday and Sunday, April 6 and 7, marked a notable week-end for the coop erative movement in New York City. On Saturday afternoon, under the leadership of Mark Starr, who grew up in a Co-op home and lived on a "divi" in Great Britain, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union held a four hour confer ence on "The Consumer" and considered what Trade Union Members might do to organize their purchasing powers as they formerly had organized their producing powers. This was the first consideration given to the Consumers' Cooperative Movement by leaders of a national labor group in recent years. This conference was followed on Sunday morning with the presentation of the subject of Con sumers' Cooperation by Dr. Horace M. Kallen in John Haynes Holmes Com munity Church. Readers of the New York Times also found a full column story about the growth of Consumers' Cooperation as the first headline on the business IDEAS WANTED The Cooperative League wants sug gestions, with sketches in pencil, pen or brush, for the illustration on the 1936 Cooperative League calendar. We will pay $10 for the best suggestion and sketch which may be selected by the judges from those submitted not later than May 30th. 102 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION May- 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 103 INDIANA COOPERATIVE IN CREASES SALES $1,000,000 The Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association did a wholesale volume of farm supply business of $3,225,827 dur ing 1934 as compared with $2,218,424 in 1933^-an increase of $1,007,403 for the year. Profits in farm supplies have been eliminated in gasoline, kerosene, oil, fer tilizer, insecticide, seed, feed, tankage, machinery, binder twine, coal, paint, ce ment and fencing. Other lines of goods are being added as the cooperative proves successful with new commodities. CLOQUET COOPERATIVE RE PORTS MORE SALES AT LESS EXPENSE One of the stimulating days of every year of The Cooperative League's history is when we receive the annual report of the Cloquet Cooperative Society of Clo- quet, Minn. The 1934 report has just ar rived. Look at these figures: 1934 1933 Net Sales $736,907.63 $566,005.92 Gross Margin and Other Income 14.42% 15.15% Total Expense 10.20% 10.60% Net Income 4.22% 4.56% In the cooperative movement we do not think in terms of individual competi tion but of mutual comparison. Cloquet has set another high mark to compare with as to the possibilities of cooperative development. Members of the Cloquet Cooperative Society save in two ways: first, in the original prices they pay as shown by the small gross margin or mark-up and, second, in the final per centage of net income which they receive as patronage dividends or set aside as surplus for further expansion. COOPERATIVE MEDICINE Dr. M. Shadid, Director o:f the co operative Community Hospital of Elk City, Oklahoma, writes that the success of the hospital has been phenomenal. However he would like to have the re actions of other cooperators to a plan they are considering whereby each stock holder will pay $25.00 each year for free examinations, treatments, surgical opera tions, room, board and nursing for his family and that he will lose his $50 share of stock if he defaults in his yearly pay ment after a grace period of one yea The plan is proposed in order to keep aii members actively supporting the hospitai It would produce a steady income and if a stockholder dies, moves away or de cides to quit either his snare would be sold to another or the association \vj]i own it. Write Dr. Shadid if you have any comments to make. The success of this cooperative hospital should lead to others being organized all over the country as has been done in Japan and in other countries. 53 RETAIL CO-OPS SHOW MIL LION DOLLAR GAIN IN 1934 The Central Cooperative Wholesale Auditing department reports from 53 re tail store audits so far completed show total sales for 1934 of $4,500,000, which is nearly $1,000,000 more than the cor responding sales in 1933. None of the stores audited showed losses in spite of the intensity of the economic depression through which they have been passing. The Central Cooperative Wholesale it self enjoyed a 31.36% sales increase for the last year resulting in a total net gain, which in private business would have gone to private capital, of $31,696 from its operations. H. V. Nurmi, General Manager of the Wholesale, in commenting on these fig ures said that current sales were running 17 to 18 per cent more than last year's increases, estimated that the trade of the Wholesale would exceed $2,000,000 in 1935 and that retail sales would make a similar increase. OHIO FARM BUREAU ORGANIZES COOPERATIVE LIBRARY A complete cooperative library sub scribing to 160 different magazines is now one of the chief features of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's offices in Co lumbus, Ohio. Many of the magazines deal with cooperative subjects, and are usually acquired through an exchange system with the organization's official publication, The Ohio Farm Bureau News, The library already has over 300 books, ranging from agricultural reports to volumes on cooperative history, pr°9" ress and possibilities. A special appro priation of $1000 has just been voted tor additional books, pamphlets, and maga- Farm Bureau also advocates sim ilar local libraries for its county coopera tive associations and organizations. While the number of books and maga zines could not be as large as that at state headquarters, Farm Bureau officials feel that there is a pressing need at the present time for such a department in every re tail cooperative association. CO-OP OIL MAY LUBRICATE IN- TERNATIONAL RELATIONS America's part in building an economic foundation for world peace ^became a reality in the midst of the year's greatest war scare. While Hitler brandished the sword over Europe, the first international shipment of cooperative oil left North Kansas City consigned to cooperatives in the little country of Estonia. Negotiations between the cooperatives in Estonia and American cooperatives for the purchase of oil began last August when Howard A. Cowden, President of Consumers' Cooperative Association at tended the Congress of the International Cooperative Alliance in London. On March fifth sixty-six barrels of co-op oil were shipped to Estonia. In the face of tariff barriers, high shipping charges for 4000 miles of water transportation and the inefficiency of small quantity ship ments the cooperatives are able to com pete successfully with large private profit oil companies. National Cooperatives, Inc., with which the Consumers Cooperative Asso ciation is affiliated became a member of the International Cooperative Wholesale Society in March and is now in a position to carry on international trade with co operatives in twenty seven countries which are also affiliated with the I. C. W. S. The total export by member or ganizations in the association was in ex cess of $200,000,000 in 1932. International trade has traditionally been a stumbling block to international peace because nations seeking to protect the private profit of business concerns have engaged in dollar diplomacy result ing in commercial wars. Business in the interest of the ultimate consumer, without Profit, promises to eventually bring about an international basis for cooperative ac- "on rather than conflict. A TRIP TO COOPERATIVE EUROPE Are you going to Europe? If you go to Europe will it be to visit the battle fields where youth of the world gave their lives in a mistaken effort to "Make the World Safe for Democracy" or will it be to the countries in Northern Europe where people are living their lives to build an economic democracy? The itinerary of the Second Annual Eu ropean Tour sponsored by The Coopera tive League has been completed. The co operative party will leave New York Fri day, July 19, visit outstanding coopera tives and other places of interest in Scot land, England, Denmark, Sweden, Fin land and Russia and return once more through England arriving in New York September 10. The complete cost of the tour, includ ing Tourist class passage eastbound and Third class westbound, transportation abroad, lodging in good hotels, meals, tips for standard service, rail journeys in cluding sleepers, etc., is $455.00 for the seven week tour. Cooperative leaders who intend to take the trip this year are urged to get in touch with Meyer Parodneck, Director of the Tour, 1270 Broadway, New York City. • SOUTHWEST TO BE TAUGHT COOPERATION IN SCHOOLS The Co-op School idea has now taken root in a real way in the Southwest. The Consumers' Cooperative Association of North Kansas City, Missouri, under the leadership of Oscar Cooley, head of the Education Department, started a series of one week Cooperative Schools during the latter part of March. Mr. Cooley is being assisted by Mr. A. W. Warinner, Secretary of the Central States Coopera tive League, and Mr. Wilbur Leather- man, who attended the first cooperative school at North Kansas City. In addition to these special Co-op Schools conducted by the Consumers' Cooperative Association at different points over the territory they serve, the Kansas Farmers Union have gotten be hind the FERA School program in Kan sas. The training institute for teachers was held at Manhattan at the Kansas State Agricultural College the latter part 104 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 1535 of March, followed by local schools over the state. President C. A. Ward of the Kansas Farmers Union reported in the Kansas Union Farmer that there were some 75 men and women teachers being trained at the institute to conduct the local school programs. Thus the co-op school idea, whicn prior to this time had its greatest devel- opment in the states of Indiana and Ohio now spreads to the Southwest, and it jj to be hoped it will likewise take hold in other states before long, as well. Consumers' Cooperation in Current Literature Articles in important publications on Consumers' Cooperation are more than a reflection of rapidly growing interest in the movement. They are your tools for the promotion of the movement. Read them, pass them on to friends and neigh bors, mention them in letters to friends in other sections of the country. Only as people learn about the cooperative move ment can it grow. These articles are al ready at work—give them a bigger job to do. The New York Times, Sunday, April 7. carried a full column article in the business section by Thomas F. Conroy describing the rapid growth of the co operative movement in this country and predicting rapid development in the fu ture. Elimination of unnecessary expense, greater efficiency and avoidance of dupli cation in handling costs were held res ponsible for the growth of the "co-ops." Business Week, a McGraw Hill pub lication covering news in the business world, featured an article on "Consumers Cooperatives" in its April 20, issue. Federation News, the official publica tion of the Chicago Federation of Labor, reprinted an article by Wallace J. Camp bell which formerly appeared in The Railway Clerk as "Labor on the Half March" under the title of "Cooperatives in Social Industry." The Journal of the American Associa tion o£ University Women featured an article by Mary Ellicott Arnold, Man ager of Consumers' Cooperative Services in New York City on "Women in Co operation" in the April issue. An article in The Pacific Christian Ad vocate March 7th discussed the develop ment of the cooperative movement and the interest which religious organizations have manifested in the application of eth ics to the business of providing the neces sities of life possible in cooperative organ, ization of society which are not possible in competitive society. The Epworth Herald, a journal f01 Methodist youth, continued its work to lay the groundwork for a new social or der by printing in the April 6 num'bet "Adventures in Cooperation" a descrip tion of the work of the "Rugged Ex-In- dividualists in the Tennessee Valley" by T. Otto Nail and a feature section on "What We Can Do About Student Co operatives" edited by H. D. Bollinger. The Fellowship, a new publication of the Fellowship of Reconciliation carried an article by E. R. Bowen, General Sec retary of The Cooperative League, in the April number. Mr. Bowen's article was entitled "A New Pacifist Technique." The National Student Mirror for April was almost a consumer number. It in cluded "Consumers Band to Bargain" by Wallace J. Campbell, and an article by Elinor Henry describing the work of the Students' Cooperative Association at the University of Washington. A NEW COOPERATIVE PAMPHLET "A Short Introduction to Consumers' Cooperation" ($.15) by Ellis Cowling has just been published by the Central States Cooperative League. This 48 page pamphlet presents in direct and simpk language an analysis of our present eco nomic plight, some of the reasons for this present chaos, and a short history o- what the Rochdale Pioneers and present day Cooperators have done and can do t« remedy it. Mr. Cowling outlines the pr* ciples upon which are being built tW basis for a cooperative economic democ racy. The pamphlet is available singly0' in quantity lots from Central States o' from The Cooperative League. CONSUMERS COOPERATION Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. Eternal as the Unending Circle- Hardy as the -Bvercreen Pine Volume XXL. No. 6 June, 1935 Ten Cents EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS Cooperators sow the seeds of brother hood with every cooperative purchase. » Professor Paul H. Douglas of the Uni versity of Chicago in an address pub lished in the Journal of Home Economics says, "Another development which we sorely need in this country is a growth in Consumers' Cooperation and in Credit Unions." 9 Cooperators who do not like sales tax es might well consider whether as indi viduals they could not well make more use of their political powers. In the co operative State of Minnesota Governor Olson has vetoed the sales tax. 9 After a trip to Washington, D. C., Mr. A. W. Ricker, Editor of the Farmers Union Herald of St. Paul who says he became disillusioned over political action as a young man, reports to nis readers that to him "that building being com pleted at South St. Paul to house our cooperative enterprises looks bigger to me than the capital at Washington." In Sweden a group of manufacturers of proprietary articles such as soap, tooth paste, etc., have created a cartel for the purpose of fixing retail prices. The cooperatives .have refused to follow the cartel's -price list, and have been boy cotted. Kooperativa Förbundet, the Cooperative Union of Sweden, lias warned the cartel that it means to sum mon up the whole strength of the Coop erative Movement to counter-attack. Another cartel in that country is in for a "bust," just as the margarine, milling, rubber and electric lamp monopolies have been broken. Mr. J. Liukku, General Manager of the Cooperative Trading Company of Wau- kegan, Illinois, describes in an article in the May 4 issue of the Epworth Herald what the Cooperative Trading Com pany means as a beacon light to lead the way to a Cooperative Economic Democracy: "I don't consider the lower prices and better quality of goods our greatest contribution. I suppose our greatest accomplishment 'has been the n organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need York G m°nthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th St., New ™™' !?owen' Edltor- Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y.. _ under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 106 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, «35 June, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 107 establishment of an experiment station where the relationships between pro ducers and consumers—among the hard est that our civilization has to solve—are being worked out successfully. In the midst of social and economic antagonism between the farmers and their exploiters on the one hand and consumers and profiteers on the other, the small ex periment of our cooperative has been an object lesson. As a great American has put it, the >great thing is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are going. There are some of us who believe that the world is going in the di rection of cooperation, that it cannot go in any other and escape chaos." • We have asked the Cooperative Wholesale Associations for maps show ing the locations of their cooperative oil stations. Mr. I. H. Hull, General Man ager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooper ative Association, sent in a map of In diana and said that we could put a check mark on every county seat except three and that these were affiliated with ad joining counties. This is pretty nearly "full coverage," as advertising solicitors say. • In recent issues of The Christian Century, Kirby Page comes out flat- footedly for Consumers' Cooperation. His emphatic advocacy of the movement will have a powerful effect in America, as he speaks constantly before great groups all over the country as well as being a leading journalist. He states that "the creation of a powerful nation-wide labor movement and a massive con sumers' cooperative movement is impera tively required." • In an article entitled "Impressions of European Cooperation" in the January- February issue of the Cooperative Journal, the magazine of the National Cooperative Council, Washington, D. C., Mr. Howard A. Cowden, President of Consumers' Cooperative Association of North Kansas City, Missouri, sum marizes his conviction of the need for a more definitely organized educational program in the United States. After re ferring to the Cooperative College of Manchester, the 1600 classes conducted by the Cooperative Union attended by 52,000 students, and the extensive cor respondence courses, he says, "I returned convinced that we must plan and carry out similar basic educational work in the United States. This cannot be done ef fectively with an occasional convention or speech, or editorial, or published leaf, let; it can only come through systematic ally planned activity such as our Eur - pean neighbors are carrying out." Dr. Paul T. Cherington analyzes the incentives back of business enterprise in the January, 1935 issue of the American Marketing Journal, "not as expressions of economic theory but from a practical point of view," and finds that while on the whole the following table is ignoble, it is honest. The first four motives for doing business in the groups he observed, he rates as follows: Outwitting a competitor ..... .30% Stealing accounts ........... 15% Meeting or demolishing sales men's rumors ............ 13% Beating some chiseler ........ 10% At the bottom of the list he puts the motive "Carrying out a desire to perform some useful service to society'" but gives this motive no percentage, crediting it only with the word "trace." No wonder the present economic system fails to serve the people, when such motives are its inspiration. • All the red blood there is in the arteries of true Americans ought to boil when reading the "warnings" given the Nye Munitions Investigating Committee that too much restriction must not be placed on profits for fear production might be crippled and America might lose a possi ble future war. Young men who are candidates to be hung up on barbed wire fences or to be mired down in trenches or riddled with machine gun bullets would be hounded as pacifists, slackers and un patriotic if they declared that they would refuse to fight unless they could deter mine the pay they were to receive. It is super-arrogance and effrontery for any ( business leader to suggest that a limita tion of profits to zero would cause pro duction during war time to be curtailed. —————— Dr. Arthur E. Morgan, President of Antioch College and Administrator of the Tennessee Valley Authority, writes for the April 1 issue of Antioch Notes, published by Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio: "American democracy was not created by the American Revo lution, but by a century and a half of self-reliant pioneering. The Revolution merely won recognized status for slowly developed competence in government. Similarly, industrial democracy must be a gradual development. One of the best approaches by which to develop capacity for economic self-direction lies in the dis cipline and experience arising from agri cultural, industrial and consumers' co operatives. For able young men and' women seeking careers and willing to endure the grief which is the price of significant accomplishment, organization and management of cooperatives is a promising field, now largely unoccupied." Who Owns Retail Trade? The Wisconsin Implement Dealer, the official publication of the Wisconsin Im plement Dealers Association, carries in its masthead the slogan, "To the retail dealer belongs the retail trade—at a prof it." In an article discussing Farmers' Co operative Buying the statement is made that "through the farmer's attempt to or ganize cooperative buying associations, he strikes at the very roots of American prosperity." The Dealers Association at tempts to turn the thinking of farmers from cooperative buying i>y saying that producing, marketing and financing are far more important to the farmer than the few dollars he may save yearly through even the most successfully oper ated cooperative stores. As an ethical matter any form of or ganization which society sets up is sub ject to the desires of those whom it is set up to serve. Most implement dealers in the past were farmers. Farm neighbors willingly supported one of their number who entered into business by buying their needs from him. Now farmers are be ginning to question whether they were wise to have allowed private-profit stores to be set up instead of organizing cooper ative stores. They have a perfect right to do so. They challenge the ability of any dealer to support the claim that he has any fundamental right to their trade and to make a profit out of it. The funda mental right is vested in the farmers— not in the dealer. It is to be hoped that the process of Developing cooperative associations by tarmers and others will be completed as little friction as possible. When possible, attempts should be made to buy the dealer out if he will sell at a reason able price. In many cases the dealer may become the manager of the cooperative if he is also willing to learn the cooperative way. From the standpoint of most deal ers, they would be far better off person ally to become the managers or employ ees of cooperative associations than to attempt to continue as private merchants. For most dealers the choice will not be whether they continue as private dealers or become managers. They probably face either becoming managers of chain stores- owned by a few absentee stockholders or managers of cooperative stores owned by their present customers. Between the two choices, no dealer should hesitate long. In fact, some dealers are already begin ning to see the light and are welcoming and assisting in the reorganization of their businesses into cooperatives. One dealer recently wrote, "The independent dealer is doomed by the chains. I, for one, welcome the better cooperative way." And for the information of those who are private dealers, it is well to add that the purpose of organizing cooperatives is not so much to save the retail profits they are making at present which are small in many cases, but the organization of co operative stores is the first step in reach ing back to wholesaling, then to manu facturing and then to the ownership of the sources of raw 'material. In this way it will be possible to recover for the peo ple the entire producing and distributing profits. As this process develops, wastes in competition will be eliminated, qualities of products will be improved, and leisure time and incomes will be increased for all. 108 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 193s June, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 109 KAGAWA, JAPAN'S GREAT COOPERATOR AND RELIGIOUS LEADER, IS COMING TO AMERICA TO MEET COOPERATORS If Pastor Sonne, who started the first Consumers' Cooperative in Denmark, were alive and should come to the United States, the Cooperative Movement in America would do him the utmost of honor. If Professors Hannes Gebhard of Finland or Charles Gide of France could now visit us we would gladly sit at their feet and learn and also use their coming to publicize our Movement in a wide way. We are to have the opportunity of honoring Kagawa of Japan who has been the outstanding promoter of the Coopera tive Movement in his country and, -wj^ his coming and because of his great ap peal, to interest many more in our cause His help is assured by his definite state ment that "a meeting with cooperative leaders would be central in my purpose in coming to the United States." He will arrive in America the latter part of the year. Plans for his itinerary are being made by Miss Helen Topping, his English Secretary, who has aroused such remarkable interest by her stories of Kagawa's life and his writings and ad dresses on cooperation in Japan. TOYOHIKO KACAWA SOCIAL CITY SETTLEMENTS No. 5, 5-chome. Azuma-dori, Fukiai. Kobe. No. 603, 2-Chome, Kami-kitazawa, Setagayaku, No. 7, 3-chome, Shikanjima-dori. Konohana-ku, Osaka. No. 6, 4-chome, Higashikomagata. Honjo-ku. Tokyo Tokyo, Japan, .Fe.hr.Uary. ..14 , ..... 193.5............... Mr. E. R. Bowßn Secretary of the Hatj onal Cooperative teague 16V West 12th Street, New York City Dear Mr. Bowen; I thank you for your letter of January £, and for your cordial expression regarding my addresses and articles regsrding the Cooperative movement In Japan. I also thank you very much for your suggestion that in 1936 you will arrange a meeting vtith various Co operative leaders of the United States for me. Such s meeting ftould be central In rcy purpose In coming to the United States. The Japanese government is interested In my meeting such leaders. I am asked by the government to go also to England and Germany and other European countries to learn all I can about the cooperatives and mu tual aid, and national health insurance also. Please give me some information of the probable date of the meeting with Cooperative leaders In the United States. For even no», Miss Topping is trying to arrange ray dates during the short time I am in America. Very cordially yours, Central Cooperative \Vholesales' New Headquarters in Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Supersedes Private Business (Editor's Note: The Central Cooperative Whole sale of Superior, Wisconsin, celebrated its 18th Annual Meeting by moving into the new four story building pictured here. Perhaps the most dramatic fact about this milestone in their progress is that the building which they have purchased and into which they have now moved was for merly owned by a private wholesaler who at one time refused the Cooperative Wholesale credit, only later to have the Cooperative Wholesale find it necessary to refuse credit to the private whole sale and finally to purchase and move into the building the private concern occupied before it became bankrupt.) "\T THEN an ordinary wholesale moves * * into its own new building the story can be passed without much comment. But when the Central Cooperative Wholesale moved into its new building on January 1, 1935, it meant social prog ress. It was another stepping stone in building the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the United States and at the same time proved that the earnest at tempts of consumers both in rural and ur ban territories to do something for them selves and in building a better system of society, have borne fruit. It is no easy task to build a local Cooperative Society. It requires stren uous efforts of courageous pioneers. But 't has been done in many localities. Some or the existing cooperative stores in the Lake Superior country were started as far back as 1900, many of them by Fin nish, German, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish immigrants as they settled in the towns and farming communities that grew in the wake of the early mining and lumbering industries. Soon some of these cooperatives be came aware of the fact that their power to do things locally was limited. They became also alarmed that in spite of their alertness and willingness to act together, something was wrong somewhere. The death rate among the cooperatives was too high. Why should this be so? Are the consumers so inefficient and ignorant that they cannot run their own business in a successful way? Why was it that the private wholesale houses used many of these cooperatives as a dumping ground for their slow-moving merchan dise items? Why was the financial posi tion of these cooperatives so weak, al though they were run in accordance with the interests of the consumers and not for the purpose of making money for some individual owners? Also it was noted that the personnel in the cooperatives was, to a great extent, very inefficient and that if a manager happened to suc ceed, he often resigned and opened his private store to compete with the Coop erative. "Let's discuss these problems together 110 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 111 and find a way to solve them on the basis of our common experience," said the members in some of the local organiza tions. And thus they decided to call a conference of the cooperatives. The Call is Answered A call was issued to send delegates to a conference to be held in Superior, Wis., on July 30 and 31, 1917. Nineteen cooperatives in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan sent their representatives. This conference was epoch making. The delegates related their sad stories about the difficulties they were facing in regard to buying, bookkeeping, manage ment, and the knowledge of the general membership about the aims of the move ment. The discussion clearly brought out the fact that next only to the cooperative store societies which are the all-im portant foundation of a consumers' coop erative system, the wholesales through which they federate to pool their pur chasing power are of major importance in any successful development of the consumers' movement. The fact that numerous store societies were started by consumers of the same nationality, most prominently by the Fin nish immigrants, seems to have provided the additional element of group con sciousness that was needed to make fed erated cooperative action —• in other words, a Cooperative Wholesale — pos sible at that time. As a result of this con ference, the Central Cooperative Whole sale was started by the group of 15 coop erative stores which were listed as its members and patrons in that year and whose own individual membership at that time did not exceed 2,500. Today the number of member societies is over 100 and their total individual membership is nearly 35.000. A corresponding expan sion has taken place with regard to the economic strength and genera'i activities of the movement. Many of the small stores of twenty years ago are today leading enterprises in their communities. The Cooperative Wholesale, in turn, though it started practically as a one- man office which merely pooled the small orders of the first member societies and sub-jobbed them from private wholesales, today buys approximately $2,000,000 •worth of goods a year for the member stores, owns one of the largest and up-to-date wholesale buildings at the Head-of-the-Lakes, operates its own modern bakery, and lists its net worth at nearly a quarter of a million dollars. From its first year of operation in I9\j when its total sales were but $25,573, Up to the present time the Wholesale has purchased $18,000,000 worth of goods for the local stores whose net savings thereby have amounted to more than $250,000 besides the immediate ad vantages in price, quality and service which they could get in no other \vay except through their own wholesale. Cooperation Pays Nor has this growth of the central or ganization been accomplished through the means of generous financial promo tion so familiar in capitalist business, nor by making it a drain upon the consumers or the modest capital resources of the cooperative stores. Cooperation pays as it goes!—and nowhere is that borne out more clearly than in the building of the Central Cooperative Wholesale. So small and financially incapable of ap propriating any large sums for the pur pose were those first cooperative stores which decided to organize the Whole sale, that the first "capital" raised for the common venture was a collection of $15.50 from the delegates assembled in July, 1917. By the end of the year the store societies had subscribed to a total of only $480 of stock in the Wholesale, and all together up to this time the mem ber societies have not invested in actual cash more than $25,000 in the central or ganization. Instead, the Wholesale has financed itself from its own operations, the member societies for several years permitting their purchase rebates to ac cumulate in the capital fund which now adds up to over $150,000. And all this has been accomplished while providing the member stores with immediate ad- vantages in current prices, quality and service. In its capacity as a general wholesale and buying organization for its membel stores, the Central Cooperative Whole sale already distributes the following main lines of merchandise, many of them under its own CO-OP label: a complete line of groceries, bakery products (from its own bakery), general household sup- nlies, work clothing and underwear, a limited line of women's and children's lothing, rubber footwear and rubber ods, hardware and paints, roofing and other 'building supplies, feeds and flour, oil, gasoline and greases, tires, batteries, etc. Own Label Merchandise The Central Cooperative Wholesale secures most of its goods directly from manufacturers, millers and packers. Merchandise is usually bought under the CO-OP label, in order to get away from private and nationally advertised brands. About 250 items already carry the CO-OP label, most of these in the food line, such as canned vegetables, fruits, milk, cereals, condiments, coffee, etc. Feeds, flour, clothing, roofing material and paints are also important lines one may now have with the Cooperators' own brand. Since the Central Coopera tive Wholesale, together with several other district cooperative wholesales, is a member of the National Cooperatives, Inc. (national wholesale) it also distrib utes CO-OP oil, gasoline, tires, batteries, and allied products. By standardizing on their own CO-OP label through the Cooperative Whole sale, the store societies and their con sumer patrons get away from private monopoly brands. They secure goods bought according to careful specifica tions and the results of quality tests. When the individual buying power of tens of thousands of cooperators is thus centralized through their stores and cen tral buying organization, it is therefore obvious that the Cooperative Wholesale is able to buy goods in large volume, with all the resulting benefits from lower costs, strict regulation of quality, and re liable delivery and other services. The first immediate benefit to the cooperative stores from this centralized buying and standardization upon the LU-OP label is, that while each separate store buys goods only in small lots for it self yet even the smallest of them enjoys the advantages of large volume buying when the Cooperative Wholesale is the central buyer for all of them. This is one ot tne significant advantages that the so cieties patronizing the Central Coopera tive Wholesale have over the inde pendent private stores. From Distribution to Production Over and above the immediate ad vantages in price and quality to the store societies and their individual patrons, this method of centralized buying and standardization upon CO-OP products has another immensely important pur pose. It is the means by which organ ized consumers can reach beyond whole saling into production itself. If the store societies continued to ihandle private la bel goods, they would be only building consumer demand for the goods of pri vate factories and the bigger the demand for such goods the more they would be dependent upon the private manufactur ers for their supply. But when they cen tralize their buying power and create an organized demand for products in large volume through their own CO-OP standard, the cooperative- consumers make it possible for their own wholesale to establish its own factories and packing houses for turning out these goods. This is exactly what the cooperators in the Lake Superior country are already doing with a large part of their bakery goods, for the Central Cooperative Wholesale operates an efficient baking plant of its own. Its own seed, coffee roasting, and fish departments are productive projects planned for the near future. This is the logical course of develop ment for the cooperatives in this country, the same as in Europe where many of the national movements are already exten sively engaged in not only distribution, but in both agricultural and industrial production, as well as in finance and in surance. The consumer system aims at organizing the whole process of produc tion, distribution and finance under the control of the masses of people as con sumers, with the workers employed in their own cooperative enterprises. Educational and Auditing Departments Thus far we have spoken only of the Cooperative Wholesale's practical com mercial activities. The benefit it has rendered its member societies in this re spect alone would be sufficient to war rant saying that it has been successful and wholly worthwhile. But its im- 112 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, 19SS 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 113 portance to the movement has not been limited to merely tihe buying and selling of merchandise. It is, in fact, impossible to estimate the value of the service that the Wholesale organization has contrib uted in an entirely different direction, namely, in educational and organiza tional assistance rendered primarily through its Educational and Auditing de partments. When they were first started, and before there was any central organiza tion through which improvement could be brought about, the local stores were all handicapped badly in numerous ways besides being at a disadvantage in buy ing from private wholesales. Coopera tively-minded and technically-trained managers were lacking. Whatever book keeping there was, was often worse than none at all. Systematic records of stock and inventories were totally unknown. Cooperative education for members and patrons was- weak even at best. Overcoming Early Shortcomings Establishment of the Educational and Auditing departments was one of the early steps in the history of the Whole sale, and through the work of these de partments a thorough-going change has been achieved in the district. Annual training schools have turned out cooperatively and technically trained managers, bookkeepers and other eni_ ployes for responsible positions. Sirnilat training schools have also been held jn recent years by the Northern States Cooperative League. The Educational department has been instrumental in publishing cooperative periodicals and other literature, provid ing speakers and representatives to coop erative gatherings of all kinds, renderinq legal and other advice, assisting coopera tive organizations of women and the youth, maintaining close relations with the national Cooperative League and other cooperative organizations, and the like. Fieldmen are also provided to assist local groups in launching new consumer enterprises and established societies to expand their operations. A complete change has been brought about in such matters as bookkeeping and records through the development of uni form bookkeeping systems, periodical auditing, and expert advisory service by the Wholesale's Auditing Department. Thus through their central organiza tion the cooperative stores in these north central states are not only centralizing their buying power for financial and commercial advantage, but also buttress ing their movement with effective edu cation of their members and prospective patrons and securing trained cooperative workers to assure the proper conduct and efficiency of their enterprises. Eighteen Year Record of Progress Year 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 Mem bers 15 25 40 48 56 56 56 60 65 74 76 84 90 97 99 98 97 97 Cus tomers 15 50 83 100 103 112 108 99 93 9Q 105 114 128 137 131 128 119 124 Sales $ 25,573.62 132,423.00 313,663.88 409,590.80 312,346.59 337,566.93 504,177.01 613,214.56 835,532.37 1,048,292.73 1,255,676.38 1,517,813.00 1,755,627.34 1,767,760.33 1,509,751.87 1,309,697.62 1,383,290.26 1,787,556.25 Gains $ 268.06 2,062.93 7,330.21 6,798.43 3,499.23 1,182.83 5,180.60 5,972.91 8,869.29 11,647.75 18,335.34 23,894.18 35,797.92 29,734.54 12.035.39 9,090.57 13,132.86 31,696.25 Share Capital $ 480.00 4,020.00 6,940.00 10,890.00 15,388.84 16,292.36 17,992.86 21,500.82 27,278.68 37,248.97 48,864.92 65,733.36 83,122.18 111,060.69 135,874.87 141,083.23 147,569.97 155,071.80 Surplus $ 1,165.49 4,222.93 4,459.61 4,704.31 5,076.92 5,896.64 6,850.06 8,500.84 10,602.57 12,565.30 15,492.40 18,360.72 21,325.09 24,202.96 22,149.24 22,153.54 Net Worth $ 748.06 6,350.99 15,435.70 21,911.36 23,347.68 22,279.50 28,250.38 33,370.37 42,998.03 57,397.56 77,802.83 102,192.84 134,412.50 159.155.95 169,235.35 174.376.76 182,852.07 208,921-59 The Farmers Become Cooperative Consumers J. P. Warbasse, President of The Cooperative League T'HE farmer is naturally conservative. i H" is much alone. He thinks in in dividualistic terms. He wants to own a ni^c- of land that is exclusively his. His income is from the sale of his produce, the product of his labor; and he wants the host price .possible. That means the high est price. This leads him toward tariffs and' the other expedients for increasing prices. That tends to put him in sympathy with profit business. Farm Marketing Associations Economic experience moves the intelli gent farmer to unite with his neighbors for joint marketing of their produce, He is driven to this by the exactions of the middlemen, who fix the price of tihe things he has to sell. His marketing asso ciations, interested in high prices, nat urally make alliance with other market ing agencies with similar aims. This throws his leaders into association with chambers of commerce and other mar keting business. These bodies, with which the farmers' organization comes in con tact, are conservative and reactionary and often corrupt and corrupting. Farm ers' organization officials, acting and thinking in profit terms, tend to covet good salaries and to oppose what is inim ical to the profit system. This is the price the farmer must pay for that part of his business which in terests him in the pursuit of money. It is not his fault; it is the fault of an economic system. The marketing organizations, as busi ness enterprises, get the farmer better prices. They are absolutely essential in this capitalistic society to save him from isolation and serfdom. Business that preys upon the farmer likes to catch the one who has strayed away from the group. Marketing organization is his only hope. » helps his income. But now the banker comes upon the scene. The farmer, like most .people, is at the banker's mercy. The raises prices for everybody, banke rcs or everyoy, lowers the purchasing power of money, controls credit, and ultimately qets the farmer's farm. All of the above activities of the farm er, of his allies, and of his enemies, are tending to increase prices. This touches him as a consumer. He had thought that money was the great end. He had be lieved that if he could only get plenty of money for his produce all would be well. But even in the presence of successful marketing organization he has found his problem is not solved. When wheat brought three dollars a bushel, the banks still got his farm. The Farmer Discovers He is a Consumer Slowly it has been driven home to the farmer that he is a consumer. When the farmer discovered himself as a consumer, he made the greatest discovery ever made in the field of agriculture. This is more important than discoveries about vac cines, rust or blight. It revealed to him his place in the economic world. Now he. is moving forward, because he is organ izing as a consumer. His leaders are catching the vision of a different motive in industry and of a better kind of socie ty. But in his organization as a consumer are certain peculiar conditions which have been brought in from the past. The commercial spirit of marketing or ganizations, based on economic competi tion, has resulted in competition among farmers and their groups. This has re sulted in duplication of national farmers' associations—all attempting much the same functions, and each with separate overhead, duplication of effort, and hos tility toward one another. At the heads of the farm organizations are officials—na tional, state and county, harboring these animosities. The rank and file of farmers have everything in common. They could be friends and good neighbors. Their in terests would be served by the amalga mation of their several organizations into one. With a united farm organization in the United States, the farmers would be in a strategic position incomparably stronger than anything ever dreamed of. What prevents their union? The fact that each official with his job and its power, is forced to use his influence to keep alive 114 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, «3s June, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 115 loyalty to the organization. And this is at the expense of a greater loyalty ^-loy alty to the farmers, loyalty to agriculture. Now the farmer, having gone into con sumers' cooperation, takes with him this tradition and this practice-gleamed in the school of marketing. The foremost and ablest of his leaders, from the stand point of intelligence, vision, and social conscience, are entering the consumers' movement. These are the best type of farm executives and leaders. But with them goes something of the old psychol ogy either in themselves or in their asso ciates. The old differences are taken along into the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. Here they will, in time, be ironed out and harmonized. But the pro cess of adjustment must needs be slow. It will not be difficult, because of the nat ural harmonizing tendency of consumers' cooperation. A Basis for Farm Unity Consumers' cooperation is based on mutual aid and business for service. The purpose is not to get money but to get things and services. Societies do not com pete economically; they cooperate. Over lapping is not countenanced. Societies federate to form larger bodies for mutual protection which are charged with the duty of control over regional jurisdictions. Only mutual help, and never hostility is a consumers' cooperative principle. The Consumers' Cooperative Move ment supplies the ground upon which the members of all farm organizations mav meet upon a common basis. People of a]] parties and creeds here join hands as con. sumers. Here the personal preferences of members are respected in order to make common cause in the building of a united consumers' movement. One of the most hopeful signs of progress and émancipa, tion of the useful classes is to be seen in the adjustments of this most difficult problem now in progress in the Consum ers' Cooperative Movement. It is upon this mutual ground that the farmers' or ganizations are learning the essential les sons of unity and brotherhood. Farm leaders, who want to rise above the motives that keep farmers separated into contending factions, are encouraging the farmers to unite in The Cooperative League. Here, as consumers, is the pos sibility of a great united agricultural movement in the United States. Here, as consumers, the farmers are cooperating to get, not money, but the things they need for their own service. And when they have learned how to supply them selves with the things and the services they need, they will discover that they have solved the great economic problem. First Representation of U. S. at International Cooperative Business Meeting Howard A. Cowden, Secretary, National Cooperatives, Inc. A PHOTO of the International Coop erative Wholesale Society in an nual meeting at London in September, 1934, for the first time shows the pres ence of representatives from the United States. They are Dr. James P. War- basse, president of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., I. H. Hull and Howard A. Cowden, president and sec retary respectively of National Coopera tives, Inc. As a result of this meeting, National Cooperatives, Inc. in February became a member of the I. C. W. S. A further re sult has been the beginning of trading relations between American and Euro pean cooperatives, initiated by a ship ment in March of 66 barrels of CO-OP lubricating oil from the compounding plant of Consumers Cooperative Associa tion in North Kansas City, Mo. to the Estonia Cooperative Wholesale Society, Tallinn, Estonia. A second shipment was made in the latter part of May, this time to the Magasin de Gros, or Cooperative Wholesale Society of France, whose general manager, A. J. Cleuet, was elected president of the I. C. W. S. at the London meeting. The I.C.W.S. was founded in 1924 and is a federation of 25 cooperative whole sale societies of various countries. Ifs _-——- nose is to bring about trading rela- • ns between its member societies, and help its members to find sources of materials outside the borders of their own countries. It has no plants or facili ties of its own, but acts as a coordinating aqent for its members, in this respect operating in a way similar to that of Na tional Cooperatives, Inc., in this country. Its office is at Manchester, England. Economic Basis for World Peace Member societies of the I. C. W. S. in 1931 purchased internationally goods to the value of nearly $200,000,000, and of this over one-fourth represented goods purchased in America. The seven chief commodities dealt in are butter, wheat, bacon, lard, tea, sugar, coffee and rice. From the humble beginning of the 28 consumers of Rochdale, opening their tiny retail store in 1844, the Cooperative Movement has grown to this point; that millions of organized consumers, in man.y countries, are reaching out across na tional boundaries to buy the needs of life, wherever those needs may be found. To the international business buccaneers who rove the high seas seeking new "markets" which they may exploit, this type of international trade will seem a new and strange thing. The U. S. representatives at the I. C. W. S. were recognized at the meeting, and Mr. Cowden, as secretary of Na tional Cooperatives, was chosen to make an address. He briefly described the ac tivities of National Cooperatives and said that American cooperatives, now in an early stage of development, sought tu profit by the long experience of the coop erative institutions of Europe. He also pointed out the desirability of mutual trade, and said that European coopera tives were buying petroleum products from major oil companies in America which are hostile to American cooper atives and have refused to sell them. This statement struck a chord of cooperative sympathy; his hearers expressed them selves as eager to buy from cooperative sources. It was as a direct result of this statement and of the discussions at the meeting that the shipments to Estonia and to France were later made. It is of interest to note that the Estonia and French wholesale societies, as well as other European cooperatives that may purchase, will receive as patronage re fund the net profit on their purchases, in like manner as do the member coopera tives of Consumers Cooperative Associa tion. Sir Robert Stewart, the \eteran presi dent of the I. C. W. S., retired at the London meeting and was succeeded by Mr. Cleuet; R. F. Lancaster, who is sec- cretary of the English C. W. S., was elected secretary; and Neil S. Beaton, president of the Scottish C. W. S., was chosen to fill Sir Robert's place on the executive committee. Messrs. Cowden, Hull and Warbasse, second row right. 116 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, I93J Central States League to Move Headquarters to Chicago—Plans New Cooperative Wholesale June, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 117 A. W. Warinner THE Nintlh Annual Congress of the Central States Cooperative League which was held in Chicago, Sunday and Monday, April 28th and 29th, not only drew a larger attendance than any pre vious Congress, but the decisions made during the two days deliberations made cooperative history in the Central States District. It was decided to move the -headquar ters of the League from Bloomington, Illinois, where it has been located since the League was founded ten years ago, to Chicago, just as soon as the necessary arrangements for moving can be com pleted. According to tentative plans the transfer will be made between the middle of June and the first of July. It was also decided to organize a co operative wholesale for this district just as soon as the necessary organization worik can be done. The headquarters of the wholesale will also be located in Chi cago and will be operated in connection with the League office. It is hoped that the new wholesale can be ready to com mence business about September 1st. The committee appointed to (have charge of organizing the wholesale consists of J. Liukku, General Manager, Cooperative Trading Co., Waukegan, 111.; Math Ogrin, General Manager, Waukegan- North Chicago Cooperative Association, North Chicago, 111.; John Konecny, Man ager, Consumers' Cooperative Society, Chicago, 111.; Leslie Joseph, Manager, Consumers' Cooperative Trading Com pany, Gary, Ind.; A. W. Warinner, Ex ecutive Secretary, Central States Cooper ative League, Bloomington, 111.; Norman Hickman, Secretary, Illinois Farmers' Union, Bloomington, HI.; and C. C. Pal mer, President, Noble County Farm Bu reau Cooperative Association. The annual reports revealed the fact that there has been a substantial increase in the League's membership during the year and that there has been a like in crease in all the League's activities. Joint buying volume increased 35%, member ship increased from 17 societies to 22 and interest in cooperation has increased to the point where there are now some 20 new cooperatives in process of organizing throughout the district. Practically all of these are starting as buying clubs but all with the definite intention of becoming regular cooperative .stores as soon as practical. There were well over 200 people in at tendance at the various sessions of which 46 were regular delegates and 51 fra ternal delegates. The following were elected to the Board of Directors: J. Liuk ku, John Konecny, David E. Sonquist and Robert Overstreet. Officers elected for the ensuing year were: President, Ed ward Carlson, Vice-Président, David E. Sonquist, Treasurer, John Konecny. Highly enjoyable features of the Con gress were the dinner served to the dele gates and visitors by the Consumers' Co operative Cafe, "Idrott" and the enter tainment following which was presented by the Chicago Cooperative Council. Immediately following the adjournment of the Congress a conference was held by the Kingdom of God Fellowship of Chi cago at which some 50 religious and co operative leaders had dinner together and put in several hours discussing what part the church and religious educators might play in promoting the Cooperative Move ment in America and especially in the Chicago area. The opinion of the con ference was that the church could best serve by giving its whole-hearted en dorsement to the movement and en courage its growth in this way but that it would not be in the best interest of either the church or the cooperative movement to foster the organization of cooperative societies within the member' ship of any church or denomination. In view of the important decisions made at this Congress, we may confi' dently expect the movement in the Cen tral States District to move ahead with increased vigor and momentum in the immediate future. Eastern Cooperators Study Ohio and Indiana Cooperative School, Recreation and Business Programs Cooperative leaders who cannot go on the tour to Europe should surely take some kind of a cooperative tour of Amer ica every year. Hearing about what some other cooperative association is do- inq is not enough—it is necessary to actually get the story directly through one's own eyes. There has been so much interest in the East in what was going on in the States of Ohio and Indiana in cooperative recreation, education and business developments that a carload of Eastern cooperative leaders including Mary E. Arnold, Ruth True and L. E. Woodcock representing the Eastern States Cooperative League, Eastern Cooperative Wholesale and Consumers Cooperative Services, with the Secretary of The Cooperative League as pilot, spent a week recently traveling through those States, soaking up cooperative informa tion and inspiration. One day was spent at the Farm Bureau offices at Columbus where the party studied insurance rec ord keeping, conferred with cooperative heads and educational leaders consider ing future educational programs and ma terial, and discussed possible cooperative activities in the city of Columbus. From there the group drove to Berea, Ken tucky, and spent a day learning from ex pert leaders who are members of Recrea tion Cooperative, Inc., more about the place which recreation should have in building Cooperative Communities. The following day the party visited the In diana Farm Bureau Cooperative Associ ation, inspecting the oil compounding plant and discussing the summer cooper ative school program. The trip was con cluded by attending one session of a Cooperative Recreation and Educational School in Noble County, Indiana, and another in Portage County, Ohio. The sum of the week's trip could perhaps be stated as a far greater realization of the fact that cooperative recreation underlies cooperative education, which in turn un derlies cooperative business. The knowl edge gained during the week will serve as the foundation of a wider cooperative recreational, educational and business expansion and organization program in the East under the leadership of the East ern States Cooperative League. Cooperators in Action As we go to press the Farmers' Union Central Exchange is completing con struction of its 3,000,000 gallon oil com pounding plant in St. Paul. This build ing will provide blended oils for the 211 local cooperative associations in Monta na. North and South Dakota and Minne sota affiliated with the Exchange. The Cooperative Trading Company of Waukegan, Illinois, opened another branch store April 15th. This makes the sixth combination grocery and meat market operated by the cooperative. The new branch store is in the extreme north end of Waukegan and did over $500.00 business the opening day Seven cooperative petroleum bulk plants have been installed in Ohio re cently according to a release from the Ohio Farm Bureau. The first bulk plant was erected in Ohio two years ago. The success of cooperative distribution has been so great that thirty-one bulkplants are now in operation providing coopera tive service in practically every section of the state. The California Cooperative Council reports that a central cooperative buying agency, which in time will become the Cooperative Wholesale for California has been set up in connection with the Cooperative Council. It is already serving 118 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 119 30 cooperative stores and fifty coopera tive buying clubs which have been or ganized since the formation of the coun cil late in 1934. The Council's coopera tive pamphlet "Action" has had a second printing because of the great demand. Cooperative Distributors 'has moved into larger quarters for the third time in the course of a year. The volume of cooperative mail order business has grown so large that the staff has been en larged to seventeen members to take care of the increasing volume. The research staff has tested and approved more than 200 commodities w'hich are now availa ble for distribution. The Eastern States Farmers' Exchange 'has formed a new Service Unit which will take care of the cooperative distribu tion of miscellaneous items ranging from fly spray and small farm implements to binder twine and paint. Franklin Cooperative Creamery in Minneapolis, one of the largest milk dis tributors in the Northwest, has launched a new education program to familiarize members and non-members with the philosophy and methods of the cooper ative movement. The Apprentice Library in Philadel phia has assembled a Two-Foot Shelf of Cooperative Books which is being circu lated as a miniature traveling library in rural areas of Pennsylvania by the Women's Committee of the Inter-State Milk Producers' Associaton. The Two- Foot Book Shelf is the first of its kind in the area and includes a wealth of valua ble material on consumers' cooperation which would not otherwise be available. The Cooperative League News Service, set up at the suggestion of the educational committee of the Cooperative Congress last fall, now furnishes weekly news releases to 294 newspapers, maga zines and journalists in all sections of the country. A few of the papers w'hich use these weekly news items on develop ments in the cooperative movement in clude: the New York Times, Christian Century, Christian Science Monitor, Common Sense, 110 labor and liberal papers affiliated with Federated Press, and many others. The fourteen papers published by cooperatives affiliated with The Cooperative League for whom the service was originally set up, of course use the service regularly. The by. product of the effort is to make the country aware that the cooperat've movement is growing rapidly. Cooperative business is not restricted to private individuals. The State admin istration in Minnesota has realized the economy of cooperative distribution. The Princeton, Minnesota, Cooperative re ports that it has returned over $300.00 to the State of Minnesota in patronage di vidends on gasoline and oil purchase last year. • MIDLAND COOPERATIVE WHOLESALE OPENS MILWAUKEE BRANCH The Midland Cooperative Wholesale, under pressure of increased growth, has opened a branch wholesale at Milwau kee, Wisconsin to increase the efficiency of cooperative distribution of petroleum products. Mr. F. J. Linnell, dynamic man ager of the Isanti County Cooperative in Minnesota, has become manager of the Milwaukee branch which will serve cooperatives east and south o-f Madison. • WORKMEN'S MUTUAL FIRE IN SURANCE SOCIETY HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING To one who is accustomed to attending annual meetings of wholesale cooperatives made up largely of farmer members, it is most interesting to be able likewise to attend an annual meeting where those present are largely city residents. To comply with legal requirements, the Workmen's Fire Insurance Society has now been mutualized but this does not change its cooperative control to which the Society has always been committed. The annual meeting elected Mr. Bruno Wagner, President, as Chairman. OB the platform with him were Ludwi.9 Schmidt, Vice-Président, Richard Pohle, Recording Secretary and John Hofmann, Executive Secretary. Detailed reports were presented by Mr. Hofmann, as Sec retary and Mr. Philip Schmitt as Control ler, with discussion by Mr. U. Solomon, Treasurer. Membership- increased 4,4™ i outstanding insurance increased $3,- ? 19 R65 during the year, bringing the to- al isurance in force to $82,778345. Pvery claim was reported as having been crttled without litigation. Plans are un- jf way for entering the house insurance field as soon as the necessary details can he completed. The meeting closed with a general discussion by the officers and members of the significance of the coop erative movement as a whole and its im portance along with labor and political organization in rebuilding the world into a Cooperative Democracy. The discus sion brought out most clearly the loyalty of this pioneer cooperative association to the general cause of cooperation. Co- operators will do well to write the Work men's Mutual Fire Insurance Company relative to insuring their 'household furniture with them immediately and in suring their homes also as soon as dwelling insurance is available. SOUTHWEST STARTS COOPERA TIVE SCHOOLS We expect to see great things come out of the Southwest in spite of the dust storms and dry weather. Significant cooperative educational programs have gotten under way in that section of America. The Consumers Cooperative Association of North Kansas City, Mis souri, has been conducting one week in stitutes at several points in its territory. The Farmers Union of Kansas has gotten behind the F. E. R. A. unemployed- teachers' school program in a vigorous manner. Eighty teachers were selected and given a four weeks' training course which included the subject of cooperation in its many phases. Now some 225 schools are being conducted every week over the state. The Cooperative Con sumer gives credit to Miss Helen Top ping for awakening Kansas City resi dents by telling the story of Kagawa and Cooperation in Japan. As a result a six- weeks Cooperative School among various church groups was started on April 23rd. 1 he Business Girls Club of the Y. W. C. A- has also been holding a cooperative school every week. So much interest W V aA?USed durin9 a six-weeks' school at a. Y- M. C. A. that it was voted to con tinue the school. COOPERATIVE TRAINING SCHOOL DRAWS FROM FIVE NORTHWEST STATES Students from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana and North and South Dakota attended a four-weeks' Cooperative School in St. Paul in March which was jointly sponsored by the Farmers' Union Central Exchange and the Northern States Cooperative League. The subjects studied included the History and Princi ples of the Cooperative Movement, book keeping, cooperative management and a study of petroleum products. The in structors included V. S. Alanne, secreta ry of the Northern States Cooperative League, Ralph Ingerson, Manager of the Oil Department of the Farmers' Union Central Exchange, J. L. Nolan, Tech nician of the Exchange, and Walter Jacobson, Ghief Auditor of the Northern States Cooperative League. At the close of the school the students enthusiastically recommended repetition of the school next year and voted to es tablish a permanent scholarship fund for the Cooperative Training School. "TO COOPERATIZE AMERICA" Miss Helen Topping, Secretary to- Toyohiko Kagawa, the great religious and cooperative leader in Japan, is in the midst of an extensive tour of America. Miiss Topping spoke to more than 25,000 people in New York and New England in May presenting the program of coop erative development in Japan by which Kagawa has enlisted the support of 25,- 000,000 Japanese in building a coopera tive order. Miss Topping's audiences in cluded four Eastern Colleges, fourteen church and civic groups and several cooperative organizations. Cooperative leaders in the Middle West have referred to Miss Topping as Japan's missionary to- Cooperatize America. FINAL PLANS FOR EUROPEAN TOUR Final arrangements are being com pleted for the Second Annual Tour to Cooperative Europe sponsored by The Cooperative League. Sufficient appli cations have already been received to as- 120 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION June, iS3s sure the trip and only a few more appli cants will be accepted in order that the party may not be too large for convenient traveling. College professors from New York University, Nanking University, China and the University of Nebraska as well as several cooperative executives will be included in the party. The party will leave New York City July 19 and sper,d seven weeks visiting outstanding coon eratives and other points of interest jn England, Scotland, Denmark, Russia Finland, Sweden and Norway. For com . plete information write Mever Parod neck, Director of the Tour, 1270 Broad way, New York City. The Consumer Emerges in Literature The following articles on Consumers' Cooperation are an indication of an awakening consumer consciousness in America. They are building a ground work for increased consumer organiza tion. Read them. Call them to the at tention of your friends and associates. Write about them to friends in other sec tions of the country. Suggest to the editor of your local paper that he reprint some of this material or ask for a story from your nearest cooperative. Drop a note to the editor of your favorite magazine suggesting that he publish an article on consumers' cooperation. The creation of a new economic order based on the prin ciples of brotherhood and democracy is your job as well as ours. Are you doing your part to build a cooperative democ racy? Christian Science Monitor, Magazine section, April 17, "How Consumers Help Themselves," Bertram B. Fowler. Also general news section, April 22, "Maynard Cooperative Plows the Profits Back into Plant." Journal of Adult Education, April, "The Men of Antigonish," Gustav Francis Beck—A stirring article describing the work of the Extension Division of St. Francis Xavier University in rehabili tating rural Nova Scotia through the development of cooperatives. Antioch Notes, April 1, "Cooperatives" Dr. Arthur E. Morgan. Tide, April, "Upton Sinclair turns to Co operatives." The Pilgrim Highroad, May, "Economic Life and Cooperation"—-Extracts from "Christ and Japan" by Toyohiko Ka- gawa. The Epworth Herald, April 20, "Adven tures in Cooperation.—II Little Dovers' Little People," T. Otto Nail. May 4, "Adventures in Cooperation-. Ill Waukegan's Storekeepers Who are their own Customers," T. Otto Nail. Railroad Pension Review, April, "A New Technique for American Labor" Wal lace J. Campbell. The American Scholar, April, "The Re ligious Crisis in Rural America" Ha rold E. Fey—In which the authoi traces the relation of the Church to economics and the necessity for co operative organization to put the farm er back on his feet. Central-Blatt and Social Justice, March, "Concerned with the price of the Wagon," L. S. Herron—The impor tance of the cooperative purchasing movement to supplement cooperative marketing. The New York Times, April 21, "Gov ernment Backing of Cooperatives Hit". Major Benjamin H. Namm—An in direct attack at the cooperatives. The Daily News Record (New York) April 12, "Namm Hits Coops at Sar- noff Dinner." Cooperative (Marketing) Journal, Jan,- Feb., "Impressions of European Co operation," Howard A. Cowden; "Pat ronage Dividends" Kenneth Hinshaw. March-April, "Crusading Coopera tion" Gordon H. Ward. Carolina Cooperator, February, "The Cooperative Buying Movement" Jo seph G. Knapp. The Catholic Farmer, February H, "The Christian Self Help Plan" Rev. Josept Steinhauser. Today's World, May 1, ( Department of International Relations, Federation ol Women's Clubs) "Consumers' ation," E. R. Bowen. CONSUMERS COOPERATION Organ of the Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the U. S. Eternal as the Unending Circle- Hardy as the Evergreen Pine Volume XXI. No. 7 July, 1935 Ten Cents EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS Profits for the few mean poverty for the many. • In Sweden cooperators starve the pri vate monopolies out by setting up their own productive plants and transferring their trade. This is the simple way to con duct an economic revolution. • "Our greatest sales asset is that we are part and parcel of the growing coopera tive movement which will eventually re make our social and economic structure," said Murray D. Lincoln at the annual meeting of the Ohio Farm 'Bureau Mutual Insurance Company. • Harry Stevens, former Canadian Cabi net member, who as chairman of a com mission investigating price spreads be came so aroused that he had to speak out and was forced to resign, now says that thirteen men control one-half of Canada's twenty billions of industrial and commer cial wealth. Professor Sheldon Glueck, of the Har vard University Law School, links crime and private profit economics together in the statement, "the most efficacious single crime preventive is the suppressing of 'economic cannibalism' and a more equi table distribution of wealth throughout the entire population." • A Consumers' Committee appointed in Great Britain to study the effect of the various government milk marketing schemes, says that "The consumer is being exploited nominally to improve the position of the producer; but the producer is not benefiting and the distributors are." This is a clear statement of what general ly happens when attempts are made through the political government to reg ulate private profit business. The various regulatory methods are widely advertised as being primarily for the purpose of helping the farmer or the workingman, but in the end the processor and distrib utors are the ones •who benefit most largely. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce 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. E. R. Bowen, Editor. Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. Entered as Second Class Matter December 19. 1917, at the Post Office at New York N Y under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 122 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION »35 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 123 Arthur Pickup, Cooperative Whole sale Society Director and last year Presi dent of the Cooperative Congress in Great Britain, drily observes that he has not found a formula to turn people into real cooperators, but that he thinks the government will force people into the position where they will have to cooper ate or not exist. The same results may 'be produced by attempts at price fixing and production control in America. • An American cooperative association can now join a regional cooperative wholesale, which in turn is a member of a national cooperative wholesale, which is a member of an international cooperative wholesale. Thus every member of a retail cooperative association becomes a mem ber of a business-brotherhood which is reaching round the world. • Farmers will be interested in one an swer to the question, "Who get theirs first?" when production, prices and prof its rise. The Federated Press reports John T. Flynn testifying to the following be fore the Senate Munitions Committee: "The International Harvester Co. was another of the big corporations boosting high salaries long before wages. Its gen eral manager was raised from $43,000 to $117,500 a year between 1913 and 1917, while wages of common labor were in creased only from 20 to 28c an hour in that period." • Mr. Wm. E. Sanderson, Secretary of the Farmers Union Central Exchange of St. Paul, is contributing a column to the Farmers Equity Union News of Wiscon sin which he is heading with this stimu lating quotation "He who carries the lamp shall not despair, even though the night is long." A most fitting quotation for a cooperative column indeed. Surely leaders who are piloting cooperative as sociations which are proving to be veri table Noah's Anks riding high through the deluge of the collapse of capitalism ought never to despair even though their dreams may still seem far from realiza tion. ( The manager of the Pearl Cooperative Oil Company of Kansas indicates that the people of that community believe in co operation as a way of life. They laid the foundation for their producers and con sumers cooperative associations by prac ticing cooperation in organizing one of the first consolidated schools in Kansas and later in organizing an undenomina tional union Sunday School. It is not ira- probable that the substitution of cooper ation for competition will eventually re_ suit in "Cooperative Communities Beau tiful," with community churches and schools as well as cooperative business and banking. Imagine what such com munities would be to live in when they are rebuilt according to our heart's desire! They will be parts of what Walt Whit man calls, "A Wonder World." • Mr. M. Rubinson. Director of The League, has anticipated the suggestion we were going to make to Cooperators that in the event they were unable this year to take the cooperative tour to Europe, they should arrange to make a cooperative tour of our own country. He left New York City on Thursday, May 23, for a two months auto drive to California in which he has routed himself to visit the cooperatives, which are the greatest de velopment that man has made, as well as the various natural wonders which God has made. • The National Petroleum News says that an injunction restraining the Fred G. Clark Co., has been issued by the United States District Court of Minne sota for adulterating Pennsylvania oils with Mid-Continent Oils. Thus occa sionally the truth will out as to the results of the capitalistic system. To prevent such exploitation four cooperative oil compounding plants have been built at Kansas City, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and St. Paul by consumers to mix their own oils. The consumers who own these plants will get honest lubricating oils be cause they produce for use and not for profit. • Americans generally have a personal interest in the adventures of Barbara Button, Woolworth heiress. We have all contributed our nickels and dimes to her $40,000,000 fortune. We have reason to concern ourselves with how they are spent. First she became a princess, then Reno enabled her to transform into a countess. Her new husband is a Danish count who says that they will spend par' r .UP summer at "my villa in Southern Prance" and later they will go to "my r tie in Denmark." Evidently Denmark fias not yet completed the process of cor- ctinq the unjust distribution of wealth nd certainly America has hardly begun. ft was Matthew Arnold who said that ''our inequality materializes our upper -lass vulgarizes our middle class, bru talizes our lower class." INSPIRATION-INFORMATION TECHNIQUE Glenn Frank, President of the Univer sity of Wisconsin, says, "I do not believe that the future lies exclusively upon the laps of the educators. I cannot share the confidence of the social analysts who think that education is likely to provide compelling impulses that will prompt a whole generation consciously to embark on the noble enterprise of social renais sance through scientific humanism. This dynamic will be found only in some fresh manifestation of the religious impulse." What we need to "catch the stride of victory" is for economic, educational and religious leaders who are each endeavor ing to rebuild their organizations on a cooperative foundation rather than the present competitive one, to join hands and each contribute his share to the cause —the religious leader should supply the inspiration, the educational leader the in formation, and the economic leader the technique, to build a world cooperative brotherhood. MORE THAN JUST A COOPERA TIVE History after all is largely a record of events which at the time they occur ap pear simple but which in perspective of time prove to be significant. We quoted in a previous issue of Consumers' Co operation the Resolutions passed by the Board of Directors of the Ohio Farm Bu reau Federation in which they took upon themselves the responsibility for devel oping Cooperation in the state of Ohio, not only among the farmers but by pro moting city Consumers' Cooperatives as well. We likewise believe that the recent change in name of the Union Oil rfmpany (Cooperative) of North Kan- snr- * V to Consumers' Cooperative As sociation is of historical significance. In 6 llst of wholesales affiliated with The Cooperative League there are just three using the name "Consumers." The first was the Consumers' Cooperative Services of New York City, a city cooperative cafeteria association; the second to use the name "Consumers" was the whole sale originally named Consumers Asso ciated, which later added the word Co operatives, the name now being Con sumers Cooperatives Associated, of Ama- rillo, Texas. Now a third group, this time from the farm field! has adopted the word Consumers in its name. The fact that two wholesales primarily made up of farm members have now developed in their thinking to the place where they accept and use the word Consumers in their names, is of decided significance in the evolution of Cooperative thinking. THE REAL WAY TO LEARN Cooperators in America have largely confused promotion with education and have relied almost entirely on mass, meetings rather than smaller group schools. When you ask most retail and even some wholesale cooperative associa tions about their educational program they will tell of having had a speaker at their annual meeting or picnic. Most mem bers of retail cooperatives also receive the wholesale's newspaper. But these are not enough. They are not real education. Education comes only from study of co operative books and pamphlets alone or in small groups. St. Francis Xavier Uni versity has shown the way. It 'has organ ized over 900 study clubs in Eastern Nova Scotia. We have made a start in the states of Indiana, Ohio and Kansas. By fall we must spread the recreational and educational school idea all over America. Now is the time to lay the plans for a teachers' training institute to pre pare recreational and educational leaders for such schools. THE DUTY OF A TEACHER In a recent issue of the Nation, Carl Becker of Cornell University said, "The duty of a teacher of ihistory, as I under stand it, is to learn, and encourage his pupils to learn, wihat (has actually hap pened in some period of human Ihistory, and to discuss with the utmost freedom before his pupils any opinion, judgment, or theory that may be formed about the 124 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION July. 1935 1935 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 125 •cause or the effect or the importance of what has happened." Brave words these and true. But how can any teacher then justify his or her failure to teach the simple facts about the largest democratic movement in the world, now over ninety years old? Every Cooperator has a citizen's and taxpayer's right to demand of the teachers of his chil dren that the facts about the Consumers' .and Credit Cooperative Movements be taught in every public school. We don't •want to propagandize our schools. We only demand that the facts about this as well as every other proposed solution to our economic plight be taught and then let our children decide what is the truth. Let each one see to it that the teachers of his •children learn the facts and teach them. CAPITALISM AND COOPERATION COMPARED We need simple and dramatic com parisons of the results of capitalism and cooperation. Here's one of the best \ve'v seen. Every man should be able to aD' preciate this comparison of razor blade produced under capitalistic and cooped tive control. Capitalistic blades too good The Gillette Razor Blade Company is being su on the charge that orders were given to a SJ~ sidiary to make blades "so bad that the averg0 customer will become disgusted and go bade t Gillette," according to news reports. ° Cooperative blades not good enough Cooperative Distributors, Inc., were not sail fied even after an enthusiastic majority vote of consumers shaving squad of members and rejectej a shipment of blades from which the samples wen taken because they were still not good enough. Deliberate lowering of quality gr0ws out of the private-profit motive of capi- talism while deliberate raising of qualitv grows out of the service motive of co. operation. The reason lies in the system not the individuals who are in charge. II you want good razor blades, starve capi- talism out of business by buying cooper atively. Twenty Years in the Wilderness •OlNCE 1914 America has been wan- ^ dering in the wilderness. Our dying economic order has given birth to war, speculation and depression. Riches have multiplied in the hands of the few and millions have been forced down further into poverty. During this same period we have applied gas and electric power to our agricultural and industrial produc tion and have built machines which operated automatically until both plenty and leisure are now possible for all. Why is it that we still continue to wander in the wilderness of poverty and drudgery? It is not because of necessity. We produced an average of $3000 per family of four in 1929 and could have produced $4370 per family if we had used our technical knowledge and phys ical capacity to its limit according to the recent "Survey of Potential Product Capacity." We are at the gate of the "Promised Landi" and are unable to enter because of our lack of spiritual development. We cannot enter alone. We are not willing for all to do so. We are still beset with the devil of selfishness. We do not really believe in "liberty and equality" for all as our forefathers expressed in tit Declaration of Independence. Consuming power must be distributed as widely as consuming ability. Again we wander in the wilderness be cause of our lack of national understand ing of the technique of economic brother hood. Probably 90% of American adult have not as yet even read or heard tie words "Consumers' Cooperation." Coop eration has been bandied about as a gen eral phrase as has the word, "Service. We need to particularize. Glittering ge« eralities will not save us. Specific discus sion of the principles and practice of Coi Burners' Cooperation should be a partfl the conversation and correspondence « every cooperator daily. Retail and whole sale cooperative associations must accef a greater responsibility for the more rapt and widespread promotion of our Mo« ment by appropriating much larf amounts for educational purpose There's no necessary reason for Amen" spending another twenty years wände ing in