The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/HD2951xC776/co36 or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/HD2951xC776/co36 216 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION The Press Boosts Consumers' Cooperation Five periodicals not affiliated with the con sumers' cooperative movement have established regular cooperative sections which will carry news of developments in the cooperative movement every week or month. THE BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGÏNEMEN AND FIRE MEN'S MAGAZINE pioneered with the creation of a two page feature section, "Consumers' Co operation"; the MINNESOTA LEADER each week devotes a regular section to "Progress Among the Cooperatives"; the AMERICAN GUARDIAN has for several months conducted a column of "Cooperative Notes"; the SOCIALIST CALL features a column by Benjamin \Volf on "Con sumers' Cooperation"; and the AMERICAN LEADER, national edition of the WISCONSIN LEADER, has inaugurated a special section, "News About the Cooperatives." Material from the Cooperative League News Service and news of local cooperative develop ments in this way will reach several hundred thou sand readers in addition to the half million mem bers of cooperatives who receive publications of the cooperative wholesales affiliated with The Coonerative League. You can speed the growth of the cooperative movement by suggesting that the editor of your favorite newspaper or magazine establish a similar cooperative section. READERS DIGEST, November, "Where Con sumers' Produce," Henry Goddard Leach, re printed from THE FORUM, September, 1934. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, November, "What are the Facts about Consumers' Cooperation?" Editorial ar ticle. WHARTON REVIEW, December, entire issue devoted to Consumers' Cooperation, with ar ticles by James Rorty, Colston Warne, E. J. Lever, Joseph Kelly, Robert Smith, John A. Jessup and \Vallace J. Campbell. ARCHITECTURAL FORUM, September, "Swed^ ish Cooperative Wholesale Societies' Architects' Office," a review. RAILWAY CARMEN'S JOURNAL, November, "Labor and Consumers' Cooperation," John F. McNamee (14th labor journal in which this ar ticle has appeared.) JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS AND OPERATORS, October, "Real Issue Between Utilities and Cooperatives," an editorial article on Rural Electrification. PAINTER AND DECORATOR, October, "A New Technique for American Labor," Wallace J. Campbell. LABOR INFORMATION BULLETIN, October, "The Consumers' Cooperative Movement," Florence C. Parker. AMERICAN LEADER (national edition of THE WISCONSIN LEADER), September, "Swedish Cooperatives Rise Phenomenal," E. R. Bowen, reprinted from CONSUMERS' COOPERA TION. CONSUMERS GUIDE, September 16, "When Farmers Work Together as Consumers." COLORADO UNION FARMER, October "n. Co-op Approach is Fundamentally <;' e Editorial article'. J Î50unnsumer Distribution Corporation ........................ ..................... 46 ^onsumers Union ....... 126 Cooley, Oscar ..... ' ' 17 Cooperation in the Making" ............................. ..................... 73, 88 ^ooperative Builder, The . . 94 ^operative College of Créa' Britain ................................. .......... 67 INDEX PAPP "Cooperative Democracy," book review ....................................... >~"j,' Cooperative Distributors ...................................................... 54 < ,5 Cooperative League Congress, Tenth Biennial ................................. ijg' j,;; Cooperative League, Directors' Meetings ................................... 26, 7(j' p^ Cooperative Life Insurance Co. ................................................. ' i »^ Cooperative Oil Association of Minneapolis ..................................... 7^ Cooperative Oil Association, Appleton, Wis. .................................... 7, Cooperative Publising Association, Superior, \Vis. ............................... gx Cooperative Trading Company, Waukegan, Hi. ................................ 125t J4j Cooperators Life Association, Minneapolis .................................. ' 70 Credit Unions ..................................... 7, 13, 14, 45, 126, 158, 175, 188, 205 Czechoslovakia, Cooperative Movement in .........................................' 524 D Davis, Henry .................................................................. 55 Declaration of Cooperation ...................................................... 35 Declaration of Economic Interdependence ......................................... 529 Decline and Rise of the Consumer ............................................. 131, 160 Denmark, Cooperation in ................................................... 4, 84, 108 Democracy, \Vhat do we mean by ............................................... J5Q Design Service, Cooperative ...................................................... 42 Dickason, Gladys .............................................................. 160 Discussion Circles ................................................... 66, 183, 7, 48, 61 Douglas, Paul H. ............................................................... 95 E Eakin, Frank .................................................................. 137 Eastern Cooperative League and Wholesale ....... . . 12, 44, 48, 64, 94, 125, 142, 155, 156 Eastern States Farmers Exchange ..................................... 63, 94, 125, 143 Education in Cooperation .......................................... 28, 59, 118, 133, 182 Eidin, H. ...................................................................... 107 Elsworth, Merle ................................................................ 146 Employees, Cooperative .................................................. 60, 107, 142 Emporta Cooperative Association, Kansas .......................................... 94 Endorsements of Cooperation .................................................... 80 England, Cooperative Movement in ........................ 11, 17, 50, 112, 114, 143, 147 Evanston Consumers Cooperative ................................................. Ill Failure, Causes of .............................................................. 177 Farm Cooperatives ................................................... 45, 72, 157, 194 Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ....................... 94, 109, 176 Farm Bureau Oil Company ...................................................... 156 Farmers Union ................................................................. 31 Farmers Union Central Exchange, St. Paul, Minn. ........................... 52, 63, 109 Federal Council of Churches, Seminar on Cooperation of ............................ 23 Fiiene, Edward A. ........................................................ 46, 49, 201 Finance, Cooperative Insurance and ............................................... 174 Finland, Cooperation in ............................................ 3, 11, 84, 154, 187 "Finland, The New Nation," book review .......................................... 96 Flint Cooperative Association, Michigan ........................................ 7, 21 Flynn, John T. ................................................................. # Folk Schools ...................................................... 4, 59, 97, 98, 133 Fourteen Recent Major Achievements of the Consumers Cooperative Movement In the United States .................................... 29 Fowler, Bertram B. ..................................................... 18, 20, 65, 96 France, Cooperative Movement in ............................................. 115, 19° Freundlich, Emmy .............................................................. " Gale, Zona ...................... Germany, Cooperative Movement in Green, Perry L. .................. 17 198 163 INDEX PAGE Green William ................................................................ 193 Gide, Charles .................................................................. 4 Gilbert, Joseph ................................................................. 149 Gilman, Charlotte Perkins ....................................................... 2 Grange, National, and Cooperation ............................................... 146 Grange Cooperative Wholesale, Seattle, Washington ...................... 14, 63, 79, 141 Grimes, J. Frank ................................................................ 68 Greenleaf, Esther ............................................................... 42 Grundtvig, Bishop .......................................................... 59, 134 H Hayes, A^ J. ................................................................... 45 Hall, Fred ..................................................................... 67 Halonen, George ............................................................... 128 Hayward, Sir Fred .......................................................... 143, 156 Health Protection ........................................................... 101, 119 Holt, Arthur E. ................................................................ 59 Hood, Robin ................................................................... 194 Hospitalization ................................................................. 180 Housing, Cooperative ........................................................ 45, 140 "Housewives Build A New World," book review ................................... 144 Hutchinson, Carl ............................................................... 48 Hull, I- H. ........................................................... ......... 172 I Incentives in a Cooperative Order ................................................ 85 Independent Consumers Cooperative Society, Brooklyn, N. Y. ........................ 13 Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ................................... 64, 89 Institutes ...................................... 45, 110, 124, 125, 155, 157, 158, 170, 183 International Cooperative Alliance .................................... 36, 112, 197, 205 International Cooperative Day ................................................ 94, 126 International Wholesaling ........................................................ 142 Insurance ................................................ 12, 64, 78, 110, 125, 131, 141 Insurance and Finance, Cooperative .............................................. 174 Issue Is Raised, The ............................................................ 105 Italy, Cooperative Movement in ............................................... 12, 112 J Jefferson, Thomas .............................................................. 150 Johnson, Josephine ............................................................. 33; Jones. E. Stanley ............................................................... 84 K Kagawa, Toyohiko ............................. 1,7, 17, 23, 38, 43, 67, 82, 114, 141, 147 Kallen. Horace M. ............................................. 131, 149, 160, 171, 199 King, E. E. .................................................................... 15 Knickerbocker Village Cooperative, New York City ................................. 110 Labor Unions and Cooperatives .................. 4, 44, 82, 83, 98. 110, 114, 193, 194, 205 LaFollette, Robert M. and Philip ............................................... 31, 65 Laidler, Harry W. ............................................................ 82, 85 Landis, Benson Y. ............................................................ 23, 80 Lanto, Ivan .............................................................. 93, 98, 156 Laski, Harold J. ................................................................ 3 Legislation Affecting Cooperation ......................................... 66, 99, J58 Library, A Model Cooperative ................................................ 6, J82 Lincoln, Murray D. .................................................. 97, 109, 158, 174 Liukku, Jacob .................................................................. 93 Lloyd, William ................................................................ 117 Lower Michigan Federation ....................................................... 93 INDEX M PAGE INDEX R PAGE McNamee, John F. .............................................................. jcy McPhail, Agnes ................................................................ 55 Madison Oil Cooperative ........................................................ 7j Maine, Cooperative Movement in ................................................. 95 Management, Cooperative ....................................................... igj Martinek, Joseph ..............................................................' 124 Massachusetts League of Cooperative Clubs ....................................... J2g Matteson, Lynn ................................................................ 7Q May, Henry J. ............................................................. 162, 197 Medicine, Cooperative ............................... 16, 73, 78, 89, 92, 94, 101, 119, 179 Mesabe Range Cooperative Federation ........................................ 78, 157 Metzger, T. Warren ............................................................ 2 Michigan Farm Bureau Services ................................................. 44, 64 Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Minneapolis ................. 9, 14, 63, 70, 123, 124 156 Miller, Merlin G. .......................................................... 124,' 144 Milk Marketing ................................................................ 147 Milwaukee Consumers Cooperative Association ..................................... 126 Moore, William H. ............................................................. 32 Moore, James R. ............................................................. 6, 18? Morgan, Joy Elmer ............................................................. 6y Morrison, C. C. ................................................................ 147 Morrison, Hefbert M. ........................................................... 83 Myers, James .................................................................. 96 N National Cooperative Council .................................................... 51 National Cooperatives, Inc. ...................................................... 156 Nebraska Farmers Union State Exchange ....................................... 63, 79 Negro Cooperatives ...................................................... 20, 79, 141 New Cooperative Co., Dillonvale, Ohio ........................................... 90 New Jersey Consumers Cooperative, Chatham, N. J. ........................... 95, 137 Noble County, Indiana, Cooperation in ........................................... 2 Norris, Senator .....................................\ ........................... 174 Nurmi, H. V. .................................................................. 185 Nystrom, Paul H. ............................................................... 66 o Officers and Directors of The Cooperative League .................................. 206 Ohio Farm Bureau Federation .................. 14, 44, 46, 64, 91, 109, 141, 142, 158, 176 Oil Cooperatives ................................... 16, 21, 30, 52, 70, 79, 109, 123, 126 Olsen, C. A. ................................................................. 45, 60 Olsen, Floyd ................................................................... 145 Organizing a Consumers Cooperative, Ten Steps in ................................ 43 Pacific Supply Cooperative, Walla Walla, Wash. ......................... 63, 109, Park Cooperative Oil Association, St. Paul, Minn. ................................. Peace ..................................................................... 147, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association .................. 13, 45, 91, 124, Peoples Cooperative Society, Superior, Wisconsin ................................. Philadelphia Cooperative Center .................................................. Philosophy of Cooperation ....................................................... Presidents' Commission of Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe .............. Private Dealers, What will happen under Cooperation ......................... 5, 65 Producer—Consumer Cooperatives ................................... 34, 130, 171, Publicity, Cooperative Education and ........................................... 27, Public Ownership and Cooperatives .............................................. Publishing, Cooperative ......................................................... Q Quotations .:,................................................... 2, 17, 18, 35, 49, 1« 159 70 205 156 141 94 199 124 ;, 71 205 182 191 45 Racine Consumers Cooperative, Wis. . . . . ... ............................ 71, 117 Rainbow Flag .................................................................. 145 Rauschenbush, Walter ........................................................ 1, 171 Recreation in Cooperatives ......................................... 28, 118, 125, 183 Reddix, J. L. ................................................................... 93 Resolutions on Cooperation .......................... 51, 99, 109, 110, 115, 125, 193, 205 Reynolds, Quentin .............................................................. 186 Ricker, A. W. ................................................................. 52 Riddle, George ................................................................. 114 Roosevelt, Franklin D. ............................................,............. 153 Rothery, Agnes ................................................................ 96 Russell, George W. ........................................................... 2, 168 St. Francis Xavier Un:v»r<::'-' .................................................... 154 Salaries Cooperative an-1 otherwise ............................................... 82 Scandinavia, Cooperation in ...................................................... 84 Schools and Institutes on Cooperatives .................................... 30, 60, 61, 63 Scotland, Cooperative Movement in ............................................... 12 Shadid, Michael Dr. ............................................................ 179 Spain, Cooperators in ........................................................... 198 Statistics .......................................................... 3, 51, 63, 79, 166 Student Cooperatives ................................................. 13, 32, 78, 95 Study Outlines on Cooperation ................................................... 45 Supreme Court Ruling ........................................................ 35, 99 Sweden, Cooperation in ........................................... 12, 72, 84, 107, 112 "Sweden, Land of Economic Democracy," pamphlet review .......................... 144 "Sweden, the Middle Way," book review .......................................... 48 Switzerland, Cooperation in ...................................................... 112 Taxes ......................................................................... 50 Thompson, Carl D. ............................................................. 191 Tompkins, Dr. J. J. .............................................................. 155 Tours to Cooperative Europe .................................. *6, 79, 95, 115, 123, 153 Town Hall Meeting of the Air on Cooperation ..................................... 31 Treasurer's Report .............................................................. 204 Trico Cooperative Oil Association ............................................... 79 Turner, Paul ................................................................ 92, 143 U Ultimate Democracy ............................................................ 69 United Cooperative Society, Maynard, Mass. ...................................... 79 Vargard—Sweden .............................................................. 108 Vasarla, Hugo ................................................................. 187 W Walker, John L. ................................................................ 93 Wallace, Henry A. .............................................. 2, 124, 130, 168, 173 War Hypocrisies ............................................................. 50, 98 Warbasse, Dr. J. P. .............................. 50, 62, 73, 88, 101, 119, 128, 165, 197 Warinner, A. W. ........................................................... 93, 177 Washington, D. C., Consumers Club .......................................... 13, 157 Webb, Sidney ................................................................. 168 Weidler, A. G. ................................................................ 129 Which Way America, Cooperatives or Communism ................................. 84 Wholesaling, Cooperative ............................................. 12, 13, 31, 62 Wpmens Guild, Northern States Cooperative ............................... ....... 142 Workers Education Association of Great Britain .................................... 129 Workmens Mutual Fire Insurance Society ................... >................. 13, 110 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION ORGANOFTHE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE PURCHASING MOVEMENT IN THEU.5. ETERNAL AS THE UNENDING CIRCLE- HARDY AS THE EVERGREEN PINE Volume XXII. No. 1 JANUARY, 1936 Ten Cents WELCOME, KAGAWA! Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa: We, as representatives of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the United States, welcome you most heartily upon this occasion of your visit to America. We have looked forward to your coming with the keenest anticipation. You have written us that "central in my purpose in coming to America is to meet your coop erative leaders." We have assembled to meet you and greet you in the spirit of the international fellowship of cooperators. We anticipate as a result of your visit a wide spread and rapidly expanding fervor of interest in the application of the principles of brotherhood through the Cooperative Movement. To us it is most fitting that you -should have been chosen to deliver the Rauschen busch lectures. Walter Rauschenbusch was one of our greatest social prophets. He advocated, as the means of implementing brotherhood in our economic affairs, or ganization of consumers' cooperatives as well as producer and political organiza tion. You, whom we honor as a modern social prophet, likewise advocate these three techniques of democracy. You of all men, are most worthy to carry on the tradition of his social teachings in America, to which, unfortunately, we have as a na tion paid too little heed. We sincerely believe that your coming will arouse America to a far greater realization of the necessity of aggressive organization along lines which both he and you have strongly urged. We most sincerely hope that with your coming the threads of mutual regard be tween cooperators of Japan and America will be strengthened to the end that to gether we may press forward with greater determination to build a Cooperative In ternational Association of all races and nations which will forever banish poverty and war and bring permanent peace and plenty everywhere upon the earth. With the deepest respect and gratitude for your coming and with high antici pation of the results of your visit to America, we are Yours most sincerely, AMERICAN COOPERATORS vnîrg^n *° spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in vomntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need, ubhshed monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New York City. Jm Bo^en- Editor. Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative .J^raalsjind Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. »tered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March S, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Jan, CONSUMERS' COOPERATION EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS For this New Year Help me to grow! Help me to fill the days With deeds of loving praise For the splendid truths I know. —Charlotte Perkins Gilman • What are you going to do this New Year about being poor? • A poet who writes us puts it this way, "the crust of the world is breaking rapid ly. Death smacks his lips again." • We need more consumer-economics taught in every shool and college. Are you going to see to it that your state fol lows Wisconsin's example? c Among the things to be thankful for, the Editor of The Producer-Consumer lists "The Cooperative Plan, which is developing a social and economic order in which we can practice the Sermon on the Mount in our daily work and busi ness, in our producing and using the goods of life." • We are "all fellow travelers on the road to the more abundant life." What everyone needs to know is which is the best road. We, who have chanced to be among the first to learn of the democratic way to prosperity, have a great obliga tion to spread the good news of con sumers' cooperation to all the rest with far greater speed. • Noble County, Indiana, has "edu cated" 86 younger people drawn from every township in the county through the three summer institutes they have held. Of these, 32 were teachers in the public schools. This example is well worth fol lowing. • A good New Year's resolution could be formed out of these words of Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace: "Only those really close to science can know the abundance that could be ours if there were but even-handed distribu tion and justice between groups. The grinding efforts to subsist would drop out of sight if we could achieve justice and balance. Oh! how the world has been der the weight of that need to subsist keep body and soul together, in the .p *! few years! We can throw off that miser able burden. We can stand like free m in the sun. And human minds and hearts and human wills, are saying, it shall V> done!" C • George Russell (AE) said to us that there was "no important movement in mv time in Ireland that did not have one or more poets as its inspiration." We have been looking for poets in the Cooperative Movement in America and now we've found one in Mr. T. Warren Metzqer, Editor of the Pennsylvania Farm Re! view. He set our blood tingling and in spired us to learn these lines which ap peared in the November issue: THANKSGIVING "For the beauty of life we strangely see when the eyes are wet with humility— For the clasp of hands in the common good, when jealousy bows to brotherhood— For the joy of fashioning life anew in the vine yard of wonderful-things-to-do— For the glory of hope as the way leads home to the sunswept hills of "Kingdom Come"— We Thank Thee." • Mr. W. P. Watkins, co-author of the new British text book, "Cooperation," says that Sweden and Nova Scotia have discovered the best solution of the prob lem of educating prospective and present members of cooperatives in their small study-circle programs. Some cooperative wholesales in the United States are now adopting the same program. Others might well consider the evidence of the practical results which Sweden and Nova Scotia are demonstrating that this educa tional technique produces rapid and sound growth of cooperatives. • The New York Post is running a series of articles under the general title, "The Men Who Run America." It de- cribes the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company as having "after Fords, the closest knit ownership of a great corpora tion of any family in America." 6,000,OOU customers and 90,000 employees _are sub ject to the will of two brothers "who are fpes for a family of about 30 indi- tr!fuals" How long will 6,000,000 con- ers and 90,000 producers continue to SU mit 30 owners to dominate them? " • Stuart Chase is now definitely on rec- d as supporting the cooperative move- ° ent In a letter published in the Novem- , issue of Forum he writes, "I have ad the article, 'The Democratic Way to Prosperity' October Forum, on the coop erative movement by Bertram B. Fowler, t affl convinced that consumers' coopera tion has a great future in this country, and my scouts tell me that the western farmer, ruggedest of individuals, is being rapidly converted to cooperative action. VVe seem to be faced with collectivism in some form. Indeed we are already highly collectivized. It seems to me that the co operative form is the ideal one of han dling the problems of distribution." o The greatest word in the economic world is the three letter word "own." We should "own" as individuals all "use" property, such as homes and farms and personal property, and own all other property together as consumers, such as utilities, finance and industry with whole sale and retail distribution systems. "Control" without ownership is not enough—putting pressure on a few own ers through political, producer or con sumers organizations is like swatting a giant on the wrist with a feather. c Dr. Harold J. Laski of the London School of Economics, who perhaps more than anyone else is recognized as the best overseas interpreter of the American scene, makes these suggestive observa tions on what he sees: "The two and one- half years of Mr. Roosevelt's administra tion have shown conclusively that plan ning under capitalism is not a feasible ad venture. Particularly, it is not feasible in a society, which, like that of America, is so deeply rooted in a tradition of lawless mdividualism ... If I read the American situation correctly, the present is a com paratively liberal era compared to what « state of affairs will be when Wall again has its own President in the e House ... I know of no country en u ^°rld where that (Hitler's) success ou'ci be so easily repeated as in the United States ... The recent Congress of the Third International has emphasized the need to defend political democracy where it still exists, while there is time. While there is time. It is necessary to emphasize these words. With world war on the near horizon, with capitalism more anti-democratic as it declines, that time is short." • Finland pays another installment on its war loan. One reason they can do so is because the people do not pay so much- profits into the pockets of a few people in Finland. The "progressive cooperatives operate on a gross margin of 12.9% while the conservative cooperatives who handle large quantities of farm supplies average only 8.9%. The cooperatives control the price level and by narrowing the- spread between producer and consumer prices, prevent the piling up of private profits. It's more important to herald the reason why Finland can pay its debts than the fact that they do. The last of a series of the four reports of Brookings Institution on the study of wealth and income distribution in rela tion to economic progress declares that constant reduction in commodity prices is. the way to effect broad distribution of in come. Indirectly they were only trying to tell America to follow Finland's ex ample. Finland is building her way up to- widespread prosperity on a narrowing spread and a declining price level. • "The cooperative movement will re ceive special attention" was the advance comment in The Commonweal, relative to the National Catholic Rural Life Con ference held at Rochester, New York, October 27 to 31st. "Special attention" was surely a most true statement. Such nationally known Catholic Cooperative advocates as Father James J. Tompkins, Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia, spoke on the famous St. Francis Xavier Adult Educa tion Program and the cooperatives which have been organized as a result of "edu cation issuing in action"; Father Joseph Campbell of Ames, Iowa, spoke on Credit Unions, and Mr. Frederick P. Kenkel, Editor of the Central Blatt and Social Justice of St. Louis, spoke on Christian thinking and the Cooperative Movement. It was a great day indeed when three such inspiring leaders advocated the practical application of the principles of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION brotherhood through education and the .-organization of cooperatives. • This letter from the Secretary of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers speaks for itself: "The Electrical Workers Journal has been pressing the idea of consumers' cooperation for a num ber of years. We are convinced that this form of economic activity is absolutely essential to healthful economic life in America and that it must come through 'trade union participation." "We expect to continue to press this matter in one form or another in the ^Electrical Workers Journal." Very truly yours, G. M. Bugniazet • Two great events happened in 1844. America is beginning to learn about the first—'the organization of the Consumers' Cooperative Association by the Rochdale Pioneers. We know less about the fact that in the same year the first Folk School was organized in Denmark. When Amer ica really gets hold of both of these great ideas, which together have transformed the economic and the cultural lives of the people of whole countries, then we shall "likewise become great spiritual beings rather than materialistic dwarfs. • When one is in any way inclined to lose his true perspective of the importance of his place in the great progress of events, it is not unwise to read a couple of verses in the Good Book, such as these: "Who maketh thee to differ from an- • other? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have >done that which was our duty to do" • A prominent banker declared at the American Bankers Association Conven tion that, "Since (the government) can not spend without using the bankable funds of the nation, it is up to us to de- •clare an embargo." A prominent business man goes on record that business should ""gang up" against the government. We wonder if we are not again witnessing a recurrence of previous illustrations which produced that old adage, "whom rt, Gods would destroy they first £e mad." Sabotage and ganging_Up__onak.e almost tempted to suggest, "Just try st» We, who believe in evolutionary me[i. j are trying to save our present econom• masters from the violent resentment of ^ outraged people as well as to help ^ people who are dispossessed to reco C ownership in an orderly way. Too Q * opposition to orderly change may ™e quick revolution. Fortunately more and more business men and bankers are show ing signs of thinking their way through emotionally and intellectually if we are to judge by the correspondence The Co operative League is now receiving. OF WHAT REAL IMPORTANfP ARE YOU—MR. AND MRS AMERICAN CONSUMER? ' Do you really recognize that you are today nothing? Dr. Hutchins, President of Chicago University, says, "I have been that deplorable figure, that negli- gible quantity, that cipher in the compila tions of business men—the consumer." Are you willing to accept the place as signed to you by Producers and Distrib utors of milk, who say that retail milk prices are fixed by "compromise agree ment between organized producers and distributors" with the consumer "too un important to even be consulted." Will you forever remain "unorgan ized" and therefore impotent, as was in dicated in the report of the negotiations between organized milk producers, labor and distributors in Chicago, with the "consumer not even represented." Or, is it at all possible that, as Roger Babson indicates, you might organize yourself with others as consumers and "become wise to your latent power" and go into real action? That then, as Dr. Coady suggests, you might "take hold of the throttle of your own economic life and guide your own destiny." It is truly possible that eventually you may be what Professor Charles Gide says you could be compared with what you are. "What is the consumer? f Nothing' What must he be? Everything!" What about it, Mr. and Mrs. American Consumer? Are you going to make any New Year's resolutions to be more than a cipher—to actually contraband the" act upon them? What Will Happen to Private Dealers Under Cooperation? if we were to answer in common everyday language, which no one could jsunderstand, the question constantly ""iced us, "What will happen to private merchants under cooperation?" we would say that they will be released from the apitalistic chains that now control them. Capitalism Chains Dealers A flaming political advertising poster was circulated by a candidate in Chicago with the headline, "Mr. Merchant, You Are Doomed!" It then went on to say that the Department of Labor printed a bul letin, in response to the requests of Amer ican citizens, telling them how to organize cooperatives if they wished to do so. Roger Babson says that "merchants may be sitting on dynamite—'if consumers ever become wise to their latent power." If it is true that private-profit dealers may be sitting on dynamite and largely doomed it isn't the cooperatives that are dooming them to destruction. It's the capitalistic finance-octopus that is reaching out and sucking them up and forcing them out of business to become hired servants and to work excessive hours at bare subsistence wages in "modern chain gangs." It is the result of the fact, as General Johnson in dicated in his pungent suggestion, that those who sit at the seat of custom at the point of the (Manhattan) Island seem to think of everyone further west as speci mens of a silver fox farm growing up to be skinned. Cooperatives Release Private Dealers from Bondage Cooperators propose to save private dealers from their doom and turn them into self-respecting managers of coopera tives where they will receive fair wages, work reasonable hours, have secure posi tions and experience the great joy of truly serving their customer-owners in every way. Turning private dealers into coop erative managers and customers into con sumer-owners might well be likened to ^easing masters as well as slaves from the system which controlled them both. A minister recently told us of a con versation he had with his Sunday School Superintendent who is a private dealer. A chain store was in the process of open ing nex't door. The dealer told the minis ter that he had only been making a bare living and now would likely be put out of business. The minister wanted to know how to advise his parishioner. We .told him to suggest that the dealer convert his store into a cooperative owned by his customers and he could then practice the principles of brotherhood which he taught in the Sunday School of which he was Superintendent and save himself and the; community as well from being swallowed up. Merchants Becoming Cooperatively Minded Some merchants are beginning to see things through. One dealer writes us that he realizes the independent merchant is doomed but that, as for him, he welcomes the better way. A letter just received on a First National Bank letterhead has the name of the signer at the top as Cashier of the bank and at the bottom as Superin tendent of the Sunday School. The writer not only orders literature but says, "I am starting a course of teaching in these principles." A socially minded minister tells us that he has personally canvassed every dealer'in his town and all but one expressed their willingness to turn their businesses into cooperatives. Dealers are organizing cooperative wholesales to pro tect themselves—the next and final step is to convert their stores into consumer- owned cooperatives. Private Dealers Unconscious Agents of Financial Octopus Dealers surely can see that not only are they tomorrow likely to be forced to' become servants of the finance-chain- octopus, but that today they are already indirectly agents for the same monopo listic power. Who really fixes the prices for the private dealer of today? It's the jobber and manufacturer from whom he buys or the packer or miller to whom he sells. The private dealer generally is only barely existing under present cut-throat competition in retailing and monopoly CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION control in production. A grain and lum ber dealer with whom we once rode pointed out farm after farm around his community which had been taken over by insurance companies. He complained that he had lost them as customers be cause the insurance companies now pur chase their supplies at wholesale. He did not see that he, as a dealer-agent of monopoly had unwittingly and uncon sciously been the indirect means of caus ing his former customers to lose their farms because the profits of the com munity had been sucked up and central ized into the hands of the finance-octo pus. Of course some dealers will likely persist indefinitely in declaring that "to the dealer belongs the retail trade at a profit." But many dealers will awaken themselves or be forced by financial losses to see that the retail trade of a ter ritory should be controlled by the com munity as a whole and that there is also a tetter way out, personally, than becom ing the manager of a chain—that of be coming a manager of a cooperative. One chain store manager who was ap proached by a cooperative manager to "hire one of his clerks answered, "Why not me?" Today the former chain man ager is working for the cooperative. In Great Britain it is reported by an Ameri can investigator that private dealers are watching the struggle between profit- chains and cooperative stores, hoping that they can eventually become man agers of cooperatives. Dealers Should Help Build Cooperative Communities All cooperatives want is a fair field. If they cannot serve better, then the dealer should remain. But the dealer cannot help but be part of an e nomic system that is slowly stranqlC° himself and his customers, no matter h ^ efficient he may be. For his own salT financially, for the greater personal ^ wards of genuine satisfactions in life> antj for the sake of his customers, he should use his talents to help lead out in reor ganizing his community. He must heln create a self-controlled economic organi zation which will make it possible for the wealth of the community to remain at home to enrich everyone, rather than be centralized in the hands of a few absentee owners. As a result, the cultural powers of all the people in the community will be released to develop into their highest pos sible expression. As Secretary of Agricul ture Wallace pictures so magnificently, "We think of cooperative communities not only in their competent commercial sense, but as a means of helping to unfold each other's lives." We expect to see the day, and hope to participate in it, when everyone in the community will meet together and, after a thorough discussion through public meetings and study-circles, will convert every business in the community into co operatives in a short space of time. It can be done and will be done when we develop enough community spirit to real ly want to do it. In the meanwhile, small groups in neighborhoods everywhere can free themselves at once by organizing coop eratives and thus one by one can grad ually reconstruct their whole community into a Cooperative Community Beautiful. A Model Cooperative Library James R. Moore, Editor, Ohio Farm Bureau News "*" I 'HE creation of a "cooperative" li'bra- J- ry at the state offices of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation at Columbus, Ohio, was the fulfillment of a desire on the part of the Farm Bureau officials to give to the 350 employees at the state headquarters, to Farm Bureau members and to others in the state of Ohio, access to an unbiased source of reading material on cooperative, social and economic sub jects. The library came into being in ry, 1935, with the appropriation of from the educational funds of the Ohm Farm Bureau. At that time a full-tim6 librarian was also employed. From an empty room and many stacks of unclassified papers, books, pamohlets i bulletins, that had collected during T last decade at the offices of the Ohio oerative, the librarian has evolved a C°di organized, well-lighted library and portable reading room Nearly six hundred volumes are now the shelves of the library. Two hun ted and seventy of these books have re- ntlv been purchased. Many of the hooks are from foreiqn lands—Canada, England and other European countries. A continual effort has been made to keep the substance of these books closely con nected with the cooperative, economic and social problems that are pertinent to- dav. It is the aim of the library to fulfill a demand that is not adequately satisfied by public and university libraries—to provide a critical and thorough analysis of current social problems by writers whose ability and foresight are highly esteemed. In addition to reading and reference books, the library contains several thou sand bulletins, 175 current magazines and periodical newspapers, 50 up-to-date pamphlets and several daily newspapers. Eight magazines dealing with coopera tion in England are received from Lon don. Use of the library has grown contin ually since its inception, approximately 25% of the reading books being in con stant circulation. For many books, a wait ing list of more 'than 30 persons is not uncommon. Reference books are constant ly in use. Magazines are circulated through the Farm Bureau offices with a definite time limit, in order that the in formation be timely for the many readers. Although the library is now partially fulfilling a very distinct need, its growth during the first year of existence indicates that appreciation of its value among co operative workers is only in its infancy. Learning Consumers' Cooperation by Cooperating Edmund E. Alubowicz, President, Flint Cooperative Association (Editor's note: Consumers' Cooperation "goes to town." In the last two years American born, English speaking groups in a dozen cities in the United States have followed the leadership of foreign language groups in organizing cooperative stores and oil stations. This article describes in detail the technique of organization which has proved particularly successful in creating city co operatives.) IGHT men met monthly as an eco- nomic study group in the winter of 1933-1934 with the avowed purpose of learning something about the economic order in which we live and which ap parently had broken down. For a time this study group functioned in the man ner that is usual for such groups. Then, attracted by brief quotations from a book entitled "Other People's Money," which appeared in the National Education Journal, it was decided to study this book of modern economic revelations written °y Louis D. Brandeis previous to Novem ber 1913. And what a book it turned out to be! The last chapter suggested that the on- y nope for the average American to save n'mself from the tentacles of the ever growing octopus of monopoly was the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. Cooperative Discussion-Circle Not one of us had previously heard of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. But it appeared so inviting and seemed so reasonable that we decided to study it at our next meeting (April, 1934). We sent for available literature on the Movement and instituted correspondence with sev eral outstanding cooperators. The literature we devoured most avid ly. The advice from established cooper ators was confusing. .Some informed us that cooperation was fine and all that we had to do was to raise four or five thou sand dollars capital and open a store. Others advised us to organize as a bar gaining agency and others cautioned us about being hasty. One letter urged us to organize a Cooperative Study-^Buying Club and then evolve into a store. Credit Union Organized Some of us had very recently been initiated into Credit Union activity. In the Credit Union literature there was an CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION insistence that it was desirable to begin in a small way.—with little risk and much opportunity to grasp the principles and technique involved — in other words, learn by doing. This method we chose to follow. We further decided that inasmuch as our wives allegedly spent 85% or more of our meagre earnings, they should be invited to participate in the setting up and operation of our new enterprise. Cooperative Buy ing-Bar gaining Club Organized So when the day arrived for us to dis cuss the Consumer Cooperative Move ment we met to organize the Flint Co operative Club instead. We began with eight families and $22 capital. Upon submitting our "by-laws" to the Central States Cooperative League with our application for admission to member ship, we were informed that our "by laws" were "the last word in simplicity." The truth was, we had no by-laws, but only a compilation of eight motions passed at our organizational meeting. The most important of these motions was the one that stated that we would operate on the Rochdale Principles. From April to September, we function ed as a buying club. On Tuesday of each week we pooled our orders for groceries which we would need the following week. The buying or business committee would buy our requirements wholesale, which were delivered to the home of one of the members. A reasonable margin was added to the cost and on Friday each member would call for his order. Part-Time Basement Store Started Late in August several of our members drove to Grand Rapids to visit the local cooperative society. This society oper ated a part-time store just as the original Rochdale Pioneers did in 1844. We re turned to Flint thrilled and inspired and immediately ordered sufficient lumber to build twelve feet of shelves in the base ment of the home of our manager. Hav ing the shelves built cooperatively, we invested the remaining funds in a stock of staple groceries. Emulating the GranH Rapids Society, we opened our store Tuesday and Friday evenings. We fur ther launched a membership campaign. And then things began to happen. Our membership grew, our inventory £d TAi1 wfEd'ï Outline Story of Midland Cooperative Wholesale end of the winter, we found ourselv • the situation that in order to further8 ' pand it would necessitate the remoy l^t the furnace. This we felt would not h been fair to our kind and hospitable h^t and manager. °st Regular Cooperative Store Organized Instead we incorporated on a non profit basis as the Flint Cooperative As" sociation and in June, 1935, opened centrally located full time store. Our inventory in the basement store reached $650. The monthly volume of business grew to about the same fiqure and our membership numbered sixty families. Last month (November) in our new location, our inventory was $1750, our sales $3,000, and member and patron izing non-member families totaled 260 We now employ a full time manager and assistant. Evolutionary Development There is no doubt that in a community such as ours, it would have been almost an impossible task to start right off with a set-up such as we have today. Consumers' Cooperation was unknown. But develop ing our store gradually we learned about Consumers' Cooperation and how to operate a consumer owned and con trolled business. We realize that we are still mere beginners in this whole business of Consumers' Cooperation and have much to learn. We are also aware that we yet have to succeed. Nevertheless we are, in the words of Mr. Bowen, doing What we can to clear up our own little corner of creation. Ideal of Cooperative Community Beautiful Ahead The most inspiring feature about our cooperative activities is the fact that more and more of us are discovering that Con sumers' Cooperation is not merely saving a few pennies on groceries, coal and gasoline, but rather a way of life—1" truth a very noble way of life and that the vision and promise the Movement holds before us transcends all of its m1' mediate advantages. From The Midland Cooperator • Note This is the fourth of the series of (Editors ^ the cooperative wholesale as- ar:iclcs des"the United Slates. Midland has the stations tjnction 0| being the first cooperative oil „nique dis ^.s country. It has built, entirely wholesale ^ immense \>/holesale association *' 6itt own compounding plant and serving ott-ning j c eratives. This factual statement 132 tfin outline form the story of the evolution ^„outstanding American Cooperative.) What It Is Midland is a cooperative wholesale dealing in petroleum products, automo bile accessories and paints tor about 132 local cooperative associations mostly in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nearly all of these are fully paid-up members. New members added constantly. Like the associations which it serves, Midland is operated on the Rochdale co operative principles, and it is incorpo rated as a capital stock cooperative asso ciation of the federated type under the Minnesota Cooperative Law of 1923. The main plant and office are located at Johnson and Broadway N. E., Min neapolis, Minnesota. History—Early Period A loose organization of oil cooperatives in southern Minnesota formed an educa tional and protective association at Man- -————"~ —= kato, November 13, 1925, known as the Minnesota Cooper ative Oil Federation. It held two meet ings, one at Man- kato and another at Owatonna, for the discussion of legis lative and business matters. It did not undertake wholesale buying. Executive board of Federation, meet ing at St. Paul, Sep tember 8, 1926 adopted articles in corporating the Min nesota Co-op Oil Company, to deal in petroleum products wholesale for the local cooperatives. Membership was $20 per association, plus $10.00 for each ad ditional bulk plant. Money paid into the Federation and held by secretary at Al bert Lea lost when bank closed. The wholesale started without capital, each association paying cash in advance for merchandise ordered. Renville County Cooperative Oil Com pany, Sacred Heart, Minnesota, ordered the first car of gasoline, paying $1,000 in advance. Freeborn County Cooperative Oil Company at Albert Lea advanced $3,000.00. Offices opened at 33rd Street and East Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, January, 1927, with E. G. Cort, who had been County Agent in Freeborn County, in charge. Trade mark adopted: The word "Co op" with clasped hands forming the hyphen. Disposition of net gain: First year's earnings returned in cash by vote of sec ond annual meeting. Earnings of other years, above the amount applied to mem bership, paid to locals in form of certifi cates of indebtedness bearing six per cent interest. Total savings in eight years. L—r 10 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 11 1927 to 1934, were $148,333.97. Savings for 1935 to October 31 were $60,286.11. Endorsed credit union movement in 1933, and has encouraged organization of credit unions among oil association mem bers. Endorsed by Wisconsin Society of Equity in 1932. Joined Wisconsin Coun cil of Agriculture in 1932. Assisted in organization of Wisconsin Cooperative League, educational agency, in 1934. Changed in 1934 from a membership to a capital stock cooperative. Government Membership: Every member associa tion must have five shares of $100.00 each, plus one share for each 50 members over 250. Incorporated under the Minnesota Co operative Law of 1923. Annual meeting second Tuesday in June of each year. Each association has one vote. Board of directors of ten representing districts in Wisconsin and Minnesota, meets quarterly. Small managing board, consisting of the three directors closest to Minneapolis, meets monthly. Rochdale cooperative principles in cluded in the articles and by-laws of the association. Merchandising—Source of Supply Light oils: Bought by contract on speci fications from reliable independent re fineries. Lubricants: Compounded at the Mid land plant; grease packed at plant. Tires and accessories: Chiefly from National Cooperatives, Inc.; some from the Miller Tire Co. Batteries and paint from National Co operatives, Inc. Brand: The word "Co-op" enclosed in a circle with clasped hands forming the hyphen. Letters of green with orange background. Policies Business with cooperatives only. Net gain pro-rated on the basis of patronage. Pro-ration determined on the basis of the gross profit of each individual sale. Semi-annual audit by Cooperative au ditors. Advertising carried on through globes, station signs, circular letters ers, annual and district meetings' cooperative press. ' and Organization, Education Propounds Rochdale principles of operation. Ca Promotes and sponsors coopérât' education through the cooperative nr'Ve field force, personal contacts, annual a^' special meetings of stockholders and H rectors, correspondence, material benefit pamphlets, lectures, cooperative schools training courses. Encourages everyone to deal with co operatives as exclusively as needs permit Advertises cooperative products sold under cooperative brands. Serves every real cooperative with supplies of petroleum products of highest quality. Sponsors the organization of coopera tive insurance associations, farmers' co_- operative trucking associations, coopéra tive credit unions, cooperative stores, etc Edits and publishes the Midland Co- operator, which speaks out on social and economic problems of the day as well as furnishes news of interest'to oil associa tions. Change of Name At the third annual meeting in 1930 the name was changed to the Midland Cooperative Oil Association. By this time the wholesale had extended its activities into Wisconsin, In 1934 another change of name was made, this time to Midland Cooperative Wholesale, a name which accords better with the varied nature of the commodities handled. Business Expansion Blending plant purchased in 1931. New offices occupied in January, 1932. First oil shipped from new plant, February. 1932. Blending of oils started, March. 1932. Tire and auto accessory business started in 1931. Paints added in 1934. Provided gas and fuel storage for Twin City oil cooperatives, 1933. Sponsored organization of Cooperative Insurance Association, 1933; American Farmers Mutual Auto Insurance Company, 1934: Twin City Oil Co-ops Credit Union. 1934; Cooperative Coal Association, 1934. Office and field force increased to keep it increasing business; force as of pacei 1935 as follows: eight fieldmen, Af ffire workers, two special staff mem- 15 Piaht plant employees, General bers, e'a growth in business volume, the following amounts in 1934: r , 'r handled, 3209; total sales, 'Ä100675; total assets, $239,085.40; $1; si'vings, $44,798.98. (Sales to Oct. ,f 1935 were $2,005,433.89; tank cars handled 3426.) Other Important Events Joined The Cooperative League of the United States in 1930. Staff members and directors have taken active part in the work of The League Helped organize National Coopera tives, Inc., in 1933, and through it has be come part of the International Whole sale, a federation of national wholesales in 26 countries. Started Co-op Oil News in 1930, which was combined with Cooperative Builder in 1932. Midland Cooperator started in August, 1933. Trains employees of associations by conducting an annual oil school, man agers' meetings, and a training school for prospective employees. Actively sponsors legislation pertaining to cooperative activities. Furnishes local cooperatives with speakers, literature, plays, movie films, etc. Develops sales material and adver tising material for its members. Encourages research in cooperative and merchandising problems and makes the results available to the members. Purchases equipment for its member associations at low cost. Takes active part in the national Con sumers' Cooperative Movement and uses every available means to advance it. Achievements of Midland First cooperative oil wholesale in ex istence. Built an immense wholesale organiza tion entirely out of earnings. Developed some outstanding coopera tive leaders in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Spread the message of Rochdale con sumers' cooperation to a host of people in the Northwest. Systematized business practices by strengthened finances and spread the co operative oil movement throughout the Northwest. Established the cooperative credit un ion movement in Minnesota and Wis consin. Started its own publication, The Mid land Cooperator, to keep the local asso ciations informed about developments in the cooperative movement. This now reaches nearly 40,000 individuals. Conducted a training school for em ployees and prospective employees of local associations, attended by 30 young men from three states. Conducted educational meetings in local associations following definite courses of study, bringing knowledge of cooperative history and principles to lo cal association members. What Midland Hopes to Do Become the basis for a strong con sumer cooperative in the rural Northwest. Spread the cooperative message to every farmer and worker in this area. Promote the union of all cooperatives in this area. Put a cooperative oil association and a credit union into every county of these states. Help foster all forms of genuine coop eration and thus establish a Cooperative Democracy in America. International News London—Nine members of the Coop- constituencies Cooperative Party mem- eratiye Party were elected to the House bers were urged to vote for Labor candi- L°mmons in the recent British Gen- dates, «al Election. With only twenty candi- flates in the field the Cooperative Party Helsingfors, Finland—A tribute from Polled 348,000 votes, exceeding by 100,- an unusual source came in a statement lts largest previous vote. In other from Risto Ryti, President of the Bank of 12 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 13 Finland, that the cooperative movement is one of the principal sources of the pros perity which Finland, in contrast to other countries, is enjoying. The President of the Bank of Finland made the following statement: "The low cost of distribution is an important factor in our national re covery, and for this our Consumers' Co operative movement is responsible. Ow ing to this movement, the middleman preys less upon the economic substance of the country than almost anywhere else in the world . . . Consumers' societies which sell in free competition with private undertaking also dictate the general price level. About one third of the retail trade of Finland is in the hands of the con sumers' societies." Rome, Italy—The Italian Government, faced with difficult economic conditions on account of the Abyssinian adventure, has had to turn to consumers' coopera tives as a defense against profiteering. With general prices zooming the cooper atives have proved the only test of what is a just and reasonable price. It is im portant to point out at this juncture that the Italian cooperatives are not members of the International Cooperative Alliance which has repeatedly scored Fascist con trol of Italian societies. Stockholm, Sweden — Legal action brought by the international electric lamp trust against the cooperative "Luma" Lamp Factory has ended in a victory for the cooperative. The Stockholm courts rejected the cartels claims, and ordered it to pay 47,000 kroner to Luma in com pensation for legal costs. Nearly three years have passed since the action began. The international cartel, through its Ger man subsidiary, claimed the cooperative had infringed on patent rights T instigation of legal proceedings 'on r ground o'f patent infringement has b favorite weapon of the Inte^3 Electric Lamp Trust against i policé in force in ninety-one of two counties of the state. factories according to The Link lished by the CWS in Manchester I Sweden alone the advent of the i factory has lightened the pockets of^ trust by over a million dollars a year Edinburgh, Scotland— The Board I Directors of the Scottish C. W. S h decided to set up an electric lamp fac.^5 in Scotland at a cost of approximate]! $300,000. It is planned that its canar / will be 3,000,000 bulbs a year, thouqh at first only half that amount will be pro duced. There will be the closest collabo ration with the Scandinavian Coopera tive Luma Lamp factory, especially on the technique of manufacture. Investiqa- tion by the International Cooperative Wholesale Society has shown that arti ficial trade barriers maintained at the re quest of capitalist corporations make it impossible for a cooperative plant in one country, like Luma, to serve other co operative wholesales satisfactorily. The plan, therefore, is to use the system of the Philips electric bulb trust of plants in each country designed to fill the local need, but all collaborating in engineering technique, purchases of raw materials and other working arrangements. The Philips monopoly, connected with General Elec tric of Britain, maintains a high price throughout Europe; Luma has cut the price in Sweden almost in half. The Scottish step is a distinct advance in the methods of International Cooperation in its fight against irresponsible private combinations. Cooperatives in Action New York City—The Eastern Coop erative Wholesale has proudly an nounced the opening of three full-fledged cooperative stores at Elizabeth and Sum- mitt, New Jersey, and Hewlett, Long Island, which grew out o'f cooperative study clubs and buying clubs organized last year. The Wholesale has also opened a new warehouse in New York City, for storing and packaging co-op label goods for delivery to cooperative stores and buying clubs in the Greater New York Area. Indianapolis, Ind.—On February 26, 1935, the Department of Insurance of the State of Indiana granted the Farm uu- reau Mutual Insurance Company of 1"' diana a license to write casualty tasur' ance. Ten months later there are ov* Washington, D. C.—The quarterly re- f the Farm Credit Administration P°,rtS °e that the membership of Federal 'it Unions is growing at the rate of ' than 10,000 a month. „ Illinois-—Consumers' Coop- V"rServices boasts a 100% increase era : of sales for October, 1935, over n sales for October, 1934. The South fhicaqo store has doubled its floor space, dded hundreds of new items, started delivery service, launched the Coopera- News, and maintained a constant education program that includes testing arties, in which members of the cooper ative meet to taste and pass on goods to be stocked in the store. In many cases high ly advertised brands failed to meet stringent tests of consumer needs and the cooperative was able to stock higher quality goods at lower prices than com peting private profit stores. Los Angeles, Calif.—The Cooperative Wholesale Association of Southern Cali fornia Los Angeles, has boosted its sales from '$1500 in May to $8,000 for the month of October. Nearly 100 coopera tive stores and buying clubs are purchas ing through the wholesale. Washington, D. C.—Consumers' Co operation as an economic foundation for world peace was again affirmed when the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom announced the preparation of a special discussion outline on Coop eratives and Peace. Chicago, Illinois-—Chicago Theological Seminary students in the Kimbark Co operative Dining Club are feeding them selves for 13c a meal. Membership in the cooperative has jumped from twenty-five to fifty-eight in the three months of its operation. Seattle, Wash.—Following closely on the heels of the organization of the Co operative Education Association of Colo rado, comes the announcement of the formation of the Consumers' Cooperative League of Washington. The new organi zation was organized primarily to coor- fuf th-e educational work in the State Washington. A speakers bureau, study courses and a publication "Cooperative Progress" have been launched. Robert B. Shaw, 5727 30th Street, N. E., Seattle, is editor of the new publication. The new educational organization is working with the cooperative wholesales, Pacific Sup ply Cooperative and Grange Coopera tive Wholesale, which are growing rapid ly in volume and number of new coopera tives in the Pacific Northwest. New York City—The Workmen's Mutual Fire Insurance Society has ap plied for licenses to extend its service to New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Minnesota. Harrisburg, Pa.— The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association reported a first year volume of business of $171,000, celebrated the second anni versary of the Farm Review by pushing its circulation to 37,000 (three times that of two years ago) and moved into the new Farm Bureau-owned building in Harrisburg. North Kansas City, Mo.—Arthur Kat- ka, former member of the staff of the Central Cooperative Wholesale, Super ior, Wisconsin, has been employed as manager of the new Grocery Department of the Consumers' Cooperative Associa tion. Brooklyn, N. Y.—The Independent Consumers' Cooperative Society, organ ized by labor and socialist groups early in 1935, opened a cooperative laundry in May. In the face of a price war in the racket-infested laundry business in Brooklyn, the co-op increased its volume o'f business from less than $10 the first week to $400 a week in November. Plans are being made to purchase complete laundry equipment and push into the field of other cooperative services as soon as the membership warrants. Chapel Hill, North Carolina— Two thousand of the twenty-five hundred members of the student body of the Uni versity of North Carolina are members of a cleaning and pressing cooperative which did a business of $15,000 in 1934 and far exceeded that in 1935. The co-op owns its own truck, employs a manager, two clerks and six cleaning and pressing experts. In spite of the fact that it paid higher than code wages, the co-op clean ed and pressed suits of clothes for forty cents compared to seventy-five cents 14 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 15 charged by private cleaners. The success in cleaning and pressing led the students to add clothing to their cooperative serv ice. A private clothing merchant in Chapel Hill is reported to have advertised that he would run the co-op out of busi ness if it cost him $100,000. Today, the merchant is in bankruptcy. The coopera tive was started on a capital of $760 raised by $1 membership fees from the charter members. North Kansas City, Mo.—'Eighty-three students from seven states and the Dis trict of Columbia attended the ten-day school in cooperative principles and meth ods conducted by the Consumers' Coop erative Association, November 3 to 13th. Minneapolis, Minn.^In line with the policy of ever-expanding cooperative service, the Midland Cooperative Whole sale announced the formation of twenty- six credit unions in the month of October, created a wholesale coal department to serve cooperative members and launched a one month training school for co-op employees. Seattle, Wash.—'During the first ten months of 1935 eighteen new farm supply cooperatives in Oregon, Washington and Idaho affiliated with the Grange Coop erative Wholesale, bringing the total number served by the wholesale to sixty. New York City—- Nine new consumers clubs have been organized in the states of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and New York, bringing the number of consumers clubs affiliated with Cooperative Distributors to a total of sixty-one. Indianapolis, Ind.—Twenty-five coun ties in the state have formed Farm Bu reau Credit Unions which have accumu lated savings of $125,000. More than $70,000 has been reloaned to members at low rate interest without the loss of a single dollar in three years of operation. Columbus, Ohio—-Realizing the com mon bond of consumer interest, farm and city cooperation became a greater reality with the passage of the following resolu tion by the Ohio Farm Bureau State Con vention in Columbus, November 22. The Board of Directors of the Farm Bureau earlier in the year recommended that members of the educational staff V, rected to assist in the organization f cooperatives. c'ty "There has been a marked growth H ing the last few years of urban coon tive associations, and this develo will, without doubt, be a continunu "' steady one. and "BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVPn that since the relationships existing kT tween the farmers and urban consum groups have so much of common purpo^ in their cooperative developments and * caring for the consumptive needs of the? ' members, that we authorize, as a pol' ' of the Farm Bureau, that the Board'^ Trustees and the officials of the Fa° Bureau, develop and promote proper plans for agreeable and consistent work ing relationships between these coopera tive associations. All such plans, shall jn the interest of both, work toward a uni fied program of action, which shall be jn accord with the promotion of the cooper ative movement." North Kansas City, Mo.—As an ad ditional step into cooperative production the Consumers' Cooperative Association has just completed and shipped to mem bers the first cooperatively-made grease. New York—Rural Electrification, the newest of cooperative activity, has al ready had a dramatic career. Cooperative associations for the distribution of power have already been organized in Ohio, In diana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington. Projects are pouring into the Rural Electrification Administra tion for approval and allotment of loans. Five cooperative projects were already underway early in December. Private profit utility companies, fear ful that the cooperatives would actually serve territory they had refused to serve because it had been considered unprofit able, came to life with unusual vigor. On the day poles were set for the first co operative project in Ohio a private company began stretching a line to serve the same territory. A race reminiscent d the old railroad days followed. The co operative, with consumers already sign£ for the service, won. The private conij pany, however, resorted to severa questionable tactics in an attempt to sk off the cream of the territory. SiB"'a has been reported from other sec- act'°n , tjie country. The race to provide ti°ns ? farms with electricity is on. Ame battle will be to determine whether Thef ffler will serve himself or pay ex-. thf. L prices for the privilege of get- °jn service from a private profit dis tributor. Sacramento, Cal.— Consumers' Coop- tion was advocated by the National r nqe Convention in session in Sacra- to November 30, as a defense against fflenopoly and as a method of substituting ïe service motive for the private profit 'tive now dominating industry. "Farm- can and must help themselves through self-help cooperatives if they are to fully enjoy tne rruits °f ^eii: toil," said E E. King, Master of the Washington State Grange, in presenting the resolu tion for the adoption of the convention representing 1,000,000 organized farmers in 35 states. The statement accompanying the recommendation of consumers' coop erative action, said: "The growth of business and finance has placed "unorganized agriculture at a great disadvantage," and this circumstance will increase as time goes on, unless corrected by the farmers themselves through cooperative action. "Under our present monopolistic system one of the greatest difficulties is that industrial workers are unable to buy back goods which they them selves produced. We even get involved in dis putes internationally because of some of our com bines wanting selling advantages. Consumer co operation is a solution to this evil and should be encouraged. The private profit motive should be replaced by the cooperative motive of service." Babson Park, Mass.— -Babson Reports, watchman on the wall for profit business, declared in its November 25 issue that 10.000 consumers cooperative societies now operating in the U. S. are symptoms of a consumer uprising and that "mer chants who laugh off these consumers' crusades are sitting on dynamite." ., ^ears aßo we did not think such a thing pos sible. If anybody then had forecast a consumers' "Pnsing in this country, we instantly would have «enounced the idea as a false alarm. Today, how- ««. we are not sure. If such a thing as Town- senoism which is fundamentally unsound, can Sfteep the United States from coast to coast, there L a" «ceïïent chance that another prairie fire may „ f.ndled by the consumers' rebellions already snm .i"9' r consumers' movement — unlike the »metning-for-nothing-clubs— has certain elements ot rr * ual sound. It has something 1 Cmsading 9uality almost like a spirit- Potentially it (the consumers' movement) has enough votes, enough money, and enough eco nomic soundness to split things wide open. As the leaders of such crusades well know, if consumers ever get organized and go into real action, our present retailing, wholesaling and producing sys tems might be blown to bits. "At present there are four kegs of dynamite: Consumers are already entrenched in Washing ton . . . Another attempt will be made in January to tighten up the food and drug laws . . . con sumers' advisory services undertake to inform their subscribers on the merits of various makes of goods. Finally—and this may become the biggest keg of all—there is dogged growth of consumers' cooperative societies of the Rochdale type. In other countries there are sections where about half of the retail volume is handled by such societies. They are expanding into wholesaling and pro ducing activities. In the U. S. about 10,000 of these societies are getting a foothold. Some are large, some are small—all are symptoms. "We all must watch our step if consumers ever become wise to their latent power and decide to become dictators in fact as they already are in theory. We say, and say earnestly, that merchants who laugh off these consumers' crusades are sitting on dynamite." New Haven, Conn.-^Forty-five min isters jointly answered President Roose velt's letter to them asking for sugges tions as to ways out. The names signed to the letter include many of America's outstanding ministers, such as Dr. Albert W. Beaven, former President of the Fed eral Council of Churches and President of Colgate-Rochester Divinity School (which is bringing Kagawa to America to deliver the course of lectures on the Rauschenbusch Foundation); Professor Jerome Davis, Yale Divinity School; Rev. John Haynes Holmes, New York Com munity Church; Rabbi Sidney Goldstein, Chairman Social Justice Commission o£ Central Conference of American Rabbis; Professor Reinhold Niebuhr, Union Theological Seminary; Eleanor Copen- haver, Industrial Secretary National Y.. W.C.A. Board; Dr. Ernest Guthrie, Gen eral Director, Chicago Congregational Union; Bishop Paul Jones, Antioch Col lege; Dr. Robert Searle, Executive Secre tary, Greater New York Federation of. Churches, and others. They not only de nounce the present capitalistic order but: specifically and definitely suggest the three principal ways out in two nuggets; of wisdom, "We hold that there can be no> permanent recovery as long as the nation depends on palliative legislation inside the capitalistic system," say these min isters. They then urge "three drastic steps, involving first, transferring the distribution of the necessities of life, as 16 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Jo: well as other consumption goods, to co operatives; second, nationalization of the basic industries and third, the building of an inclusive trade union movement which will insure social justice to the workers." Consumers' Cooperatives, Public Utilities and Trade Unions—verily these forty- five ministers are beginning to see clear ly the economic roads to the Promised Land, Superior, Wisconsin—Citizens of Ake- ley, Minnesota, unable to afford medical service from physicians in neighboring towns, have organized as consumers to secure jointly the service they could not individually afford. The village council took the initiative in calling a town meeting to discuss the problem of medical service. Taking their cue from Saskatchewan, Canada, com munities which had met the same prob lem, farm and village residents formed a medical cooperative. A membership fee of ten dollars en titles the member and his family to med ical service for a year. Two hundred members in the town of 1,800 are able to hire a competent, reliable physician can devote his time to keeping the m bers of the cooperative well rather t\^~ merely to treating those who become i? As the membership increases it -win Ï possible to extend the service to in 1 j6 a full time nurse and hospital faciliti? A similar medical cooperative, OrQS' ized in Elk City, Oklahoma, late in igin" now owns a modern $25,000 hosnif i and 1800 families are "helping the? selves to health" at a cost of $2 per fam" ily per month for complete medical and hospital service. Meridian, Idaho—"We have a co-on oil company here in the Boise Valley Started operations the 7th day of April 1933. with about 400 members and two stations and one truck. Today, two and a half years later, we have 3,000 members, four trucks, two transports hauling gas from Portland, Oregon, and fourteen sta tions selling over 100,000 gallons of gas per day. We are still growing. We have paid four dividends back to the members of better than $50,000, which we think is doing real well." (Signed) M. S. Houten. The Press Boosts Consumers' Cooperation SURVEY, November Midmonthly, "Own Your Own Hospital," Elk City Co-op Hospital. SURVEY GRAPHIC, January, "Meet the Co ops," Bertram B. Fowler. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, a special series of articles on the Consumers' Cooperative movement, Bertram B. Fowler, successive \Vednesdays, December 11 to January 15. FORUM, January, "The New Crusade—Kagawa Preaches Economic Salvation," Bertram B. Fowler, CHRISTIAN CENTURY, December 4, "Kagawa in America," an editorial. November 13, "Instead of Relief," Soren K. Ostergaard. SOCIAL ACTION, Congregational Department of Social Action, November 15, "The Churches in Social Action, Why and How," Consumers' Cooperatives, James Myers. THE NATION'S BUSINESS, November, "Right eous Cooperatives," an editorial attack by Merle Thorpe. PROGRESSIVE GROCER, December, "Con sumers Share in the Profits of This Store," the story of the United Cooperative Society of Maynard. SOCIAL QUESTIONS BULLETIN, Methodist Federation of Social Service, December, "Steps to a Planning Social Economy—The Coopera tives." NATIONAL STUDENT MIRROR, January, "Consumers' Cooperative Technique," William C. Loring, Jr. COMMON SENSE, January, "Without Pass words or Parades," Wallace J. Campbell. EPWORTH HERALD, December 7, "Another Student Cooperative," a report of the University of Oregon Students Cooperative Living Asso ciation. EPWORTH HIGHROAD, January, Bibliography on Consumers' Cooperation. CANADIAN STUDENT, November, "An Extra Mural University—The Cooperative Movement in Eastern Nova Scotia," Eirene Walker. INFORMATION SERVICE, Federal Council ol Churches, November 23, "One-Eighth Farm Supplies Bought Cooperatively." YEA HUDSON, November, "Christian Youth Building a New World—Cooperation," Howard M. Thomson. ,. A. F. of L. NEWS SERVICE, November 30. "Cooperative System Aids Swedish Masses. AMERICA, November 16, "Religion at the Grass roots," John LaFarge, S. J. Religion, the farmer and cooperation. ... AMERICAN LEADER, November 22, "Oil W ments Expand World Co-op Trading. HOME MISSIONS REPORT, Board of and Church Extension, Methodist Church, cial section on Consumers' Cooperation. A NEW WORLD, December, "Bargain, Build," Wallace J. Campbell. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION ORGAN OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE PURCHASING MOVEMENT IN THEU.5. ETERNAL AS THE UNENDING CIRCLE- HARDY AS THE. EVERGREEN PINE Volume XXII. No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1936 Ten Cents EDITORIAL EPIGRAMS Throughout this land I go to preach, "The Kingdom is at hand." —Kagawa in "Songs from the Slums" • "Human growth is the current of awareness of brotherhood resulting in conduct," Zona Gale. • Every cooperative purchase is casting an economic vote as a consumer and is more important today than casting a po litical vote as a citizen. • "Cooperatives are the love principle applied to industry," says Kagawa. • Profits, like fertilizer, only rot when they are piled up. To increase production, both must be widely distributed. • The London Cooperative Society had 117,266 members in 1924—ten years later in 1934 it had 530,610 members. Cities are the hardest fields to conquer on ac count of the lack of neighborhood rela tionships but when once cooperatives do get started more generally in cities, they will grow in America with great speed. The challenging headline, "Look Out, the Co-ops are Coming," originated by Oscar Cooley, Editor of "The Coopera tive Builder," ought to be used over two items of news; the first being Roger Bab- son's warning -to dealers that they may be sitting on dynamite if consumers ever wake up to their potential power; and the second, the report of the Farm Credit Ad ministration that the cooperative pur chasing of farm supplies has doubled dur ing the five years of the depression, from 125 to 250 million dollars, or one-eighth of the total purchasing of farm supplies in the United States. • The Consumers' Cooperative Move ment might well address an open letter of high appreciation to the immigration authorities of San Francisco wlio held1 Kagawa temporarily, just long enough for him to declare to America through the Associated and United Press services, that he would like to make the speaking tour arranged for him in order to tell America about Consumers' Cooperatives. He said in his simple, modest manner, "I hope I shall be permitted to enter this country to lecture. I am concerned with ontar=e knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in Pubf h association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. E R R m0"thly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New York City. Tr;,fSJ,or- Wallace J- Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative anq Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. ed as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act _^ of March S, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 18 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 'vary enlisting the aid of Americans and par ticularly the American churches in the development of Consumers' Coopera tives." Further publicity was given to his coming to America by the personal re quest of President Roosevelt at a Cabinet meeting to the Secretaries of Labor, State and Treasury, that they speed action. For this "million dollars worth of free national publicity" which the Consumers' Coop erative Movement received through the Associated and United Press as a result of this combination of events, we are deeply grateful. e "Mr. Bertram B. Fowler addressed the Executive Club of the Boston Chamber of Commerce last evening. Mr. Fowler's talk was one of the most interesting and stimulating that we have heard in a long time." (Signed) James H. Walsh, Secre tary. While we recognize fully the possibility of some banking and business leaders pushing America towards fascism, there are also many indications that other leaders of finance and industry are con cerned about building an economic de mocracy in America as well as are farm ers and workers. e Among the many powerful expressions about Cooperation made since Kagawa came to America are these: "What does America need most? Co operation instead of competition." "The Cooperative Movement is the only way to international peace." "There is no way to help poor people except by Cooperatives." "Machines are very good when we have Cooperatives, but machines plus greed are terrible things." e Isn't it, after all, quite strange (com paring the size of the two at present) how disturbed the private-profit monopolistic elephant can become over the cooperative mouse? When Printers Ink "recognizes" the Cooperative Movement with an edi torial questioning the interest of religious leaders in our Movement; when Tide misinforms its readers in stating that we propose to eliminate advertising and does not differentiate between the ballyhoo and the informative kinds; when Roger Babson warns merchants that they "may be sitting on dynamite ... if ever wake up to their potential ow when even Nations Business pretend *' protect individual dealers from the ^ eratives, when in reality it is the oc finance-chains which are rapidly nating them; when all this evidenc piling up, as one correspondent Write "big business is sitting up and takino notice," it is an indication that the C Burners' Cooperative Movement is devel oping a real punch. We greatly appre~ ciate the wider advertising which th" organs of private-profit business ar<> giving us. Every attack is a boost as the increasing friendliness of business men towards the cooperative democratic solu tion of America's economic difficulties in dicates. e The Social Frontier, which is an out standing journal of educational criticism and reconstruction, edited by George S Counts, in a first column editorial in the December issue discusses the Wisconsin Law providing for the teaching of Co operative Marketing and Consumers' Cooperation. "The Social Frontier can not but welcome the support which the Wisconsin Legislature has thus given to the most needed improvement of the school program . . . We regard this Wis consin Act as too good to be true," the editorial concludes. • Henry Clay Frick, the steel magnate, is described as "a man who fused steel and art." It can be done in the new unselfish cooperative order but not in the present greedy capitalistic one. It takes more than a fat pocketbook to fuse art and steel. No man can do it who declares, as did Frick, that "I will never recognize the union, never, never." Only the chem istry of brotherhood will ever mix the two. It cannot be done by anyone who refuses to recognize the right of labor to organize but only by those who encour age that inalienable right. « There are two great motivating forces in society, Necessity and Desire. If one does not follow desire, eventually neces sity is likely to force action, as indicated in the following extract from a letter: "In the year 1910 I became intensely in terested in the Cooperative Movement tf 1936 p aland and for years I dreamed of the • e when such a movement might gain "• jlar importance in America. The eco- S1Ifflic system under which I worked for bade my 9ivin9 ful1 expression to my mnion, but I am now thoroughly emanci- ated from that situation by being com- CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 19 pletely broke.' "It js announced that Fascist Italy will roceed with inflexible determination to ward the necessary attainment of the goal that has been set by Premier Mussolini for the destinies of the nation," is one of the clearest statements of the difference hetween dictatorship and democracy. In a democracy the people and not the leader set the goal. The leader is a servant who carries out the orders of the people who are his superiors, in an effort to reach the goal which the people them selves set, by the methods which the peo ple themselves determine. e President Harper Sibley of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, protests against the President of the United States callina business and banking leaders by such names as representatives of "entrenched greed," the "money changers," those who "steal the livery of great national consti tutional ideals to serve discredited special interests;" those who would "gang up against the people's liberties." So do at least some cooperators. We very much hope that the argument about future po litical as well as economic steps will 'be discussed as relating to "systems" rather than to "personalities." e Cooperators can move mountains whenever they put their pens together. They can induce national radio hookups to put Consumers' Cooperation on the air. They can induce even "liberal" magazines like the Nation and the New Republic to begin to tell America about the evolutionary way out of the mess we are in instead of spending all their time analyzing the mess and discussing the revolutionary ways which America does not want to take. You, as a cooperator, have both a real responsibility and a £eat opportunity. Write! Write! Write! "P !t "P- Bombard the radio circuits nd the national and local magazines and newspapers about the Consumers' Coop erative Movement. It works, as witness the NEC "Town Meeting of the Air" program on January 9th and the an nouncements of the Nation and New Re public to feature Consumers' Coouera- tion. Wear out your pen (or even pencil) if you do not have a typewriter in this great cause. Never stop. e The general expressions which we have heard have fceen to the effect that Kagawa has "made good" on his advance publicity. Surely he has proven to be the "saint who can laugh," the "master of hearts," the "holy man of the power age," as he has been described. He knows Co operation. He doesn't generalize about a "Cooperative Commonwealth," but talks specifically about the various types of co operatives and describes them in a way that could only be possible from practical first hand knowledge and not alone from second-hand theoretical reading. He speaks English more plainly than had been anticipated. "Violence" sounded like "values" for a little while until you caught his inflection, but eventually you do. His spirit radiates and his gestures il luminate. When we admit that we cannot yet quite relate his description of the "seven values" to seven types of religions and, in turn, to "seven types of coopera tives" we are willing to admit that there may be some connection between each kind of value of life and each type of co operative, as he presents them, even if we do not yet clearly understand his inter pretation. He is surely well worth hearing. We have always admired the spirit of Caleb who, when he had returned from spying out the Land of Canaan, said to the people, "Let us go up at once and possess it!" No hesitation there, no fear complex. "At once" and "possess it" are the (key words expressing the ideas that America needs to get hold of. Why wait? The Promised Land is right before us. We have built the automatic power ma chinery to pile up plenty for all. Why not possess it? And why not at once? We must create cooperatives to distribute it. How fast we could go if we only would! Overnight, almost, we could enter in. It's either go forward rapidly or slip back in to another Dark Ages. 20 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Consumers' Cooperation "Goes to Town" CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 21 Bertram B. Fowler (Editor's Note. Bertram B. Fowler spent three months studying consumers' cooperatives in action in the Middle Western states last summer. The im portant trend toward city consumer organization he describes here will be discussed in more detail in his volume, "The Revolt of the Guinea Pigs" which will be published by Vanguard Press in March.) THE years 1934 and 1935 will proba bly go down on record as the years in which Consumers' Cooperation began to move into the larger cities. It was dur ing these years that American born, Eng lish speaking city workers definitely be gan to organize cooperatives. True, some of the older cooperatives had been started by workers in towns such as those in \Vaukegan, Illinois, and Maynard and Fitchburg, Massachusetts, but most of them were started by foreign born work ers who brought the idea of consumers' cooperation with them to America. The real developments of earlier years among American born workers had been in trie rural areas. Many observers were stating that the cooperative movement was a îarm movement. But last year the trend toward city cooperatives definitely set in. Today a number of urban cooperatives are showing just what can be done by city dwellers. Economic Pressure Forces Cooperation The same economic maladjustments which forced the growth of cooperatives in the rural areas are now forcing the growth in the cities. The problem of the consumer is the same regardless of where lie may live or how 'he makes his living. Excessive profit-taking and tlie grip of the monopolies have affected both farm and city workers. In Chicago is to be found one story of what consumers can do when they set out to help themselves. Consumers' Co operative Services, Inc., 5635 Harper Street, Chicago, was started in Decem ber, 1932, with nine members and no capital. The organization operated as a buying club, pooling orders and shopping for prices. Seven members were repre sented in the first order which includ H 21 items and amounted to $51.50. Rochdale Principles At first they operated ^on a cost-plus system and found it wasn't successful I 1934 they reorganized on true Rochdale lines and began to pile up gains. Sales in August, 1934, were $549. In October 1935, they had risen to $3,251 and were still climbing. Today Consumers' Cooperative Serv ices is a consumer oasis in a chain store desert. It has its roots firmly planted in real city soil. These city consumers have raised their standard in the face of all the competition that the city stores offer. They have to meet chain store prices. Last year while they were doing this, they paid themselves back 5% on their purchases. They did something else, too, when they began to carry a stock of high quality but non-advertised groceries, sav ing themselves as much as 50% of the price of the highly advertised brands. This group of city consumers has turned to the "Co-op" trade-marls as definitely as they liave turned to the cooperative tech nique. And it is paying them dividends. Over in neighboring Gary, Indiana, a group of Negroes are proving that the Chicago success wasn't just a happy chance. This Negro group also first turned to cooperation in 1932. Like the Chicago consumers their number was small and money scarce. Their coopera tive venture started w.hen thirty of them raised $24 and began to experiment with business by and for the people. This group had almost every handicap to overcome. One half the Negro popula tion of Gary was on relief. Most of them were discouraged and disheartened. But they saw in Consumers' Cooperation a possibility of future relief from the burden of business in the hands of the prom- makers. Economic Emancipation The story of accomplishment by the Gary Negroes is one of the most moving stories in American economic history- \Vith their $24 they started a buying Yb The buying club developed into cu ' in a tiny store. Even at this point observer would have seen nothing ^er which to enthuse in the Gary experi- ent. But in 1935 the Consumers' Coop- Dative Trading Company of Gary merged as something new and startling ? the way of a Negro-owned business, ïs total sales in 1935 were $35,000. It had a modern store on one of the main streets—the largest Negro-owned retail business in the United States. These Negroes had done something more than build their own business. They had blazed a trail that leads directly toward economic emancipation by consumer eco nomic action. The consumers in Flint, Michigan, were a little longer in finding out about Con sumers' Cooperation. It was late in 1933 when eight men began to meet monthly as an economic study group. They were looking for a way out. They got on the trail when they began to study "Other People's Money" by Louis D. Brandeis. The final chapter of that book turned the group definitely toward Consumers' Cooperation as the -philosophy for wihich they had been searching. The Flint Cooperative Association was started with eight families and $22 capi tal. From April, 1934, to September of that year they operated a buying club. In August they built shelves in the basement of the home of one of the members and put in their stock of staple groceries. By the end of the winter they found they would have to do one of two things—- move into a larger place or taike trie mem ber's furnace out of his basement. Like good cooperators they decided to move. June, 1935, saw the opening of a centrally located full-time store by the Flint cooperators. When they moved out of the member's basement, their member ship had grown to 60 families and they were doing a business of $650 a month. ln November of 1935 their membership had jumped to 260 families and the sales to $3,000. ihe Flint consumers had brought co operation to town. By education of them selves and a steady development of their business as consumers they had taken the lrst step toward the cooperative com munity. Steel Workers and Ph. D's It is a far cry from the Negro section of steel-making Gary to the lovely Uni versity city of Madison, Wisconsin. But the Negro steel worker and the Ph. D. of Madison had one thing in common. They were both consumers. The technique used to solve the problem of one would solve the problem of the other. For the consumer's dollar is the same no matter by whom it is spent. And a technique of consumer action is the only method by which the dollar can be made to buy more and more of the necessities of life. Con sumers' Cooperation went to town in Madison as it had in Gary. The Madison cooperators decided to make their start in gas and oil. In April, 1934, an organization drive was begun. Shares of stock in the cooperative were sold. In many ways the cooperative na ture of the venture appeared. After a suit able site had been leased, an architect drew the plans for the station in return for some cooperative stock. Members of various unions did construction work in exchange for stock. They even purchased some of their materials in exchange for stock. During the first month, September, 1934, the Co-op filling station pumped 10,400 gallons of gasoline, besides doing a good business in tires, batteries, lubri cating and grease jobs. At the end of the first month, an audit of its books showed net savings of $250. In the first eight months of its existence this cooperative did a business of $18,000. At the end of that time the cooperative association bought out the holdings of an old-line oil company which had on its hands two filling stations and a bulk petroleum plant which had been losing money for them steadily. The cooperators took over these holdings. In the first two months of business they put both stations on a paying basis. By November, 1935, they had besides the filling stations a bulk plant for fuel oil and their own coal yard and were doing a business of $3,000 a week. On the first $18,000 business they paid a patronage dividend of 8%. The Consumer Discovers Himself The Negro population of Pittsburgh is economically on a par with that of Gary, Indiana. They suffered the same wrongs 22 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 23 of exploitation. Like the Negroes of Gary they were for the most part unskilled workers in the steel industry. Like their fellows in Gary they were discouraged—• almost hopeless. At this point they made the same discovery, namely, that their economic wrongs could be righted through consumer economic action. So, two years ago the Citizens Grocery Com pany made its appearance. Here again, the start was lamentably small—the first meeting saw eight men pooling a total of $2. It took them a year from that time to save enough money and get sufficient membership to launch their cooperative. But launch it they did with the result that their fine little store in Pittsburgh did $12,000 worth of business in eight months and saved for its members over $600. It has now grown beyond the immediate neighborhood so that a second store has been opened. In Minneapolis and St. Paul Consumers' Cooperation likewise went to town. For years it had been spreading swiftly through the rural areas of central states. Its entry into the cities here was inevi table. In St. Paul a few men started in 1930 to put the idea of a cooperative gas and oil station across. It took them a long time to get started. But when they did they proved that cooperation works as well in the cities as it does in the country. Their sales for the year ending March 31, 1935, were $36,000 with earnings for the consumers of over $3,000. In neighboring Minneapolis the Allied Cooperative, Inc., a fuel oil cooperative organization, has written cooperative his tory. Started in September, 1933, with a capital of $75 this organization did a busi ness of $25,000 the first year and ran that up to $65,000 the second year. During this time it averaged a 5}/2% patronage dividend. Labor Organizes Its Purchasing Power In June, 1934, a group of trade union ists in Racine, Wisconsin, began to won der if there wasn't some way by which they could bring into the city some of the benefits which the country sections of Wisconsin were enjoying through con sumers' cooperatives. They opened a fill ing station and then went on into the distribution of coal. This society was in corporated for $6,000 with $3,000 Wo t, of stock subscribed by 270 individu 1 In nine months in 1935 this organizaf98' did a business of over $38,000 and e ed for these consumer members Consumers' Cooperation as a for the city consumers of Columbu Ohio, came in as a result of the great r operative development within the Oh'" Farm Bureau. In this city a group of con° sumers, headed by some of the facult" members of the Ohio University, rented a vacant lot and installed their own gaso line pumps that they might sell them selves gas and oil and share the savings that the rural communities were already making. Here we have a clear picture of what is happening all over the United States. The savings made by farmers are begin ning to draw the city dwellers toward the movement. In this town-ward movement the farm cooperatives see their chance to develop markets for their produce through these city cooperatives while they cut the margins on their own prod ucts through the greater sales and wider distribution that comes with city coop eratives. It was because of this that the Ohio Farm Bureau has officially gone on record as being in favor of the develop ment of consumers' cooperatives in the towns and cities. More than this, they have signified their determination to help in the development of such cooperatives. The Columbus Consumers' Cooperative has proved that the city consumers of Ohio can organize to serve themselves. They have proved this practically through their own business in gasoline, fuel and such service as dry cleaning and the purchase of clothing. A group of Negroes took the lead in Kansas City when they opened the first city consumers gas and oil station in that city. Like the Negroes of Gary, they ap proached the problem by the way of dis cussion and study groups and finally opened their own gasoline station in July, 1935. Membership has grown steadily- From the start business was good. Be cause of the example of these Negroes, backed by the presence of a powerful wholesale in the Consumers' Cooperative Association set-up, there is on foot a real development of consumers' coopération in Kansas City. Steps to the New Order In October, 1934, a professor of philos- phy and psychology in an Illinois college isited a Cooperative League Congress He came away with a new ' method -jea, the ideal of a cooperative philos- nhy for the building of an economic sys- t ffl that would support a humane and ivilized culture. He saw it as a serious nd practical business in which he could have a part. So he returned to Alton, Illinois, to start a cooperative organiza tion. The start was a study club. As in Flint, Michigan, so in Alton, Illinois. Co operation went through the usual proce dure. The members began to pool their orders with a member's basement as a distributing center. From the basement they went on to open their own store. Now, with a membership of 100, the Al ton Consumers' Cooperative is doing a business of $1400 a month. Not a breath taking volume, but something even more than this is its far-reaching implications. Cooperation in this case has come to town to build the foundations for a new eco nomic order in the community. Cooperation is going to town. From smoke-smudged Pittsburgh over the Al- leghanies and through the broad stretches of the West the movement is going into city after city to give discouraged con sumers new hope and courage. An eco nomic system has collapsed. And as usual, the consumers are at the bottom of the heap. In cities from Massachusetts to Oregon- and from Wisconsin to Texas, the consumers of America are starting to build anew. The structure which they are erecting is based on the rights and power of the consumer; the only base wide enough and sound enough to support the weight of an economic system. Federal Council of Churches Seminar on Consumers' Cooperation Benson Y. Landis (Editor's Note. Benson Y. Landis, Associate Secretary, Department of Research and Educa tion, of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, and James Myers, Industrial Secretary of the Federal Council were primarily responsible for the organization of the Indianapolis Seminar which faced squarely the problem of applying Christian principles to the economic and social order.) ON December 30, 1935, to January 1. 1936, more than 300 church officials, ministers, religious education workers and lay leaders from a majority of the Protestant bodies of the United States and from state and city councils of churches, met at Indianapolis, Indiana, in the First Baptist Church, to study the consumers' cooperative movement. This was the first time that a national seminar of Protestant church leaders was held on the subject. Most of those who attended were appointed as official delegates. More than forty officers of consumers' coopera tive associations attended. There were Present also, representatives of Farm Bu reaus' Granges. The Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union and the Amer ican Federation of Labor. Several gov ernment officials attended as observers. Jhe Seminar was organized for two reasons: First, Protestant church leaders wanted an opportunity to hear Dr. Toyo- hiko Kagawa, the noted Christian leader of Japan, lecture on the cooperative movement; second, there has been an in creasing interest among Protestant .reli gious leaders in consumers' cooperation in the United States. These two forces converged, as it were, to form the In dianapolis Seminar. For three days those I Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa 24 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Febru CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 25 in attendance heard descriptions of the cooperative movement. They engaged in considerable critical discussion. They raised probably all the important ques tions that could be raised about any movement. Yet they were in an adven turous mood. One person who attended said that the Indianapolis Seminar was the most "reckless" religious meeting he had ever attended. He meant there was evidence that Christianity was redis covering the element of danger. Dr. Arthur E. Holt of the Chicago Theological Seminary presided at all ses sions. The executive of the Seminar was James Myers, Industrial Secretary of the Federal Council of Churches. Thirty states were represented by the delegates. Special features were sight-seeing trips to cooperatives in Indianapolis and throughout Indiana. "The Love Principle Applied to Industry" Dr. Kagawa spoke twice and supplied the keynotes for the Seminar. The first few sentences he uttered were criticisms of capitalism as it had been developed in our time. He went on to say that within capitalism not much could be done by way of economic improvement, and that religious values had not greatly affected economic institutions during recent years. Christianity, says Dr. Kagawa, now needs a new method. How shall Chris tianity change the economic system? Through encouraging cooperatives, is his answer. Dr. Kagawa has studied numerous ex periments in economic reorganization. He has concluded that the cooperatives offer the most to individuals who want to meet their basic needs. He thinks the coopera tive movement also provides the neces sary moral discipline for economic recon struction. "The Rochdale principles have been tested for more than ninety years and have been found to be successful." Dr. Kagawa also made a fervent appeal for an extension of cooperative trade be tween the nations. Under the leadership of Anthony Leh ner of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooper ative Association there was an informal seminar on the principles of consumers' cooperation. Murray Lincoln of the Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association noted evidence that consumers' cooperation pears now to be a movement of tu masses in the United States. He rnacj plea for education of the people, and f f that the churches had an opportunity t bring people together for study and di° cussion. He described the developm S of gasoline and oil cooperatives and th* development of cooperative automobil6 liability insurance. He also said th ^ credit unions were needed as a very im portant part of the consumers' move ment. Look to Sweden I. H. Hull, President of National Co operatives and General Manager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso ciation, described other developments of the movement in the United States. He spoke particularly of the work of the In diana cooperators who, ten years ago, started with a debt of over $12,000 and have now paid patronage dividends of over $1,000,000. "But," said Mr. Hull, "the finest products of cooperatives are the cooperators." He pointed to co operative Sweden as an example that the people of the United States should follow if they wish to have stability and security in their economic system. Howard A. Cowden, Secretary-Treas urer of National Cooperatives, gave a vivid picture of travel to European co operative societies. He described an ex hibition of products manufactured by the consumers' cooperatives of England. He •told of the remarkable developments of the Scottish cooperatives and also spoke enthusiastically of what had been done in Sweden. For Labor—A New Technique John W. Edelman, Research Secretary of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, said that things are happening in organized labor. More and more the progressive forces in the labor movement are asserting themselves to work for fun damental social change. More and more organized labor is regarding support for the cooperative movement as essential to the trade union movement. There is also much interest in public ownership. For the Negro—A New Hope One of the most moving addresses of all was that made by J. L. Reddix, - of the Consumers' Cooperative Trading Company of Gary, Ind. He said: .'i consumers' cooperation the Negro L s found a new hope." He told of the dern store and meat market developed j"° Negroes from a little buying club [ rted in January, 1932. The cooperative 5 w has over 400 members and seven ""ployees. It did a business of $35,000 in 1935 Adolph Krahl, of the Pure Milk Asso ciation of Chicago, formerly a minister f the Methodist Episcopal Church, oke on the producer-consumer relation ship He presented a critical treatment out of his experience in the Chicago dai ry district and throughout a trip to Eu rope. He said he saw little hope of social progress through the cooperative move- jnent unless cooperative leaders grew so cially as the business grows physically. E. R. Bowen, General Secretary of The Cooperative League in the U. S. A., presented a rounded program for con sumers, adequate for an age of automatic power production. Mr. Bowen made a plea that we should look to Scandinavia and Great Britain, where political de mocracy was being preserved and eco nomic democracy was also being slowly established largely through the coopera tives. Mr. Bowen asked that immediate emergencies be met but that financial institutions must be cooperatively owned by the people. Likewise, utilities should be taken over and reorganized as coop eratives. Consumers' cooperatives should be organized and through extension of wholesaling, manufacturing and mining, reorganize the industrial system. Col lective bargaining by vocational groups, said Mr. Bowen, is as necessary as con sumers' organization. The Clergy and Cooperatives The Seminar also heard what the American churches are doing about con sumers' cooperation. Rev. J. R. Thomas of Kansas City, told about the fruits of me work of a group in his city. In one denomination there were fifty-five groups. There was also an educational committee and research commission. Out of the work of one commission has al ready come a grocery store, built up around a self-help cooperative in an in- Justnal district. Mr. Thomas believes t manV ministers "are recapturing the spirit of the early church as they face real live situations." Rev. Ellis Cowling, of Thorntown, Ind., described his experience in two rural parishes. In one of these a self-help cooperative developed into a modern con sumers group. A Community Credit Un ion was also formed. "When a minister becomes interested in cooperatives," said Mr. Cowling, "he is no longer interested in simply building up the church as an institution. He becomes interested in changing the life pattern of men both in and out of the church." The Seminar Urges Action The delegates at the Seminar approved unanimously the following recommenda tions to the Federal Council of Churches and .the religious bodies taking part in the Seminar: "We are convinced that the coopera tive movement is one of the major tech niques in making possible the Kingdom of God on earth. We believe that the churches and religious organizations have an opportunity to supply dynamic moti vation for this most promising move ment. We are convinced that the churches must concern themselves with the qoal that the movement seeks. "Various church bodies have on past occasions in recent years made declara tions in favor of encouraging coopera tives. We believe the organizations al ready within the local churches should study the cooperative movement as ex emplified in the uniquely challenging life of Kagawa and also as the movement has developed in the United States and other countries. The churches should seek to cooperate with other community groups in this study. We believe that Kagawa's tour of the U. S. cannot fail to stimulate unprecedented interest in the cooperative movement in this country. The churches should endeavor to direct this growing interest into active participation in coop erative enterprises. "We recommend -that the various church bodies should hold other seminars throughout the country on the relation of the church to the cooperative movement and that interested agencies should more widely disseminate the literature on the movement." The Federal Councia of Churches, 105 East 22nd Street, New York City, has published a report of the seminar. Price &c each: $3.00 per hundred. 26 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Directors Plan Cooperative Expansion 1936 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION 27 PIONEERS in the American coopera tive movement united with younger members of The Cooperative League in describing thé meetings of directors and educational 'men in Indianapolis, Decem ber 27, 28 and 29, as marking a most significant step in the progress o'f Con sumers' Cooperation as an organized movement in the United States. The Ninth Biennial Congress of The League in Chicago in Oct., 1934, brought together those who had long carried the torch of cooperation and leaders of large farm purchasing cooperatives which have sprung into existence to meet the economic pressure of the agricultural depression. The meeting of the Board of Directors in February, 1935, brought together for the first time the general nation-wide repre sentation of wholesale and retail managers and educational directors who now con stitute the Board of The Cooperative League. In connection with this directors meeting, the first general meeting of edu cational directors, a number of whom were recent appointees, was held. The Insurance and Finance Committee also had what was probably its most repre sentative meeting. But in perspective, it could doubtless be truly said that these directors and committee meetings were primarily get-acquainted meetings. "Some horns were knocked off,