The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/HD2951xC776/co38 or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/HD2951xC776/co38 New Co-op. Literature Cooperation! A Middle Way for America?, by Dr. Paul H. Douglas, published by The Cooperative League, 16 pages, lOc. An address delivered before the American Institute of Cooperation, Ames, Iowa, in June, 1937. The pamphlet sets forth the Role of Cooper ation in American Life, The Limitations on Coop eration, \What Cooperation Can Do, and the Need for Unity in the Cooperative Movement. The pamphlet will be reviewed in an early issue. Rebuilding Rural America, by Mark A. Dawber. Friendship Press, New York. 50c in paper, $1.00 cloth. (This book has been adopted by the Missions Boards of the major Protestant Churches in the country and is being used for missions study to gether with a special study leaflet "The Church and American Rural Life," written by Benson Y. Landis—25c.) The future of our country depends on two groups—the Farmer and the Laborer. They have strength as never before. This was shown in the last national election and was reflected in the laws passed by the "New Deal" Congress. Dr. Dawber says, "Farmers as producers and consumers must join hands with the industrial workers who are also producers and consumers, to bridge the gulf between production and consumption." But, "agri culture is still the primary industry. Upon its economic strength the nation's economic life will finally depend." This economic strength is not very high just now, however. Within the past twenty years one million two hundred thousand farmers have either lost their farms or have been reduced to tenancy. "Many and varied are the schemes being tried to meet the baffling problems of our economic life. During recent years the government has sent to this task an army of specialists, but in the end the farmer must solve his own economic problems." To do this, "rural people are beginning to organize cooperatives to meet their economic problems. They are discovering that it is possible through the Cooperatives to balance the budget, to prevent the cities from continually draining the country." The chapter on the Cooperative Movement is very strong. Dawber challenges the rural leader ship and especially the church to "take seriously the question of its responsibility to the masses of under-privileged people and develop some pro- qram of social action through the Cooperatives." In fact, the whole book is built around this theme. The author does speak of religious education, of church buildings, of the need of an educated ministry, and these chapters may not be so defi nitely cooperative in tone. But yet, it is education for life, for social action, he is wishing. It is the church, the centre and dynamic forces in the com munity, as it is in Nova Scotia, he would have developed. It is an enlightened ministry of a" new day which can lead rural people to self-assurance and economic freedom, he pleads for. Dr. Dawber is, of course, a churchman and as such puts 'the church in the centre, not for the sake of the church, but for the people, as Kagawa would place it. For "never did the church have a finer opportunity to proclaim the inescapable laws of God, and to bring us back to a sense of partner- 192 ship with Him in protecting, salvaginn making the holy earth which He placed • keeping." To this task Mark A. Dawher c n' rural layman and minister in positive, str !? "* ward language. May the church and it, i or" heed the call! ts Rev. T. Henry Brooklyn Church and Missions Cooperative Ideals and Problems, Anders O Revised Edition, Cooperative Uni™ A016' ehester, England, 1937. 75c. ' Man- Anders Oerne got his early practical tra; • fighting with labor. He went through the 9 strike in Sweden in 1909 and learned that Ik? rould not solve its problem by the general t ^ ' A man of education and background, with a A in philosophy from the University of Upsala^T applied his mind to economic questions. As a r«, u in 1910, he entered the service of the Swedish tional cooperative league. It was largely the influence of Oerne that the Swedish movement has become the strongest in v neutrality of any in the world — neutral not only £ matters of politics and religion but in labor matters also. This is one of the most important books on co operation. Oerne does not write as a socialist or trade unionist or reformer, but as a cooperator discussing cooperation as an economic system Naturally socialists, laborites, and farmers, not yet \ grasping economic fundamentals, attempt to op- I pose some of Oerne's ideas. His book has caused much controversy in Sweden, just because of its cooperative nature. Oerne's early socialist training still affects his thinking. While he no longer entertains the fan tastic notion that the state can solve the problems of society, as he once did, still he retains a tender place in his heart for compulsory government. The reviewer thinks that Oerne is dn an untenable posi tion in his statement that a compulsory organiza tion, such as the state, always will be indispensable for the protection of rights and justice, for educa tion, and for the care of the sick. This very asser tion contradicts itself. However, the education and the thinking of cooperators goes on, and advances with the advancement of cooperation and Oerne is among the most advanced. Dr. J. P. Warbasse. "Industrial Conflicts — Strikes," by Charles C. Webber, National Council of Methodist Youth. 740 Rush Street, Chicago, 111. 15c plus 3c postage. This is a four section study unit written by the Secretary of The Methodist Federation for Social Service. It is primarily intended for church youth groups and includes a worship service in connec tion with each of the four lessons which cover (1) Why do workers go out on strike? (2) What happens when strikes take place? (3) How can strikes be eliminated? (4) What can young people do in strike situations? The Consumers' Cooperative Movement is sug gested as one of the means of eliminating strikes. The author is becoming well known among coop; erators for his strong advocacy of the Consumers Cooperative Movement in his addresses ana writings. , i These books and pamphlets may be °|?er, Farm Leader Looks Ahead .................................................. Farm Leaders .............................•.......••...-•..•••••••••-•••••• Farm Marketing Cooperatives .....................................-.-•••••••• Farm Purchasing Increases .......................................-•••••••••• Farmers and Consumers Cooperation, a review .........................••••••• Farmers and Consumers, Relation of ............................•••.••••••••••_. ç^ Farmers Union Central Exchange ................................--••••••••• "• ^ Farmers Union Cooperative Hospital, Elk City .......................-.•••••••••' gp Farmers Union Cooperative Oil Associations .........................-••••••••••' 7 Farmers Union, Educational Program of .............................••••••••••" 31 Farmers Union National Convention .................................••••••••••" 22 Federal Trade Commission .........................................•-••••••••"' 52 Fey, Harold E. ................................•..............•...•••••••••••" 22 Filene, Edward A. ...............................................-.-••••••.•••••' 27 Fill 'Er Up, a Radio Play ..........................................-••••••••••• PAGE ................................. .............................. 207 film5 , ' " " ........................................................ 66, 123, 145 pnla lohn'T. ................................................................. 6b ^Bertram B. ............................................................. 84 G ........................................ 27 - nres Axel ................................................................... 122 r „HP Cooperative Wholesale ................................................ 21, 61 William ................................................................ 17 Jibson, r endale Cooperative Association ............................................... 158 rrepnhills Consumer Services .................................................... 126 G enleaf, Esther .............................................................. 198 Croup Health Association ....................................................... 142 H Hayes, A. J. .............................................................. 159, 170 Hedberg, Anders ............................................................... 22 Highlights of 1937, Cooperative .................................................. 21 Holier Than Thou .............................................................. 146 Holsti, Dr. E. Rudolf ........................................................... 123 Housing. Cooperative ........................................................... 12 Houston, Dorotihy .............................................................. 103 Hull, I. H. .................................................................... 172 Hutchinscn, Carl R. ............................................................ 200 Button, Barbara ............................................................... 34 Huxley. Aldous ................................................................ 52 Hyde, William ................................................................ 199 Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association .................................. 21, 47 International Cooperative Alliance, Congress of .................................... 22 International Cooperative Wholesale Society ...................................... 188 International Economic Cooperation .............................................. 187 International Ladies Garment Workers Union ..................................... 92 Insurance and Finance .......................................................... 177 Insurance and Security, Cooperative ............................................. 174 Institute on Organized Labor and Cooperatives .............................. 154, 203 Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe ..................................... 22 J Jackson, Robert H. ............................................................. 34 lacobson, Walter ........................................................... ' 193 lohansson, Albin ................................... . . 114' 122 Jones, E. Stanley ..................... ! ! . . \ . '.'. . \ . . '.'. '. ' '. '. '. '. '.'. '.'. '.'. '. '. '. '. '. '. '.'. \\ '.....[ 37 K Kallen, Horace M. ............... ....... . 36 Kagawa^ Toyohiko ............................................. .'.'.'.'.'.'".'. .'.'.'." '6/65 £att, Herbert ............... . .... 1 80 H. G. ....................................... ^\\\\\\\\\'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' '. 17 . ............. . °operativa Forbundet, Sweden ............................ 24 81 ' £ , ............................ Knickerbocker Village Cooperative ....................... . ' 77 ^nudsen, William A. ............ . . - . " 57 £°f°d, L. v. ........... .................:...:.::.:::"•::"• ;••••••••••-••••• ^ Konsum, Washington, D. C. .............................................""."'. HI INDEX Labor and Cooperatives ......................... 5, 31, 36, 47, 56, 61 69 1 ";? Manchester Guardian ...............................................;.... Manhattan Consumers Cooperative Federation ............................... Martin, Homer ........................................................... McDonald, George A. ..................................................... 127 Message To Cooperators .................................................... Methodist Student Conference, National .................................. Midhel, Virgil ............................................. ...........!.""" Midland Cooperative Wholesale ........................... 11, 21, 47, 62, 76, 125 Milk .......................................................... . ' 32 Miller. M. G. ...........................................................'.'.'.'....' Minnesota State Committee for Cooperative Planning ............................... Monopoly, Breaking Stranglehold on America ................................... Monopoly, How U. S. Co-ops Busted the Fertilizer ............................... Moore, James R. ............................................................... Moore, William ............................................................ 26, Morgan, Joy Elmer ......................................................... 81, Morrison, C. C. ................................................................ Movies, Cooperative ............................................................ Murphy, Governor Frank ........................................................ Myers, James .................................................................. 50 15 47 19. 101 25 98 127 46 195 77 113 148 148 196 15U 52 30 98 20. N National Catholic Rural Life Conference ......................................... National Catholic Welfare Council .............................................. National Committee on Student Co-ops ........................................... National Conference of University Students in Canada ............................ National Education Association ........................................... 58, 126, National Peace Conference .................................................... 51 National Society of Cooperative Accountants ..................................... National Student Federation of America .......................................... National Women's Cooperative Guild ............................................ Nationalism and Culture, a review .............................................. Newfoundland Goes Cooperative ................................................. New National Recognition for the Cooperatives ................................... New Norway, The, a review ........................... ................--•••••• New York Times .............................................................. Noble County Cooperative Association .......................................... North Daikota Farmers Union .................................................... North Shore Cooperative Society ................................................. Northern States Cooperative Womens Guild ..............................-••••••• Nova Scotia, Mecca o-f Cooperation .............................................. Nova Scotia Revisited .... . . . ....... ..............-•••••••• Nova Scotia Tour ................................. ...... .. 15, 18, 23, 90, 1/0, Nurmi, H. V- ......................................................... 100, 101. 58 35 196 26 144 . 58 193 26 192 110 37 58 48 51 179 62 77 112 155 84 204 111 INDEX O PACK advisory Councils ..................................••••••••••••••••••-•• 149 Bureau Cooperative Association ................... 47, 60, 62, 111, 141, 191 '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '.'. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '.'. '. '. '. '. '. '. '.'. '. '.'.'.'.'.'•'.'. '.'. '. '. '. '.'. '.'. '.'. '.'. '. '. 59 Vermund ........................................-••.••••••-•••••••• 59 Frank ................................................................ H2 r People's Money—Not for Cooperators 116 Trifle' Coast Students Organize League of College Co-ops .......................... 91 pa* Supply Cooperative ................................................... 21. 76 Slraer Carlos C. ............................................................... 178 °Siet Club of 1938 .......................................................... 16 •eace and Cooperatives .......................................................... 3^ Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ....................... 11, 21, 47, 125 FBtins. Lionel ... .......................................................... 201 -.pins and Needles ............................................................ 92 po e Pius XI .................................................................. 95 »residential Address ........................................................... 168 'review of the Cooperative Congress, a broadcast ................................. loo r-cc Discrimination ............................................................ 98 Price Fixing ................................................................... 50 Producers and Consumers, Cooperation Between ................................... 2 Public Cooperation ............................................................. 45 Publicity and Education .............................................. 121, 181, 196 Purchasing and Distribution ...................................................... 182 R Racine Consumers Cooperative .................................................. 180 Recreation Institute, National Cooperative ................................. 23, 79, 124 Recreation, New Material on ..................................................... 48 Recreation Program of a Trade Union .......................................... 92 Reed, Mabel ................................................................... 37 Regli, Werner E. ............................................................... 199 Resolutions Committee, Report of ............................................... 206 Reviews, Pamphlets and Books ...................... 15, 48, 63, 95, 109, 127, 143, 159 Ringham, F. E ................................................................ 193 Herts, Dr. Kingsley .......................................................... 202 Rochdale Institute ............................... 23, 31, 39, 62, 94. Ill, 126, 170. 200 Roosevelt, Eleanor ........................................................ 19, 22, 58 Roscnblum, Marc .............................................................. 27 Rural Cooperatives ....................................................... _. . .. . 178 Rural Electrification, Cooperative ........................................ 22, 60, 143 Russell, George (AE) ......................................................... 130 Sandburg, Carl ................................................................ 44 * Francis Xavier University .................................................... 95 *Nings on Co-op Editions of Books ... :........'................................ 205 Miools and Cooperatives ...................................................... 195 «*>rd, John R. .............................................................. 18 J-rate Committee on Unemployment and Relief .................................. 58 «did. Dr. Michael ............................................................ 11 *°rt Cut to Fascism in America ................................................ 183 *aU Town Co-op ............................................................ 73 to'*, Robert L. .............................................................. 182 u"d Cooperative Organization and Proper Legislation ............................ .87 Pffln, International Cooperative Alliance Appeal for .............................. 15 TON S UM F R S1 Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Resolution of ........................... ^E X-/ Vw««^ B ^ ^___ ^"™" .____ ^~* *™^ sSZn° cooperatives'::::::::::::::::::::!::::;y//////////////////////;/; 26,'gj 55 /^""*/*""*\ AI fj 8 |"^ /\ I I /*"*\ IV I Student Christian Movement, National Assembly of ........................... ^ / f If 1 I/ L__ IJ / \ I if II X. I IS S±.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: | LX^ V-^ ' L_ F\/-\ I I W l N Sweden ................................................................ 42, 43 ,,, ^"^ Sweden, Cooperative Education in .............................................. ' » nFFlClAL NATIONAL JOU RNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT Sweden, Political Unity of Farmers and Workers in ........................... ," \Jt > ' Swedish Voluntary Producers and Consumers Organizations .................... ^ Switzerland ....................................••....•••••••••••••.......... 24 T Tanner, Vaino ................................................... 24, 25 PEACE-PLENTY-DEMOCRACY Teachers College, Columbia University ........................................ ^ ..«,„•••• rat Teaching of Cooperation in the Public Schools .............................. JQ-J __ _—————————————————————————————-———————————————————————————————— ^Luse-tanAr-^^ » Volume XXIV. No. 1 JANUARY, 1938____________Ten Cents Tihey Starve That We May Eat, a review ...................................... j jg Thompson, Glenn ..............................••....•••••••-.•••••........... 197 Three Depressions and Their Lessons .......................................... 57 /^IID LJ/^DCC C/^n 1OOOI Tomlinson, Charles E. .................................. ...................... 13 WUK Fl^rto I~\Jf\ IVoo! Tompkins, Dr. J. J. ............................................................. 99 Tours, Cooperative ............................................................ 15 Tour of Nova Scotia Cooperatives, a review ...................................... 95 When individuals get through hoping for a happier New Year they are Toward Economic Democracy, a review ......................................... m usually through trying to make it one. We are still hoping and here are some l reasurer s Report ............................................................ 205 of our sincerest hopes. U 1. We hope for a greater economic application of Brotherhood. Union Equity Cooperative Exchange ........................................ 62, 189 2. We hope for an increase of mutual confidence which can only come from United Automobile Workers of America ......................................... 47 economic cooperation, not competition. United Cooperative Society, Maynard ............................................ 77 United Farmers of Ontario ................................................... 12, 21 3. We hope tor the strengthening of political democracy and the greater ex- Unusual Opportunity, An ...................................................... 35 tension of economic democracy. Urban Cooperative, Building An .................................................180 Utah State Federation of Labor, Resolution of ..................................... 12 4. We hope for more rapid progress in organizing Consumers' Cooperatives to reduce prices and Farm Cooperatives and Labor Unions to raise pay. V 5. We hope for the greater extension of public ownership of monopolistic Verdiere, Cardinal .............................................................. 17 ___ utilities and finance. V.O.L.G., Cooperative Wholesale, Switzerland ................................... 24 , . . o. We nope tor wise government assistance to farm and labor producers to -,, enable both groups to gain 'hig'her minimum incomes. Wage Earners Health Association, St. Louis ..................................... V 7. We hope for higher taxation of excessive profits and incomes to remove Wallace, Henry A. .......................................................... 6, 9") tnese stagnant savings from the hands of the -few who cannot consume Walworth, George .......................................................... • • • • 25 them and for social insurances to redistribute them into the pockets of the Warbasse, Dr. J. P. ....................................... 39, 94, 110, 159, 66, 68 millions dispossessed of jobs, incomes and ownership of personal and pro- Webbin9Beatrîce •••••••••••••••••• Y.\\Y.\\\^\\\\\\\\\\\\V.'.'.'.'.'.'.".'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'- .2. 6 ductive property who can consume them. What Is a Cooperate» .......................................................... ! 8. We hope to be able to help in the accomplishment of these economic Whitney, A. F. ................................................................ ,, ajms Whitney, Richard ........................................................... 50' g S' Wood, Robert E. ........................................................ • • • • 90 9. We hope to develop culturally through group recreation. Woodcock, L. E. .......................................................... l"' I, ,n ... Workmen's Mutual Fire Insurance Society ..................................... "• '£ lu- We hope all are increasingly happier through 1938. World Youth Congress ...........................................-•••••••••••• .^ V/orth of a Co-op Trade Marik, The ...............................•••••••••••••• ^ -—- ________________________________________________________________ WPA, Cooperative Project of the ............................................... A"°rgafn to sPread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in uuiuary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. y ublished monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New York City. 36 94 '•,„ E°wen. Editor. Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative I outh ....................................................................... 26 journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. \outh Goes Cooperative ..........................................-.---••••••• Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New TorTc. N. T., under the Act ___ of March S, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. COOPERATION BETWEEN PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS E- R- Bowen what is commonly known as ^/Ownership, With his unusual his- »*• *^ , « -t t . . i .1. . THERE are just two basic elements in an economic system—producers and consumers. These two elements cover the entire fields of production and distribu tion. In her pamphlet "The Discovery of the •Consumer," written after forty years of research, Beatrice Webb sums up the significance of a correct analysis of the functions and relationships of producer and consumer groups in these striking words, "I believe this distinction between the kinds of organization—between As sociations of Producers on the one hand and Associations of Consumers on the other—to be no idle fancy, but perhaps the most pregnant and important piece of classification in the whole range of so ciology." \Vho Arc Producers? How Arc They Organized? Producers include only a limited num ber of the entire population. Necessarily they must largely omit small children, the sick, the physically and mentally handi capped, and the aged. The constant tend ency of society is to raise the minimum and lower the maximum ages of those whom it expects to be active full-time producers. The years of production are being shortened at both ends. As society has developed through the ages, three general groups of producers have evolved. They are commonly termed: farmer, labor and professional. Farm producers' organizations have adopted the name "Farm Cooperatives." Labor producers' organizations use the name "Labor Unions." Professional pro ducers' organizations call themselves "Professional Associations." It has been suggested that it would be better if all producers' organizations would adopt the same surname and call themselves "Un ions"—that is "Farm Unions," "Labor Unions" and "Professional Unions"— and leave to consumers' organizations the use of the word "Cooperative" and to social organizations the use of the word "Association." By so doing, a dis cussion of the relationship of consumers, producers and social groups would K greatly clarified. e Fundamentally there is no reason wli every producer should not be a memh ^ of the organized vocational groun *( which he is a part. In no other way his interests as a producer be fully rer) a° sented in any negotiations with consume" groups. There should be, as Beatrice Webb phrases it, a "ubiquitous (Omni present) organization ^ of the producers by hand or by brain." "Who Are Consumers? How Are They Organized? While producers include only a limited and ever decreasing percentage of the population, as we have seen, on the con trary consumers include everybody. A child consumes even before it is born and the aged until their last breath. Neither sickness nor any physical or mental •handicap eliminates anyone from the ranks of consumers. When individual consumers began or ganizing to supply their needs and repre sent their joint interests as consumers in negotiating with organizations of pro ducers, they first of all developed volun tary types of organizations. While these have adopted a number of names, in general they have largely used the name "Cooperative" to describe their organiza tions. There is no field of human con sumption into which voluntary con sumers' cooperative organizations have not entered. It is commonly accepted that it was John T. W. Mitchell, an early President of the English Cooperative Wholesale Society, who early emphasized most clearly the significance of consumers' co operative organization. It was Beatrice Potter (Webb) who drew out of John Mitchell's mind and wrote down m philosophic terms the first clear descrip tion of the modern Consumers' Coopera tive Movement. Later, as told in her au tobiography, "My Apprenticeship/ she met Sidney Webb who led her to an un derstanding of the second type of Conj Burners' Cooperative organization " Consumers' Cooperation u. 1 knowledge and analytic ability, î°njescribed how all forms of public or- izations had evolved from original voluntary types. This second type of nsumer organization Mrs. Webb calls Cu "obligatory" type, as compared with |he original "voluntary" type. To illustrate, originally each person as individual carried his own lantern, cted as his own protector, put out his his own water, delivered his own com munications and taught his own children. In time men learned the advantage of carrying on such functions as voluntary groups of consumers. It was later found that it was inadvisable to depend alto gether upon voluntary organizations in some fields—that a ;policeman could not well ask a citizen who was being slugged whether he belonged to a voluntary pro tective organization, which hired the policeman, before helping him; that the fireman could not wait to ascertain if the house on fire was insured in the volun tary fire association which employed him: that there was no good reason for laying a water main past the house of a citizen and permitting him to refuse to pay his share of the cost. Such consumer func tions accordingly were eventually trans ferred from the "voluntary" to the "obli gatory" type of consumers* cooperatives and the services either paid for out of taxes or by fees on the basis of the amount used. It should be added, to complete tlie statements of the Webbs, that they ad vocate the reorganization of government functions to separate economic from political matters. In other words, they urge that such "obligatory" economic services as water, electricity, communi cation, transportation, etc. should be or ganized separately from the political functions of protection, justice, taxation, etc., and that we should vote as con sumers for those whom we desire to di rect our public economic services sepa rately from voting as citizens for those whom we desire to direct our political affairs. A similar general proposal is also advocated by Toyohiko Kagawa with a descriptive chart of such a suggested governmental reorganization in his book "Brotherhood Economics." The Primacy of the Consumer in an Age of Plenty It is becoming clearer that our eco nomic system is organized on the wrong base to meet our present problems. Ori ginally, Dr. Horace M. Kallen argues in his "Decline and Rise of the Consumer," mankind organized its economic services primarily on a consumer basis. Later the producers became dominant over the consumers. He argues for a reorganiza tion of our economic life on a consumer foundation. "We are born consumers and become producers," says Dr. Kallen; "We are consumers by nature and pro ducers by necessity." Professor Leroy E. Bowman has p'hrased the same thought in somewhat these words, "When the problem was production in an age of PRODUCERS' AND CONSUMERS' ORGANIZATIONS EACH INDIVIDUAL HAS PRODUCER I CONSUMER INTERESTS I INTERESTS IN BUYING HOUSEHOLD GOODS VOCATIONAL GOODS f|F) THROUGH ORGAN! ! tD LABOR UNIONS FAR HA CO-OPS 1938 THROUGH ORGANIZED CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVES scarcity it was necessary to organize as producers to solve the production prob lem; now the problem is consumption in an age of plenty and it is necessary to or ganize as consumers to solve the distribu tion problem." Swedish Voluntary Producers' •and Consumers' Organizations In discussing the relationship of Pro ducers' and Consumers' organizations with the leaders of Kooperativa For- tmndet, the general consumers' coopera tive wholesale of Sweden, their interpre tation and the lines along which they are organizing producers' and consumers* •groups in Sweden could be illustrated by the accompanying chart on page 3. Each individual has two economic in terests—his producer interests and his consumer interests. There are two producer interests—the sale of products or services. In some cases producers sell their services direct ly, in other cases they sell their services through the products which they indi vidually produce. Generally farmers and 'fishermen and some other primary pro ducers sell the products of their labor, rather than their labor. On the other hand, factory and office workers and pro fessional people generally sell their serv ices directly. To sell their products farm ers organize marketing cooperatives; workers organize labor unions and pro fessionals organize associations to sell their services. Consumer interests are the purchase of two forms of goods — household goods and vocational goods. Household goods include food, clothing, furniture, sh It etc. Vocational goods include farm plies, workers' tools, and professiSUPi equipment. Both forms of goods—h hold and vocational - are sup f6' through consumers cooperatives T some cases such consumers' coopéra« specialize in household or vocati ^ goods^-whether or not they handle both or only certain goods is altogether a m t ter of efficiency and service to their mem" bers. By organizing farm cooperatives, labor unions and professional associations the producers of Sweden increase the pay they get; by organizing consumers' co operatives and public utilities the con sumers of Sweden reduce the prices they are charged. Thus they distribute pur chasing power widely among the people The Relation o£ Organized Farm Producers and Consumers in Sweden After organizing into voluntary groups the producers and consumers of Sweden have formulated the beginnings of a co operative economic constitution. They have entered into an agreement between the producers and consumers of farm products in which the pay to producers and the price to consumers is determined by a coordinating board representing the two groups, with no private monopoly- middleman or any government authority between them. There is no toll of either profits or interest taken from the pro ducers or consumers, . The chart illus trates the working out of the agreement into which they have entered in the case of some of their farm products. RELATION OF FARMERS AND CONSUMERS FARM PRODUCERS MEAT: 1 l COORDINATING BOARD CONSUMERS COLLECT There is no good reason why the fields f farm producers and consumers' organ- tions cannot be definitely determined If3 joint agreement between the repre- ntatives °f ^e two organized groups. F orn time to time it is probable that cer- •n shifts o'f functions will be found ad- ^isable between the work which organ- • ec| farm producers and organized con- 'timers should perform. The joint board can agree upon such changes from time to time as are in the interests of justice and efficiency. What is needed in the United States is that a more rapid ad vance be made towards the formation of such a cooperative economic constitution as has been done in Sweden. The Relation of Organized Workers and Consumers in Cooperatives It has also been possible to set up similar joint boards to act between the organized workers and consumers in the cooperative movement in many coun tries. In general the agreements entered into between cooperatives and their em ployees are based upon standard labor union contracts with somewhat of an in crease in wages or reduction in hours from the standard, in addition to vaca tions with pay, insurances and better working conditions. Coordinating 'boards are set up to deal with questions which arise as to relationships between the co operatives and their employees, as illus trated. Competitive vs. Cooperative Economic Organization In general the present economic system is illustrated by the chart of the two counters and the two wedges. On the side of the lower counter stand the producers—farmers, labor and pro fessionals. They come to the counter to sell their .products and services. These are purchased by the business and bank ing monopoly-middlemen between the counters. They add a toll in business profits and banking interest. The pro ducers then go around to the other coun ter and buy back as consumers the prod ucts and services they have sold, after being processed, with a toll of profits and interest added. The job of business and bariking is to drive the wedges of profits and interest in farther—which means to force up the prices they charge the people as consumers and force down the pay they give to producers, in order to increase the profits of business and the interest of banking. What, then, is the answer? ; The second chart illustrates what the people are now beginning to organize to do—as consumers and producers to drive back the wedges of profits and interest and push the two counters together so that eventually, as producers, the people will bring to the counter all that they can produce and, as consumers, will divide it up in such a way that everyone will have the plenty which is now possible for alL RELATION OF LABOR AND CONSUMERS LABOR UNIONS COORDINATING BOARD Consumers' Cooperation PROFESSIONAL Jan CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVES MANUFACTURING , 1938 A Cooperative Economic Society ions and Consumers' Cooperativ " Dr. Horace Kallen describes the ftV Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. free society as one where "each cir e Wallace, says that "a cooperative eco- the land would enter twice into er of nomic society will be the living stream of association with his fellows; once mic thought for the twentieth century as a sumer, with all his fellows;' once as ^" ducer with the members only of his ^?" industry or profession." ra"- The ideal towards which we progressing is a self-contained econo^ society of producers and consumers deT ing directly with one another as orqan ized groups, in the same way that ' " dividual producers and consumers on*1" dealt directly with one another. Fortu* nately, we, in the United States, do not have to depend entirely upon theoretical idealism. In the Scandinavian countries these ideals have been applied and have proven to be thoroughly practical. It js only for us to follow their example and apply them to American conditions. What we need in America is not so much either theorizing or even original think ing—both of these have been largely done for us. What we need badly is ac tion in organizing as producers and con- COMPETITIVE WAY century as a political democratic society .was the liv ing stream of thought for the eighteenth century." He appeals for the formation and adoption of an economic constitution on which to build such a cooperative so ciety. He sums up the future cooperative economic society in these words: "The Cooperative way of life must pervade the community, and this means there must be consumers' cooperatives as well as pro ducers' cooperatives." As' comprehensive a summary as has been made of the future cooperative eco nomic society of organized producers and consumers is contained in Beatrice Webb's pamphlet "The Discovery of the Consumer." In concluding this pamphlet she says, "Unless I completely misinter pret the irresistible ground-swell of (British) democracy, it is this consumers' cooperation, in its twofold form of volun tary association of mem- sumers. bers (in what we now Icnow as the cooperative society) and obligatory association of citizens (in the economic enterprises of national as well as lo cal government) — all of them in organic connec tion with an equally ubi quitous organization of the producers by hand or by brain (in farm cooper atives, trade unions and professional associations) which will constitute the greater part of the social order of a hundred years hence." Toyohiko Kagawa of Japan, considered iby many as the world's most practical idealist says, "if producers and consumers come together in a spirit of cooDeration, then so ciety has coordination. Then producers are con sumers and consumers are producers . . . We must organize Producers' Un- FARMER COMPETITION VERSUS COOPERATION FARMER COOPERATIVE WAY LABOR PROFESSIONAL THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 0F THE FARMERS' UNION Gladys Talbott Edwards, Cooperative Education Service LABOR PROFESSIONAL Consumers' Cooperation ORE important than organizing new _ cooperatives is 'building an educa- * nal program as a foundation for them. """That is the belief and the practice of , farmers Union Central Exchange, Ie farmers Union Terminal Association d the Farmers Union Livestock Com- ajssjon. It is also the belief and practice f the state divisions of the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America whose members own these co operative agencies at St. Paul, Minne- The Farmers Union membership of the states of North Dakota, Montana, Min nesota and Wisconsin take seriously the word, "educational" in the name of their organization. It comes first in the title and it therefore comes first in their pro gram. Growing Cooperatives— A Greater Need for Education Each state has a well-developed pro gram of Junior education, under super vision of a state director. But as the co operative businesses sprang up in greater and greater numbers, a need was felt for a coordinating office which could assist in keeping the educational program apace with the cooperative development. So the Farmers Union Cooperative Education Service came into being. In North Dako ta, for instance, cooperative oil compa nies affiliated with the Central Exchange, blanket the state in a network of cooper atives. It is the proud boast of the Farm ers Union membership that a man may traverse the entire state and never put a : gallon of any but cooperatively owned i gasoline in his gas tank. The coopera tives rank second only to Standard Oil in North Dakota. The Farmers Union membership owns not only petroleum cooperatives, but creameries, elevators, shipping associa tions, poultry and egg processing plants, stores and credit unions. Only a thorough jjira constant educational program could *eep this varied group of cooperatives 3we and functioning. To meet the need tor added educational facilities, the state January, 1938 organizations of Farmers Union, together with the Farmers Union Central Ex change and other terminal businesses, owned by the states, formed a central education office called the Farmers Union Cooperative Education Service. This of fice acts as a coordinating and distribut ing unit for educational material used by the states and the business activities, thus cutting costs and eliminating duplication. The educational program of the Farmers Union embraces age groups from eight to eighty. It is comprised of such elements as text books and lesson outlines for reg ular classes, essay and four-minute speech projects, study circles, winter in stitutes, summer camps, county leadership schools, circulating library and a monthly program service to locals. A Program for Juniors The Junior members of the Farmers Union are designated by the Constitu tion as being those c'hildren of members, who are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. All rights and privileges of dues-paying members are theirs. They are already a part of the Farmers Union and their educational program is designed to give them full understanding of the cooperative movement. A Junior Leader is in charge of educa tional work in each local. Juniors are or ganized into classes.—not into separate locals. A study topic is chosen for the year and lessons are prepared upon this topic. These lessons are studied by the Junior classes. Culmination of the annual topic is through an essay contest. Juniors learn to speak adequately and briefly upon a current topic through the four-minute speech project which also culminates in a national contest. Out of the four-minute speech project which was originated in North Dakota has grown the minuteman project. Young people desirous of gaining additional experience in public speaking, meet with various groups and deliver speeches upon the co operative movement. A final qualifying speech is then given, upon which the speaker must be prepared to answer questions asked by the audience. If he has delivered his speech and can answer the questions upon it in a manner satis fying to his judges, he is awarded his minuteman badge and his name is added to the roll of minutemen in the Junior de partment records. Thereafter, when there is need of a speaker in that minuteman's territory, he is assigned the job. Minute- men have done fine work in organizing and selling share capital in new. coopera tives. They have worked for peace legis lation and have done a splendid job of publicizing cooperative enterprise. The minuteman badge is an oxidized silver disk bearing the insignia of a lan tern. The task of the minutemen is to keep the light of knowledge burning, to awaken their sleeping fellows to their need to band together. Girls as well as boys become minutemen. Cooperative Summer Camps Summer camps were started for the Junior members, as was all the rest of the educational program of the Farmers Union. Like the rest of the program, they now take in all age groups. Subjects taught in summer camps are: public speaking since no one may be a truly capable cooperator unless he is able to express himself; parliamentary usage-— since cooperators must operate their own businesses and must know the rules by which they can do so; social problems-— because cooperators must know what forces are at work in the world today, the relationship of one group of society to another, and the effect of the various problems of society upon the individual; cooperative history and principles^~be- cause cooperators must know what has gone before, and what principles to ap ply in solving their problems; and com munity recreation, drama and handicraft —because the cooperative movement is by nature a folk movement and people must learn to play together if they are ever to learn to work together. Some 5000 young people have at tended Farmers Union Camps since they were made a part of the program in 1934. The camp idea has spread from North Dakota and Montana, which states ini tiated it in 1934, to Wisconsin; Minne sota, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. The summer camp season now ends with a ten-day session at an All State Camp centrally located. This yea students from six states and visitors fr *' eleven states attended the All-State Ça m which was in the Black Hills of S™ J! Dakota. Uth Training Leaders The Junior program of education can not be carried on without trained leader ship so county training schools for lead ers are conducted. Thus, the educational work is carried into the adult field. The same topics as are taught at the Junior camps are taught in these schools, with the addition of a course upon the annual study topic. These are examples of the topics chosen: world peace, the coopera tive movement, the machine age, money and credit, and peace and patriotism. Workers Education under W.P.A. has turned to the Farmers Union for help in making up courses and in several states has carried on a rural workers' education program, under supervision of the Farm ers Union. Leadership camps are now sponsored by North Dakota, Montana, and Wis consin organizations where the adult members may meet to study and discuss their work in the cooperative movement and community leadership. The classes in leadership camps are largely discussion classes. Winter institutes from three to four weeks duration are conducted for a group whose ages range between eight een and thirty-five years. Older students are accepted if they are leaders in their community or if they are employed by cooperative business institutions. Soda! science, economics, public speaking, practical parliamentary work through operating theïr own cooperative meal as sociation, and recreation, drama and handicraft are the courses given at the institutes. Part of this work is done by volunteer instructors from colleges lo cated in the states sponsoring the insti tutes. Junior Reserves Children younger than Juniors are called Junior Reserves. They are thirteen to fifteen years, inclusive. Their studies are conducted by class work in the loo union, but an older Junior is often tn teacher for a Reserve class. Unit one for Reserves is a study of the history of the O0perative movement and the Farmers Union- Unit two is a study of economic History with the use of the basic text, "Story Without End" by Leslie A. Paul. Unit tHree is a study of cooperative achievement throughout the world. Other njts will be developed for use later. Re serves have their own camps or classes at camp which is another training ground for Juniors who help to staff the Reserve camp- Reserves also have the opportunity in North Dakota and Wisconsin of study ing the cooperative movement in High School. It is a compulsory course in Wis- consin'-an elective course in North Da kota. As the Twig is Bent Children from eight to twelve are Juveniles. Their studies are carried on in the same way as the Juniors and Re serves, through classes in the local. Juniors often teach these classes, also. Montana conducts county camps for Juveniles with Juniors and leaders from within the county on the staff. Juveniles study stories of cooperative history, weed eradication, the lessons written from the social angle, conservation of birds and wild flowers, and little lessons in citizenship. A Living Ideal Class meetings for these young people in rural areas often offer their major so cial contact. They assist with the pro grams put on by their locals, and take part in county and state conventions. They feel themselves and they are, an active part of their organization. Their cooperatives represent a living ideal to them. A circulating library composed of books which are too costly for most in dividuals to buy is maintained by the Education Service for use of the mem bership in the states surrounding it. A monthly program service is also pre pared by the various State Directors and sent in printed form to locals in many states. This monthly program is an aid to local leaders who have had no train ing in preparing entertainment. It is also a source of material to people who have, very often, no other place from which to obtain material. A well-planned and executed program goes far toward getting new persons interested in the work being done by cooperatives in a given territory. The Farmers Union Central Exchange has found that its operating costs are cut because its educational work is carried on by the membership of the Farmers Union locals—a labor of love, performed gratis, and all the more effective because of it. WHY CHURCH PEOPLE TAKE TO CO-OPS Sylvanus M. Duvall, Associate Professor of Economics, George Williams College I HE almost pathetic eagerness with which many church people, and es pecially leaders, have welcomed cooper ation to their collective bosoms, merits an understanding which it has usually not received. The rash of articles on coopéra tion with which religious journals have suddenly broken out has described the movement and discussed its supposed ""»its and limitations. Of greater signifi- ^ce. to the Church, is an appreciation °' the nature of the pent-up pressure of social idealism which has for so long awaited a suitable channel for expression, Consumers' Cooperation January; and the possibilities of cooperation of adequately furnishing such an outlet, Christianity and Economics The discovery of the social implications of Christianity opened up for many a whole new area of religious living and belief which was entrancing. Economic motives and practices seemed to explain much of the lack of progress in the world, and the apparent inability of the Church to function more effectively in the solu tion of human problems. The Kingdom of God, conceived in social terms, gave to 9 religious activities a meaning and a goal which did much to inspire both confi dence and consecrated effort. The first joyous response consisted mainly in preaching the "social gospel" and passing resolutions. We students used to sweep down upon conventions with carefully prepared resolutions de manding changed economic practices, the abolition of the profit motive and what not, in the name of the Christian ideal. We had fun in those days: just as the small boys in and around Boston in 1775 had fun snowballing the British soldiers. And like them, we were terribly in earnest about a really serious problem. As preachers we lashed our congrega tions with devastating indictments and demands for speedy economic reconstruc tion. I am frankly amazed at the tolerance of our business men members who loy ally continued to pay the salaries of those who flogged them. It was a thrilling ex perience; all this resolving and declaim ing. And as long as it remained fun, we did not stop long to evaluate it. But after a while the newness wore off. The an noyance of the "enemy" with our verbal snowballs grew tame. Snowballs Won't Stop Depressions Not only tame, but obviously futile. The tornado of depression blew us out of our comfortable security and close enough to the precipice of economic col lapse so that we could look over the brink —and shudder. Something more than preaching was needed here. The volcano of Mars had not been shattered by its previous eruption. Suddenly it burst forth, covering Ethiopia, Spain, and China, and filling us all with dread with its ominous rumblings. No snowball res olutions were going to stop that. In America, the fires of labor disputes spread with a rapidity and lack of con trol which gave real concern. Every where strikers and worlkers were on the march; blood was being shed. No pro gram of quietly walking to church and listening to our "powerful" sermons was going to solve this situation. We could no longer remain content merely to let our intellectual and spiritual motors run "free engine"; no matter how smoothly they purred, or how frighteningly they roared. We just had to have some way of gearing them into an actual program in 10 which we could see that we were act accomplishing results. a"V The Idealist Faces Reality But what to do? Communism, fasc- and other forms of dictatorship Were Sm pugnant. Socialism? The Socialist Pa'f was steadily losing ground. Furtherr^/ would the turning over of our comnl ' industrial structure to a group of u * doubtedly sincere idealists result in an^ thing but a mess? Some joined the picket lines and .tihrew in .their lot with the labo movement; in a few cases, even resiqnino their pulpits or chairs to do so. But there most church leaders are not at home. Per haps they are frightened by the revela tions of racketeering and dictatorship in the movement. More likely they are just not built, temperamentally, for the rigors unpleasantnesses and fighting involved So there they were; sincere idealists, with an earnest determination to contribute to a solution of our social problems, but with no place in which they seemed to fit. And then along came the cooperative movement, like a veritable Sir Galahad, to rescue the fair maiden of ideals from the castle of futility and frustration. In the first place, it actually embodied the Christian ideal of service as the primary purpose of business. O yes, private en terprise talks much of 'service', and ac tually does render important services. But it serves in order to get. Services are rendered primarily as a means to a great er end, and that end is private profit, which means that someone makes money out of someone else. It is taken for granted that services which do not pay. at least in 'good will with a potential cash value, will not be given. The whole busi ness relationship is fundamentally that of people who are trying to get as much as possible out of each other. Thus the pur chaser tries to get as much value as pos sible, regardless of the interests of the merchant, and the merchant tries to get as much profit as possible out of the cus tomer. While personal considerations are by no means absent, the whole atmos phere tends to be, every man on guard against his neighbor. "in the cooperative movement, this whole situation is reversed. The enter prise exists as one that serveth in order actually to serve; not to make P™tltso The whole idea of the movement is to k Consumers' Cooperation to every individual, all excess expenses which would otherwise u taken from him in the form of profits. Therefore no one makes anything out of vbody else- This tends to eliminate, t only the incentive to cheat, but also V incentive to persuade tlie customer make purchases contrary to his own •„terests. Needless to point out, the whole 'tmosphere toward personal relationships becomes transformed. Consumers coop eration furnishes a technique which makes it possible for individuals to act spiritually toward each other in their eco nomic relationships. The significance of this possibility can .hardly be over-esti mated. Other considerations, hardly less im portant, have commended the cooperative movement to religious people. Most im portant, it is an action program; some thing which can be done; right now, even by timid professional people. You can actually see the results of your 'ef forts. No more having to wait until the majority voted the socialist ticket. Nor need you risk too much on the outcomes of sudden and sweeping changes. You could start at the bottom and build up; learn from vour mistakes without piling up a debt which threatens the whole monetary structure. Furthermore, it was essentially democratic, and in harmony with the best of American traditions. In •the cooperative movement, then, church people have seen a technique for a sane, orderly, and growingly successful pro gram of action. No wonder they have fairly flocked into the movement; often with more zeal than understanding. Will the movement "succeed?" Cer tainly cooperation is no patent medicine for the solution of all human problems from fallen arches to dandruff. It will no more prevent fascism than typhoid innoc- ulations will prevent automobile acci dents or the bubonic plague. Further more, its significance for the Church is not primarily economic, but spiritual. For many, it has proved a veritable manna in a wilderness of frustration. It has given to many church people the first solid food for their ideals which they have ever had. For such, the saw of idealism has at last got its teeth into a real log. No wonder it sings. CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVES IN ACTION Superior, Wisconsin — Central Coop erative Wholesale, in cooperation with local cooperative stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northern Michigan, will launch its first series of circuit schools Jor employee training January 3. The schools will be held at 18 points in the whole sale's territory and will consist of three sessions at eac'h point. Classes will be held in the evening so that employees from all neighboring co-op stores may at tend. The training will deal with tech nical points concerning advertising and service for groceries, appliances and auto equipment. Minneapolis — Every working day in the first 10 months of 1937 a 20-car train- load of petroleum products moved out of *e plant of Midland Cooperative Wholesale consigned to local retail co operatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Midland's 160,000-gallon-a-day vol ume is expected to total 48,000,000 gal- '°ns of gasoline, lubricating oil, and fuel oil for 1937. During the first 10 months the Jam co-op exceeded its business for the luary, 1935 entire year of 1936 and shipments were 1,003 cars greater than for the same pe riod last year, an increase of 24.95%. The first ten months business totaled 5,023 cars, and it is expected that the volume for the year will exceed 6,000 car loads. Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, organized four years ago, did a business of $24,000 and accumulated a net worth of $2,200 during its first year of business. •During the first nine months of 1937 business totaled $745,699 and is expected to exceed a million dollars by the end of December. Volume for the first nine months was a quarter of a million dollars greater than for the entire preceding year. Calculated on a nine month basis, the growth of the co-op wholesale has been 94%. Three new county-wide cooperatives have been organized and two other coun ty units are almost ready for operation. Net worth of the state-wide organization is estimated at $67,000 while the ten 11 I operating county units have an additional net worth of $109,000. This striking de velopment is best described in terms of casli sales: 1934 ............. $24,837 1935 ............. 274,868 1936 ............. 511,887 1937 (nine months)''754.699 Elk City, Okla.~Dr. Midhael Shadid, chief of the staff of the Farmers Union Cooperative Hospital here, -won the first skirmish with the local medical society and the State Board of Medical Exam iners in the latter's attempt to revoke his license to pratice. The Oklahoma Medical Society wanted the case tried before the State Board of Medical Examiners. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma, however, has handed down a decision refusing to issue a -writ of pro hibition sought by the Board of Medical Examiners to prohibit the district judge from trying Dr. Shadid's case. As a result of the decision the Board of Medical Ex aminers will have to go before the district court to show cause why Dr. Shadid's license should be revoked. This decision will take the case out of the hands of the Medical Society. Toronto, Ontario—The United Farm ers of Ontario, -which recently became a member of National Cooperatives, Inc., proposed, the union of all the cooperatives in the Province in one association at its annual convention here November 24. E. R. Bowen, general secretary of The Cooperative League of the USA, was one of the featured speakers at the conven tion. He described the cooperatives in Europe -which he visited last summer and pointed out the effect of the co-ops in solving the problems of poverty, unem ployment and tenancy. Agnes MoPhail, Member of Parlia ment, described Mr. Bowen's addresses as masterpieces of graphic presentation. Washington, D. C.—More than 2,200 families in New York own and operate cooperative apartments, according to a survey of cooperative housing just com pleted 'by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor. The apart ments have an appraised value of $10,- 293,000. J2 The development of cooperative Ti ing in the United States has been thusT almost entirely in the apartment-h field; it has been concentrated in qre fe New York and has been restricted bv tlf large amount of capital necessarv t building. Of the 39 projects for whirl statistics are available, 35 are in Br t lyn, Bronx and Manhattan. Two n projects are being developed in N&W York, the other two in Wisconsin. &W The co-op apartments in New Yo k have been built to meet almost every il come level. They range from an 8 apart" ment dwelling to a twelve-story apart] ment house with a pent house and an eight-building, 730-apartment project Most apartments are 2, 3, or 4 rooms' The value of the apartments vary from $75 to $700, depending on the location or type, while rentals range from $4 per room per month to $12 per room per month with the single exception of one co-op estimating its rental value at $22 per room per month. In addition to operating the apartments the co-op associations maintain stores, milk delivery, laundry, electric power, summer camps, classes and recreation. Cloquet, Minnesota—America's largest retail cooperative is still growing. During the first 11 months of 1937 business to taled $1,059,354 and it is expected thaf the volume will pass $1,150,000 by the first of the year. Salt Lake City, Utah—The Utah State Federation of Labor, meeting here for its thirty-third annual convention, endorsed the formation of Consumer Cooperatives and urged their organization by organ ized labor. The resolution, approved unanimously by the convention, is as fol lows: "WHEREAS, labor unions are economic or ganizations designed to increase the living standards of workers through obtaining higher wages and improving working conditions, and "WHEREAS, Cooperative organizations similarly are economic organizations designed to increase the living standards of workers by lowering prices of goods and services t>y reducing profits and overcharges, "Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Utah State Federation of Labor in its thirty- third annual convention assembled, does nere- by endorse the formation of ConsumertC°j operatives and credit unions, and urges in organization among organized labor. Consumers' Cooperation KECKRATION Ellen Edwards Editor ART, LIFE AND COOPERATION Charles E. Tomlinson (Editor's note: This article is an abstract of a amphlet of the same title written by Charles E. Tomlinson, publicity director of the Cooperative Wholesale Society, Manchester, in 1925.) ART and Cooperation are two forces working along parallel lines to the goal of perfection. The one is ideal: the other is practical. Each stands for social service. The artistic nature, like the co operative nature, is sympathetic. It can not live to itself alone; it must give pleas ure and inspiration to others in terms of art. True Art and True Cooperation can only spring from free and voluntary ef fort; and in their expression they are above nations. They may be, by circum stances of race and country, national in character; but in their essentials and in their ultimate they are international, no frontiers barring their progress, no creed narrowing their scope, no color blinding their outlook. The empire of Art is world wide, and Cooperation is enthroned in the great heart of Humanity. Art is a spiritual triumph. Cooperation is a triumph over materialism. The ideal of Art is Beauty — that is Perfection, whether in man or material. Art is the history of man's efforts in the past to wards that ideal; it is the expression of man s hope of achievement in the present; and it is the inspiration for attainment in 4e future. The ideal of Cooperation is beauty in living, the perfection of Hu manity. Cooperation is the history of man's struggles towards that ideal; it is the greatest political expression of our nope of present-day advancement; and it 15 the inspiration for the salvation of Hu manity. The story of Art is the story of Man's Evolution. The story of Coopera- h°n is the story of Human Progress. Januarv, 1938 The Machine—Master of Man It has been said that the special func tion of the Nineteenth Century was to banish the picturesque. Certain it is that the greatest period of Art was in the Middle Ages. The masters and the men of the craft guilds held Labor sacred as the handmaid of Art. A piece of work was then a complete achievement of a man's own effort, an artistic accomplish ment, an expression of his individuality. Alas, the artisan is now no longer the devotee of Art, but the slave of Machine ry. Today the brain and the (fingers of the craftsman make not "a thing of beau ty and a joy forever" from out a shape less mass and dedicate it .to the service of the people. Everything nowadays is a mechanical creation, an aggregation of standardized parts. 'Machinery, and not Man "is the master of things." And man suffers in body and soul under the domi nation of the Frankenstein of his own creation. The mission of Art is to inspire Man to take possession of himself, and the ministry of Cooperation is to help him to do so by teaching him how to become the master of the machine, the com mander of his soul. The Elizabethan Age was the most glorious art period in our island story; in fact, England with her Shakespeare and fellow dramatists, her Spencer and a ring of poets, her Bacon and other philoso phers, her school of native music com posers who still are masters of the madri gal, was then mistress of the world in matters artistic. The Victorian Age, the other brilliant period in the history of our country, saw the art li'fe of the people sacrificed to the twin gods of Mammon and Machinery, -with their profit-making, labor-saving, but soul-destroying doc- -13 J trines. The baser gold of trade and com merce became the currency of the na tion's thought and activities instead of the pure gold of Art. Competition—The Blight of Art The reign of Competition was ushered in with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and a blight fell on Art. The nineteenth century became highly mate rialistic. The spiritual life of the people, for which all true Art stands, began to revive, however, with the awakening of •the new democracy when voices were heard in the wilderness crying out the way of salvation through Cooperation. Competition truly is death—the death of all the highest motives in man—the anni hilation of the soul. Cooperation is life— the preservation of the noblest ideals— the uplifting of man to the heights of the eternal verities. Competition stands for fraud, deceit, ugliness. Cooperation is the very antith esis of Competition, and so is at one with Art, which stands (for honesty, truth and beauty. Art, therefore, has its definite place in the Cooperative Movement; and the importance of the cultivation of art- should be recognized in cooperative edu cational work equally with instruction in the matters of science which concern the more materialistic side of our activities. Cooperation Restoring Civilization Art and Cooperation seek not to make profit, but to bring joy into life. Coopef- ators! we say we want the best in every thing. Let us prove our words. Our home should be a treasury of things beautiful. Let us have the most artistic furniture of cooperative production that our means can afford, instead df the monstrosities in wood and iron that oft encumber our dwellings. Let us make our homes pleas ing to the eye with wall-papers of artistic merit and pictures that cheer and inspire. Let us go forth to our work and pleasure clad in garments of taste and style. Let our needs for entertainments be minis tered unto by means of refinement. Let us keep our lives 'bright and our memories sweet with festivals, anniversaries and pageants. Let us make the refreshing in fluence of art ifelt not only in our cooper ative societies but in the wider coopera tive organizations, our municipalities. H The virtue of cooperation was reve 1 A to us by Robert Owen; with the twent eig'ht poor weavers of Rochdale bee/ the peaceful revolution through coope ° tion; and, today, under the world-\vid" influence of cooperation, man, both as ' * dividual and in the mass, is having a 1/°" value set upon him. "Art," says Lavate* "is nothing but the highest sagacity and exertion of Human Nature." Cooperatio is the practical means towards that encf The one is aesthetic; the other is ethical The cooperative estimate of humanity means a new outlook on li'fe—on the in dividual and his relations to the family to the community, to the nation, and to the world. The Cooperative Movement is a struggle, not against individuals or any class or party, but against a social system based on selfishness and working through competition. Our destiny is the Coopera tive Commonwealth, which shall have for foundation sure and strong the freedom of the individual to develop himself, in peace and through industry, for service in the common good. The Comradeship of Art and Cooperation Cooperation makes ifor the right under standing of life, and through its collective thought, has a culture distinctly its own. And why not an art? "The conscious utterance of thought by speech or action, to any end, is art," according to Ralph Waldo Emerson. What better medium for an all-embracing effort? The earnest longing for the betterment of humanity, the glowing hope for the progress of the people, the fervent faith in the salvation of the world through cooperation, what inspiration is here for poets and painters, musicians and singers, architects and sculptors, orators and dramatists! Art and Cooperation, in glorious com radeship, stand for grace in thought, gra- ciousness of speech, and gracefulness in action, and so will make life sweeter and nobler, because animated by that unify ing energizing principle. "Those who desire," declared Water Crane, "to 'build up a larger and fuller human life, based upon collective owner ship of the means of material existence m a cooperative commonwealth, cannot af ford to leave Art out of account, as the great source of joy, the harmonizing in fluence of beauty, the spirit of order and Consumers' Cooperation rtion, at once creative and adaptive, of 'lifting men's thoughts on to the j fftièst plane- and yet, withal, a sweet I iliar and domestic spirit, cheering and forting, and gladdening the eyes with (ai and color, as it sheds its refining in- jïence everywhere." CO-OP TOURS New York— The Cooperative League •ill sponsor three cooperative tours dur- * the summer of 1938, arranging for ' jpS to visit cooperatives in Europe, Nova Scotia and the Middlewest. The Trip to Cooperative Europe will be the fifth consecutive tour sponsored by The League and as in previous years will visit the democratic countries of North ern Europe. The Cooperative 'Conference- 1 our ot Nova Scotia in 1937 met with such re sponse that two sections of the tour are being planned for this coming summer. Ninety religious, educational and co-op leaders visited the Maritime provinces on the tour last year. The tour of the Midwestern coopera tive wholesales now being arranged for this -coming summer will be the first com prehensive tour of its kind. New York —- The Manhattan Con sumers Cooperative Federation made a collective buying contract with a private laundry a little over a year ago. Last month business was large enough to war rant the hiring of a full-time manager to pick up and deliver laundry for co-op members. FOR THE COOPERATORS OF SPAIN The International Cooperative Alliance has ad dressed its fourth appeal to the cooperators of the world in behalf of the cooperatives, the cooper ators and their families in Spain. Not only homes, but cities, towns and villages have been destroyed in an orgy of wanton de- structioa Spanish cooperators in defending their own liberties are fighting for the maintenance of those| institutions of democracy and human rights which constitute the foundation and ideals of our cooperative system." Money is urgently needed to supply food and tU ut0 tf101153110^ of cooperators who have lost ™°r homes. Funds should be addressed to The «"operative League, 167 West 12 Street, New ork City; they will be forwarded to the I.C.A. «Purchase food and medical supplies which will sent directly to cooperators in Spain. Jam , 1938 New Co-op. Literature Cooperative Health Associations, by the Execu tive Board of the Bureau of Cooperative Medi cine, published by the Bureau of Cooperative Medicine, 32 pages, 25c. The Bureau of Cooperative Medicine has com piled general information about medical care in the U. S. and the need for Cooperative Medicine to make health protection available for the people who are not now adequately served. The pamphlet will be reviewed in an early issue of Consumers' Cooperation. Creative Pioneers, by Sherwood Eddy and Kirby Page, published by the Association Press, 161 pages 50c. Paper covers. Sherwood Eddy and Kirby Page have written this book primarily for college students. It is basically a book urging them to enter the three primary fields of Consumer, Producer and Public economic organization—.namely, Consumer Co operatives, Labor Unions, Farm Cooperatives and Public Utilities. These three major fields of eco nomic activities are discussed in the first three chapters of the book. The fourth chapter dis cusses race relationships; then follows a chapter on choosing a vocation or avocation, with the concluding chapter discussing social religion. This is a practical book. It is not up in the clouds discussing a "Heaven on Earth" or a "Co operative Commonwealth." While there will probably be some disagreement with the authors as to the classification of the fields of cooperative and public economic activities, these différences of. opinion can readily be eliminated by the pro cess of democratic discussion and practical or ganization. There are pages in the book suggesting definitely the possible vocations in cooperative, labor and public utility fields which should be of great help to the youth of America. This book might be termed the barrage of "A Crusade for Cooperation" which may be similar to the Student Volunteer Movement. The sugges tion is made of a possible "Student Social Action Movement." Such a movement might well adopt a slogan "A Cooperative World in This Genera tion," similar to the slogan adopted by the Student Volunteer Movement "The Evangelizing of the World in This Generation." The authors state that they are not attempting to form a new or ganization and rightfully conclude, "If there is to be a student movement for social action, the stu dents themselves will have to go forward in this day, as those of the former generation did in their day. Each generation has to build their new order within the framework of the old; and they have to do it themselves." It is to be regretted that in the cooperative chapter the authors failed to tell the life stories of a few outstanding cooperative leaders, after whom students might well pattern, as the chapters on labor and politics cited illustrations of such leaders. This book doubtless will be widely used in dis cussion groups on college campuses as well as by other study groups. It fills a long felt need. 15 THE PRESS BOOSTS CONSUMERS' COOPERATION Boilermakers Journal, November, "Organization Answer to H. C. L.", Albert H. Jenkins. Federal Consumers' Counsel holds cooperation is the answer to soaring prices. Better Times, December, "Cooperation as a Social Force," J. P. Warbasse. The importance of the cooperative movement to the social worker as a solution to many of our problems. Booklist. October 15, "The Consumers Coopera tive Movement," J. P. Warbasse. A general survey of the .principles and development of the cooperative movement. Business Week, October 23, "Trlnle Cooperative Test"; a story of the Workers Aim Cooperative Association at Heightstown, New Jersey. Christian Century. November 24, "See Coopera tives in Nova Scotia," J. Henry Carpenter. A report on The Cooperative League Tour to Nova Scotia this past summer. Commonweal, December 3 and December 10, "Workers' Cooperatives," Joseph H. Fichter. In the first of these two splendid articles the author tells of the working conditions in cooperative factories and stores as revealed by the Presi dent's Commission. The second article deals -with the necessity of a close alliance between the labor 'r^ovement and the cooperative move ment and the steps that are being taken in this direction. Consumers Guidf. November 1, "Should Con sumers Unite?" Consumers' Counsel D. E. Montgomery sums up the case for consumer organization. The Cowhell, November, "Nova Scotia—Land of CO-OP Enterprise," R. H. Elsworth. Mr. Els- worth, a member of the Nova Scotia Tour last summer, tells of the cooperative developments in the sections visited. Indians at Wfrk, December 1, "A Word About Cooperation," Edward Hufoerman. An ele mentary discussion of the necessity for con sumers cooperation, and what co-ops can do. International Tournai of. Religious Education, No vember, "Cooperatives in Europe," a survey of European co-ops based on the Report of the President's Commission. Midwest Mutual News, September, "Must Coop eratives Be Built from the Ground Up to be Run Successfully?",^ Albert J. Hanglin. The author's answer is "yes." Monthly Labor Review, October, "Consumers Cooperatives in Chicago," Sidney N. Gubin. One of a series of spot studies made for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May and June, 1937, in connection with its general survey of cooperative associations. November, "Cooperative Housing in 1936," a survey of cooperative housing. Valuable statis tical material. 16 New York Teacher, November, "Labor operatives," Jacob DracMer. A ' " ganized labor to join the cooperative ^ *° ON to "make New York a co-op town." ment Presbvferian Tribune, November "Con of Nova Scotia." J. Henry "• ' ' rector of The Cooperative League Nova R6 •'" Tour, describes what the .group saw fhi C0fia mer. sum- Th«- Queen's Work. October. "In Nova Ç Three Men Drive Povertv Plumb Crazy " M excellent material about the cooperative d T opments in Nova Scotia. e'~ November, "An Open Letter to All Who TV i, Co-ops Destroy Small Business," Georao A McDonald, S. T. The author feels that the sm li grocery man should welcome the opportunities that cooperatives offer to the experienced honest retailer, rather than fighting against tb.' movement. Railwav Clerk, November. "Organization Answer to H.C.L.", Albert H. Jenkins. Scholastic. October 16, Special Consumers COOD- praHve Edition. Nearly all of this issue of this high school weekly is devoted to articles and features on the cooperative movement. "Labor and Cooperatives," "Cooperation and the British Press," "Help Wanted in the Co-ops." "Cooperative Housing in Sweden" and a co-op radio play are some of the feature articles. Ex cellent illustrations. Welcome News, October, "Scandinavia Shows the Way," Grace Maclnnis. Women and Missions. November. "New Wavs for Old." Dorothy Franklin. The story of the Delta Cooperative Farm at Rochdale, Missis sippi. COOPERATIVE PAMPHLET CLUB OF 1935 The Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa tion last year formed its first Cooperative Pamnhlet Club. With a $1.00 membership fee it distributed one pamphlet a month to its members for as many months as possible with the capital subscribed. Through group buying, the 766 mem bers of the pamphlet club made a patronage saving of 23c on the dollar, which was returned to them in additional literature. Beginning January 1, the second club will get under way. Among the early selections are: Education and the New Social Order, by John Dewey. , *i Producers and Consumers Cooperation, by Mur ray D. Lincoln. Cooperative Recreation, by Carl Hutchmson. Although most of the members of the club are in Ohio, persons outside the state may J™1 . the same fee. Subscriptions should be sent to Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Library, North High Street, Columbus, Ohio. Consumers' Cooperation CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY- DEMOCRACY Volume XXIV. No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1938 Ten Cents COOPERATIVE CO IMENTS "The consumer problem is in a very real sense a labor problem," said Wil liam Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, in a letter to the Cost of Living Conference, conducted bv Consumers' National Federation in New York City. What labor must do is to take on itself the burden of solving its "consumer problem," which can only be done by the organization of voluntary consumer cooperatives. We do not know when we have read a truer statement relative to economic and political action than the following by Mr. H. G. Keeney, President of the Nebraska Farmers' Union and newly- elected ^Vice-Président of the National Farmers' Union: "I do not think we are going to solve our economic problems through political action but through Co operation. We will get favorable and helpful legislation just about in propor tion to our economic strength and we develop our economic strength through Cooperation." Spokesmen for Big Business have learned a few words which they repeat like parrots: "Repeal Taxes," which real ly means "lighten the load on the rich"; "Balance the Budget," which really means "reduce relief payments to the poor"; "Get the government out of busi ness," which really means "let utility rates rise." An unusual statement was made by Cardinal Verdiere, Archbishop of Paris, as reported in the New York Times, The Cardinal said "During the three social stages of slavery, serfdom and wage- earning through which it has passed, humanity has been obliged to make an incessant effort to throw off the chains that one of its groups has loaded upon the other, and revolutions in the last analysis only represent a new emancipation of the sacrificed classes. When one studies closely these periodic crises that convulse the world, it will be found that they have no other object than to achieve greater equality and a fairer place for the indi vidual, that is to say, for everybody." *vr!îfE^n to sPread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in uiuntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. "bushed monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S A.. 167 West 12th Street. New York City. J™,,BTen Ertiror- Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative _^urnals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. ntered <" Second Class Matter, December 19, isn, at the Post Office at New York, N. T., under the Act of March 1, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. Who is Right? Before leaving for Florida in his pri vate plane, Mr. U. S. Business declared that America would swing immediately into an age of prosperity such as we have not before enjoyed if Congress would give to business "the green light" by re pealing the undistributed profits tax, modifying the capital gains tax and bal ancing the budget. Just after spending his last pay check as a result of being laid off, Mr. U. S. Worker declared, before going on relief, that "when the excess incomes of the few are distributed to the many through in creased pay and reduced prices, then per manent prosperity for all will arrive." Go To Nova Scotia Next August The January issue of "The Interna tional Journal of Religious Education," published in Chicago, contains a splendid article by John R. Scotford on "Adult Education in Nova Scotia." Dr. Scotford is Editorial Secretary of the Commission on Missions of the General Council of Congregational and Christian Churches. He was a member of the Cooperative Tour of Nova Scotia last summer and makes several very important observa tions on the adult education program there. Dr. M. M. Coady, the inspiring leader of the movement, told Dr. Scotford that the economic problem is also the great religious, educational and political prob lem today. Economically, Mr. Scotford empha sizes the cash benefits to the members, and also adds "The manager of a coop erative store confessed that it was far more satisfying to return dividends to his members than to make profits for him self." Educationally, Dr. Coady declares, "There is nothing which encourages in tellectual activity more than thinking which pays." Mr. Scotford adds, after talking with members of cooperatives, "Once they felt themselves lost in a hope less maze; now they are experiencing the thrill of being a part of a movement which is going places." Religiously, Dr. Coady says, "If drawing men together in a common purpose is not religion, then what is?" Politically the implications of 18 the movement are clear, for it is Onl extending the principles of dernocrL which are liberty and equality t0 ?' building of an economic democracy th t political democracy can be preserved *'* It now appears that a large number of Americans are likely to take the Co erative League Tours to Nova Scor" next August to see first hand these stud'1 circles and cooperatives. ^" The False Face of .Big Business That Big Business talks one thing and does the opposite thing is indicated by the eight-point platform adopted by the 2nd Annual Congress of American In dustry, called by the National Associa tion of Manufacturers. What Big Busi ness says and what Big Business does is summarized below: 1—Big Business encourages private initiative. YET the development of monopolies, which is rapidly taking place, is destroying privaie initiative. 2—Big Business promotes sound industrial prac tices. YET industry produces shoddy and adulterated products and sells them on credit terms, both of which are the opposite of sound business practices. 3—Big Business supports equitable employment relations. YET the LaFollette Committee in vestigation reveals that industry spends mil lions on a labor spy system which breaks down the foundation of friendly relations. 4—Big Business creates new and broader markets. YET Assistant Attorney General Jackson stated in a recent radio address that industry "Priced itself out of the market" instead ol creating broader markets. 5—Big Business makes contructive efforts to alle viate depression effects. YET industry lays off employees and continues to pay high salaries to officers and dividends to stockholders, which deepens rather than alleviates the depression effects. 6—Big Business supports sound government poli cies. YET Big Business violently opposes equitable taxation and social insurances as well as public utilities, which are the soundest kind of government economic policies. 7—Big Business cooperates with agriculture. YE1 monopoly processors of farm products force down the prices to producers to the lowest point possible. 8—Big Business stands for peace. YET private- profiteering, which is the heart of monopolistic industry, is the primary cause of War. It is because the people are seeing through the false face of Big Business more rapidly With each passing day that they are .organizing themselves as con sumers, producers and citizens, to taKe over business and operate it in the in terests of all the people. ____ Consumers' Cooperation LADY VISITS THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE MY DAY HYDE PARK, Sundays-One citizen of these United States spent a most interesting hour and a quarter yesterday morning being educated in the coopera tive movement in the United States. She went to The Cooperative League, at 167 \V. 12th St., New York City, and talked with Mr. Eugene R. Bowen, the general secretary, and Mr. Wallace J. Campbell, the assistant secretary. The opening conversation explained how little she knew of what was going on in the cooperatives of this country. She thought it best to admit this at once, knowing it would be found out in a very short time. Then she was shown a map with the location of the large wholesale cooperatives. They deal almost entirely in farm supplies, such as seed, feed, fer tilizer and gas and oil. Only a few of them have dealt in groceries but these are now expanding. The whole movement is in its infancy here in comparison with the way it has developed in Sweden and in England, where it serves not only the needs of the By Eleanor Roosevelt lower income group, but as a balance wheel to the general price level. After a short time. Dr. James Peter Warbasse, president of The Cooperative League, came in and announced he had just been giving his examinations at the only medical college which requires a knowledge of cooperative medicine, the Long Island College of Medicine and Surgery. He feels this branch of medicine is still getting scant recognition, but as forty per cent of our people are either unable to avail themselves of medical services because of cost, or because they live where such services are impossible to obtain, it seems obvious that something in the nature of cooperative medical and dental services will have to be furnished. I would have liked to visit the cooper ative institute on the upper floor, but I was late and could only murmur that I hoped to return some-day, A dentist ap pointment kept creeping up on me in spite of my interest in the cooperative and finally I had to dash off. (Reprinted with permission of United Features Syndicate.) Mrs. Roosevelt (right) Dr. J. P. Warbasse (center) E. R. Bowen (left) February, 1938 19 A FARM LEADER LOOKS AHEAD Murray D. Executive Ohio Farm COOPERATIVE HIGHLIGHTS OF 1937 (Extracts from an article "What Will 1938 Bring Forth?" in Ohio Farm Bureau News, January, 1938). EVERYBODY wants economic securi ty, a decent income, a permanent job. protection against accident and sickness, enough money to take care of one in old age and so forth. Enough for All Blessed as is this nation, particularly with natural resources, there is enough to provide everyone with the above desired -objectives. But because of the present economic and political system they are denied the great mass of people. And the people have within their own hands the tools to assure them. We must keep re peating that until it is accepted, and un dertake action to secure these desired objectives for the people. How are we going to get them? First'—organization. The individual is helpless in the present complex system of society. You can't go it alone. And as I have said so often—the cost of organization is never as great as the cost of the lack of it. Producer Organizations Needed We first need organization of groups who have a similarity of interests—farm ers, laborers, white collared workers, small business men. and others. You must Tiave producer organization first. Consumers Organization Needed Second—then after we have producer organizations developed we must find the community of interests between groups and work out a program of common ob jectives. That does not necessarily mean that the different groups will agree on every thing. That is not possible until we find •one common meeting-ground. There is such a common meeting- 20 ground but people are not ready to accent it as yet. We are all consumers—that s the only eventual common meetinq- ground for all our people. It's the only place where we have a complete similari ty of interest. But we have thought of ourselves so long as producers that \ve can't see the woods because of the trees —yet. We will some day. Farmers must find a common meetinq- ground with the laboring people for they constitute, with farmers, the great group of folks in America who have too low in comes. Consequently, we as farmers have a similar problem with the laboring peo ple, and somehow must find ways and means of working with them. Now be sure you understand me. I said the laboring people. I have the same re servations about some of the labor unions that you have. But they are here. They are the only organized groups represent ing (to whatever small or large degree of effectiveness) the American laboring man. Organize! Organize! Finally, economic power leads to polit ical power and in turn those two deter mine what our social development is to be. So to me, we need organization first, and much stronger farm organizations than we have ever had to date. Then we need to work with other people in Amer ica who have a similarity of interests. Third, we need to develop our own eco nomic power. This will come through the development of cooperative services owned and controlled by the people who use them, with profits going back to those who made the business possible in the first place. This increases mass purchas ing power which is a primary need in America today. The tragedy of this whole situation is that people have within their own hands the tools to fashion their own destiny » they will but use them. However, we are making progress. Consumers' Cooperation NINETEEN thirty-seven was a year of marked cooperative progress, not nly because the cooperative movement rew in volume and membership and en tered new fields but also because it at tracted greater attention from the world at large than it had in any previous year. With the Cooperative Wholesales Central Cooperative Wholesale, or ganized in 1917 with $15.50 capital, celebrated its 20th Anniversary with as sets of $262,000 and is supplying 140 co operative stores with $3,000,000 worth of goods a year. Consumers Cooperative Association, North Kansas City, established a coop erative grease factory and continued its shipments of co-op blended oil to co operatives in Europe. Midland Co-op Wholesale, Minnea polis, ended its tenth year with its volume ($3,000,000) ten times that of its first year; was shipping a 20-car trainload of petroleum products a day to local coop eratives; and made plans to add a gro cery department. Midland, CCA and CCW made a joint contract to take the complete output of an oil refinery in Oklahoma. The Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insur ance Co., Columbus, became the 7th largest mutual casualty company in the U. S. Late in November it was granted a license to write auto insurance for co- operators in New York State. The Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association passed the $5,000,000 mark for annual volume—the first time in its history. United Cooperatives, Inc., with headquarters in Indianapolis, completed construction of its new $150,000 oil com pounding plant and made plans for a smaller plant in Warren, Pennsylvania. Farmers Union Central Exchange, St. Paul, built its volume to well over $4,- 000,000 and is serving 240 retail cooper atives in the North Western states. Grange Cooperative Wholesale, Seat- Ue, strengthened the relationship between the Wholesale and the retail cooperatives uary, 1938 it serves by providing for election of directors directly from cooperative units rather than from corresponding Grange units. Co-op business was reported up 30% over 1936. Pacific Supply Cooperative, Walla Walla, Washington, and Consumers Co operatives Associated, Amarillo, Texas, showed steady gains. CCA estimated on the basis of early returns that purchases were 50% larger than in 1936. Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, New York, opened its own warehouse in Sep tember, 1936, after acting as a brokerage buying agency for eastern co-ops for several years. In 1937 business increased 90% over its total for the previous year. The number of local organizations served jumped from 45 to 195, and the year's sales were expected to pass half a million dollars. Cooperative Distributors, New York, shifted to traditional one-price policy to conform to Rochdale practice and elected to its helm Professor Raymond Walsh of Harvard. United Farmers of Ontario was ad mitted to mem'bership in National Coop eratives, Inc. thereby stretching the co op wholesale federation's influence be yond national boundaries. The Coopera tive Wholesale which was also admitted to membership in National Co-ops, moved to new headquarters in Chicago and piled up new record volumes each- month as the year drew to its close. The Cooperative Life Insurance Com pany of America added $6,000,000 worth of insurance bringing its total insurance in force to $20,000,000. Workmen's Mu tual Fire Insurance Society, New York, completed its 65th year of continuous operation with 67,800 members, assets of $1,120,000 and $85,900,000 worth of in surance in force. Two years ago the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association began operations. Nineteen thirty-seven found it serving ten county-wide cooperatives, business was 86% ahead of last year and' driving steadily toward an annual busi ness of a million dollars. 21 Special Events of 1937 In a year studded with important de velopments these were some of the most outstanding events: The report of the Inquiry on Coopera tive Enterprise in Europe was presented to President Roosevelt in April after the six-man commission had spent almost a year in its preparation. To date no of ficial action has been taken. The Congress of the International Co operative Alliance in Paris, attended by 10 American delegates, clarified the Rochdale Principles: created an interna tional organization of cooperative youth and took action to set up an office of the International Cooperative Wholesale Society in London. Edward A. Filene, Boston merchant and father of the credit union movement in the US, who a year earlier set up Con sumer Distribution Corporation with as sets of $1,000,000 to organize a chain of cooperative department stores, died in Paris a few days after the close of the ICA Congress. Anders Hedberg, executive of the Co operative Union of Sweden, and Sydney Elliott, Editor of the British cooperative Sunday newspaper Reynold's News, toured the American cooperatives under the auspices of The Cooperative League. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt "dropped in" at the office of The Cooperative League December 18 to discuss the growth of the cooperative movement with leaders of the American movement. The Cooperative Builder changed from a semi-monthly to a weekly co-op news paper in March. The Farmers Union, at its national convention in Omaha, "went cooperative" by making the development of cooperatives the major emphasis of its national program. Rural Electrification made its greatest progress to date. Dur ing the year the Rural Electrification Ad ministration loaned $33,000,000 to coop eratives for the erection of lines and plants for the distribution of power. Important Support from Other Fields Endorsements of the consumers coop erative movement were voted by the conventions of the American Federation of Labor, the United Rubber Workers of America and the Steel Workers Organ izing Committee in addition to a number 22 of state and local labor organizations Governor Herbert Lehman of the Sta of New York endorsed consumer coo eratives in his annual message to tk" New York State Legislature and ad cated the organization of milk cooper°" tives as yardsticks to determine thp f •" <• r «n lair price of milk. The Federal Trade Commission, jn tu report of its study on Agricultural In come, declared that "the heavy costs of distribution cannot expect to be kept in satisfactory check without consumer co operatives." But before the reoort was published that section was withdrawn Most significant events of the year as far as support from religious organiza tions were concerned were: The formation of a special committee on the Church and Cooperatives as a section of the Industrial Division of the Federal Council of Churches; Important emphasis on the cooperative movement at the Catholic Rural Life Conference at Richmond; And the National Assembly of the Stu dent Christian Movement and the Na tional Conference of Methodist Youth which took uncompromising positions in support of the consumers cooperative movement. Educational Progress In the field of cooperative education several extremely important steps were taken. The State of Minnesota approved the expenditure of $5,000 for the prepara tion of study materials on consumers co operation and cooperative marketing to be used in the public schools. The North Dakota State Legislature also approved a bill providing for instruction in con sumer cooperation and cooperative mar keting in the public schools. A survey of the teaching of consumers cooperation in colleges, conducted by The Cooperative League, showed 18 colleges with specific courses on the co operative movement and an additional 131 colleges and universities where the cooperative movement is discussed in courses in marketing, economics and sociology. , In the number of institutes conducted, the Northern States Cooperative League led all other cooperative organizations. 'ft, Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative As iatic*1 pioneered in cooperative camp S? rk with 20 camps from three to ten j^ vs duration for youth, employees and coooerative executives. A National Cooperative Recreation Institute in Des Moines in June drew 50 tudents, many of them education and »creation directors of cooperatives. Im mediately following the institute educa tional directors and editors from coop eratives throughout the country met for a three-day conference. Tours of Nova Scotia and Europe took more than a hundred cooperators to make intensive studies of the cooperative movement in those sections. For honors in reaching the general public with the cooperative idea, a medal of the year could well be awarded to the March of Time's newsreel on "Finland's 20th Birthday" which displayed pictures of Finnish co-ops in 11,000 theatres throughout the country. New Worlds to Conquer New organizations which date their of ficial existence from 1937, many of them pioneering in new fields, include the fol lowing organizations: The Cooperative College, New York, sponsored by The Cooperative League as a training school for prospective coop erative educators and executives; The Bureau of Cooperative Medicine, to educate for and advise in the forma tion of cooperative health associations; The Cooperative Book Club, also in New York, which will act as cooperative purchasing agent buying books of all types for members in all sections of the country; And Greenbelt Cooperative Services, set up by Consumer Distribution Cor poration to assist in putting all the com mercial enterprises in the government's model town at Greenbelt, Maryland, on a cooperative basis. Big Broadcasts of 1937 Several cooperative wholesales and a number of local cooperatives launched Jugular radio programs during the year, twelve national broadcasts over coast- to-coast hookups of the National Broad casting Company, the Columbia Broad casting System and the new Mutual Consumers' Cooperation February, 1938 Broadcasting System were arranged dur ing the year. "America's Town Meeting"—NBC—Jan. 21 Murray D. Lincoln "Cooperatives and American Progress" Edward A. Filene NBC—Feb. 10 "College Cooperative Symposium"—CBS—Apr. 17 Wm. Moore, Sam Beers and others "Consumers Cooperation"—a Debate—MBS— T. P. Warbasse and Michael Schaap May 16 "Cooperative Enterprise in Europe"—CBS— Jacob Baker May 19 "Let's Talk it Over"—NBC—Aug. 2 Inez \Veed Jones "Consumer Cooperation Analyzed"—CBS— Dr. James Palmer Aug. 11 Farm and Home Hour—England's Co-ops Sydney Elliott NBC—Aug. 13 ICA Connress—Broadcast from Paris—CBS— Vaino Tanner and Howard Cowden Sept. 8 Filene Memorial Broadcast—CBS—Oct. 29 Dr. Warbasse, Orchard and Garrison University of Chicago Forum—CBS—Nov. 14 Anders Hedberp Africa's Town Meeting—NB'C—Dec. 23 Cooperative Medicine—Kingsley Roberts Publications of 1937 Outstanding in the periodical field were a special cooperative issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social .Science, May, a comprehensive survey of the American consumer cooperatives in the March is sue of Fortune, and a special cooperative issue of Scholastic, the National High School Weekly, October 16. Books and Pamphlets published during the year included: "Report of the Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Eurooe" "Cooperative Enterprise," bv Jacob Baker "The English Cooperatives," by Svdney Elliott "The Brave Years," by William Heyliger "Cooperative Ideals and Problems," by Anders Gerne "The Cooperative Movement in Sweden," by Axel Gjores "Swedish Consumers in Cooperation," Anders Hedberg "Cooperation: The Dominant Economic Idea of the Future," by Henry Wallace "The Consumers Cooperative Movement," by Harry Laidler and Wallace J. Campbell "Cooperation: The Middle Way for America?" by Paul Douglas "Cooperatives," A Headline Book, by R. A. Goslin "A Primer of Bookkeeping for Cooperatives," by Werner Regli "Consumers Cooperatives," by Rev. Edgar _ Schmeidler, OSB "A Primer of Cooperative Medicine," Bureau of Cooperative Medicine "Cooperative Health Associations," by J. P. War- basse, Kingsley Roberts and others. 23 CONSUMERS' COOPERATION DEFINED WE all need to learn to talk the same cooperative language. To this end The Cooperative League has submitted to the International Coop erative Alliance for acceptance as a world-wide definition of Consumers' Co operation the following, "Consumers' Co operation, in its broadest sense, is under stood to mean the cooperative purchasing of all forms of food, goods and services by ultimate users organized on the basis of Rochdale principles." European Interpretation The Cooperative Wholesale, VOLG of Winterthur, Switzerland, as nearly as any other, was similar in its earlier be ginnings to most of the cooperative wholesales in the United States. The Re port of the Inquiry on Cooperative Enter prise in Europe says in describing VOLG, "Consumer Cooperation among the rural population began near Winter thur with the organization of a society that engaged at first only in the joint pur chase of artificial fertilizer, but later added other farm supplies and consumers' goods." It should be particularly noted that the report says that "Consumer Co operation among farmers started with the joint purchase of fertilizer," which is one of the principal items in farm supplies. The Swedish Cooperative Wholesale KF has published a pamphlet entitled "Farmers' and Consumers' Cooperation." In this pamphlet they have a diagram showing the consumer and producer eco nomic interest of farmer, labor and pro fessional groups. The chart showing the consumer economic interests of farmers describes them as of two types, namely: the cooperative purchasing of household goods and the cooperative purchasing of vocational goods. As used by KF, the word "vocational" includes all forms of farm supplies. The subheads in the pamphlet further clarify their definition of the Consumers' Cooperative Move ment. The subheads read, "The Farmer as a Household Consumer" and "The Farmer as a Vocational Consumer." Un der the first heading of "The Farmer as a Household Consumer" they discus ti i- 1 • 1 e ^^Uot) tflP cooperative purchasing by farmers of n forms of household supplies. Under tin second heading of "The Farmer as * Vocational Consumer" they include th** cooperative purchasing by farmers o[ afl forms of farm supplies. A new book describing the cooperative movement in Norway includes the co operative purchasing of all forms of goods as parts of Consumers Cooperation It says, "Taking all the members of the dif ferent consumers cooperative organiza tions into consideration: the Cooperative Union and Wholesale Society, the inde pendent cooperative societies and the co operative purchasing pools, it is a safe estimate that between 30 and 35 per cent or one-third of the population of Norway are members of cooperative consumers' societies of one kind or another. On a trip through France, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, England and Scotland we discussed this subject of the correct definition of Consumers' Coop eration with the leaders in each country. Universally the leaders with whom we talked declared personally that they con sidered the cooperative purchasing of farm supplies to be part of the Con sumers' Cooperative Movement. Vaino Tanner, President of the Inter national Cooperative Alliance, General Manager of the Elanto Society of Hel- singfors and Minister of Finance of Fin land, said, "We have two great Con sumers' Cooperative groups in Finland.' The newer Cooperative Wholesale group, with which he is directly con nected, namely OTK, handles both household and domestic goods in the one organization. In the case of the other Co operative Wholesale group, as a result of mistaken theorizing in the early be ginning, so we were told, the wholesaling of farm supplies was organized sePa^fJ ly from the wholesaling of household supplies, although both are considered as part of Consumers' Cooperation, ana the products of both wholesales are dis tributed through the same retail coopera tives. , A separate cooperative wholesale Consumers' Cooperation farm supplies was at one time [ in England but failed and re- 1 cooperatives which handle farm sup- 'T s are members of the Cooperative Wholesale Society, which is the largest C nsumers' Cooperative Wholesale in , world. George Walworth, Agricul- I ^dviser of The Cooperative Union, tu s "By establishing combinations of S reducers for the purpose of buying bulk 11 ts of feeding stuffs, fertilizers, etc. on cooperative basis it is possible to take membership with the C.W.S. and to secure the advantages of bulk purchases (roffl the Consumers Movement. About 100 of the agricultural requisite societies are members of the C.W.S. These re quisite societies are quite definitely con sumers' societies, for the purchases made are goods for consumption in the main even though the members may be agri cultural producers." American Interpretation In the United States there is a rapidly growing realization that the cooperative purchasing by ultimate users of all forms of goods, whether farm or home supplies, is all part of one great Consumers' Co operative Movement. The Central Co operative Wholesale group of Superior, Wisconsin, was the first to fully realize this fact. Midland Cooperative Whole sale of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the first cooperative wholesale in the field of petroleum products, with its membership entirely of farmers in the beginning, has adopted as its slogan "An Organization Devoted to Building the Consumers' Co operative Movement." An officer of the cooperative whole sale at St. Paul, Minnesota, says, "A consumer cooperative is formed1 for the purpose of pooling the purchasing power of its members. The Farmers Union Cen tral Exchange is this type of a coopera tive." This wholesale largely handles 'arm supplies. The Union Oil Company of North Kansas City, Missouri, which started as a farm supply cooperative wholesale, and whose trade is still prin cipally in farm supplies although it has "ow added a grocery department, changed its name to Consumers Cooper- atlve Association to conform to its Realer understanding of the fact that it s a part of the world-wide Consumers iry, 1938 Cooperative Movement. An address de livered by the leader of the Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperatives is entitled, "We Are Powerful as Consumers" and clearly sets forth the fact that the cooperative purchasing of farm supplies and of auto mobile and fire and life insurance are, equally with household supplies, all divi sions of Consumers' Cooperation. The understanding of our economic functions as consumers is so largely a new idea that it is not to be wondered that it takes time for everyone to come to a full realization of the fact that the co operative purchasing of all forms of food, goods or services by ultimate users are all integral parts of the Consumers' Cooper ative Movement. We are so accustomed to thinking of ourselves as producer? that we find it difficult to break through our habits of thought and realize the full meaning of organizing as consumers. But an understanding is growing in America among cooperative wholesale leaders and members that the Swedes have thought through the economic classifications of society correctly when they describe us all as having two economic interests and name them "Consumer or Buyer In terests" and "Producer or Seller In terests." A Great Consumers' Cooperative Movement Needed in America The more rapidly this clear definition is understood, the more rapidly will we build in America the great and all-in clusive Consumers' Cooperative Move ment which this nation should and must have to match the large producers' or ganizations of Farm Cooperatives and Labor Unions and together, as organized consumers and producers, be able to solve our economic problems of unemployment, poverty and tenancy as has already largely been done in Sweden and Fin land. Vaino Tanner, President of the Inter national Cooperative Alliance, con cluded his comments on the American Cooperative Movement by expressing in question form his great hope for America, "Are American cooperative purchasing groups understanding more and more that they are Consumers?" We were happy to be able to answer that they are. 25 AMERICAN YOUTH GOES COOPERATIVE H'RISTMAS week was cooperative week for several thousand American college young people this year. The students attending the National Methodist Student Conference in St. Louis, December 28-31 took a definitely critical attitude toward the profit system and recommended general social educa tion, establishment of cooperatives and support of the labor movement. "We recognize Rochdale cooperatives as being one of the most Christian ways yet evolved for building a more Christian eco nomic order. We recommend that coopera tives on Rochdale principles be set up on campuses by the students wherever they be advantageous, in order that we may become acquainted with their advantages and carry them on in later life," The First National Conference of Uni versity Students in Canada was held on the campus of the University of Mani toba in Winnipeg, Christmas week. More than 350 students, representing every large university in Canada, passed unani mously resolutions pressing for instruc tion in the cooperative movement as a regular part of the college curricula and urging the formation of student coopera tives. The National Student Federation of America holding its annual convention of student body presidents and secretaries and editors of college publications at Albuquerque, N. M., approved the or ganization of campus co-ops as an ef fective way of cutting the costs of educa tion and discussed the relation of co-ops to the official student body organizations. At Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 600 delegates to the American Stu dent Union devoted their major consider ation to the role of the college student in the present international crisis. But the assembly renewed its approval of campus co-ops and 50 students meeting in a spe cial section on cooperatives discussed the technique of organizing student coopera tives and representatives from co-ops on several eastern campuses reported the progress they had made during the past year. The economics commission of the Na tional Assembly of the Student Christian 26 Movement, meeting at Miami Oxford, Ohio. December 27 to 1, went definitely on record declaring^ present system is unchristian because ï fails to distribute equitably the goods are able to produce. The commission rec ommended basic but gradual change to " system based on the service motive and advocated as the methods to attain that goal the organization of cooperatives a strong labor movement and public owner ship of natural monopolies in the interest of all the people. Twenty managers and members of co operative dormitories, eating clubs and book stores held a special meeting in con nection with the National Assembly at Oxford and proposed the organization of a League of College Cooperatives which would continue the work of the National Committee on Student Cooperatives which has been assisting the organization of campus co-ops during the last two vears. William Moore, Hanover College. Hanover, Indiana, was appointed head of a committee to draw up tentative consti tution and by-laws for the proposed league. A week before the Christmas holidays, managers of student co-ops at the Uni versities of California, Oregon, Wash ington, Idaho and British Columbia met at Seattle for a Pacific Coast Student Co operative Conference. Approximately 1650 student members were represented by the 50 delegates. The three-day con ference was devoted to discussions of methods of organization, technical prob lems of administration and bookkeeping and educational programs. A second conference will be held at Washington State College during the Easter Vaca tion. There are student co-ops on more than 160 campuses in the United States today according to a report presented by Wil liam Moore at a special session on cam pus co-ops at the National Assembly at Oxford. These co-ops are operating 225 dormitories, eating clubs, book stores an other cooperative ventures with m°re than 70,000 members. KRATION FILL'ER UP A RADIO PLAY (Editor's note: Although written for radio use .ijj pjay can very effectively be presented on a qe before a visible audience. It is easy for Lateur groups to stage as no sets or costumes are required.) Permission to broadcast "Fill 'er Up" is granted, royalty free, provided the following announcement is made over the air: "This is a Scholastic Radio Play, presented through the courtesy^ of Scholastic, the American High School Weekly." The incidents in this play are based upon the true history of several oil cooperatives of the Middle West. Names, places and characters, how ever, are wholly fictitious. EFFECT: Fade in on the sharp roar LJ of a motor car. Brakes screech and wheels churn in gravel as car comes to a 'stop. Two blasts of auto horn, staccato and rhythmic. These set the pace for the dialog which is carried on in a singsong manner with special voices to each side. The effect is of many motorists and many attendants. Horn: Beep, Beep! Attendants: Yes, sir! Motorists: Fill 'er up! Attendants: Yes, sir! Check your oil? Motorists: No, sir! Attendants (Business-like): Yes, sir. Effect: The motor roars again and fades out quickly. Pause. Fade in the slow tread of a pair of heavy feet on concrete, contrasting with the brisk pace of the first scene. Dolly (High-pitched, reedy voice): How dy, Herb. Takin' a stroll? (Footsteps stop abruptly). Herb: Walkin' to the store. Wanna come along, Dolly? D°lly: It's a hot day for walkin'. Did your car break down? Herb: No ... the car ain't broke, but I ajn. These oil prices . . . u°Hy: High as skyrockets! But they tell me the high price of oil is goin' to put us all on our feet. Consumers' Cooperation February? Ellen Edwards Editor Marc Rosenblum Pauline Gibson Herb: You mean they're puttin' the oil company on its feet. They're putting me on my back. Price went up another cent today. Dolly: Maybe we ought'a boycott them. Quit buyin' oil. Herb: We gotta have oil. Can't run your farm without it. Dolly: Seems like somebody in town would sell it cheaper. Herb: Nope—same price all over iwn. Except that cooperative society the boys are talkin' about. Dolly: What kind of a society did you say? Herb: Cooperative . . . some of the boys got a crazy notion about havin' the people in town who buv oil own their own station. Run it for themselves 'stead of for profit. Sounds cr-acked to me! Dollv: Sounds like the heat's got 'em. (They both laugh). Well, s'long, Herb. (Fading out) I'm goin' the other way. Herb: (Fading): S'long. (pause) Effect! Fade in on telephone ringing persistently. Burton (Calm, forceful voice): Burton speaking. Jed (A tinny, excitable voice heard through the phone receiver): This is Jed. Burton: Good! What did the bank say? Jed: Bank says we don't need another filling station in this town. Burton: But will they lend us money for a tank and pump? Jed: They'll lend us money personally ... but they won't lend anything to the co operative. Burton: (Impatiently): They won't lend money to the cooperative society, but they'll lend it to us personally? What's 27 II. I the matter? Don't they trust the coop erative? Jed: No ... they say it won't last! They say we're going to lose out! Burton: Bosh! (Pause). All right, if they'll trust us personally, I'll take out a loan and put the money in the cooperative. Will you? Jed: Sure! Burton: Think the rest of the fellows will risk it? Jed: I think they will. Burton: Round them up for a meeting to night, then, Jed. Looks like we can open up next week ... soon as we get the tank and pump in. Jed: Okay, Burton. Burton: By the way, I signed up a new member today. And there are going to be a lot of others come in (Fading out) as soon as they see we mean business. (Pause). Effects Fade in confused roomful of voices. A gavel raps and the voices subside. Authoritative Voice: The meeting of the Consumer Cooperative Association of Zenith will now come to order. (Pause for quiet). Before we get into the busi ness at hand, let's start off with the new co-op song. (The members chant gaily and enthusiastically starting off with the first line on "do," second on "re" and so on up the scale, completing the octave with the last line). Anyone may join our group Who buys a low-priced share. Every member has one vote. Our home is everywhere. As we buy, so do we save. We limit rates on loans. Growth and knowledge help us build A world the buyer owns. Effect: Fade out as they begin the chant a second time. Pause. The click of typewriters is heard. The noise grows louder until— Oil Company President (In a booming voice): Take a letter, Miss Jones. From the Home Office to Smith, Smithington Smith, Retail Sales Manager, Tycoon Oil Company, Zenith. "Dear Smith: You must be discreet in dealing with the cooperative oil station which you say is about to open in your territory. Do not criticize it directly because it is owned by your customers. Remember, the customer is always right. Try to win these cooperators back by improv- 28 Vo ' ing the courtesy and service in own station. Meanwhile, a temporär reduction in prices may serve to ^ courage the cooperative society fro " pushing its plans. Cordially yours Brown." Effect: Typewriter clicking begins briefly antl fades out for two sing-song voices in dialogue 1st Voice: Company oil, 24 cents. 2nd Voice: Co-op oil, 24 cents. 1st Voice: Company oil, 22 cents. 2nd Voice: Co-op oil, 22 cents. 1st Voice: Company oil, 18 cents. 2nd Voice: Co-op oil, 18 cents. 1st Voice: Company oil, 16 cents. 2nd Voice: Co-op oil, 16 cents. 1st Voice: Company oil, 14 cents. 2nd Voice: Co-op oil, 14 cents. 1st Voice: Company oil, 13 cents. Automobile Horn: Beep, Beep. Chorus of Voices (As heard in openinq)- Yes, Sir! Motorists: Fill 'er up! Attendants: Yes, Sir! Check your oil? Motorists (Fading out): Check the oil? Jed (F!ading in): Golly, the Tycoon com pany is selling oil for less than we can buy it from the tank cars. The cooper ative station can't meet prices like that. Burton: We don't have to. If the Tycoon station brings down their prices, we don't need a cooperative station. Effect: Rapping of gavel. Authoritative Voice: The motion is made and seconded that as long as the Ty coon Oil Company is selling gas and oil for less than we can handle it, the Co-op station shall be closed. The question is called for. All in favor say "aye". Scattered chorus of "ayes". Voice (continuing): All those opposed? Smaller but energetic chorus of "nos". Voice (continuing): The motion is car ried. Effect: Loud murmur of voices. Fade out for tele phone bell. Brown: President Brown speaking. Smith (Tinny voice over the phone): This is Smith. Brown: Smith of the Zenith district.' Smith: Yes ... the cooperative station closed yesterday. Brown: The cooperative station closed. Very well. You may restore our usuai Tycoon prices. Consumers' Cooperation Receiver clicks. Pause. Telephone bell rings again. grown: President Brown speaking. Smith (Tinny voice): This is Smith at Zenith. orovvn: Did you restore prices at the Ty coon stations as I directed? S„ijth: Yes . . . the Co-op station opened up again. grown: The co-op station opened up again? Well, we shall have to compete w;th them. (Receiver clicks). Miss s, take a telegram. Effect: Telegraph tickers for several seconds. Hold underneath. Telegraph operator (Monotonous femi nine voice reading): Telegram for J. P. Burton, Consumer Cooperative Asso ciation, Zenith: "Regret it is impossible to accept further orders for oil from you until you are prepared to handle larger quantity. Signed, Brown, Ty coon Wholesale Company." Charges collect. Pause. Telegraph tickers continue under neath. Same Voice: Telegram for J. P. Burton, Consumer Cooperative Association, Zenith: "Regret your recent order can not be filled until it is possible to in clude it with a large shipment. Signed, Gray, Giant Wholesale Company." Charges collect. Pause and tickers underneath. Same Voice: Telegram for J. P. Burton, Consumers Cooperative Association, Zenith: "Regret tank car not avail able . . ." (Voice changes to natural speaking tone.) Just a minute, Joe. Burton left town today. He said to for ward telegrams to the Congress Hotel, Omaha. Effect: Fade in a rumble of train. Whistle blows. Fade down but hold underneath. Jed: Burton, I don't understand it. Ty coon Wholesale was glad enough to sell us small orders before. Burton: Maybe. But I can see ... it doesn't pay them to fool around with our small shipments for one Co-op sta tion. Jed: But we can't do a wholesale com pany any harm. Just because we're a small outfit we can be kicked around. Burton: That's why I've called this meet- «g in Omaha. We'll get all the coop- Feb, Tuary, 1938 eratives in this whole district together . . . pool our orders . . . Effect: Train noises rise, then slowly fade out. Fade in on mixed voices. Burton (Pounding gavel): Order, please. Ladies and gentlemen, when we met here in Omaha last month and organ ized the Cooperative Wholesale Com pany, you recall that we expected to to place our pooled orders with the Tycoon Wholesale Company. As you all know, the Tycoon Company then refused to blend oil for us. We there upon went to the Tartan Blending Company, asked them to blend oil for us in their new quarter-million dollar plant. You have just heard the secre tary read to you a letter received this week from the Tartan Blending Com pany refusing to do business with the Cooperative Association. Tartan says we are too small. Woman's Voice: Mr. President. Can we raise the amount of our purchases? Burton: They have been increasing stead ily. We can't buy more oil than we can sell. Woman: You mean, none of these com panies wants to have anything to do with the cooperatives? Burton: It looks that way. Man: Aren't there other blending plants around here? Burton: None within reasonable distance. We have trouble placing orders. Jed: Then we'll just have to build our own blending plant. Burton: That will take a lot of money. Jed: We can raise it. Can't we? Effect: Murmur of voices. "Yes." "Sure we can raise it." "I don't know." (Fade out). Pause. Fade in furious hammering on wood and iron. Fade down but hold underneath. Woman: My, I never knew tanks could look so beautiful. Even if our plant is just a little thing, it looks beautiful to me. Jed: That's because it partly belongs to you. Woman: My, I hope it will pay. Do you think it will, Mr. Burton? Burton: I have good reason to think it will. The Tartan Oil- Company is ask ing us to come back and deal with- them ... I guess we aren't too small for them now. Jed (Laughing): I hope you told them to go jump at the moon. 29 Burton: I might have told him that, at the rate the cooperatives are growing, in stead of buying his oil, we might buy his whole plant, Jed: Say, I hear they are seriously in terested in selling their plant because they are losing so much money lately. (Fading out). Do you suppose there is any truth in that story? Pause. Gavel pounds. Auctioneer (A decisive, clamorous voice): By order of the court, the property of the Tartan Oil Blending Company, capitalized at $246,000 is hereby of fered for public sale to the highest bid der. (Rising on the last two words). Pause. Auctioneer (Impatiently): What's the bid, gentlemen? (Pause) This property has been ordered for sale because the Tartan Oil Blending Company was not paying its debts. It wasn't paying its debts because it could not pay interest on Us quarter of a million dollar invest ment and pay salaries at the same time. Some of the people to whom Tartan owes money have forced this bank ruptcy sale. They do not expect to get all of their money. What do you offer? Burtom $40,000 (Spoken in a quiet voice.) Auctioneer: Forty is bid by the Coopera tive Wholesale. Do I hear another? Two bids are needed to make the sale legal. Voice: Forty-two. Auctioneer (Fading): Forty-two is bid. Reporter (Conversationally): Remember me, Mr. Burton. I'm from the Zenith Reporter. Is your Cooperative Whole sale Society trying to buy the Tartan plant? Burton: Aren't you the newspaper lad who wrote that funny story about the co-op? Reporter: I guess I owe an apology for that. When your wholesale was or ganized with only fifteen dollars and thirty-seven cents capital, it seemed a bit silly . . . Burton: Don't apologize. Some people didn't think you were so funny after all. You really helped us find some in vestors. Voice (Off mike): $45,000. Reporter: Well, buying a big plant like Tartan is nothing to joke about either. That would be a real piece of news. A 30 few years ago Tartan wouldn't you because you were too small Burton: (Slowly): Our bid for "f isn't a joke, but someone may hirl 3rtan Voice: (off mike): $50,000. m°re- Reporter: Can the co-ops use surli L plant? a bi9 Voice: (off mike): $55,000. Burton: We're buying a trainload Of On t members, through the cooperative, are •* *j — """"j-vau. f] products every day, on a non-profit basis. And besides gas and nil _....i._.._ ii _ _i ii "• our gro- buying farm supplies, tires, paint, ceries, insurance ... Reporter: That's some change from the filling station you started with fifteen years ago. (Fading) When are you cooperators going to stop? Auctioneer: Going for $55,000. Goino for ... y Burton: $56,000. Auctioneer: $56,000 once. $56,000 twice. Do I hear another bid? (Pause.) The property of the Tartan Oil Blending plant is SOLD for $56,000 cash to the Cooperative Wholesale Company of the Middle West. Clamor of automobile horns, fade out. THE END This play is available in pamphlet form from The Cooperative League, 167 W. 12th Street, New York City, 15c a copy. COOPERATIVE PLAYS 31. The Spider Web, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ............................. 25c 32. The Answer, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ....................•••••••• 20c 33. Fill 'er Up, 1 act radio play, March Rosenblum and Pauline Gibson ........ 15c 34. Two One Act Plays, Ellis Cowling .... 15c COOPERATIVE MOVIES A Trip to Cooperative Nova Scotia, 3 reels, silent, 16 mm. Based on 1937 Coop Tour. $3 per day, $1.50 for each additional showing. Consumers Mean Business, color films of coopera tives in 8 Baltic countries, 4 reels, silent, 1U mm. Available only in New York and vicinity, ac companying lecture by Albert Allinger. JO ro $10 per showing, depending on size ot audiei». and distance from N. Y. Cooperatives in Wisconsin, 2 reels, silent, 16 mm-, prepared by University of Wisconsin Biora- graphic laboratory. Available March 1st ft not yet determined. Consumers' Cooperation COOPERATIVES ON THE MARCH New York—The Cooperative College If rnierly The Cooperative League Insti- °K\ will open its second term February Vi -pjje Co-op College met with an en- h siastic response last fall. Twenty-two 'dents from 13 states completed the 5 demie sessions in December and are Rationed in cooperatives in various sec tions of the country doing practical field ' k. Many of them have already found permanent places in the movement. The Spring term will last for five months. The first three will be spent in jvjew York, the two following are to be devoted to field work in cooperatives. Oklahoma City, Okla.—The tendency of farm groups to turn from political reg ulation to the organization of producers and consumers cooperatives as the per manent means of achieving economic equality is indicated by the special full- day program on cooperatives which was held immediately following this year's regular program of the National Farmers Union Convention. The special cooperative day "marks a new start in the development of coopera tion," according to Editor A. W. Ricker of the Farmers' Union Herald. "Hence forth," said Mr. Ricker, "the emphasis will be more on cooperation and less de pendency on political regulation." Editor L. S. Herron of the Nebraska Union Farmer, declared that "Cooperation holds the answer" to such contrasts as profits and poverty, so-called surpluses and un employment. Chairman of the cooperative day was C.'L. McCarthy, manager of the Farmers Union State Exchange, Omaha, Nebras ka. Said fellow co-op manager J. L. Nolan of the Farmers Union Central Ex change, St. Paul, "There are tremendous possibilities in consumer cooperation." Pittsburgh—The Steel Workers Or ganizing Committee, meeting here for its annual convention December 14, 15 and '6, unanimously endorsed the Consumers ^operative Movement and urged its members to join consumer cooperatives to protect the workers and their families, as c°nsumers of goods, in terms of lower , 1938 prices and higher quality of goods." "WHEREAS, one of the fundamental reasons for organization of labor is to protect the workers from the abuse of employers and to insure a. better standard of living for the workers and their families; and WHEREAS, the labor organizations, fighting to make wages keep pace with the higher costs of living, discover that each wage in crease is met with still higher living costs; and WHEREAS, the workers organized as Con sumers function to keep prices down and the quality of goods high; and WHEREAS, The Cooperative Distributors, Inc., is ready to serve trade unions and their families as a nation-wide purchasing and mail order association and The Cooperative League of the U.S.A. with its affiliates is working for consumer cooperation between Labor, Farmer and Middle Class groups; RESOLVED, that this Convention endorses and supports the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, urging our members to join these Consumers' Cooperative Organizations for the purpose of protecting the workers and their families, as consumers of goods, in terms of lower prices and higher quality of goods." New York-—With its initial funds pro vided by chain store interests, the Con sumers Foundation, Inc. completed its or ganization here Saturday, January 8, with the election of William Trufant Foster, director of the Pollack Foundation, as president. In a press conference preceding the or ganization meeting of the board, Dr. Foster frankly admitted that the $25,000 grant which led to the organization of the Consumers Foundation, Inc. was made by the Institute of Distribution which is supported by chain stores, variety stores and mail order houses. Members of the Board of Directors and the National Council include heads of women's clubs, ministers and college professors as well as several nationally- known business men including Henry !.. Harriman, former president of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, George F. Benk- hart, Vice-Président of the General Motors Acceptance Corporation, D. M. Nelson, Vice-president, Sears, Roebuck and Company and .Harlan T. Pierpont, director of the Nash-Kelvinator Corpo ration. Conspicuous by their absence are Donald E. Montgomery, Consumers Counsel, Agriculture Adjustment Ad- 31 I ministration. Dr. Stacy May, of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Mrs. Bert Hendrickson, chairman of the New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, who resigned, according to Mr. Montgomery, "because decisions of the committee were not being carried out and because we were not convinced that the procedure followed was such as to insure an or ganization that would operate effectively and honestly in the consumer interest." Albany, N. Y.—Herbert H. Lehman, Governor of the State of New York, in his annual message to the state legisla ture, January 5, declared that consumer cooperatives should be definitely encour aged and urged their organization as "yardsticks for the measurement of fair and just distribution costs." Pointing to the failure of both state and industry control in attempting to provide fair prices for the consumer. Governor Lehman declared: "There can be no satisfactory solution of the milk problem, either under state or in dustry control, if the milk of the producer is not made available to the consumer at a price he can afford to pay. "The state should continue to lend its in fluence and aid to efforts to discover the cor rect solution of this problem. Establishment of consumer cooperatives for direct distribu tion of milk from producer to consumer should be definitely encouraged. These undertakings could be made yardsticks for the measure ment of fair and just distribution costs. Their results supplementing previous inquiries and the present audit of the company books, should provide the practical information on price spread that has heretofore not been available. Properly operated consumer cooperatives can supply milk at better retail prices and yet not impair a fair return to the producer." New York—To fill the demand for a publication of a magazine stressing coop erative health association, the Bureau of Cooperative Medicine, 5 East 57 Street, New York, is planning to launch a 32- page monthly publication. The magazine, "Cooperative Health," will be digest size and will appeal not only to members of cooperative health associations but to farm, labor and cooperative groups as well as socially-minded doctors. Publication of "Cooperative Health" is planned for early spring. The subscrip tion price will be $2.00 a year with a special rate for quantity orders to groups. 32 Church Committee on Cooperatives To Sponsor Four Regional Seminars New York — The Committee On ih Church and Cooperatives of the IT,A trial Division of the Federal Council the Churches of Christ in America W1l sponsor four Regional Sight-Seeinq Seminars on Consumers' Coopérât' this winter. The first will be held at Columbus Ohio, on February 3, at the close of the Ohio State Pastors Convention. Late the Ohio Council of Churches is also planning to cooperate on a number of one-day seminars in a number of coun ties. The second Regional Conference will be held at Washington, D. C, February 14 and 15, and will be jointly sponsored by the Federation Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the So cial Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and the Social Justice Commission of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. A New England Seminar under the auspices of another inter-faith committee is planned for Boston, February 27 and 28. Trips will again be made to local co operatives and to Maynard, Mass. A fourth Seminar is being planned for the Central Atlantic States, probably at Madison, N. J. The date has not yet been determined upon. J. Henry Car penter is Chairman of the Committee on the Church and Cooperatives of the In dustrial Division of the Federal Council. Leslie Bates Moss is Vice-Chairman, and James Myers is Secretary. FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St., New York, N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. Under supervision of N. Y. State Insurance Department. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT ° ^ LIBRA,,, (.„•••'"" PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY MAR 22 1938 Volume XXIV. No. 3 MARCH, 1938 Ten Cents COOPERATIVE INTERPRETATIONS Getting Labor's Rights After declaring that, "Every citizen of the United States has a right to work," John L. Lewis prophesied that, "If the corporations which control American in dustry in their management of industry's affairs fail to provide that work, then there must be some power somewhere in this land of ours that will go over and above and beyond those corporations and their inadequate policies, and provide a job and insure the workers the right to live." Cooperators must teach labor leaders and members that the "some power some where" is in their own pocketbooks. By organizing into consumers cooperatives and directing their purchasing into coop erative stores, wholesales and factories which they themselves own, workers can become their own employers. This is the only way they will ever insure steady jobs and incomes. The cooperative own ership of industry is the only guarantee °f the right to work and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Political Unity of Farmers and Workers in Sweden Farmers and industrial workers in Sweden have finally found a common denominator in politics. A bulletin of the World Association for Adult Education describes the uniting of these two great groups as follows: "The interests of the farming population and of the industrial workers of Sweden had been found to coincide. A Social-Democratic Government was formed in September, 1932, which had the support of the Farmers' Party. The final consummation of this development was achieved in September of last year (1936) when representatives of the Farmers' Party entered a Government under Social- Democratic leadership, a coalition of which no one today is able to foresee the end." America will really move forward, in stead of limping along as we are now doing, when farm and labor and office workers learn that they have common in terests and join together as consumers and citizens to promote them. Sweden points the way! There each vocational group has its own separate organization, but all the groups have found a common denominator as consumers and citizens. Consumers' Cooperation A" organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, •whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New York City. E- R. Eowen. Editor. Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. B"fered as Second Class Matter, Decembe*- 19, 19/7, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 1, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. Good Theory But Business Cannot Practice It Robert H. Jackson, Assistant U. S. At torney General, says that one "essential first step" is "for big business deliberate ly and speedily to go to a policy of high- volume production, low price and the highest wage scale possible." This is more good theory which cannot be put into practice. Big business cannot pay the highest wage scale possible or sell at the lower possible price. Big busi ness isn't organized for that purpose. Big business is organized to pay the least pos sible and charge the most possible in or der to make the largest possible profits. Big business cannot go into the highest possible production because of the un certainty of the demand. So big business must always operate on the basis of lower volume, higher prices and lower wages than is possible. Big business itself can not change the rules of the game. And the government cannot change the rules either. Only the people can do that, and gradually the people will, as they learn that consumer cooperative ownership is the only answer. * * * Calling Names vs. Solving Problems It isn't a question of who but what is at the foundation of our economic trou bles. Theodore Roosevelt popularized the phrase "malefactors of great wealth." What good did it do in his day to lay the fault to individuals? Now Franklin Roosevelt has popular ized the expression "economic royalists." What good will it do today to charge individuals with our troubles? The Brookings Institution studies show that 2% of the people save $10,000,000,- 000 more than they can consume, but it isn't the fault of the 2%, it's the fault of the 98% who permit them to do so. There is no good accomplished in slurring the 2% by any names. It would be better, if names are to be called, that we 98% call ourselves "economic innocents and il literates." It isn't who is at fault but what is at fault. What we must learn is that the fault is in the system that we have adopted which causes the many to be poor and the few to be rich. We must learn that it's the system of monopolism which we have that lowers pay to pro- 34 ducers and raises prices to consumers results in profits to the few and pov to the many. Then we must learn that th answer is in developing cooperative e nomic organizations of ourselves as °" ducers, consumers and citizens. We m °" learn that Farm Cooperatives, Lab Unions, Credit Unions, Consumers C * operatives, Social Insurances and Publ°" Utilities—the six great democratic no'C profit economic organizations ~ wiii eventually form a new cooperative eco nomic organization of society which will produce and distribute plenty to all I* does no good but harm for the 98% to call the 2% names—what we 98% must do is to organize a cooperative economic society. The Poor—Rich One of America's "Poor—Rich" girls the former Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth millions, returned to Amer ica on Tuesday, December 14 and de parted on the same ship on Wednesday. December 15. During the few hours she spent on the soil of her native country, she renounced her citizenship "for a mess of pottage," the "pottage" being the pos sibility of saving a few dollars of income taxes on her estimated fortune of $45,- 000,000, of which $32,000,000 was in government securities. From now on the American people will go on paying and •paying and paying interest on her gov ernment securities. If American adults want to continue to do this, of course they have the demo cratic right to do so, but there are indi cations that the young girls employed at Woolworth stores, each of whom has contributed to the accumulation of this fortune in the lower wages they have re ceived, are going to not only say, but do something about another American girl being given the opportunity, at their ex pense, to live in the lap of luxury all her life long. It was more than a coincidence that while one of our economic queens set her dainty foot on her native American soil for a few hours, the exploited Wool- worth clerks should have staged a strike for higher wages. Such incidents ought to bring home more graphically to every American the necessity of establishing economic equality. J938-AN UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY U\\ THAT'S ahead for Cooperatives W in 1938?" Instead of answering with optimistic rophecies, let's look at the facts. They ''ill be all the clearer by comparing 1938 with 1921 and 1930, since these three «ears followed collapses in the economic system at the close of the previous years. jn Third Depression Since World War political and business leaders may call this period a "recession" instead of a "de pression," but the decline in business ac tivity has been more rapid than ever be fore and, at this writing, the end is not in sight. According to the New York Times index, business activity has now fallen [aster than it did in 1920 and as far in three months as it fell in twenty-three months after 1929, or in almost eight times as long a period- The People Now Aroused Generally Depressions are always favorable pe riods for cooperative growth and today should be the best opportunity of all since the people are far more generally aroused than they were after 1920 and 1929. Then they had been lulled into lethargy by the speculative booms of the previous years, but the present depression follows years of unemployment for millions and in security for the masses. The minds of the people are today far more receptive to self-help cooperative action. They are disillusioned about our get-rich-quick economic system, as well as about the ability of the government to regulate the profit system successfully to provide em ployment and incomes for all. Cooperatives Proven Successful The 1920 depression started farmers organizing cooperatives in dead earnest; the 1929 depression started office work ers in cities organizing themselves into consumers cooperatives; the 1937 depres sion will, we believe, start labor groups generally organizing themselves as con- sumers^ into cooperatives. The Con sumers' Cooperative Movement is now under way in all three great groups— ariners, office and factory workers. *n 1920 there were no cooperative oil Consumers' Cooperation March, 1938 stations among farmers and few coop erative stores handling either farm or home supplies. Since 1920 thousands of cooperative oil stations and stores have been organized by farm groups who have proven their ability to operate them suc cessfully. In 1930 there were no cooperative gas oline stations or grocery stores in cities except the few organized by foreign lan guage groups- Since 1930 there have been a large number of cooperative grocery stores and oil stations organized by city residents and others are developing ra pidly. Now, in 1938, we have among farm, and city residents thousands of success ful examples of retail cooperative oil sta tions and stores after which to pattern; and a score of wholesale cooperatives from which new retail cooperatives can, purchase. These two basic differences between 1938 and the periods following the previous depressions beginning in 1921 and 1930, are all important—first, the fact that the minds of the people are far more inclined towards cooperative action, and, second, the fact that thousands of successful cooperatives have been organ ized after which new co-ops may pattern» National Leaders Advocating Cooperatives The third fact of great significance in 1938 is that national leaders in every field are actively directing the minds of the people towards Consumers' Coopera tives as a democratic solution of our eco nomic problems. National religious leaders are now ac tively promoting cooperatives. The In dustrial Department of the Federal Coun cil of Churches has recently set up a spe cial "Church and Cooperatives Commit tee" which is actively organizing sight seeing seminars on cooperatives. The National Catholic Welfare Council is in cluding the subject of coopératives in both its rural and industrial conference programs. National educational leaders have been aroused by the action of the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota 35 in legislating to include the subject of Cooperatives in public school curricula in those States. Curriculum leaders, such as the Society for Curriculum Study, the Curriculum Laboratory of Teachers Col lege at Columbia University and the Na tional Education Association, are now active in responding to the demand for material for teachers and pupils on the subject of Consumers' Cooperatives. National political leaders are showing an increasing interest in the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. Not only did President Roosevelt send a special com mission to Europe to study the subject, but Mrs. Roosevelt personally visited the office of The Cooperative League to learn more about the movement. This year also opened with Governor Lehman of New York specifically advocating the organizing of Consumers' Cooperatives in the milk field; with Governor Murphy of Michigan creating a State office of Con sumers' Counsel: with Governor LaFol- lette of Wisconsin proclaiming February H to 18th as Wisconsin Cooperative "Week and with Governor Aiken of Ver mont, urging everyone to study the Co operative Movement. National youth organizations started the year of 1938 off by devoting part of their holidays to studying Cooperatives. Four national youth organizations met during the Christmas vacation on whose programs Cooperatives were featured. A section of the National Committee on Student Cooperatives called a two-day Conference at the University of Wash ington in Seattle which brought together representatives of college cooperatives from four Western States. National labor leaders are now encour aging their members to organize and join Consumers' Cooperatives, as well as La bor Unions. The American Federation of Labor has just sent a recommendation to all central labor unions urging the or ganization of cooperatives. The C.I.O. Steel Workers Organizing Committee and United Rubber Workers Conven tions recently passed favorable resolu tions and the United Automobile Work ers Union leaders have expressed their desire that their members organize coop eratives. National farm leaders, who in the early stages largely thought of the movement as a means of reducing the cost of sup-- 36 plies to their farmer members, a increasingly realizing the greater cance of the Consumers' Cooper t• " Movement as a part of the buildinq f6 new "Cooperative Economic Society * Secretary of Agriculture Henry A \V^S lace describes it- It will be a matter f historical significance that farmers I? first organized themselves as consûm ° to buy together cooperatively, are 6rs reaching out their hands and helpinq c-iT residents to organize and are openiaq Un membership in their cooperative whol sales to include city as well as farm co operatives. 1938—The Consumers' Cooperative Movement's Greatest Opportunity The private-profit economic system is today giving another of its periodic evi dences of its inability to distribute pur chasing-power widely among the peo ple, with the result that production has declined and unemployment has in creased. The contrast is showing up all the more strongly today between the results of the competitive and the cooperative economic systems- The competitive system is prov ing its inability to stabilize production, employment or investment; on the other hand, the cooperative movement is prov ing that it is able to do so. Cooperative volumes are being maintained, coopera tive employees have not been laid off, and cooperatives have not lost money for their investors. Cooperatives proved suc cessful after the 1929 crash and should prove all the more successful now after the 1937 crash. "Will the Consumers' Cooperative Movement Rise to the Opportunity? A great test confronts the leaders and members of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement today. The greater oppor tunity toward which the Consumers' Co operative Movement has been building has arrived in 1938. Will the Cooperative Movement rise to the occasion? A great publicity, educational and organizational campaign is needed nationally, regionally- and locally. More of the savings made by the Cooperative Movement should be voted for education and expansion, rather than for immediate dividends, to make such campaigns possible everywhere. Consumers' Cooperation h an expenditure now of a larger part f the savings will return far larger divi- 3 nds in the future. In a 9reat new :b°°k» "The Choice Be lls," the world famous writer, E. Stanley Jones, challenges us: "Change the basis of society from competi tion to cooperation and the more you produce the more widely you distribute, for now you have both the motive and the technique for distribution, namely, cooperation. And under this the whole level of life goes up for every body. The machine is. now no longer har nessed to the private-profit of the few, but to the good of the many, and the more you speed it up, the more widely you distribute to the raising of the general level. You are no longer afraid of the machine. It is not now the agent of unemployment and confusion, but the agent of the people. Under a cooperative order there need be no unemployment. Unemployment is not inherent in a cooperative order as it is in a competitive one. If there is danger of over production (which would be small, for our real problem is not over-production, but under consumption), the number of working hours for everybody would simply be reduced. If we could supply the world's needs in less time, so much the better. We would have more time for cultural living." It's either a case of developing eco nomic democracy faster by building co operatives everywhere or succumbing to greater and greater economic dictator ship, which will finally involve religious, educational and political dictatorship as well. Cooperators everywhere should rise to this great occasion. It may well be a historical turning point which this third depression since the war has placed be fore us. We have built the groundwork, now let every individual cooperator and every cooperative association act upon this opportunity! NEWFOUNDLAND GOES COOPERATIVE "We'll rant and we'll roar like true Newfound landers We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below, Until we see bottom inside the two sunkers Then straight through the channel to Tuslo we'll go-" WE are in the parish hall of the church at Port au Port on the west coast of Newfoundland. Every one roars out the chorus as good Newfoundlanders should for this is the first Cooperative Conference on the west coast. Ninety- five delegates have registered. They are farmers and fishermen. Mclsaacs, Mc- Kays and McNeils from the Codroy and Benoits, Gallants and O'Quins (which is French not Irish) from Lourdes and Cape St, George- The Gathering of the Clans Sunday had been train day. At every little station knots of cooperators boarded the train. A large delegation came from the Codroy Valley where there is con siderable cooperative activity. As the tain filled up there was a mounting ex citement as cooperators from Codroy and Tompkins met cooperators from Heather- ton and the Highlands. Monday morning saw a swelling crowd around the'hall as March, 1938 Mabel Reed Mary Ellicott Arnold the neighboring villages began to arrive, Stephenville only eight miles away and Lourdes, two hours ride across the Bay. As it nears 2:30 the delegates take their places in the front rows. The morn ing had been cloudy but by noon the sun shone on the conference and the back rows filled quickly. We meet Father Ker- win from Port au Port and Father O'Reilly from Lourdes and the Rev. Mr- Jackson, Supt. of Missions for the United Church of Newfoundland. Then there is the Rev. M>r. Butler, Church of England, from Stony Point and the Rev. Mr. Holmes, United Church, from St. Georges- Like Nova Scotia, the Cooper ative Movement in Newfoundland looks to the Church for leadership and finds it alike in Protestant and Catholic. The speeches in the opening session reflect the feeling of the meeting. "The Cooperative Movement is new in New foundland," said Mr. Downy, the Chair man. "We are attempting something unique in the history of this country. We have got to lay aside our selfish ideas and work for the common good." "We must get the people interested in the coopera tive way," said another speaker. "They learn about it through their study clubs. 37 It is hard work and must be kept at- But the cooperative way is the only way of solving our problems." "In the Coopera tive Movement," said a man from the Codroy Valley, "the study club is the first step. The study club is a university that every man and woman can attend." Credit Unions and Study Clubs The local leaders were next on the pro gram. They were only two months old at Cape St. George but they had eleven study clubs. They averaged about eight to a club. They were collecting for a credit union. They had 47 members and they had collected $25-00. In Port au Port they had been working for over a year. They had five study clubs and a credit union. The credit union had a capital of $367. In Stephenville they had ten study clubs and had collected $250 for their credit union. In McKays every one was in the study club and they had an Agricultural society. "You have got to get the right idea in the first place," said their leader, "or you will have trou ble in the end." In the Codroy they had 23 study clubs with 250 members and last week they had started their credit union with $700- The second day was given over to agriculture, education and the need for good roads. M.r. Banks, Director of Agri culture, was there and a session was de voted to pigs and poultry, the need for pure bred stock and above all the neces sity for grading. The speeches were good and to tlhe point. Rigs and Roads It is late afternoon, as we watch the sunset over the Bay of St. George, when we come to the pressing need of the west coast for good roads. ^'You know the road from Cape St. Georoe," said Mr. Benoit, "it is pretty bad. Father Green and I started Sunday, We had a gig. But an accident was looking .for a place to happen. The wheels came off. We thought we coundn't get to the Confer ence. But we borrowed a truck from a neighbor. Then there was another acci dent. The seat came off. Father Green sat on the floor in the back and I stood up and drove. Then the truck gave out and someone brought Father Green to the Conference and I walked." 38 The day sessions had been croWt) , but the night sessions were jam. There is no hope of seats after the f ' ten rows. People stand packed in evltSt inch of space, over 400 of them, wJiil ^ even larger number are on the stairs ^ ^ around the entrance. Alex Meint speaks- He is from St. Francis Xavi* Extension Department and tells of t^ beginnings of the movement in I\] 6 Scotia. Then we hear Gerald RichardsoT It is under the Department of Rural R construction that cooperative work ^" Newfoundland is being carried on and Gerald Richardson is Director of Coo eration. He has had two years' experience with extension work under St. Franci Xavier and we have been hearing of him and the young men working with him from the people around Stephenville. Cooperation Is Taking Root At Stephenville and Port au Port we hear the French language. The school children snatch at their- caps and say "Allo" as we pass. Little houses stand in small rocky pastures. In the distance are the hjlls of Newfoundland and glimpses of the Bay. Every one greets us and we are asked whether we won't come in and sit down. "Oh yes, we know all about Cooperation. We are in a study club and we are noing to have a credit union. Yes, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Mac- Eac'hern have told us about Coopera tion. You have to study and work hard and stick .together even if things don't go so good at first. Do you have Cooperation in the United States? And are you coining again next year? There is going to be lots of Cooperation by that time." The station at Stephenville Crossing is crowded for the delegates from the Codroy Valley and the visitors from Nova Scotia are taking the train home. Everyone has come to see them off. It is a very different crowd from that on Sun day. It is one big family on its way home from a fine time and "we rant and we roar" at the top of our lungs, dashing to the platform to wave goodbye to the dele gates as the different'home stations come along. As the numbers fall, the intimacy mounts. Promises are exchanged to stop and see me if you are in my town. It is dus'k before the last delegate drops off the lighted train into the dark- The Confer ence is over until next year. THE COOPERATIVE COLLEGE J. P. Warbasse COOPERATION as an economic method is leading the world into eW ways of business which may prove to be of salutary social importance. It -nay do the same in the field of educa- jjofl. Cooperative methods and ideals are equally applicable here. We may devise ways of education quite as dif ferent from the prevalent methods as our cooperative economics are different from prevalent business. The Cooperative Institute of The Co operative League, which was started in New York in the fall of 1937, was ex perimental; but, as an experiment, it proved three important points. It proved that it is possible Iby certain tests of aptitude and ability to select students who are particularly qualified for service in the cooperative movement. It proved that such selected students can be given training that especially fits them for co operative service. And it also showed that the cooperative movement of this country not only needs people of this character and with this training, but that it can give them jobs and supply them with a livelihood. Because of the existence of many in stitutes in the cooperative field and on account of the collegiate nature of this particular institution, the name has been changed to the Cooperative College. Col lege is from the latin word collegium, meaning a collection or assembly of people. The word has been used to mean a staff, an order, or a cult of per sons trained and qualified for -some spe cial function. I was once a member of what was cal'ed the "Collegium" of a hospital, meaning the attending profes sional staff of that institution. College in the sense used here means a fraternity of educated persons organized for the purpose of promoting their continuous education. A Fellowship of Cooperators I envisage the Cooperative College of the future as an institution which shall admit to its fellowship persons who by test and examination have been found Specially qualified for cooperative ser- Consumers' Cooperation March, 1938 vice, who have satisfactorily passed through its prescribed period of academic and laboratory training, and who are employed as executives, organizers, or teachers in cooperative societies. What ever the occupation of these people may be, they must still think of themselves as students; and as students they must con tinue for the rest of their lives. No stu dent who continues to comply with its requirements, should ever be graduated from the Cooperative College. The Col lege, the collegium, should not be thought of as the educational institution in New York. That is only the central educa tional and administrative bureau. The College should consist mainly of its stu dent body in the field of cooperative ser vice. The program may be expected to de velop as follows. Acceptable students should be admitted to the College- They should pass through its central training courses, serve as apprentices, and be given employment by cooperative so cieties. They should still be in the Col lege. Working with cooperative socie ties, they should be required to make a monthly report of their work to be sent to the central office of the College. The students should be held up to certain standards of conduct and culture. They should be advised of certain prescribed reading- This should include periodicals, pamphlets and books to guarantee that they ikeep abreast of the progress of their times. Students in Perpetuity At least once a year a report concern ing each cooperative collegian should be received from his employer. That means that the manager, president or secretary of the society, educational director, or other qualified official of the employing organization should send to the central office of the College a report answering certain questions about the work of the employee collegian. And once a year each student in the field should be required to send in a thesis based upon his work and observations. These theses, so far as possible, should be published in coopera- 39 Jr tive periodicals. Coming from educated and experienced workers in the 'field of cooperative action, they .should constitute a valuable part of the current literature of the movement. Criticism of coopera tive methods and practices might be found in these theses that should be highly use ful. There should be maintained between the students and the central office of the College a closeness which -should link the whole organization into an integrated body-—a cooperative fraternity. Students should be required to report periodically as to their activities, observations and ideas; and from these reports should be culled out material for a Cooperative College Bulletin to be sent regularly to each member of the College. Thus the members should1 be 'kept advised of the doings of their colleagues. All of this should be standardized, and students of the College should be made conscious that they are a part of a fra ternity in which loyalty and self-improve ment are prerequisites for membership. Students who have satisfactorily passed through the academic training of the College, who have effectively served their apprenticeship with a cooperative society, and who are employed by a so ciety may be permitted .to use the letters C. C. (Cooperative Collegian) in con nection with their names. This means that they are members of the Coopera tive College. Unlike other colleges, the better the student the less the possibilities of his graduation. So long as the individual continues effectively to serve in coopera tive employment and to comply with the requirements of the College in his culture and self-improvement, he remains in col- legio, a member of the College. This membership is perpetual upon his main taining his position and qualifications. I believe that by this method we may build up in this country a body of coop erative executives and leaders who have approached their tasks from the -stand point of students and who have matured and risen through real cooperative scho larship. The College should be administered by its Board of Trustees, controlling its executives and staff. The Trustees should be chosen by the Cooperative College body. The College as an organization 40 should consist of its collegians, each V> ing one vote in its affairs. Most of^" business, on account of the size oc A? country, should be transacted by r*ef endum. The Trustees should be n, ^" bers ex officio of the College. A mppt^" of the College .should be held at the pi 9 and time of Congresses of The Cooper!6 tive League. As in any restricted order, collegians who fail to comply with the current r quirements of the College should V, graduated; i. e. dropped. That means they would no longer be Cooperative Collegians although they might continue to be efficient and worthy workers in the cooperative movement In order to coordinate this educational work in the United States, other coop erative training schools, whose standards of admission and education are of a satis factory grade, may become affiliated to the Cooperative College, and their stu dents may be accepted as Cooperative Collegians. Cooperative executives and educators, who have .proved their special efficiency and high qualifications in co operative service, even though not previ ously students of the College, may be ad mitted as Fellows of the Cooperative Col lege (F. C. C.) if they are willing to en ter and undertake compliance with its requirements. There should be no honor ary memberships nor fellowships in the College. Only those who have complied with the requirements, who perform co operative service, and who can submit themselves to the discipline of the Col lege should be admitted to or continued in membership. All of these details must be subject to the tests of experience- The College will change and evolve itself in the labora tory of cooperative experimentation. The important basis for its evolution is that the cooperative movement is growing, people trained specifically for the pur pose can serve the movement best, the possibilities of cooperative expansion are limited only by the limitation of ex ecutives and educators to carry on co operative affairs, and the efficiency of such executives and educators can best be maintained by their continuous at tachment to .an educational institution or which they are an integral part and which constantly contributes to -their culture. Consumers' Cooperation THE COOPERATIVE YARDSTICK E. R. Bowen T'HE great economic evils of today J. could be summed up in the three rds: Poverty, Unemployment, and Tenancy- Qr they could be stated as: T ss of Income, Loss of Jobs, Loss of Ownership. An income, a job and owner- hip of property are the three basic ele ments of economic justice. They spell economic security. They are implied in the "inalienable rights" of the Declara tion of Independence. An income, a job and ownership of property should be every man's inalienable economic rights. Disease Diagnosed No cure for a disease was ever ef fectively applied without a correct diag nosis. "The best way to cure anything is to diagnose it correctly." Correct solu tions to economic as well as physical di seases are based on two things: first, sound theorizing and second, proven analysis. Probably the simplest and best stated theoretical analysis of our great economic disease which has been evolved is by Dr. Henry Pratt Fairchild in "The Fallacy of Profits." The sum of his theory is stated in these words, "In a fully capital ized society true profits must always he limited by the owners' capacity to con sume-" Likewise the best statistical diagnosis of our economic disease is contained in a summary of the Brookings Institution re search studies entitled "Income and Eco nomic Progress"—"The source of our eco nomic difficulties, then, is evident. There is no physical obstacle to the full utiliza tion of our oroductive capacity. The diffi culty is to be found rather in the unequal distribution of income and a resulting excess of savings as compared with con sumptive expenditures." _ The Brookings Institution study America's Capacity to Consume" re vealed that there were 15 billion dollars of individual savings in 1929. Further more that two-thirds, or 10 billions, of 'hese savings were concentrated in the nands of 2% of the population having in comes of over $10,000 a year. These sav- lngs were accumulated after the 2% had March, 1938 spent all they could in both ordinary and in "riotous" living. No wonder that they concluded, "Our diagnosis of the eco nomic system has revealed that the way in which the income resulting from the nation's productive activities is divided among the various groups which com prise society, lies at the root of our diffi culties." The further conclusion is reached that 5 billions of savings, or the amount saved by the 98%, were sufficient to take care of normal productive invest ment needs. Remedies Prescribed The problem of a remedy narrows down to the simple question: how shall we equitably redistribute the unnecessa ry 10 billions of excess savings which are now being concentrated in the hands of the 2% who neither need them, nor can consume them, nor can invest them profitably? To do so is not injustice to the 2% — in fact it would be relieving them of an unnecessary burden which society now imposes upon them. On the other hand, a redistribution of the 10 billions to the 98% dispossessed would result in their receiving their inalianable economic rights since they are the producers of the 10 billions. It would mean the real ac ceptance by the United States of the principle of equality as applied to eco nomics. The only question is, how best to redistribute such excess savings and like wise to prevent their accumulating in the hands of the few in the future- The summary of the Brookings study prescribes three remedies: governmental taxation; increased pay to producers; lower prices to consumers. The difficulties facing the taxation remedy are easily. understood. To take away from the few what society has given them is difficult. The assumption is that, since they have received that amount, they are entitled to it by the rules of the economic game. Most naturally the ques tion is also raised as to why an economic system should give huge incomes to the few and permit them to make such excess savings, which must afterwards be taken from them by the .political government? Why should not an economic system be 41 self-contained and within itself justly dis tribute the amount it produces without the necessity of government intervention? The second remedy of increasing pay to producers also has limitations. Every one knows that, no matter how effective ly either farmers or workers organize, the pay for the products or services they sell will be largely fixed by business and fi nance- Furthermore, even if by organiza tion an increase in pay is received, busi ness and finance will almost immediately extract the increase out of the pockets of farmers and workers in the higher prices they charge them as consumers of the finished products. It is also difficult to distribute the excess profits uniformly through the medium of increased pay to producers. Business and finance have found it possible to pit farmers and work ers against one another as producers and largely nullify the efforts of each pro ducer group to achieve justice in the pay it receives. After discussing these two proposed remedies, the summary of the Brookings Institution study concludes by strongly urging the adoption of the .third remedy of lowering prices to consumers: "Taxa tion is a possible means of redistributing income, although tax-supported public works tend to stimulate the production of non-essentials as contrasted with such primary wants as food, clothing and shelter. The general raising of wages as a device for redistributing income also lias infinite possibilities. Its weakness lies in the fact that over half of the popula tion, including many of the poorest groups, are not wage-earners. Most promising of all is the proposal that in dustry revise its price policy and pass on to the ultimate consumer all of the bene fits wihich are obtained from technologi cal progress." These remedies are prescribed after the root of our economic disease is deter mined.—"Our diagnosis is now complete. We have found the root of our difficulty in a concentration of income brought about by the price-fixing policies of mo nopolies and trusts.'' Applying the Remedies The Brookings statistical study led to a diagnosis of our economic disease in line with the best theorizing on the sub ject by Dr. Fairchild and others- It has 42 also determined the cause and the dies. Now it is a question of them. And here is where the study stops. How to apply the is not told. Business is only asked t ply them voluntarily. But business b ^" self can not and will not do so- Busin '*" is organized primarily to produce rao^ profits. Yet excess profits have been d* agnosed as our economic disease. '" is required is an organization powerful than private-profit business to force the lowering of consumers' prices and the raising of producers' pay The organization to which the people of the United States have turned is the political government. And with what re sult? For fifty years we have fooled our selves by believing that it is possible to regulate industrial and finance monopolies through the political ^government. Donald Richberg calls them "years of self-decep tion." We passed anti-trust laws and then set out with a "big stick" to "bust the trusts." We have dissolved them, on ly to find that they were hydra-headed monsters which re-appeared in additional numbers. Finally, under the NRA, we legalized them for the time being. We gave into the hands of code authorites, made up largely of representatives of the industries themselves, the legal right to fix prices and production, in the false no tion that such action would bring back the elusive "prosperity" we had lost and lead us to the "Promised Land of a Balanced Abundance." We should look across the water to Sweden where they have never fooled themselves by putting an anti-trust 'law on the statute books- They recognized from the beginning that they could not effectively control .private-profit 'business by any laws passed by the political gov ernment. Instead, what did they do? There ought to be a lesson in their ex perience for the United States since they have actually busted the trusts and are on (he way to the elimination of unem ployment, poverty and tenancy. Instead of appealing to private-profit business to voluntarily lower prices to consumers and increase pay to producers, or depending on the political government, they have organized themselves into Consumers. Producers, and Public Cooperatives and have compelled increased pay and lowered prices. Consumers' Cooperation Swedish Yardsticks jn order to raise pay, the Swedes have _anized Farm Cooperatives and Labor Union5- ^n or<^er to lower prices, the Swedes have organized Consumers' Co operatives and Publicly Owned Utilities. •Ae chart below will illustrate the types i Consumers' and Producers' organiza tions they have developed and the results as applied to American conditions. CONSUMERS' PRICE a country where the three great economic evils in the United States today are largely eliminated and on the way to being relics of a past profiteering age—• the evils of unemployment, poverty and tenancy. The people of Sweden have jobs, have incomes and are recovering ownership of productive property. They have learned how to apply the remedies which the Brookings Institution recom- 15 BILLION i SAVINGS ( < RESULT OF < MONOPOLY I ( PRICE AND PAY ( FIXING Ê 5 BILLION «, TOO HIGH PRICE 5 BILLION FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENT 5 BILLION TOO LOW PAY PRODUCERS' PAY By fixing higher pay for farm products and higher wages for workers, private- profit business is forced to follow the cooperative yardstick and also raise pay to producers. By fixing lower prices for food, goods and services, private-profit business is also forced to follow the co operative yardstick and lower prices to consumers. By organizing consumers', Producers' and public cooperatives in Sweden, the people have thus set up co operative price and pay yardsticks which Private-profit business must follow. What has been the result? Everyone Ho can should go to Sweden and see lrst hand. It will inspire you to find there March, 1938 mends to solve the economic diseases which they diagnosed. In Sweden they have busted the price, pay and profit-fix ing monopolies in margarine, flour, ga loshes, electric lamps, electric power transportation and communication. They have proven that the people have in their own hands the power to organize demo cratically to solve the economic evils which beset them. The same Jesuits can be found in Fin land. There they have eliminated unem ployment. They claim to have reduced the spread in .the standard of living be tween the well-to-do and the poor to such an extent that the well-to-do live on no 43 higher standard than the Soviet officials o=, al business of $1,530,000,000. They h°n" developed principally in the fruit, livestock, dairy and cotton fields.' have become an effective factor in nating waste in the handling of their ucts up to .the principal processing stao and by group marketing have increased the pay to farm producers. Labor • again in a great organizational drive and numbers in its ranks over seven millio members in all. By group bargaining la bor has, like organized farmers, pushed up the pay level. On the side of organi zation as producers, we are on the way in America to push up the pay line for both farmers and labor and distribute amonq producers generally the excess savinqs which now go into the pockets of the few as the result of too low pay to producers Consumers' Cooperation As a whole, we are only getting start ed organizing as consumers. Since or ganizing as consumers means going into business, rather than becoming members of a bargaining organization, it is not pos sible to successfully develop Consumers' Cooperatives by great drives- The people must begin by studying how to run busi nesses on Rochdale cooperative princi ples, then they must learn by practice how to perform for themselves the func tions of distribution and production of finished products which we have turned over to private middlemen, who now act between us as producers and consumers. However, even though we are only now purchasing a little more than 1% of our food and goods cooperatively, we have began to prove to ourselves that we, in America, can build up powerful coopera tives as they have done in Scandinavian and other countries. After many false starts over the past half century, the farmers finally started on the right road in dead earnest after the war. They now purchase one-eighth or \2]/2% of their farm supplies cooperatively. They have developed, largely in the past ten years. 29 large wholesale groups, each of which does a minimum volume o'f over a million dollars. They have entered principally in to the handling of feed, seed and fertilizer in the East and petroleum products in the Central West. They have developed strong cooperative associations in f Consumers' Cooperation tojnobile, fire and life insurance fields- Jrijey are now increasingly entering into .L. field of cooperative purchasing of , usehold needs such as groceries and electrical appliances. City residents have only begun to be roused to the need of organizing as con- 3ufflers into cooperatives within the past few years. The reason probably is due to the fact that the cities did not feel the full force of depression until after 1929, while farmers have had to undergo it since 1920. By the false foundation of credits to foreign countries and the stimu lation of installment selling, we kept our factory production going and our pay rolls up from 1920 to 1929, when farm prices were constantly depressed. How ever, after the first shock of 1929 had worn off and city residents began to real ize that we were in for a permanent de pression under the present economic or der, they began to hunt for real remedies and are learning that they can lower the prices they pay for food, goods and ser vices 'by consumer cooperative organiza tion. A wave of interest developed and consumers' cooperative grocery stores and oil stations have been organized in many cities. Enough time has passed to indicate that city people can operate their own businesses as organized consumers, as rural residents have previously proven. While the number of cooperative stores and oil -stations in cities is small, they are germs of the new cooperative economic society that is developing. It has only been fifteen years since farmers started their first cooperative oil station and now there are over 2,000 of them. There is no reason to assume that city consumers cannot and will not develop cooperatives in increasing numbers from now on- Another principal need in organizing as consumers is to develop cooperative financial institutions such as Credit Unions and Cooperative Banks. Public Cooperation We have made a start in organizing Publicly Owned Utilities. We accept without question public ownership of the post office, schools, libraries, roads and parks. We have largely converted our water-works into Public Utilities. We are increasingly doing the same with electric plants in the cities and are or ganizing rural electric cooperatives among the farmers. The TVA is an electric public utility on a regional basis, which is unquestionably the forerunner of other regional developments. There is a growing tendency towards converting our transportation and communication systems into Public Utilities as has been largely done in Europe. A second major type of public coopera tion, in addition to Public Utilities, which we need to develop much further is the organization of Social Services in fields of accident, unemployment and old age. Willingness, Knowledge and Action Three things only are needed to en able us all to live in a world of plenty here on this earth. The first necessity is for us to be willing to accept economic justice. A French cooperative film has this challenging title, "When Mankind is Willing." The second necessity is for us to increase our knowledge. The solu tions are comparatively simple, once they are desired and understood. With wil lingness and knowledge, action in the way of organization of Consumers* Co operatives, Public Utilities, Farm Coop eratives and Labor Unions to achieve plenty for all and peace on earth will most naturally result. COOPERATIVES ON THE MARCH Columbus, Ohio — The Cooperative Life Insurance Company of America wrote more than $6,000,000 worth of life insurance in 1937 bringing the total amount of cooperative life insurance in force to well over $20,000,000. New York — Four cooperative health associations are in the process of forma- "°n in and around New York City, the 1938 Bureau of Cooperative Medicine an nounced this week. These associations are located in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Nassau Coun ty. Plans of these organizations are unique in that preventive medicine and health education are to be stressed. It is expected that the associations will grow rapidly. 45 Governors Lehman of New York, Benson of Minnesota and Aiken of Vermont FOUR GOVERNORS ENDORSE CONSUMER COOPERATIVES New York—George D. Aiken, Gover nor of Vermont, became the fourth gov ernor to recognize publicly the impor tance of cooperatives for the develop ment of economic security and social progress when he endorsed the organiza tion of marketing and consumer coopera tives in an article in the February issue of the Ohio Farm Bureau News. Governors Herbert Lehman of New York, Philip LaFollette of Wisconsin, and Elmer Benson of Minnesota had previously endorsed consumer coopera tives. Of particular interest was the non- partisan complexion of the group which included Republican, Democratic, Pro gressive and Farm-Labor governors. Governor Aiken emphasized the im portance of the close relation of market ing and consumer co-ops when he de clared: "I believe the only safety for the dairymen of New England lies in looking forward to and planning for the time when they, by themselves or in cooperation with the con sumers, will distribute a far greater percentage of their products in the city market than they are doing today. "The Governor of New York is not radical. He is considered as hard-headed and practical a businessman as there is in the State, yet in his message to the New York Legislature last week he advocated the establishment of con sumer cooperatives for the distribution of milk in the cities." Governor Lehman's endorsement of co-ops followed the failure of both state and producer control to give a fair price to -the farmer without an exhorbitant price to the consumer. In his message to the legislature he said: 46 "There can be no satisfactory solution of the milk problem, either under state or ' dustry control, if the milk of the producer is not made available to the consumer at a price he can afford to pay. "Establishment of consumer cooperatives for direct distribution of milk from producer to consumer should be definitely encouraged These undertakings could be made yardsticks for the measurement of fair and just distribu tion costs. Their results, supplementing pre vious inquiries and the present audit of the company books, should provide the practical information on price spread that has hitherto not been available. Properly operated con sumer cooperatives can supply milk at better retail prices and yet not impair a fair return to the producer." Governor LaFollette set aside the week of February 14-18 as Wisconsin Coop erative Week, declaring in his official proclamation: "Today, more than ever, it is recognized that many of our problems must be solved by the people themselves, working together in general educational, commodity marketing and purchasing groups. "To take inventory of the important part that cooperation is playing in the economic and social welfare of our .people and to emphasize the possibilities of service through cooperative action, Wisconsin Cooperative Week will be observed from February H to 18 of this year." Governor Benson, speaking at the Tenth Anniversary of Midland Coopera tive Wholesale last year, continued his long-standing endorsement of the coop erative movement by asserting that: "Through the development of. cooperatives farmers and laborers can build economic machinery which, together with progressive political parties and labor unions, will protect them against the rise of fascism and coffl- I CO-OPS SHOW 23.6% GAIN Seven of the consumers' cooperative •holesale associations affiliated with The Operative League, which have re- Orted to date, show an increase of 5J4 million dollars in 1937, bringing the "ear's total to $27,551,759-23.6% above their volume for the previous year. The seven cooperative wholesales serve more than a thousand retail coop ératives from Massachusetts to Colorado and .handle petroleum products, groceries and general farm supplies. The associa tions reported that in the current reces sion there have been no failures of local retail co-ops served by them and that the number of employees was greater at the end of 1937 than at the close of 1936. 1936 Central Co-op Wholesale, Superior, Wis. $2,845.741 Consumers Cooperative Ass'n, N. Kansas City, Mo. 3,397,808 Eastern Cooperative Whole sale, New York Indiana Farm Bureau Co-op Ass'n, Indianapolis 5,187,457 Midland Co-op Wholesale, Minneapolis, Minn. 3,033,079 Ohio Farm Bureau Co-op Ass'n, Columbus, Ohio 7,014,697 Pcnn. Farm Bureau Co-op Ass'n, Harrisburg, Pa. 511,887 285,512 $3,356,550 3,894,843 533,140 6,644,623 3,696,742 8,475,861 950,000 22,276,181 27,551,759 The Cooperative Wholesale, Inc., Chicago, reported business of more than $100,000 as against $35,000 in its first year. The Farmers Union Central Ex change, St. Paul, handled $4,233,000 worth of commodities in the first 11 months of 1937. This was equal to its volume for the entire year of 1936. New York—"I am for the consumers cooperative movement 100 per cent," Homer Martin, president of the United Auto Workers of America, told a small group of cooperative leaders here Feb ruary 10. "The essential trouble in this country," Mr. Martin said, "is the dif ferential between producer's price and consumer's price- Consumers Cooperatives, working Jointly with the labor movement, would control that spread. Asked about the relation between »rmers and industrial workers, the presi dent rfthe United Auto Workers de- red. I see jn consumers cooperation .the common denominator of consumer interest which can be a tremendous factor in bringing together American farmers and labor." New York—The board of directors of the Cooperative Book Club announced last month the addition of a number of outstanding liberal leaders to the Na tional Advisory Council of CBC. Among the members are: Jacob Baker, former chairman of the Presi dent's Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe, Oscar Ameringer, editor of the American Guardian, David Cushman Coyle, economist, James C. Drury, professor of Marketing, New York University and mem ber of the board of Consumer Distribution Corporation, H. C. Engelbrecht, author, Freda Kirchway, editor of The Nation, Rabbi Ed ward L. Israel, Baltimore, Robert Morse Lovett, University of Chicago, Sherman Mittell, National Home Library Foundation, Donald E. Montgomery, Consumers Counsel of the A.A.A., A. J. Muste, pastor of the Labor Temple, James Myers, Industrial Secre tary of the Federal Council of Churches, A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Pullman Car Porters, Kingsley Roberts, director of the Bureau of Cooperative Medicine, Mary K. Simkovitch, director of Greenwich House, and Goodwin Watson, Teachers College, Columbia University. Other members of the Advisory Council were announced at the formation of the Cooperative Book Club, November 15. The Cooperative Book Club moved Jan' uary 25 to its new headquarters at 118 Eas! 28 Street, in New York's publishing district. Gov. Philip LaFollette ot Wis consin, who set aside Feb. 14-18 as Co-op AVeek as part oï a cam- paign to popularize the coopera tive movement. Consumers' Cooperation March, 1935 R RECENT COOPERATIVE ARTICLES Accounting Forum, January, "Some Notes on Ac counting for Consumers Cooperatives," Eman- uel Saxe. Brotherhood of Locomotive, Firemen and Enqine- men's Magazine, February, "Consumer Coop erative Movement Builds on Democratic Princi ples", \Villiam Loring. Christian Front, January, "Cooperation: A World Movement," James P. Warbasse. A survey of cooperative progress. Christian Leader, January 22, "Chris'ian Coopera tives," Sheldon Christian. The author feels the principles of cooperation are more compatible with Christianity than are the principles of com petitive, capitalistic business. Cooperative Merchandiser, January, "A Congress man Clarifies the Consumer Cooperative Issue", The article points out that Congressman Boil- eau (\Vis.) urges no Federal subsidies for con sumer cooperatives. Country Home, February, "Doctors on the Pay Roll," John Brock. The stirring story of how western Oklahoma farm families own and oper ate their own modern hospital, International Journal of Religious Education, Jan uary, "Adult Education in Nova Scotia", John R. Scotford—more of the educational program leading to cooperative action. Labor Digest, January-February, "Consumers' Co operatives in Chicago", digest of an article by Sidney F. Gubin in the Monthly Labor Review. Monthly Labor Review, December, "Consumers' Cooperatives in Northern Wisconsin", Samuel Mermin. One of a series of spot studies made for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. January, "Cooperative Associations for Supply of Electric Current." Part of a general survey of cooperative associations by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. National Publisher, October, November, Decem ber, "Questionnaire Reveals Newspaper View point on Consumer Cooperatives". A most inter esting series of articles 'based on what small town newspaper editors think of the coopera tive movement Queens Work, March, "Two Meals a Day", Lo- rean Wiltrout. The story of how two meals a day cost the members of the Catholic Coopera tive Eating Club, University of Wisconsin, just forty-three cents a day. Rural Electrification News, December, "Coopera tive Agriculture in Denmark," I. H. Hull. Rural America, January, "The Contribution of Co operation to Rural Life," Chris L. Christensen— from an address at the National Rural Forum. Solidarity, January, "Cooperative Principles Out lined," Elmer Nichols. Social Forum, January, "Collective Action Proves a Bulwark Against Economic Breakdown," February, "From Humble Origin Nova Scotia Credit Unions Climb to Power." Welcome News, December, "Cooperatives in the United States," Cloyd V. Gus.afson. 48 BOOK REVIEW The New Norway, by O. B. Grimley p »i 6 Co., Oslo, 159 pages, $1.50. (Availabl Ve The Cooperative League). e ™TU American cooperators will be deliqhteH the new book on Norway for as its second suggests it is the amazing story of "A p with the Spirit of Cooperation." The author, O. B. Grimley, a former me author, VJ. D. onmley, a tormer Am • educator, has lived among the Norwegians to**? last ten years, observing how they have qran 1 ü with the problems, social and economic, that f flict the world today. Throughout its' com 159 pages, the reader feels the determined drive^f a one-time individualistic people toward solvi the problems of a changing world order with ri? simple, yet potent, technique of mutual aid and cooperation. On all cooperative fronts, the producer thp consumer, the social and the .public, this land of the Vikings is pushing forward with remarkable strides. The devout intent of a labor govern ment to -plan and function for the benefit of the greater number will, among other things, startle some American readers. This very readable book, attractively illustrated should be added to every co-op library. It will do much to cheer and hearten those who still be lieve in iprogress, social justice, peace and de mocracy. Here we see another country proving to the world that the democratic ideal can work if the people have a will to know and cooperate. Leon V, Kofod. New Material on Recreation "Leisure Resources" (Kit M) Cooperative Rec reation Service, Delaware, Ohio. A condensed list of books, sources of supply for recreation materials and a directory. 25 cents. "Fill 'er Up," A Radio Play, Marc Rosenblum and Pauline Gibson. 15c. "Contacts" by Anne Walter, the three-act co operative play, reviewed in the December issue of Consumers' Cooperation, is priced at 50c, not 65c. "Ten One-Act Plays," selected and edited by Fred Eastman, published by Wfflett, Clark and Company, 440 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois. $2.00. To be reviewed. FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St., New York, N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. Under supervision of N. Y. State Insurance Department. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIV. No. 4 APRIL, 1938 Ten Cents COOPERATIVE COMMENT Millionaires and paupers go hand in hand. One is the cause; the other is the effect: cause and effect always accom- nany one another. r * * * Former Ambassador to Germany, William E. Dodd, says that in 1913 President Woodrow Wilson declared in a conversation that there would be no democracy "unless we have economic democracy." * * * One of Bishop Gruntvig's songs, "The Constitution of Denmark," contains this phrase, "And now we have realized prosperity to a high degree, when few live in luxury and fewer still live in poverty." * * * u The "New York Post" says that "Business talks about confidence, but what it needs is customers." Yet, pri vate-profit business cannot supply itself with what it needs. Instead of distribut ing purchasing power widely through low prices and high wages, which is the essential necessity of providing cus tomers, business cuts its own throat by piling Up profits in the hands of a few who cannot consume. Lin Yutang says in the new book "The Importance of Living" that "The sad thing about economics is that it is no science if it stops at commodities and does not go beyond to human motives." * * * At a meeting of 'the trust division of the American Bankers Association a speaiker said that today "a man can't af ford to die rich." Nor can a man really afford to "get rich." But people still try hard to do it. * * * "The right to work" was appealed to by big-business during the sitdown strikes. President A. F. Whitney of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen now tells the Senate Unemployment Commit tee that "This right to work is divine at all times." He also belittles the cry of big-business for "confidence" and de-i clares that the important thing "is the restoration of the confidence of the working people of this country, which will come from assuring them jobs1 with fair pay and thereby enable them to buy automobiles, homes and other commodi ties and services which the present American standard of living requires." Consumers' Cooperation Aa organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their.own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New Tork City. E. R. Bowen. Editor. Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative o and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues.____________ as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March S, 1879. Price tl.OO a year. Richard Whitney , "pillar of Wall Street," once floor broker for J. P. Mor gan, five times President of the New York Stock Exchange, was convicted of theft of securities after his firm had be come bankrupt through speculation. We hope that one more question was raised in the minds of the American people about the profit system, rather than simply condemning another victim of that system. This is another good illus tration for cooperators to use in con verting others to the cause by pointing out the non-speculative nature of coop erative shares. * * * For fear of burning the paper we will not attempt to comment at length on Hearst's new publicity campaign to "humanize war." Sherman expressed it once and for all time—"War is hell." it can never be made to be anything less. * * * The record of the United States Coal Commission to date is said by Paul Mal- lon to be "Number of prices fixed—about 500,000. Number of fixed prices later unfixed—about 500,000." New York City is also talking about fixing bread prices. We Americans have the demo cratic right to repeat the economic mis takes which England did a hundred years ago in attempting to fix prices by legal enactment if we wish to do so, but far more rapid progress could be made if we would study history and take advantage of the experience of others. * * * "Vast numbers of our farming popula tion live in a poverty more abject than that of many of the farmers of Europe whom we are wont to call peasants." So said President Roosevelt. Such farmers are not the owners of farms but the tenants. The primary job for farmers is to recover ownership. The government could give farms away at one time but the government cannot in sure permanent ownership. Only farmers themselves can do that. Scandinavian farmers have shown how to recover ownership—it's quite simple after all— by organizing cooperative finance, coop erative marketing and cooperative pur chasing associations. By these methods Danish farmers have recovered owner ship of their farms when they once had 50 the same percentage of tenancy a now have—42%; Finnish farmers h ' already reduced tenancy from 60 to Qe?e Tenancy is on the way out in Scand°' navia. It can also be eliminated in Am ica by the same methods. er~ * * * It is admitted that there is one new paper in England which has proven to h" more nearly right in its interpretations than perhaps any other, namely, "TU Manchester Guardian." Its objective de scription of the present American scene is significant. "With Mr. Roosevelt 'on .the run' with Congress restive and muddled, with thé busi ness world angry, with labor divided, the outlines of an American policy to attack the depression are far to seek. The politicians are a broken reed; a great part of the business world has forgotten the lessons of 1929-33- the economists, to judge by their answers to a recent questionnaire, are in their accus tomed disharmony." The reason for our "muddled condi tion" in the United States is that we are still trying to resuscitate a dying private- profiteering competitive economic sys tem, instead of promoting a public-serv ice cooperative system. But the majority who refuse to bow their knees to Baal are increasing and truth is on our side. * * * Surely this present depression (not recession) ought to arouse farmers and workers to realize that producers organi zations are not enough. The rapid devel opment of Labor Unions did not prevent an increase in prices even higher than the increases in pay nor another orgy of profit-piling with its inevitable result in putting the brakes on the wheels of in dustry which caused the layoff of mil lions. The increase in Farm Marketing Cooperatives did not prevent monopoly processors of farm produce charging higher prices to consumers than was .justified by the higher pay to producers. Middleman Monopoly increasingly re duced the purchasing power of the people. Farmers and workers ought to be aroused by this third depression since the war to realize more keenly that they must organize consumers cooperatives to pur chase together and thus gradually be come the owners and controllers of in dustry and distribution. Raising P^ f^ producers organizations is not enougn- Consumers' Cooperation Monopolies take the increased pay away n higher prices. Reducing prices by con- 1 fflers' cooperatives is absolutely neces- ry and must accompany the raising of Say by Labor Unions and Farm Market- F „ Cooperatives if we are to climb out Of this third great depression. Once in a "blue moon" we come upon a newspaper editorial that helps us. The New York Times editor wrote one re cently under the heading "Years are as we make them." Briefly summarized he said: "Man's fate is no longer dependent upon the niggardliness or generosity of the earth ... man's fate depends ,upon himself ... We have arrived at one of those decisive moments in history which come every thousand years or so and we are perhaps on the eve of a new synthesis—a new putting together of creative ideas . . . Out of chaos one certainly emerges —that to build things up rather than tear them down can be accomplished only by consent arising out of the liberation of the human spirit. We need to evoke all the thinking powers, all the imaginative qualities, all the adventurousness of which 'humanity is ca pable, and that cannot be done by any sys tem of repression, under whatever name. It is not a forced and make-believe 'Unanimity that will save us—but the free pouring forth of the genius of the race. We come closest to that ideal in our democracies, however imper fect they may te. Democracy is life. Autoc racy, at this stage of history, is death. And this distinction outlines the great struggle which now shakes the earth. To doubt its outcome is to doubt the basic fact of human nature—the will to live. "Therefore we can move forward with hope, if only the free peoples of free nations, and the peoples of nations struggling to be free, will unite their moral forces. The future is no sentence imposed upon us by a remorse less law of nature. The years are what we make them." * * * The National Peace Conference is a coordinating medium for thirty-eight na tional organizations which are concerned with peace. One of the programs they are conducting is called "World Economic Cooperation." They offer a good sug gestion that community conferences be set up to discuss the subject of "Eco nomic Peace and What This Town Can Do About It." Right here is where co- operators should come in. The founda tion of international peace must be based upon building economic peace into the economic organizations of every corn- munity. International economic barriers •will not be broken down to any great degree until each nation is composed of "cooperative communities." Blind Leaders of the Blind Our most prominent businessmen ad mit that they are unable to understand the working of the private-profit system under which they operate. General Robert E. Wood, president of Sears, Roebuck. & Co., was asked to forecast the future of industry when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Unem ployment and Relief. He admitted his failure as a forecaster by saying that last summer he felt that business would re main good and went off on a six-weeks hunting trip, "and when I came back I found I was 100% wrong." President William S. Knudsen of Gen eral Motors, in testifying before the same committee, also admitted his failure as a forecaster. "I don't think anybody in God's world could have told me that the outlook was going to drop 50 per cent in two or three weeks." The American people have the spectacle before them of the presidents of two of our largest busi nesses in America publicly admitting that even they do not understand the work ings of the system of which they control large sections. Yet the reason for the present depression is a simple one. Purchasing power was increased by credits rather than by distribution of cash in pay to farmers and workers for products and services. More was di verted from the stream of purchasing- power flowing to the many, in the form of profits to the few, than the few could consume or invest profitably in new pro ductive enterprises. The increase in pro duction was built up on a false founda tion of credit and had to collapse. The signs of impending collapse were plain last summer in the increase in prices to consumers more than pay to producers, which increased profits and stocik prices. We cannot forever continue an economic system where we have "blind leaders of the blind." The people must first open their eyes and learn the facts. Then we will change our unscientific economic system and select understanding leaders. 51 COOPERATIVES AND PEACE How the Cooperative Movement Helps End War TN a world where civilization is in con- -*• stant peril of extinction by war, no question is more often asked than, Which AVay to Peace? War has become so de structive in its methods and so ruinous in its consequences that it is generally rec ognized as the ruling evil of our time. Conversely, the advancement of an order of society where peace is the rule of life becomes a consuming passion for mil lions. Imperialism Resurgent In the years between 1932 and 1938, five wars disgraced the name of civiliza tion. Manchuria, the Chaco, Ethiopia, Spain and China—the dismal roll call brings a succession of visions of peace ful societies disrupted, homes destroyed, social reform blocked and wholesale suf fering and death in many lands. And even this is but the beginning of war's misery. The curse of brother's blood on victor's hands paralyses them from en joying the fruits of conquest. As a result great wars follow small wars and big cannons must be forged to defend the gains of little guns. These five wars have one revealing thing in common. They were all wars for economic gain for somebody. They were caused by competitive struggle for war materials, markets, and places for invest ment of idle capital. Manchuria is the rich granary of Asia, and is wealthy in coal, timber and minerals. The swamps of the Chaco conceal oil. Ethiopia pro vides crowded Italy with room for ex pansion. Spain supplies minerals and strategic control of trade routes to the fascist nations which have become in volved in her civil war. China possesses coal and iron and the last great unfenced market on earth. Any social invention therefore that mitigates this blind eco nomic struggle, that .provides great num bers of people with security at home so that their governments are not driven by their desperation into adventures of for eign imperialism, is an aid to peace. For the story of war in the modern world is the monotonous repetition of the same 52 Harold E. pey tale of hunger and struggle and blood th three centuries of history have m j* wearily familiar. e The reasons why governments act tV way are not to be found in themselves8 but in other forces which act on them A ' C. C. Morrison, editor of the influential Christian Century, recently said, "0 political governments are not our real governments. Our governments are them selves governed. There is an invisible government behind our governments-it is our economic system. Our political qov- ernment is but an instrument, a tool of economic forces. And these economic forces inherently make for war . . . The spirit of war dwells in the body of our capitalistic economy, which holds war as the clouds hold lightning." Cooperatives Build Peace The question. Which Way to Peace? therefore causes increasing numbers of people to look with new eaqerness to the cooperative movement. They discover that cooperatives eliminate competition, redistribute wealth, increase people's security and stabilize economic relation ships. If the cooperative way is not the only way. they ask, may it not be a way, a very important way, toward peace? Aldous Huxley, famous English nov elist, believes it is. He says, in his "Encyclopedia of Pacifism": "The cooperative movement has shown that, without violence and even without the backing of state or municipality, private in dividuals can create, in the midst of capitalist surroundings, a flourishing island of non- competitive, non-exploiting, non-profit-malt ing economic activity. Cooperation is applied pacifism. The more widely the application can be made, the better . . . To increase the membership and enlarge the activities of the cooperative movement is work of an es sentially pacifist!« nature." Before we begin to examine the ways cooperation makes for peace, let us open ly admit that we are not doing so in the hope that we shall thereby quickly end the armament "race which is consuming wealth four times as rapidly as that which twenty-five years aero was setting the stage for the first World War. It Consumers' Cooperation v already be too late to avert a second vj/orld War, but unless we give atten- n to the causes which will go on pro- !i ein g war so long as they are un- uched, we shall not even be able to vert a third. It is high time we begin at the right end. l Cooperatives Increase Individual Security To millions of men who are haunted hy fear of unemployment, forever de feated in the effort to "make ends meet" on inadequate incomes, often out of work for months at a time, war comes as an opportunity to find certainty if not se curity, to enjoy social approval and to have new and probably not fatal ex periences whic'h music, art and history cover with a glamor of romantic half- truths. Unemployed men who have been weighted down with a sense that they are of no use to the world suddenly discover a piece of work that people want them to do. Is it any wonder that millions sud denly glow with pride and hungrily sieze the chance to warm themselves in the novel glow of public favor? The bearing of mass poverty on na tional policy is widely recognized. Pover ty produces social unrest. Governments can escape the political consequences of social unrest by drastic reorganization of the domestic economy which will put mil- I lions to work and redistribute wealth through heavy taxation. But the people who would have to pay the bills have large influence in government, so gov ernments sometimes adopt as an alterna tive a belligerent foreign policy which will make people forget their misery by I threats against another nation, war preparations and even war. In all countries where it has secured an appreciable foothold, the cooperative movement has lifted the level of eco nomic life and so made war less attrac tive or likely, Denmark two generations ago was a nation of debt-ridden folk, Denmark has now one of the highest standards of living on the continent of Europe, She has not engaged in a recent war even though the great conflict of 1914-1918 raged all around her. In a world involved in a fiercely competitive arms race she has reduced her armed forces to police status. APril, 1938 Sweden is undercutting war by increas ing individual security. Unemployment has been eliminated and poverty of the demoralizing, disintegrative severity we know has been abolished. Sweden also has been at peace for generations. The choice before civilization appears to be "jobs or war." II. Cooperatives Work Against Concentration of Wealth A second way in which cooperation; builds peace is through the wide distribu tion of profits. The cooperative move ment does not attack the profit motive as such. The patronage dividend which the consumer receives consists of money he saves. The appeal to thrift is vastly less dangerous to society than the temptation to profit, which may easily produce anti social results. The clearest example of how the un checked profit motive leads to war is pro vided by the munition-makers. After the Senate Munitions Inquiry where their bloody activities came to light, these profiteers were unforgettably named, "merchants of death." In Great Britain, the Cooperative Party which has had nine members in Parliament recently, has pledged itself "to work for abolition of all profit in the manufacturing and supply of war materials and munitions." They were moved by revelations of the Senate Munitions Inquiry whic'h revealed war profits up to 1700 per cent by munition makers here, and by their own parlia mentary commission's study which showed the same rapacious disregard for human welfare. As a by-product the cooperative move ment contributes to peace by preventing, the formation of great, soulless corpora tions whose search for profits may lead to war. Most people have failed to realize the sinister significance of the fact that a great American oil company has been in volved in three of the five recent impe rialist wars. In the Chaco, it helped fi nance one side of a struggle over oil lands; in Ethiopia it made a daring at tempt to snatch the fruits of conquest away from Mussolini; in China it sent its tankers through the war zone and got them sumk with the Panay. This is why Professor C. Bougie recently asked, "Is it not indeed obvious that the dangerous 53 .armaments race is a distant but logical consequence of the race for profits as carried on in the midst of the economic .anarchy of today, so often denounced and detested by the prophets of coopera tion? Is there any need to point out that the wars which desolate the world arise automatically from the pursuit of profit and are egged on by large scale industry from the aggravated competition between great powers themselves for raw ma- ' ' i ' I terials and markets?" III. Cooperatives Develop Cooperative Attitudes The death grip which the outworn so cial habit of war has upon people can be explained in part by the accustomed atti tudes which a competitive economic sys tem develops. Under our system most men are constantly engaged in a life- and-death struggle for a living. Their hands must necessarily be against their fellow men, for they can only succeed by triumphing over competitors. One or the other is constantly facing ruin, as the staggering percentage of bankruptcies in most lines of business reveals. "Success" comes to the shrewdest, the most ruth less, often the most unscrupulous. It is much less likely to smile on the man who renders the most outstanding public serv ice than it is on the exploiter who is most adroit in discovering ways of making the public pay him the biggest profit. This develops in men's minds those attitudes "which are necessary to successful compe tition: secrecy, skill in analyzing the weakness of an opponent, ability in maneuvering him into a position of dis advantage, adroitness in discovering "soft spots" in the consumer's defences, capacity for "breaking down sales re sistance," for giving an appearance of value without its substance, for making the largest possible profit over the long est period of time. It is this fighting frame of mind which provides the spiritual climate of war. This is the reason why most men, when war comes, so easily slip into a war psychol ogy. They are so inured to competition, to struggle for advantage, that without a shift of gears, so naturally they do not pause to wonder at themselves, they drop the cloak of civilization and after a little ""hardening" in military camps are ready for the frightful carnage of war. 54 Cooperation trains men in another of life—a way in which the good Of s ciety and not the selfish advantage of tT" individual is supreme. It brings to rt surface an entirely different set of • tudes. The cooperator succeeds onl& *'" the whole group finds its highest welT being. He is judged by his ability to dis cover and supply real needs, by his abT~ ty to work with others and to get oth '" to work together and by his genius T* bring cooperation to ever widening circles of people. So while competition provides the spiritual climate for war co operation naturally develops the way of life that makes for peace. IV. Cooperatives Strengthen and Extend Democracy A fourth way in which the cooperative movement makes for peace is its effect in strengthening democracy and extending democratic processes from the political to the economic fields. The "one man - one vote" principle of democratic control runs through the cooperative movement from top to bottom. Its members know they cannot force decisions by buying up control or amassing proxies, but must in stead rely on the democratic methods of education and persuasion. Learning the habit of democracy, they apply self-rule to a local business, the consumers' coop erative store. Beginning here it extends by natural steps into the wholesale, then links up with related fields, and eventually joins hands across the seas with other similar enterprises in interna tional trade. There can be no doubt in these days of dictatorships of left and right that de mocracy is needed as a bulwark of peace. But democratic government itself is hard beset, less by outward threats from dic tators than by the action of corrosive acids acting from within. Unless the co operative and similar movements can ex tend the health-giving principle of de mocracy from the political life deep into the economic habits of the country, a corroding industrial autocracy will de stroy even political democracy, and witij it our hopes for peace. A combination of "democracies," which strangely always includes Russia when it is proposed, to crush fascism by military force is the surest way to guarantee that fascism wul take control of us all. For America there not be the slightest doubt of this be- C3 se the blueprint of how it is done is Cf Industrial Mobilization Plan. This f tne armed services of the United States was unearthed by the Munitions Inquiry. It provides point-by- int for a complete military dictator- 'hiP. not on'y in mi'itary affairs, but in jhe whole life of the country. It is so worded that it may be perpetuated in finitely after the war is over, so that r ascjsm, once intrenched in an emer- nency, may extend the emergency so long L it desires. Protection and extension of democracy within America is therefore of primary importance and any agency such as the cooperative movement which advances this process is integral to peace. V. Cooperatives Organize International Peace Cooperation also builds peace because it is organized on international lines, is lead by peace-minded men and has a great educational program that promotes understanding. It is often said that "co operation knows no frontiers, no limita tion of color, race or creed." It is deeply significant that the International Coop erative Alliance, formed by groups in thirty countries, was the onlv organiza tion that maintained contact between all its members during the World War. Nearly one hundred million people are associated in the cooperative movement throughout the world, and the number is rapidly increasing. In Great Britain alone 28.000,000 neople are actively affiliated with it. In Finland over 30% of the retail business is done through cooperatives. Over one-third of the people of Sweden 1 are members. In Denmark cooperation has reduced farm tenancy from 42% to 3% of the farms. Conclusion In these desperate days, friends of peace are deeply distressed. The day by day threat of the collapse of civilization in the incalculable disaster of war keeps 1 us concentrated on moves which will re lieve the immediate crisis. But may it not be the wisest statesmanship in the long run to give equal and unflagging atten tion to those basic adjustments which will stop this cycle of one crisis after another which in the end can only result in war? "• is to those whose concern is with the Consumers' Cooperation April, 1938 long view that the cooperative movement is most attractive as a road to peace. Slowly mankind is learning that the means we use determines the end we realize. In that insight we see the futility and self-defeating nature of all military methods. War, coercion, brutality can only reproduce themselves. No matter how holy the purpose behind it, war can only end in more war. So we say "Goodby to all that" and turn to the better way of cooperative en deavor. The League of Nations, having at long last apparently 'been forced to drop from its covenant those provisions which made it too an instrument of mili tary coercion, may now emerge as the qreat channel of cooperative endeavor for peace which it was intended in the first place to become. In the meantime we can support such constructive moves as the Van Zeeland proposal, in which governments are shown by the ex-premier of Belgium a practical and constructive way to lower tariffs, stabilize currencies, eliminate quota restrictions and move toward a world economic conference instead of a world war. We can all in our own communities begin to develop islands of sanity and co operation. A cooperative buying club, store or credit union may not at first glance appear to be a very effective chan nel to world peace. But experience shows that its possibilities are very great and are in-creasing rapidly as the cooperative movement itself develops a growing sense of awareness and responsibility for activity in behalf of world peace to add to its passion for social and economic iustice. By increasing individual security, by widening the distribution of wealth instead of helping its concentration, by developing cooperative attitudes, by strengthening and extending democracy and by its growing international out reach, the cooperative movement offers a practical way to peace. Its wide exten sion makes it available to any person who wants to add his bit in a struggle in which not only democracy and freedom but the lives of ourselves and our chil dren are at stake. Its unimpeachable ethical basis entitles it to the support of men of good will and its sound economic procedures give it the right to claim the respect of practical people everywhere. 55 !l LABOR AND COOPERATION Mark Starr Educational E" IpAULTS on both sides have in the past •*• prevented harmonious relations and joint action between the cooperative movement and organized labor in the United States. The trade unions during the .so-called prosperity period before 1929 were only anxious to secure high wages and were inclined to shut their eyes to larger social aims. In some instances, local unions be came job trusts which entered into co operation with the employers in order to •share in monopoly prices. Trade union ists ignored the fact that high wages were not a permanent benefit to the workers if they were accompanied by high prices and inferior quality of goods. Labor's only recognition of the consumer was to ask him to buy trade union label goods and services. Trade unionists shortsightedly believed that they could, by their economic organization alone, suc cessfully get for themselves a share in the increased productivity of labor. They forgot that the machine might replace them completely. Not By Cooperation Alone On the other side many cooperators in the United .States have been exceedingly naive. They have been "pure and simple" cooperators who thought that trade un ions and workers' political action were unimportant. They have indulged in the vision of being able to buy out the com petitive system solely by accumulating their retail trade savings. They .have been trying to raise themselves by pulling at their own shoe-strings, and in the United States very weak shoe-strings at that. Cooperators who think that only by co operation can the workers emancipate themselves are unrealistic. All the capital and assets of the cooperative movement in the United States are only a very tiny fraction of the capital and assets owned by such great corporations as General Motors and the U. S. Steel. Only in a Utopian dream can we see the coopera tive movement acquiring ownership of 56 Int'l Ladies Garment Workers TT • the railroads. The public ownershin the basic resources is a matter for t^ whole community using its c powers and not for a voluntary associa tion of individual consumers. Touching Points Having said all that, the question arises as to what are the touching points between organizations of consumers and organizations of workers. We cannot ignore in this the experience of other countries. In my own experience, I have seen strikes in Britain carried through to a successful finish because the coopera tives gave the unions credit and sold bread and other necessities at cost during the strike period. When the five big banks in the general strike of 1926 re fused to liquefy the assets of trade unions, it was the Cooperative Wholesale So ciety Bank which came through and is sued checks cashable in food at the co operative nation-wide stores. It was the cooperative movement in England which first gave the biscuit workers the 8-hour day. It is chiefly the sales clerks in the cooperative movement who are at the moment organized in the distributive trade in Great Britain. When the "divi dends" of the cooperative movement were under attack by jealous Big Business, the cooperators set up a political party and this political party has worked in close cooperation in the House of Commons with the Labour Party. These are only a few instances of co operation between the unions and the co operative movement drawn from the facts of life. The CIO All that has happened recently in the great upsurge of labor organization strengthens the need for a closer working arrangement between the labor unions and the cooperative movement. The workers newly organized in the mass production industries are less likely than Consumers' Cooperation . Old-line unions to attempt to set up ob trust. They will be more interested 3 action as citizens and as voters to se- '"re through political pressure adequate cU]ief for the unemployed, maximum 1 rking hours and minimum wages. They a'so ^e interested to build up \ redit unions to help their members through hard times; to build up coopera tives to help their members cope with monopoly prices and increases in the cost Of living. It is noteworthy that in two of the industries organized by the CIO there have been dramatic speed-ups. In steel, 15000 workers in the continuous strip 01Î1 can do the work of 100,000 em ployed in 'the hand mill. In the making of class, there has been a trebling of pro duction while man power has been re duced by one- fifth. In 1925 the ribbon of class six feet wide travelled 42 inches a minute on the Pittsburgh Plate belt. To day it travels 120 inches a minute and the number of workers on the production end is 20% lower than it was in 1925. Even the well organized printing in dustry is menaced by the teletype-setter. The A. F. of L. Influenced by the extensive publicity and growth of the cooperative movement, the American Federation of Labor and some of its unions have lately displayed a greater interest in cooperation. Its con ventions in 1936 and 1937 endorsed Con sumers Cooperation. The American Fed- erationist articles in the March, April, May, 1937, issues, have been reprinted as "An Idea Worth Hundreds of Dol lars." The journals of the railroad brotherhoods have devoted considerable attention to cooperative advances. Trade union locals are setting up credit unions, cooperative gas stations and grocery stores as a beginning in cooperative methods. The Farmers In the United States hitherto, the farm ers have been more interested in setting up cooperatives than have trade union- •s's. Now there is renewed interest in farmer-labor parties. Certainly if labor is going to become a political force in the United States, it will have to secure the cooperation of the farmers. The cooper- il, 1938 ative movement provides the means whereby the organized farmers and the organized wage-workers can be brought together. At present there are consider able misunderstandings. I quote from a recent letter written by a farmer woman living in Montana: "Why don't the labor unions fight about that (refunding processing taxes) instead of starting a boycott when the price of meat goes high? We need the cooperation of la boring men. Instead of boycotting meat be cause it is high priced, why don't they co operate and buy direct? There are little meat packing plants in Montana, right in the middle of the live stock area. I don't doubt they would be tickled pink at an order for a car load of meat from a labor union. ".... a labor union could put in a lot of time profitably by studying how to buy eco nomically instead of always crying for higher wages. I haven't any doubt but the em ployers of large groups need some lessons but many times when the laborers are trying to punish them, they give more punishment to .the people who consume the goods they are producing and who should be their well-wish ers. If the laboring men could get It in their heads that the farmers have to have an ade quate price for their products before they can buy manufactured goods, the laborers would have a better market for their products and more employment." Here then is an unsolicited suggestion of .how the workers in the towns, through their distributive cooperatives, could set up mutual beneficial relations with the organized farmers. And economic joint action would lead to political cooperation as citizens. Labor is Both Producer and Consumer There are members of the trade union movement who are too radical to con sider cooperatives. They are, perhaps, more than balanced by cooperators who have failed to see the necessity of limking themselves with the labor movement and of building up political organizations in conjunction with workers of hand and brain to protect themselves in a Fascist- menaced world. However, mutual accu- 'sations of shortsightedness in the past should not prevent us from being more farsighted for the future and certainly there is ample opportunity for joint action between workers as consumers and as trade unionists. 57 NEW NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR THE COOPERATIVES TOURING the last few months the Con- -"-^ sumers Cooperative Movement has received national recognition from im portant bodies in the fields of religion, politics, education and peace action— recognition to which it has long been en titled as a nationwide movement of con sumers seeking to build by democratic means the economic security and eco nomic freedom of the people. Religion Just before the close of 1937 prominent religious leaders set up the Committee on the Church and Cooperatives as a divi sion of the Industrial Section of the Fed eral Council of the Churches of Christ in America. This action was paralleled by the formation of a special Cooperative Committee of the National Catholic Ru ral Life Conference. Education In the educational field, the National Education Association implemented its interest in cooperatives by appointing a national Cooperative Committee made up of prominent members of the association. Political In the fields of political action, the ap pointment by President Roosevelt of the Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe which reported early in 1937 was followed by a visit to the offices of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. by Mrs. Roosevelt in December. The Senate Committee on Unemployment and Relief invited E. R. Bowen, general secretary of The Cooperative League to testify at its hearings March 16 as to the effect of cooperatives in stabilizing employment, investment and business volumes. Mr. Bowen presented statistical evidence ' showing an increase of 20% in the busi ness of the major cooperative wholesales in the U. S. in 1937; an increase of 17% in the number of cooperative employees; and no failures of retail cooperatives af- 58 filiated with the established coonpi.,*- wholesales. P fatlve Peace The National Peace Conference coo dinating body of the Peace movement i~ the United States, arranged for Jame Myers, secretary of the Committee on the ^Church and Cooperatives, to speak on "Cooperatives and Peace" as one of a series of nationwide radio broadcasts February 26. Again recognizing the place of cooperatives as a factor wor.kinq to ward world peace, the National Peace Conference invited the Secretary of The Cooperative League to be one of the principal speakers at the Conference on World Economic Cooperation in Wash ington March 24-26. The report of the Committee of Experts used as the basis for discussions at the conference de clared: "Consumers make up the economic interest groujp which includes all the people, and the interests of the people as consumers most nearly represent the economic interests of the people as a whole . . . "It would fee a strategic move for peace organizations interested in world economic cooperation to investigate the various con sumer organizations that now exist (among them consumers cooperatives federated in The Cooperative League of the U. S. A.) and then Ihelp increase the membership and in fluence of those that seem most promising." COOPERATIVE CONGRESS Chicago—The Biennial Congress of The Cooperative League of the U.S.A. will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, October 12, 13, and 14, according to the decision of the board of directors of The Cooperative League, meeting here February 22. Consumers Cooper ative Association, with headquarters in North Kansas City, will act as host to the Congress which will follow im mediately after the Annual Meeting of C. C. A., October 10 and 11. KECK O Ellen Edwards Editor THE STORY OF A SONG Vermund Ostergaard 1. That cause can neith - er be lost nor stayed 2. Each no - ble serv - ice that men have wrought 3. There - by it - self tike a tree it shows; 4. Be then no, more by a storm dia-mayed, Which takes the course of what God has made; Was first con - ceived as a fruit - ful tho't; That high it reach-es, as deep it grows; For by it the full-grown seeds are laid; (The song has been used with the permission of warehouse for classrooms. The school, ?2?LV\eewlttennisSetaken from ^CIa™ Stovring Hojskole, opened in November, aate" and was written by Vermund Ostergaard.) 1885, with one Student. A half century ago Kristian l\ Ostergaard, a young Danish educator and writer, sat alone in his study and hummed the tune of an old folksong. He was almost ill from overwork, and he faced the prospect of failure in his chosen vocation; but courage and faith were strong in him. The rhythm of the tune began to emerge with his thoughts. Tentatively, seizing pen and paper, he wrote a line—and then a second—a new song had been born. Many years later the song was translated. It became known as "That Cause Can Neither Be Lost Nor Stayed" and is often sung by educational and coopera tive groups. The son of a Danish farmer, Kristian Ostergaard was edu cated chiefly in the folk schools of Denmark. In 1878 he came to the United States to serve as a teacher in Danish-American folk schools. He remained seven years —long enough to help found two such schools; but increasingly homesick, he returned to Den mark in the spring of 1885. For several months Ostergaard sought a teaching position but *ith no success. The opportunity to found a school of his own ar rived unexpectedly when he made the acquaintance of Ludvig Mosbaek, a horticulturist, who offered the use of space in his not trust - ing in wàfls and tow - ers, • thy cause with a fu - ture glo-rious the storms are its branch - es shak-ing, the tree by its might it shat-tere, But slow - ly grow-ing from seeds to flow -era. By quiet - ly grow-ing be -comes vie - to - rious. It deep - er root in the soil is tak - ing. What then, if thous-ands of seeds it scat -ters. •fcb*- ———t-r*———». Consumers' Cooperation April, 1938 59 'Twas a bold step for a young man to take in a community in which he was un known. His entire capital amounted to about $750- People of the Stovring locali ty bad had little contact with the folk school movement and they were skepti cal. Enrollment in Stovring Hojskole, was not equal to the young schoolman's ex pectations. He labored mightily to keep his institution functioning. He lectured, initiated the organization of 'Cooperatives, wrote articles, verse, novels, and stories. He found himself seriously impaired in health from constant overwork. In the spring of 1892 his wife's death le'ft him with six motherless children. The exact period is not known but sometime before this last blow he wrote "That Cause Can Neither Be Lost Nor Stayed-" The song was a cry of faith and prayer of one striving to improve con<1- tions for his fellowmen; of one who h A seen the clouds of failure gather 3j hang ready to descend upon «him and ft fruits of his work; one who had the cou * age and faith to believe that although *~ tempest might temporarily wreak the wind also would scatter the seed Cf honest labor. The storm broke. Ostergaard gave up his folk school and sailed again to the United States where he became a minis ter in the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church and where he lived until hi«. death in 1931. m In 1932^a translation of the song ap peared in "Songs of Christian Comrade ship." Four years later it was published by Cooperative Recreation Service Delaware, Ohio, and is included in a' leaflet of "Songs from Denmark" (5C). COOPERATIVES ON THE MARCH Superior, Wisconsin—Sixteen hundred employees in cooperatives in the territory served by Central Cooperative Whole sale took part in a special traveling co op training course which ended early in March. The training course was spon sored by C.C.W., included both tech nical and general cooperative training, and "brought the school to the employ ees." New York—L. E. Woodcock, Man ager of Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, speaking at the opening 'ceremonies of the new Co-op Shop at Tuckahoe, N. Y., declared that 43 new cooperative stores have opened in Eastern Cooperative Wholesale territory since October 1. Columbus, Ohio—A total of 15,000 farms in the state of Ohio are now re ceiving electric light and power through cooperative electric projects sponsored by the Ohio Farm Bureau and the Rural Electrification Administration. Cooperative leadership has stimulated action on the part of private companies which have extended existing lines and dropped many prohibitive charges. Ac cording to the Ohio Farm Bureau News, almost as many farms have been electri- 60 fied since the co-ops began action in 1935 as had been electrified since the inven tion o'f electricity. Jamestown, North Dakota—Although almost a hundred Farmers Union Coop erative Oil Associations have returned enough patronage refunds during the past six years to completely pay for the new state Capitol, cooperative stores are just getting well under way. Co-op stores are now functioning at Emden, Alice and Jamestown. Member ships are being sold for co-ops at Bis mark and Williston and Farmers Union members are arranging to buy out local merchants at Hettinger, Belfield and Maddock. . "Because private merchants in small towns have been hard hit by chain store competition and poor crops," one report declares, "many have gone to the wall in the past few years and some of those who haven't would prefer to turn over their store to their customers rather than their creditors." Milwaukee — Midland Cooperative Wholesale's two midwinter conferences of managers and directors at Milwaukee February 24-26 and Minneapolis Marcn , rep0rted record attendance. E. G. r rt reported that the retail co-ops af- fTated with Midland did more than «12000,000 business in 1937. Affl°n9 ^e featured speakers at the r references were Daniel Hoan, mayor t Milwaukee, E. R. Bowen, general "cretary of The Cooperative League of j£e U. S. A., Paul Miller of the Universi- Of Minnesota Extension Division and Emil Selvig of the Minnesota State Divi sion of Cooperatives. North Kansas City, Missouri—Twen ty-three new cooperative retail associa tions have affiliated with the Consumers Coooerative Associations since January 1. Twenty-one of the co-ops are located in Oklahoma. The other two are in Dur ham, Kansas and Hereford, Colorado. More than 360 local co-ops are now members of the cooperative wholesale. New York—The Eastern Cooperative League called a special conference on La bor and Cooperatives Sunday, April 3, to bring together members of trade unions in the metropolitan area interested in co operatives. Jacob Baker, president of the United Federal Workers of America and mem ber of the President's Inquiry on Coop erative Enterprise, and Wallace J. Camp bell, assistant secretary of The Cooper ative League of the U. S. A., were the principal speakers. Clinton W. Keyes, member of the executive board of New York College Teachers Union of the American Federation of Teachers, and member of the board of directors of Co operative Distributors, chaired the con ference. Miss Dora Maxwell, eastern repre sentative o'f the Credit Union National Association, E. T. Brown, manager of Konsum, the newly organized coopera tive service station in Washington, D. C., Miss Olga Hourwich, manager of Co operative Distributors, and L. E. Wood cock, manager of Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, advised groups on the prob lems of cooperative organization. Seattle, Wash.—The Grange Cooper ative Wholesale furnished additional evi dence of the continued growth of coop eratives in the face of depression when jt reported that cooperative sales to mem ber co-ops in the Pacific Northwest in Consumers' Cooperation Vü, 1938 1937 totaled more than $2,250,000—a gain of 26% over business for the pre vious year. Rapid growth of business in Eastern Washington made it necessary to build an addition to the Spokane branch warehouse during the year. New York—Murray D. Lincoln, ex ecutive secretary of the Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Company was chief speaker at a luncheon here, Satur day, March 26, which served as the kick- off meeting for cooperative auto insur ance in New York State. The Farm Bureau Mutual, which is al ready serving members in 8 other states, has been granted a license to provide co operative auto insurance to New YorJk drivers. The Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, 112 Charlton Street, New York City, will act as sponsor for the in surance co-op in New York State. This is one of the most important illustrations of farm and city cooperation to date. Chicago—The Central States Cooper ative League has leased a camp in lower •Michigan which will be used for cooper ative institutes, training courses and co operative vacationing this coming sum mer. The camp, which "will be known as the "Circle Pines Center," is located in the lake region between Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. It has 28 cabins, a com munity center, lecture hall, ikitchen and dining hall, tennis courts and other rec reational facilities. The camp is leased from the W.P.A. which has built a series of camps fn that section of the state. Ten institutes under the direction of the Central States Cooperative League and other cooperatives in the territory will begin early in June and continue through Labor Day. New York—The Cooperative Book Club, organized last November to pro vide a cooperative book buying and selection service for members through out the country, especially for those in regions without book stores or library service, was admitted to membership in The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. at the last meeting of the board of di rectors of The League. With increasing membership and vol ume, the Cooperative Book Club is plan ning an unusual program of informal adult education which will include spon- 61 I, soring local book forums, discussion circles and lending libraries. Columbus, Ohio—The Ohio Farm Bu reau Cooperative Association and the Cooperative Grange League Federation of New York have purchased a 100,000 ton fertilizer plant at Baltimore, Mary land. The plant had been under lease to G. L. F. for seven years and was taken over by the Fertilizer Manufacturing Co operative which was set up by the Ohio and New York state cooperatives to acquire and operate the plant for the co operatives. Chicago — The Cooperative League Accounting Bureau, opened a branch of fice here in February at the request of the Central States Cooperative League. The Chicago office of the Bureau will audit the books of cooperative associa tions and liberal non-profit organizations in this territory. It is temporarily sharing offices with the Central States Coopera tive League, 2301 South Millard Avenue. North Kansas City, Mo.—Two hun dred thousand bushels of wheat shipped from a large American marketing coop erative to the British consumer coopera tives March 10 marks an important step in international cooperative trade. The Union Equity Cooperative Ex change, a marketing cooperative with headquarters at Enid, Oklahoma, com pleted arrangements February 20 for the shipment to the Cooperative Wholesale Society, central organization of the Eng lish consumer cooperatives. The wheat was loaded at Galveston and shipped to Manchester. There it will be made into flour in a cooperative mill, baked in a cooperative bakery and distributed to members of cooperatives through retail consumer cooperative stores. Thirty-two ounce loaves of co-op bread cost co-op members 9c a loaf, or about half what consumers are paying for bread in this country. Jamestown, North Dakota — Thirty- two students attended the cooperative institute sponsored by the North Dakota Farmers Union which closed its four week session here March 4. The students were officers in Farmers Union locals, junior leaders and employees of cooper ative associations. 62 New York—The Cooperative Coll has 22 students enrolled in its sec ! term which opened here February K The current term will be five montli long. The first three months will be H voted to academic work in New Yo^ while during the last two months the st dents will do field work in cooperative" in various sections of the country. Minneapolis — Forty-nine students completed the course of study in the Fourth Annual Institute held at Camp Ihduhapi January 24 to February 26. At the end of the course the students set up a permanent association of graduates of Midland Management Institutes. New York—Eight hundred and sixty family members of the Amalgamated Housing Corporation and Amalgamated Dwellings, New York's two largest co operative housing developments paid themselves $19,000 in cash savings re funds on the operation of their coopera tive services last year. The members of the cooperatives also voted to put an other $19,000 savings into reserves for further expansion of services. The co-ops operate their own milk de livery, laundry service, grocery and dairy store and power plant, as well as libraries, playgrounds, drama and adult education classes, bus service and chil dren's summer camp. A recent study of comparative costs of administration for apartment houses showed the co-ops well ahead of com parable government and private apart ments. Overhead, legal, accounting, ad vertising and salary expenses were $4.98 per room per year in the Amalgamated apartments as against $15.67 in Knicker bocker Village, a limited dividend hous ing venture, and $14.23 per room in Hill side Houses, a P.W.A. housing project. St. Louis—In spite of constant attacks by the officials of organized medicine m St. Louis, the Wage Earners Health Association showed important progress during the past year. Its 1936-1937 report reveals that, an average of 1.86 calls per month were made to its Medical^P^' ment by each of its members; 40% <>f ™ office visits were credited to speciaii»> departments; more than one-half ot calls were made for preventive service*. Consumers' Cooperation BOOK REVIEWS /--operation — An American Way, by John Daniels, Covici Friede and Co., New York, 1938, 400 pages $3.00. (Special Cooperative League Edition, $1.50). Tohn Daniels, writer, sociologist and former cretary of the English Speaking Union, has ^ded in "Cooperation — An American Way" an ? teresting. and enthusiastic, and yet a careful ap- '"aisal of the American consumers cooperative '"ovement to the rather impressive bookshelf of ""operative literature which has appeared in the last few years- Ifa Daniels is one of the generation of hard- headed realists to whom the fact that European cooperatives had made great progress was no (oof that cooperatives would succeed here unless L could put his hands and eyes and ears on an American movement. So last summer and fall he set out to see if, where, what and why there were co-ops in America. Without benefit of Rochdale, of C. W. S., of Konsum or the Finnish cooperatives, he has dis covered a remarkable story. From their premature birth in Boston in 1845 (Mr. Daniels researches have moved the date for ward to 1844, matching the opening of the store in Rochdale) the story of the American co-ops moves rapidly 'through their promotion by the Grange and the Knights of Labor in the late 1800s and the "new Americans" after the turn of the century. General farm organization activities, mutual fire insurance societies, marketing coopera tives and political democracy built the psycholog ical and organizational basis for the American consumers cooperative movement. And from con sumers cooperative purchase of farm supplies Mr. Daniels shows tbe natural and, for him, inevitable evolution to the purchasing of home supplies. Mr. Daniels has made a particularly valuable contribution in what started out to be incidental research. He found out that the average farmer spends more for food, clothing and other con sumers goods than he does for gas and oil and general farm supplies with which to raise his crops. This reversal of a commonly accepted be lief shows an enormous field for expansion of the purchase of consumers goods, to match the annual cooperative purchase of nearly $400,000,000 worth of farm supplies. Statistically the American movement has achieved respectable proportions. Taken together, the membership of all types of consumer cooper atives adds up to more than 5,000,000 consumers. Duplication of membership to allow for enthusias tic cooperators who belong to several coopera tives reduces this total considerably — exactly how much nobody knows. But Mr. Daniels found the co-ops financially and psychologically sound and «ang business in almost every type of activity and at almost every crossroad from Maine to Minneapolis. ™r- Daniels points out the exploitation of the Consumer under the profit system and declares that j Progression from profit to profiteering and /?? Profiteering to racketeering is almost inevi- ™fe He does not "huff and puff and blow the OUSe down," but rather traces the growth of the 1938 cooperatives as they replace sections of the profit system. For him "consumers cooperation is a form of socio-economic organization which is now in •the process of evolution as a mutation of capital ism. It is not an instrument for the overthrow of capitalism, but an implement to make capitalism •work." John Daniels was a classmate of President Roosevelt's in Harvard, directed neighborhood re search in Boston, Rochester and other cities for the Carnegie Corporation for several years and was secretary of the English Speaking Union, an organization to encourage friendly relations between English speaking countries, from 1921 to 1934. His other books were "America Via the Neighborhood" and in "Freedom's Birthplace." Consumers' Cooperation in Great Britain, by A. M. Carr-SaundeTS, P. Sargent Florence, Robert Peers and others. George Alien and Unwin Ltd., Publishers, London, 1938. 556 pages, $4.50. (Order thru The Cooperative League). Ever since the days of Charles Gide, economists have paid little or no attention to the Cooperative Movement. Few indeed have been their attempts to evaluate its economic and social significance. The frantic search for solutions to the problems of world wide depressions and the steady expan sion of Cooperative activity in spite of .these same depressions is forcing upon economists this long neglected analysis. Cooperators themselves are partially to blame for this neglect and for the re sulting failure to get even an inadequate presenta tion of cooperation in our schools. Most coopera tive literature has originated within the Coopera tive Movement and as a consequence it has been looked upon as a more or less biased presentation of the cooperative viewpoint. It is no wonder, therefore, that economists and governmental of ficials have not given it serious consideration in the past. This study of "Consumers' Cooperation in Great Britain" fills the need that has long existed for an impartial analysis by a group of outstanding econ omists and sociologists. The authors disclose many of the •weaknesses of cooperation in practice which have been glossed over in so many of the existing books on the subject and at the same time they substantiate many cooperative accomplish ments which economists hesitated to accept when they read of .them in the literature of the move ment. In fact, some of the conclusions in respect to the efficiency of cooperative retail distribution are so startlingly favorable that cooperators hesi tate to accept them. For example, economists and business men will find much food for thought in .the discussion of the statement that cooperative business is more efficient than non-cooperative business because of lower cost of merchandise, lower operation costs and lower costs of finance. The book is divided into five parts which indi cate the scope of the work. 1. The Historical Background. 2. The structure of the Cooperative Movement. 3. Cooperative Democracy. 4. Prob lems of Cooperative Enterprise. 5. The Social significance of Cooperative enterprise. The last section on the social aspects of coop- 63 "i I .1 eration is a ringing challenge to democracy-loving Americans. As the authors point out, "It is a commonplace remark that democracy is on trial. Current discussion centers upon political democ racy and it is generally said, even by advocates of democracy, that it does not work, or has not yet been made to work, in the economic sphere. It is strange that in the course of all this discus sion, little or no attention 'has been paid to tlie consumers' cooperative movement. Here is a suc cessful economic enterprise, of long standing and in the course of steady expansion, which is com pletely democratic, not only in form but also in fact." American economists and business men and any one truly interested in the preservation of the American way should accept the challenge. This book should go a lonvar censorship to face as does Kagawa. The Two Crutches— Spending and Lending Our old creaky system of monopolistic economics is once more in dire need of outside assistance. It cannot carry on by itself. So it indirectly calls upon the gov ernment again for help (while all the time shouting, "keep the government out of business"). And the government is again responding with another pair of new crutches of spending and lending. No other way can be found to carry on with out getting too near the danger line of revolution. Since business cannot distribute enough purchasing power to the many, but instead piles up profits in the hands of the few, the government is called upon to spend money for doles and public em ployment. This would not be as bad if the administration had nerve enough to tax away from the few the amount it dis tributes to the many, instead of continu ing to borrow. Since.the banks cannot lend enough money to business to in crease production, even though their Consumers' Cooperation *n organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street. New York City. *•• R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. Entered as Second Class Matter, December IS, 1917, at the Post Office at New Tork, N. T., under the Act of March J, 1879. Price tl.OO a year. I r vaults are bulging, the government is called upon to lend money to railroads, industry, etc. Yet 23% of the RFC's present industrial loans are now in de fault. It is a case of keeping the dying system alive while we build a new cooperative economic society. Ownership For All! Harry Hopkins, WPA Administrator, calls for "Jobs for All" through public or ganization to supplement private industry and agriculture. Others are calling for "Incomes for All" through social insur ances in the -form of old-age, health and unemployment insurances. What is really needed is "Ownership for All." Everything else is only tem porizing and putting plasters on the can cer that is eating at our vitals. We, the people, of America have largely lost the ownership of the land we live in. The best statistical estimates say that 80% of the wealth is now owned by only 2% of the people. A Senate investigation showed that 59% was owned by 1 % a few years ago. When only 2% own 80% and 98% own only 20% of the wealth there is no possibility of economic liberty and equality through the patching up by the government of a broken down pri vate-profit system that will not itself dis tribute incomes, jobs and ownership to all. What is needed is a major operation —that's what a program of Consumers', Producers' and Public Cooperation is— the combination of these will eventually redistribute ownership to all, which is the basic necessity if incomes are to be distributed to all and jobs are to be distributed to every employable. Whitney Takes the Rap Richard Whitney, five times president of the New York Stock Exchange, and now a self-confessed thief, maintains that none of his five partners, all of whom have now taken bankruptcy, knew of his speculations with securities from cus tomers accounts entrusted to the firm. He does admit that he told his brother, a partner of J. P. Morgan & Co., from whom he borrowed a million dollars to recover securities owned by the Stock Exchange Gratuity Fund which he had illegally pledged as collateral for loans. His steal- 66 ings that time he acted as Stock Exchange in the Senate mvesf tion conducted by Ferdinand Pecora '^" declared that "The Exchange is a ne f institution." John Flynn seems to a ^ with him that the Stock Exchange m ^ be a perfect institution, but only as 3y example of "a great gambling casino " ^ Flynn's characterizations are expressed in the New Republic in these scathin words, "These men are gamblers. The^ have an unshakable faith in the perm nence of human greed and human creduli ty." Again he declares, "As a practical proposition a professional gambling game which uses great essential industries of this country as the chips in the game is a foolish practice for an intelligent people to permit." But apparently we are not yet "intelli gent." However, cooperators are be coming so. The 20th Year of OTK of Finland While we use abbreviations in Amer ica for convenience in describing our many governmental agencies, it is pretty nearly necessary to speak of the national wholesale and educational groups in Fin land in alphabetical terms because of the difficulties of pronunciation. OTK is the abbreviation for the name Osuustukku- kauppa, one of the two largest whole sales in Finland, which has just ended its twentieth year of activity. Deeds speak louder than words so we are going to let the figures (which represent deeds) speak for themselves: Volume in 1937 Increase over 1936 Fmks 1,094,751,028 222,798,891 25.6% Production 22,000,000 66,900,000 43.1% Employees 1,517 328 27.5% Net Surplus 24,197,146 5,904,530 32.2% Share Capital 2,865,250 Reserve Fund 141,336,845 Attention might be called to the in creasing percentage in the volume of their own production, and to their reserve fund which is more than fifty times their share capital. The huge total_of non-in terest bearing "social capital" of Euro pean Cooperatives, such as this, was particularly commended by C. v- Gregory, member of President Roose velt's Inquiry on Cooperative Enterprise in Europe. THREE DEPRESSIONS AND THEIR LESSONS \\7E are in the early stages of the W third great depression since the war. That this is no recession but a gen uine depression can be seen by comparing statistics with 1929. Here are compari sons of the first six months declines fol lowing the 1929 and 1937 depressions: 1929 Decline 1937 Decline National income 6% 11% Manufacturing activity 15% 35% Factory employment 10% 20% Factory payrolls 12% 30% The first depression, starting in 1920, followed eight years of Democratic New Freedom. The second depression, start ling in 1929, came at the end of twelve years of Republican New Day. The present depression, starting in 1937, comes during the closing period of eight years of Democratic New Deal. Plainly, changing political administrations and slogans has not solved our economic downs and ups. The 1920 depression followed an in flation of commodity prices. The 1929 de pression followed an inflation of stock prices. The 1937 depression followed an inflation of both commodity and stock prices. All three depressions were pre ceded by increasing profit-piling in the hands of the few and were followed by increasing poverty, unemployment and. tenancy among the many. The primary lesson to learn is that the government cannot stop depressions.. This statement is .predicated on the pre sumption that America continues a demo cratic government. Conceivably a dicta torship might do so by the fixing of prices and allocating of production, but a demo cratic government cannot do these things, and remain a democracy. The government can do some things. It can cushion the shocks by social insur ances. It can establish national minimums of wages, leisure, housing, education, health. It can expand publicly-owned utility yardsticks and thus lower rates, instead of continuing futile attempts at political regulation of private-profit monopolies. But again we say that a dem- INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY 1920 DEPRESSION 1929 DEPRESSION 1937 DEPRESSION 1920 1921 1929 1930 1931 1932 1937 1938 1939 Consumers' Cooperation May, 1938 ocratic government cannot stop depres sions. Only the people, acting voluntarily as consumers and producers, can end de pressions for all time. They can do so as consumers by building Consumers' Coop eratives and Credit Unions. They can do so as producers by building Labor Unions and Farm Marketing Cooperatives. Only by building these types of non-profit, democratically controlled, peoples' own ed economic organizations of consumers and producers can we prevent a recur rence of other depressions which, unless .stopped, will eventually result in either a dictatorship of the right or left. Voluntary Cooperatives are the democratic answer to depressions. pa ers learned to organize Consumers' r°~ operatives after 1920. Office worke learned to organize themselves as IS sumers into Cooperatives after IOTD" Now labor must and, we believe, will 1 learn the necessity and techniques of o^ ganizing as consumers as a result of th~ 1937 depression we are now in. \Vh & .farmers, office workers and labor work hand in hand as consumers and pro ducers, then and then only will we end the curse of depressions in America THE ECONOMICS OF DEMOCRACY ^ONSUM'BRS' Cooperation is being ^~J increasingly recognized as the eco nomics of democracy. It is not a system alien to the spirit of America, but the natural economic expression of liberty and equality. It is the economic realiza tion of the "American Dream." It extends the same principles which our forefathers applied to the organization of religion, education and government into the eco nomic field as well. Economics must 'be come democratic if democracy is to be fully realized, indeed if our present forms of democratic organization are to be pre served. From Evangelization to Organization This fact is now being rapidly ac cepted by the leaders and members of America's great democratic organiza tions. They are now including Con sumers' Cooperation as an integral part of their own programs. We have passed the evangelization stage and are entering into the education and organization stage. It is a highly significant thing that within the past few months the other great democratic organizations have them selves organized committees of their leaders to carry on programs of educa tion and organization of Consumers' Co operatives among their own members. What is happening justifies repeating and resummarizing. 1. In the religious world, out of which inspiration toward the building of a new 68 world of brotherhood is presumed to gen erate, both the Federal Council of Churches and the National Catholic Ru ral Life Conference have appointed ac tive committees on the Church and Con sumers' Cooperation. 2. In the educational world, which has for its responsibility the teaching of facts about every form of democratic develop ment, the National Education Associa tion has also appointed a Committee to study the question of the teaching of Co operation in the public schools of Amer ica. This follows action taken in a legis lative way in three states. It might well be added that France has had an ag gressive program of teaching cooperation in their public schools, both by book study and by practice, for the past ten years, which has resulted in the organiza tion of over ten thousand children's co operatives which receive a special pub lication, "Copain-Coop". A film showing the cooperative activities of the children in the schools of France won the Grand Prize at the Paris Exposition. Likewise among adult education groups, the subject of Consumers' Coop eration is being increasingly chosen as an integral part of their programs of forums and class study. In WPA classes the subject of Consumers' Cooperation is second only to the subject of Social Secu rity as the one voluntarily chosen by the students. The Ohio Valley Adult Educa tion Conference, which is a branch of the American Association of Adult Educa- Consumers' Cooperation . lia^ a special section on Consumer Education in its recent conference at pïts'burgh. The Forums conducted by the II S. Department of Education in many •ties have included Cooperation as one Cf the subjects. When labor develops a thorough Workers' Education program, s has been done in European countries, the study of Consumers' Cooperation will L£ expanded on a wide scale. The Fo- uiiis conducted by the AAA also have a section devoted to Cooperative Pur chasing. 3 In the political field, Consumers' Co operation is being increasingly recognized as a part of an all-around democratic eco nomic program. President Roosevelt's appointment of a Commitee to study the subject in Europe was unusual recogni tion on the part of the administration. Four governors have publicly endorsed Consumers' Cooperation, and in the State of Minnesota a special committee has now been appointed to survey Coopera tives. 4. In the peace organization field, there is a growing tendency toward the accept ance of the necessity of a fundamental reorganization of the economic system on a non-profit, democratically controlled basis as the final foundation of world peace. The National Peace Council has recently included the subject of consumer economics as an officially adopted part of its program following the recom mendation of its Committee of Experts. But while church groups may inspire their members to act as consumers, edu cational groups may inform youth and adults about the subject, political groups may promote the movement, peace groups may include cooperation in their programs, this is all only the means of publicizing and educating to the end of organizing Consumers' Cooperatives. 5. In the farm field, the organizing of Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing As sociations is going on in dead earnest. As the members of rural purchasing groups increasingly recognize the integral rela tionship which they have with urban residents, in building a great Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement, the progress is accelerated by their entrance into the field of household goods and joining hands with their urban cousins in a united effort. Way, 1938 6. The office workers of America are now following the trail which the farmers of America have blazed. Several hundred stores and oil stations have either already developed into full-fledged cooperatives or are on the way as buying clubs or study circles, whose membership has been largely recruited from the ranks of office workers. 7. In the labor field now rests the final great necessity for action for all the great democratic organizations of America to join hands in developing the economics of democracy. A few Consumers' Coop eratives have been organized which have been initiated by labor. Consumers' Co operation has been endorsed by A. F. of L. conventions and by the conventions of some of the C.I.O. unions. All this is now leading to the setting up of Cooper ative and Labor Conferences such as the one held in April under the joint spon sorship of the Eastern Cooperative League and Wholesale and Cooperative Distributors. An initial attempt two years ego only brought out a corporal's guard, while this recent conference was attended •by representatives of over twenty unions. Similar conferences should now be held elsewhere and cooperative committees of labor groups should be appointed to car ry on a publicizing, education and or ganizing program all over America. Build Economic Democracy in America We are still able in America to choose the "Middle Way." But how long there will be time to do so if we do not organize more rapidly along democratic economic lines, is uncertain. While Cooperation will eventually triumph everywhere in the world, for it is truth itself, the prob lem for us in America is as to whether we will delay too long and permit the forces of Fascism or Communism to regi ment us for years and eventually have to be overthrown, before we can and will, as a nation, aggressively build here in our section of the world, an economic as well as a political democracy. There is real hope in the fact that the democratic organizations which America has already developed are increasingly adopting Consumers' Cooperation as an integral part of their own programs. 69 COOPERATIVE EDUCATION IN SWEDEN ~Y\7HEN we look for models of social * » achievement these days, we are apt to turn to Scandinavia. All of the dis cussion about the achievements there would have greater point if they stressed more the preparation for these achieve ments, the patient work of a generation or more, in popular education. Mr. Anders Hedberg on his recent "visit here was asked, in a radio dis cussion, whether the pinch of poverty "was the prime motive for substantial co operative development. His reply was that he did not think so because in Eu rope there were several countries in "which poverty was much more acute than in modern Sweden but where coop eration was not extensive. "Cooperative development," he said, "is a measure of the level of economic education of the masses of the people." And so it is in Sweden. The half mil lion and more families which, through their cooperative purchasing, control the price level of Sweden, are not motivated primarily by poverty. They protect their consumer interests through cooperatives because they know what their interests are and how better to serve them. This same knowledge leads them into labor unions and farm marketing cooperatives to conserve their producer interests, and >.t directs their political support to liberal governments which employ, in the in terests of all of the people, that power test wielded by governments. Correspondence School In achieving this high level of popular education, the organizations which have been promoting constructive social action in these fields have all been active as educative forces. Conspicuous among them is the work of the central coopera tive organization which, in addition to ~being Sweden's principal publisher of economic literature, is also conducting a correspondence school, a resident college and a department for stimulating and guiding what they call study-circles. It is our intention to consider briefly the na ture and extent of these undertakings. It is significant to note that the educa- 70 tional functions of 'Kooperativa p bundet, the Cooperative Union arid Wholesale, are much broader in SCOD than would normally be regarded needed for cooperative enterprises alon^ For instance, the publishing department issues not only cooperative literature, but general economic literature with con tributions from Sweden's leading econ omists. They publish a weekly maqa- zine, "Vi" (We) in which relatively small space goes to cooperative subjects And so with the correspondence courses Established in 1918 as the first na tionally organized cooperative educa tional program, the correspondence! school now devotes only a share of its energy to cooperative training. Courses in public speaking, Swedish language, government and many others occupy an important place in the program of the school. All of the correspondence courses are available to any who apply. Since its inception it has enrolled well over 150,- 000 students at an increasing rate. In the year 1936-1937, over 30,000 persons were enrolled, exclusive of those partic ipating in the study circles to be men tioned later. With the enrollments on the increase and running at 20,000 new stu dents per year at the present time, it can readily be seen that in the period of a generation these courses will reach a very substantial proportion of the Swedish people. The courses cover the range of subjects covered in the seconda ry schools and are highly regarded by the educational leaders of the country. In the cooperative field the corres pondence courses have two functions: ( 1 ) the supplying of courses in economic principles, including cooperative prin ciples, as a part of the general economic training from which the cooperatives naturally derive benefit in the form of popular economic enlightenment and ac cessions to their membership and (2) the technical vocational training of employ ees and store managers. In the latter function they relate to the work of the cooperative college in an in teresting way. When a young man or woman gets a job with a cooperative so- . ty usually as a grocery clerk, his CLe0r'etical training begins with a corres- jence course, which gives him coop- P jjve principles along with the elements 6f grocery store operation. When this "curse is completed, but not until then, [here is a course available at the college, Var Gard, and so with all of the coop- rative training of both employees and «embers of committees and boards of directors. Correspondence courses are followed by short residence courses at the college. The theory seems to be that those things best learned from books can be learned more efficiently and at less cost through a correspondence course. Those things best learned in schools with direct supervision of a teacher are taught at the college. Cooperative College Since the correspondence courses em phasize book learning, the college em phasizes those things which cannot be learned from books. Consequently, few books are found in use at the college—a rather unique condition for a college. In discussing their educational pro- pram, the Swedish cooperatives speak of three kinds of schools: ( 1 ) The Corres pondence Schools—learning from books; (2) The Study Circles—learning from books and discussion and (3) Experience. The Cooperative College falls in group (3), the school of experience, because they regard it as a sort of selected or directed experience rather than a book learning institution. Insofar as possible, the conditions of a cooperative business are reproduced at the school. There is a model cooperative store with one wall removed and the classroom seats facing the store as the ordinary schoolroom faces the blackboard. The fine points of serving customers, weighing, wrapping, etc., are all analyzed in practice under normal conditions. Instruction is given with the aim of developing taste and dis crimination in such matters as design in dishes and fabrics. Many demonstration exhibits are on hand to give knowledge °f the processes involved in manufactur- lng various store items. Visits are ar ranged under close direction to the Luma krnp factory and other cooperative man ufacturing plants and reports and dis- eussions of observations are had after these visits. Consumers' Cooperation May, 1938 The emphasis of all of this is on prac tical problems and their solution. Lec tures are avoided as are written essays and other standard methods of formal schools. Study is largely by group dis cussion and group projects. During this training the employees draw their regular salaries and their attitudes and relation ship are more like those of people at work rather than students at school. Three standard courses comprise the bulk of Var Card's curriculum: (1) One- week courses for store salesmen; (2) a Branch Manager's course of one month and (3) a course for Society Managers and others in responsible positions, also one month. Each course has its prere quisite correspondence courses which must be completed satisfactorily before admission to Var Gard. Many other courses involving smaller numbers of people are held thru the year, such as courses for specific jobs in the factories and stores and courses for directors of societies, group leaders, leaders of women's guilds and leaders of youth groups. From the students in the third of the regular courses are selected a few who take a two-year course for staff spe cialists' positions (such as educational directors) in the larger societies. In the course of their two years they not only have thorough training in all of the basic Var Gard courses, but they have the opportunity to teach some of the courses. A principal, a former folk school head, and four assistants who are technical men in various fields, comprise the regu lar staff. The annual cost, about $30,000, is met from the funds of Kooperativa Forbundet, the central society. Cooperative Study^Circles Unique as are the correspondence school and the cooperative college as in struments of cooperative education, per haps the most far-reaching element of the cooperative education program is the study-circle. The possibilities of such study as an educational process for the masses of the people, give promise of continuing the present trend in Sweden to a higher level of economic literacy among the people at large. The study-circle, however, is not the invention of the Cooperatives. It has a 71 I long history in Swedish popular educa tion and a well-developed educational theory which the cooperatives have taken over rather recently and adopted to their needs. The study circle had its inception in a cause quite remote from cooperation, the Order of Good Templars. Under the guidance of Dr. Oscar Olsson, the study- circle technique was evolved as a means of educating people to be temperate in their use of liquors. The present Swedish liquor control systems must lay part of their success to the long process of edu cation in this field by the study-circles. Fortunately, the temperament of Oscar Olsson was such that he was not content to have developed a method of temper ance education only. Through the years he has expanded the philosophy at home and abroad so that the Swedish study- circle movement has become a subject of world consideration as an indispensable method of adult .education of all sorts. In Sweden study-circles are now a part of the basic program of education in poli tics, labor, religious, cooperation and other mass movements. Strange as it may seem, the study- circle movement in Sweden is, in its es sentials, a movement for education and not for propaganda. Oscar Olsson has preached for many years that "the devel opment of society does not suffer by dif ferent opinions about society among citi zens, if society only sees to it that citi zens are educated conservatives and edu cated socialists." So the study-circle movement has induced a progressive government to give money to any genu ine educational organization, regardless of the complexion of its economic or so cial philosophy. As an outgrowth of this policy, there are in Sweden many workers' educational associations in which, social-democrats, syndicalists, communists and cooperators have formed a common educational front. Local government bodies support these programs, insisting only that lecturers be competent authorities and teach prin ciples rather than propaganda. Specifically within the Cooperative Movement, study-circles are encouraged by Kooperativa Forbundet which main tains a staff for this purpose, supplies literature and study outlines, reviews and comments on answers to questions 72 worked out by the study-circles and n k lishes a magazine for the study-cir ] groups. In practice, these small qroui,e generally meet without a teacher | though one among them is usually Se lected by the group as the leader. Th purchase study-guides and literature f^ the course the group undertakes to stn,/ for from 25 to 50 cents. The follow^ are some of the courses available: "Ç operation," "Cooperation and the Eco- nomic Life of the Nation," "Cooperation and Prices," "The Problem of Monono lies," "Cooperation and Agriculture " "Housing," "Food," "Health" and many others. Usually one or more complete books, supplemented by pamphlets, are used as the basis of the course. Each chapter of the study guide which serves as the basis for one meeting of the group is concluded by three so-called "capital questions" which are answered by the group. These are sent to Kooperativa Fortmndet, studied and returned with comments. When the Fall program of study started in September, 1937, there were 10,070 study circles with 62,200 in dividual students. In an interview with Dr. Olsson he credited the study-circle department of the Cooperative Movement in Sweden with having perfected his original idea. He summed up his early thinking by say ing that he conceived that a small group of adults who would voluntarily meet regularly, who would democratically select a discussion leader from among their own group, and who would read and discuss a great book together would eventually get at the heart of the book. He now feels, he said, that he had too much faith in the ability of such groups to do alone all he conceived. The coop erative movement, he stated, had added two valuable additional methods, first, the supplying of a discussion group guide to help open up the thinking of the author of the book and, second, the provision for group replies to major ques tions, which are reviewed and com mented upon by the central staff. This, briefly, recounts the study-circle program of the cooperatives. In the field of labor and progressive politics similar programs are under way with like in tensity. All of which stem from the philosophy originally propounded by L>r- Olsson. Consumers' Cooperation These programs are not adult educa- f0n in the sense often assumed in the United States. They do not deal with cul ture in a certain innocuous sense as sug- ested by the title "The Butterflies of Sumatra," one announced under the heading of Adult Education. The study- circle technique is one designed for the large masses of mankind who need a wider and firmer grasp of reality, and understanding of the forces that control their destinies. The study-circle, in a word, is an in strument of orderly social change, as suming the premise that a non-violent process of evolution leads to a better so ciety. All former civilizations, says Dr. Olsson, have been defeated because they were created and supported by a very small part of educated society, dependent for this work upon the fact that the masses of the people were serfs with such small material and spiritual demands that they would never grasp the highest values of human culture, or be conscious of having any part in them. Therefore the strongholds, both from within and from without, broke down when the hour of trial came. "The world catastrophe and education now have their race for life," to quote Wells. Progress Not Panaceas There is some tendency to discount the SMALL TOWN CO-OP 'R town is small, conservative and comfortable—for those who find it so. Any troubling of the status quo is looked upon as dangerous, if not sub versive. The "outsiders," consisting of school-teachers, artists, writers and some farmers, formed the nucleus of our coop erative in the beginning. We started or dering by mail from Cooperative Dis tributors in New York and thus came to realize that we need not take it sitting down from the chain stores or the few local merchants who were socially very Pleasant but expensive. From sharing on mail-orders, a small began case-lot buying of groceries May, 1938 achievements of Sweden (with some help from the Swedes themselves who think that they have been overrated). We are told that their prosperity is dependent upon armament manufacture and a cor ner on certain natural resouces, that their cooperatives spring from racial homo- genity, that their culture springs from antiquity. All of this would be cogent if other nations equally favored enjoyed as desirable a status. The important thing about the Swedes is not how much they have achieved relatively, but it is the fact that they are making some measurable progress while much of the rest of the world is losing ground. There is no Utopia there, and it may well be that they too will be swallowed up in the catastrophic fall which the prophets of doom and disaster hold be fore us. Be all that as it may, there are enduring evidences of those things which "rust doth not corrupt nor thieves break through and steal." Tihere is something about the Swedish methods of adult edu cation which breeds a desire for a greater diffusion of the better things of life, ma terial and spiritual, which has a different ring from that which usually passes for adult education. While there is yet time, perhaps we too may reinforce our democ racy and extend the benefits of a ma terially abundant age at the same time by following their example. Henry Chapin from the Eastern Cooperative Whole sale. We came to the pleasant conclusion that our chain-store budgets, placed else where, could bring a quality and stand ard into our living not obtainable on Main Street. Eighteen months ago we formed a club of about twenty members. We read a few excellent pamphlets, held discussions and listened to exciting lecturers. We visited a few successful co operatives, among them the one at May- nard, Massachusetts. Then, like good Americans, we said: Let's go. Let's fix it. Bosoms began to heave, minds to crackle. Forty strong, we decided to go into action. 73 Collective Bargaining with Private Dealers In February, 1937, we made collective bargaining arrangements for discounts on laundry, gasoline, coal and fuel oil. We also carefully worked out an ar rangement with the only remaining inde pendent grocer in town to carry coop erative goods on his shelves under the club's control. We raised $300 as a re volving fund for this project. Inside of three months we were forced to cancel all but the group purchase of coal and oil; the laundry service because of poor quali ty and the gasoline service because other stations cut prices and thus wiped out the small profit our dealer could make above the club discount. The grocery store ar rangement failed for more complicated reasons. There had formerly been three inde pendent grocery stores in this town of about three thousand people. One had been closed out as a failure several years before we organized: a second one had gone bankrupt a few months before we started, and the third man seemed in terested to work on certain terms with us. We hoped to win him over to the coop erative idea and in time make his store a completely cooperative one. On his part, he looked upon us with favor as a group which could increase his business, but he was somewhat sceptical of our ultimate success. He thought of us as inexperi enced idealists but was willing to ex periment. We purchased and put $300 worth of cooperatively labelled goods on his shelves and kept books on the sales and made every effort for our membership to use his store for all their purchases, of which our own goods were only a por tion. On the purchase of the store-keep er's goods the club got 4% discount; on our own goods the store-keeper took a flat 15% margin of profit for selling and shelving-space. It was agreed that, as his sales increased, he should bring his prices down to chain store levels. What happened was this. The cooper ative shelves, for the most part, held goods at chain store price levels which were superior in quality to the general run of nationally advertised products stocked by the store-keeper, and, as he did not reduce his prices our membership 74 tended to buy this last type of tnercha dise from the chain stores, of which th were two dominating the grocery ku^ ness of the town. Two courses were ope'" to the store-keeper; to expand as a 00° operative store at lower prices, or, bein afraid of that, to push his own goods and give half-hearted service to the coopera tive shelves. He chose the latter cours and at the end of three months our agree ment with him was mutually terminated The town fathers and merchants had meanwhile done what they could on the quiet to warn the store-keeper against the dangerous character of the coopera tive movement. They hinted darkly that it was communistic and un-American Start a Store—Learn a Lot May first, 1937, we rented for one year the site of a previously bankrupt store, at $25 a month, and opened up with about $800 worth of goods, largely from the Eastern Cooperative Wholesale of New York. Our membership was now about seventy-five. Immediately we were out of soundings and our headaches be gan in earnest. We were too few to start a store and were practically without guidance whether from our own mem bership or any available outside agency. Unfortunately, the premature collapse of our previous arrangement left us holding the bag and we did not wish to retreat. A member of our club with previous cooperative experience, but no store training, offered himself as store-keeper at $15 a week. The first month we very nearly broke even on expenses. The sec ond month we took a slight loss due to purchasing equipment and five dollars a week added to salary. July was not so good and August definitely bad. Some became disheartened and broached the question of possibly closing the store be- ifore it was too late. Our store-keeper, in a way, had been made the willing goat of our too much haste in starting the store. He also be came discouraged because, not finding a complete stock of goods, members began to slip off and purchase elsewhere, while the local non-members held off to sej; the enterprise was not merely a fad. The store-keeper, likewise, suffered from his own unavoidable lack of specific business training and from the club's want of ex perience in business affairs. The book- eping alone caused imminent nervous w118 among the valiant who had ]unteered to shoulder the burden. Experienced Manager — Over the Top Last September we took the bull by the horns, increased our stock and hired a trained store-manager at $25 a week. At (he same time we recast our constitution and by-laws and applied for incorpora- Uon. In other words we became more business-like. Our sales increased. In October we made a small profit; in No vember we had almost doubled our sales from those of August and on the first of January, 1938, we showed an actual small net profit above all expenses and deficits incurred during the initial months of establishing our store. We are out of the woods. Our bookkeeping is organ ized, our membership has increased be yond a hundred and at last we are be ginning to function efficiently. Without steady and sometimes heart breaking work by ten or fifteen members we should not have pulled through on the store. Looking back I feel this risk and strain are, in part, unnecessary and cer tainly a handicap we could have avoided by a less precipitate entrance into the highly competitive and technical field of store-keeping. And yet, a store such as ours is the best concrete demonstration in a community that the cooperative movement is practical and possible even against stiff chain store competition. Experiences Others Can Profit By Going back over this brief history let me first recapitulate our mistakes and the difficulties, both human and material, that cannot always be avoided in such an un- oertaiking. Cooperative work requires mudh patience, real humbling of personal ambition and the willingness of an indi vidual to compromise with others whose wisdom he feels is less profound than his j>wn. Contention is often more fun and lfss boring than adjustment. When a group swings from pamphlets into action fte variety of temperament in a small 9roup of like minded people is surprising. furthermore, a club will be lucky in a small community, if it runs into nothing m°re than passive resistance from those Consumers' Cooperation jj^ ^ outside. Tactful and constant education is essential. With us we found that the public school hall and the church as sembly rooms were not available for meetings. We either had to hire a hall which was too large and expensive or crowd into a private house for our lec tures and discussions. At present we are forced to meet in the store. Only con crete obstruction should be directly at tacked. Gossip and inattention can best be overcome by the testimony of accom plishment and an interesting educational program. This brings up the apparent conflict between education and works. Discus sion and propaganda alone will not in crease the membership beyond a certain point. On the other hand, no responsible business undertaking should be started without a homogeneous and fairly good sized group behind it. Local conditions alone can dictate the best time for the inevitable jump from preaching to prac tice. Over-enthusiasm among the mem bership can be as dangerous as bore dom and apathy. In a small town, it is safe to generalize, a store should not be opened without a hundred families to support it and an initial capital of about $1500. Careful organization from the first is essential. As early as possible adopt a definite constitution and by-laws ad justed to local conditions which specif ically detail the functions of government and the limits of all working committees. Next outline the needs and limitations of finance. Particularly in relation to future savings returns, define whether separate collective bargaining contracts, such as fuel oil and coal, shall return separate savings or whether all enterprises shall be judged as one and savings voted to members from a common surplus, if and when it exists. For a small club a com mon savings return on all enterprises is preferable. After all, a cooperative is not just a discount seeking group. It is organ ized for group service and all members should be willing to stand and fall to gether. Furthermore, be slow in making savings returns to the membership in cash. It is pleasant and will aid recruiting, but in the beginning the important thing is to build a solid organization and keep clear of debt. Plow in the profit and build. 75 I, On the human side, undertake no projects until you can be sure of a suf ficient reservoir o'f capable volunteer help for bookkeeping, membership and educa tional work and general business super vision, always with the understanding that such volunteer labor shall have time ly relief and substitution. When you have on hand a loyal and homogeneous mem bership, then go ahead. This all sounds very platitudinous, but the flesh is weak and cooperatives are maintained by a membership which on the whole can only give part time to club affairs. Difficulties from outside the coope tive group are not usually the most dan" gerous ones. You may be called com munistic,—you are not, so ignore it Y will not be glad-handed by the local me" chants who have accustomed themselve" to their own code of competitive murde$ and don't wish that delicate adjustment disturbed by new elements. Again, q0 about your business. The cooperative idea, based on Rodhdale principles js good American democracy and good practical business. This can best be proved in action. COOPERATIVES ON THE MARCH Columbus, Ohio—The Farm Bureau Automobile Insurance Company, Amer ica's largest auto insurance cooperative, jumped from seventh to fifth place among the mutual automobile insurance com panies of the nation at the close of 1937. The rating is based on premiums written. Premium income if or 1937 was $4,353,- 929, an increase of more than a million dollars over 1936. New York—The Workmen's Mutual Fire Insurance Society, one of the oldest cooperative associations in the United States, reported at its annual meeting here in April that it is now handling furniture fire insurance for 68,295 mem bers in 11 states. Outstanding insurance in force at the end of 1937 totaled $87,071,920, an in crease of $1,132,175 for the year. The co-op was granted a license to operate in Connecticut and Minnesota and 2,612 new members were enrolled during the year. Superior, Wisconsin—Central Coop erative Wholesale voted at its annual meeting here April 11 and 12 to place $18,000 of its $76,000 earnings in re serves and pay out $25,000 of its patron age refunds in the fall of 1938 and the remaining $33,500 in the fall of 1940. With its financial position thus strength ened, the co-op moved to take advantage of the increased interest in consumer co operatives engendered by the depression by increasing the budget for the educa tional department from $7,800 in 1937 to $12,000 for the current year. 76 The delegates instructed the educa tional department to spread information about cooperative medicine with the ulti mate purpose of establishing cooperative health associations in the territory served by the co-op wholesale; authorized the board to establish a branch warehouse to serve member cooperatives in the Up per Michigan Peninsula; and recom mended that the board consider the feasibility of installing a system of gov ernment supervised grade labeling. Minneapolis—In the face of the busi ness "recession" tank car shipments of petroleum products by Midland Cooper ative Wholesale during the first three months of 1938 were almost 50 per cent greater than during the same period in 1937. Shipments in March set a new all time high of 709 cars, but the manage ment explained that part of that increase was due to advance orders to escape freight rate increases which went into effect March 28. Total shipments to affiliated co-ops for the first quarter were 1,435 cars as com pared with 957 for the first quarter last year. Walla Walla, Washington — Pacific Supply Cooperative has just purchased a warehouse building here which will DC remodeled to serve as headquarters tor the co-op wholesale and distributing cen ter for the seventy retail cooperativesi ar filiated with Pacific Supply in the three Northwestern states. iBecause of rapidly growing busines the co-op wholesale has also acquire" Consumers' Cooperation wholesale facilities in Portland, Oregon, pd Caldwell, Idaho. Although Pacific r ply Cooperative has only been in xistence a little over three years its busi- ess last year was well over the three dollar mark. St. Paul—In a move to speed organiza tional and educational work by coopera tives, a state committee for cooperative planning has been appointed by Com missioner of Agriculture, Charles Om- oodt at the request of Governor Elmer A, Benson. The committee of five includes Emil Selvig. director of the Cooperative Divi sion of the Department of Agriculture; Charles Egley, .manager o'f the Farmers Union Livestock Exchange; Joseph Gil-; bert, editor of the "Midland Cooperator"; \Valter R. Sassaman, secretary of the State Planning Board; and Leo Knute of the State Department of Education. The new planning board will make a survey of Minnesota co-ops and sponsor the formation of county cooperative councils or regional federations, built from the bottom up by representatives of local cooperatives, to strengthen cooper ative education and organization. Washington, D. C.—Forty-two burial cooperatives with an estimated member ship of 27,000 are now in operation in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, the Bureau of Labor Sta tistics reported this month. The average cost per funeral in the co-ops is $175 as compared with an average price of $335 for the same type of burial service in private profit under taking establishments. Cooperative burial associations have been so successful that the private profit undertakers association in Minnesota sought to prevent the further organiza tion of co-ops by bringing suit contending that a burial co-op is not legal under the state law because it does not serve the ultimate consumer." After a long contro versy the case was decided in favor of the cooperatives. Chicago—The evolution of a city co- °P from a grocery store to a service organization covering many fields was Jlustrated last montär wlhen the North Shore Cooperative Society opened the 'jrst consumer-owned flas and oil sta- (l°n in the city limits of Chicago. The May, 1938 co-op started a grocery store three years ago. It is now also operating two milk routes, a butcher shop, fruit and vege table service, a credit union and a gas oline station. The opening of the first gas and oil co-op in Chicago may mark an important step in the organization of city gas sta tions which may some day match the record of rural co-ops which are handling in the neighborhood of $60,000,000 worth of petroleum products a year. Amarillo, Texas—'Local retail cooper atives in nine midwestern states returned to their members $850,000 in savings re funds during 1937, according to Howard A. Cowden, president of Consumers Co operative Association in an address to the annual meeting of Consumers Coop eratives Associated here last month. "That money was left in the communi ties where it was earned," Mr. Cowden declared. "If the co-op members were to spend all of those savings for shoes they would buy 212,000 pairs at $4 a pair; that would have kept 700 people at work for a year or enough workers to represent a town of 3,500 people." Maynard, 'Mass.—The United Coop erative Society of Maynard, now well established as the largest retail business in this town o;f 7,000- inhabitants, recorded the biggest business'in its history when its total sales for 1937 mounted to more than half a million dollars. Sales totaled $509,190 in 1937 as against $475,931 during the previous year. Net earnings for the year were $20,598 of which approximately $17,000 were paid out in 3J^% savings returns. All customers of the co-op, members and non-members alike, participated in the patronage dividends. New York—Three years ago the of ficers of the Knickerbocker Village co operative buying club took turns getting up at four o'clock in the morning to de liver cooperative milk to members of the struggling little co-op. Nursed on co-op milk, the cooperative took on the distribution of tree-ripened oranges and grapefruit when it had grown to 35 members. In 1936 the co-op arranged for the use of a basement room in New York's largest limited dividend housing project and went into the grocery 77 business. By fall it had taken on laundry distribution. In the beginning of 1937 the Village cooperators launched their credit union and by the end of the year, the co op had expanded to include 350 family members; and business had grown to $30,000 a year. April 19th the Knickerbocker Village Consumers Cooperative moved into a ground floor store—the largest in the Village. Consumer Distribution Corpora tion is assisting in the financing and man agement of the Knickerbocker Co-op. CO-OP CENSUS Washington, D. C.—The major sec tion of the census of the consumers cooperative movement in the United States recently completed by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in the field of the cooperative purchase of consumers goods 3,600 cooperative asso ciations with 677,000 individual members did a business of $182,685,000 in 1936. •Previous sections of the report, cover ing other types of consumers coopera tives, showed 3,728 cooperative tele phone associations with 330,000 indi-, vidual members; 259 electric supply co operatives serving 161,000 farm homes; 42 cooperative burial associations serving 27,000 members; and 35 cooperative housing associations with 2,200 family members. To these should be added another im portant group. Of the consumers cooper ative associations serving farm families, the report covers only those which deal in consumers goods (groceries, general merchandise, gas and oil, etc.) These represent 1,173 cooperative associations with 303,890 members doing an annual business of $111,998,641. A previous study by the Farm Credit Administration covering cooperative purchase of all types of goods by farm cooperatives showed an additional 939 cooperatives with 646,000 members that are coopera tive purchasing associations but do not handle consumers goods, thus making a total of farmers' purchasing cooperatives handling consumers goods and farm sup plies of 2,112 associations with an esti mated membership of 950,000 which did a business of $254,000,000 for the year ending June 30, 1936. To complete the survey of American consumer cooperatives, credit and coop- 78 erative insurance associations should added. Statistics are not yet availabl f cooperative insurance companies V^ Credit Union National Association ports that there are 7,000 credit union ^" the United States having a total mpmK 'n ship of 1,500,000. m0er- The Bureau of Labor Statistics de scribes the growth of consumer coopéra" tives as "a record of slow, quiet exn sion." While most consumer cooperativ have been formed in rural areas "orqarf ized labor is taking a new interest in th" possibilities of cooperation and in th formation of cooperative enterprises Church groups are also manifesting a lively and growing interest in coopera tion." The current report is based on answers to general questionnaires mailed to co operative associations plus field work in 13 states. Of the 3,600 consumers goods cooperatives 2,400 are cooperative store associations with 330,500 members and a business of $107,250,000; 1,150 are coop erative petroleum associations with 325,- 000 members and a business of $69,985,- 000; the other 50 are distributive associa tions with 22,250 members and business of $5,450,000. The typical American cooperative, ac cording to the report, has a membership of from 100 to 250 members. The associa tions handling petroleum products are found almost wholly in the Mississippi Valley. States with the largest number of cooperatives reported in the survey are Minnesota, with 224 associations with 64,000 individual members; Wisconsin, with 200 cooperatives having 51,000 members; Kansas, with 151 cooperatives reporting 21,000 members; Illinois, with 149 co-ops having 66,000 members; and Nebraska reporting 123 cooperatives with 25,600 members. Whi'le the report of the Bureau of La bor Statistics is not complete, it repre sents the most thorough-going study at tempted to date. Previous studies made by the Bureau covered cooperative devel opment in 1920, 1929 and 1933. Although those studies were not complete they are interesting evidence of cooperative growth: 1920— 696 associations ...... 196,352 members 1929—1,577 associations ...... 287,641 members 1933—1,854 associations ...... 328,278 members 1936—3,600 association,- ...... 677,750 members Consumers' Cooperation Ellen Edwards Editor CIRCLE PINES CENTER AN unusual cultural, recreation and educational center for cooperators, located at the northern end of the 5,000 acre Yankee Springs Recreation Project of the National Park Service, 32 miles north of Battle Creek, Michigan, has been leased by the Central States Coop erative League. The camp, which is called Circle Pines Center, will be the headquarters, for ten weeks of training schools and institutes planned to deal with almost every phase of cooperative organization. In addition the camp will provide vacational and recreational fa cilities for the entire family—a kind of "Cooperative Chautauqua." Of particular interest is the announce ment in the prospectus of the Circle Pines Center that the Center "affords oppor tunity for almost any type of outdoor recreation and nature study . . . An in structor in recreation will be provided. Folk songs, folk games, and dancing, and traditional games under expert direction will form an- important part of every program. Competent leadership and in struction will be provided in arts and crafts such as wood-working, shepherd's pipes, sketching, simulated stained glass work, hand tooled leather, weaving and other arts and crafts." Singing and play ing of instruments of many lands will also be a part of the recreational program. Dramatic and musical programs organ ized by the students will be given from time to time. • The schedule of prices is very modest, averaging about eight dollars a week per person, with tuition to the schools and institutes not to exceed $6 per week. At tendance in schools and institutes is not compulsory. You can go to Circle Pines (-enter either as a student or merely for an enjoyable vacation and rest. Complete information about Circle Pines Center is available from the Cen tral States Cooperative League, 2301 S. Mil'lard Avenue, Chicago, and coopera- , tors interested in a stimulating and re freshing vacation will wish to investigate the Center more thoroughly. NATIONAL COOPERATIVE RECREATION SUMMER SCHOOL Those interested in cooperative recrea tion will welcome the announcement that the Third Annual Cooperative Recrea tion Summer School will be held at Hull House Camp, Waukegan, Illinois, June , 10 to 22. The summer school, which is sponsored by The Cooperative League, will be conducted by the Cooperative So ciety for Recreational Education. Frank Shilston, member of the field staff of Midland Cooperative Wholesale, will be the director. Heading a competent staff will be Miss Neva L. Boyd, Department of Sociology, and Mrs. Charlotte B. Chorpenning, De partment of Dramatics, Northwestern University. As in former years recrea tional leaders who combine first-rate technical ability with a cooperative philosophy will make up the staff. The courses will include Folk Dancing, Drama, Theory of Recreation, Instru mental Music and Group Singing, Pup petry, Handicraft and Cooperative Games. The cost of accommodations at Hull House Camp will be $17.50 for the twelve days. The tuition will be $15. The Cooperative Recreation Summer School is designed primarily for educa tional and recreational directors of co-op wholesale and retail associations and for other recreational leaders and prospec tive leaders who are interested in recrea tion as an educational force both in per sonal and social adjustment. The Cooperative Society for Recrea- 79 I tional Education was organized at the conclusion of the first national recrea tional institute held at Camp Wildwood, Ohio, two years ago. Carl Hutchinson, educational department, Ohio Farm Bu reau Cooperative Association, is the president and Gertrude Emerson, Penn sylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative As sociation is secretary. Inquiries should be addressed to Miss Emerson, 3607 Derry Street, Harrisburg, Pa. RECENT COOPERATIVE ARTICLES Business Week, March 26, "Hard Lines for Madi son Co-ops," A business reporter's version of the milk war in Madison. The Cowbell, February, "Lobsters and Living Standards," a story of cooperative achievement, inspired by St. Francis Xavier University. Central-Blatt and Social Justice, April, "How to Prevent Depressions," J. Elliott Ross. A dis cussion of the part consumers cooperatives play in stabilizing the national economy. Commonweal, April 8, "Quebec Fosters Coopera tion," E. L. Chicanot. Under the stimulus of the government, cooperatives of all types are being developed. Dynamic America, April, "Consumers Coopera tion—Democracy's Yardstick," Joseph Van Vleck, Jr. A new approach to Scandinavia's economic democracy. Fellowship, April, "Pacifists and Cooperatives," Caroline Singer. Do's and Don'ts for pacifists interested in the cooperative movement. Free America, April, Entire issue devoted to co operatives. College co-ops, their growth in American colleges and their effect in training future leadership for the consumers cooperative movement, are featured. William Moore, Bertram B. Fowler, Co'ley Taylor and others are contributors. Forum, May, "Scandinavia in America," Bertram B. Fowler. A most readable article dealing with study clubs and co-ops in Nova Scotia. A splendid introduction to Mr. Fowler's forth coming book, "The Lord Helps Those" which will be published late in May. News îor Farmer Cooperatives, April, "The GO ODS and Rural Education," George T. Hudson. How cooperatives educate their members. Indians at Work, April, "A Co-op Tasting Party," Edward Huberman. How a co-op can turn re search investigator via the can opener. Printers Ink, March 10, "Co-op Statistics," a survey of co-op progress. Religious News, March 21, "Cooperative Society," a report of the Inter-faith Conference on Con sumers Cooperatives at Washington, D. C. Social Frontier, April, "Co-qps Come to the Cam pus," Fred E. Luchs. Progress is reported by student co-ops. Socialist Call, April 9, "Cooperative Problems in Racine, Wisconsin," Peter Wartiainen. 80 Tide, April 1, "Super-Co-op," a story of tV, co-op store in Knickerbocker Village, New v 6* Western Producer, March 17, "Cooperatio Democracy." The cooperative movement PY^ ^ its principles to the creation of an err s democracy. ec°nomic "Cooperation in a Troubled^ World," bv R James Myers, has appeared in thé foïïovvT'' publications: n9 Machinists Monthly Journal Boilennakers Journal Railway Clerk COOPERATIVE PLAYS, POSTERS AND FILMS PLAYS The Spider Web, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ..................... The Answer, a 3 act iplay, by Ellis Cowling ..................... Fill 'er Up, a one act radio play, by Marc Rosenblum and Pauline Gibson Two One Act Plays, Ellis Cowling .... ... 25c ... 20c ... lOc ... 15c POSTERS Organize Cooperatives, 26"x3&" Green, 5 for $1 ...................... 20c Cooperative Principles, 19"x28" Blue, 5 for $1 ........................ 20c Cooperative Ownership, 19"x28" Mulberry, 5 for $1 .................... 20c FILMS "When Mankind is Willing," a 16 mm, silent, three-reel film, with English titles, of coopera tive stores, wholesales and factories in France, showing particularly the activities of the Union of Cooperators of Lorraine at Nancy. Rental $3 per day, $1.50 for each additional showing or $10 per week. A Trip to Cooperative Nova Scotia, 3 reels, 16 mm, silent with titles, based on the 1937 Co-op tour. Rental $3 per day, $1.50 for each additional showing or $10 per week. FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St., New York, N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of tht U. S. A. Under supervision of K Y. State Insurance Department CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIV. No. 6 JUNE, 1938 Ten Cents COOPERATIVE COMMENT We are gratified over die fact that Joy Elmer Morgan, nationally-known editor of the Journal of the National Education Association, writes that Consumers' Co operation "reads like a crusade." That, at least, is how we purpose to make it read, for that is wlhat the Consumers' Co operative Movement should be. An Example from Sweden Kooperativa Forbundet, the Coopera tive Union of Sweden, has now decided that the price of linoleum is too high, and in accordance with its policy of entering into new fields where prices on widely used commodities are too high K.F. is , taking steps to start production. For some time the Swedish cooperatives have had an engineer in America looking into practical production problems after con cluding their previous economic study. The real news in 'this activity which they plan to undertake is that "as a first step the Board will begin negotiations for the purchase of the 'Forshaga factory, the principal one of its kind in Sweden. If this purchase cannot be arranged the i Society will build a linoleum factory," so l(he ICA News Service reports. This is 'he practical and fair way to "bust the trusts." First to accumulate reserves as the Swedish cooperatives have done to buy or build for spot cash, then to make an economic study of high profit and widely needed products, then to offer to buy a modern private factory at a fair price witih the water squeezed out, finally to build and bust the trust i'f ft will not "retreat gracefully" as Kagawa recom mends that business do before the march 'of cooperatives. A Business Man's Question An experienced and successful busi ness man visited us recently and asked the question, "Should I .go into the Co operative Movement?" We answered him by quoting figures. First, from tihe new book "Consumers Cooperation in Great Britain" showing the expense of cooperative retailing of groceries to be 13.96% compared with the Harvard Bu reau o'f Business Research statistics of 18% for independent grocers and 18.2% for grocery chains, or a saving of over 4% in retail expense. Then we quoted the recent census statistics of wholesaling ex pense of 5.2% for Retailer Owned Wholesales and compared them with the British Cooperative Wholesale Society's Consumers' Cooperation A" organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, In voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A.. 167 West 12th Street, New York City. E R. Bowen. Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing- Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. E«tered as Second Class Matter, December 19,1917, at the Post Office at New York. N. Y., under the Act of March 1, 1879. Price tl.OO a year. expense of the almost unbelievable low figure of 1.3% for handling Groceries and Provisions. Tlhis represents another possible saving of about 4% in whole saling. Before we could quote any compara tive figures for manufacturing our visitor said, "enough." He knew that, in time, he could not possibly go up against such low cooperative percentages and survive in private-profit business. The wise thing is for private dealers and wholesalers to convert their businesses into coopera tives. Grocery wholesalers have now done it in large numbers, and now re tailers such as Frank Hawkins of Enid, Okla., wiho recently converted his two stores into consumers' cooperatives, are beginning to take the further step. The purchase of private food factories will naturally follow. Bor good measure, we added as our visitor left, "And that's besides the hap piness which counts even more but can not be stated in percentages." We hope another private business man has been converted to the cause of cooperation. Fascism Looms in Bituminous Coal The beginnings of Fascism are simple. They consist in price fixing by producer- finance ownership of production and dis tribution of any commodity, enforced by the political government. That is what the National Bituminous Coal Commis sion Act means. Here is another current illustration of the truth behind the false face of tlhe slogan "less government in business." Charles A. Beard exposed this fallacy five years ago in a notable article in 'Harpers Magazine in which he showed •that all the regulatory acts passed by Congress had been at tlhe behest of the majority of business in any line w'hich wanted to line-up tlhe minority and thus prevent the action of free-competition. The new coal act is popularly called a "Coal Producers Law." The Consumers' Cooperative Move ment presented its case recently before an open hearing of the Bituminous Coal Commission, demanding its right to be given wholesale discounts for rendering wholesale services. The key point is in the confusion between allowances, dis- dounts, rebates, etc. given by some pri vate distributors (which are entirely 82 foreign to cooperative practice and given by private distributors are incu in financial statements before profit figured), and the patronage returns^f savings (called profits by private bus ness) which are required to be paid shareholders of cooperatives on (he b '° of purchases. * Sls For tJhe organized consumer there ar two questions involved: the first is th right of consumers cooperatives to hand! any product and receive discounts com mensurate with the services rendered on an equal footing with private business- the second is whether such a law should' not be carried through the courts to cut off in its beginnings another head of the monster of Fascism which has appeared This, cooperators will eventually have to decide through their chosen Directors and Officers. Education Is Not A "Loss" Once we were so bold as to challenge the delegates to the annual meeting of Central Cooperative Wholesale of Super ior, Wisconsin, that the wording on a sign which they had on the back wall, directly in line with the vision of the speakers, should be reversed. It read something like this, "We .should organ ize and educate." We stated that we believed the word "educate" should be first. The delegates applauded, so we are going to offer a further suggestion along similar lines as a comment on the 1937 financial statement of this "super ior" wholesale located at Superior, Wis consin. A summary of their "Income and Expense Statement" is as follows: Sales ...................... $3,340,125.81 Cost of Sales ................. 3,098,992.19 Margin .................... 241,133.62 Expenses ................... 156,740.27 Gain 84,393.35 To this "Gain" is added $401.75 as the result of Auditing and from this a- mount is deducted as "Loss" the sum of $7,884.95 for Education. Since When, and why, might we ask, is expense for Ed ucation a "Loss" in a Cooperative? Why should Education be singled out as a loss any more than the warehousing, purchasing, accounting, management or any other expense of the business? It's not yet certain that an efficient Consumers' Cooperation education Department in a Cooper- t-ve is n°t the most important "Gain" J nartment of all. While no Educational tfvities can function wi'thout good Business activities, it's even more true that no Business activities can eventu- i]y be the most successful without the borough Education of the Officers, Em ployees and Members. W'hy single out and present Educa tion before the delegates to tJhe annual meeting of a Cooperative as a Loss, af ter figuring Gain from Trading and Manufacturing, instead of including it in with the other Expense items of ware housing, purchasing, accounting and management before the Net Gain is fig ured? Then it will be more definitely realized by the delegates that it is a necessary part of the Expenses, just as much or perhaps more so than any other Expense item, to be deducted before fig uring Gain, rather than a Loss to be de ducted after Gain is figured, which leads to the inference that it might possibly be dispensed with more easily than any other Expense item. All Expense items, whether educa tion, warehousing, purchasing, account ing or management, should either be listed as Loss, or none of them be so list ed when final financial statements are issued. That the delegates to the Cen tral Wholesale annual meeting do not consider Education to be a Loss is, how ever, proven by the fact that they in creased the Educational budget for 1938 by 50% to $12,000. "Study-Circle" Idea Taking Hold In U. S. A. It is said that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Apparent ly the Swedish study-circle idea is even more appealing to Americans under varia tions of the name "Study-Circle" than under its original name. The Extension Department of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Sco- 'ia has developed study-circles to a greater degree than any other organiza tion in North America under the name Study-Clubs." They have organized more than twelve hundred study clubs •n only seven counties. The Oh'io Farm Bureau and its affil- lated Cooperatives of Columbus, Ohio, sent their secretary and one of their ed- 1938 ucational staff to Nova Scotia two years ago and have since organized more than three hundred "Advisory Councils." They also use the small "Discussion- Circle" method in week-end institutes and at their annual meetings. Consumers Cooperative Association of North Kansas City, Missouri, called them "Discussion Groups" when they organized a five months' employee train ing program last winter. An appealing alliterative variation of the name is "Neighbourhood-Nights," now being developed by Midland Co operative Wholesale of Minneapolis. The Milwaukee County Consumers Cooperative Association of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, uses the name "Cooperative Classes." At Fargo, North Dakota, a group has just met at the North Dakota Agricultural College to organize "Neigh borhood Meetings." The Vermont State Farm Bureau at Burlington, Vermont, has completed a series of forty-one "Study Clubs" averaging fourteen per sons, using the Nova Scotia name. The important fact .is that, even if American Cooperators are still "individ ualistic" enough to want to coin original names, which is a virtue rather than a fault, we have accepted and are on the way to rapidly adopt the Swedish-Nova Scotia idea of small discussion groups as the best means of adult education yet devised. Study clubs have been proven best both as a means of getting informa tion from the leaders to the members and also from the point of view of getting suggestions from the members to the leaders. NATIONAL CONFERENCE Editors of the major cooperative papers in the United States and educa tion, recreation and publicity directors oif regional cooperatives, district leagues and retail associations will hold their annual three-day conference at Hull House Camp, Waukegan, Illi nois, June 23, 24 and 25, under the auspices of The Cooperative League. The co-op conference wil consider major problems of cooperative policy and discuss programs of education for the coming year. Glenn Thompson, educational director of Midland Coop erative Wholesale, is in charge of .ar rangements. 83 NOVA SCOTIA REVISITED Bertram B. tv For in this village Dr. J. J. Tomp- £ s began the work of regeneration hat has gone triumphantly ,on, gather- kins ing ~pOR the past several years the educa- •*- tional work being carried on by St. Francis Xavier University has been at tracting the attention of American co- operators. Those who have visited eastern Nova Scotia have seen in the co operatives growing up in fishing and farming communities and mining towns something unique and progressive in philosophy and action. St. Francis Xa vier University has made a profound impression on these visiting coopera- tors, so profound indeed that many now agree that Nova Scotia is perhaps the most significant field of cooperation on the continent. True Democracy Visualized In the book, "The Lord Helps Those" the writer has attempted to summarize and evaluate the movement that has come out of Antigonish to give new life and hope to stranded and poverty- stricken communities. Out of the study and summarization have come certain definite implications that are of great import to the whole American move ment. In the columns of Consumers' Coop eration the writer has previously given 'his own brief summary of the Nova Scotian experiment. That summary strove to show that the Nova Scotian leaders had actually gotten a vision of true democracy and were working to unveil that vision to fishermen, farmers and industrial workers. Today certain new appearances in Nova Scotia prove conclusively that cooperation has en tered a new stage, vindicating the earl ier theories and rules laid down by the Antigonish educational leaders. To show clearly the import and meaning of the Antigonish movement it is necessary to trace distinctions and differences be tween the work done in Nova Scotia and that done in many parts of the United States. None of the distinctions or differences are intended in an invidr ious sense but rather as points which the movement in the United States should study and absorb. The consumer cooperative movement in the United States was started in tli majority of cases by farm leaders wh adopted the technique and began t build their units of cooperative ent ° prise upon a purely economic foundT tion. Since economic pressure was for " ing the farmers and workers to study and action and because of the tremen dous pressure of organized exploitation it was logical that the first units should have been so conceived and built. Too, the religious and educational leaders of the United States did not early recognize the fundamental mean ing of the consumer cooperative move ment. Therefore the ipurely spiritual and ethical content that only these men could pour into the movement was in most cases lacking. That such a con cept of cooperation is now actually ap pearing in the United States is due in no small part to the influence and guidance given by those educators and religious leaders wftio have been at tracted by the movement and have be gun to interpret it intellectually and ethically. Economics Founded On Ethics In Nova Scotia the whole movement rose directly out of the ranks of the educators and priests. These men were interested primarily in the regeneration and cultural awakening of the people and accepted an economic technique as vitally important but still secondary to the primary necessity of cultural and spiritual rebirth. The whole program of cooperative action in Nova Scotia has been carried forward on that 'basis. In eadh of the tiny farming and fish ing communities the primary evil was that of apathy and ignorance that stemmed directly from the root of pov erty.. Therefore the pioneer priests who began to preach cooperative action voiced their message in terms of a cul tural and ethical renaissance. Practically every cooperator has read the story of Little Dover, that fishing village on the eastern slhore of Nova Scotia where the people had been re duced to abject and soul-destroying pov- Consumers' Cooperation strength and scope with the pass- . o years. Dr. Tompkins has said repeatedly that A£ one important thing was to get these overty-enslaved people to lift up their Lads and1 begin to think for themselves. ue did not care greatly what definite ourse of action they should take when •hey began to think. For he was con vinced from the start that the action would be right. Therefore the real mes sage he carried to Little Dover was one Of necessity for straight thinking.! The lobster factory at Little Dover, first of the many that now are strung along the coast of the Maritime Prov inces rose, not so much from a care fully conceived and worked out plan of action as it did from the awakened and energized minds of the people. Be cause of this the important phase of the building of that first lobster factory lay in the fact that the people gave freely of their labor and scanty resources to build it with their own hands. Thus that factory, and t3he many which fol lowed it, was founded on the bed rock of an awakened intelligence and power that had been dormant for generations. The increased income that is now flowing to the people of Little Dover from this unit of production is some thing more than a mere economic gain. To them it is important because it proves what Dr. Tomipkins had been telling them for years, namely, that they were just as smart, just as resourceful and powerful as the men who had been exploiting them. Thus he replaced the mere resentment upon which so many cooperatives have been built by some thing more powerful and constructive. The Credit Union—A First Step The Nova Scotian approach to the credit union method of pooling com munity funds for the community use illustrates the unique approach of the men of Antigonish to the whole problem of credit. These men accepted the tech nique of the credit union from the United States. They lifted the whole idea bodily from their cousins across 'he line. But they set it on a far dif ferent foundation. While the credit union in the United States was in most instances an entity in and of itself, it became something far different in Nova Scotia. In the fishing, farming and in dustrial communities there it became the first unit in ithe new economic structure which these men and women were at tempting to build. Therefore these peo ple met in their little study clubs and studied the whole problem of credit as it touched them, their communities and society in general. The credit union became the first step in their cooperative march out of the desert of a profit-controlled econ omy. The tiny sums so collected were looked upon, not as a mere reservoir for the supiply of personal loans, but as a source upon which they should draw for the rebuilding of the community. Out of these tiny credit unions have come the stores, the lobster factories, the sawmills and other cooperative pro ducing units in the rural areas. In the mining towns even more fundamental community enterprises are now rising. In doing this the Nova Scotians have given a totally new dimension to the credit union technique; one that must be studied in the United States if we are ever to make use of those resources of the people which now are allowed1 to remain in the hands of the exploiters. The Co-op Store — Basis of the New Community As with the credit union so with the cooperative store. In too many com munities all over the world the coop erative store idea is presented to the people on a basis of possible patronage dividends and, therefore, as containing nothing more promising than increased purchasing power. In Consumer Coop eration again the Nova Scotians bor rowed from the United States as well as from Great Britain and the Scandin avian countries. And again they re interpreted and enlarged upon the thes is they accepted. The cooperative store, the study club members learned, was another unit in the new community. It •was tremendously important because only when they proved their ability as consumers to carry on their own busi ness and serve themselves economically and efficiently could they go on to big- I June, 1938 •ger and deeper considerations and en terprises. In village after village the credit tinion was used to (prepare the way for the store. The chronic evil of store credit in Nova Scotia was considered incurable by most observers. Through the credit unions the evil was obliterated in village after village. When this was done the store was opened on a cash basis. Store and credit union thus worked hand in liand at the job of emancipation. The study clubs were organized and became the real foundation of educa tion, economic, ethical and cultural. These study clubs were the real per manent centre of the community since they were not set up to carry through a course of study which was to be laid aside when economic action began. They were set up as permanent organ izations through which the fishermen and workers should begin a never-end ing march upward and forward. Co-op Medicine, Housing and Burial In St. Andrews the farmer members of the community cooperatives began some time ago to face the fact that the purely economic units must be linked with social services. Facing this fact the members of the cooperatives entered in to an agreement with a hospital at Antig- onish, whereby the cooperative paid to the hospital a fixed sum per member. The memibers, in return, were insured against sickness ; were given certain fixed services in hospitalization and medical care. In the same manner the miners in Cape Breton have advanced beyond the store and credit union stage to new and Wiide developments in the field of coop eration. These miners have built up their credit unions until today they are sound and substantial banks of the peo ple. With the credit so pooled they have built their stores. Last year one group bepan to study cooperative hous ing. The first ten men organized a hous ing cooperative and spent twenty-six weeks in exhaustive study of the whole field of .housing. Mary Arnold, formerly leader in the development of cooperative services in New York City, having had actual ex perience in the housing field, went to «6 Nova Scotia last year and ,uined extension staff of St. Francis Y University. Under her leadership^ ten men of the first cooperative h ing group planned their homes 7v~ spring they are building the first' arn, of houses. y OUP These men have advanced mere cooperative distribution to a where they are beginning to live eration instead of simply applyina the field of credit and store k< Two additional study groups formed to follow the lead of the fif! organization. In these study clubs thev are now talking of cooperative utilities hospitalization, burial societies and th like. They are, in other words, beqin ning to understand that cooperation in its various phases is as wide as our whole continental scene, touching every phase of life. y Cooperative Design for Living In the .dralb mining areas of Cape Breton there has been started, as a re sult of work and study, the beginning of the first real home-owning develop ment in the history of the area. To pre dict that this new move will change the whole attitude and outlook of these miners is to simply state the obvious fact. According to Miss Arnold, the most important outgrowth of tHe coopera tive housing study has been the gradual and apparent rise in outlook and appré ciation among the miners. Through their studies they have begun to visualize bet ter and more beautiful homes. Their studies are taking them away from the grimy environs of the mines to open country nearby. Thus a real culture is now beginning to appear, revitalizing and reforming the outlook of the miners. The Link Between Social Laws and Their Application Through the cooperative housing study in Nova Scotia something else important is being proven. These miners. in taking advantage of a Provincial Housing Act, are showing the real link between broad social laws enacted by Parliament and ithe actual application of those laws through the economic units set up by the people. Consumers' Cooperation The Housing Act, passed some years qOi set aside certain funds to be loaned to iow-ount of $1,610,000,000; clothing to an amount of $1,150,000,000; and house 'urnishings totaling $860,000.000. These 'JjJures cover only farmers' purchases; tlley do not indude the purchases of Consumers' Cooperation June, 1935 urban residents, which are even more largely in the lines of food, clothing and shelter. There is no good reason why one wholesale cooperative in a trading area and one retail cooperative in a trading area cannot serve practically all of the needs of all consumers most efficiently and economically. Departmentalizing of wholesale and retail cooperatives has proven to be highly successful from an efficiency standpoint. From a mem bers' standpoint, it is far better to .con centrate one's interest and time in one cooperative purchasing organization t'han in several. Those who are now leaders of whole sale and retail cooperatives in America as Managers or Directors should lead out as rapidly as practical in adding other lines or products so as to increas ingly serve more and more of the needs of all the consumers of their trading area. Proper Legislation Should Encourage Sound Cooperative Organization It is only on the basis of a correct understanding of Consumers' Coopera tion as including the purchase of all forms of food, goods and services for users, irrespective of their vocation, res idence, religion, race or politics; together with a practical knowledge of the ne cessity of cooperatives serving all con sumers of products in order to meet private competition and be the most suc cessful as economic units, tihat the right kind of legislation can 'be formulated. Any legislation which has to do with the right to organize and incorporate, or with the right to .handle products and receive discounts in accordance with the services rendered, such as, for ex ample, the handling of coal under the National Bituminous Coal Commission Act, should be so drawn that -there is no differentiation between Consumers' Cooperatives, irrespective of the voca tion or residence of their membership. Such acts should, likewise, recognize the rights of all cooperatives to pur chase and receive discounts equally with private dlistributors, and not con fuse the patronage return required to be paid by cooperatives to their share holders with any special discounts, al- 89 i N lowances, rebates, etc., allowed by pri vate dealers. Legislation having to do with taxa tion should also be drawn to treat all cooperative purdhasing associations a- like. Proper legislation will not, as the present revenue acts do, discriminate be tween rural and urban cooperative pur chasing associations in the matter of taxation of the amounts paid as inter est on shares, or in the amounts voted to surplus, and exempt rural coopera tives and not urfoan cooperatives. The savings of a cooperative are only a part of the earned incomes of its members which they have paid in as overcharges on their purchases anidl on which they are personally taxed. To re-tax in the form of interest or surplus is plainly multiple taxation. Unban cooperatives do not make profits any more than do rural cooperatives. Since sound coop erative organization requires that co operatives serve all users of products irrespective of their residence or vo cation, the exemption o'f one type of cooperatives and not of another will only result in interference by legisla tion with sound cooperative organiza tion, in addition to being plainly dis criminatory and unfair practice on the part of the government. If the government is to handle credit, as it is increasingly doing, then any legislation having to do with credits to cooperatives should neither be •discrim inatory nor interfere with sound coop erative development. The Farm Credit Administration Act, giving credits only to cooperative purchasinq associations whose membership is made up of farm ers, and only for trie purchase of farm supplies is discriminatory and inter feres with sound cooperative develop ment. As a matter of justice, there is no valid reason why 'Consumers' Coop erative purchasing associations should not receive low interest credits on an equal basis whether their membership is all rural or aü urban, or part rural and part urban, and irrespective of whether t!he products they purchase are house hold supplies or vocational supplies. As a matter of cooperative organization, it is an unwise requirement in the making of such loans to influence cooperatives to limit their membership to one voca tional group when, to be the most sue- 90 oessful and meet private business 0 equal terms, they must ' open up the" membership to all consumers of tl/ products handled. It is equally unwise to discriminate, in making loans, be tween the kinds of products purchased and refuse to make loans for household supplies as well as vocational suppHes The Cooperative League has in its membership more wholesale and retail cooperative associations which are now made up principally of rural than of ur ban memibers. Yet, such rural member ship cooperatives, as well as urban membership cooperatives, stand for ab solute legislative equality among them selves, and between themselves, as a whole, and private business. W'hat all want is legislation that we will neither be discriminatory tween rural or urban groups, nor which by any discrimination will influence co operatives to develop other than sound cooperative organizations by restrict ing their membership to only part of the consumers of the products they han dle or limiting the products thev sell. This is the goal we seek — A cor rect classification o£ Consumers' Co operatives to include all types of food, goods and services purchased by users; membership open to all users of the pro ducts handled; proper legislation, which is neither discriminatory between coop eratives nor which will influence them to limit membership or the Unes they handle and thus eventuallv develop co operative organizations which are less efficient than they might be. TAKE A TRIP TO NOVA SCOTIA Dr. J. J. Tompkins, the inspirer of the great Nova Scotia adult education-cooperative or ganization development is described by one of the miner cooperators as the "thinkinest man I ever see." He is one of the "three pillars of the Antigonish Movement," which also include Dr. M. M. Coady and Prof. A. B. McDonald. AU three of them will be leaders of the discussions at the special conferences which will be par ticipated in by those who join the Second An nual Tour to Nova Scotia in August under the joint direction of The Cooperative League and the Extension Department of St. Francis Xavier University. Information about the two sections of the tour this year can be secured by writing Dr. J. H. Carpenter, 285 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., who will again be the general tour leader. PACIFIC COAST STUDENTS ORGANIZE LEAGUE OF COLLEGE CO-OPS Robert E. Colwell Consumers' Cooperation STUDENT leaders on the campuses of the Universities of Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington, and Washington State College almost simultaneously rec ognized the cooperative movement as a means of making democratic group life available to students with moderate school budgets. George S. Tanner, Di rector of tihe L. D. S. Institute, began the movement with 22 men on the Uni versity of Idaho campus in 1932. Harry Kingman, General Secretary of t'he University of California YMCA, took the leadership in organizing the first cooperative house in Berkeley in 1933. Walter Honderich, a graduate student interested in practical sociology, (lathered together 27 men and beqan the first cooperative 'house at the Uni versity of Washington in September 1933. Study clubs preceded the opening of the cooperative 'houses on the camp uses of the University of Oregon and Washington State College in the au tumn of 1935 under the sponsorships of Howard Ohmart, Charles Paddock and Manley Sackett, Cut Living Costs Forty Per Cent Today, these cooperatives have grown to the largest student living organiza tions on their campuses and have a total membership of over 2,000 students with an annual business volume of over $210,000.00. The savings to members are more than $150.000.00 annually. The groups, all organized on the Rochdale principles and operated in practically the same manner, found their problems and interests were very simi lar. Thru informal visits and the ex change of letters, the leaders and their members began to realize the mutual benefits that could be gained from closer unity and the calling of a conference was suggested. A first college co-op conference, held at the University of Washington on De cember 20 and 21, was so profitable that A second was called for early spring to lay the groundwork for a per- June, 1938 manent League of College Coopera tives. The second conference was held during Easter Vacation at Moscow, Idaho, under the auspices of Washing ton State College and University of Idaho cooperatives. The sessions were devoted to reports and discussions on the structure, management, bookkeeping, taxation and other problems of the groups represented. Co-ops the Answer Says College President At the second conference President Harrison C. Dale of the University of Idaho told the delegates, "Cooperation is the essential way of solving our pres ent problems, national and international, economic and social. Students are get ting remarkably fine experience in such cooperation." Professor O. L. Mimms. of the De partment of Agricultural Economies at the University of Idaho, presented tables showing the growth and savings of the student's cooperatives. Dean McCreey, D'ean of Men at Washington State Col lege, spoke on Character Education and Discipline. Mrs. V. A. Gherrington, hos tess of the Idaho Club Cooperative, led a discussion on Social Administration in Students' Cooperatives. Hubbard Kuok- ka read a paper on the growth and P'1ans of the Campbell Cooperative at the University of Oregon, and Robert Colwell described the Centralized Food Service iat the University o'f Washing ton Students' Cooperative Association. The final action of the second con ference was to elect directors to a tenta tive Students' Cooperative League for the Pacific Coast and to instruct the di rectors to prepare action toward having the Students' Cooperatives exempted from the Federal Corporation Income Taxes. The Student Cooperative Asso ciation at the University of Washing ton, 1114 E. 45th Street, Seattle, Wash ington was selected as a clearing house for information for all the Pacific Coast Student Cooperatives. 91 KECK ON Ellen Edwards Editor THE RECREATION PROGRAM OF A TRADE UNION '"We're just plain, simple, common, ordinary, everyday men and women who work hard for a living" THUS do the actors in the currently successful "Pins and Needles" intro duce themselves to a Broadway audi ence nightly. Unlike the usual "love" and "moonlight" theme of most musical comedies, these garment workers who ihave turned actors, demand that their true love "Sing A Song of Social Significance." A rather unusual open ing for the smash New York musical hit of tihe season. But not so unusual if you look behind the first line chorus of "Pins and Needles" into the broad cul tural and educational program of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union which is responsible for the play. The Garment Workers Capture Broadway "Pins and Needles," much to every one's surprise, particularly the critics, has proved to be a smash hit. It is prac tically impossible to secure tickets for the New York show unless they are secured months in advance and already two road companies have been sent out. The popularity of the musical revue lies chiefly in the satirical treatment of seri ous subject matter. The actors poke fun not only at stuffed shirts, such as "Mussolini" in "Public Enemy No. 1" and at international politics in an amus ing skit entitled, "Four Little Angels of Peace" (Hitler, Mussolini, Chamber lain and a Japanese) but there is a great deal of laughter at the expense of labor itself. A keen sense of humor is at the bottom of every skit and a spirit of good fun permeates the cast whether they are singing of "One Big Union for Two" or wailing of the sad plight of the 92 young girl who, though she uses all the advertised powders, creams and lotions all the boys pass her by. The freshness, energy and gootj spirits of the members of "Pins and Needles" is one of the outstanding con tributions to its enjoyment and success And these same musical stars are, or rather were, cutters, dressmakers, press ers, stitchers, etc., in the garment in dustry in New York City. The success of these young men and women is not as spectacular and dramatic as it would seem to those who know nothing of the purpose of Labor Stage, producer of "Pins and Needles" and the Internation al Ladiies Garment Workers Union, sponsor of Labor Stage. For more than a year, Louis Schaffler, director of La bor Stage, nursed and coddled "Pins and Needles" until it was ready for Broadway presentation. And behind that is the presentation of "Steel," widely acclaimed as a timely, forceful play. La bor Stage, organized two years ago, aims "to be instrumental in developing a new kind of theater, alive and res ponsive to the important tremdls in cur rent American life." It is perhaps the most well known of the activities of the Educational Department of the I. L. G. W. U. but is only a small section of the whole broad cultural and recreation program under the direction of this pro gressive trade union. Labor Educates Itself The Educational Department of the I. L. G. W. U. was organized in 1916 and has three main functions. The first is the education of the vast member ship of the union. This is the most ex tensive division. In it are included edu cational meetings, lectures, excursions Consumers' Cooperation j visits to museums, art galleries and 8ther places of interest. All sorts of reational and cultural opportunities f£ provided, such as games, sports, dancing, dramatics and music. TThe second division comprises the smaller groups thait meet weekly for the systematic study of such subjects as economics, social history and history of the American labor movement, English, journalism and public speaking. The third division provides practical training 'for union members who are likely to assume positions of responsi bility, paid or unpaid, in labor unions. Of primary concern to persons inter ested in creative recreation is the first division, that of providing cultural and recreational opportunities for the mem bership of the I. L. G. W. U. It is wise to point out that these classes are open to all and are not restricted to union membership, although, of course, the most active participants are union mem bers. The Educational Department re ported that during the year ending May, 1937, there were more than 553 groups with more than 20,000 students weekly, in all sections of the country. In New York City where the largest percentage of the membership is concentrated, the recreational activities are particularly numerous. These activities include a chorus of 120. voices, a band, a Mando lin Orchestra olf 70 pieces, a dramatics, group, responsible for the two previous ly mentioned plays, "Steel" and "Pins and Needles" as well as many one-act plays and skits, and a Dance Group. In die list of outstanding events during 1936 and 1937, we find the presentation of several operas, original one-act plays, annual concert by the New York Cho rus, showing of WPA paintings, Man dolin orchestra with the Humphrey- Weidman dancers as guests, pageant, ".Surging Forward" presented at St. Louis and frequent mention of radio programs and use of films, film strips and victrola records. The concrete results of this educa tional program cannot be summed up in black and white. What is important is that the people themselves are creating their own cultural expression. While there are educational directors and a central educational office which assists in many different ways such as furnishing material, giving advice and direction, the members themselves are creating the impetus for the whole pro gram. Education for Creative Leisure It is also highly important to point out that the organization which has de veloped this well-rounded educational program is responsible to a large ex tent in cutting down the hours of labor for thousands of working people. They have had the vision to provide leisure time activities to enrich the lives of these same people. It is a definite chal lenge to all groups such as trade unions and! cooperatives which are working for a better social order not only to help people decrease the hours of toil but to enable them to use their new leisure time to the fullest — to learn to play and laugh together. The I. L. G. W. U. proudly states that "Besides aiding our members to gain a greater measure oif the material comforts of life, we do all we can to make their lives fuller, gayer and more cultured. On this basis we founded our educational work a génération ago." The vast cultural and recreational program which is in full swing today is a living testimony of the attainment of this goal. COOPERATIVES ON THE MARCH N, Kansas City, Mo. — Nearly 5,000 new members, (4,945) joined 119 local «tail cooperatives affiliated with the Consumers Cooperative Association dur- ">9 its 60 day trade and membership drive which was completed March 31. Ihe membership drive, during which y of the 400 cooperatives which are '"embers of the co-op wholesale, staged local campaigns, boosted the total in dividual membership of Consumers Co operative Association from an estimated 120,000 to 125,000 .members. Elk City, Oklahoma — More than 66,000 people in the State of Oklahoma have signed a petition to amend the medical practice acts of the State in or- 93 der to protect the Cooperative Hospital here, according to Dr. Michael Shadid, Medical Director of the Hospital. The petition 'has been approved by the Sec retary of State of Oklahoma despite the opposition of the State Medical Society. In a last attempt to have the petition declared invalid the Medical Society appealed to the Supreme Court of the State. Dr. Shadid said that a favorable decision is expected before this year's election and if so adoption was assured. St. Paul — The Farmers Union Cen tral Exchange handled more than 5,- 000,000 gallons (623 tank cars) of gas oline, kerosene and distillate at its ware houses at St. Paul and Billings, Mon tana, during the month of March. In ad dition it shipped to its affiliated co-ops in North Dakota and Montana 317,000 gallons of lubricating oil, and 264,300 pounds of grease. As cooperative rural electric lines are completed the volume of sales of wash ing machines, radios, refrigerators, vac uum cleaners and otiher electrical appli ances is expanding. The Exchange is now handling two carloads of refrigera tors per week. New York—The Cooperative League Institute, a cooperative college for the training of prospective executives and educational directors, wound up its sec ond term May 13 when 20 students completed their three-month academic training and went into the field for two months "laboratory work" in coopera tives throughout the country. Students were assigned to co-ops from Caldwell, Idaho to Greenbelt, Mary land and will do all types of work dur ing their training period. This was 'the second class to complete its academic work at the college here. Practically all of the original class have already se cured positions in co-ops, according to Lionel Perkins, registrar. Applications are being received for the Fall Session which opens Sept. 26. New York — Consumers Coopera tive Services at its 18th Annual meet ing here May 20 reported business back in the black and sales for the year $15,- 000 ahead of its volume for the preced ing year. C. C. S. is now operating 10 cooperative cafeterias and three grocery 94 stores in addition to its bakery and V brary services.. l~ A feature of this year's meeting Wa(! a "demonstration dinner" served to ï members dramatizing the unusual fe/ tures oif the cooperatives' food service " Superior, Wisconsin—Two hundred and thirty three young people frora Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northern Michigan took part in the Annual Con ference and Convention of Cooperative Youth meeting here May 7 and 8. The conference approved an increased budget which will make it possible to employ a full time secretary. Plans were madte for the annual Youth Course, a cooperative music festival, debate and athletic contests. The delegates also vot ed to continue publication of their pub lication the Co-op Future and endorsed the creation of a national committee to build sentiment for a national coopera tive youth movement. Detroit — "This profit-making epoch is coming to a close because the plan of business which neglects the consumer has spelled its own disintegration," Dr. James P. Warbasse, president of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., told the delegates to the annual con gress of the Central States Cooperative League, meeting here April 24. He urged that cooperators add to their extensive activities new enterprises such as co operative housing, medicine and burial service. The Central States League serves 66 urban consumer cooperatives in Illinois; Indiana, Ohio and Lower Michigan. The Cooperative Wholesale, Chicago, which serves cooperatives affiliated with the co-op league, held its annual meet ing here April 25, A. W. Warinner, manager, reported that the wholesale, which was organized 2 years ago with $900 capital and 18 members, handled $95,000 worth of goods last year. The board of the wholesale voted to con tinue the present practice of descrip tive labeling and to pay member retail co-ops a patronage dividend of 1% on goods purchased diuring the past year. N. Kansas City, Mo. — The Con sumers Cooperative Association con tinued to expand its program of inter national cooperative trade when it re ceived an order from the Bulgarian Co- perative Wholesale Society for 4,760 allons of lubricating oil blended in the Operative compounding plant here for shipment to Sofia, Bulgaria. During the past three years Consum- ers Cooperative Association has shipped OJ1 to cooperatives in France, Belgium, Scotland, Estonia and Canada. Washington, D. C- — Protesting aqainst any possible discrimination be tween cooperatives and private profit distributors under the National Bitumi nous Coal Commission Act, E. R. Bowen, general secretary of The Cooperative League, told members of the coal com mission at a public hearing here May 4 that -'Consumers cooperative purchasing associations desire no special considera tion, only tlhe right to do business in the ordinary course of competition without regard to whether their stockholders are urban or rural residents and without re gard to the legally required method by which they distribute their savings." Antigonish, Nova Scotia—St. Francis Xavier University and its extension staff, which has taken the leadership in or ganizing an adult education and cooper ative program -which is credited with the economic reconstruction of Nova Scotia, has been given the blessing of Pope P'ius XI. In a letter from Cardinal Pacelli, Vati can Secretary of State, addressed to Rev. James Morrison, Bishop of Antigonish and Chancellor olf St. Francis Xavier University, tlhe Holy Father declares that (he movement has "brought him great joy and is an earnest of better things for the time to come." The letter continues: "The Holy Father adds, to the générai ex pression of admiration and congratulation, his own tribute of praise . . . Not light is the task, indeed, .but great the glory, the more especially because under favorable auspices many may be led to -emulate your example." The "Antigonish movement," as it has come to be called, has led fo the organi zation of 1,100 study clubs with more than 12,000 members in poverty stricken Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, rrom these study clubs have grown 105 »operative credit -unions with 20,000 members with assets of $450,000; 35 co operative stores witih 2500 members wing an annual business of $950,000; ^cooperative fish plants and lobster Consumers' Cooperation W, 1938 processing factories with assets of $84,- 000 and a yearly business of well over a quarter of a million dollars. Already "emulating" the work of St. Francis Xavier University, other organ izations have spread the work to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Que bec and Newfoundland. REVIEWS A Tour of Nova Scotia Cooperatives, New York, The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. (167 West 12 Street) 1938. 20 cents. Some call it a "maritime miracle," others say it •is the most exciting or the most significant project in adult education on this continent. Still others talk about something happening in Nova Scotia that is changing the map as well as the people. Recently it was revealed that "great joy" had been brought to Pope Pius XI because of the work of the Extension Department of St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. This book let tells what 91 people from the United States and Canada saw and found in eastern Nova Scotia in the summer of 1937. The pamphlet was written by a score or more of the people who took part in the conference tour. It contains several of the most important descriptions yet made of the significant program in adult education and the cooperatives, for ex ample, those by Dr. M. M. Coady and Dr. J. J. Tomjpkins. Th-e notes and impressions of numerous members of the tour are included. Dr. J. Henry Carpenter of Brooklyn, N. Y., the tour üeader, writes an introduction. This is the story of a university that decided to educate adults for action; of a university that decided its future was bound up with the welfare of the farmers, fishermen and miners; of a uni versity that deliberately pointed its education to ward the organization of credit unions, coopera tive stores, cooperative lobster factories. In De cember, 1931, I was in eastern Nova Scotia and I found in the rural areas and the fishing villages not one credit union, not one lobster factory, a few cooperative stores. As a result of the spiritual and educational dynamic of the "men of An tigonish" one finds in 1938 120 credit unions, 35 cooperative stores, 25 cooperative fish plants. These have grown out of over 1,000 study clubs with more than 12,000 members. The movement has recently spread to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Is'land, Quebec and Newfoundland. There will be two conference tours in 1938. Information about them may be secured from Dr. J. Henry Carpenter, 285 Schermerhorn Street, - Brooklyn, New York or The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12 Street, New York City. Benson Y. Landis. Cooperative Burial Associations, The Cooperative League, 167 West 12 Street, New York, 1938. 10 cents. This pamphlet is an assembly of various ar ticles about cooperative burial associations in cluding an article by Reuben Schäkel, president 95 i of the Iowa State Federation of Cooperative Burial Associations; a list of associations in Iowa and Minnesota; a bulletin on Cooperative Burial Associations by the U. S. Dept. of Labor; and an article by Bertram B. Fowler from Forum Maga zine, "When the Ultimate Consumer Dies." All of them tell how to "bury yourself at half price" cooperatively. RECENT COOPERATIVE ARTICLES American Magazine, June, "Diagnosing the Doc tors," Beverly Smith. An analysis of the medical professions attitude toward cooperative and group health projects. American Observer, May 2, "Cooperatives Make Extensive Progress," a well written and amply illustrated story of the gains the movement has made in city and rural groups. Business Week, April 23, "Census Shows Big Co-op Gain," a summary of the first official figures since 1933. May 14, "Co-op Stores Grow in Greenbelt," Greenbelt cooperatives viewed from a business magazine's outlook. Commonweal, April 29, "What is Capitalism?" Virgil Michel. A summary of the need for social reconstruction with the proposal of the coop erative movement as one of the ways of re construction. Domestic Commerce, April 30, "Operations of Retail Cooperatives, 1936," condensed from the article in the Monthly Labor Review. Dynamic America, May, M. E. Kriegel, "Building the Cooperative Society," deals chiefly with the Cooperative College. Hat Worker, May 15, "Cooperatives Do Tre mendous Business," Dr. A. S. Lipschitz. Dis cussion of cooperative achievements and how co-ops help labor. Information Service, April 30, "Census of Con sumers Cooperatives," summary of Bureau of Labor Statistics co-op survey. Junior Review, May 2, "Consumers' Cooperatives on the Increase," background material and present status of movement. Ken, May 19, "Doctors Versus Health," Lawrence and Sylvia Martin. The fight against reaction in the AMA by cooperative health groups. Liberty, May 7, "Haunted House Makes Good," John Ash ton. The stirring story of 1000 Texas A. and M. college boys who have turned a haunted house into the first of a number of co operative houses. Monthly Labor Review, Aprïl, "Summary of Credit Union Operations, 1936," based on figures furnished by the Farm Credit Adminis tration. May, "Operations of Retail Cooperatives, 1936," official census of consumers cooperatives. Mountain Life and Work, April, "Ideas Are More Powerful Than Bullets," Helen H. Dingman. "News for Farmer Cooperatives, May, "Co-op Buying in Wisconsin," R. K. Froker and Joseph G. Knapp. Wisconsin leads in co-op purchasing with nearly 300 local co-ops. Political Digest, May, "Consumers Cooperation, Democracy's Yardstick," Joseph Van Vleck, Jr., reprinted from Dynamic America. 96 Railroad Trainman, May, "Government Cens Cooperatives," summary of Bureau of L\, Statistics survey. . abor Survey, June, "The Lord Helps Those," Bert B. Fowler. The adult education and cooperati"" program of Nova Scotia with particular VC iphasis on the part Father Tompkins has pla^d in its development. ' ° Tide, May 1, "Co-op Census" and "CDC R grets," a news story on Consumer Distributton Corporation's "unspectacular job of solidifvin CD-DOS as they stand." " True Story, May, "Our Money Mad Doctors" as told to E. L. Stowe by Dr. Michael Shadid The story of the Elk City Cooperative Hospital Radical Reliqion, Spring, "The Consumers Co operative Movement," W. S. Symonds. Weekly News Review, May 2, "Consumers Or ganize to Reduce Living Costs," the idea be hind the movement and the progress thus far" "The Cooperative Movement in Foreign Na tions," How the co-ops plav a vital role in the business life of Northern Europe. Wharton Review, April, "Large Scale Coopera tives," Benson Y. Landis, a treatment of the history and development of farmers marketing and purchasing cooperatives. YMHA Bulletin, May 5, "The Consumers Coop eratives," General history and background of Co-ops. First in a series of six articles. COOPERATIVE PLAYS AND POSTERS PLAYS The Spider Web, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ..................... The Answer, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ..................... Fill 'er Up, a one act radio play, by Marc Rosenblum and Pauline Gibson Two One Act Plays, Ellis Cowling ..... 25c 20c ... lOc ... 15c POSTERS Organize Cooperatives, 26"x38" Green, 5 for $1 .............. Cooperative Principles, 19"x28" Blue, 5 for $1 ............... Cooperative Ownership, 19"x28" Mulberry, 5 for $1 ........... 20c 20c 20c FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St.. New York. N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. Under supervision of N. Y, State Insurance Department. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE- PLENTY- DEMOCRACY Volume XXIV. No. 7 JULY, 1938 Ten Cents COOPERATIVE COMMENT Give Me Work! Give Me Life! Young men and women are today dinning into the ears of their fathers and mothers the cries. "Give Me Work! Give Me Life!" They are saying "I've not done anything wrong. Why shouldn't I have a chance?" The sound is piling up until it roars like a strong wind in America. And sensitive fathers and mothers shrink from the sound of their children's voices. They haven',t work to give their own children; they cannot preserve their own children's Jives when war rages. They .remember the question day and night "What man is there of you, who, if his son asks bread, will give him a stone," and are shamed in their hearts as their consciences indict them as guilty. What curses this generation is heaping upon itself faom its dead and living childen! What price we miust .pay to absolve our crimes committed upon our own children! How shall we cleanse ourselves from our guilt? The answer .can no longer be found in the efforts of each family, in the struggling of individual parents and their children. The answer can only be found in the rapid growth of conviction of .social guilt over the tragic results of our private profit economic system in poverty, unemploy ment and tenancy, together with an energetic determination to apply the spirit of brotherhood to the building of a cooperative economic society that will serve "all the children of all the people," — that will distribute plenty to all and bring peace on earth. Consumers' Coopération 411 organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people In voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New York City. E- R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing- Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1911, at the. Post Office at New York. N. Y., under the Act of March Î, 1879. Price tl.OO a year. How Can We?, Asks Beard Dr. Charles A. Beard offers the follow ing advice to grown-up boys and girls in America: "If we cannot solve even the problem of putting 10,000,000 of our own citizens to work on the lavish resources right at hand, or have collective security at home, how can we have the effrontery to assume that we can solve the problems of Asia and Europe, encrusted in the blood-rust of fifty centuries? Really, little boys and girls, how can we?" Conspicuous Waste We imagine that if Veblen were alive today he would use an advertisement of a bill clip for college students priced at $34 as a glaring illustration of the ex pression he coined of "conspicuous waste." "Capitalism Is Doomed" That Capitalism is "finished," is "in solvent," and is "doomed" is presented most lucidly by Virgil Michel in an ar ticle in the April 29, 1938, issue of The Commonweal. We congratulate the new editors, Philip Burnham and Edward Skillin, Jr., on publishing this article as well as the author on writing it. The "why" is stated by Virgil Michel in this most explicit sentence, "Capitalist activity can in reality flourish and in crease only through an increase of pur chasing power among the rank and file of the people, whereas the dynamism of capitalism depends on and demands the ever greater accumulation of capital in the hands of the few." There you have it in a nut shell! Why is capitalism doomed, insolvent, finished? Because continuous and widespread dis tribution of purchasing power is funda mentally necessary for a steady increase in distribution and production which makes an economic system a success. Capitalism cuts its own throat by in creasingly concentrating purchasing power and ownership in the hands of the few. This is t!he malignant cancer within the system that is steadily and rapidly destroying it. The government has had to come in to supply the two crutches of spending and lending because of the failure of business to supply pay to producers and the fail ure of banking to supply credit. This is 98 only a stop-gap to permit 'Capitalism to survive long enough to enable the peonl to build a new cooperative system wh ownership and purchasing power will^ distributed widely to all the people O * ly then will we have economic pros" perity. It is a case, of cooperation or chaos. Pricing Under Profit vs Cooperative Business The Cooperative Wholesale Society of England prices every shipment made on any one day exactly the same, irres pective of the quantity, and at exactly the same terms. In comparison with this cooperative practice by the biggest busi ness in Great Britain, Secretary of Agri culture Wallace has ordered Swift 6 Co Chicago packers, to cease "discriminato ry an(d deceptive practices" by varyinq prices, weights and credit to different customers. The company defends its sales practices, contending that "in this in dustry it is not, and would not be, pos sible either to maintain uniform prices or •to maintain a uniform differential in prices between ' two or more classes of customers, either at one branch house or between two or more branch houses." This as well as the fact that it is monop olized is a reason why meat processing and distribution must be cooperatized. It must be made 'honest, as well as eco nomical and efficient as it is not now. Governor Murphy's Pertinent Answer In answer to a criticism which said "You have spoiled the laboring people. Now they even want electric sweepers and refrigerators in their homes," Gov ernor Murphy of Michigan made this pertinent reply, "Well, why not? They make them." Governotr Murphy said, "We have the wealth, the resources and the individual genius to solve this terrible situation. No one can convince me otherwise. I know it can be done." Michigan cooperators should do as co- operators in other states have already done in the case of Governors Aiken of Vermont, Earle o'f Pennsylvania, La Fol lette of Wisconsin and Benson of Minne sota—they should educate their governor to the solutions of the unemployment situation in that state about which he is so greatly troubled. pumper Farm Crops • Bumper Factory Unemployment Bumper Government Relief \\fie are dealing in superlatives now in the United States. A single issue of the great New York Times reports that we have "bumper" everything—crops, un employment and relief. Just how ditHt 'happen that we began to call ourselves a civilized nation when we took over America from the Indians? Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wal lace, once wrote an editorial when he was with Wallace's Farmer in which he described the Blackhawks in beautiful and memorable words such as these, "When the ears of corn hung heavy on the banks along the Rocik river and the deer came down in droves to drink, then the Indians in the days of Blackhawk knew that they had prosperity." Why is it then that we civilized (?) Americans do not have prosperity for all when we raise bumper crops, as the na tive Americans whom we calldd "uncivil ized" did? Is it because we are more selfish or more ignorant than they were? Or might it be that we are socially in sane, if we are not ready to admit that we are individually so? "Thou Shalt Not Steal!" We recently asked Dr. J. J. Tompkins, the spiritual and intellectual father of the Antigonish Movement for adult educa tion and cooperative organization, what were the underlying philosophies which he has followed in his years of effort. From a religious standpoint, he sum marized his philosophy by saying that a leader should "live dangerously" and should "have faith in the people." From an educational standpoint, he believes, like Dr. ' Oscar Olssen of Sweden, orig inator of the study circle movement, (hat if a small group of people would gather around a great piece of literature and select their own leader they would eventually arrive at an understanding and solution of their problems through mutual self-help. From an economic standpoint, he believed in the building of an economic system where the people Could follow out the commandment Thou shalt not steal," which meant a non-profit, democratically controlled co operative system owned by the people. Consumers' Cooperation July> 1938 America's Foreign Policy The foreign policy of America is ide- scribed by Senator Walsh of Massachu setts, Chairman of the Naval Affairs- Committee as follows: "The foreign policy of this country depends- upon the state of mind of the President and the State Department at any given time un der a given state of facts." This ought to be an indication to raiore Americans that political democracy does- not give the people control over cur for eign policy, any more than over our do mestic policy, and that such democratic control can never be achieved except through the development of economic as. well as political democracy. Denmark Celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Abolition of Villeinage Only 150 years ago the farmers of Denmark were serfs under the feudal system as well as being subject to com pulsory military service 'which gave the landlords power to recruit every man. Without .revolt or bloodshed, but through legislation initiated by one of Denmark's biggest landowners, Christian Ditlev Reventlow, the liberation of the peasants was accomplished. Each peasant became the owner of his own homestead and farm. So did we, in America, a hundred and fifty years ago begin to divide up our agricultural acreage into family size farms. But now 42% of our farmers are tenants, 48% of OUT acreage is tenant operated and in some states as much as 70% of the value of farm property is no longer owned by the operators. Yet in Denmark, according to a recent official report, "there is no longer any farm tenancy." What has made the striking difference? Well the booklet which our Danish Co operative friends have sent us gives two specific reasons. The first reason is that "the cooperative movement has been one of the main factors in the remarkable de velopment which during the past sixty yea.rs has taken place in Danish agri cultural production and exports." The second reason given is that of "Den mark's Folk High Schools." Surely there is no reason for a moral to be drawn. 99 I" J A TRIBUTE TO H. V. NURMI Little do we really know of one another in the Cooperative Movement although we axe all united in one great cause. The great distances between regional cooperatives, which in many cases cover areas greater than an entire country in Europe, makes it impossible for us to have more than a comparatively few hours df intimate personal conversations where one's real self is revealed. But perhaps it is even more in the heat of discussion in public meetings that one demonstrates his real nature. A few expressions in the public statements and1 private conversations of the late H. V. Nurmi which have been indelibly fixed in our mind are, we feel, a true revelation of his life. Our first contact with him was before we had entered the Coopera tive Movement and the impression of his friendly attitude toward every one has always continued. We admired him for his modesty in once stating that 'his ambition had never been to be General Manager of the institution of which his Me was so much a (part but only to continue .to handle the auditing work. The idealism he expressed for ,the Cooperative Movement, in a few sentences which he airways included in his annual report, impressed us with a purpose far wider than the clear statistics showing .the efficiency and econ omy of operations under his management, for which we admired him greatly. When we commented upon the comparatively youthful age of the assistants he had been building up around him his answer was that he wanted only a few years longer to transfer the responsibilities over onto the shoulders olf young men who could carry on for long years the ex panding program. Our last contact with him was to see him in action in a meeting o'f National Cooperatives, Inc., where he took the lead in ac tively helping to solve various problems .successlfully, and in a later two hour personal conversation discussing the subject of national legislation in which he was greatly interested. Until his voluntary retirement from the position in the fall df 1936 he was for 'many years a Director of The Cooperative League and in that capacity was, with Miss Mary E. Arnold, treasurer, the backbone of the early moves taken to raise a budget which eventually made the League a self-supporting organization. We cannot but feel that it was his wish to die at his post, but only after many more years of service. A heart attack overtook him while he was preparing for the annual meeting. He was another example, like John T. W. Mitchell of England, of a leader with vision and ability who died at his post of duty and contributed igreatly toward the building of a coop erative economic society. In his honour, we are reproducing extracts from1 his report as General Manager o'f Cooperative Wholesale to the 20th annual meeting, immed iately previous to which he was stricken. His ability as a business man and his idealism as a cooperator are both revealed in his last report which might well be considered as a message to cooperators generally. A MESSAGE TO COOPERATORS 100 Consumers' Cooperation THE Central Cooperative Wholesale, in passing its 20th milestone in 1937, reached a new high record in sales, name ly, $3,356,550.57, with a $510,809.42 in crease (17.95%) over the previous year. This gratifying showing was made despite the renewed business depression which started early during the latter part of the year. According to available statistics, the average increase o'f wholesale trade in the United States for the year 1937 was \\5%. Higher prices contributed 6.8% to that result; therefore, in general whole saling the actual volume of goods han dled increased on the average by less than 5%. Wholesale food prices went up \.\%; and, considering the fact tihat a large portion of our sales consists of food products, flour and feed, we may safely assume that the tonnage of goods handled by the Central Cooperative Wholesale was about 13% more than during the preceding year. Recent statistics tell us that 1937 retail sales in this country amounted to over 40 billion dollars, and that t'he retailers enjoyed a 6^2% average increase in their volume of business over the year 1936. Our auditors' reports reveal that the co operative stores have done considerably better than the private dealers. Statistical information furnished by the United States Department of Commerce indi cates that nearly 1/3 of every dollar spent in retail establishments in 1937 went for food -and beverages; more than 1/5 for automobiles, auto accessories, and gasoline; about 1/5 for general mer chandise and apparel; and the remainder for other goods sold. Expense Ratios—Earnings In comparison with the year 1936, the ratio of the Central Cooperative Whole sale's operating expenses remained about 'he same, namely 5%, but on account of a slightly higher gross margin, the net in come increased from 1.99% to 2.29%. The census reports show that the ratio of our operating expenses is much lower My, 1938 Extracts from report of H. V. Nurmi, General Manager, to the 20th Annual Meeting of Central Cooperative Wholesale than the average in wholesale business generally. The latest available Depart ment of Commerce census is for t'he year 1935, and it discloses an average operat ing expense of 10.1% for the voluntary group wholesalers, which had an annual turnover of more tihan 578 million dollars in that year. In this particular group, the ratio of operating expenses varied, in ac cordance with the volume of sales, from 8.3% to \\Y2%, for the year in question. The low ratio of operating expenses in our case can be attributed to the efficien cy of operations, as well as to the loyalty of our member associations in purchasing their requirements through their own Wholesale. The net income for the year, $76,- 910.15, represents a 38.4% return on the invested capital. Financial Standing of the Wholesale The net worth of the Wholesale in creased during the year from $262,787.86 to $313,894,89. Our Notes and Accounts Receivable as of December 31 were only $641.65 higher than a year ago, although the 1937 sales averaged $42,500 more per month than in 1936. Inventories show but a $2,906.65 increase in comparison witlh the previous year, indicating that a special effort has been made to lower merchandise stocks in the face o'f de clining market prices. The Notes Payable have been reduced by more than $20,000 within the last year, and there were no open Accounts Payable on December 31. (It might be mentioned in this con nection that the greatest portion of our Notes Payable fall in the class of a fixed indebtedness; that is, they are loans from cooperative associations and tiheir indi vidual members.) The ratio of current assets to current liabilities is now 2.7, the current liabilities being $21,241.05 less than a year ago. In the 1937 Annual Meeting a resolu tion was passed, recommending a 5-ipoint financing program for our Wholesale and its member associations. In accord ance with the spirit of that resolution, 101 the board members are now recommend ing that a substantial amount of the 1937 net earnings be placed in the Surplus- Reserve to provide more working capital. The delegates should unanimously en dorse this recommendation pertaining to the financing of our future activities. Al- thouo'h at the end of the year we had a considerable amount of cash on hand, that condition was more or less of a tem porary mature, because almost everyone of our member associations had made an effort to pav their balances in full. The Accounts Receivable are usuallv much liiaher, absorbing .part of the funds need ed for normal operations. In the Manager's report for 1936, it was emphasized that our central organi zations should go more and more into production, a tendency which seems to exist in Europe where the cooperatives have constantly been able to reduce the commodity price level previously set by their competitors. If our coooerators cciuld understand the mieaninq of cooper ative production and its importance to all consumers, undoubtedly they would concentrate their efforts on buildinq larger and more adequately financed central organizations. Merchandising and Service Trends At present we carry in our stocks over 3,000 varieties, grades and packs of mer chandise, out of which about 1,200 are handled under the CO-OP label. A total of 79 new items of CO-OP label mer chandise were added during tlhe year, 316 different commodities now being handled under the CO-OP label, and a number of new items will again be listed before the current year is over. In pur chasing goods, strict maintenance of quality has been our aim; several labora tories and chemists have been consulted and engaged to make tests. Comparisons as to quality, taste, appearance, etc., have been conducted periodically by our buy ers in order to sustain high standards of quality for all types of merchandise. Auditing and Educational Departments Both of these service departments will render detailed reports dealing with their activities. The Auditing Department income in creased from $11,724.55 in 1936 to $16,- 102 424.76, tlhe Department showing a income of $401.75. The Wholesale $1.296.83 in auditing fees, as comparprl with $904.37 in the year 1936. The Education Department has taken care of attending membership and other meetinos in the district, and supervised the fieldwork. Besides, the director of the Educational Department follows the edu cational policies of our cooperative publi cations, and directs the general educa tional activities of the Wholesale. In ad dition, the Educational Department has been in charge of all radio programs and the cooperative training schools which are conducted annually. The Management of the Wholesale :has repeatedly appealed to the member associations to make greater efforts to ex,pand Youth League and Guild activi ties. More signs of organized activity have been recently displaved on the nart of the Youth Leagues and Guilds than during the past several years—which, of course, is a hopeful sign, indicating that our cooperators are becoming cognizant of the ta 193§ ture, consumer problems, and so on. Per haps both procedures might be followed. The Minnesota law relating to coop eration in the schools provides only for the expenditure of a limited amount of money to be used to provide "training and instruction" on cooperation dn the elementary and secondary schools of the state, and for the preparation and pro vision of "suitable and necessary out lines and courses of study." Under this law the Minnesota State Department of Education has issued the first of a series of publications it has planned on the sub ject o'f cooperation. The following para graphs taken from the foreword of that publication express one opinion as to the way in which the subject of cooperation should be incorporated in the school cur riculum: "Ideally, .the study of consumers' coopera tion should be integrated with the entire school curriculum, and its various (phases should be outlined wherever they logically fit into courses of study in the fields of the social! sciences and business, home economics and agriculture In this 'way the subject could receive the attention it should have in con nection with subject matter to which it is related. While such integration is educational ly sound, it is unfortunately non-existent. Our present courses of study almost completely ignore the whole topic. Such an omission is probably due primarily to the fact that the syllabi in use in Minnesota schools were prepared over six years ago, and courses of study, lake text books, tend to ilag with regard to new material unfless 'they are in a constant process of revision. "New courses of study now being con structed will, it is to be hoped, remedy the present deficiency regarding the subject of consumers' cooperation. Meanwhile there is a demand and a need for material which can be .used in the schools until such an integrated presentation is available, and which may then be adapted to the better educational technique." The Minnesota law thus gives the schools an opportunity to secure material for use in "training and instruction" on cooperation, but it does not compel them to use it. To what extent they will in corporate material on the subject of co operation in the school program remains to be seen. Already teachers and pros pective teachers have occasion to gain some of the background (hat is necessa ry if they are to handle the subject ef fectively. Most of the teachers' colleges 'in the state are planning to give material on cooperation in their courses, and the University of Minnesota offers courses 105 H \ 1 dealing with the subject in its School of Business Administration, its Extension Division, and in its College of Agricul ture. Attempts are being made to offer opportunities for teachers now in service to learn more about the subiject should they feel a need for such assistance. Why Cooperation Should be •Included in School Courses Cooperation as a form of economic or ganization iand a method of doing busi ness should have its place in any course of study which attempts to present a description and explanation of modern social and economic life and its historical •development. It must be included in any Well rounded social studies program simply because it is a part of the social wéb which constitutes modern civiliza tion. In certain areas of this country the cooperative movement is offering to young people increasing opportunities for 'employment, and is therefore of interest from the standpoint of vocational guid ance. The cooperative movement is also of importance because it constitutes one of the methods which is being advanced ras a democratic means of achieving greater economic justice and security. As such, it should be examined carefully and fair ly; 'and its purposes, methods, and ac complishments should be known and un derstood. The purpose, therefore, of the intro duction of the subiject of coqperation into the curriculum is twofold: the provision of an opportunity for the study of a method of business wlhich should receive its share of attention along -with all other methods; and the presentation of facts about a movement concerning which citizens and consumers may be called upon to form an opinion, to the end that students may have sufficient information to draw their own conclusions based on knowledge and understanding rather than on emotion and partisan propa ganda. How Cooperation Should be Taught in the Schools Readers of Consumers' Cooperation are well acquainted with the educational activities carried on by cooperative or ganizations. Cooperative leagues and wholesales in the United States have 106 developed effective programs for tv, education of members, employees and tr^ general public. Their educational &„ gnams lead directly into action. Th try to give the general public information and 'understanding which will result a recognition of the need for, and value of, cooperative enterprise. They attempt to give all their members the knowledge and understanding of cooperative aims and methods which will make them -good cooperators. In addition to these 'pur poses, the education of cooperative em ployees aims at technical efficiency. The function of the school in teaching cooperation is not identical with that of educational activities carried on by coop erative organizations themselves, al though .much of the material presented 'will be similar. Coopenative institutions definitely aim at convincing people of the 'merits of cooperative enterprise. That is 'what they should do. On the other hand, the public schools should aim only at presenting an honest, fearless, and im partial understanding, accompanied by training in clear thinking, sound reason ing, and the ability to make wise choices and judgments. If the schools can accom plish that aim, they will have performed the greatest possible service to the co operative movement as well as to all other democratic movements. Urgent Needs in the Development of a Sound School Program If cooperation is to be included in the school program on a sound educational basis, there are two very important •factors that must be considered, the ques tion of materials and the problems •of teacher preparation and selection. •Courses of study and text books that •handle the subject intelligently and fairly will need to be developed. Good supple mentary materials, which are becoming increasingly important in all good teach ing programs must be made available. But even more important than these is •the training ability and understanding of the material which they are to teach, the ability to thinlk for themselves, and an attitude which recognizes the importance of free and fair discussion of social and economic problems, if they are to be et- fective in teaching cooperation or any other phase of modern life. Consumers' Cooperation {•^operation, the Schools aJ1(j Democracy In a 'democratic society the relation ship between cooperation and the schools is one of mutual obligation. I have at tempted to present the obligation of the schools toward cooperation. What is the obligation of the cooperative movement to the schools? Cooperation has always recognized tjie value of education. Its purpose is the achievement of economic democracy. It can survive only in a society in which political democracy is maintained and extended. Our American system of pub lic education is likewise founded on de mocracy. Our educational institutions can carry out their function only if they can be free to assemble and disseminate knowledge and understanding. They can achieve and maintain this freedom only in an atmosphere of political and eco nomic democracy. Furthermore, neither political nor economic democracy can survive without an educational program which gives to all citizens the ability to take part intelligently in democratic ac tion. Both the cooperative movement and education depend on democracy, and de mocracy in turn depends on them. Co- 'operatO'rs who recoornize these factors Will be concerned with the public schools to a far broader extent than merely the •inclusion of cooperation in the school curricula. They will iknow that the wel fare of their movement as well as the success of all forms of democracy are fundamentally dependent on the public schools. They will consequently work increasingly for the welfare of public education, its extension and its improve ment, and for the maintenance of aca demic freedom. THE BRITISH PAGEANT OF COOPERATION A COLORFUL pageant dramatizing the origin and progress of the con sumers cooperative movement in Great Britain will be the outstanding feature of International Cooperators Day, Julv 2, at Wembley Stadium, England. More than 2,000 persons will ta'ke part in this historical pageant, which is under the direction of the London Cooperative So ciety in association with the South Sub urban and Watford Societies. In addi tion to the eight episodes which portray the spirit and growth of the cooperative movement there will be many added fea tures such as folk dancing by 1,000 trained members of the children's circles, mass displays by the Woodcraft Folk, and community singing. This is the most ambitious dramatic presentation ever organized by British cooperators and judging from the scena rio promises to be a thrilling enactment °f cooperative development. It is impos sible for us to present the entire scenario °f the pageant in this limited space but we shall outline the main action of the Paoeant and quote from various episodes. The pageant qpens with a fanfare Wowcn by four mounted trumpeters fol- Ellen Edwards lowed by the voice of the Commentator: "We present to you here the Pageant of man and his will to cure the disease of his society and the darkness of his mind. It is the pageant of his will to put an end to the so-called Competition that throws a shadow of war and the profit-making that ends in slavery. We shall begin with that Merrie England which is partly the invention of storytellers and partly the memory of a little country \tfhere eight million men and women and children lived on a rich wheat growing soil. That was before they were driven from field and cabbage patch to the place that had been prepared for them, the Institution, the Workhouse, the Bastille, driven by flaming swords from Merrie England." The first episode deals with this Mer rie England. The stage is flooded with a crowd of agricultural workers, streams of children running in around the may poles, led O'n by the Morris Dancers. This gay pastoral scene is disrupted in the next episode by the coming of the Machines—a rhythmical procession of unsigthly figures, iron clad and stiffly jointed, accompanied by harsh, blatant music. The people are at first bewildered but as they are surrounded more and more by the machines, they are urged to revolt, and they turn on the machines to 107 destroy them. Two large dummies repre senting Capitalism have -been silently watching the conquest of the people by the machines and the revolt of the people against the machines. As the destruction reaches its height, the Capitalists speak: "In the name o!f the King, Shoot! In the name of the King! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" The people disperse. The stage is left bare and during the interlude can be heard the chorus, representing the voice of the people, chanting: "Men of England, heirs of glory, heroes of un written story Nurslings of one mighty mother, Hopes of her and one another. Rise like lions after slumber in unconquerable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep has failed on you. Ye are many—they are few." The Commentator then speaks: "These were troubled times. The men of Eng land asked for bread and were given new restrictive laws. The men of England asked for bread and were given bullets. And men asked, Why? Why? Why? Stormy voices answered. But not clearly." Three of the voices which try to an swer the people are Tom Paine, William Good'win and William Corbett. Episode three begins with the introduc tion of Robert Owen by the Commenta tor. Owen speaks to the people. "There are many causes of your evils. They are—the governments of the world, under every form and naime. The practice of buying and selling for a moneyed profit. The prac tices which produce contests, civil and mili tary, individual and national. The present practice of forming the character of man. The strong opposing the weak." This is followed by the dramatization of Owen's mill and school at New Lan ark, ending with the destruction of all Robert Owen's good work. The fourth episode describes the very beginning of the Cooperative Move ment. This is very effectively done by the twenty-eight Roclbdale weavers them selves telling the audience of their early difficulties, their trials and their hopes. Howarth speaks: "We opened on Saturday and Monday nights at first. That was all. And that shop in Toad Lane, Rochdale, grew till there were 14,000 members doing a trade of $15,000,000, owning 108 shops and workshops, a library and read' rooms. And it became a movement th^ spread into every corner of the kingdom Episode five is the dramatization of the spread of the "News olf the 'tin-ticket' —news of Rochdale." The groups in the procession which marches round the arena are costumed according to their period from 1894 to 1914, their size cor responding to the number of the mem bers of the movement at that time. The procession is interrupted by WAR and the sltage literally becomes a battle ground. The dance of the soldiers and people form the sixth episode. As the \var dancers leave the stage a group of mourning women, sad and resigned dressed in grey dresses and black cloaks mount the steps and dance to a monot onous drum and wailing song to form the seventh episode. * * * The Commentator opens the final epi sode with: "The war is over—but for how long? The war is over—but terror menaces. The war is over—but civilization has started down the steep slope. Can it be saved half way? We have reaped the harvest of the dragon's teeth ... In Britain 7,500,000 men and women are customers in the world's biggest business. They stand for democracy. They stand for freedom. They stand for justice. They stand for peace. Who stands with them? Who stands with them?" The International Cooperative Pro cession enters, a procession of contin gents representing the various coun tries where there are Cooperative So cieties. At its head stride forty strong men in white overalls and scarlet shirts. They leap on the stage, take the black cloaks from the mourning women and give each one a brilliant shawl. Men and women dance triumpihantly while the Procession marches round the outside of the arena. When all the countries have entered they assemble round the stage in a vast tableaux of national costumes and 'flags. As the band strikes up all sing "'Men Awake." The two figures ot Democracy and Peace drawn in cars by 'hundreds of children, take the center ot the stage. "The children open their bas kets, and a dense white cloud of pigeons with wings fluttering rises up and dis perses to all parts of Great Britain carry ing messages of greeting to other coop- erators." Consumers' Cooperation „,.„_ » -.?f >. L- L ,_ BOOK REVIEWS "The Lord Helps Those" by Bertram B. Fowler, Vanguard Press, New York, 180 pages, special edition available thru The Cooperative League, $1.00. Bertram Fowler has caught the underlying significance of the Nova Scotia movement in a remarkable way. What is more, he has put it into a delightful story form which is easy to read and yet is bristling with deep truths and supported by actual facts and figures. The leaders of Nova Scotia are carrying out an experiment surpassed nowhere in the world today. It is so unique that the Pope in far away Rome has recognized it and has sent a personal letter of commendation. Leaders from all over the continent of every race and creed are going there to see and learn at the feet of these present day prophets — simple men, yet of greatest vision and power of action. What are these men doing? First. They are educating and remaking peo ple, "They proved, most important of all, that the people hunger and thirst for real education that is linked posi tively with the life they live and the problems they face in its daily round. But, remember, this is education, real and alive, and not the ineffectual coun terpart that the institutions of higher education have tried to palm off as adult education in the shape of insipid and perfunctory little courses in busi ness English and appreciation of the arts," They believe in people. "It is a plan of action, by, for and of the people, who, in the words of Dr. Tompkins, 'are great and powerful, able to do things for themselves.' and 'they will never pull out of the hole they are in except under their own power/ " They are overcoming poverty and un employment. "In a march upward the Second. Third. 1938 men of eastern Nova Scotia have built up a new economic edifice while they saved themselves from unemployment and poverty with its attendant malnutri tion, demoralization, and dependence. In helping themselves they have built a segment of a new world." Fourth. They are developing real democracy. Democracy dies in our midst because of lack of substance but out of this movement is growing the belief that by voluntary cooperative effort the people can take back the ownership they have lost, and again exert the economic con trol that is so necessary if democracy is to survive." Fifth. They are working toward a wider, total program, not just Consumer Coopera tion. "In every problem they take up for discussion they are thinking in terms of new communities." "That is why the Nova Scotian cooperators today are looking forward to a new economic era that lies beyond the credit unions, stores and marketing organizations." Sixth. They are demonstrating real religion and interfaith cooperation. Talking of Father Tompkin's belief the author says "It is his contention that poverty, misery ignorance and indolence are' mockeries of true Christianity. Cooperation to him is a technique that brings Into practical affairs the substance of the Sermon on the Mount. "There is no Catholic way of selling fish, no Methodist way, no Baptist way." Seventh. They are challenging the cooperative leaders of the United States. "Against the economic distress and chaos of the American scene it stands as a bright challenge to educators, religious lead ers, and social thinkers." "The Saint Francis Xavier program, if applied to 109 I.' Iff the cooperative movement in the Unit ed States, would give it as great a for ward impulse as it has already received through its own educational organiza tions and the admittedly sound and sane business principles it has adopted and followed." What more need be said? The book should be read by every cooperator, educator, every social thinker for "The Lord Helps Those . ._ . " The example is before you, "Go Thou . . ." Rev. J. Henry Carpenter, Chairman, Committee on the Church and Cooperatives, Federal Council of Churches. America Goes to War, by Charles Callan Tansill, Little Brown 6 Co., 1938; 730 pages $5.00. This volume is a study of the causes which led America into the world war. It is based upon ex tensive research into the documents of the war. Many private papers have been consulted which have not been used in other studies. The author has apparently been impartial in his research. People who approved of Mr. Wilson's war will find sad disillusionment in his book. The value of this work is that it shows what may happen to us again in the near future, and how. The reader who understands cooperation can peruse this book and see on every page how the cooperative method of social and economic or ganization would have obviated the terrible mis takes which are inherent in the prevalent war making methods of supply and distribution of economic needs. J. P. Warbasse Nationalism and Culture, by Rudolf Rocker, Co- vici Friede, 1937; 575 pages $3.50 This book is an excellent introduction to the study of anarchistic philosophy which is essen tial to the understanding of consumers' cooper ation. It discusses the will to power, the nature of coercive forces which dominate the state, the qualities of freedom, and the essentials of cul ture. The author says: "All politics has its roots in the religious concepts of men, while things of cultural nature are economic and consequently in the most intimate relationship with the value- creating forces of social life; so that we are plain ly compelled to speak of an inherent opposition between religion and culture." Understanding of anarchist philosophy is a prerequisite to understanding of the nature of the state. And no one fathoms the meaning of con sumers' cooperation who is not equipped with a comprehension of the .principles of anarchistic libertarianism because consumers' cooperation is essentially anarchistic. This book shows how our modern economic system has dulled the social feeling of the individual and hindered his free development. And it is just this hindrance that militates against the advancement of coopera tion. J. P. Warbasse The Best of Art Young, The Vanguard Press, New York, $3.00. Land of The Free, Archibald MacLeish, Harcourt Brace 6 Co., New York, $3.00. They Starve That We Might Eat, Edith E. Lowry, Council of Women for Home Missions, New York, 35c. Here are two books and a pamphlet which will 110 "make your blood run cold," and should m v your conscience burn hot, as you turn the r> and see in cartoons and pictures illustrations86! "economic hell on earth." America is plainly ing "picture crazy" today with the movies a°i the new illustrated magazines. But most of ft pictures are an escape from reality. These ca toons and pictures are not. They show life in fu" raw as it is lived by millions who are sentenc d by society to degrading poverty. Art Young was tried as a war-resister becaus of his cartoons. He admitted doing his best to "put the crimes of capitalism in hell where they belong." Some like best his cartoon showing a wizened tenement house boy and girl, lookinq up at the stars and saying, "Look at de stars -I tnick as bedbugs." Others feel themselves a part oi his cartoon, "This World of Creepers," show ing humanity crawling along with a wave of fear above them. Art Young is admitted to be the best of American cartoonists and these are a se lection of his best. Then from cartoons, you can turn in "Land of The Free" to actual [pictures of the kind of hell some of the American people live in and the effect on these people who live in economic hell. Here you can take your choice between looking at the worn out share-cropper, the tenant, the migrant, the unemployed, the worker being slugged and shot, the tents and tenements they live in, and the danger and dust bowls they work in. MacLeish's sound-track poem sometimes with only a few words on each page as "We don't know" and "We're wondering," increases your tension as you turn the pages. "They Starve That We Might Eat" may make the food choke in your throat too, as it did the missionary worker, whose life among the migrants is described. The sad thing is that such powerfully des tructive literature does not also present the con structive cooperative way out to "Economic Heaven on Earth." But such literature is neces sary to stir us up out of our lethargy, to stop our shouting approval of such out-worn and un true slogans as "The motive of profit has made America the most prosperous country on earth," to convert us to a new motive and to set us energetically at work applying it Farmers and Consumer Cooperation, Kooperativa Forbundet, Stockholm, Sweden, 16 pages, 10 cents. (Translated into English). When we raised the question in each of the seven countries we visited in Europe last Fall relative to their classification of the Consumers Cooperative Movement, all of the leaders included vocational goods along with household goods as a part of the general Consumers' Cooperative Movement. However, we did not find" any place where they had printed a pamphlet on the subject except in Sweden. This pamphlet is the result of principles laid down by the Congress of Kooperativa Forbundet in 1924. These principles were elaborated by Mr. G. R. Holmberg, who until a year ago was head of the Grocery Department and a Director ot KoQperativa Forbundet, in which capacity he had occasion to consider carefully the question ot consumer and producer relationships. He 'has now become the head of the Swedish Slaughtery As sociation. Consumers' Cooperation -j^e original pamphlet was naturally in Swe- j.jj, When we asked the Research Secretary of jL Organization Department, to translate the Pfst two sub-titles, he did so in these words, "The Farmer Farmer as Household Consumer" and "The as Vocational Consumer." In the discus- ion of tne subject, he also drew on a sheet of aper an organizational chart showing the eco nomic interests of farmers, workers and profes sionals as they interpreted them in Sweden, which chart is reproduced on the inside of the back cover of the pamphlet. The Swedes interpret farmers as having a dual consumer or buyer in terest — namely, as a consumer of household qoods and as a consumer of vocational goods, which are supplied by the general and special Consumers' Cooperatives. After translating the original pamphlet, the of ficials of Kooperativa Forbundet kindly offered to add to it up-to-date information covering the manner in which they have proceeded to develop [heir consumer and producer organizations in that country on the basis of the principles laid down, and the latter part of the pamphlet accordingly covers the agreements which have been made be tween consumer and producer groups. The Cooperative League now has this pamph let in stock ready for distribution. We have no doubt it will be widely read in America and will prove both interesting and valuable. Toward Economic Democracy, by Benson Y. Landis, May 15, 1938 issue of Social Action, published by the Council for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches, 289 Fourth Avenue, New York City, lOc. (Can also be secured from The Cooperative League). This is the first document of its kind we have ever had the great pleasure of reading. After a general introduction describing our present "mixed" economic system and the crisis we are in, Dr. Landis, who has become well known as one of America's best writers on the Consumers' Coop erative Movement, discusses in condensed and clear form the concrete and related programs of what we believe to be the six major forms of economic organizations which are developing the new "cooperative economic society." These six programs are Credit Unions, Consumers' Coop eratives, Marketing Cooperatives, i^abor Unions, Social Insurances and Public Ownership. Dr. Landis might well have added that they have three common characteristics: they are all non-profit organizations, they are all democrat ically controlled, and they are all owned by the people generally, insofar as ownership is in volved. The fact might also well have been em phasized that they can all rightly be included under the general name Cooperation, as Con sumer, Producer and Public Economic Coopera tion. The pamphlet was written to inspire action by the church '"Toward Economic Democracy." We predict a wide reading of this pamphlet as has been the case with the many other articles, leaf lets and pamphlets previously written by Dr. Landis. COOPERATIVES ON THE MARCH Virginia, Minn. — Cooperative lead ers from four states and hundreds of friends and business associates gathered here last month to honor H. V. Nurmi, general manager of Central Coopera tive Wholesale who died in Superior, May 26. Mr. Nurmi ihad beeen associat ed with C. C. W. since 1922 and was made general manager of the co-op wholesale in 1931. He was for many years a director of the Cooperative League of the U. S. A. and was a di rector of National Cooperatives, Inc., at the time of his death. New York—Two hundred and seven ty-nine representatives of 178 consumer cooperatives with 16,735 individual mem bers in eleven Eastern states and the District of Columbia met here Memorial Day for the annual meeting of the East ern Cooperative Wholesale. The number of co-op store members Mpled during the year; business was up °6% for 1937 over that of 1936 and the first three months of the current year July, 1938 showed an added increase of 46% over- the same period in 1937. Since the end of 1936 the fully paid membership of E.C.W. has increased from 14 societies to 68. An additional 29 have part paid memberships in the wholesale and one •hundred more cooperative stores and buying clubs are buying through E.C.W. Columbus, Ohio — The Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association reports sales still going up in spite of the "re cession." Co-ops in Ohio distributed 7,- 400,000 gallons of motor fuel in the first four months of 1938 as compared with 6,600,000 gallons in the same period last year, a gain of 3-4 of a million gal lons. New York — The training school for prospective cooperative executives and educators 'has been forced to change its name again. The New York State Board of Education has ruled that no institution may use the word "college" in its name unless it has an endowment of $450,000. Ill Rather than raise a half-million dollar endowment, the directors voted to re- ohristen the school Rochdale Institute. Superior, "Wise. — The Cooperative Women's Guilds in Minnesota, Wis consin and Northern Michigan will con tinue to sponsor children's summer camps and to assist cooperative youth work in these three states in addition to mak ing an intensive drive to increase the number of cooperative women's groups in these states during the coming year. This was the décision of 109 repre sentatives of 46 local guilds meeting here for the 9th annual meetinq of the Northern States Cooperative Women's Guild, May 21, and 22. There are al ready 68 cooperative guilds and clubs with approximately 1600 members in this area. Five new guilds were organ ized during the past year. New York — Mrs. Eleanor Barton, former general secretary of the Cooper ative Women's Guild of Great Britain arrived in Los Angeles, June 13 on her way batik to England from New Zealand and will spend some time filling speaking engagements in the U. S. Mrs. Barton served for 11 years as secretary o'f the cooperative women's or ganization which has become an im portant factor in the British cooperative movement. In addition to her work in the cooperatives, Mrs. Barton has been very active in the women's trade union and peace movements in her country. Her tour will be under the direction of The Cooperative League. New York — The Cooperative Book Club reported rapidly growing member ship and business volume at the end of its first six Tnoriths of actual business operations, when members gathered here June 1 ifor the first annual meet ing of tthe co-op. Fifty groups have joined the Coop erative Book Club under its plan to sponsor book forums, reading circles, circulating libraries and cooperative book shops, and a commi'ttee of librar ians is working on a program for li braries to buy their books thru the co op. During the coming year the coop erative aims to build powerful reserves rather than strive to refund large sav ings immediately. 112 New York—At a soecial meeting here May 23, called to confirm the business of its annual meeting which failed to brin out a quorum of its 3500 members three weeks aqo, Cooperative Distributors voted to "refer to its membership" a mo tion to boycott Ta.oanese goods; cerfifiecj the election of ten new members of the board of directors; and received the man ager's renort showing business for the year totalina $95.972. The fiscal year was chanoed at the annual meeting jn 1937 so the current renort covers only ten months. Because of the costs involved in moving to its new headquarters at 116 East 16 Street, the co-op sustained a small loss for the year but the first three months of the present fiscal year have shown a small surplus. New York — Teachers College, Co lumbia University will offer a special course in Consumers Cooperation as part of its Curriculum Laboratory this sum mer. COOPERATIVE PLAYS AND POSTERS PLAYS The Spider Web, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ...................... The Answer, a 3 act play, by Ellis Cowling ...................... Fill 'er Up, a one act radio play, by Marc Rosenblum and Pauline Gifoson . Two One Act Plays, Ellis Cowling ..... 25c 20c ... lOc ... 15c POSTERS Organize Cooperatives, 26"x38" Green, 5 for $1 ........................ 20c Cooperative Principles, 19"x28" Blue, 5 for $1 .......................... 20c Cooperative Ownership, 19"x28" Mulberry, 5 for $1 ..................... 20c FIRE INSURANCE ON YOUR FURNITURE SAFE-ECONOMICAL-COOPERATIVE WORKMEN'S MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY 227 East 84th St., New York, N. Y. Member of The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. Under supervision of N. Y. State Insurance Department. CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIV. No. 8 AUGUST, 1938 Ten Cents Breaking Monopoly's Stranglehold on America Our economic system is commonly spoken of as Capitalism, which is described as a system of individual initiative, free competition and privat? profit. The fact is that, unconsciously to most Americans, we have largely passed from a state of free competition to monopoly control of prices to con sumers and pay to producers. For fifty years we have ideceived ourselves by biindly attempting to control the growing monopoly menace by political regulation. Our general magazines have headlined "No More Trusts" when the Supreme Court de creed a dissolution. Yet such dissolutions have only resulted in new hydra- headed finance and industrial monsters appearing in other and still stronger forms. Presidents have been elected on "Bust tthe Trusts" platforms and have threatened the use of a "Big Stick" or "Blue Eagle," only to see monopo lies flourish more widely iduring their terms of office. It should by now begin to be generally recognized that the only way to control trusts is not by public regulation, but by cooperative or public yard sticks. Sweden, in particular, has shown the way. As the July 11, 1938 issue of Life magazine says about Sweden, "Both Government and Cooperatives tell Capital by precept and examples what is a just price." We are happy to have had as members of the recent Swedish Tercen tenary delegation to America, the President, Albin Johansson, and the Sec retary, Axel Gjores, of Kooperativa Fonbundet of Sweden. On the following pages we are reproducing Mr. Johansson's national (broadcast over the Col umbia network describing how the Cooperatives really bust the trusts in Sweden by the yardstick method. As Life also says, "Americans . . . may well look hard at Sweden." Consumers' Cooperation AH organ to spread the'knowledge of the Consumers'Cooperative Movement, whereby the people. In voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A., 167 West 12th Street, New York City. E. R. Eowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Cooperative Wholesales and District Leagues. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1911, at the Post Office at New York, N. T., under the Act of March 1, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. COOPERATIVES NEED KNOWLEDGE I I AND CAPITAL (An address delivered over the Columbia broad casting system, Monday evening, July 11.) IN the Swedish consumers cooperative movement we ihave learned 'that there are two absolutely essential factors for the successful operation of the consumers' own economic enterprises, namely, knowledge and capital. In consumer co operative enterprises it is necessary that the members have some economic knowledge and that everybody contrib utes toward the common capital. In Sweden every citizen can become a member irrespective of occupation, re ligion, or political affiliations. Politically the Swedish cooperative movement is ab solutely neutral. The common purpose for all members of the consumer cooperative movement is to lower the cost of living, or, in other words, to raise the standard of living. This means to get more of the good things of life. But to do this the members must have economic knowledge and the necessary capital to operate their cooperative business. It is necessary for the members to study to get the knowl edge, and it is also necessary that they learn to save systematically. In Sweden we realized quite early that in order to operate successfully it was not enough 'for members to buy shares to start the cooperative but that ability to manage the business was just as neces sary. Education of Members is the Foundation. The real strength of a cooperative so ciety cannot be measured by the size of the capital; it lies in the ability of the members to manage their own private finances and the business of the coopera tive. The capital increases when man aged by able members. After some bitter experiences we learned this fact in 'Swe den. That is why education in economic subjects is one of the most important activities of the Swedish cooperative movement. We organize our members in study circles, we supply correspondence 114 Albm Johansson, Presid of Kooperativa F Stockholm, courses, we have a college for trainina employees and directors. The coopp tive movement publishes a weekly man3" zine which has the largest circulation in Sweden. We also are the largest pub. lishers of economic literature. Members Must Buy for Cash It was first necessary to interest the members in putting their own financial affairs in order; for without the founda tion of a sound family budgeting, coop erative enterprise cannot gain the nec essary strength. In other words, the members should not go in ,debt and should not spend their income before it is earned The members should buy for cash. To ac complish this the Cooperative Movement for many years conducted an intense ed ucational campaign to do away with cred it business, so that today practically all cooperative business is on a cash basis. This halbit has also become the rule among a great many other consumers. As a result of cash trading we have now a very solid ground for consumer coop erative activities. But it has not been easy for consumers to break away from cen tury-old habits of buying on credit and it has required strength of character to stick to the habit of buying for cash. But Swedish families have 'demonstrated that they possess this strength of character. Retail Cooperatives Must Also Buy For Cash The Cooperatives in Sweden follow the same program as their members; they also buy for cash. Cooperatives as well as members pay spot cash. The rule is this: Cooperatives in Sweden do not bor row money from the banks or the gov ernment and do not buy goods on credit. They operate entirely on the capital that the members have supplied. Consequent ly many societies at the start concentrated on only one commodity. The members paid the regular retail price and the pro.- its were credited to the members in pro portion to their purchases. In this way Consumers' Cooperatio« he capital was built up and the cooper ative was enabled to expand its activities other commodities under the efficient control of the management. Through this gradual development a full-fledged co operative society has thus been created. jt has also happened in certain cases that organized consumers purchased a private retail business and transformed it into a cooperative society. Cooperative Wholesaling and Manufacturing The retail cooperatives are in .Sweden federated into a central organization, Kooperativa Forbundet. We call it K. p. K. F. functions as a wholesale, and in addition carries on extensive educational activities among the members and the management. Furthermore K. F. owns a number of big factories in different lines such as margarine, flour, macaroni, bread, shoes, overshoes, automobile tires, veg etable oils, electric lamp bulbs, and so forth. Cooperatives Bust the Trusts As a general rule our cooperative facj lories have been established in order to protect our members from the price- pegging policies practiced by monopolies. For in Sweden as in many other coun tries, private monopolies have been wide spread, organized wholly for private gain and without consideration of the inter ests of the consuming public. Thanks to the manufacturing activities of K. F. an efficient check against monopoly prices has been put in the hands of the con sumers. The consumers cooperatives tell monopolies what is a just price. They act as a yardstick for private business. We have no anti-trust law in Sweden; we only have a law for the government to study monopolies. The power of K. F. is based on the accumulated capital of the local societies and ultimately on the sound finances of the members. The effect of this control is felt not only in those fields where K. F. operates its factories but also in other lines of consumers' goods, for private manufacturers know that if they try to peg prices at unreasonable levels K. F. both can and will start a fflanufacturing this line. An example will illustrate this: When I left Sweden a few weeks ago, I was informed that the lin oleum monopoly, which comprises practi- , 1938 cal'ly all factories in this field, had decided to reduce its prices in Sweden by 15 per cent. This was done because K. F. had made it 'known that if the monoply did not reduce prices, K. F. was ready to build its own linoleum factory. The Swedish consumers will save nearly one million dollars yearly on their purchases- of linoleum alone. With this saving the consumers can now buy other necessities, thereby putting more people to work and speeding up economic activities all a- round, including those also of the private- retailers! Linoleum is not a big article in Sweden. Nevertheless we have seert what effect reduction in price has upon increased consumption. When K. F. started production of electric lamp bulbs in order to force the European lamp monopoly to reduce its prices, the result was that the Swedish people made an annual saving on this ar ticle of about two million dollars. It meant that the standard of living was raised,- and that more workers were employed. The examples could be multiplied; they serve to illustrate the general effect of K. F.'s activities in lowering the prices of food and goods in Sweden and also increasing employment. But lowering prices does not lower wages. Practically all employees in Sweden are organized in labor unions. Wages are regulated by friendly agreement between employers and employees. If the parties cannot a- gree, an arbitrator appointed by the gov ernment must intervene. Monopoly prices cause unemployment and poverty. That is why the Swedish cooperative movement organizes to break the power of monopolies. "Everyone wonders why Sweden is now so very prosperous. I think it is largely due to stabilization by the Co operative stores and factories and their education of the people. "I do not merely think the Coopera tive system will come to America—it must come." Albin Johansson, President of Kooperativa Forbundet of Sweden Washington Sunday Star July 3, 1938 115 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY— NOT FOR COOPERATORS E R. WHEN we join together as members of cooperatives, we commit our selves before the world to the acceptance of the basic principle o'f a non-profit eco nomic system — of not being willing to take "Other People's Money" from them, in any manner whatsoever, for our own benefit and their injury, as well as to the reverse of the same principle of not being willing that "Other People" take from us "Money" that rightly belongs to our selves. "Other People's Money" is not for Cooperators. Cooperators' money is not for "Other People." This basic prin ciple has three major applications. Cooperators do not want to take "Other People's Money" as profits. Co- operators not only reject illegal methods •of acquiring "Other People's Money" but they likewise reject legal methods as well. Cooperators would not reach into other people's pockets as individuals and take their money from them by illegal stealth or force. However, cooperators are also committed to the 'far higher principle ot not reaching into other people's pockets as members of society and taking their money from them by any legal method of making private-profits. Cooperators should not take "Other People's Money" as credits. Cooperators reject credit from cooperative associa tions. Members of cooperatives refuse to use other members' money for their bene fit in the form of credit for commodity purchases. Cooperators will not eventually take "Other People's Money" as loans. Coop erators will eventually pool their money and build up a financially impregnable organization — without relying on "Oth er People's Money" for loans. As the Swedes say, "a cooperative should neith er give nor accept credit." The primary purpose of a cooperative should be to build up a ifinancially im pregnable pool of its own funds and its members' money, and then to use this financial power to control the .general price and pay levels of the -country ap a •whole so as to narrow the spread beween 116 consumers' prices and producers' pay fo only such an amount as will cover the cost of distribution arid provide the nec essary reserve funds for reasonable ex- pansion. We will discuss the working out of such a financial program for coopera tives under twelve subdivisions. L Open Books Secrecy is eliminated in a cooperative. The detailed financial statements are open to all members. This produces two very definite results: first, it results in the members having "confidence" in their as sociation since they know where their own money is and goes; second, it results in the "honesty" of employees, since they know that they are handling their own and their fellow-members' money. Defal cations among cooperative employees are far less than in private-iprofit business, which is proven by the lower net bonding rate. Since speculation in either stocks or commodities is eliminated as a rule in a cooperative, the inducement to employees to appropriate funds for individual use or speculation is absent. Coonerative em ployees are taught not to speculate, while private-profit employees are taught, to speculate by the operations of the busi ness. The use of "Other People's Money" for personal profit was described by a former president of the New York Stock Exchange as "a rule in the street" by brokers to whom funds are entrusted. Cooperative employees are encouraged not to emulate such men as the Insulls in utilities, Van Sweringens in railroads, Mitchells in banking and Whitneys in stocks, who are the natural fruit of the private^profit system. II. Accurate Auditing The financial statements of a cooper ative must be accurate. Auditors are sometimes presumed to be infallible, but while generally accurate, they are not al ways so. Their work should be constant ly scrutinized by the manager, directors and members. The writer has personal ly known of two major mistakes made by Consumers' Coopération s nationally recognized auditing firm, the first of which resulted in an error of $100,000 and the second of $250,000, with serious after-effects upon the com pany which 'was inaccurately audited. Some auditors' statements of coopera tives are not as complete as they could be with detailed percentages and com parisons. Cooperative statements should be largely self-explanatory. It has been truly said that percentages are to busi ness what kilowatts are to electricity and inches to measurement. It is only by per centages that there can be a clear under standing of financial statements and that wise conclusions can be drawn for future action. I have recently seen an auditor's statement of a retail cooperative which, to me, was pitiful. The manager was a likely looking young man. Yet the auditor had not helped him iby figuring out per centages and comparisons so that he could tell his gross margin or ihis per centages of expense in order to determine just why he had lost money for the year although he had made money the year before, or what to do about it for the future. III. Balance Sheet and Operating Statement Cooperative auditors must be far su perior to private-profit auditors. Coop erative auditors must be interpreters of figures as well. They must teach the man ager, directors and members to under stand their balance sheet and operating statements. Both the manager and the directors should study simple statistics until they can read and understand the figures in financial statements as readily as words in a book. Cooperative audi tors, managers and «° directors must then Uly and clearly present ithe statistics 3°° to the members in detail, both in spo ken words and in ^* Print, so that every one will learn 'how 'o handle his own money as a member °f a cooperative as sociation. IV. Correct Budgets It is as necessary that correct financial* budgets for the future be made as it is that the reports of the past operations be accurate. Every manager and director should have before him at the end of each month a statement showing the re sults of the month and year to date com pared with two other sets of figures, by amounts and percentages. These two. comparative figures are the actual results of the same periods of the year previous and the anticipated results as set up in the budget for the current year. New cooperatives need to set up correct budg ets to prevent their development being; hampered by starting with too high rents and wages and too low volumes and margins, with the discouragements which follow initial losses. To prepare correct budcjets tor the fu ture it is vitally necessary fhat the audi tor, manager and directors have ah un derstanding of the general facts about the economic system as a whole. In June 1937 the national magazine, Consumers' Cooperation, published a chart showing commodity and common stock prices for twentyJive years and predicted the pres ent depression. The article advised co operatives to reduce inventories, collect receivables and build up surpluses. This was based upon the study of commodity and common stock price lines before and after the two previous depressions of 1920 and 1929. The compilation and fol lowing of such general statistics relative to the economic system as a whole is the necessary foundation underneath the successful steering of cooperative ships, whether small or large. Only recently we saw a budget com- COMMODITIES AND COMMON STOCKS 10° A'* ___ COMMODITIES— W«ren »d Peirson Commodity Price Index A —— . COMMON STOCKS— Dew-Jones Avenge of 30 Industrial Stocks / \ / \ : i : ' /"- ^wr 1 1 ! 1 ~-226 Vn •c -'' •v^ 1 1 ! 1 / \ 1 1 1 ^/ — - -_ - ^ 1111 1 \ \ \ =-w 1111 /** ~^> 1 1SIO 1925 1935 117 mi liX WHAT HAPPENED WHEN SWEDISH RETt COOPERATIVES WENT ON A CASH BASIS AFTER 1920 OWN CAPITAL PER MEMBER (kronor) 19640 31.73 1913 2076 2428 piled 'by a manager and adopted by his directors. It called lor an increase of 25% in volume. When we asked the price of livestock and grain as compared with the previous year the answer was that they were about 25% less. Yet a "budget was set up calling for a 25% increase, in the face of a 25% re duced buying power among the members. No such budget would have been prepared by the manager or adopted by the directors had they been studying the statistics showing the whole economic situation. Not to study general statistics and set up correct budgets and constantly com pare actual results with the budget is to •gamble with "Members' Money" entrust ed to the directors and manager. V. Cash Terms There is no equivalent for cash, even though an old statement refers to "cash or its equivalent." Cash is cash. Cash over the counter on delivery, or better -still, cash deposits in advance of delivery. 'Cooperation means C.O.D. or C.I.A. A cooperative manager says that giv ing credit is simply opening the cash drawer and saying to a member, "Take what you like of 'Other People's Mon ey.' We have already quoted the 118 Swedes' famous slogan, "A c operative should neither g,ve nor accept credit." Wihat hap pened when the Swedes de cided at their congress in 1920 to "pay on the nail for all their purchases" and to "limit the scope of the movement to the dimension which its own capi tal permitted" is shown by the chart. Until then debts had been increasing faster than capital: from then on debts de clined and capital increased while volume continued to rise. Few realize the enormous cost of credit. A bulletin pub lished by Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., is authority for the chart showing the cost of credit in various lines of prod ucts. If credit is needed by a member it should be gotten through a cooperative credit institution and not through a commodity coopera tive. No .manager should be expected to be capable of running both a business and a bank. If a cooperative is to become financial ly impregnable and capable of control ling the general price level it cannot be dependent upon bank loans. Otherwise it is not free from outside control. How could the Swedes have busted trusts if they had tried to use money gotten from bank loans to do it? Their hands would have been tied at once. The 1929 and 1937 depressions were plainly the result of building business on the false foundation of credit. The chart illustrates this fact. After 1920 a false foundation for production was laid in foreign loans. When bondholders began to lose confidence and production de clined in 1924 it was again stimulated by a second false foundation of installment credit. Finally a peak was reached, as always occurs when "Confidence" in be ing able to unload on the other fellow broke down in Wall Street (which is the only kind of "Confidence" there really is in private-profit business), and the crash came. The same false foundation of credit built up the increased production from 1932 to 1937, except that domestic Consumers' Cooperation government credit replaced foreign credit allcl installment credit was even greater, finally the sand foundation of credit nave way again as it always will. We j,ad learned nothing from 1929. True confidence is built on customers and permanent customers are built on cash. Credit trading is only the private profit substitute for the equitable distri bution of purchasing-power. It has no place in the cooperative movement. The Rochdale Pioneers were right that "cred it is the invention of the devil of profit." When the cooperative .movement grows strong enough to bring about the equit able distribution of cash purchasing pow er to all, then credit will be entirely elim inated from business. VI. Patronage Returns No patronage returns should be paid to members out of profits on non-member business or on the business of members who fail to turn in their sales slips. Oth erwise a cooperative becomes in part a profit making business. Patronage returns should not be paid out of "Other People's Money" that is borrowed. They should be paid only if cash on hand exceeds current liabilities. The reverse of this statement is that capital and any secured loans should be sufficient to cover all fixed assets, in ventories and any receivables. VII. Profits be used for the advancement of the Co operative Movement and can never be distributed to members. VIII. Ample Reserves The question of reserves is largely a question of members' understanding the superiority of a long-itime vs a short- time policy. When members are more in terested in building a new non-profit world for themselves and their children than they are for their own immediate benefit, they will vote larger amounts to reserves and lesser amounts to patronage returns. I venture to suggest that if we were all committed to cooperation to the greatest degree we would vote all of the savings to reserves rather than any fo patronage returns. If everyone saw in their imaginations the rapid growth of monopolies as clearly as some do we would sacrifice the small returns of the present for the far greater returns of the future, so that monopolies can be check mated and Cooperation become domi nant. It should be added that reserves must be actively used and not allowed to lie dormant. They are built up for the sole purpose of more rapidly advancing the growth of the Cooperative Movement. If not actively used for expansion, the result may be that employees will eventu ally feel that they have been robbed and will demand excessive pay. Few cooperatives can help but make some profit. Some trade is transient and some members do not turn in all their pur chase slips. At the close of a period the total sales slips turned in will be less than the total sales. Then comes the moral question as to what to do with the profits on the balance of the business. One of our large cooperatives has shown the way to tändle them and be a true cooperative. They nave inserted in their by-laws a provision 'hat all profits must August, 1938 THE COST OF STORE CREDIT O 5 1O 15 20 Grocery—general Repair garages Hardware Gas and oil Farm supply Average, all stores Feed Implement Automobile sales Cattle dealers Usual bank rate 119 IX. Social Capital When one of the members of the Pres ident's Inquiry on Cooperative Enter-« prise in Europe reported as to his obser vations, he stated that the thing which impressed him most was the building up of interestjfree social capital. There is a growing tendency in the same direction in America. One large cooperative has built up its entire capital of nearly two million dollars on the socially-owned, in terest-free basis. Another of our largest cooperatives follows the policy of writ ing down to $1 its investments in land, buildings and equipment. X. Increased Investments We must strengthen our present retail and wholesale cooperatives by the pur chase of additional shares of stock. We are not now even building on a shoe string in some cases, we are hanging on a thread. We have, in too many cases, thought we could finance a retail cooperative on 25c to $1 deposits and accumulate the necessary balance out of savings. But someone must put up the money for the stock you draw on for your purchases and for the operating funds. If you do not do so, you are depending upon "Oth er People's Money," which you have no moral right to do. Each member should pay in cash for enough shares in starting a new cooperative to supply his pro portion of the necessary capital. Then each member should invest in additional shares as the business grows and more complete inventories are carried and nev/ lines added. Cooperative members must also think beyond the financing of their retail coop eratives with their own money, and in vest additional funds in order that their retail cooperatives may adequately fi nance their wholesale and, in turn, their wholesale likewise have ample funds to finance factories for production. The new independent study of the Cooperative, Movement entitled "Consumers' Coop eration in Great Britain" indicates, for example, in groceries, a possible average savings of about 4% in retailing and eventually about the same percentage in wholesaling. Much greater savings are possible in production. In a conversa tion with Mr. Lancaster, Secretary of the 120 C. W. S. of Great Britain, relative to cooperative savings, he stated after read ing off the figures, "Production is th" life blood of the Cooperative Move ment." Neither retail, wholesale nor manufac turing cooperatives should have to de pend on "Other People's Money" in tne form of either bank or personal loans. Cooperators should finance their coop eratives adequately with their own mon ey by investing in the necessary shares to do so. We must build the Cooperative Movement faster to escape poverty, un employment and tenancy and to prevent the further development of Monopolism into Fascism in America. XL Pooling Funds Open books, accurate auditing, a thorough understanding of balance sheets and operating statements, correct budgets, cash terms, no profiteering on non-member business, ample reserves, social capital and increased investments will build confidence in the membership of a cooperative until they are willing to take the final anid most important step of pooling their funds. They will not only reach the place where they will refuse to take "Other People's Money" but they will have developed sufficient confidence in their ability to handle their own money cooperatively. They will then do two important things: First, retail cooperatives will have de veloped such a confidence in their own wholesale that they will deposit their re ceipts each day in a joint account with the wholesale. In Sweden on the first day of the fiscal year, the books of each retail show an asset amount of cash de posited with the wholesale rather than a debit amount of accounts payable to the wholesale. Then each day throughout the year, on the wholesale books, the a- mounts purchased from the wholesale are entered as charges and the amounts de posited to the joint account are entered as credits, and at the close of the day. there appears another credit balance which includes the transactions of the day. In this way all the retail and the wholesale cash balances are pooled into one gigantic fund. . The second important thing which will take place when cooperators gain con fidence in their ability to handle their money cooperatively is that mem- will have developed such a confi dence in their retail and their wholesale that they will deposit their individual savings with their retail to be passed on to and handled by their finance division of their wholesale. While there cannot help but be some element of risk in the early stages of a cooperative, the follow ing out of the foregoing rules should make every cooperative permanently sound and members' investments and de posits secure. (It might be well here to refer to Denmark, where confidence in cooperatives is demonstrated by each member accepting individual responsibil ity for the debts of the society.) When the money of cooperators, whether individual or retail or whole sale, is all pooled in one mighty fund, it will be powerful enough to bend down any price level that is too high and raise any pay level that is too low and bring monopolies to their knees. The final re sult will be the distribution of purchasing power equitably CREDIT among all the people until pover ty and riches, depressions and 12° booms, unemployed poor and idle rich will be no more on earth. -|ls XII. Price Policy While it is necessary to first follow the original Rochdale principle of selling at the prevail ing price level, the building of such a financially powerful co operative as we have described will eventually result in being able to adopt an active instead of a passive price policy. This means that a cooperative will set its own prices and private busi ness will have to follow. Sweden is now generally following an active price policy. The head of the bank of Finland says that the cooperatives control the price le vel in that country. In America the most notable success of the cooperatives in controlling the price level is in fertilizer, which is below pre-war level, while other products generally are above pre-war level. The report of the Federal Trade Commis sion gave the cooperative move ment credit for this reduction in fertilizer prices. At Cloquet, Minnesota, where the first cooperative store in the United States to do a million dollar a year business is located, the president has stated that the cooperative sets the price level in the county. Such a policy of lowering the general price level benefits all the people as well as the cooperative members. It may seem altruistic to do this but it is not. As the Swedes say, the people find out what is responsible for the elimination of pov erty, unemployment and tenancy and as they learn they join the cooperative. The time when such an active price policy can be adopted will be determined by the rapidity with whiclh we follow out the policies enumerated in the foregoing and thus build for ourselves a financially powerful cooperative by using our own money cooperatively and refusing to de pend upon "Other People's Money." -FOUNDATION OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION IN U.S.A. 110 95 1920 1Ç25 1930 193Î Consumers' Cooperation J August, 1938 121 SWEDEN PAYS US A VISIT New York — Two of the world's greatest cooperators, Albin Johansson and Axel Gjores, president and secretary of Kooperativa Forbundet, the coopera tive wholesale and union of Sweden, spent a scant three weeks in the United States, June 26 to July 14, as delegates to the Tercentenary Celebration of the Founding of The New Sweden. The ap pointment of two cooperators along with members of Parliament, the Cabinet, and other leaders of civic and industrial life, was an acknowledgment of the impor tant part the cooperatives play in Swed ish life. In the few days at their disposal free from the fun