The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/HD2951xC776/co43 or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/HD2951xC776/co43 NEW BOOKS AND SPECIAL EDITIONS NOVA SCOTIA, Land of Cooperators—bv Father Leo Ward. This book, just published, is not merely another account of cooperatives in Nova Scotia. It is rather the story of the co operative movement as told by the people them selves — Ed Power and old Ben Marchand, Johnny and Jean LeClair and all the rest — to a keen observer of human nature. Father Ward's story is timely and of real human in terest. ............................................. Co-op Edition, $1.50 HOW TO TEACH CONSUMERS' COOP ERATION—by C. Maurice Wieting. Educators will welcome Dr. Wieting's book, presenting as it does the results of his experience in the curriculum laboratory at Teachers College, Co lumbia. He surveys the present status of con sumers' cooperation, as well as methods of teaching it, shows how it can be worked into curricula in different ways, and suggests units suitable for several types of classes. Co-op Edition, $1.50 PROBLEMS OF COOPERATION—by J. P. Warbasse. This analyzes the mistakes of de funct societies, points out weaknesses inherent in cooperatives, and indicates the most danger ous external obstacles to be overcome. A book for wide-awake strategists. Co-op Edition, $1.00 THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS—by Joshua K. Belles. A vivid and comprehensive portrayal of the cooperative movement in America, it serves as a popular introduction for anyone who would like a candid look at cooperatives through the eyes of an experienced reporter. Co-op Edition, $1.00 PADDY THE COPE—by Patrick Gallagher. This heart-warming autobiography tells of the struggles and heartaches and final victory of the Templecrone Cooperative in bleak Donegal County, Ireland. It is the story of common folk, poor but proud, who clashed with the "Gombeen" men and freed themselves from the shackles of greed and exploitation. It is refreshing for its candid outlook; and its lilting style, so characteristic of good Irish prose, is delightful. ................................. Co-op Edition, $1.50 COOPERATIVES IN AMERICA^by Ellis Cowling. A revised edit'On of this account of the cooperative movement in the United States is expected to he ready for sale at the eri(l of January. ... Probable Price, Co-op Edition, $1.00 COOPERATIVE DEMOCRACY—by J. P. Warbasse. The Bible of the American cooper- ative movement by its foremost authority, brought up to date in a new revision. If you want one book about cooperatives, their his tory, principles, present extent and implica tions for the future, this is it. Co-op Edition, $1.50 THE MORALE OF DEMOCRACY - by Jerry Voorhis. Congressman Jerry Voorhis' an swer to the question, "What is the morale of democracy?" is: "The spirit of cooperation," in which he sees the democratic hope for a new world. ................._......................... Co-op Edition, 50c. CONSUMERS COOPERATIVE LEADER- SHIP—"Consumers Cooperative Leadership" will be of value for thousands of American consumers who want to cooperate for the com mon good, but do not yet know how to do sc successfully. The very nature of the book requires A it be technical ; however, the terminology usée is explicit and no reader should find the detail laborious. The book answers the question y i want to know about starting and managing a successful co-op. "How much capital is .,.• quired ?" "How should the capital be raised?' "How large should the store be?" "Should the) sell meat because some members think :t would be a good idea?" "What amount f fixtures and furniture is necessary?" and other questions just as vital to the success or faih . of a co-operative society. The book is not written by one person l t is an attempt at a presentation of facts devel oped by investigation and research, in the course of which a number of people were used. This book should be of inestimable value . for all leaders in consumer cooperative societies. $1.25 Plus Postt . 181 Order from THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street New York City CONSUMERS o OFFICIA- , ORGAN Of The Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the U. S. A. VOLUME January — December 1943 Published by The Cooperative League of the U. S. A. 608 S. Dearborn 726 Jackfion p,ace Chicago 5, 111. Washington 6, D.C. 167 W. |2th Street New York 11, N. Y. INDEX CONSUMERS' COOPERATION (NOTE : The October, November and December issues were incorrectly numbered. To save confusion, we have added the month to the page number for these issues.) j(\ PAGE Abundance is Here—It Can Be Produced .............................................................................. 19 Advertising, The Need for Cooperative ........................................................................................ 86 Advisory Councils, Ohio Farm Bureau .................................................................................... 74 All Things Considered ...................................................................................................................... 73 Alien, Adam ..............................................._^ 96 Alien, Harland .............................................................__^ 141 Another Cooperative Year—1943 ............................................................................................ 1 Are You Starving Your Co-op ? ............................................................................................................ 76 B Bacon, Margaret ................................................................................................................................. 128-Nov. Baldwin, Lewis M. ............*.................................._ 66 Beaton, Neil S. ...........................................................................................~^ 147 Bogardus, Emory S. .................................................................................................................................. 16, 43 Bowen, E. R. .......................................................................................... 2, 14, 105, 107, 133, 105-Oct Boyd, Neva L. ..............................................................^ 134 Brandeis Really Believed About Business, What ..................................................................... 83 British Co-ops are Meeting the War Emergencies, How .......................................... 99-Oct. Brookings Institution ..................................................................................................... 106-Oct. Bryan, Darwin R. ....................................................................................................................... 26, 128 Buck, Pearl ........................................................^ 42 Builds Better Houses and Makes Happier Homes, Cooperation ................................. 54 Business, Cooperative ............................................................................................................. 2, 46 Business Looks to Co-ops .................................................................................................... m Business of Sixteen Regional Cooperatives Topped Hundred Million in '42 46 Calkins, Oilman ........................................................................ 154, 129-Dec., 140-Dec., 143-Dec. Campanell, Tomasso .............................................................................-.--.-------------•---•••• 10° Campbell, Wallace J. ........................................................................ 6, 9, 105, 109, 155, 137-Dec. Campus Co-ops, First Official Survey by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ............ 88 Canadian Parliament Hearings ...................................................................................................... 11° Capitalist-Monopoly and Communist-Bureaucracy Meet in Berlin, What Will Happen When ............................................................................................................................ 113-Nov. Capitol Letters ................................................................................................ 8, 30, 111-Oct., 126-Nov. Centennial Campaign ........................................................................... 45, 68, 123-Nov/r 143-Dec. Centennial Campaign, Preliminary Plans for 1944 .................................................................. 68 Centennial Campaign, Plans Rolling For ........................................................................ 123-Nov. Central Cooperative Wholesale .........................._..................................................................-.....-......- 1° Central Coordinating Group ........................................................................................................ 112-Oct. INDEX PAGE Century of Cooperation, The ..................................................................................................................... 4 Challenge of American Business to the Cooperative Economy .................................... 141 Chamberlain, John ............................................................................................................................................. 42 China, Cooperation in ........................................................................................................................ 112-Oct.- Christian Century, The ................................................................................................................................. 6 Circle in 1944, Plan a Complete Cooperative .............................................................................. 71 Circuit Schools .......................................................................................................................................... 124-Nov. Civilian Spending and Saving in 1941 and 1942 ........................................................................ 52 Coady, M. M. ...................................................................................................................................................... 96 Commonweal, The ............................................................................................................................................. 7 Conditions of Peace, a review .................................................................................................................. 31 Consumers Cooperative Association .......................................................................................... 27, 67 CO-OP, Introducing ....................................... ................. . ...... 140-Dec. * O ............. ............................... .......... J. AVX *-• •».•-• Cooperation Advances on All Seven Fronts .................................................................................... 145 Cooperative Community, Inc.—Glenview, 111. ........................................................................... 54 Cooperative Economy—a review ........................................................... .. 95 L J ........... ......................... s •* Cooperative League Board of Directors Meeting .................................................................. 45 Cooperative Union ................................................................................................................................. 100-Oct. Co-ops, Cults and Consumers ...................................................................................................... 118-Nov. Covey, Esther ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Cowden, Howard A. .......................................................................................................................... 67, 105 Credit Union and Cooperative League Plan Closer Cooperation .............................. 29 Credit Unions, Growth of, a chart ...................................................................................................... 48 D Days of the Big Push, The .................................................................................................'....................... 27 Democracy by Discussion, a review ...................................................................................................... 16 Development of Collective Enterprise, a review ..................................................................... 16 Dillman, Mary .................................................................................................................................................... 88 Directors Meeting Opens with Poetry and Philosophy, Cooperative League ...... 100 Distribute Abundance, Cooperation is the Only Way to ................................................... 19 Detroit Play Co-op ............................................................................................................................. 12 5-Nov. Dollar A Share, a review .............................................................................................................................. 96 Dairy, James C. ................................................................................................................................................... 48 Dykstra, Waling ....................................................................................................................................... 102-Oct. Eastern Cooperative League ........................................................................................................................ 28 Eastern Cooperative Recreation School .................................................................................... 95, 112 Eastern Cooperative Recreation School Yields Week of Fun, Heaps of Co operation .......................................................................................................................................................... 160 Eck, Carl .....„...._............................................_ 123 Economic Freedom at Home, We Must Win .............................................................................. 33 Editor, Meet the New ........................................................................................................................... 129-Dec. Editors are Doing and Planning, What Co-op ........................................................................... 114 Editor's Dream, An .......................................................................................................................................... 97 Education, Cooperative ............................................................ 2, 10, 27, 44, 76, 118, 125-Nov. INDEX PAGE Education for the World We Want...................................................................................................... 135 Educational or a Commodity Man, Which is More Important .................................... 102 Educational Program, Developing a Local Co-op ..................................................................... 127 Educators are Doing and Saying, What Co-op .............................................................................. 116 Eldridge, Seba and Associates .................................................................................................................. 63 Encyclical of Pope Pius XI ........................................................................................................................ 77 Everybody Can Act ........................................................................................................................................ 42 Faulty Translation Changed Economic History, A .................................................................. 77 Finance, Cooperative ..................................................................................................................... 2, 138-Dec. Fisher, Dorothy Canfield .............................................................................................................................. 71 Food—A Weapon for Victory, a review ....................................................................................... 48 Four Great Steps in Co-op History ...................................................................................................... 105 Fowler, Bertram B. ............................................................................................................................................. 48 Free World Round Table ........................................................................................................................... 110 Freedom to be Free, The, a review ....................................................................................... 128-Nov. Gill, Eric .................................................................................................._ 101 Green, Perry L. ...................................................................................................................................................... 106 Greer, Paul .........................................................„..............................................................................._................. 22 Gross National Product by Use, a chart ............................................................................................. 50 Group Health Mutual ....................................................................................................................................... 58 H Hart, Leslie A. .......................................................................................................................................... 115-Nov. Health Cooperative in the Making, The Story of One ......................................................... 58 Helping Europe After the War ............................................................................................................... 137 Hobbies in War and Peace ........................................................................................................................ 13 Housing Committee, Cooperative Post War ................................................................................ 45 Housing, Cooperative ....................................................................................................................................... 54 How to Work with People in Building Cooperatives ............................................................ 134 Hhtchinson, Carl R. .......................................................................................................................................... 74 I Saw a Cooperative World Being Built .............................................................................. 132-Dec. Ida B. Wells Homes ......................................................................................................................... 112-Oct. Income Paid to Individuals by Use, a chart ................................................................................. 57 Incomes, Agricultural and Industrial Workers ........................................................................... 20 Individual Instances vs. General Averages .................................................................................... 103 Inflation, Beware the Post War Dangers Of .............................................................................. 81 International Cooperative Relief and Reconstruction ................................................ 112-Oct. International Cooperative Trading, Coordination In ................................................ 102-Oct. INDEX J PAGE Jacobson, George W. ....................................................................................................................................... 58 India, Cooperation in ........................................................................................................................... 133-Dec. Johansson, Albin ................................................................................................................................................ 150 Johnston, Eric ......................................................................................................................................................... 83 K Kalkin, Miriam ................................................................................................................................................... 47 Kallen, Horace M. ................................................................................................................................................139 Kendall, Erick .................................................................. 114 Kennedy, E. D. ................................................................._ 4l LaFollette, Senator Robert M., Jr. ......................................................................................................... 40 Lake, Helmi .................................................................................................................................................^ 121 Landis, Benson Y. ............................................................................................................................................. 95 Lane, Dr. Howard ............................................................................................................................................. 135 Laski, Harold .................................................................................................................................................^ 4l Leading Cooperation to Ruin ..................................................................................................................... 37 Leatherman, Wilbur ......................................................................................_ 118 Leisure, Cooperation and Organization of ........................................................................... 108-Oct. Listen! Think! Act............................................................................................................................................. 104 Lincoln, Murray D. .................................................................................................................. 106, 108, 147 Linson, Ellen ................................................................................................... 12, 62, 94, 160, 108-Oct. Literature We Need arid How to Distribute It, The ................................................ 115-Nov. Little Thing Like This, A, a play review ........................................................................ 125-Nov. Los Angeles Daily News .............................................................................................................................. 6 M MacMillan, Mary ................................................................................................................................................ 112 Manufacturing Boots Savings, Co-op ................................................................................................ 67 Marshall, James ....................................................................................................................................... 128-Nov. Marx, Dr. Walter John .............................................................................................................................. 64 Mayer, Milton ...................................................................................................................................................... 143 McLanahan, C. J. .............................................................................. 10, 27, 44, 76, 116, 124-Nov. Merchandising Managers Are Doing and Planning, What Co-op .............................. 120 Midland Cooperative Wholesale ............................................................................................................ 28 Midwest Cooperative Recreation and Education Institute ................................................ 79 Miller, Merlin G. .......................................................................................................................................... 64 Mills, Factories and Refineries Owned by American Consumer Co-ops, One Hundred .......................................................................................................................................... 15 5 Milwaukee Play Co-op ..................................................................................................................... 125-Nov. Motherwell, Hiram ......................................................................................................................................... 137 Movie Tells Story of Sharecroppers of the Sea ........................................................................... 47 Movies for 1943, New and Old ............................................................................................................... 5 N Nation, The .................................................................................................................................................. 7 National Cooperatives, Inc. ..................................................................................................................... 46 INDEX INDEX PAGE National Cooperative Finance Association ....................................................................................... 2 National Co-op Staff, Three Important Additions to ............................................................ 153 National Product and Its Expenditure, The .................................................................................. 34 National War Debt and Taxes ............................................................................................................... 14 Nevins, G. E. .........................................................._ 120 North Kansas City Play Co-op Hobby Night ........................................................................... 95 Norris, George W. .................................................................................................................................... 6, 9 Norris, Ruth ................................................................................................................................................ 63, 118 Nova Scotia, Land of Cooperators, a review ................................................................................. 112 o O'Brien, Howard Vincent ........................................................................................................................... 73 Olson, Hanford ....._............................................._................_.........._ 127 Owned by Members, Cooperatives Should be Completely ............................................. 82 Out of Debt, Out of Danger, a review ................................................................................. 111-Oct. Palmer, R. A. ............................................................................................................................................. 101-Oct. Parsons, Rev. Wilfrid .................................................................................................................................... 77 Pasadena Recreation Association ............................................................................................................ 94 Pay Off Your Debts, Urge Cooperative League Directors ................................................... 18 Pay Once or Pay Thrice for the War ................................................................................................ 104 Peoples Entertainment Society ...................................................................................................... 108-Oct. Perkins, Lionel ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 Permanent Peace, Cooperation the Only Basis for ............................................................... 150 Permanent Plasters on our Economic Cancers, Should We Put ....................................... 36 Personnel Directors are Doing and Planning, What Co-op ............................................. 123 Petroleum Administration for War .......................................................................................... 126-Nov. Play Cooperators ......................._........................................................................................................ 125-Nov. Play to Understanding, Through ............................................................................................................ 26 Plays, Two New .................................................................................................................................... 125-Nov. Political Governments Change, When and Why Do ............................................................ 103 Post War Planning, A Report on Cooperative ............................................................... 137-Dec. Post War Reconstruction, Co-ops Role in, a chart ..................................................................... 146 Post War Reconstruction Requires Cooperative Economic Organization, Democratic ................................................................................................................................................... 91 Press, A Consumer-Owned Daily ......................................................................................................... 22 Priestly, J. B. ................._.....................................................:.........................................................„ 109-Oct. Private Business, What is Happening to ....................................................................................... 53 Proebsting, James L. ....................................................................................................................................... 153 Production, Cooperative ................................................................................................................................. 155 Profit-Debt System, The "Defective" ................................................................................................... 102 Profit Prevents Our Having Plenty arid Peace ........................................................................... 17 Profits, Covering Up The ........................................................................................................................... 103 Progressive, The ................................................................................................................................................... 7 Proven Program for Freedom from Want, A .................................................................. 143-Dec. Public Ownership to Cooperation, The Relation of ................................................... 121-Nov. PAGE Publicity, National and International Recognition Given to Co-ops in New Blaze of ......................................................_ 109 Publicity Program, Developing a Local Co-op ........................................................................... 125 R Radio Controversy Established Fundamentals Points ............................................................ 6 Recreation, Cooperative ........................... 2, 12, 26, 42, 62, 79, 112, 118, 160, 142-Dec. Recreation Leaders are Doing and Saying, What Co-op ...................................................... 118 Recreation in Cooperatives, a review ................................................................................................... 63 Recreation, What's Ahead in Cooperative .................................................................................... 12 Recreation Survey .........................................................._...................................••-.••.•.•..---•...--- 142-Dec. Recreation News Notes ........................................................................................................................ 62, 94 Report of General Secretary to Board, 1942 and 1943 ......................................................... 2 Research Service, Cooperative League ............................................................................................. 7 Reunion, Eastern and National Cooperative Recreation School ................................. 62 Reviews, Book ..................................................................... 16, 31, 63, 64, 80, 95, 112, 128-Nov. Ride the Publicity Waves .............................................................................................................................. 98 Robert Owen, a review .................................................................................................................................... 80 Robin Co-op, A ......................._...............„......................„..™ 104 Rochdale Cooperation and American Democracy ......................................................... 130-Dec. Rodell, Fred .......................................................................................................................................^ Rose, Al. G. ..............................,..................................^ 154 Rural Electrification Administration ................................................................................................... 8 Rural Youth of Lancaster County ......................................................................................................... 63 Sales and Advertising Program, Developing a Local Co-op ............................................. 131 Sanders, Harvey .......................................................................................................................................... 86, 131 Schmidt, Hans ........................................................................................................................... 13 Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society .......................................................................................... 37 Self-Help Co-ops .................................................................................................................................... 139-Dec. Setting the Sights for 1943 ........................................................................................................... 10 Services, Prepare to Push Co-ops ......................................................................................................... 49 Signs of "The March of Fascism" in America ........................................................................... 101 Staff Conference, The 1943 National Co-op ..................................................................... 80, 114 Staff Organization, National, Regional, District and Local Cooperative .................. 20 Stevenson, Janet ....................................................................................................................................... 125-Nov. Study-Action Groups Today, How are Your .............................................................................. 44 Study Groups Prove to be Action Groups ....................................................................................... 74 Study-Action Leaflets ....................................................................................................................................... H Sweden in the Spotlight .............................................................................................................................. 111 They Are Riding Again .................................................................................................................. 124-Nov. Thompson, Carl D. .............................................................................................................................. 121 -Nov. Tichenor, George ..................................................................................-...............-•--.-.•-—-----••-• 125 INDEX PAGE Toad Lane, a poem ............................................................................................................................................. 66 Today's Crisis Brings Greater Cooperative Opportunities ....................................... 97-Oct. Toothill, Fred ............................................................_ 99-Oct. Trial Balloons Thrown Up at Geneva ............................................................................................. 133 Truman, Senator Harry S. ........................................................................................................................ 40 Turn of the Tide, a film review ............................................................................................................... 64 U United Nations Food Conference, a report .................................................................................... 147 United Nations Food Conference Recommends Co-ops to Cut Food Costs ...... 108 University of Minnesota Tax Conference .................................................................................... 30 U.S. Co-op Manufacturing Plants, a chart .................................................................................... 157 V Vborhis, Congressman Jerry ............................................................................................. 40, 111-Oct. W Wagner, Richard Robert .............................................................................................................................. 80 Wake Up America ......................._..........................................._.„................................................................... 50 Wall Street Moves to Washington ......................................................................................................... 39 Wallace, Vice President Henry A. ................................................................................. 4, 112-Oct. Warbasse, James Peter ........................................................................................................................ 37, 80 Ward, Rev. Leo ..................................................................................._ 112 Way to Political Peace is Through Economic Cooperation, The .............................. 99 Webb, Beatrice, a Servant of Society ................................................................................................ 84 Where Does the Consumer Come In? ................................................................................................ 139 White, William Alien .................................................................................................................................... 40 Wholesale Prices During and After Wars .................................................................................... 15 Will Your Cooperative Be Prepared for Peace? ......................................................... 131-Dec. Wilmington Recreation Conference ................................................................................................... 94 With the People—a play review ............................................................................................. 125-Nov. Women are Active, Yes .................................................................................................................. 110-Oct. Women are Doing and Planning, What Co-op ........................................................................ 121 Workbook, Educational ................................................................................................................................. 10 Workshop, Cooperative Recreation ....................................................................................... 125-Nov. World Economic Plan & Other Economic Proposals, The Cooperative ...... 105-Oct. Z Zaritsky, Max ...................................................................................................................................... 33 MAR 10 1943 The Cast of Here is Tomorrow recording the first program. 1943 ANOTHER COOPERATIVE YEAR NATIONAL WAR DEBT AND TAXES E. R. Bowen WHOLESALE PRICES DURING AND AFTER WARS WHAT'S AHEAD IN COOPERATIVE RECREATION Ellen Linson SETTING THE SIGHTS FOR '43 C. J. McLanahan RADIO CONTROVERSY ESTABLISHES FUNDAMENTAL POINTS W. J. Campbell JANUARY NEW AND OLD MOVIES FOR 1943 Esther Covey "43 CAPITOL LETTERS John Carson «NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS SPECIAL CONGRESS ISSUE Copies of the Congress issue of CONSUMERS COOPERATION are still available. This issue contains a complete report of the Cooperative League Congress which was held in Minneapolis in September. All the speeches of the principal speakers appear in condensed form. You may write for a prepared outline for discussion which goes with this issue to The Cooperative League, 608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. This outline will be very useful in discussion groups wishing to use the Congress issue for study. You may obtain extra copies of the magazine for 25c. per copy from THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street New York City THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 608 South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. AFFILIATED REGIONAL Name Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Consumers Cooperative Wholesale Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Farm Bureau Services Farmers Cooperative Exchange Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Address Publication St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 2301 S. Millard, Chicago The Round Table 27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer The Proclucer-Consuniti S. Calif. Cooperaiui Consumers Defender The Recreation Kit Amarillo, Texas 7218 S. Hoover, L.A. 116E. 16 St., N. Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing, Michigan Raleigh, N. C. St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. 608 S. Dearborn, Chicago Review Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News The Carolina Cooperator Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. I JANUARY, 1943 Ten Cents 1943—ANOTHER COOPERATIVE YEAR "Consumers' Cooperation is really moving," said a cooperator in a burst of enthusiasm, after sitting in on a session of the National Publicity and Education Committee, who were holding their midwinter conference in Chicago (which has been rightly termed "The National Cooperative Center,") on January 4-5, 1943. The P and E Committee meeting was immediately followed on January 7-8, by the first 1943 quarterly meeting of the Directors of The Cooperative League, at which fourteen of the fifteen directors were present. Because of the urgency of many matters affecting Consumers' Cooperation, the national directors of the I«ague not only held a two-day meeting in advance of the Thirteenth Biennial Congress in Minneapolis on September 26-27, 1942, as well as an organization meeting immediately after the Congress, but also held another two-day meeting on November 10-11 and have now started the New Year of 1943 with a two-day meeting early in January. These meetings, be it said for the judgment of the delegates in having elected them as well as to the credit of the Directors them selves, are hard-working meetings consisting of at least five sessions. As a result of the faithfulness of the Directors and Committees to their national responsibilities, the year 1943 has begun with a more definitely planned program for Consumers' Cooperation than ever before. The following pages will give you a summary of some of the highlights. Read them carefully and then resolve to take your place to a greatei degree in realizing the challenge of our President-Emeritus, Dr. James P. Warbasse, that "The time for audacity has come." The year of 1943 has been planned out nationally to begin to realize this challenge to greater accomplishments. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. 1942 AND 1943 Report by E. R. Bowen, General Secretary to the Directors of the Cooperative League at their meeting in Chicago on January 7 and 8, 1943. I HAVE repeated before the statement made by Fauquet of France that two things are necessary: first, to strengthen the Cooperative Movement internally and second, to give the Movement the radi ance it deserves. We did both during 1942—we should do still more in 1943. 1942 Whether 1942 was more or less sig nificant than other years in cooperative history may be difficult to measure, but it was surely a notable year in what was accomplished and the advances which were made. Some of them were the fol lowing : I. INTERNAL STRENGTH 1. Recreation Fortunately we have recognized the fundamental nature of coop erative recreation and have trained hundreds of members to carry on neighborhood folk rec reation when travel has now be come restricted. 2. Education An Education Secretary was added to the national staff and the results are already apparent in the Workbooks for Commit tees, in Outlines for Study-Ac tion Groups, etc. The Special Congress Issue of Consumers' Cooperation is evi dence of the fact that the Thir teenth Biennial Congress was outstanding in the publicity it gave the movement and in the educational values of the ad dresses. 3. Finance The organization of a National Cooperative Auditing Service was approved by the National Society of Cooperative Account ants, which should produce re sults of great value in standard izing regional and local coopera tive financial statements for com parative purposes and in in creased efficiency. More regionals and many more locals went on a cash basis dur ing 1942 as all should do. The incorporation of a National Cooperative Finance Association was finally approved. We should now be able to begin to mobilize the savings of cooperatives and cooperators and eventually free the Movement from private or political financial control. 4. Business Lines were diversified to a great er degree — outstanding were the entrance of Ohio and St Paul into the grocery field. Production facilities were ex panded. Ohio bought a refinery. Midland and St. Paul took steps to the same end. Kansas City bought a cannery and saw mill. Pennsylvania, Southern States and Ohio built a feed mill. More building would have been done if material had been available. The Consumers' Cooperative Movement is most fortunate to day in that it is yet largely engaged in the distribution of food and supplies for food production which will be con tinued to a larger percentage than most lines. This should be kept in mind when irritations develop on account of priority restrictions, under which every other business must also operate. II. EXTERNAL RADIANCE During the last half of 1942 the Consumers' Cooperative Movement gained its greatest recognition as the incarnation of the public welfare. This was in part the result of vol untary action and in part involuntary action. 1. The Movement acted to become the representative of the public welfare in national matters in three important ways: (1) in an adequate and equitable con sumers' tax program, (2) in freedom of the air, and (3) in the advance rationing of scarce commodities to prevent hoard ing. A revealing comment on Henderson's forced resignation as Administrator of the OPA was this: "The real reason why Henderson was defeated is that there is still no organization in America which speaks for the American people." That is what the Consumers' Cooperative Movement should increasingly become. 2. Relationships with other coop erative, religious, educational, la bor and farm organizations were strengthened. This was clearly evidenced by their representa tives appearing on our Congress program. The value was demon strated when we took the lead in the radio and rationing mat ters and were strongly supported by these other groups. This may prove to be the most important thing of all in the preservation and extension of democracy and the prevention of dictatorship in America. 1943 The agenda of the last Directors meet ing discussed general plans for the com ing biennium. The following are specific recommendations for 1943 action: I. INTERNAL STRENGTH 1. Education a. Education Committees should be organized in every local cooperative. b. Study-Action Groups should be far more widely organized among members in every co operative. c. The proposed National Con sumers Co-op Technical Maga zine should be started. d. National Research and Educa tion Services for Cooperative leaders should be developed, Vol. 1, No. 1 of each of which has just been printed. 2. Finance a. The drive should be intensi fied for adequate equity capi tal in cooperatives. b. The National Cooperative Fi nance Association should be gotten under way. c. Consideration should be given to national insurance. 3. Business a. 1943 will be significant alone if the first nationally owned cooperative factory is acquired and successfully operated. b. Other factories should be bought by regionals. c. More private stores should be taken over and converted into cooperatives. II. EXTERNAL RADIANCE 1. The first national radio program will be put on the air and funds should be collected for a second longer program for 1944. 2. Preparations should start for the 1944 Centennial Congress. 3. Relationships with other national democratic organizations should be still further strengthened. 4. Post-war cooperative programs should be more definitely planned. Consumers' Cooperation January, 1943 THE CENTURY OF COOPERATION NEW AND OLD MOVIES FOR 1943 THE first half of the Twentieth Cen tury will go down in history as the period of time when the application of gas and electric power to agriculture and industry first made potential abundance possible for everyone. This meant physi cal cooperation. The second half of the Twentieth Cen tury ahead must be the period of time when the people will organize themselves cooperatively to distribute the abundance which power production has made pos sible. This means social cooperation. The comprehensiveness of the coopera tive ideal grows upon one as time goes on. Cooperation represents a. new age of man. It will mean a far greater advance over the age of competition, than com petition was over serfdom, serfdom over slavery, or slavery over barbarism. There are four principal necessities which must take place to bring into full fruition the age of Cooperation. First, we must convert ourselves into true cooperators. As yet we are much af flicted with the spirit of competition, even between those who have been chosen by their fellows to be the standard bearers of the cooperative ideal and to lead in cooperative organization. To be come a true cooperator and sluff off the remnants of the competitive spirit in which we have been' trained from our youth up by every social organization is the first great task of everyone who would attempt to achieve the cooperative ideal, and should in particular be the responsi bility of those who are chosen as leaders. Vice President Henry A. Wallace first said that the closing years of the twenti eth century would become the century of cooperation. Now he says that the clos ing years of the twentieth century must become the century of the common man. Both statements mean one and the same thing. If the tiventieth century is to end as the century of the common man, it must become the century of the coopera tive man. We are but forerunners of the cooperative men to be. We should set the example for the present and the future insofar as we are able. Second, as and when we become true cooperators in spirit, we will automati cally join with our fellows in cooperative associations to provide for our needs co operatively, whether it be recreation, edu cation, finance or business. It is our task to build and strengthen the foundations of cooperation in all of these fields, on which future generations can erect the structures of a cooperative world. When one sees the great cathedrals of Europe which took centuries to build, and where, as George Russell says, only "the third generation saw the realization of what their grandsires had dreamed" one realizes the need of building the founda tions strong today to carry the mighty world structure of cooperative peace and plenty. Third, we must not become exclusive in our thinking and act as though Con sumers' Cooperatives represent in them selves a complete cooperative economy. Instead we must join forces with those who are building publicly owned utilities, social insurance programs, labor unions, marketing cooperatives, etc. to build a complete cooperative economy in every form of activity, whether purchasing, marketing, finance, etc. Fourth, we have a final responsibility as cooperators in helping to develop the cooperative spirit and ideal as the founda tion of the other major social organiza tions as well—in religion, in education, and in politics, or in the church, the school and the government. For all social organizations at any one time in history are built upon similar foundations. To day all are built upon competitive founda tions. Only when all four social organ izations become cooperative in spirit and form, will we be able to join them to gether into a free cooperative society. We can only today see dimly the steps to the goal. They will become dearer as we strive onward during 1943 and the fu ture years of the twentieth century beyond. Consumers' Cooperation Esther Covey 'T'HE cooperatives associated with The A Cooperative League are in the midst of their greatest film undertakings at the present time. There are now available seven silent films and four sound films, with five new movies now in the process of production. The movies which are now available or on which production is in its final stages are as follows: 1. "Planning for a Saner World"—A motion picture of the 13th Biennial Con gress of The Cooperative League of the USA. This is a sound motion picture, twenty minutes in length, describing dramatically the highlights of The Co operative League Congress and contains some of the most dynamic speeches which have ever been made on the American cooperative movement. 2. "International Cooperation"—-A sev en-minute sound motion picture of Neil S. Beaton, president of the Scottish Co operative Wholesale Society in his hemi sphere-wide radio address from The Co operative League Congress in Minneap olis in 1942. 3. "Here Is Tomorrow"—A dramatized documentary vividly portraying the de velopment and scope of Consumers Co operation as it exists today in the U.S.A. 4. "Consumers Serve Themselves"—A film showing the testing kitchen of East- cm Cooperative Wholesale and telling how consumers can provide themselves with tested, quality products. Avaikble in both sound and silent version. 5. "The Co-ops Are Comin' "—A pic torial record of the development of Con- ! sumer Cooperatives in the middle west which was photographed in connection with the first Ail-American Co-op Tour in July 1941. The film is silent and is available in both black and white or color. 6. "Lets Cooperate"—A two-reel silent motion picture about the cooperative store operated by the students in the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan January, 1943 County, Kentucky. 7. "The Lord Helps Those—Who Help Each Other"—The story of the adult ed ucation and the cooperative program which is rebuilding Nova Scotia. A silent film with titles. 8. "Traveling the Middle Way in Swe den"—A record of how Sweden's prog ress has been achieved. The film is di vided into three units of two reels each. 9. "The House Without a Landlord"— A silent film with titles, telling the story of the Amalgamated Cooperative Apart ments in New York City. The following movies are now in pro duction. 1. "Our Heritage"—A three-reel sound film that is being produced by the Penn sylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso ciation about the cooperatives in Penn sylvania. The film is a sound production and will be available in black and white or color. 2. "The Credit Union, John Doe's Bank"—This is the first motion picture telling the story of the credit union move ment in the United States. 3. "The Turn of the Tide"—A dramatic story of the development of credit unions and the cooperatives by the lobster fish ermen on the coast of Maine. It is a 16mm color picture available in both sound and silent versions. 4. The Co-op Saw Mill in Arkansas re cently purchased by the Indiana Farm Bu reau cooperatives, a 16mm silent movie made in color picturing the operations of the saw mill, its products and the use of its products by the cooperatives and the country. 5. A colored silent movie of the co-op cannery at Scottsbluff, Nebraska, as yet vithout a title, being produced by the Consumers Cooperative Association. Information about the availability of these films can be secured from the Film Department of The Cooperative League of the USA at its New York office. RADIO CONTROVERSY ESTABLISHES FUNDAMENTAL POINTS w.j.Campbeii Assistant Secretary, The Cooperative League THE co-ops are on the air coast-to- Broadcasting Company was arranged for coast every Sunday starting February late November. This was followed by meetings of representatives of The Co operative League and the Code Commit tee of the National Association of Broad casters in Washington December 14. The action of the Code Committee following the conference established several funda mental principles on the right of the co operatives to purchase time. First, was the right of the cooperatives to purchase time on an equal status with private business. Second, was the right to tell the cooperative story in terms of the basic principles of cooperation. Third, was the right to use sustaining time for discussions of the cooperative movement in terms of its relation to the national economy and for the use of educational and newsworthy broadcasts about the co operative movement. The decision of the National Associa tion of Broadcasters has been hailed by publications from coast-to-coast as not only a sensible resolution of the contro versy but a fundamental reaffirmation of the right of the cooperatives to purchase broadcast time. The Christian Century, national Prot estant weekly, declared editorially in its issue of January 4, that: "The cooperative movement is at last to be allowed to purchase time for a series of thir teen radio broadcasts over a coast-to-coast chain of some thirty radio stations. Friends of both the cooperatives and the radio will welcome this agreement which is obviously in the public interest." The Los Angeles Daily News, in its editorial January 5, declared: "The Code Committee of the National Asso ciation of Broadcasters has agreed that there is not now and never has been any good reason why radio stations should refuse the paid pro grams of the Cooperative League. It is diffi cult to see how any other decision could have been reached. We commend the broadcasters for changing their minds without awaiting an investigation by the Senate, as proposed by Senator Norris." 14. This announcement is not only news in terms of cooperative publicity but it also has within it the seed of historic portent for cooperatives everywhere. The first nationwide co-op program is financed by nearly twenty thousand in dividual co-op members from coast-to- coast, who contributed $1.00 a piece to carry the story of cooperatives to the American people. The co-op program was scheduled to go on the air October 11 over thirty sta tions from Massachusetts to California. Final details had been arranged, the first program transcribed and hundreds of thousands of listeners already had made a mental note to tune in, when the two major networks decided that the coopera tives were "controversial in nature" and that time could not be sold to the coop eratives because "they made a funda mental change in the methods of distrib ution of goods and services." For two months a controversy raged with thousands of letters going to officials of the National Broadcasting Company and the Columbia Broadcasting System and the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce. The venerable Senator George W. Norris introduced a resolution in the Sen ate asking a thorough investigation of the action of NEC and Columbia. Before this investigation could be launched, how ever, word about the co-op program and the decision of network sales executives had reached the top in the networks and the men with more familiarity with co operatives in day-to-day operation sought some sort of a solution of the controversy which would make it possible for coop eratives to carry on with the same rights and privileges as ordinary business. A meeting at the offices of the National The Nation, liberal weekly, said Decem ber 26: "The two major radio networks which in Oc tober refused to sell time for the purpose of publicizing the cooperative method of retail ing have since then received quite an educa tion. They have learned that the cooperative movement is neither a freak affair nor a sub versive organization but an eminently sensible means of self-help, embracing several million consumers and enjoying formidable political The Commonweal, national Catholic weekly in its editorial January 1, pointed out that: ".. . In their very struggle to get the benefits of the Rochdale system brought to the na tional attention by means of one of the most effective means available, the co-ops have again demonstrated that by banding with his fellows the individual without sizeable wealth or in fluence can make himself heard, can even marshal sufficient strength to win out against powerful and well-organized opposition." The Progressive, hard hitting liberal weekly which earlier in the year had urged the co-ops to organize a "hell-to- breakfast" fight in Washington to guar antee the right of the co-ops to buy time on the air, commented January 1 : "The co-ops have won their fight against the big radio chains and will be given the oppor tunity to tell the people of America about the cooperative movement. It is ironic, indeed, in a democracy, to have to say that any group has won a fight for the right to buy time on the air, but that is exactly what happened in the case of the co-ops." LITTLE LESSONS IN ECONOMIC FACTS WHICH ALL COOPERATORS SHOULD STUDY Because of the intensity of the many emergency situations which affect Coop eratives today, the Cooperative League has inaugurated a new service for cooperative leaders — COOPERATIVE LEAGUE RESEARCH SERVICE —of which Volume 1, Number 1 has been distributed to the regional directors and staff members. However, cooperative members generally should also study the same economic facts, and we will, accordingly, continue to publish from time to time statistical tables, charts and explanatory matter in CONSUMERS' COOPERATION, as we have been doing during the past several years. Because of the fact that mounting war debts and taxes and increasing price levels are now awakening the people, we are publishing "Little Lessons" on these vital subjects in this issue. WANTE D We are running short on the following volumes of CONSUMERS COOPERATION and would be grateful to anyone who can supply them. ^ I. II. III. IV. V. VIII. IX. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXV. Please communicate with us if you wish to sell any of the above volumes. THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th St. New York City Consumers' Cooperation Hary, 1943 DEBT and democracy are incompatible. Men who have been injured by eco nomic conditions until they are compelled to give a mortgage on their earning pow er and their energies are not as free as they would like to be, and should be. Only free men can make a democracy. These self-evident truths were affirmed by the board of directors of the Coopera tive League, USA recently when resolu tions were adopted and sent to the Con gress, the President, Secretary of Agri culture Claude Wickard, Secretary of Commerce Jesse Jones and all other Cab inet officers.. The resolutions struck de cisively at persons and organizations which might seek to get control of farm ers and other borrowers from govern ment. The League board acted after getting a report of long continuing efforts on the part of persons high-up in the Rural Electrification Administration to mobilize REA borrowers into a political pressure group. But the resolutions dealt with principles of democracy and thus they applied to all other government lending agencies and with full recognition that a debt of a citizen to a government agency developed far greater menace to democ racy than any other form of debt. The resolution was as follows: "Whereas, The obligation of every demo cratic government is to "govern best" by "governing least" and the obliga tion of every public servant in a de mocracy is to strive for conditions which will encourage and enable self- government by all groups, or govern ment by internal forces, and thus les sen the necessity for external political government, and John Carson Washington Representative The Cooperative League "Whereas, Our government in Washing ton, in the years of depression and panic, established through loans of public money and otherwise certain business enterprises as relief measures and also for the improvement of con ditions on farms and in towns ani! cities, and "Whereas, There is inherent in every gift or loan of public money, the oppor tunity for persons or forces in govern ment to attempt to gain control of the people to whom loans or gifts are made, and the temptation to seek sudi authority and control is so insidious that it must be guarded against with the eternal vigilance recommended to those who would preserve their lib erties ; "Therefore Be It Resolved: That the Cooperative League of the USA shall advise the President of the United States and each and every mem ber of the Cabinet of the President, and every Administrator of war agen cies of government, and the Congress of the United States, that the League and the millions of cooperators for whom the League speaks, states anJ affirms these principles to which every democratic government must subscribe: 1. That every society of people in terested in preserving a democracy will and must seek every possible means of freeing people, as rap idly as possible, from each and every influence and obligation which might restrict their freedom and their right to fulfill their obligations as citizens of the democracy, and particularly must seek and approve of means which will enable citizens to repay all loans from public funds and thus escape from the ever- present threat to their political free dom which exists in a debt of a citizen to any agency of government, and 2. That every society of people which is interested in preserving de mocracy must oppose, resolutely, every attempt to use any funds of government or "public funds," or any resource of government or "pub lic resource" in association with any organization or corporation or com pany which might influence or at tempt to influence, the will of the people and particularly the will of any persons who have been affected in any way by the use of those "pub lic funds" or those "public re sources," and 3. That the high ideals of democ racy expressed by Honorable George W. Norris in writing into the law which provided for the establish ment of the Rural Electrification Ad ministration the legal mandate against political activities and politi cal influences in REA should be ad hered to in letter and in spirit, and 4. That cooperative organizations of consumers, owned by consumers, organized on the soundest of demo cratic principles which are govern ment of the organizations by men and not by money, organized and operated on a non-profit basis, or ganized and owned in large part by the same citizens who are members of rural electrification cooperatives, are fully capable of producing and distributing all the goods and serv ices desired by rural electrification cooperatives and their members and no benefit to cooperatives or to the members of rural electrification co operatives or to the public can be had from duplication of cooperative organizations, arid Consumers' Cooperation January, 1943 5. That the menace to democratic institutions inherent in the loan of public money, by any agency of gov ernment, and to any citizen or group of citizens is so great that it is the obligation of the Congress of the United States to maintain constant vigilance over such loans and a con stant spotlight of publicity should be kept on the activities of all such agencies of government, including the Reconstruction Finance Corpora tion and all its subsidiary agencies, the Department of Agriculture and all of its agencies, so that the temp tation to misuse public funds will be minimized, and 6. That therefore, every agency of government in these United States should declare immediately against each and every person and each and every organization of persons and every activity of such persons and such organizations which would: (a) Permit or induce the use of any government funds, by direct or indirect means, for the promo tion of any organization which might directly or indirectly, influ ence the opinion or the policies or the decisions of any agency of government, and (b) Permit or induce the expen diture of any government funds in the employment of any person any part of whose official activi ties would be associated in any way with the promotion of any organization which would attempt- in any way to influence or control the actions or decisions or poli cies of our government or any of its agencies." SETTING THE SIGHTS FOR '43 C. J. McLanahan, Educational Secretary The Cooperative League THERE was once a psychology professor who said that the best place to begin was at the beginning. Self-evident as that truth may appear, we have overlooked it in our cooperative groups and all too often have tried to develop our educa tional programs without first building a sound foundation. making it as important as the board itself. d. The committee should consider hav ing a part-time paid secretary who will help carry out decisions of the committee much as the board of di rectors has the manager to carry out its decisions. e. CCW will run training schools for these educational secretaries and will hold week-end conferences for members of the educational com mittee. As local educational committees come into being, they will want a guide book with suggestions of how they can build up their local program. To fill this need, * i • -•- ~ t ii, ~ ..„ How, it may be asked, can you expect to build an educational program in a local cooperative unless there is some group to take responsibility for doing the job? Of course, many kinds of activities can be carried on spasmodically or for short periods of time or by outside people coming in to promote some special event. But no long-range, smooth-running, self- motivated educational plan can ever be the educational departments ot the re developed unless there is an educational gionals, working with the Cooperative League, have prepared regional WORK BOOKS. These are loose-leaf and all car ry the same index divisions. The pages in them are, however, tailored for each particular area. Thus as soon as an educational com mittee is organized, the regional is pre pared to put in its hands a WORKBOOK that is full of how-to-do-it suggestions. There are four main divisions in the book — Organization, Publicity, Public Relations, and Recreation—and under Ul- V *~L\Jl_«_vi ULl*t-.j.j *--.__ - __ ___ _ committee on the job 52 weeks of the year. CCW Sets the Pace Central Cooperative Wholesale at Su perior, Wisconsin, has always believed in the value of educational committees but only lately have they thought of them as an absolute necessity. This year it is their one major goal—an active educa tional committee in every co-op. They have some unique suggestions. a. The committee should be related to the board by having at least one board member on it. b. The committee should be given a budget, perhaps one-half of one per cent or some other percentage of sales with which to work and not have to run hat-in-hand to the board every time there is an expenditure, c. Committee members should be paid on this same basis as board mem bers, per diem and mileage. You can see how this will raise the pres tige of the educational committee, 10 , each main heading are a number of sub divisions. As new ideas are developed, old pages are taken out and new ones added. Thus the WORKBOOK can al ways be kept up to date and express the latest and best in educational ideas. Study-Action Groups a Must After taking care of these elementary and all-important items in building an educational program, we come next to the activities of the committee itself. What should it do? There are any num ber of worthwhile activities, all of which are outlined in the WORKBOOK. One of the most important activities, how ever, should be mentioned in detail— that is, the development of Study-Action groups, operating in some areas under the name of Advisory Councils, in others as Neighborhood Clubs and in still others as Guilds. Every educational committee should develop Study-Action groups in the local community. How many? Louis Warbing- ton of Ohio says, "Organize them until you run out of people." It is in these groups of 6 to 10 families meeting in formally in each other's homes that the most valuable membership participation is achieved. Here in these around-the- living-room circles, neighbors gather to study, discuss and decide on courses of action. It may be action directly related to building the cooperative, it may be action related to other affairs of the com munity, but in every case through coop erative planning and participation the members are learning to work together. There is no better builder of the people. TOi recreation and good times added in, these small groups become social organ izations of immeasurable value. Without them we can build cooperative institu tions, but without them it is doubtful whether we can build a cooperative so ciety. Special Materials Available In order to supply materials for these Study-Action groups, the League is pre paring a series of leaflets and pamphlets: Tkee of the leaflets are now out, and others will follow at the rate of one a month. "Must It Always Be a Dream?" lie first leaflet, is for use by groups which be come together for the first time and tells how to go about organizing a Study- Action group. No. 2 in the series deals lith one of the major economic prob lems of the day, "What Can We Do to Stop Inflation?" The third is entitled 'Whose Air Is It?" and gives the inside story on the turn-down of the Coopera tive League's radio program by the big chain broadcasters and throws light on a phase of the radio controversy that has yet to be settled. These leaflets are for one evening's study. The pamphlets will be longer and are designed for from three to six evenings' study. The first of these will be "How to Read Financial State ments" by Miller and Fox of Consumers Consumers' Cooperation January, 1943 Cooperative Association, North Kansas City, Missouri. It will be out about the first of February. There are many other approaches and devices to be used in speeding up the educational program, but in 1943 the big job is to put down the basic foundations, an educational committee in every coop erative, with a well rounded program— and at least one Study-Action group jor every 100 member jamilies. Then in '44 we can celebrate our 100 years' anni versary by building on this groundwork the kind of movement of which even the original Rochdalers would be proud. 11 WHAT'S AHEAD IN COOPERATIVE RECREATION? Ellen Linson, Recreation Secretary The Cooperative League ship in the cooperative movement, will not be held this year. Difficulties of transportation, the war effort and short age of farm help forced the directors to feel that it should be suspended this year. Emphasis will be on regional train ing schools, probably one week in length, where the transportation problem is not so great. Several such schools are already planned—one in the East, one in Ohio and probably one in southern Wis consin and another in northern Minne sota. Encouragement should be given the setting up of such training schools in areas not reached by these schools—in the middle west and in the south. Education-Recreation-Publicity Conference The five-day National Cooperative Staff Conference, to be held this summer, will bring together local, district, regional and national staff members working in the fields of recreation, education and pub licity. It will provide a real opportunity for these groups to discuss mutual prob lems, and to synthesize their common ed ucational efforts. Such a national confer ence might be duplicated regionally and locally. Use Recreation at Meetings, Conferences Whenever cooperators get together to conduct business, to study or to hear lec turers, some form of recreation should be included on the program—games, group singing, a puppet play, dancing. Our co operative gatherings for the duration may have to be less frequent and smaller, but we can make them lively, enthusiastic gatherings. Let's bring in all four corner stones at these meetings. We'll get not only a varied, interesting program but a better appreciation of all that it takes to build a well rounded cooperative program. Recreation Literature There is a real need for a pamphlet '' I 'HE war crisis provides a real -*• opportunity for cooperatively ad ministered recreation. Because of the tenseness and strain of these times and because of the curtailment of transporta tion, there is more need for play and less mobility for commercial amusements. Cooperators who have always emphasized recreation which the people create and participate in themselves, and which gives those participating a creative re lease, have a challenging opportunity to meet." The above conclusion of the discussion group on Recreation at the Thirteenth Biennial Congress sums up the situation facing those interested in recreation in the cooperative movement. What specifi cally can cooperatives and cooperators do ? Here are a few recommendations. It is sincerely hoped that all of those who are concerned about the future of rec reation will add to these suggestions. Provide More Recreation Leadership Training The time when recreation leaders could travel from community to com munity helping out with an evening of play is over. In addition, those in the community who have been taking the leadership often have been drafted or are doing defense work. This means that local communities are going to have to develop and train new leaders—which is greatly to be desired. Conferences of two or three days where cooperators from a number of near-by communities can get together with a trained staff to learn techniques of leadership should be planned by regional associations. Where the community is large enough, Work shop Training Courses, ten to fifteen weeks, meeting once a week, can be set up. The National Cooperative Recreation School, well-spring of recreation leader- 12 presenting the reasons why recreation is in important part of the whole educa tional process and how as cooperators we can use recreational techniques in learning how to work together. Much of the thinking along this line has come from the staff of the National Coopera tive Recreation School. This material is now being coordinated and edited and it is hoped that within the year, this pamphlet will make its appearance. We need to share our ideas and ex periences so that a group in Pennsylvania, for example, can benefit from a group in Wisconsin. For that reason, a Coopera- lire Recreation News Service, has been bunched and will be expanded. It will include not only news stories but sources of new material, reviews, and articles on recreation theory. One of our real needs is to discover ways in which we can dramatize the philosophy and spirit of the cooperative movement. There is a crying need for good dramatic material, and little, if any, available. Let's encourage authors to ex plore the possibilities of the cooperative movement as the source of dramatic ma terial. Let's encourage our own groups to dramatize their problems and to produce worth while plays. Youth and Recreation Surveys have indicated that one of youth's greatest needs is recreation. This need is intensified in time of war, and cooperators can perform a valuable function in stimulating arid aiding young people in their need for wholesome play. This does not mean that we should set up recreation facilities for young people but provide the kind of leadership which will stimulate young people to do this for themselves. Hans Schmidt has ex pressed the kind of a "youth program" cooperators should be interested in in a recent issue of the Cooperative Euilder. He says it should be a "program which realizes that young people cannot be told where to go and what to do but that the choice of action and decision lies Consumers' Cooperation January, 1943 with the individuals ... to mold youth by giving them an opportunity to mold themselves under wise adult counsellor- ship is a difficult and patient undertaking. It demands a fine understanding of the principles that underlie cooperative lead ership." Young people cleaning up an old hall or a garage for a recreation hall, planning and leading the dances, singing or games, deciding how much to charge themselves and what to do with the "profits"—here's a young program that starts with a real need of youth—recrea tion—and builds the spirit of working, planning and playing together that is the foundation of cooperation. Community Recreation We should use all of our ingenuity in discovering new recreational resources in our communities and in making them available to all. Cooperative clubs in southern Wisconsin have set a pattern for action that all co-op groups would do well to follow. Members of co-op clubs in this area have taken the leadership in the community in fixing up the present seldom-used community hall or in build ing a new one, and opening it for com munity use. In some communities it has started with a regular "open house" spon sored by the co-op club every week or every two weeks, with movies, games, dancing and refreshments, open to all. The program has expanded to the point where the community hall is the social center of the community, with meetings, dances, parties, reading rooms, etc. Here is a role in community relationships which every cooperative should play. Through developing a community hall for social recreation, the cooperative can make an important contribution to the community. It can make friends for and establish the cooperative as a cornerstone of community progress, along with the churches and the schools. As tensions grow and pressures of all kinds bear down, there will be a real need for the healing relaxation that co operative play brings. 13 I l 1 I NATIONAL WAR DEBT AND TAXES E. R. Bowen '"THE vital significance of the fact that •*• the national debt has now crossed the 100 billion dollar line for the first time in history and that estimates predict a debt of 250 billion if the war continues to 1945 should be thought through by every cooperator. The first world war debt reached 26 billion and was only slightly reduced. Some academic and journalistic apologists for the profit system assume that we will and can carry a debt of 250 billion in definitely. This would mean an interest 1001 U.S. PUBLIC DEBT 75- 50- 25- \ November, 1942, |$100.000,000,000 IPeorl Harbor $52,500,000.000 World War I peak: $26,390,000.000 19181920 1925 1930 1935 load of at least 5 billion a year, even at 2%, on the backs of the many as long as the profit system is allowed to last. Thomas Jefferson once said, "I place . . . public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared." We should surely heed his warning today. We, the people, are now generally financially intoxicated from our larger 14 incomes. We want to spend them or save them, rather than to turn our excess sav ings above minimum needs over to the government to pay for the war. So we force the government to borrow from the banks and duplicate the money we hoard. The "morning-after" always comes when we must pay in money, as we cannot help but pay as we go in goods. Remember that, as John K. Langum, Assistant Vice-Président of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, recently said, "The sale of government securities to commercial banks is just another way of printing money. Excessive 'bank- bonds' are no less dan gerous than greenbacks,' about which we know from sad experience." Other democratic countries are collecting half or more of their expenditures in taxes as compared with our collecting only about one-fourth. Our taxes are likely to be much higher. For immediate self-preservation from dangers of possible political upheaval and economic collapse inherent in a large na tional debt, cooperators and cooperatives should prepare themselves for storms ahead by getting out of debt insofar as possible, and also support sound govern mental efforts to prevent them. Consumers' Cooperation 1940 1942 WHOLESALE PRICES DURING AND AFTER WARS Cooperators should take note of the precipitous drops in prices which have universally followed the end of previous wars and prepare to be "out from under." Prepare to ride the chutes over another precipice. The danger of gambling on inventories should be heeded. If a co operative has no receivables, it cannot lose by their non-payment. If it has receivables which are fully covered by reserves or capital, then their non-payment can only reduce its assets. If a cooperative has no debts, it cannot be embarrassed by credi tors. If its inventory and facilities are wholesale price rises are shown on the chart, not only for the two world wars but also for previ ous wars. Recent controls which have been adopt ed by the Government may slow up fur ther price increases, or at least make them more uniform between commodities. However, the pressures by producer groups—of business for higher profits, of workers for higher wages, arid of farmers for higher prices—together with the pres sures by consumers to spend the increased billions they are now receiving which Prices in America in 3 Centuries INDEX Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices in *he United States. 1750-1941, INDEX ">-|fc as Reported by Dr. Frank A. Pearson 1910-14-100 250 250 Peak 232 in Hard Honey; Hay 13. 1781. $1 of hard money equaled $1,000 in pape 50 1750 '40 '70. "80 ~Vl 1800 "10 '20 -30 '40 '50 -40 70 '80 'VS 1900 '10 '20 '30 '40 '50 Study the Breaks in Prices in 1780, 1812, 1864, and 1920 after Previous Wars. Courtesy The Chicago Tribune w not being taxed out of their pockets jnd which they are not investing in bonds, make up a combined producer- consumer economic force of tremendous explosive pressure. Attempts by political officials to control such economic pres sures may continue to result in the elimi nation of such administrative officials who endeavor to oppose such pressures in the interests of the people as a whole, either by price control programs or by increased taxation programs. January, 1943 fully covered by reserves or capital then a decline in their values can likewise only reduce its assets. Do not gamble on inventories, get on a cash bash, pay off debts, invest in co operative capital, build up reasonable cash reserves. Do not be in a position where you can be embarrassed by post war precipitous price declines. Instead, get ready to buy out competitors when they become embarrassed. 15 II BOOK REVIEWS Democracy by Discussion Democracy by Discussion by Emory S. Bogardus: American Council on Public Affairs, Washington, D.C., 55 pages. $1.00. There are those who may feel that the issuance of a new little book on the tech nique of Discussion is an anachronism in time of war. The slogan "pass the ammunition" implies quick, disciplined action. Dr. Bogardus, author of Democ racy by Discussion, and Chester Williams, who wrote the foreword, both believe that "in a people's war the problems of run ning it ought to be grappled with by the people generally as well as by the leaders arid experts." They go further and ask a priority rating on consideration and discussion of the practical question of what can the American people them selves do about these wartime problems. Within the covers of this book are concisely enumerated progressive methods of discussion which may be utilized in any neighborhood group for the purpose of achieving a better community under standing of both the immediate and larger issues represented in winning the war and earning the peace which will follow. Cooperators will be pleased to note the emphasis Dr. Bogardus places on study and discussion techniques used by cooperatives throughout the United States. He is well known both as an eminent sociologist and as a cooperator. In this book he carefully considers and evaluates the discussion techniques which have been used successfully in the re gional areas served by Eastern Coopera tive Wholesale, Ohio Farm Bureau, Cen- ; tral States Cooperatives, Central Coop erative Wholesale, and Consumers Co operative Association. Discussion technique is defined and 16 articulately described through its evolu tionary stages. Chapters are given to the Forum, Panel, Round Table, Listening- Discussion, Informal Discussion, Reading Circle, etc. Dr. Bogardus sweeps away the usual cobwebs of confusion as to what distinguishes these various ap proaches to discussion from each other. The influence of cooperative experience is demonstrated in following chapters on Advanced Discussion, Advisory Discus sion, and Discussion Group Values. Con cluding chapters cover the Organization of Discussion with graphic illustrations of both Discussion and Advisory Groups in action. The book ends abruptly with the final illustration of an advisory group in ac tion, and the student's appetite by this time is easily stimulated for careful di gestion of an excellent annotated bibli ography which Dr. Bogardus has thought fully included. It is Dr. Bogardus' premise that "in wartime discussion groups are more ur gently vital to democracy than in peace time." It is his opinion also that the cooperative movement has developed the discussion technique furrther than any other agency, institution or social move ment. It is likewise this reviewer's opin ion that Dr. Bogardus, in writing Democ racy by Discussion, has prepared for co- operators a most valuable handbook that should be within reach of everyone plan ning discussion or study circles. Dr. Bo gardus writes well and, as Shakespeare may have said, "he has a pretty wit." —LIONEL PERKINS Consumers' Cooperation LIBRARY 7 1943 UNIVERS™ OF Credit Union and Cooperative League Executives meeting at Indianapolii FEBRUARY 1943 PROFIT PREVENTS OUR HAVING PLENTY AND PEACE E. R. Bowen A CONSUMER-OWNED DAILY PRESS Paul Greer THROUGH PLAY TO UNDERSTANDING Darwin Bryan THE DAYS OF THE BIG PUSH C. J. McLanahan NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS SPECIAL CONGRESS ISSUE Copies of the Congress issue of CONSUMERS COOPERATION are still available. This issue contains a complete report of the Cooperative League Congress which was held in Minneapolis in September. All the speeches of the principal speakers appear in condensed form. You may write for a prepared outline for discussion which goes with this issue to The Cooperative League, 608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. This outline will be very useful in discussion groups wishing to use the Congress issue for study. You may obtain extra copies of the magazine for 25c. per copy from THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street New York City THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 60S South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C AFFILIATED REGIONAL Name Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co Farm Bureau Services Farmers Cooperative Exchange Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Address Publication St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 2301 S. Millard, Chicago The Round Table 27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer Amarillo, Texas ' The Producer-Consumer 116 E. 16 St., N. Y. Consumers Defender Delaware, Ohio The Recreation Kit Madison, Wise. 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing, Michigan Raleigh, N. C. St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. 608 S. Dearborn, Chicago Review Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News The Carolina Cooperator Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1943 Ten Cents PROFIT PREVENTS OUR HAVING PLENTY AND PEACE It's important in any game to get and keep one's eyes on the ball. In the tragically named "game of war" the economic ball that is batted back and forth is profit. No more revealing phrase was ever coined than by the Truman. Committee when they reported that "Even after Dunkirk" the international monopolists con tinued to play their game of profits by planning to resume relationships after the war. Even after the greatest military defeat and retreat in all history! Get and keep your eye on the ball of profits. It is profit that has prevented our having enough synthetic rubber. It is profit that restricted the production of alum inum. It is profit that is the economic cause of external political war. It is profit that is the economic cause of internal civil war. It is profit that primarily pre vents our having permanent peace and plenty. That's why the wisdom of the Rochdale Pioneers looms larger with the coming of the centennial of Cooperation. They set out nearly 100 years ago to eliminate profit. They wanted a world of plenty and peace and knew they could not have it under a profit system. That's why we cooperators have such a responsibility today to "Build Coopera tives Stronger and Faster," to break the chains of profit that bind the world to poverty and war. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879- Price $1.00 a year. URGE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE DIRECTORS PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS The profit system is built on debt. Debt is the other side of the coin of profit. The two are Siamese twins. Debt started when owners and workers were divided into two classes. To illus trate: suppose total production was $1,000,000. Suppose that the workers received $900,000 for their labor and the owner received $100,000 for his profit. He could not consume the food and goods represented by the $100,000 he received. There was only one thing to do—to sell them to the workers and take their I.O.U.'s for them and put them in debt to the owner. So the process has continued to this day with the worker on the farm and in the factory arid office losing ownership of pro ductive property and getting deeper in debt. The Rochdale Cooperative Pioneers set out to eliminate debt as well as profit. For some reason the elimination of profit is called a major Rochdale principle, while the elimination of debt is called a minor principle. Yet the principle of cash trad ing, which eliminates debt, is equally as important as the principle of patronage returns on purchases which eliminates profit. In the United States the national debt has just gone over the 100 billion dollai mark. It is predicted that it will reach 250 billion if the war is not over by 1944. The seventh of the President's seven point program to prevent inflation and defla tion urged the payment of private debt. In view of all of these facts, the Directors of the Cooperative League unani mously passed the following resolution at their recent quarterly meeting in Chicago: "The Board of Directors of the Cooperative League, meeting on January 7-8, 1943, has given serious consideration to the question of the dangers involved in possible inflation and later deflation as a result of the borrowing of billions of dollars from the banks and the creation of credit currency, and in view of their responsibil ities to Cooperatives and to Cooperators in urging upon them such action as will be for their best interests in passing through these critical times, do hereby repeat and urge the following: "First, that individual cooperative members consider carefully the matter of their financial condition and make every effort to pay off their debts and to get them selves in the soundest possible financial condition. "Second, that local cooperatives vote their savings into reserves of capital, and that they also urge their members to invest their savings to a greater degree in the shares of cooperatives in order that their cooperative associations may become finan cially independent and in the strongest possible condition not only to meet any storms ahead but also to be able to take advantage of every opportunity for ex pansion. "Third, that cooperators mobilize their surplus savings to a greater degree in cooperative securities in order that their regional wholesale associations may enter into production more rapidly and thereby become independent of private sources of supply." For immediate self-preservation from dangers of possible political upheaval and economic collapse inherent in a large personal debt, cooperators and coopera tives should prepare themselves for storms ahead by getting out of debt insofar as possible, and also support sound governmental efforts to prevent them. 18 Consumers' Cooperation ABUNDANCE IS HERE—IT CAN BE PRODUCED! At the beginning of the decade of the 1930's, those who had learned what technocracy could do, announced that we could produce plenty for all. A study "The Chart of Plenty" proved statistically that we had reached the place where we had the farm and factory capacity to produce an average of $4,370 per year, or $375 per month, per family of four. Now we have demonstrated, according to government statistics, that we can actually produce plenty for all, which these studies predicted. President Roosevelt says: 'The tremendous productive capacity of our country, of all countries, has been demonstrated. Freedom from want for everybody, everywhere, is no longer a Utopian dream." The pamphlet "Income and Economic Progress," which was a summary of a $150,000 four volume study by Brookings Institution, showed that the principal difficulty was in distribution—not in production—that excess savings were piling up in the hands of the few, which should have gone into the hands of the many in purchasing power, and were damming up the stream of distribution. But none of these studies gave the answer as to how purchasing power was to be distributed so that the many could consume the food and goods they produced. COOPERATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO DISTRIBUTE ABUNDANCE While we have now proven that we can produce abundance, we have done so by producing war goods as well as civilian goods, there are less civilian goods avail able today, we have gone in debt—but we have proven that we can produce abun- dmce, after centuries of scarcity. We must produce an abundance of civilian goods after the war is over. We can do so. But first, we must organize ourselves so that they can be distributed and consumed. That is why we must adopt COOPERATION. COOPERATION breaks the bottleneck between the production of plenty and the distribution of plenty to all. It reduces the price to the consumer to cost of production and distribution. It raises the pay of the producer—farmer, worker and professional—so that there are no excess savings between the pay to producers and the price to consumers. Cooperation results in a Just Price to every consumer and a Just Wage to every producer. COOPERATION is not new and untried. It has been proven by nearly a cen tury of experience. More than half the families of Great Britain are owners of shares in Cooperatives. The democratic Scandinavian countries have proven that COOPERATION reduces prices to consumers and raises pay to producers and distributes purchasing power widely among the people so that they recover owner ship of their homes and farms and become shareholders in businesses. TO HAVE PERMANENT PEACE WE MUST ABOLISH POVERTY We cannot be a nation of a few rich and many poor. Poverty must go because it causes people to consume little and produce less. There is no longer any excuse for poverty. Poverty for the many is the result of bad economics, bad politics, bad education, and bad ethics. It must and can be abolished by COOPERATION. February, 1943 19 AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL WORKERS INCOMES A CCORDING to government index *• *~ figures, if agricultural and industrial workers incomes were fairly comparable in the base years of 1910-14, then they are also fairly comparable today. The lat est index figures are 287.4 for agriculture arid 303.1 for industry. In this chart all farmers are included, whether own ers, tenants or employed hired hands. The millions of unemployed industrial workers, however, are not included. If unemployed industrial workers had been included in the chart from 1920 to 1940, the dotted line showing their incomes would have been much ».. „ram,„ <* m,c„u« lower and likely near the solid line show ing the incomes of agricultural workers. Farmers and factory workers incomes generally go up and down together. They have the same basic economic interests. Both have been receiving too low incomes as compared with the profits of industry and finance. Both have been losing own ership of productive property and getting further in debt on their durable consum er goods. AVERAGE INCOME OF AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL WORKERS. UNITED STATES. 1910-42 INDEX NUMBERS < 1910-14= 100 > IF AGRICULTURAL EUMHKt Farmers and factory workers have com mon cause against the profiteering of in dustry arid finance and should unite their interests as consumers in cooperatives to increase their real incomes, to recover ownership of homes and farms and shares in business enterprises, and to get out of debt. NATIONAL. REGIONAL. DISTRICT, AND LOCAL COOPERATIVE STAFF ORGANIZATION As presented to the Directors of The Coopera tive League at their quarterly meeting on Janu ary 7-8, 1943. Since then the Management Committee of Superior has recommended to their directors the adoption of a similar organ izational structure for their regional staff. TO start the discussion among coopera- tors on this important subject we are making the following general observa tions: Since the Consumers' Cooperative 20 Movement is in its early stages of devel opment in the United States, we have grown somewhat like "Topsy," as was natural. Because we are in our early stages of development our organization structure is comparatively flexible and can be more readily changed than when it becomes more permanent with entrenched posi tions as in some other countries. There are three major functions in Co- Consumers' Cooperation 1 NATIONAL STAFF 1.Recreation ORGANIZATION 2-Education 3.Publicity 4«Legislation REGIONAL STAFF ORGANIZATION Finance Manager 1 .Audi t ing 2 .Credit .Finar ce :nsui ance Business [Manager l^fesigning .Purchasing .Production 4.Distribution DISTRICT STAFF ORGANIZATION Education Manager — — \ \ / Educator 4 I ! I I Business Manager ^ v\ Salesman 1 LOCAL STAFF ORGANIZATION Loc Mant / ,al ige r \ 21 operatives—Education, Finance and Busi ness—whether national, regional, district or local. These three major functions should be recognized arid provided for by department organization structures, and all activities should be recognized as divi sions of these three departments. On a National basis, there would be three co-equal Managers of Education, Fi nance and Business. Whether the work of these three Managers should be under a General Manager or the President of the Board of Directors is a question. Like wise it is a question whether there should not be a single Board of Directors for all three functions of Education, Finance and Business, with Committees of the Board in charge of each major function, rather than separate Boards of Directors. Obser vations here and in Europe would lead to the conclusion that there might well be a single Board of Directors with three ma jor Committees supervising Education, Finance and Business and with the work of the three Managers coordinated under the President of the Board who would be a full-time paid executive and would unite the Directors and the Staff. At present the coordination of the three functions of Education, Finance and Busi ness under a General Manager seems to be the tendency in the Regionais, with a single Board of Directors. However, few regionals have as yet appointed three co equal Department Managers of Educa tion, Finance and Business under the Gen eral Manager, with all other heads of di visions coordinated under them, as called for in the chart. This might, we believe, do two things—first, relieve the General Manager of the pressure of dealing di rectly with so many division heads, and second, develop three Department Man agers under him who would relate to gether the work of the various divisions. In the chart, two alternative methods are provided for the District organization structure—first, the three District men working separately under the direction of the three regional department managers, or second, their work being coordinated under a District Manager. If the latter were done the activities in each District might be more efficiently carried out and without additional expense by reducing the number of Districts. The Local organization structure shown in the chart calls for all three functions to be coordinated under a Local Manager. These comments are made, not with any intention of presenting them as final con clusions, but to stimulate discussion on the important subject of staff organization. A CONSUMER-OWNED DAILY PRESS IT is imperative — and practical — that the consumer movement should de velop a daily press of its own. Certainly if the spread of cooperative enterprises is to proceed on a sound basis, Americans must not be left in the regrettable condi tion that Will Rogers implied in opening his comments with the phrase, "All I know is what I see in the papers." Big news, which cannot be found in the reading matter that dresses up the adver tising pages in today's newspapers, is the emergence of a consumer philosophy, of another way of life that is no less Amer- 22 By Paul Greet ican than the producer-profit philosophy that has had its day. Consumer-conscious people want to get the news straight, not diluted or colored to please advertisers or meet the idiosyncracies of a wealthy pub lisher. Wartime conditions necessarily accel erate the tendency toward control of eco nomic and even of personal life by the political government. In the emergencies to be faced when peace comes, this may develop into an unreasoning stampede toward statism of the European model. Any such tendency cannot be driven bad by appeals to preserve the sorely riven profit system, but in a democracy the dan ger can be met by a positive presentment of the successful use of mutual aid by the people in their own behalf as consumers. For a consumer-owned press to attempt to duplicate the content or general make up of present day journalism would be a useless arid costly business. The mere process of imitating the bulky, verbose metropolitan journals not only would re quire the outlay of several million dollars, but in so much chaff readers might over look the solid grain. It was out of a discussion such as this that the suggestion came from Mr. How ard A. Cowden, president of the Con sumers Cooperative Association of North Kansas City, Missouri, that I outline a feasible, low-cost plan for a national co operative daily newspaper. In a series of articles in the Cooperative Consumer I later laid down these principles: READER CONTROL — A newspaper should be responsible only to its readers, and not to any collection of private busi ness institutions in the guise of advertis ers. This, in turn, implies that the readers must be willing to carry the cost so as to eliminate dependence on advertisers. PULL INFORMATION—News should be presented with regard to its signifi cance, revealing not only what has hap pened, but also the background, or why it happened, recognizing too that the ac tion was not in a vacuum, but in a teem ing world in which no occurrence is with out its after-effect, often more important than the original event. CONCISENESS—The time and effort re quired by the reader to find out what is going on should be lessened by assembling news, not under as many headlines as pos sible, but in classified form and as tersely as possible, each item in its proper per spective. SEADIBILITY—The mechanics of easy reading suggests the use of larger type for the body of the news, with wider mlumns to fit the natural movement of the eyes. Consumers' Cooperation February, 1943 ECONOMY—Elimination of some of the features and departments that have made the old line press resemble an Oriental bazaar or a circus midway rather than a news paper could reduce publication costs materially. More ideas for keeping costs low will be suggested later. WHOLESOMENESS — A newspaper keyed on the spirit of cooperation and goodwill might generally be preferred to those organs spreading the assumption that the principle of dog-eat-dog is in- eradicably imbedded in human nature. This new journalism, without ignoring the bread and butter side of life, natural ly would devote skilled attention to the arts and sciences and to social and eco nomic trends. From this point of view, home eco nomics discussions would replace as far as possible the customary appeals of ad vertisers. A fact never to be lost from sight is that while mass production has lowered the first cost of goods, expenses of distribution have been forced upward by a clumsy and wasteful system that is designed in the main to induce people to buy more, whether needed or not, rather than to reduce handling charges and retail prices. The role of advertising in newspaper publishing has not been thoroughly un derstood, although its influence is widely regarded with suspicion. The truth is that the business of soliciting, setting up and publishing advertisements is the most costly item on newspaper ledgers. News collection is not expensive as organized by the press associations one of which is a closed-membership cooperative. The sum of this situation is that for his few pennies the reader is now obtaining ap proximately the amount of news for which he has paid, disregarding the possible value to him, positive or negative, of the advertisements. There would be, then, real economy in a new journalism in which display ad vertising, with its appeals to vanity, fear 23 I ' and the desire to keep up with the Joneses, would be omitted. With all other adver tising, such as want ads, limited and sub ordinated, news would become not a by product of the publishing business, but its sole concern. It is an instructive experiment to meas ure the columns of advertising space against the news columns in any daily newspaper. While one has the yardstick in hand, it is well to estimate the amount of real news as distinguished from serial stories, beauty hints, horoscopes, comic strips, society and movie gossip, horse race tips and the overdone pages of sports and financial quotations. Careful surveys of reading habits ia a number of cities have found that the aver age reader gives only 20 minutes a day to his newspaper. If this has a moral it is that a daily journal designed to fit the needs and tastes of the average man and woman can very thriftily dispense with many columns having only limited special interest. My proposal for a consumer-owned press contemplates printing the equivalent of a four page newspaper containing 32 ordinary columns. This is sufficient space in which to present in clear-cut fashion all that is vital about current affairs, and to include also special articles and illus trations closely analyzing matters demand ing magazine-style discussion. In effect, this would constitute a daily digest, the format of which would not follow that of ordinary newspapers with all their impedimenta of immense head lines, datelines and jigsaw scattering of news that should be pieced together for the reader's convenience. An ordinary newspaper folded double assumes the proportions of a New York tabloid which has the largest circulation of any daily in America. This is not a particularly well edited newspaper, and the convenience of its smaller page form undoubtedly has something to do with its 24 popularity. For our own sort of daily digest, I would suggest folding the paper once again, until it becomes a half-tabloid. In this shape the original four pages of standard sized newsprint have been divid ed until there are 16 pages. It is this size, approximately 8y2 by 11 inches, that of fers an attractive and functional form for this new sort of daily newspaper, conveni ent for holding in close quarters, as in a train, his or street car, and suited for carrying in the pocket. In the event of news of transcendent importance, the expense might have to be faced to add another page of newsprint, or eight more pages in quarter size. An other promising means of supplementing the digest would be the radio. This digest, according to my plan, would appear five mornings each week, from Monday through Friday. Absence of Saturday and Sunday publication would be primarily in the interest of economy, since among other items it must be con sidered that news writers and printers cus tomarily work only five days a week. Sudi arrangement need not be counter to the advantage of subscribers, since either Sat urday or Sunday, or on both days, a full account of important news developments could be given through a specially pre pared radio broadcast. These programs however should not consist of a bare re cital of what has happened, but might be cast in the form of a running comment between a man and a woman, or as a modernized version of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. In reaching out over the air the digest undoubtedly would attract many new readers to its printed editions and spread the word that here was a real peoples' newspaper in which all might share. This must be a complete newspaper, combining with a thorough coverage of public affairs elements hitherto found only in such publications as Propaganda Analysis, Consumers' Union and the newsletters of Kiplinger and David Law- Consumers' Cooperation rence. Much may also be learned from the concise technique of radio news broadcasts and from the more comprehensive back ground treatment in such weekly digests as Time and Newsweek. A great deal of the political news that finds its way into print nowadays comes from handouts of official press agents and is mere stage setting or mood music to prepare the public mind for develop ments. A good many speeches delivered by public figures are not of their own composition but have been carefully plant ed for reasons of political strategy. There is usually a solid core of purpose hidden among all these words, and it should be the function of a properly edited news paper to seek this out, rather than waste column after column in unanalytical repe tition of what most likely already has been heard over the radio. Another function of a digest news paper could be a column checking up the editorial, feature and news sections of the reactionary press. Here again mere repeti tion would not be enough, but the hand ling should be such as to make any stack ing of the cards apparent. No newspaper of general circulation is adequately reporting the news of the pro gressive or radical thought of this coun try. Someone familiar with contemporary political and economic thought should be set to reviewing these journals, which range from the New Republic, Nation and Progressive to the Socialist Call and the Communist Daily Worker. Thus "Column Left" would balance "Column Right," and in between might well be a survey of the public mind. A great deal of interest and a certain amount of credence is attached to the Gallup Polls of public opinion, and this digest by printing a ballot of its own on some outstanding issue could supplement its column of letters to the editor to sound the sentiment of the people. I am convinced that the turn of circum- February, 1943 stances is bringing close the auspicious moment for the establishment not only of a centrally located consumer-owned news paper, but of a chain of these daily di gests, one in each city having a coopera tive wholesale. The narrowing down of newspaper ownership through the heavy financial re quirements of publishing old fashioned journals has left many cities with only one newspaper, or one morning and one eve ning edition, often under joint ownership. In such monopoly-ridden fields there is opportunity for a reader-owned press. The way is opened even wider through the possibility of inexpensive simultane ous publication of material from the cen tral digest. Local pride and the keen sense of pro prietorship, assets of great value to each regional cooperative, could have full play under a cost-saving arrangement for the exchange of news among the several di gests. Insofar as possible, once the type were set in one office, the others would make use of it without resetting. Econ omy would be found in the exchange of the papiermache matrices to which the impression of each page of type is trans ferred as one step of the printing process. These mats, from which the metal plates are made for the rotary presses, are quite light and durable, capable of being transported over long distances without injury. Through use of the airmail, many mats suitable for publication could be sent from the central plant in time for simultaneous use in a number of cities. Thus the outlying publication centers could obtain all except their local news and occasional flashes on late develop ments at low cost. The situation thus would be that in each city the digest would prepare its own pages of regional news, set up in its own plant, but for many of the other pages would make use of the inexpensive cast ings from the mats delivered by airmail. 25 On many occasions an article developed in one of these regional offices would be mailed in the same way to all cooperative members of the publishing pool. In opening this discussion in the col- ums of the Cooperative Consumer, the editor, Mr. James W. Cummins, wrote what I think may well be my closing note: "First of all, before a free press can be established, it is necessary that the people should want to be free, and before they want to be free, they must realize the forces that enslave their minds, and sometimes their bodies." THROUGH PLAY TO UNDERSTANDING Darwin R. Bryan rjus veen utveiiv/ v] t>rsc yvwuj t**t-*->*>x™ *,* *,*^ *^~.*.~*^.v,, ^„f _........ ,t ,__ _ _ He has directed cooperative youth conferences many years and has seen the change young people go through as they get into the folk dance and then as that same spirit of cooperation carries into an understanding of the Cooperative Movement.) DURING the last five years the Ohio Farm Bureau through the youth division of its Education Department has carried on a consistent action program for youth with profound results. It does not follow a set program in its youth ac tivities but constantly works at getting youth of Ohio acquainted with the Co operative Movement and group play. A major part of the group play activity is the folk dance—the dance of the people. Why the folk dance has worked "wonders" with young people is difficult to explain; however, the play situation of the folk dance has proven beyond a doubt that better social relations have been created among young people. Its free style of spontaneous active fun sets up situations that allow young people to become thoroughly absorbed with their fellows in play. The sooner dancers can "pick themselves up" or be helped to "pick themselves up" imaginatively and "get into" the folk dance, the sooner gaiety will result. Somehow we believe the folk dance, more rapidly than any other play situation, does allow the in dividual to take on new life. He can psy chologically "lift" himself above the cares of the day with undetermined veloc ity of speed and with his fellow players in the same "fix" take on harmony of spirit and unexcelled happiness. The writer recalls an expression of verbal joy 26 from a youth who had just spent an eve ning in folk dancing: "Why I haven't had as much fun since I fell out of the cradle." A youth "lost" in folk dancing — this applies to other forms of play as well— has very little time to get "down in the dumps," less time to feel sorry for him self, is too busy to be self-conscious, and has small reason to build up grudges against people and conditions, and is less likely to form habits of thought which take on the garb of "the world owes me a living." Even the Biblical verse which states: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it . . ." takçs on higher mean ing when one gets himself to understand the importance of entering into a folk dance with full abandonment. The Play Party, as one form of the folk dance, is held in high esteem by the young people in Ohio. A Cooperative Youth Council meeting never gets very far before someone exclaims: "Let's play 'Brown Eyed Mary' or 'Jingle at the Window' or Tig in the Parlor,' etc." The easily and rapidly learned patterns of the play parties adapt themselves to the alive spirit of youth so that no play program can be complete without them. Almost at once young people can enter into play through the play party, with singing and cooperative effort. Individu alism exits and a something run by all Consumers' Cooperation enters. A unity of purpose predominates until the final solution to the play-party problem is found in a heightened mo mentum of exhilarating joy. No sooner is one play-party over than another one is started. Herein lies spontaneous action, group interaction, and many times, rap port. Tensions are released, blockages of certain kinds disappear until one is quite aware of the power of intensive group experience. Teachers of folk dancing should take seriously the importance of the play-party in their repertoire. Play parties taught with vigor and a spirit of fun will "lift" a group of players for the moment more rapidly than any other folk art. The square dance is exceptionally pleasing to the young people in Ohio. Proof of this is a case cited when on the first evening of the Ohio State Fair in 1941, youth of the organized Coopera tive Youth Councils were invited to par ticipate in a jamboree barn dance party put on by Radio Station WLW of Cin cinnati. 640 young people showed up from 34 Councils, some driving 350 miles to take part in the jamboree. This was a sight to behold! In the massive Coliseum building on the State Fair Grounds you could have seen 80 sets of square dancers all dancing the same fig ures at the same time! In passing may it be emphasized that folk dances of many lands are carefully chosen to be presented to the young people, that this fun through the folk dance is shared by men and women to gether, that no prizes or distant objec tives are set up for the best dancers, and that no glamour through special costum ing is tolerated. Just plain simple un adulterated fun is sponsored and enjoyed by plain simple folk. It should also be mentioned that the folk dance is not just for youth—in many neighborhoods youth and adults together are finding the folk dance a relaxing social activity. Why all this emphasis placed upon play through the folk dance as is being attempted through the youth division of the Education Department of the Ohio Farm Bureau ? Simply because this organ ization sees that young people need to experience the spirit of cooperative operative minded and to throw overboard •OD aujooaq O} rapio m uorpejajm dnoiS the spirit of "everybody for himself." THE DAYS OF THE BIG PUSH SOMEWHERE, always, there is a cooperative drive going forward. In the fall and winter, however, drive efforts pick up. It is the season of the "great effort," the "big push." This year has been no exception. Scan the coopera tive horizon and in every direction the air is thick with the dust of drives. Drives to open new stores, drives to raise volume, drives to gain new members and drives to collect money for refineries. The Movement is on the march. The Old Campaigner Out of the welter of drives, krge and small, there are several major efforts. February, 1943 C. J. McLanahan, Educational Secretary Cooperative League of USA CCA out Kansas City way, one of the pioneers in Membership and Trade drives launched its Sixth Annual drive on Febru ary 1. Purpose is to increase present membership and trade by 10% and to win 100% support from present mem bers. As they put it, it is "a double bar relled program which will mean an in creased volume of trade and all that that means in efficient operation." During the drive, local cooperatives are "lighting up the school houses," holding meetings and organizing calling campaigns. More than 200 local co-ops are out tracking down new members and $25,000 in new capital. 27 1 i CCA values these drives for the stimu lus that it gives their local associations. Members participate on committees, neighbors become better acquainted and there is the thrill of accomplishment. Best of all, associations are made con scious that it is worth taking the trouble to add new members. Too many co-ops just wait for members to come in on the basis of their patronage savings. The member never makes a positive decision that he wants to become part of the association. High Tide Along the Atlantic Back in the New England States and along the Atlantic Seaboard Eastern Co operative League has been stirring their co-ops with a "Tune Up" drive. In the original plans they weren't so much con cerned with getting new members and more capital as they were with strengthen ing and tuning up their stores for the tough days to come. However, the ad vent of coupon rationing shifted the em phasis somewhat to include vigorous ef forts to get consumers in the neighbor hood of the stores interested and in formed of the advantages of using their coupons for co-op merchandise. The way was paved for the drive last fall with a circuit riding tour by Manager Wood cock. At 22 trade area centers Mr. Wood cock gave a talk and held open forum on questions relating to the wholesale. The drive itself got under way with a series of "drive clinics" held in the same areas with ten staff members of Eastern Co operative League and Eastern Cooperative Wholesale each conducting two to three meetings. The purpose of these meetings was to study in clinic fashion what was wrong with the co-ops represented and how to use the drive material being pre pared to improve their operations. With this build up, the local co-op was ready to launch its "Tune Up" drive. Each co-op was to lay out its own pro gram and goals but ECL had lots of sug gestions and materials to help. They pre pared the "Fact Finder," a 32-page pock- 28 et size booklet filled with facts about the movement, usable quotations and other information for use by speakers, discus sion leaders and those who wanted a little help before tackling their friends. All co-ops were urged to set up a "Warden System" to reach members quickly through an integrated communications network. Special staffers were prepared for wide distribution. More than 35,000 cards announcing the radio program were sent out and it is being used as a key tool in the tune up program. Here is a drive that leaves the detailed plans of action up to the local group but one which gives them the help, experi ence and resources of a strong central organization. Those Slow Moving Swedes ... ? Up in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Mid land and affiliates have launched one of the most ambitious drives in co-op history. In three months' time they have set a goal of organizing 1500 Neighbor hood Study-Action Clubs. Purpose of these clubs is to provide an intelligent and permanent anchor for Midland's fast moving plans to go into production. Worked around the novel idea of a Rail road System, their announcement reads: "All aboarrrd—The Midland Streamliner, Co-op Production (Un) Limited leaving on Track 1943. Stops at Refineryville, Feed Mill Crossing, Cannery Junction and points north, east, south and west." Drive plans are closely coordinated and from top to bottom every man has a job to do. General Manager Smaby is Su perintendent of the Road; Department Heads are Division Superintendents; Midland Board Members are Road- masters; Fieldmen are Engineers, Fire men and Oilers; Local Managers are Yardmasters; Local Member-Leaders are Conductors and the Members who meet in the Neighborhood Clubs are the Sec tion Crews. This is no top down drive but a method for carrying through the wishes of the entire membership as ex pressed in a series of district meetings Consumers' Cooperation last fall. Manager Smaby gives direction and coordination to the drive through periodic straight-from-the-shoulder broad casts over a chain of radio stations that blankets Minnesota and Wisconsin. CCA, Midland and Eastern are pres ently burning the skies with these drives. Ohio just completed a drive that netted them a quarter of a million dollars for their new refinery ; Central States has just pushed forward their new regional paper with a special run of 25,000; Pacific Supply is driving for an all-round tight ening up of credit. As surely as one wave of drives reaches its crest and falls away another wave moves in to take its place. Constantly the Cooperative Move ment is extending its reach. Go Thou . . . If you haven't a drive scheduled, plan one. There is nothing like this kind of a shot in the arm to wake up your mem bers. It's the world's best antidote for lethargy, apathy and downright indiffer ence. Here are some ideas learned from other drives that you should keep in mind. 1. Plan them well—a long time ahead. 2. Set specific goals. So many members, so much new capital. 3. Run the drive for a specific period—two weeks or so, never longer than a month. 4. Assign definite responsibilities to committee chairman and committees. 5. Hold train ing sessions for people who are to carry the work of the drive. 6. Warm up the climate with a barrage of publicity be- fqre the drive gets underway. 7. Have a party or special kick-off to start the drive with a bang. 8. Use a chart or some kind of a measuring device to indicate day to day progress. 9. Plan special events for the drive period—such as mass meet ings with movies and special entertain ment and open house days at the co-op. 10. Work towards a climax with a wind- up meeting for final reports, evaluation of the drive and recognition of the ef forts of the people who carried the weight of the drive. CREDIT UNION AND COOPERATIVE LEAGUE PLAN CLOSER COOPERATION The first joint meeting of executives of the Credit Union National Association and the Cooperative League of the USA was held in Indianapolis January 29 to make plans for closer cooperation of the two national organizations. Representing the Credit Union Na tional Association were William Reid, president; Roy F. Bergengren, managing director; John Suominen, a member of the executive committee; Thomas W. Doig, assistant managing director; Dora Maxwell, organization director; and Earl Rentfro, assistant general manager of the CUNA Mutual Insurance Co. Representing The Cooperative League were Murray D. Lincoln, president ; E. R. Bowen, general secretary; Glenn Fox, di rector of finance of the Consumers Coop erative Association; and Herbert C. Fledderjohn, publicity director of the In diana Farm Bureau Co-op Ass'n. February, Under consideration at this historic meeting of the joint committees of the Credit Union National Association and The Cooperative League of the USA were practical steps in organization and educa tion work. The joint committee recom mended the organization of a credit union in every local consumer cooperative and urged credit union members everywhere to take part in consumer cooperative ac tivities. The joint committee urged that wherever possible credit and consumer cooperatives exchange distribution of mo tion pictures, transcriptions and literature. The joint committee suggested that Emil Selvig, president of the National Association of Cooperative Accountants work with the Credit Union National Association in building joint auditing services and that cooperative auditors be made available to audit credit unions in territory where such service is available. 29 I 'HE now ever present ogre of infla- •*- tion, of boom and bust, of spending sprees and bread lines, inspired an his toric and pattern-making conference this week at the University of Minnesota where consumers first sat with University professors to get facts and then pledged themselves to launch an unceasing cam paign back home in support of i,o tnd financial policies in the national govern ment, in states, in cities and in the homes. The Midland Cooperative Wholesale of Minneapolis and Central Cooperative Wholesale of Superior, Wisconsin, joined with the League of Women Voters arid other civilian groups to organize a study-conference and learn the story of inflation, taxes, debts and bank money. They then listened to the appeal of Dr. O. B. Jesness, chief of the Division of Agricultural Economics, University of Minnesota, to "not permit this conference to end here—take it back to your groups —do everything you can to make our people understand how grave this menace of inflation is." Glenn W. Thompson, educational di rector for Midland Cooperative Whole sale, had a letter from Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, commend ing the conference. Morgenthau, whose Treasury Department in Washington was criticized and defended, applauded this organized effort to get facts concerning national financial problems. He suggested this conference might be a "pattern-mak ing conference for the nation" and added his conviction that the solution of na tional problems had to begin in this way—by taking the problems back into the homes. E. R. Bowen, general secretary of the Cooperative League of the USA, echoed Morgenthau's interest in the importance of the conference. "We may be develop ing here something of far greater import 30 John Carson Washington Representative The Cooperative League than we realize today," Bowen said. "Uni versities in these states have done much to encourage adult education. But here we are doing something more. We are moving to unite the thousands of study groups of cooperatives and other organ izations in a plan for continuation study." The conference began with a complete review of the financial problems of the federal government by G. Sid ney Houston, manager of the research department of the First Service Corpora tion, a banking corporation of St. Paul. Then Arthur W. Marget, professor of economics and finance of the University of Minnesota, explained how the pro ductive machinery of the country was mobilized for war and particularly how it was financed. Marget showed how our war effort was being financed now through billions of dollars of bank-made money arid he warned about the explosive inflationary possibilities in this condition. Arthur M. Borak, professor of economics, described existing tax laws and indicated the possibility that a general sales tax would be adopted. Roy G. Blakey, pro fessor of economics and nationally recog nized for almost a quarter of a century, called for more taxation and with charts and statistics supported his appeal. Bow- en and Roland S. Vaile, professor of economics, talked about government con trols of prices arid agreed that while price controls had to be attempted, taxation to take away spending power was the only effective control of prices. On the second day of the confer ence Arthur R. Upgren, former professor of economics and now vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank, appealed for more taxation and sale of bonds to citi zens rather than to banks. Professor Wil liam Andersen showed how post-war em ployment would depend on private buy ing rather than government spending. Consumers' Cooperation CONDITIONS OF PEACE, Edward Hallett Carr. New York. The Macmillan Company. 1942. $2.50. This is the second of two recent books by E. H. Carr, professor of international politics in the University College of Wales ; the first being The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939, written just before the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939. The first half of Conditions of Peace dis cusses "Some Fundamental Issues"; the second kalf "Some Outlines of Policy." The former is general, and the latter is specifically in refer- ernce to Britain. The following review has only to do with the first half of the book. Professor Carr presents in the first chapter, as his thesis, the proposition that we are in "a revolution against the three predominant ideas of the Nineteenth century: liberal de mocracy, national self-determination and laissez- faire economics." Each of these three ideas is separately discussed in a following chapter. First, the new democracy must interpret lib erty and equality in economic, as well as po litical terms. Second, the international relations of the future must recognize "the need for a larger »nit than the present nation for military and economic purposes." Third, "The Economic Crisis," as the title of the chapter reads, is the result of having thought in terms of three words which might be expressed together as Producer-Individual- Wealth. The new economic conception must be in terms of Consumer-Social-Welfare. Under laissez-faire capitalism, "the price mechanism expressed the preferences of the consumer; profitability determined the pref erences of the producer; and the interplay of tee factors, both precisely measurable in terms of money, assured the automatic work ing of the economic system in a manner calculated to produce the maximum of measurable weath." The consumer was sub- died to the producer's will — "the way to promote trade was to make the consumer con sume what the producer wanted to produce, not to make the producer produce what the consumer wanted to consume." This theory had to be largely discarded during the first World War. "The war made, or hastened, an economic revolution by prov-. ing conclusively that the most effective mobil- iution of the national resources for a given purpose is incompatible with reliance on the profit motive." However, "from eleven o'clock onwards," February, 1943 as Churchill described the situation On No vember 11, 1918, we reverted to the laissez- faire producer-profit system "from the moment the fighting stopped." The system, however, could not be success fully readopted, with the result that we again discarded it in part after the election of 1932, when President Roosevelt declared in his in augural address: "The rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure and have abdi cated . . . the measure of the restoration lies in the extent in which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit." Two popular methods of attempted resuscitation were adopted: "to stimulate production by subsidies . . and ... to restrict production in order to raise prices. . . . Both failed, as they were bound to fail ; and before long the crowning absurdity was reached of govern ments subsidizing producers to produce goods which they then paid them to destroy." Then the world turned to "rearmament—the simplest form of planned consumption." Professor Carr declares in his fifth and last chapter of the first section that "the economic crisis is in essence a moral crisis^" This he dis cusses at length. "Individual profit, which in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries pro vided the motive force of the economic system, has failed us, and we have not yet discovered any moral substitute for it other than war. Nothing but war seems sufficiently worth while." He further emphasizes the need of a new moral purpose in these words: "There is no practical difficulty about the solution of the economic problem: what we lack is a sufficiently compelling moral purpose." "The economic machine refuses to run until we discover a new moral purpose to re place the now exhausted and inoperative profit motive as the driving force; and this purpose when it is discovered will also provide democracy with the new source of social cohesion which it needs to replace the discarded doctrine of the harmony of interests." "The essential nature of the crisis through which we are living is neither military, nor political, nor economic, but moral. A new faith in a new moral purpose is required to reanimate our political and economic sys tem." "Our civilisation is in danger of perishing for lack'of something with which we have dispensed for 200 years, but with which we can dispense no longer: a deliberate and avowed moral purpose, involving the call for common sacrifice for a recognised common good." 31 Unlike too many authors, Professor Carr does not leave his readers altogether gasping for a solution. While he does not specifically discuss the Consumers and Producers Coopera tive Movements, and Labor Unions, he does lay down definite principles which will dearly lead the reader who studies his way through, into action as an active member and advocate of such economic organizations. He says: "The disappearance of price and profit as the dominant factors in the economic sys tem involves a profound modification of the conception of property." "The liberal society of isolated indepen dent individuls automatically working in the pursuit of their own profit for the good of all is dead; and it was only in that so ciety that the 'laws' of the classical econ omists were valid. That society and those laws were called into being and justified by a period in which to stimulate an ex pansion of production was the primary con dition of progress. From that period—the period of 'scarcity economies' — we have now emerged. Rightly or wrongly, it is now commonly believed that civilised man has mastered the problem of scarcity, and can produce without undue strain on his capacity all that he needs or wants to consume. Not poverty, but unemployment is the scourge of our social system. Our most urgent economic problem is no longer to expand production, but to secure a more equitable distribution of consumption and a more regular and orderly utilisation of our productive capacity. Inequality and un employment—unemployment both of man power and of material resources—are the crying scandals of our age. To find the remedy, we must overhaul the whole rela tionship between production and consump tion developed during the past hundred years under the aegis of classical economic orthodoxy." "It is clear that the regulating force of the economic system under which we live must more and more be sought in the realm of ethics rather than in the operations of a price mechanism; and nearly every one agrees that the trend in this direction should be encouraged and intensified." "If therefore we wish to proceed to. a re construction of our economic system which will both meet peacetime needs and pre vent a recurrence of large-scale unemploy ment when the demand for armaments has sumption, with graded priorities, which will assure that our productive forces are occupied to their fullest capacity for its 32 fulfillment. What we need, in the words of one of the apostles of Social Credit, is 'organisation of consumption first and plan ning for production only secondly and con sequentially'." "The first essential of economic reconstruc tion is that planned consumption must pre cede and condition planned production. Our economic system must reverse the whole trend of the last century and a half and once more subordinate the producer to the consumer." "In 1933 President Roosevelt belkved 'that we are at the threshold of a funjaniental change in our economic thought . . . that in the future we are going to think less about the producer and more about the consumer.' This fundamental change is the first and most vital condition of economic reconstruction after the war." "Precisely the same conditions apply to the revival of internat» 'na l trade. It should by now be self-evident tnat the international economic crisis will never be surmounted so long as every country makes it the pri mary aim of its economic policy to sell more and buy less. The way to a revival of international trade is not to decide what you want to sell abroad and then ascertain what you are compelled to buy from the foreigner in order to induce him to take it, but to decide what you want to buy from abroad and then ascertain what you must produce in order to pay for it." ". . . we must have the same concentration on the needs of the consumer, and make production, internationally as well as na tionally, serve the purposes of consump tion. "The second essential of economic recon struction is the substitution of welfare for wealth as our governing purpose, and the consequent abandonment of considerations of price and profit as the determining factor of production." Finally, "The war has brought the final proot of the bankruptcy of the political, economic and moral system which did duty in the prosperous days of the nineteenth century." "There is no guarantee that out of it will grow a more permanent purpose to create in time of peace a new world based on new principles and new social philosophy. All that can be said with certainty is that the war will not leave us where it found us." Signing Incorporation Papers for the National Cooperative Finance Association —Murray D. Lincoln and Howard A. Cowden (seated), L. E. Woodcock, Perry L. Green and A. J. Hayes THE NATIONAL PRODUCT AND ITS EXPENDITURE LEADING COOPERATION TO RUIN James P. Warbasse WALL STREET MOVES TO WASHINGTON EVERYBODY CAN ACT MARCH 1943 Consumers' Cooperation ( NATIONAL James Norris HOW ARE YOUR STUDY-ACTION GROUPS TODAY? C. J. McLanahan MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS SUBSCRIBE TO CONSUMERS COOPERATION If you are getting this copy as' a sample in response to an inquiry, we invite you to read this issue carefully. Then send us a note with a dollar bill or your check for $1 and we will send you the next 12 issues of this national magazine' for cooperative leaders. (27 issues for $2). Among the features planned' for coming issues are: "The Story of One Health Cooperative in the Making" by George W. Jacob- son; two articles on new cooperative housing developments; a searching analysis of the impending dangers of inflation; and a report of The Cooperative League's Committee on International Cooperative Reconstruction. Send your subscription today to THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF THE USA 167 West 12th Street New York City THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 608 South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C; Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Naine Address Publication Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Farm Bureau Services Farmers Cooperative Exchange Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Opportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 2301 S. Millaid, Chicago The Round Table 27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer Amarillo, Texas " " " 116E. l6St.,N.Y. Defaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. ^AJUpVltlLl V*, *^JtlJ*J.'l"-L The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defender The Recreation Kit 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator. 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator Cojumbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing, Michigan Raleigh, N. C. St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. 608 S. Dearborn, Chicago Review Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News The Carolina Cooperator Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. 3 MARCH. 1943 Ten Cents WE MUST WIN ECONOMIC FREEDOM AT HOME "We have a right to ask whether enterprise is really free," says Max Zaritsky, president of the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, man article in the January 30 issue of The Saturday Evening Post: "when merchants are forced to the wall because their customers have not the wherewithal to patronize their stores, "when farmers are forced off their land because people have not the means to buy their produce, "when the clients of professional men cannot afford to pay for their services, "when labor is without bread and in a state of involuntary unem ployment." How free is the small man in the United States, who makes up the vast major ity, under a "monopoly profit system" such as we have today? How free are small bankers? Those who remain were only saved in 1933 by government guarantees after 25% were wiped out. How free are small business men? 20% discontinue each year and now tens of thousands more than normal are gasping for survival. How free are farmers ? The march of tenancy is still not turned back. How free aie workers ? Their insecurity increasingly prevents them from becoming home owners. These are the fruits of our misnamed free enterprise system. This is not the American dream. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E.R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. From an economic standpoint, what we are involved in, according to an article by Father Hugo in the Catholic Worker, is a three-way fight between the economic systems of Monopoly, Fascism and Communism. Internally, our economic problem today is the Abolition of Monopoly, as before it was the Abolition of Slavery. We must never lose sight of our own internal economic problem. As a British writer, Jennie Lee, indicates in the New Republic, an internal war within the external war must be constantly waged against the barbarians inside our own gates. The famous New York Times book reviewer, John Chamberlain, says that "if Germany keeps its cartel system it will be eternally armed for war." So will we if we retain our monopoly system. We will never be economically free internally or nationally free externally. Monopoly economic dictatorship at home must be abol ished. Cooperative economic democracy must prevail. We must become economically free at home. THE NATIONAL PRODUCT AND ITS EXPENDITURE One of the reasons for the superiority of the economic education of the people of Sweden, as compared with the people of the United States and other countries, is clearly stated by Kellstrom, author of the section on Sweden in the book, "Price Control: War Against Inflation": "Academic economists in Sweden enjoy probably more respect and influence with their people and their government than anywhere else in the world. They write regularly for newspapers and periodicals. Some of them are members of Parliament and leaders in various political parties. Public interest in the views of the economists has been encouraged by Sweden's program of adult education, especially in the social and economic fields. This adult education has con tributed in no small manner to one important fact—the Swedish public itself has a good understanding of broad economic policies." In the United States the basic economic facts which everyone should know are only found in complete form in such publications as "The Survey of Current Busi ness" issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, "The Federal Reserve Bulletin," issued by the Federal Reserve Board, and in similar publications issued by the De partment of Agriculture, Department of Labor, the Treasury, etc., which com paratively few of the people see and1 read. There is also "confusion confounded" in the manner in which the statistics are issued. Some are based on index figures of 1910-14, some on 1923-25, some on 1926, some on 1935-39, some on August 1939 just before war started in Europe. Furthermore, the government's fiscal year is not the same as the calendar year, but ends on June 30 of each year. Again, reports cover both national product and na- . tional income and confuse the reader, who is unfamiliar with the variations between them. Cooperators should be the most intelligent economically of all because they start from the right point of view, the viewpoint of the consumer. We are endeavor ing, from month to month in CONSUMERS' COOPERATION, to interpret some of the vital national statistics with which cooperators should be familiar. The National Product is much more than the National Income. Included in National Product are the billions of taxes paid direct by corporations to the govern- 34 Consumers' Cooperation ment, the billions of dollars paid out for plant rehabilitation, and such items. These are all deducted before the National Income is computed. National Income only indudes the amounts paid out in dividends, interest, rent and wages to the people. The government publications stress the importance of thinking first in terms of the National Product as we are doing here. In the fiscal year of 1943, or the twelve months from June 30, 1942 to June 30, 1943, which is not yet completed, the estimated total National Product will be about 164 billion dollars. Of this amount, the government's share is estimated as 84 billion, and the civilians' share as about 80 billion. Do not confuse these figures with those in the President's message to Congress early in January, 1943 calling for a government expenditure of some 107 billion dollars, which has to do with the 1944 fiscal year beginning on June 30 of this year. Of the amount of 84 billion allocated to the government, only 21 billion is provided from taxes and 3 billion from trust accounts such as social security, or 24 billion in all. This leaves 60 billion to be borrowed out of the 84 billion.' Of this amount of 60 billion, about 12 billion is being borrowed direct from the public Gross National Expenditures by Use of Product eiLHONS OF DOLLARS 200 150 IOO 1940 1941 1943 CALENDAR YEARS FISCAL YEAR Source: U. S. Department of Commerce. in bonds, leaving 48 billion to be borrowed from the banks. These are round figures, and are estimates subject to change. The principal problem is not that of producing plenty for both the maximum needs of the government and the minimum needs of civilians. The greater problem is the education of the people to pay for more of the government's share in taxes, instead of by borrowing, in order not to lose the war against inflation at home. The income which the people, as a whole, get for the production of war goods should be turned over to the government to pay for the war goods, without hesitation. The amount of each one's share should be graduated above a survival minimum. During an all-out war such as this, little more should be kept by the people than the mini mum necessary amount for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medical and other March, 1943 35 services. That would be enough money to pay for all the civilian goods and services that are available. If more than that amount is "held-out" by the people and they attempt to spend it, it will mean that the goods will be worth more and the money will be worth less (or be worthless since no more actual goods will be gotten) but that a much higher inflated price will be paid for nothing. The money had fat better be turned over to the government immediately than to get nothing for it now and to build up a debt burden for the future. If we, the people, require our government to borrow from the banks, then we cannot blame anyone but ourselves when the money we hoard is duplicated through the banks and we become self-imposed victims of wild inflation and de flation after the war. The President's seven point program to prevent inflation and deflation had, as point number one, to increase taxes, and, as point number seven, to pay off out own debts. We should do both to prevent economic disaster to the nation and to ourselves. SHALL WE PUT PERMANENT PLASTERS ON OUR ECONOMIC CANCERS? When Beatrice Webb reported early in the 1900's, as chairman of the minot- ity committee on the Revision of the Poor Law in England, she advocated a Na tional Minimum which would guarantee to everyone a minimum of income, leisure, housing, health and education. As President Roosevelt has more recently said, there must be a floor beneath which no one can fall. We must no longer continue to maintain a sieve through which countless of our fellows sift down into degrada tion. In England the idea of revising the National Minimum is again raised by the Beveridge Committee Report. We should recognize the proposal of a National Minimum, guaranteed by the political government, for what it really is. The "economic royalists" support it as insurance against civil war. In Germany Bismarck developed the idea early and extensively for that purpose. The "dispossessed" support it as a relief from theit extreme impoverishment. / Those who see things through, as cooperators, should support the idea of a government guaranteed National Minimum only as a temporary relief measute. They should not be deceived and assume that it incorporates either true economic justice or economic security, or provides for economic prosperity. The permanent solution for the cancers of poverty, unemployment, tenancy, sickness and ignorance, which the National Minimum is designed to alleviate, cannot be achieved through a political government, if it is to continue democratic. A government cannot remain truly democratic and indefinitely be forced to attempt to relieve a dictatorial econ omy. Either the government will become dictatorial, or the economy must become democratic. When an economy becomes democratic it will, within itself and not as a dependent upon government, provide an abundant and just distribution of income, employment, ownership, health and education. Plastering social cancers is not the final remedy. Only surgery really removes physical cancers and only surgery can remove social cancers. In the meantime, what ever is done by the government in the way of a relief program should be on the cooperative self-help basis. 36 Consumers' Cooperation LEADING COOPERATION TO RUIN James Peter Warbasse THE annihilation of cooperation is ag- *• gressively promoted in its own house. Instead of aims for its continued expan sion, a destruction of all that has been accomplished is now deliberately planned. The British cooperative press carries much material on "Post-War Reconstruc tion," such as the Beveridge Report, leav ing cooperation out of the picture. It ad vocates the program of the Socialist Patty. Leading cooperators recite long lists of economic functions and advise that they be turned over to t'- ? political govetnment, when every one of these very functions has been developed, and is being carried on and expanded with a high degree of efficiency by the coopera tive movement. The Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society, which may be regarded as a pro gressive branch of the British movement, has promulgated the following plan for aftet-war reconstruction: "1. State control and ownership of land and mines. State control and ownership of banks and insur ance. State control of all public transport. 2. Municipal control of the services such as gas, electricity and water. A national scheme of housing with which the governing body would be linked up with the mu nicipalities and cooperative and private building societies with ef fective control by the public. 3. Public control of production and distribution, functioning under the cooperative principle of non profit. 4. The establishment of a national system of education and of medi cal, hospital, and research services with cultural and recreational facilities." Match, 1943 These are the four articles of the plan. This program me?ns: 1. the slacken ing of cooperative developments, 2. the turning over of further non-profit busi ness expansion into the hands of politi cal government, and 3. the final trans fer to the political state of all that co- operators have thus far built. This is not the work of enemies of cooperation but of sincere men who have made great contributions to the building of cooperatives. Back of their efforts lies a philosophy which is wholly contrary to the voluntarism of cooperation. It is the philosophy of stateism, which postu lates the political organization of con sumers in the state as the most effective means for the accomplishment of the ma jor economic social functions. According ly, the cooperatives which they have built are doomed to be absorbed into the state. This program of a cooperative society is pure socialism and has no relation whatever to cooperation. The word "pub lic" as used here in British parlance means political government. This turning over to the state of the functions, which co operation after a hundred years has learned to master, is not wholly British. It receives favorable consideration in many parts of the world. With most countries abrogating their cooperative movement, it will become increasingly difficult for a few remaining countries alone to maintain a cooperative economy. The Scottish program would remove land from private ownership. Mines, and that includes oil wells, would pass out of the field of cooperation, although the best run coal mines in Great Britain have been the cooperative consumer-owned mines; and the best hope for the petrole um business in the United States is cooperative. The cooperative bus trans port lines, on which one can ride the 37 length of England, would become politi cal. Under such a plan, the Amalgamated Housing Society's bus line, carrying its members to arid from the railroad sta tion, would be taken over by the New York City government. Our rural elec trification projects would relinquish their cooperative hopes. Cooperative housing, the most promising method for supplying homes, would be abolished. Political housing, which in Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen, New York and everywhere else have proved its inferiority to the cooperative method, would supplant co operative housing. Cooperative banking and cooperative insurance would be dis continued and the business taken over by the government. To advocate that "production and dis tribution" be given over to political con trol to function "under the cooperative principle of non-profit'T is a poor sop to cooperation. When the political machine carries on business on the alleged non profit basis, it is far from "the coopera tive principle of non-profit." Coopera tion has been developed for something better than finding itself perpetuated in "the cooperative principle of non-profit" in government business. Such an end can not satisfy the purpose of this great movement. The kind of non-profit pro duction and distribution with which true cooperation is concerned is voluntary cooperative production and distribution, and not that carried on by political gov ernments. For cooperators to call upon the gov ernment to perform the above functions, and then to add health protection arid medical service, may prompt the question as to whether such advocacy could really come from cooperative sources. This is the price the cooperative move ment pays for a leadership which esteems the political state as a social and economic agency more highly than the cooperatively organized consumers. This is what its 38 socialist leadership is costing the British movement. In Great Britain the cooperatives do about one-tenth of the business of the country. The contention that cooperators can go on with the distribution of things for personal needs in the fields which they have so successfully developed, while the state supplies the other nine-tenths of the people's needs, is not a coopera tive program. In the first place, it could not last. When the great majority and the most important services are per formed by the state, a vast political ma chine will have been built up to carry on this gigantic business. It means that about ninety per cent of the people now occupied in profit business will become political employees or people with po litical concessions beholden to the gov ernment. The little cooperative movement going along parallel with this great ma chine will have small chance of survival. Politicians breed politicians. Political of fice creates political office. And a dif ferent kind of miniature business exist ing by the side of the giant political machine can expect nothing but to be absorbed by that machine. I have heard too many sincere socialists say, "When we get socialism we shall not need co operation," to expect anything else. A socialist government in Great Britain, ac cording to this program, means the end of the British cooperative movement; this, it would seem, will come with the approval and blessing of British coop erators. I have no quarrel with the compulsory political state. I believe in it for the mul titude of non-cooperative and unsocial souls. It is necessary to supply needs and services when the people can not supply themselves individually or in their vol untary associations. But I believe that many people are proving in their coop erative societies that they can supply more and more of their needs. They are mov ing constantly into new fields, succeeding progressively in endeavors which they had never before realized were within their power. This experience of more than a hundred years indicates that no one is justified in saying, "Here coopera tion must stop, it can go no farther." Experience indicates that the people in their cooperative societies can gradually develop the skill to perform for themselves every useful service performed by profit business and by the political state. They can take on the functions of profit busi ness because it is a failing and disinte grating system. But business once taken over by the political government does not fail. It does not have to make profits. The taxpayers can make up the deficit. The influence of the political machine which runs it tends to keep it going. Of fice holders are not prone to resign. The state is strong where profit business is weak. For cooperators to leave the field of cooperation, arid proceed to build up a political mechanism to take the place of the cooperative method is a betrayal of the boundless opportunity bequeathed to man kind by the patient efforts of cooperators throughout the world. WALL STREET MOVES TO WASHINGTON Monopoly Is On the March Toward Dictatorship THE economic reason for America's 1 entering the first world war was most dearly expressed in the statements of two of the principal political leaders of that time. The first statement was made a month in advance of our entering the war but «as kept secret from the people until many years after the war ended. It was contained in the cablegram from Am bassador Page in London to President Wilson, in which he said: "The pressure of this approaching crisis, I am certain, has gone be yond the ability of the Morgan financial interests or the British and French Governments. ... It is not improbable that the only way of maintaining our present preeminent trade position arid averting a panic is by declaring war on Germany. "We could keep on with our trade and increase it, till the war ends, and after the war Europe would purchase food and an enormous supply of materials with which to re-equip her peace industries. Consumers' Cooperation fatch 1943 "We should thus reap the profit of an uninterrupted trade over a number of years, and we should hold their securities in payment." The second statement was made by President Wilson in a speech in St. Louis shortly following the war, in which he said: "Why, my fellow citizens, is there any man here, or any woman, let me say, is there any child, who does not know that the seed of war in the modern world is industrial and commercial rivalry. . . . This war was a commercial and industrial war. It was not a political war." Now we are engaged in a second world war. From an economic standpoint the forces engaged, as clearly stated by Father Hugo in The Catholic Worker, are Monopolism, Fascism and Communism. The first world war was economically a struggle between various forms of Capi talism. During the twenty years interven ing, Capitalism had, in the large nations, developed into various forms of economic dictatorship. Now the three dictatorial forms of economy represented by Monop olism, Fascism and Communism are en gaged in a death struggle between them. If either of these three forms of economy survive in the end, the people the world over will be crushed under economic dic tatorship. 39 What Is Happening Economically in the United States Today? Senator Harry S. Truman, chairman of the Senate investigating committee, sup plies the answer. "I am taking this op portunity to tell the Senate about the biggest business monopoly in the history of the world, which has been created in Washington under the very eyes of Con gress. Big business has sifted into our bureaucratic agencies, such as the War and Navy Departments and the War Production Board. It has placed thou sands of its representatives in Washing ton." Senator Robert M. LaFollette, Jr. says that "At the beginning of the war small business firms, 175,000 strong, were pro ducing about 70 per cent of the nation's manufacturing. The remaining 30 per cent was turned out by about 100 major corporations that go to make up what is properly known as "Big Business." Now, after two years of the national defense and war program, the situation has been completely reversed. The 100 major cor porations today are holding 70 per cent of the war and essential civilian produc tion contracts." "The war emergency has given big business its long-awaited opportunity," says Scott Nearing. "It is expanding its manufacturing plant with government money, making government guaranteed profits, driving its small competitors out of business, taking a prominent part in running the government, and reducing its income tax payments by presuming to sell democracy to the American people." Representative Jerry Voorhis recently said before the annual meeting of the Progressive Education Association that "Private monopolies are the antithesis of democratic government and the death of free enterprise." Yet under the emergen cies of war, monopoly is becoming in creasingly entrenched directly in industry and indirectly in finance through control 40 of the agencies of the political govern ment. "If the ultimate result of our enormous sacrifices of this war," said Secretary Har old L. Ickes before the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in St. Louis, "shall be to solidify the hold of the monopolists upon this country with an economy of scarcity ; if, flowing from the war, there shall be a renewal of the system of international cartelization—if these are the things we are sweating for and crying for and shedding our blood for, then my advice to you would be to seek an immediate peace with the enemy. . . . There is no difference, ultimately, between an economy dictated by Hitler and one imposed by concentrated wealth." Perhaps William Alien White describes the situation most graphically of all: "It is silly to say New Dealers run this war show," he wrote. "It's largely run by absentee owners of amalgamated indus trial wealth, men who either directly or through their employers control small mi nority blocks, closely organized, that manipulate the physical plants of these trusts. Also, for the most part, these managerial magnates whom one meets in Washington are decent Americans. For the most part they are giving to the American people superb service. They have great talents. If you touch them in nine relations of life out of ten, they are kindly, courteous, Christian gentlemen. But in the tenth relation, where it touches their own organization, they are stark mad, ruthless, unchecked by God or man, paranoics, in fact, as evil in their de signs as Hitler. They are determined to come out of this war victors for their own stockholders. . . . This attitude of the men who control the great commod ity industries and who propose to run them according to their own judgment and their own morals, does not make a pretty picture for the welfare of the common man. These international com binations of industrial capital are fierce troglodyte animals with tremendous pow er and no social brains. They hover like the old Silurian reptiles about our decent, more or less Christian civilization—like great dragons in this modern day when dragons are supposed to be dead." What Is Happening Economically iii England? In a lecture "Democracy in War Time," Harold J. Laski describes what is taking place in England which, like the United States, has been increasingly dominated by Monopoly. Mr. Laski says: "It is all grimly reminiscent of 1914- 18; and I want to say with all solemnity that unless, before our victory, the word becomes the deed, the disillusion which will follow this war will be as profound as that which followed the last. I do not for a moment deny that there have been a number of small, but beneficent re forms in matters of social constitution. I agree that the status and the strength of the trade unions is higher than at any period in our history. But I am bound to point out three things. First, there has been no change in the fundamental char acter of economic power since 1939; its ownership remains broadly in much the same hands ; its motives to effort are still, even in the context of war, geared to the over-riding principle of profit-making. Secondly, it is clear that the necessi ties of war-production have immensely strengthened the power of the big unit as against the small ; without safeguards which depend upon the inner character of the post-war state—which will be set by its relations of production—the impact of those necessities may easily be in an anti-democratic direction. Thirdly, it is clear that the present compromise be tween laissez-faire and planned capital ism fails to give us either the coherency or the unity of direction which maximizes production." "I say with emphasis that we have got to begin now the organization of a revo lution by consent or we shall drift, after Consumers' Cooperation March, 1943 the war, to a revolution by violence which will destroy the major ends for which we fight." The Advance of Monopoly Before Thurman Arnold was "kicked- up" into a judgeship, he exposed before the American people the ramifications of the connections of our American Monop olies with German Fascism represented by the I. G. Farbenindustrie. One of the most tragic and revealing reports which has been made during the war was by the Truman Committee in describing how signed agreements have been made for the international cartellization of the in dustries of the world after the war. "Even after Dunkirk," when democracy was fighting with its back to the wall, thç Truman Committee reported, the interna tional cartels planned for the increasing resumption of their activities in binding the world with their chains. "For a few pieces of silver" the people were betrayed. Berle and Means first clearly and statis tically described the march of monopoly in the United States in their book "The Modern Corporation and Private Prop erty." In it they reported that 200 Ameri can corporations controlled over 50% of the capital of our non-banking corpora tions. This was followed by "Dividends to Pay" written by E. D. Kennedy, and presenting statistics from the U.S. Treas ury Department's Statistics of Income and from a compilation by the Standard Statis tics Company. In this book Mr. Kennedy compared the results of the 960 largest corporations with those of the other 450, 000 corporations. He showed that, dur ing the four years of 1926 to 1929, the 960 corporations made over 15 billion dollars profit, which was about the same as was made by the 450,000 smaller cor porations. During the six years after the collapse of 1929, however, or the years of 1930 to 1935 inclusive, the 960 cor porations never went into the red as a whole and together made over 9 billion dollars, while the 450,000 corporations 41 lost over 19 billion dollars, and never got back into the black as a whole dur ing the six years. Those who wish further evidence of the rapid advance of Monopolism in the United States between the two world wars can satisfy their desires to the full by reading the reports of the Temporary National Economic Committee and the National Resources Planning Board. There is a saying that "the Greeks have a word for it." Monopoly is the economic word for it in the United States. Monop oly is only another name for economic dictatorship. If economic monopoly con tinues, then political, religious, educa tional and economic democracy will even tually die. We are in a battle to the death internally between economic monopoly and political, religious, educational and economic democracy. The only way these four democratic organizations of the people can win is to overthrow economic monopoly and replace it with coopera tive economic democracy. For both monopoly and democracy cannot continue to exist indefinitely under the same skies. Build Cooperatives! Prevent Monopoly! Monopoly prevents the production of abundance. Monopoly restricts the dis- EVERYBODY CAN ACT (EDITOR'S NOTE: James N orris, profes sional dramatic producer, has been on the staff of the National Cooperative Recrea tion School for the past six years.) TO GROW or develop physically we must stretch ourselves. If we wish to portray a character different from our selves, we must reach and stretch beyond our own personality — and in acting, it seems to be easier for the average indi vidual to stretch himself as far away 42 tribution of abundance. Monopoly re sults in increasing debt. Monopoly is perpetual war. Monopoly strangles de mocracy. The famous New York Times book reviewer, John Chamberlain, says that "if Germany keeps its cartel system it will be eternally armed for war." So will we, if we retain our Monopoly system. We will never be economically free in ternally or nationally free externally. Monopoly economic dictatorship at home must be abolished. Cooperative economic democracy must prevail. We must become economically free at home. The only way to have democracy is to build cooperatives stronger and faster. In a widely publicized address by Pearl Buck at a meeting of Nobel Prize Win ners, she said: "The strange thing is that the shadow of war does not grow less as these enemies grow weak. . . . We see a certain fate coming closer to us, and these furies do not hold back its rage." She does not clearly describe the "cer tain fate" to which she refers. Kingsley Martin, editor of the London New States- Man and Nation has at least given one answer: "Capitalist rivalry tends not to disappear but to increase." James Norris from his own personality as possible. It's much easier for a shy young girl, to play a tough character than it is for her to play a shy young girl. If we're just being ourselves in a play we're not acting. We're either showing off, or being embarrassed and often in plays people are just given the oppor tunity to become embarrassed. I think that is one of the reasons why so many people say they can't act, or don't like acting. It's because they never have acted. I say that everybody can act and I have yet to find the person who couldn't. But two things happen when we first try to act. First we're frightened because we're afraid we'll make fools of ourselves —and almost at the same time we're afraid to get outside ourselves because this is the only personality we've ever had and we hold onto it for dear life get ting more and more scared all the time. For this reason it seems to be much better to start by playing a character who is so far away from us that there is no danger of putting our own selves on the spot. If the tough character the shy young girl is playing is awkward or a little too short or too tall, or too wide or thin, well that's too bad for the tough character but she's too far away from the young girl to embarrass her, and besides everybody bows that she couldn't possibly behave that way anyway. Sometimes it's wise to start by playing something that isn't even human. In the simpler forms of impro vised dramatics I have seen certain in dividuals working very happily and com fortably in a sketch or charade as a swing ing door, a tree, a rat or a water cooler, while if they had been pushed into a part where they had to use their own voices, they would have been tongue tied. But the squeak of a rat or the gurgle of a water cooler comes as freely and vocally as you please. Acting is a ticklish thing and it's im possible to lay down hard and fast rules, iiuman personalities varying the way they do, but there are a few points that seem to apply generally. Acting Develops Understanding Why bother getting outside your own skin, you may ask? Well, when a baby yawns and stretches, it never quite bounces back to where it was before that list long stretch, otherwise it would never get any longer or broader. When an idult really has an experience in acting someone outside his own skin, he comes back home with an emotional and even Consumers' Cooperation Match> 1943 spiritual understanding of something he didn't know about before. A something which he incorporates as a part of his own self and growth. I have seen sensitive over-shy people become articulate through a real acting experience. I have seen habits of bad pos ture and carriage have their causes re moved by the right choice of characters for individuals, over a period of time. I have seen people gain tolerance by playing the very characters who typify the race or creed or group they despised, simply by finding out thru acting what makes the other fellow tick. I have seen a boy who stuttered stop stuttering by playing the part of a man with poise, as surance, and the ability to hold people's attention under great difficulties. These things don't always happen. And they will never happen without the right method and leadership. But they do hap pen—and many times subtler and more intangible results accrue. Results that are just as important but not so showy. I think it is possible thru acting to go back to an understanding of that free and creative imaginative state we all had when we were children and never should have lost in the first place. Dr. Emory S. Bogardus, University of Southern California, writing in the SO CIOLOGY AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, lists nine reasons for hobbies in an ar ticle entitled "Hobbies in War and Peace." The summary of these reasons is: (1) Hobbies are useful ways of spend ing a portion of the 2,000 leisure hours that each person has each year; (2) they are significant because of the zest, often new zest, which they give to life; (3) they afford a balance to personality, especially if they are well chosen; (4) hobbies make the old young and the in capacitated well again; (5) hobbies are of inestimable therapeutic value ; (6) un suspectingly many hobbies prove to be of marvelous social value; (7) they can be carried on at little or no expense. 43 HOW ARE YOUR STUDY-ACTION GROUPS, TODAY? C. J. McLanahan Educational Secretary The Cooperative League TAP the shoulder of any cooperator nowadays, and he will tell you straightway that the best manner in which to educate people is to start Study- Action groups. Given time, this same cooperator will inform you that Study- Action groups are not only good for building cooperatives, but that there is nothing better for democracy than these small home meetings where people come together and talk over their interests and problems. It's in the air, this belief that such small units of people are fundamental in growing a sound democracy. Here are two recent pamphlets: "Group Discus sion and Its Techniques" by the Depart ment of Agriculture and "Democracy by Discussion" by E. S. Bogardus. Popular ity of the Chicago Round Table, Town Meeting of the Air and other forum groups is a reflected tribute of the people's evaluation of an open discussion of their affairs. A Series of Ups and Downs But experience with these small Study- Action groups has not been too success ful. Ohio cooperatives and a few other regional associations have had a good experience ; many have not. In some areas a near stage of despair has been reached and instead of thinking of them as a must form of education, cooperative leaders are about to write the idea off as a bust. A note of discouragement has been creeping in—let's not deny it. Yet the theory, and yes, the practice where successful, are both strong in say ing that this Study-Action, small-group technique is so valuable and so full of possibilities that we simply cannot afford to abandon it. Rather we must explore and experiment until we do find how to make the idea work. 44 Seme New Wrinkles What have we learned that might help us overcome some of the headaches that have been encountered ? Let us study this as though you were the one who was about to start a group. Invite in a group of your friends. Stick to your friends, not the people who live near you, or people whom you know casually or those whom you think ought to come to such a meeting. They should be the kind of friends that you and your wife know very well and that you might be inviting to your house for any evening. Contrary to ordinary belief, purpose of these groups is not to increase one's ac quaintances or to "sell" the cooperative movement. If the people you invite are your friends, the "meeting" can never be a flop. Even if you don't have any planned discussion or reach any conclu sions, you have had the same "success ful" evening that you would have had on any occasion when you would have in vited these people to your house. Since the members of the group are all "fritnds," there is a natural social co- hesiveness. You will never have to worry about this kind of group continuing. Keep the group small. Don't invite in more than 4 or 5 families and maybe never grow beyond that number. Bury the old American idea that a thing must be big to be successful. Probably nothing has worked more to defeat the Study- Action group than this worship of size. The sponsor wants to have a good meet ing and invites in 10 to 15 families. Fif teen to thirty people arrive. Everyone is elated—"a lot of people came." But what kind of discussion did they have? Could all of the people take part? Could they arrive at a real group discussion? Find the lobster. As early as possible kip the group ferret out its main inter ests. What does it want to do ? You might start with questions such as these: "What don't we have here in Westmont that we should have for good community liv ing? What about our educational and recreational facilities? Are we able to buy our food conveniently, at the right price and of good quality ? Is the medical care adequate? What state and national and world problems are there that affect us in this community that we ought to do something about?" Next Steps Follow Naturally As soon as the group decides what it wants to do, the next steps are logical and simple. Before acting, you will need information. Secure literature from your regional wholesale or from a local library. Discuss this at your second meet ing. That the Study phase. Decide what you want to do. That's the Action phase. After the first problem is solved, go on to the next one. Started from problems of vital interest, you won't need to worry about a program. Always serve light refreshments. It adds more than you can measure to an evening. Plan recreation, cards, singing, games, anything that you do naturally when you invite a group of friends to your home. Maybe talking is enough. In Addition From the regional's point of view, several other steps should be kept in mind. Minutes or some form of report should be sent by each group to the edu cational department of the regional. Only in this way can guidance and coordina tion be provided. There should also be a close working relationship with the field- staff. A representative from the regional should meet at least every two months with representatives from the Study- Action groups. Try these ideas. If they don't work, try others. We have a lot to learn about Study-Action groups. In time we will master the technique. Then, with con fidence, every cooperative will place the organization of Study-Action groups on its list as a must activity. FIRST HUNDRED YEARS OF COOPERATION TO BE OBSERVED BY YEAR-LONG CENTENNIAL T^HE consumer cooperative movement 1 will celebrate its one hundredth an niversary in 1944 with a full year Cen tennial Campaign, according to a decision made by the board of directors of The Cooperative League of the USA at its quarterly meeting in Chicago March 23- 24. Quoting Vice President Henry A. Wallace who has described cooperation as "the dominant economic idea of the future," E. R. Bowen, general secretary of the League, outlined preliminary plans for the Centennial Campaign and sug gested that the Credit Union National Associition and the National Council for Farmeis Cooperatives be invited to par ticipate in the centennial. The board voted to recommend that the regional coopera- Consumers' Cooperation March, 1943 tive associations appropriate special funds to lay the groundwork for the greatest drive in co-op history. The League board authorized the ap pointment of a Cooperative Post-War Housing Committee to make plans for a greatly expanded program of cooperative housing to be launched at the close of the war. Representatives of present coop erative housing developments, of the Building Materials Committee of Nation al Cooperatives and of the National Co operative Women's Committee will make up the committee which will devote its attention not only to plans for apart ment and single home developments but also to landscaping and beautification projects. Articles of incorporation for the Na- 45 II tional Cooperative Finance Association were signed during the meeting so that application can be made for incorporation as an important forward step toward the establishment of a key organization for a co-op finance structure. The first report of the Post-War Dis tribution Committee appointed by The Cooperative League Congress was pre sented to the board by Howard A. Cow- den, chairman of the committee and the board voted to offer the services of U.S.. cooperatives to the Lehman Committee on Post-War Rehabilitation and Relief. Officials of The League voted to take part in the creation of an American Country Life Conference to be made up of twenty-five organizations interested in rural life problems. The board also of fered to assist in any way possible the Cooperative Committee of the National Education Association which is now col lecting material on "The Place of the Consumer Cooperatives in Protecting the Consumer in Time of War." A special feature of the two day session was an evening program of premiere showings of three new cooperative mo tion pictures. The Walnut Room of the Hotel Morrison rang with applause for all three productions: "Our Heritage," the story of the Pennsylvania Farm Bu reau Cooperative Association, "The Credit Union—John Doe's Bank," produced by the Harmon Foundation and the Credit Union National Association; and "Turn of the Tide," a five-reel story of the or ganization of credit unions and coopera tives by the lobster fishermen of Maine. The latter picture was produced by the Harmon Foundation under the direction of Mary Arnold for the Edward A. Filene Good Will Fund and The Cooperative League. BUSINESS OF 16 REGIONAL COOPERATIVES TOPPED HUNDRED MILLION MARK IN '42 OlXTEEN regional cooperative whole- vJ sales having membership in National Cooperatives, Inc., had combined sales of $103,488,956 and net savings of $3,- 764,018 in 1942, it was reported by How ard A. Cowden, secretary, at the annual meeting in Chicago March 25. Combined sales of the group in 1941 were $82,- 624,650, and net savings were $2,626,- 387. National Cooperatives is a central purchasing agency for the regional co operative wholesales. Ownership of the 16 regional whole sales is vested in 2,539 local cooperative associations which, in turn, are owned by 874,324 individual members, a gain of 60 member associations and 276,103 in dividual members over the year before. Combined paid-in capital stock in creased from $5,539,702 in 1941 to $6,- 678,584, a gain of $1,138,882. Total net worth rose from $9,753,883 in 1941 to $12,710,449 in 1942, a gain of $2,- 756,566. 46 Members of National Cooperatives are engaged in the 'distribution of petroleum products, food, lumber, fertilizer, and other such supplies. In addition, the groups provide many services for mem bers, such as auditing, education and pub licity, insurance services, and legal as sistance. The annual meeting voted to set up as a wholly owned subsidiary of National Cooperatives of the Universal Milking Machine factory purchased by National Cooperatives earlier in the year. The plant was purchased at a total cost of $200,000 and will produce nearly a million and a half dollars worth of milking machines during the coming year, according to the report of Al Rose of Chicago who was recently named manager of the plant. The board of directors of National Co operatives approved a resolution calling on Prentiss M. Brown, OPA administra tor, for the appointment of consumer Consumers' Cooperation cooperative representation on any com mittees appointed by the OPA nationally. A special meeting of representatives of cooperatives in the petroleum business was called following the meeting of National Cooperatives to discuss plans for further coordination of the oil co-ops, particu larly in light of the fact that the regional co-ops are now operating seven oil re fineries. The board also received the report of the grant by the Edward A. Filene Good Will Fund to National Cooperatives for the creation of a research and service bureau. More complete plans will be an nounced later. 1. H. Hull, general manager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso ciation, was re-elected president of Na tional Cooperatives at the meeting. Also re-elected were: A. J. Hayes, Central Co operative Wholesale, chairman of the board; Joe Nolan, Farmers Union Cen tral Exchange, vice-president: Howard A. Cowden, Consumers Cooperative Asso ciation, secretary-treasurer; and T. A. Tenhune, assistant secretary-treasurer and manager. Members of National Cooperatives, Inc. are Consumers Cooperatives Associ ated, Amarillo, Texas; Eastern Coopera tive Wholesale, Brooklyn; Central States Cooperatives, Chicago; Ohio Farm Bu reau Cooperative Association, Columbus; Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Harrisburg; Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Indian apolis; Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Minneapolis; Farm Bureau Services, Lansing, Michigan; Consumers Coopera tive Association, North Kansas City, Mo. ; Associated Cooperatives of Northern Cal ifornia, Oakland; Farmers Cooperative Exchange, Raleigh, N. C. ; Farmers Union Central Exchange, St. Paul, Minn. ; Saskatchewan Cooperative Wholesale, Saskatoon, Canada; Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior, Wisconsin; United Farmers Cooperative Company, Toronto, Canada; and Pacific Supply Cooperative, Walla Walla, Washington. MOVIE TELLS STORY OF "SHARECROPPERS OF THE SEA1 THE dramatic story of Maine lobster fishermen who have been called "the sharecroppers of the sea" is told in TURN OF THE TIDE, a 16mm. movie released by The Cooperative League. Written by Mary Arnold of the East ern Cooperative League and photographed beautifully in technicolor by Jamie Mc- Pherson, the film is in itself a cooperative venture, featuring the fishermen and their families as actors and narrators. The story pierces beyond the seemingly picturesque conditions of a lobster fish erman's life to show him fighting the ilmost unbeatable combination of a low fie market and a dangerous sea. Gradually, these men who have a tra dition of staunch individualism learn the March, 1943 Miriam Kolkin Federated Press lesson of cooperation and form credit unions to tide themselves over lean days. Although a lobster fisherman may av erage $1600 a year, the tremendous cost of his equipment leaves him with an ac tual income of something like $500 a year. A network of credit unions has sprung up along the coast of Maine within the last year and cooperative stores have been introduced in several villages. Next step is the introduction of cooperative marketing associations, the film predicts. TURN OF THE TIDE made its debut here April 8 and is slated for perform ances at schools and union halls through out the U.S. Inquiries should be addressed to The Cooperative League, 167 West 12th Street, New York. 47 FOOD —A WEAPON FOR VICTORY by Bertram Fowler. Little, Brown and Company, 1942, price $1.50. Available through The Cooperative League. A short time ago President Roosevelt ap pointed former Governor Herbert Lehman as Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations of the Department of State. This appointment focussed attention upon the prob lems a war weary, disease-ridden and starving world will face the day that peace is declared. Bertram Fowler's book is the first to deal with these problems and in a very readable 185 pages he explains the critical nature of the problem, and in bold strokes traces a plan for United Nations action. The author recalls how after the last war we withdrew into our shell of isolationism and left starvation and disease to plant the seeds of the present con flict and how in our isolation we suffered deflation, foreclosures on farms, closed fac tories, and unemployment. The book is a ringing challenge not to let this happen again. If anyone is wondering what is meant by the phrase "Win the War but lose the peace," the answer is found here. The effect on each of us—farmer, city work ers, professional man, and housewife is ex plained. Consideration is given to the role which cooperatives might play in the solution and cooperators are challenged to accept their responsibility. Right now this book should be required reading for every cooperative study group in the country. Cooperators are well acquainted with Mr. Fowler's other books on "Consumer Cooperation in America" and "The Lord Helps Those," but I believe the reader will agree that this book is the best he has written or is likely to write. —JAMES C. DRURY Professor of Marketing New York University To be published in May A COOPERATIVE ECONOMY A study of Democratic Economic Movements BY BENSON Y. LANDIS A national authority on the coopera tive movement here reviews the major institutions in American economic life from the point of view of their contribu tion to the creation of a democratic, cooperative economy. Among the activi ties described are consumers' and pro ducers' cooperatives, the professions and business, the governmental activities arid international cooperative relations. The book concludes with a "discussion sylla bus" to make this a helpful medium for adult education in an improved under standing of the ways and means to build in America an economy in which the consumers' interests are kept par-amount. 224 Pages. Special Coop. Edition $1.50 Send advance orders to : THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street, New York City CO-OP FACT GROWTH OF CREDIT UNIONS DEC. 31 1934 1936 1938 1939 JAN.1 1942 l! 9886 EACH SYMBOL REPRESENTS 1,000 UNIONS C«-oP MAT* PICTOGRAPH CORPORATION, FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, INC. 48 Consumers' Cooperation :;..' '#! :- ?st :» p"*-'- ^Çi.,,».*..-*:;. —j»N''- - âS-* ^ ** > ?.. -6 i' ^:; r ' ' • ^ New York City THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 608 South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Name Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Farm Bureau Services Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League Southern California Cooperators United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society Address Publication St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 1535S.PeoriaSt., Chicago The Co-op News 27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer Amarillo, Texas 13 Astoi Place, N. Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defendei The Recreation Kit Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing, Michigan St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111: Box 2000, Superior, Wise. Review Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative New. Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia 2462 Lemoran Ave.. Rivera, Cal. Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E: 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator S. Cal. Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE- PLENTY- DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. 4 APRIL, 1943 Ten Cents PREPARE TO PUSH CO-OP SERVICES! This issue is largely given over to the subject of cooperative services of two kinds—medical and housing. We are making rapid progress in the distribution and processing of com modities through cooperatives but are only slowly entering into the important fields of services such as medical, burial, housing, eating, etc. A real start has been made, however, by those who have pioneered in these fields and have proven their prac tical possibilities. Planning is the order of the day. The Cooperative Movement needs to plan ahead for a far more rapid growth of cooperative services. It cannot be done over night. It has become quite evident that it requires more effort generally to organize successful medical, burial, housing and eating cooperatives than to organize a successful commodity cooperative. The rewards may, however, prove to be even greater and more than worth the extra effort. In fact, it would seem that the nearer cooperation comes home to one in his personal life, which it does in connection with such services, the more cooperation means to a member. The groundwork should be laid now in every community. Study-action groups should include the study of such service cooperatives in their programs. Some ma terial is already available and additional material is underway. Write for literature and a list of the present cooperative service associations in these fields. You can then correspond direct with' those you wish to learn more about or make a trip to see them. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. WAKE-UP AMERICA! Study These Statistics — Then Act! If any cooperator questions the space we are giving to statistics and state ments about the financial stability of the national economy and what cooperators and cooperatives should do under the circumstances, we would only point to what happened in other countries after the first world war where debt and deflation brought on dictatorship, and dictatorship destroyed cooperatives. As Thomas Jeffer son said, "I place . . . public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared." The March number of The Survey of Current Business, published by the U. S. Department of Commerce, has just been issued containing the first summary of 1942 statistics and estimates for 1943- From the elaborate tables in this publi cation we have boiled down for our readers the following vital figures. GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT AND NATIONAL INCOME GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT BY USE (Billions of Dollars) 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 Est 88.1 97.1 119.5 151.6 177.0 15.1 16.3 24.6 61.7 100.0 JfGross national product Government purchases Available for consumers 73.0 80.8 Private capital formation 11.0 14.6 @Consumer expenditures 62.0 66.2 94.9 19.1 75.8 89.9 8.0 81.9 77.0 .0 77.0 GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT BY USE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS - GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT 177.0- -C-11.0 r?!sJTOBSa^S5SvS^;::S:;M-S3:::SS::^iM;>s. ft ft jjP R I.V A T E .CAP MT A L f 0R MJA TI O JJTN.^ 0-0 1941 1942 GRAPHIC BY PICK-S tor the Cooperative League Research Service 50 Consumers' Cooperation (Gross national product Business taxes, depreciation, re valuation of inventories, etc. National income Corporate savings, employment taxes, etc. Income paid to individuals § Consumer expenditures Net income after expenditures Individual taxes Net savings of individuals (Billions of Dollars) 1939 1940 88.1 17.3 70.8 .0 70.8 62.0 8.8 2.8 97.1 19.8 77.3 .8 76.5 66.2 10.3 3.0 1941 119.5 24.8 1942 151.6 31.8 94.7 2.6 92.1 75.8 16.3 3.8 119.8 4.3 115.5 81.9 33.6 6.7 6.0 7.3 12.5 26.9 1943 Est 177.0 37.0 140.0 5.0 135.0 77.0 58.0 14.0 44.0 INCOME PAID TO INDIVIDUALS BY USE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS INCOME PAID TO INDIVIDUALS GRAPHIC BY PICK-S for the Cooperotive League Research'Service Of their net savings the people voluntarily loaned to the government about 9 billions in 1942 and it is estimated will voluntarily loan about 12 billions in 1943. The balance is being kept by the people in cash or in checking and savings accounts and represents potential inflation dynamite during or, more particularly, after the war. The government is forced to duplicate these savings which are needed to pay for war expenditures by borrowing from the banks. "The country is asleep to the inflationary dangers of present war financing," says Chairman Marriner S. Eccles of the Federal Reserve Board. "We haven't 1943 51 gone to war with our tax system at all," said three noted economists, Jacoby, Simon and Hart on the University of Chicago Round Table. (Read their discussion and a round robin signed by leading economists on taxation in "Bigger and Better Taxes," price lOc.) "The nation ought not to have to learn the evils of inflation the hard way all over again after having paid for the same costly lesson three times since 1800," says the Survey of Current Business. "The history of inflation in all countries at all times solidly establishes three clear reasons for avoiding it: first, spiralling prices impose an unnecessary and inequitable burden on the majority of con sumers; second, they tend to diminish, rather than increase, the supplies corning to market; third, the certain collapse of resulting top-heavy price structure brings disastrous depression." So we say again: for immediate •self-preservation from dangers of possible political unheaval and economic collapse inherent in a large national debt, coop- erators and cooperatives should prepare themselves for storms ahead by getting out of debt insofar as possible, and also support sound governmental efforts to prevent them. WHO RECEIVED, SPENT AND SAVED THE MONEY IN 1942? On March 1, the Office of Price Administration released a study on "Civilian Spending and Saving in 1941 and 1942," from which the following statistics and comments are taken: Spent for Per cent of Money Consumption Income Level Spending Units Income Taxes and Gifts Taxes (Billions of dollars) .1 $14.2 .2 24.8 4.1 36.5 Satiings Loss 4.7 20.7 Under $1,500 40.6 $13-7 1,500 to 3,000 33.8 29-7 3,000 and over 25.6 61.3 "Spending units with incomes of $1,500 or less in 1942 had an average outlay per spending unit for current consumption of $845. Their average income was $862. In other words, people in this class were just barely able on the average to maintain even their usual low living standards out of current income." "The average income of the group with incomes between $1,500 and $3,000 of $2,139 and the average consumption of $1,763 probably are not much above the levels which, under existing conditions will adequately preserve the health, efficiency and morale of civilian families." Apparently the three-quarters of the spending units receiving under $3,000 in America are not getting rich—in fact are little more than breaking even as a whole. Their average income is only $1,441 and their average expenditures for consumption, gifts, and taxes is $1,290, or an average savings of $151, which is surely a very small amount for insurance premiums, payments on mortgages, pay roll deductions, etc. IS THIS THE WAY OUT? Paul G. Huffman, president of the Studebaker Corporation, and Chairman of the Committee for Economic Development, said in a recent address that to solve unemployment, "We have got to have a rip roaring, hell raising, risk-taking economy." Some, at least, think that is what we have now and why we have un employment. The question might also well be raised as to the likelihood of any plan proposed by this businessmen's committee offering any real solution. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO PRIVATE BUSINESS? The mortality of private business has averaged about 20% per year over the course of many years during so-called good and bad times. However, others nor mally take the gamble and start new businesses even faster than those in business pass out. This trend was reversed in the early months of 1942, according to Dunn & Bradstreet's figures for 1942. Their reports made for comparative two months periods in 1942 and 1943 and for the full year of 1942 are: Additions Obliterations Gain or Loss Dec-Jan. Period 1942 53,664 52,082 1,582 Dec-Jan. Period 1943 28,700 46,800 18,100 Full year of 1942 245,021 312,604 67,581 MORTALITY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS HBH DECEMBER - JANUARY 1942 | DECEMBER - JANUARY 1943 | 0 ADDITIONS OBLIT ERATIONS GAIN OR LOSS E n M Enta 53.664 III 52.082 © 1.582 L4J| |«J E n E 28.700 B^OfD IV(AJ PTW 46.800 O 18,100 GRAPHIC BY P1CK-S (or the Cooperative League Research Service We have no comparable statistics covering cooperatives. The reports, how ever, from regional cooperatives indicate that there have been very few mortalities (obliterations) among local cooperatives. In North Kansas City, as an illustration, it is reported that the last private retail grocer has succumbed and that the com petition is now between the chains and the cooperative. WE PAID MORE AND GOT LESS The Survey of Current Business reports: "Revised figures now available for 1942 show total retail sales at 56.4 billion dollars, an increase of 4 per cent from 1941. After allowing for price rises, retail sales in constant dollars declined 8 per tent. This figure, however, does not reflect the full extent of the decline in physical volume of retail trade. Data both on production for civilian use and on inventory changes, although not complete, show a considerably larger decline in units sold, indicating that trading up or quality deterioration or both occurred on a sub stantial scale during the past year." 52 Consumers' Cooperation \pril, 1943 53 COOPERATION BUILDS BETTER HOUSES AND MAKES HAPPIER HOMES families of us have learned that **-} building our houses together and living in a cooperative community pays material and spiritual dividends every day. We have learned by trial (and some tribulations) that we can have better quality houses, and more beautiful houses, at lower costs — and that the intangible personal rewards are probably even great er than the tangible results. There is no need to over-estimate what we have accomplished by cooperating to gether as a group. The spiritual rewards and material results do not need embel lishment. We feel hesitant to endeavor to describe them. We have done nothing that other groups might not do, and per haps do even better. We are not telling our story just for the sake of telling it— we are telling our story because we be lieve that we have found a better way of life and feel an obligation to share it with others—we would also like to pay tribute to those who have pioneered in cooperative housing and who helped us on our way. The Lord Helps Those The inspiration for our efforts may have come down to us through some such admonition as "Take up your bed and walk," which stirred some dormant de sire and led to a determination to en deavor to help ourselves out of our hous ing difficulties. The idea of cooperating together to do so may have been trans mitted down to us from another admoni tion "The Lord Helps Those—who help each other." And What Are the Actual and Poten tial Results? 54 By a member of Cooperative Community, Inc. Glenview, 111. There are many potentialities, but we would list six which are certain and which others might anticipate or exceed from similar cooperative action. 1. Freedom. Just what does freedom really mean to us now as a result of own ing our own homes? From the standpoint of the fathers-of- the-f amilies who are employees, we might quote John Dewey for a negative com parison. He describes our increasing loss of ownership in America by an illustra tion of a man who works for a corpora tion of which he is not part owner, who rides past stores on the way to and from work in which he has no investment, and who lives in an apartment or house which he does not own. Such a person, he says, is something less than a man. To the fathers-of-the-families, ownership of our homes begins to mean a realiza tion of economic freedom and security, on which we know that all other free doms are dependent. Let the mothers-of-the-families speak for themselves: "We are relieved from the uncertainties and efforts of moving; we rejoice in the greater opportunities for our growing children; we are experi encing daily the enjoyment of freedom in having 'homes we can call our own.' " And what does the freedom resulting from home ownership mean to our chil dren, of which our homes are full? Some are too young to answer, and the others are too young to clearly realize the differ ence. Their fathers' and mothers' hopes for their stronger physical growth, their mental stimulation and their spiritual development will have to serve as their answer today. Consumers' Cooperation 2. Solidarity. While individual free dom based on ownership is the founda tion of democracy, we have found that it can be greatly enhanced by group soli darity. We are still somewhat astonished ourselves over the total of our achieve ments as a group, compared with what tie total might have been if we had tried to build as individuals. Our amazement is even stronger when we remember that tie total might well have been zero, for, is individuals, we could not conceivably live built at all. Group purchase of land jcreage, group installation of utilities and toads, group selection of an architect and contractor, group arrangement of houses -all of these and other necessary group decisions have welded links of solidarity iround and between the members of our iooperative community that are both tan gible necessities in taking joint action, ind intangible attitudes toward one an other. What these will mean in meeting fc problems of the future cannot now le determined, but they may mean much iore than we even anticipate. 3. Creativeness. Our houses are not «pare or oblong boxes, designed by an «artistic draftsman and built cheaply on (ontract for a real estate promoter. An architect was selected who had {iven evidence of having advanced ideas t designing—who anticipated the fu- te in the selection of materials—who tad a sense of understanding of the neaning of living close to nature—who «as neither radical nor conservative—who lad the spirit of working with a group -who endeavored to draw out and as- list each family in expressing their own «dividual desires and needs. What it means to a family to struggle Erough the initial effort of laying out a knise according to their own ideas, after Wing at innumerable houses in the nurse of erection, before consulting ail udiitect—then of interviewing an archi- a and being so taken off their mental J by newer and better, although inge, ideas that they were ashamed to .teil, 1943 even present their own original amateur layout—then of starting over again with the suggestions of the architect inter mingled with their own ideas—then of arriving at an agreement after a number of consultations and repeated changes— then of finally having the plans drawn up and submitted to a contractor, only to be told that the lowest bid is at least a couple of thousand dollars more than the family can afford—then of almost giving up and finally, after fitful nights of wake- fulness, having the shape-of-a-home-to- build crystallize in the family's mind— then of having the plans redrawn and finding that it is not only possible to cut the cost down to within the family budget, but also that the revised design is far superior to the previous one—well, perhaps this description of the months of effort of one family may indicate to you that there is such a thing as a largely undeveloped spirit of creativeness dor mant within each one of us which, when satisfied, means that the house that is finally erected becomes a part of one's personality in an indescribable way. We say silently to ourselves, in our fulness of joy, "This is not only physically mine, but this is also a part of myself, spiritually and mentally." And not only the house as a whole, but the fixtures and the furniture, which we keep on building, are expressions of our selves as individuals and as a group. For there is no competitive secret and no spirit of superiority in a true cooperative group—what -one does becomes the ex ample for the rest, if the others desire to duplicate—ideas are freely exchanged in advance of action—joint appraisals are made afterwards—and the others are helped to do even better than the first. 4. Economy. We list economy fourth, after freedom, solidarity and creative- ness, because it is so often emphasized first when cooperative housing is dis cussed. Just to build something cheaper is not so important as it may seem. The truth is that we have in the United States 55 plenty of materials to build fine houses for every family. We even had, in the early years of the 1930's, according to the National Resources Planning Board's study, enough unused idle manpower to build a §6,000 house for every family in the nation. But we did not build them. Why? The answer is simple. We do not, as yet, generally appreciate and under stand the potential significance of eco nomic freedom and solidarity well enough to organize ourselves cooperatively to achieve their possibilities. What we re quire first is to develop a new spirit of cooperative plenty to replace our age-old spirit of competitive scarcity. Of course we built our houses more economically by building them together as a cooperative group. We saved at least half in the cost of our land, which made it possible for each of us to have a mini mum of a third of an acre, which is all we can handle in our off hours as a group of office workers and teachers. We saved in the initial fee of the architect and the contractor, and then divided additional savings with the contractor in the final settlement when he assumed the role of Santa Claus. We saved by doing much of our own work in decorating, landscap ing, roadmaking, and in other things that we could do ourselves. We own some of our yard and garden tools together and freely exchange every other- tool that we own individually. A seven dollar invest ment in a wheelbarrow becomes a dollar investment for each family, and one wheelbarrow is plenty for the group to use and store. Some of our lots have more trees than others. Those who need trees to set out can have them from the other lots for the effort of digging them, and the one on whose lot they happen to have grown will help to do the digging and the replanting and fill up the hole on his own lot afterwards for exercise. We draw cash dividends every day by joint cooperative buying of our daily needs, by joint use of automobiles, by joint exchange of information where bar- 56 gains are available, by the saving of time through one acting for all. 5. Beauty. We might have been called idealists when we began to be lieve that cooperation ought to result in homes of greater beauty as well as of greater economy and utility. We built for beauty and we submit the results for your inspection and judgment. All red wood exteriors finished in natural color with clear creosote as added protection from the weather. All fir plywood in teriors, decorated largely in natural color finishes, which tone down the variations in the grain of the wood. Our houses are reversed from the or dinary—you approach them from the back yards which are as spick and span as any front yards. The living rooms open out on the front yards, where you are isolated from traffic, of which there is little since we are at the dead end of streets, and are among the flowers and trees. The bedrooms encourage rest and the bathrooms cleanliness. All have fire places, sliding closet doors, built-in book cases, red oak floors, convenient electric outlets, ceiling lights and stand lamps, plenty of attic storage; some have fur naces in the attic and easily handled hid den staircases. In short, we built both for beauty and utility. They can be com bined and both are necessary to good living. Glass windows extend around as much as 60% of the circumference, which makes one feel like living and sleeping out of doors even when within. The sun rises inside our bedrooms, it shines dur ing the day inside our living rooms, it sets in beautiful cloud effects which we can witness inside or outside our homes. The moon comes up and keeps us com pany during the night as it shines through our windows. Birds, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and other creatures become tamer and attract both old and young. We live almost entirely on one story— Consumers' Cooperation without basements Or attics. Our children and ourselves do not fall up or down stairs. Our utility rooms which house our gas furnaces, water heaters, wash tubs and washers, storage shelves and work benches are immaculately clean and in conspicuously located in our designs and as much a part of the house as any other room. Forced circulation of air heating in winter and ventilation in summer keeps the temperature as pleasant as possible. Our kitchens are "dreams" in which to work, with linoleum covered floors, lino leum covered and natural wood work- tables, large double sinks, plenty of cup board shelves with easy opening doors and drawers. 6. Fellowship. We may ordinarily start to describe our cooperative com munity from the standpoint of the ma terial results, but we are even more hope ful of the spiritual rewards. Just what it really means to be a cooperative neigh bor has not altogether been discovered. Explorations in the field of the social sciences are even more necessary than in the material field. Meeting together, de riding together, planning together, buy ing together, studying together, sharing together, working together, eating to gether, playing together cooperatively may mean a new discovery in spiritual relationships—a new neighborliness—a new realization of the meaning of fellow ship between those of different family blood. We wonder, while we experiment. We seem to be touching the hem of a garment radiant with potential spiritual satisfactions of much meaning to our future lives. We believe sincerely that such things can come only by coopera tion—not by competition. We believe that cooperation means to think first of the group, rather than of ourselves as individuals. The effort to do so thus far seems to pay good dividends. "Helping is why," says Nichola, in one of Zona Gale's Friendship Village stories, where "the carpenter helpeth the gold smith." April, 1943 As the building of the houses in Our cooperative community proceeded we found that the carpenters were Scandi navians and more familiar with coopera tion than we. They not only cooperated among themselves, but they had been members of a cooperative store for years. They had also organized within one of their family groups an orchestra, and, when the houses were finished, the or chestra members invited the rest of the workers to celebrate with us at a house warming in one of the homes. Record ings were made of the music and the in formal expressions for future reproduc tion. Later we will know if we have re alized our dreams or more. In our cooperative community we who live there are each trying to realize more out of life by helping one another. We seem to have succeeded in some measure in our initial beginnings. We hope to continue to do so. But whatever the out come of our experiment in better living, we are sure that others will perfect the techniques and that, in time, it will be proven that such cooperative communi ties are the necessary primary foundation of organizing society so that there will be peace among all men and to all a rightful share of the plenty that is pos sible, heaped up and running over with freedom and fellowship. We believe we have demonstrated, as Madam Chiang recently said in a radio address, "Whatever an individual can do is picayune, as compared with what a group can accomplish." We feel that we are playing a modest part in trying to realize the challenge of Frank Lloyd Wright when he says that "The philosophy of the freedom of the individual expressed by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago has never been re flected in an architecture based on free dom of the individual and an economic order which makes that freedom possible." 57 THE STORY OF ONE HEALTH COOPERATIVE IN THE MAKING IT IS true in our relations with the institutions of consumer cooperation, as in all other endeavors of life, we are conditioned most deeply by experience that affects us personally. If such experi ence comes at a time of great personal need, is a favorable experience, and brings benefits from cooperative en deavor that we could have obtained through no other source in the same ef fective and economical manner, we will remember it as long as we live. Such an experience will build an enduring bond of loyalty and understanding that no amount of propaganda or impersonal ed ucation could inspire. It may even create, in the mind of the person benefited, a conviction, the most dependable of all motivation. Furthermore, this type of education through experience is conta gious. Its example will move others to interest, loyalty and action. To all con cerned it will stand as a source of strength during times of adversity. The credit union is a striking example. Through this cooperative instrument or dinary folks, folks without credit, folks who for years had been victims of loan sharks, created for themselves their own source of personal credit. They have made this credit available to themselves with less red tape and at lower rates of in terest than the mightiest banks in the land. Their cooperative endeavor pro vided them with urgently needed credit at times of personal crises—when garnish ment threatened wages, when the baby arrived, or when unexpected illness ran up a burdensome doctor-bill. Note how credit unions have grown! You find them everywhere, and in the most unexpected places. Why? Because they have met and satisfied a great per sonal and community need that no other institution had undertaken to meet. As a 58 George W. Jacobson Group Health Mutual Minneapolis, Minn. result, the credit union movement is prob ably the most unified, integrated, power ful and useful consumer cooperative en terprise on this continent today. Just another such field is found in health service, particularly in the field of providing for medical care. Here is an opportunity to create through the coop erative method a service which is desper ately needed, that of budgeted preventive and curative medical care. In this field lies an opportunity for cooperative ef fort to help the average family immeasur ably in a time of great need, when health and often life itself hang in the balance. It is a virgin field that cries for atten tion. To develop it, established coopera tives should devote the prestige of their support and some of their capital arid talent. It is with this thought in mind that a description of one attempt to build a broad, flexible, health cooperative is pre sented here. There are other successful health cooperatives in the United States besides Group Health Mutual of Min nesota; and some of them might seem, by reason of their experience and their success, to be even better illustrations to 'be described in an article such as this. But there is probably no other group health organization in the United States that was more deliberately planned and built, by its directors and staff, to in corporate cooperative principles arid practices, to provide comprehensive health care through the use of existing hospital and medical institutions. We utilized the latter instruments not because of any especial devotion to established hospital and medical groups but because of our own inability as consumers to muster the wherewithal to duplicate their facilities and reputable services. The Group Health Mutual and its companion organization, the Group Health Association, grew out of some informal meetings and discussions among credit union leaders in St. Paul and Min neapolis in the winter and spring of 1938. The interest was stimulated by a man whose name is a household word among credit union leaders in the United States, George F. Feller, Executive- Treasurer of the St. Paul City and County Employees Credit Union. Mr. Feller had become interested through serving on a committee of the Credit Union National Association, which had been appointed to study medical care plans. This committee had the use of a few thousand dollars which had been provided by Edward A. Filene, founder of the credit union move ment in this country, for the purpose of studying prepaid or budget medical care pkns throughout the United States. After his experience on this committee, Mr. Feller wanted to see a medical care plan organized which would provide prepaid medical care for credit union members in the Twin Cities. He was joined in this endeavor by the author of this ar ticle, by a young assistant county attorney, Horace R. Hansen, whose legal talent proved a godsend to the young organiza tion, and by many other able men and women who gave abundantly of their time, talent, and means. The original idea was to provide medi cal care through a clinic or medical cen ter like that established by government employees in Washington, D. C, the now nationally famous Group Health Asso ciation of Washington, But there were many obstacles. It was found that in our state it would be illegal for laymen to employ doctors and to collect monthly payments with which to provide médical services. Organized medicine stood ar rayed with all its funds, prestige and legal advantages to harass with litigation any attempt that a group of laymen might make to build a medical coopera tive, and also ready to intimidate any group of doctors who indicated a will ingness to work with such an organiza- Consumers' Cooperation APril» 1943 tion. Furthermore, while there were many doctors who had a strong personal in terest in prepaid medicine, we were un able to find any group of them who were ready to take the professional risk in volved in going against the will of their professional organizations. We soon re alized that we could not raise the money required to equip a modern medical center, to guarantee an income for the doctors who would risk their professional lives to work with us, and to sustain the initial losses that almost every prepaid medical care venture has had to suffer in the beginning. Finally, we found that even if we could have financed a clinic and obtained a competent medical staff, we would face the probability of being without hospital facilities, since organ ized medicine would probably have pro hibited our medical men from practicing in established hospitals just as they had done in similar instances in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Washington. In view of this situation, we decided to start by pooling all the money that the interested groups were then paying into the funds of a non-cooperative hospital plan, and provide our members arid their families with full hospital care. We would postpone prepaid medical care for the time. But there were still legal bar riers. We found that it was illegal to set up a simple cooperative association to pool monthly dues for the payment of hospital care expense. Hospitals could do this, but not laymen. We were com pelled to organize an insurance company under the mutual health and accident in surance laws of the state, which required that we raise $10,000 to deposit as a guaranty fund with the Commissioner of Insurance. We raised this amount and $6,000 more. It was raised by a most unique method through credit unions, which is a story in cooperative finance all by itself, too long to recite here. Later we found it necessary to get the state insur ance laws amended in order to write the kind of contract we wanted to provide our members. 59 Group Health Mutual received its license to provide hospital care protection on March 7, 1939- After just a few months of operation it became clear to the staff and the Board of Directors that our original schedule of rates was inade quate to provide full hospital care for dependents. When we had calculated our first schedule of rates, we had made use of available statistics on the cost of hos pital care for employed persons, but we were pioneering in the field of provid ing full care for dependents and there had been no figures available to us in this classification. The losses which we sustained cut deep into our surplus, and many of us were convinced that the or ganization could not survive unless the members would consent to an increase in premiums. Such an increase was authorized by the membership at the first annual meet ing. The increased rates were put into effect gradually in a manner that would not result in too large a loss of members. The loyalty of the membership was a surprise to even the most optimistic mem ber of the Board and staff. The lapse in membership due to a raise in rates was only about three per cent. Since the in crease in rates, the membership in the hospital plan has doubled, until today there are about 9,000 members. The original surplus fund has been gradually replenished since the higher rates took effect. Although the provision of hospital care insurance was our first achievement, we had constantly in mind our original pur pose, that of providing prepaid medical care. From the beginning we had a com mittee on medical care. Members of this committee read books and articles, inter viewed sympathetic doctors, attended lo cal and national meetings, all to the end of finding a basis of providing medical care for the members of Group Health. At the second annual meeting of the Group Health Federation of America in the winter of 1940, we received a sug gestion which led us into a very practi- 60 cal course of action. Dr. M. D. Ogden, Medical Director of the successful prepaid medical care plan at Little Rock, Arkansas, suggested that we contact an established medical clinic in Minneapolis to see if they would be interested in helping us work out a prepayment plan. We did. At first the leaders of this clinic, which has a staff of 18 doctors and specialists, were skepti cal but openminded. After months of ne gotiations we agreed on a plan that would work and would probably be sustained in case of litigation. But the medical staff of the clinic insisted that they would go ahead only if they received the approval of the county medical society, to which they submitted the plan for consideration. The Hennepin County Medical Society refused to approve it. Our first medical care plan, on which we had spent so much time and effort was, therefore, dropped. But the Medical Economics Committee of the clinic con sented to continue to meet with our Med ical Care Committee to see if a plan could be devised to which the county medical society could not object on either "ethical"" or legal grounds. In an interim between meetings of these committees, an idea occurred to one of our members which impressed every one as being one that would work. We would provide medical care under an insurance contract. We would limit the service to a small group of practitioners, during the early period until experience was accumulated, by providing that the insurance was available to pay for medical care furnished by physicians practicing in medical clinics, which were carefully de fined in the contract. To keep control over the plan in order to keep it actu- arily sound, we devised a method which, though novel, is legal under Minnesota insurance laws—that of requiring our members to assign their medical care benefits under the contract to a specific clinic and authorizing the insurance fund to pay the medical bills directly to the clinic. By this requirement we need ac- Consumers' Cooperation cept applications only from persons who would assign their benefits to clinics in the state that we knew would be friendly to the plan and that we could trust not to exploit it. To further safeguard the £n, we would provide in the contract co-insurance for dependents, that is, such dependents would be required to pay specified amounts at the time medical service was rendered. The committee from the clinic, with which we had been negotiating for over a year, was as agreeable to our new plan as was our own committee. The plan for providing medical care through insurance in order to overcome legal obstacles as well as objections of organized medicine, had many advantages. We had eliminated restrictions as to "free choice of physi cians." The clinic with whose committee we had originally worked was no longer singled out, nor would it have anything to do with the plan in a contractual way. All it or any other clinic in the state would have to do would be to render bills to Group Health for those medical services which it had provided for such members of the Group Health medical care plan as had assigned their benefits to the clinic. Group Health would pay those bills or benefits, not to the member, but to the clinic, by virtue of the assign ment of benefits. In this way we merely are paying a routine insurance benefit in t legal manner, and no county or state medical society can stop us. They tried, but they got nowhere. We were able to provide our members with the médical services of the finest and most reputable medical groups in the state of Minnesota without having to invest our money in dinics or in funds to guarantee salaries of doctors. We were also able to start the operation -of our medical care plan with only a handful of applicants. With the inauguration of our Clinic Medical Care Plan early in 1942, we had ichieved our original goal of providing lull preventive and curative medical care, 24 hours a day, in the home, hospital ind doctors' offices, on a prepayment April, 1943 plan. Membership is growing, slowly but -steadily. We have now about 500 persons under this plan. Experience indicates that it is better to grow slowly, since it is easier to make the adjustments in bene fits and methods that become necessary as the plan evolves. Under the clinic plan we provide medi cal care for the employed head of house hold up to $1,000 a year, and up to an ad ditional $1,000 for all of his dependents. A family of three or more (husband, wife and minor children) pays $3-75 per month the first year and $2.75 per month thereafter. In addition, special payment at the time of medical service must be paid for dependents, but not for em ployed persons. These payments range from 50c. for an ordinary office call to $30 for a major operation. If applicants join singly or in small groups, tKeir applications are underwrit ten and accepted on the basis of previous health records, although the premium rate is lower for those joining in groups of 10 or more. If applicants join in large groups, as, for example, 80% of a group of 100 employed persons, they are ac cepted into the plan without restrictions as to individual health defects. Medical clinics in four Minnesota cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, and Virginia, now serve our members. In addition to the clinic plan, two more medical care plans have been worked out under the insurance method and put into operation. One is called the Personal Physician Plan. It provides a restricted amount of medical care through any fam ily doctor, and was worked out in coop eration with officials of the state and county medical societies in order to over come their objection that our other plan provided care only through clinics. The other is called the In-Hospital Medical Care Plan. It has just been inaugurated, and indications are that it will receive wide popular approval. It provides for payment of medical bills in cases serious enough to require surgery or care in a 61 hospital, at very low monthly premium fates. In closing, a word must be said about the democracy of Group Health. It is owned by its members through more than a hundred groups organized among groups of employees, members of labor unions, cooperatives, credit unions, churches, fraternal groups, and profes sional groups. These groups participate in district meetings held throughout the state several times a year, and in the an nual meeting in St. Paul in February, through elected delegates. Each group has one basic voting delegate and one addi tional vote for each 100 members. In the four annual meetings that have been held, there has never been less than 70% of the members represented by elected dele gates and individual members. The annual meeting elects a Board of Directors chosen from nominees named in the six district meetings. It also elects a Supervisory Committee of five members, who employ the auditors and who check on the performance of directors and of ficials to protect the interests of the mem bers. The Board meets bi-monthly, the Executive Committee meets in the months intervening between Board meetings, and the Supervisory Committee meets on call of its chairman. Up to the close of 1942 Group Health had provided hospital care for its mem bers worth $110,000 and medical care estimated at $3,500, out of earned premi ums of $186,000. Its surplus now equals more than $1 per member covered. It is a member of the Group Health Federation of America. It has the good will and support of the leading central labor bod ies in Minnesota, of regional cooperatives, and of the state credit union movement. We have members scattered all over the United States, and organized local health groups in two states besides Minnesota. We believe that we have laid a sound foundation on which to build cooperative ly a flexible program of health care to meet a very important need. We know that we are rendering a valuable service to our members, and that our opportuni ties for expanding those services are almost limitless. We have pioneered and developed a pattern which can be a real contribution to other groups in other areas, either through development of similar organizations or through the use of services provided by our organization. We have proved to ourselves that in the provision of health care, as well as in the provision of other goods and services, we can meet our needs through demo cratic cooperative methods. II RECREATION NEWS NOTES **' I 'HE recreational needs of wartime J- are not essentially different from those of peacetime. They are only more acute. There are serious social penalties to be paid in peacetime for our failure or neglect to provide for the recreational needs of our communities. These penal ties might be summed up as social 'dis organization and individual human waste. In wartime we cannot afford to pay these penalties," writes Florence Kerr, Federal Works Agency, in a recent issue of Rec reation. Just as the need for recreation is more acute in wartime, so are the diffi culties of keeping recreation programs go ing. For example, look at some of the 62 Ellen Linson problems of arranging recreation week end conferences—gasless transportation, menus requiring little or no points, get ting those who don't drink coffee to bring coffee for those who do, finding time to get away from vital jobs, etc. Realizing, however, the tremendous importance of recreation today, cooperators in the East have conquered these problems and ar ranged three week-end conferences in the past month. The first of these, held April 10-11, was a reunion of the staff and students of the National and Eastern Cooperative Recreation Schools, and their friends. Thirty persons from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York attended the session which was held at the New York Uni versity Camp, Sloatsburg, New York. Members and alternates of the steering committee of the Eastern Recreation School squeezed in a meeting to plan de tails of time, place and publicity for this summer's session. Games, folk dancing (even before breakfast), singing in front of the big log fire, a charade, all height ened the essential satisfaction of the week end—the pleasure friends have just be ing together. May 14, 15 and 16 cooperators and others who are interested in the Phila delphia, Lancaster, Wilmington and Ar- den areas will get together for a leader ship training institute at Arden, Delaware. The decision to hold such a training week-end grew out of the Eastern Coop erative League's Pendle Hill conference in December. A committee representing the areas interested was selected to plan the week-end. The staff will be headed by Ruth and James Norris of the National Cooperative Recreation School staff, and the program will offer a happy mixture of play parties, squares, European folk dances, singing, charades, simple crafts and an opportunity to discuss recreation needs and problems. The Rural Youth of Lancaster and fetchester Counties, Pennsylvania, will hold their annual get-together to play and talk the week-end of May 28-31 at Camp Greble, Pennsylvania. Shortage of (arm help and transportation difficulties lave affected the recreation program of these youth groups, but the need for rec reation is greater than ever and these joung people are carrying on. * * * Out in Ohio, many of the county-wide Youth Councils,' meeting twice a month for recreation and discussion, have found it necessary to hold only monthly meet ings. Home Councils, drawing from a mailer radius, are being organized to meet between regular sessions. The Brown Township Home Youth Council of Car- roll County, reports the Ohio Farm Bu- Consumers' Cooperation APril. 1943 reati News, have been meeting twice a month; living within a, mile radius, they all walk to their meetings. * * * All those who have discovered the in herent values of recreation and those who question the relation between folk danc ing and the Rochdale Principles, will find the article, "Recreation in Cooperatives" by Ruth Chorpenning Norris in the special cooperative issue of the Journal of Educational Sociology, April, stimulating and provocative. Discussing reasons for the interest of cooperators in recreation, she points out, "We recognize culture as both effect and cause of social patterns. We are not entirely pleased with existing values as reflected in recreation and art expressions. We regard recreation as one tool that can be used to mold cooperative ones. For this purpose we select our materials carefully; we need certain kinds of leadership; we train it." Reprints of the article are available from The Coop erative League, 167 W. 12th Street, New York, at lOc. per copy. BOOK REVIEWS DEVELOPMENT OF COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE, Seba Eldridge and Associates. Published by University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 577 pages. $4.50. This book is of special interest to cooper ators because it is the first full-length scholarly study ever made of the factors leading either to public ownership or voluntary group own ership of various enterprises which in the past or in other civilizations have been privately owned, and because the thirty authors who cooperated in this study found that "consumer- citizen interests" are the principal factor in creating either public or voluntary group en terprises. The term "collectives" is used in this re search to include not only publicly-owned en terprises, but also such voluntary groups as cooperatives, mutual insurance companies, clubs and lodges, charitable institutions and research foundations. Dr. Eldridge and his associates surveyed ten "fields already collec tivized," including police and fire protection, roads and streets, harbors and waterways, the postal services, water and sewerage works, land reclamation, schools and research, social work and institutional care, clubs and fra ternal societies, libraries and museums. Their survey of "fields undergoing collectivization to 63 a greater degree or less degree" included for estry, housing, rural resettlement, credit and banking, property insurance, life insurance, so cial insurance, medical service and health care, and recreation. Out of this vast range of institutions studied the authors came to this conclusion: "... in a so-called capitalistic democracy . . . the primary factors in socialization . . . are to be found in the pressure of consumer and general pub lic interests, not in pressures applied by labor groups." For example, "Tax supported schools were established with the interests of the chil dren and the community at large in view, not the interests of teachers (the labor group di rectly concerned) ; electric power is gradually being socialized in response to the interests of power users and general public, not the interests of electric power workers or of wage- earners in general." Cooperators reading this book will be struck with the fact that the field of retail and wholesale distribution, the principal field of cooperative activity, is excluded from the inquiry, chiefly, it is to be assumed, because the cooperatives occupy so small a segment of it. The recent rapid growth of cooperatives, however, has a special significance in the light of the author's theory that group ownership proceeds primarily from consumer or citizen interests. Recognition of this fact is given in a special chapter on "Consumer and Producer Cooperatives," written by Dr. Hilden R. Gib- son, himself an active cooperator. Dr. Gibson finds that consumer cooperatives are accepted because "... they conform to the prevailing American pattern. They present the form of a business enterprise. They own or rent real estate, pay taxes, hire managers and employees, and do business as usual. In short, they pro ceed in an eminently American Way." Dr. Eldridge finds that even the producer cooperatives support his general thesis, for "the farmers are the customers (of their coopera tives). The members do not produce the serv ice, they buy it." Interpreting "consumers" to mean "buyers or users in the broadest sense, including users of producers' goods," he finds that "consumer interests in our society, trans cending as they do all economic class divisions and indeed all political, religious and racial cleavages in the population, are a unifying national force of the utmost importance. . . . According to the record, consumers and citi zens are slowly building a collective economy in this country, and one, as their own influ ence attests, that is essentially democratic in its foundations." Some will feel that occasionally the authors fail to give adequate recognition to the place of the consumer cooperative movement in the current "process of peaceful change." All, how ever, will do well to ponder the observations made regarding the importance of competent 64 administrators, of efficient personnel, and of sensitivity to free consumer choices, in the promotion of any type of collective enterprise (cooperatives included). They may well pon der, too, the repeated warnings that enterprises in the public interest can be built only when "the times are ripe," that "voluntary collec tives" (again including cooperatives) grow by "the piecemeal step-by-step procedures ... to which our political folkways commit us," and that their chances of success are greater as they avoid the use of such all-embracing and unpopular terms as "socialism or the coopera tive commonwealth." MERLIN G. MILLER THE TWILIGHT OF CAPITALISM, by Dr. Walter John Marx of The Catholic University of America. Published by B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis. $2.75. Dr. Marx writes for intelligent men and women who want to study the way we get our living, and why we waste our time and our resources in doing so. Morals are what matter beneath economic systems—human selfishness is to blame. Our economic activities today result in "epidemics of over-production," for which "war expendi tures offer a sort of a safety valve." He de scribes the personal and economic results of capitalism in graphic words: "the big business man chained to his desk like a galley slave to his oar ; about all the great masses in our overgrown urban centers can do is to apply to a relief agency; the rural proletariat almost as degraded and persecuted as the English faim laborers at the end of the 18th century; the small businessmen ruined or absorbed by a combination or monopoly." Compulsory savings are no solution to the problem of providing the necessary buying power at the end of the war, since "to pay back these savings and thus stimulate buying power, the government will have to remi- a similar amount of buying power from the masses through heavy taxes." Nine chapters of 266 pages are summarized quite simply, "And so we see the end of in dustrial and financial capitalism. The economic freedom which characterized capitalism, the freedom to become a millionaire as well as the freedom to let one's neighbor starve, is go forever." Only one chapter of seventeen pages is de voted to "A Democratic Solution," which, un fortunately, consists largely of general state ments about Local, Regional and National Economic Councils. One specific statement is made, "Consumer and producer cooperatives will probably perform much of the work now done by the middleman." Dr. Marx suggests that another book is in preparation. We hope it will discuss solutions in detail. He has laid the groundwork well in his first book Consumers' Cooperation Growing Toward the Centennial of Cooperation_1944 CO-OP MANUFACTURING BOOSTS SAVINGS PRELIMINARY PLANS FOR Howard A. Cowden __ _ .. „„ »^™.,^ ivyiv 1944 CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN ALL THINGS CONSIDERED Howard Vincent O'Brien STUDY GROUPS PROVE TO BE ACTION GROUPS Carl R. Hutchinson ARE YOU STARVING YOUR CO-OP? C. J. McLanahan A FAULTY TRANSLATION CHANGED ___________ ECONOMIC HISTORY _____________ John Carson NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS CO-OP ADVERTISING--CAMPUS CO-OPS -- AND POST WAR RECONSTRUCTION The June issue of Consumers Cooperation will contain a wide variety of articles you will not want to miss. Here are a few of the titles: "The Need for Cooperative Advertising," by H. O. Saunders, advertising manager of Central Cooperative Wholesale. f "First Official Surve'.' of Campus Cooperatives by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Proves Success," by Mar/ Dillman, editor of the Campus Co-op News Letter. "Democratic Post-War Reconstruction Requires Cooperative Economic Organ ization," by Wallace J. Campbell. Renew your own subscription today if it is about to expire. Send a subscription to someone who should be reading the National Magazine for Cooperative Leaders. Price: $1 per year; 27 months for $2. THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street : New York City THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 60S South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. (. AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES N;imc Address Publication Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Mastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Farm Bureau Services Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League Southern California Cooperators United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 15 3 5 S. Peoria St., Chicago The Co-op News 11 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer Amarillo, Texas 13 Astor Place, N. Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defender The Recreation Kit Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing, Michigan St. Paul. Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. Box 2000, Superior, Wise. Review Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer- Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla. Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia 2462 Lemoran Ave.. Rivera, Cal. Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperatnr S. Cal. Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. 5 MAY. 1943 Ten Cents PLAN FOR A NEW AMERICA The Centennial of the Cooperative Movement will occur in 1944, as every co- operator knows. It will give us our greatest opportunity to tell everyone else what the Consumers' Cooperative Movement means and to invite them to join with us in building a Cooperative America. In this issue you will find some Preliminary Plans for the Centennial Campaign as presented to the Directors of the Cooperative League. A Centennial Campaign Committee has now been appointed which will work with the Staff of the League in revising and adding to these plans and organizing to carry them out. Suggestions are invited from every reader. Do not hesitate to write us and tell us what you think should be done. PLAN FOR A NEW WORLD In a later issue we will publish an article outlining the preliminary plans of the Committee on Internationa] Cooperative Reconstruction of the Cooperative League, appointed at the 1942 Biennial Congress. Surely these two projects which we have ahead of us are enough to challenge the very best thinking in the Movement. It is not altogether easy to appreciate to the full the great responsibility which rests upon us as a Consumers' Cooperative Movement. Ours is to take the lead in the cooperative economic reorganization of America and the World. May we be worthy of our great responsibility and opportunity. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. . TOAD LANE O,Weavers ! In that dark and hopeless day, With heritage of poverty, oppression, You gatfiered bravely to design a way To bring your sorry world to your possession. With hard-won pennies saved, with dauntless thought You builded slowly, surely for posterity A mighty system based on how you bought Those meager needs for your prosperity. To men you spoke a language somehow new But old as Christian teaching, and as bright, Of brotherhood in work—and goods—a view Which bathed the meek in economic light. You may have known this shaft of early sanity Would one day limn the pathway for humanity. LEWIS M. BALDWIN, Rochester, N. Y. Farm Bureau Insurance Agent BUILD A NEW WORLD BY BUILDING COOPERATIVES To have the New World of which we all dream, it is probable that a reorgani zation of religious, educational and political institutions may be necessary. But the primary necessity is to build a new economic organization. Today three economic systems are battling it out for supremacy—Monopoly, Fascism and Communism. All three have many common characteristics. In all three, a few control the many dictatorially. All three depend upon compulsion, rather than persuasion. All three restrict individual ownership of productive property. All three destroy human personality. Growing slowly, steadily arid surely to replace them is the alternative system of democratic Cooperation. Cooperation is the way to realize life, liberty and hap piness—it is also the way to realize a fair income, a good job and the ownership of property. All of these facts have been abundantly proved by the results of each system. The difficult thing for many people is to visualize a new world through the win dows of a cooperative store. But it is there for those who have eyes to see the future in the present. Russell Conwell used to lecture on the subject "Acres of Diamonds". In his lecture he told of a man who traveled around the world in the search of fortune, only to find that the farm he had left behirid contained a diamond mine which he had failed to discover. Our diamond mines are in the communities where we live. To discover the diamonds it is only necessary to organize a co operative store. In time, the way to organize additional cooperative activities to serve everyone's needs will be discovered by every group of people if they explore the possibilities of cooperative action. At last a New World will grow out of the building of cooperatives in every community. Cooperation is the only system of permanent plenty and peace. There is no other way. CO-OP MANUFACTURING BOOSTS SAVINGS Guest editorial by Howard A. Cowden, President, Consumers' Cooperative Association Did you note the news story in the March 31 issue of The Consumer about the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ? Net savings of that state-wide cooperative the past year totaled nearly $800,000, and two-thirds of that sum came from production activities carried on by the Indiana wholesale. It is a remarkable commentary on the earning power of co-op factories, proving once again that fac tories are "free" for cooperators. Our own experience closely parallels that of Indiana. Our net savings last year reached close to $700,000, and two-thirds or more of that sum was made by fac tories owned by CCA and its subsidiaries. As a matter of fact, earnings of CCA productive facilities have been so high in recent years that patronage refunds set up to the credit of member associations frequently equal or exceed the savings made locally, particularly where a price war has held margins down locally. On the average, savings made by the wholesale for member associations probably range from 30% to 50% of savings made in local operations. Members of CCA began operating a refinery of their own in January, 1940. In December, 1941, a second refinery was purchased. Since then both plants have paid for themselves out of earnings. In addition, nearly 100 miles of pipe line is retiring the debt against itself at a less rapid rate but is retiring that debt steadily nevertheless. Furthermore, through its oil-producing subsidiary, CCA is owner of 12 producing crude oil wells which are paying for themselves at a satisfactory rate. Soon they will be debt free, and they'll still be producing crude oil for their consumer-owners. Two lumber mills and two food canning plants are paying for themselves out of earnings. The consumer cooperative movement in the United States is fast ceasing to be a distributive movement alone. Cooperative wholesales are turning increasingly to the manufacture of the goods they distribute. Security, greater savings, the ability better to meet competition, and the ability ultimately to challenge successfully the power of intrenched and concentrated wealth, all lie in the direction of more and more cooperative production—production for a market already organized and waiting. The march into cooperative manufacture and processing will continue, of course. It has proceeded already past the regional stage. With the purchase of the milk ing machine factory at Waukesha, Wisconsin, January 30, this year, the move ment entered production on the national level. After the war co-op ownership most likely will attain to the international level, with cooperatives in this country joining hands with cooperative wholesales overseas, perhaps in joint ownership of an International Cooperative Petroleum Association. The business system born in Rochdale in 1844 is going strong now, 100 years later. And the first hundred years are the hardest, we hope. From The Cooperative Consumer 66 Consumers' Cooperation May, 1943 67 PRELIMINARY PLANS FOR 1944 CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN (The -following preliminary plans for a 1944 Centennial Campaign were presented by the General Secretary before the Directors of the Cooperative League on March 23 and 24 and enthusiastically received, they will be revised and carried through under the direction of the national Centennial Campaign Committee. Your suggestions are invited.) THE Centennial of the Cooperative Movement should be approached with a full appreciation of the unique op portunity which it presents for the Move ment to publicize itself. It should not be looked upon simply as an anniversary celebration, but as a year-long campaign. Our Unique Opportunity If Vice-Président Henry A. Wallace is right, the late twentieth century is destined to be dominated by cooperative concepts. "How is this to come about?" he asks. He suggests, in answer, that we "take a leaf from the book of our fore fathers—the young men of 1787. Their confidence in action grew out of the moral certainty that their purposes were in line with the stream of destiny of their time. They were motivated by the idea of a democratic political society." We are today "motivated by the idea of a cooperative economic society." We have an equally strong motive, as did our forefathers. We also have hold of a great idea whose time has come. Ours has been proven by 100 years of trial, while theirs had not. Although there are many people to reach, there are still more aggressive advocates of econom ic cooperation than there were of political democracy. The means of reaching people have also been greatly multiplied. A centennial of any idea—religious, educational, political or economic—is a tremendous event. It proves that the idea is one of the few enduring ideas in the world's history. It should be capitalized upon to the limit by every possible meth od. 68 It is certain that we, today's cooperate«, will never have another equal opportunity as we now have ahead of us. Let us make good to the limit upon the fact that we are members of the Cooperative Move ment when such a great opportunity presents itself. The World's Urgent Need of Cooperation The people are groping in darkness. We have the great light in our hands. The three systems of Monopolism, Com munism, and Fascism are all "spiritually bankrupt" as well as "economically inef ficient"—they exploit the many for the few and they do not depend upon the "consent of free men". They do not guarantee the people their economic rights of employment or ownership. They destroy freedom and fellowship—the two basic principles of human personality upon which America was founded. They produce poverty and war—they prevent plenty and peace. If abundance and broth erhood are ever to be realized, they caii only be through cooperative organization. Will we hold the torch of Cooperation high enough so that all men will see and rally round it? We not only have ahead of us the greatest opportunity of doing so, but there is also the greatest need to day. I. PUBLIC MEETINGS Every opportunity should be taken to get the message of Cooperation to the people through Public Meetings during 1944. Some of the possible ways would be: 1. National Speaking Tour. As an il lustration, the Federal Council of Churches has held a large number of meetings in key centers as a part of what they call A National Preaching Mission. Their best speakers, headed by their out standing leader, Dr. E. Stanley Jones, ' Consumers' Cooperation have gone from city to city on these speaking tours. We have organized sim ilar speaking tours on a small scale with Hedberg, Beaton and others as speakers, which could be expanded. 2. National Demonstration Tour. Ei ther together with the speaking tour, or separately, and of course depending upon war conditions, we might conduct a Na tional Demonstration Tour. The regional cooperatives might supply trucks as a part of a cooperative train, on which would be displays of the material accomplish ments of the Cooperative Movement, with hid speakers, movie projectors, etc. which would carry the visual evidence of Cooperation into both small and large communities. 3. Special Centennial Campaign Meet ings of Local and Regional Cooperatives. Not only should the regular meetings of cooperatives during 1944 be planned as Centennial Campaign Celebrations, but special meetings should also be held for the purpose of reaching those who are not already members arid the programs planned accordingly. 4. Centennial Congress of The Co- tyerative League. We should let our minds be bold in thinking of the 1944 Congress. Speakers at the Congress should in clude top ranking leaders of national re ligious, educational, political, labor and farm organizations. It should be recog nized that, like the tree pattern in the acom, cooperation must first be embedded in our hearts and then expanded until it becomes the living structure of every social organization. It should be realized that business democracy must be as vital i part of American life as political, edu cational, or religious democracy. The Centennial offers the greatest opportunity of recognizing and expressing these facts through the participation of the leaders of all national groups. 5. Other Organization Meetings. Every effort should be made to get cooperative May, 1943 speakers on the programs of local, regional and national meetings of other organizations to present the subject "A Century of Cooperation." It is often pos sible to reach non-cooperative members even better by arranging for speakers on the programs of other organizations, than by inviting them to special cooperative meetings. 6. School Contests. Schools ought to be induced to encourage students of every age to write essays, orations, songs, dra mas, etc., on cooperative subjects during the year. II. LITERATURE The six months tour of Toyohiko Ka- gawa in 1936 demonstrated what could be done in attracting people to meetings, as well as in stimulating the publication arid sale of cooperative literature. On that tour Kagawa spoke directly to at least three quarters of a million people, in addition to his radio addresses. The sale of cooperative literature jumped from $3,000 to $17,000 in one year. This was undoubtedly because "the time for Cooperation had come in America" and the people, particularly in the cities, who were so lacking in knowledge about the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, had reached the point of disillusionment about the private profit and public relief system and were ready to listen and act on the cooperative idea. The uncertainties of the length of the war make it impossible to predict as to the psychological condition of the peo ple's minds in 1944, but the aggressive advance of finance and industrial monop oly in America, which is becoming gen erally evident to most people, should make it opportune to turn their minds toward Cooperation as the only hope for democracy, for peace, and for plenty. The Swiss Cooperative Movement has already begun to publish special Centen nial literature. They have already an nounced two leaflets under the titles "28 69 Men Help Each Other" and "Seven Prin ciples Conquer the World." Some suggestions of possible special Centennial Cooperative Literature are of fered below, which are divided into four classifications : Inspirational, Historical, Descriptive and Organizational. These might be in the form of books, pamphlets or leaflets, as deemed best. 1. Inspirational Literature The Coming Cooperative Man A Cooperative Community 2. Historical Literature The Century of Cooperation 3. Descriptive Literature 100 Years of Cooperation in the U. S. A. Cooperation Around the World 4. Organization Literature A cooperative Association A cooperative Economy A cooperative Society 5. Library Displays of Cooperative Material. The libraries all over America should be induced to dis play cooperative literature during the Centennial Year. III. RADIO—MOVIES- DRAMAS—POSTERS All of these modern forms of publiciz ing the Cooperative Movement should be taken full advantage of as a part of the* Centennial Campaign. 1. Radio Programs a. There should be international radio broadcasts from Rochdale. b. We should raise the funds neces sary to put on a national centennial radio series of programs. c. All of the broadcasting companies should give us sustaining time for centen nial celebration programs. d. All of the various Forums of the Air should include the subject of Co- 70 operation and should use cooperative speakers in their series of programs. 2. Movies a. We should have an international historical film starting with Rochdale. b. We should have a new national film dramatizing the meaning of Coopera tion to us as individuals. c. We should have a new national film demonstrating the methods of organizing cooperatives—from the study-action group, to the buying club, cooperative store, credit union, health association, housing association, burial association, wholesaling and manufacturing, etc d. Each regional cooperative should have a new film of their own activities. 3 Pageant and Drama There should be at least one centennial pageant or drama script written for use by cooperative groups everywhere. 4. Posters a. The U. S. Government should issue a special cooperative stamp. b. Cooperative mail should carry a spe cial cooperative cancellation stamp. c. We should have a special centennial calendar of cooperative scenes. d. We should have special centennial holiday cards. e. We should have a special centennial series of posters. IV. PUBLICATIONS 1. Magazine Articles. There should again be an opportunity of getting co operative articles into magazines of wide circulation in every field because of the significance of the cooperative centennial and its meaning in the preservation and extension of democracy. 2. Newspaper Stories. Both special and syndicated stories should be acceptable to newspapers. 3. Endorsements. We should be able to get endorsements from the most prom inent leaders in every field. 4. Cooperative papers should publish special centennial issues. V. COMMODITY ADVERTISING The various methods of publicity and education previously 'discussed will tell the general story of Cooperation to the American people. In addition, the com modities which cooperatives distribute should be used effectively to tell the prac tical story to back up the general story. Some such methods are: 1. Demonstrations. The most effective method of presenting the merits of co operative products is a demonstration of their use. The method will vary neces sarily with the product. 2. Mailing Lists. Where people cannot be reached economically with demonstra tions, the next best method is direct mailing. Such mailings should use special centennial campaign stationary, together with special printed matter on "Coopera tion after 100 years" as well as special commodity advertising. 3. Broadcasts. There are two common ways of reaching people in the mass, both of which are effective and should be employed in the centennial campaign. They are, naturally, newspaper advertise ments and radio programs. We have used radio programs to quite an extent, but have not used newspaper advertising gen erally. 4. Pictorial Presentations. The use of ["THERE ARE VICIOUS CIRCLES, THERE ÄR6 AlSo ÖOOJ> OU6S. THIS IS CEflflAlWLY A GOOD one." &»- COX>P ««• SSK&C& Plan a Complete Cooperative Circle in 1944 Consumers' Cooperation May, 1943 71 visual advertising is constantly on the in crease. The Consumers' Cooperative Movement is improving its pictorial mate rial and should do so still further. Pictorial advertising naturally includes such me diums as moving pictures, printed calen dars, posters and labels, painted banners and billboards, etc. 5. Souvenirs. There is a heart appeal in souvenirs which is sometimes more effec tive than either the words or pictures which are used to describe and illustrate a product. The souvenir method of ad vertising should not be overlooked. VI. PERSONAL CANVASSING All of the various kinds of general publicity are dependent for their final re sults on a well organized and active per sonal canvassing campaign. Every mem ber of a cooperative should be enlisted as a part of the centennial campaign. 1. Cooperators should be organized to talk personally to every person living in their communities. 2. Cooperators should be provided with suggested letters to write to their friends and neighbors, and with suitable literature for enclosure. 3. Cooperators should be encouraged to invite their friends and neighbors to their homes to "Let's Get Together Co operative Dinners" at which some co operative label food would be served. VII. ORGANIZATION AND BUDGET To do the job of using the Centennial of Cooperation to the fullest degree to interest people in joining the Cooperative Movement, it will be necessary to have a capable and sufficient organization struc ture amply financed. 1. National Committee. A working National Centennial Campaign Commit tee should be appointed with which the staff of the League might consult. All recommendations of the Committee and actions of the Staff will naturally first clear through the Directors of the League. 2. Organization Secretary. In addition to the work which the League staff Can 72 and will put in on this job, there will be needed a special organization man to do the job right. Special centennial cam paign stationary and explanatory folders will be one of the first things necessary to prepare. 3. Prizes for Ideas. In order to create a wide interest in the Centennial Cam paign among all the present cooperative members as well as others, it is recom mended that prizes be offered for the best ideas in such things as: Slogans Literature Radio programs Movies Dramas Posters Magazine articles Poems Songs Commodity Advertising 4. Budget. Consideration of a budget should be based on a full realization of the fact that" we are celebrating the found ing of every cooperative association whether local, regional or national. What we do should be worthy of that vital fact. We should look upon the Centennial as an opportunity for "a great turning movement on the part of humanity toward the ideal," as George W. Russell des cribes Cooperation. We recommend that every regional provide a fund of not less than $10,000 in their 1944 budget for this purpose. How much might well be spent together in a national centennial campaign, and how much be spent regionally, should be determined by joint discussion. The amount suggested for each regional is less than the savings made by many single local cooperative associations in every regional's territory. Compared with that fact, and compared with the total savings made by any regional and its local associa tions together, it is an infinitesimal sum for each regional to spend for such a pur pose. How the money is to be raised should be left to each regional to de termine. Consumers' Cooperation ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (EDITOR'S NOTE: We are publicizing from time to time the best statistics and statements we can find to help our readers to a clearer un- imtanding of the basic economic facts about ^auction, credit, prices, debts, taxes, etc. îhe following is one of the clearest and most slwght-jorward statements about inflation and low to avoid it that we have seen. Mr. O'Brien mliibutes a column regularly to the Chicago Daily News. We appreciate their permission to tepublish this column of April 21, 1943.) DURING the last war I wandered in to a wet thicket and got a whiff of poison gas. This scared me. Some years later I revisited Europe—and got a whiff of inflation. In Berlin, cigarettes were a dollar a package. In France, the franc was i5 to the dollar. "This scared me worse than the gas. You can protect yourself against gas. In flation, once it gets a good start, is hard Jo stop. "The German inflation was different from the one threatening us. The Ger mans did practically all their business with cash money. We do most of ours with check money. Breakers Ahead "When the German government needed more money, it merely printed more. When our government needs more it (a) raises taxes, (b) borrows. "There are two kinds of borrowing: (a) from individuals or corporations; (b) from banks. "When it borrows from individuals or corporations, it borrows money already in existence. When it borrows from banks, it creates new money. "We now have about twice as much money—currency arid checking accounts -as we had four years ago. By the end of this year we shall have about 40 bil lion more—nearly a 50 per cent increase in 1943. Meaning of Inflation "As the government spends and bor rows, the supply of money increases. The supply of goods does not. There is in- May, 1943 Howard Vincent O'Brien creasing competition for the goods that remain. Prices rise—which is another way of saying that the value of the dol lar grows less. Life will get tougher for those who live on fixed income. "It needs no gift of prophecy to see that we are headed for calamity—and moving faster every day. "Can inflation be prevented? Yes, it can; but only if Congress—which means you and I—has the courage (to quote Harry Scherman, writing in Colliers') to do what is best and not merely what sounds best. "There is no painless way of prevent ing inflation. The only cure is full of pain. It calls for an extremely bad-tasting mixture of intelligence and fortitude. The Road to Safety "One thing that has to be done is to increase government borrowing from in dividuals and corporations—selling more bonds. And these bonds must not be turned into cash. "It may be that bond-buying will have to be made compulsory; and cashing pro hibited by law. "The second step is to increase taxa tion. "It will take great nerve for Congress to impose continuously increasing taxes, because it will have to tax the many who have small incomes but a vote as big as a millionaire. "It may be political suicide to impose such taxes. But if they are not imposed the suicide will merely come later, when a disillusioned people learn how worth less their untaxed dollars have become. "It boils down to this; we must take some discomfort now if we are to avoid complete misery later on. If we, acting through Congress, spare the rod at this time, we shall certainly live to regret it. "As an enemy, Hitler is a fleabite com pared to inflation." Republished by permission of The Chicago Daily News 73 STUDY GROUPS PROVE TO BE ACTION GROUPS THE vast majority of farm problems are of such a nature that they must be solved in the local community by farmers themselves. While this fact is generally recognized, the type of social organization best suited to this purpose has received too little attention. Thinking Out the Answers The Ohio Farm Bureau has been ex perimenting in the field of rural, adult educaton through the organization of in formal "home groups" known as "Ad visory Councils." In a sense this program is an attempt to restore some of the quali ties of mutual self-help of the earlier American community. Believing that this friendly, face-to-face experience in small groups is an essential condition to the solution of many of our current prob lems, the Ohio Farm Bureau to date has helped to develop over 1100 Advisory Councils, and contemplates a considerable increase this year. In a variety of ways these groups are proving that if common people organize themselves in a social environment where they can use their collective intelligence, they can find the answers to many of their problems. Acting on the Answers For example, in Ohio a number of Councils indicated an interest in some form of group medicine. Consequently, early in 1942 the Farm Bureau made available to members a policy in group hospitalization. Councils studied this pro gram, welcomed insurance representa tives to their meetings, and as a result 68 counties qualified the first year. This was several times the number anticipated. Early in 1942 the supply of petroleum to our Cooperative Association was threat ened and it seemed advisable to consider obtaining our own oil refinery. This prob lem was referred to the Councils, and 74 Carl R. Hutchinson Education Department Ohio Farm Bureau after study and discussion they agreed 9 to 1 that we should secure a refinery. In answer to the question "How shall the refinery be financed?", the Councils re plied, "By the people themselves." In the campaign which followed, three-fourths of all Council members solicited pur chased shares. A total of $265,000 was subscribed by 2,000 purchasers. Advisory Councils have actively pro moted Farm Bureau membership. The ex perience of Franklin County is typical, where all but two of the 130 Council families had joined the organization be fore the end of the membership roll call. Education Service Staff These groups are sponsored and serv iced through the Education Department and a staff of five Organization Fieldmen. Approximately one-third of the 84 or ganized counties have full-time workers who carry on the program in local com munities, while 15 other counties have workers operating on a part-time basis. The rest of the leadership, for the most part, comes from the Councils themselves, which select their own chairmen, secre taries, and discussion leaders. Broad Programs Councils are set up, not on the basis of any special interest, but with broad social objectives in mind. On this basis they are able to mobilize their interest arid energy to meet a wide variety of problems. During the present war crisis they have given attention to numerous issues involving the farmers' part in the war. In their meetings they frequently share ideas and pool effort in order to meet production quotas by pooling labor, and planning the use of machinery. They also discuss the threat of inflation and face the urgency of buying government bonds, liquidating debts and paying taxes. Democracy Based on Voluntary Groups It is a significant fact that when Hitler set out to force the German people into a Nazi mold where they could be con trolled from the top down, he first dis banded all voluntary groups which ex pressed the ideas and ideals of the people. He prohibited small group assemblies in order to create a society which would respond to the control of a dictator. In democracy, control rests in the people This calls for a different type of social slructure. Just as mass meetings and mass demonstrations are effective procedures in molding a Nazi state, so the small, in formal groups united around the mutual interests of its members provide the most favorable environment for democracy to function. Freedom of Action While these groups need the stimula tion and sponsorship of a central organi zation, they must be encouraged to ex- frcise a great deal of freedom in the conduct of their meetings and in the choice of activities. A good test of the vitality of a study-action group is its in itiative in developing its own group life. When a group is pushed into action from the outside it loses its own initiative, but the group that provides its own mo tivation will rise above defeat. Study- action groups, if they are to flourish, must be free; free to rejoice in their achievements and to learn from their failures. For this reason Advisory Coun cils are encouraged from the start to take the responsibility of making their own dedsions and of shaping their own group life. This freedom is the secret of Coun cil vitality. Our groups meet monthly throughout the year and in spite of the numerous pressures of farm life today, a relatively small per cent of them have disbanded. Two-Way Contact Contacts between the state organization and the local groups are maintained not only through the field staff, but also through the discussion material which Consumers' Cooperation May, 1943 goes to the home of each Council family. This material appears in the center spread of THE OHIO COOPERATOR. The Councils in turn send in carbon copies of their minutes, which provide an excel lent basis for keeping in touch with their interests, ideas, and activities. Thus, through the exchange of Ad visory Council minutes coming daily to the central organization, and the discus sion material going out to the groups, a two-way communication is maintained be tween the Councils and the state office. Education—Not Promotion We have discovered that where Coun cils have a share in making decisions re garding the program they more readily assume responsibility for action. Attempts at direct selling in Council groups tend to be self-defeating, since such pressure is an invasion of their rights to draw their own conclusions. However, if the matter is presented as a problem to be solved, rather than an article or idea to be sold, the psychological situation becomes one in which study-action groups readily respond. To impose on the freedom of the group is to invite resentment. At the same time, these groups are open to sug gestions which leave the question of merit to judgment of the group. In this way the customary promotional techniques are displaced by educational procedures. The Springs of Mutual Action Total war in a democracy calls for an intelligent citizenry with enough unity of spirit to over-ride differences and diffi culties. Community-wide cooperation calls for a sense of comradeship and mutuality in a common cause. Until this is accom plished we cannot have the power of a united people behind a common purpose and program. Only as people know what they are fighting for and have a sense of fellowship in a common cause will they sacrifice without compulsion. Where people can deal with their problems in an intimate, friendly, neighborhood group they release the emotional mainsprings of mutual action. 75 ARE YOU STARVING YOUR CO-OP? IS your cooperative getting a balanced diet or is it just living on meat and potatoes? Of course, it can exist a long time on steak and French fries, but it won't have the strength and resistance for the long haul. You need to feed it vitamins, minerals and an occasional salad if you want to keep it in the best of trim. Lots of co-ops are well financed— plump of tummy—full of good solid beef and potatoes. They are doing a bristling business and all is right with the world. But what about the bone and muscle building process inside? It isn't so apparent to the naked eye, but it is all important. You need to spend money for educa tion. It is the life blood of this move ment. You need to inform and enlighten your members, and it is up to you to provide the wherewithal to do the job. Too few cooperatives are willing to spend money for education. Somehow they don't consider this balanced diet business and if the co-op has a better year than last year, no matter what it might have had or should have had, why worry? You Are What You Eat Don't starve your co-op. See that you allocate sufficient money for educational activities. Membership understanding may mean the difference between life and death when the going gets rough. Many cooperatives have it in their by-laws to set aside 5% of the net savings for an educational fund. Sad to say, though, many of these co-ops never use this money. Year after year money accumu lates. Ask them about it and with em barrassment they will say, "We have ne educational committee; there is no edu cational activity." That co-op never knows what fun it is to bite into a nice crisp salad or to quaff a glass of vitamin-rich fruit juice. There are many co-ops that set aside 76 C. J. McLanahan Educational Secretary The Cooperative League either y2 or 1% of their volume of sales for education, and co-ops that move into this bracket are beginning to get some where. Ohio again sets the pace. A large number of their cooperatives put aside 1% of sales every year and many of them even supplement this with spedal grants. They are willing to pay for edu cation, and it is a Number One reason •why they have the best over-all educa tional program of any cooperative in the United States. Now a word or so about using the money after it is set up. Put a definite sum in the hands of the educational com mittee for a given period. Then they will know how much they will have to spend and can budget their program accord ingly. Don't make it necessary for the educational committee to come to the board and ask for approval every time it needs to buy a postage stamp. If the edu cational fund is based on a per cent of volume, volume can be watched each month and will determine the amount to be spent. A Balanced Market Basket With money in its pocket the educa tional committee will be able to buy many energy and vitality producing foods when it goes to market. It may spend money to put out a news bulletin, it may promote a special mass meeting and rent a movie for the evening, it may buy some literature for free distribution at the store, or it may put on a drive for more mem bers or more capital. Another idea for building a strong educational committee and consequently a strong cooperative has recently come to light. It is the payment of members of the educational committee for attendance at meetings. Central Cooperative Whole sale at Superior has more than a dozen cooperatives which pay their educational committee members the same as their board members. This gives a standing to the educational committee and enables them to contribute to the co-op without being asked to make an unduly heavy sacrifice of time and energy. It Takes Money—But Worth It Some cooperatives are going farther and paying the secretary of the educa tional committee on a part-time basis to coordinate and supervise the educational work. The next evolutionary step is to put a person on as an employee of the co-op who will devote full time to educational activities. Nearly half of the co-ops in Ohio already have adopted this plan. Be willing to spend money for educa tion. You will get it all back and more too. Your co-op will not only have that well kept appearance outside, but on the inside it will have the stamina and energy to keep on growing, and no epidemic of inflation, price-cutting or lack of loyalty will ever be able to put it down for the count. A FAULTY TRANSLATION CHANGED ECONOMIC HISTORY Encyclicals support Cooperative not Corporate Order John Carson favor a social order such as was expressed in the deceased NRA, or by the existing Bituminous Coal Act. He did not favor any theory which would be described by THROUGH faulty translation of the 1 famous Encyclical of Pope Pius XI— the Encyclical commonly known as Quad- ragesimo Anno—Catholic policy with reference to labor-industrial-social order problems has been badly distorted throughout the last decade. This revelation, made possible through the brilliant scholarship of Rev. Wilfrid Parsons, S. J., former editor of the maga zine "America," and now director of the Jesuit School at Catholic University, is of utmost importance to post-war planning. The faulty translation influenced, consid erably, the New Deal. The correct trans lation and its philosophy as revealed by Father Parsons should have even greater influence in future post-war planning. And the correct translation calls for a the phrase, "the corporate state." He ap proved of the organization of labor and of employers and of "the State" but in sisted it was the obligation of every good citizen to "raise up and promote the har monious cooperation of the 'orders.' " And what is meant by the word "or ders" ? Father Parsons points out that the "orders" meant a natural and harmonious group in society, for example a unit such as "the automobile industry." But it was not the "automobile industry" as it is today with wage earners arrayed against employers. It would be the automobile industry with employers and employees theory entirely contrary to the present working as a family and with their inter- capitalistic order. Justifiable conclusions ests mutual instead of opposed, drawn from The literal translation of the Encyclical Father Parsons' revelations in the very of the important paragraph in question, erudite magazine "Thought" are as fol- as stated by Father Parsons is as follows: "The supreme interest and purpose of both the State and of every good citizen should be, after overcoming the clash of opposing 'classes', to raise up and pro lows: Pope Pius XI favored a plan for a soci ety which would be entirely compatible «Mi a non-profit cooperative society. More Consumers' Cooperation » 1943 than that, the Pope favored a society mote the harmonious cooperation of the «hich in this day of materialism may be ' " ' "' ' ' -• • - feasible ONLY through the development of a non-profit cooperative society. Pope Pius XI did not propose and 'orders'. The social-political art, there fore, must set itself to re-establishing the "orders'." The faulty translation upon which 77 Catholic social action programs have been developed, is as follows: "Now this is the primary duty of the state and of all good citizens: to abolish conflict between classes with divergent interests, and thus foster and promote harmony between the various ranks of society. The aim of social legislation must therefore be the re-establishment of vo cational groups." The Latin word "ordines," Father Par sons points out, was erroneously trans lated in one place to mean "ranks" and in another place to mean "vocational groups." And another Latin phrase "ars politica socialis" was translated to mean "social legislation." Thus, Father Par sons emphasizes, "the whole point of the Pope's doctrine is lost" because through emphasis on the word "ranks," support was given to a plan to recognize and en courage class. Classes, wage earners, arid employers, and conflicts between them were encouraged. The history of the word "ordines" shows it should have been trans lated to mean "orders" and in Catholic church history, the "orders" were family groups, not class groups. Translation of the phrase "ars politica socialis" to mean "social legislation" instead of the correct translation "social-political art" caused, Father Parsons states, "the false idea that the Pope wished the vocational groups to be creatures of the government." "It can be seen, therefore," writes Father Parsons, "that what the Pope is really doing is to present a fundamental theory of society which is at odds with the current capitalistic conception of it. The Pope's main criticism of modern so ciety is that by organizing it on the bases of 'classes' we have been trying to intro duce a principle which is really one of disorder. For this is to split each 'order' into two conflicting parties with interests diametrically opposed to each other. The employer is concerned with two things, costs and prices: the amount he has to pay to produce his commodity or render his service, including the wages he pays and the amount he gets for it. The in terests of the employed are just the re- 78 verse, wages and the cost of living. The employer wants lower costs and higher prices; the employed want higher wages and lower prices. Their respective inter ests run directly counter to each other. "To base a social order on the conflict ing interests of classes, as we have done," Father Parsons emphasizes, "is to base it on a principle of disorder. This is our fundamental error." Thus the program urged by the En cyclical, as Father Parsons presents it, is a program of developing industrial fami lies where the conflict of classes would be destroyed. In that way, order would be restored and the existing war between employers and labor would be destroyed. Father Parsons shows that the Pope approves of the social legislation which has been developed by "the State," such legislation as we include in the phrase "social security" but he emphasizes that the necessity of the intervention by "the State" developed because of the system which created monopolies and the de struction of the weaker units of industry. In the proper society, Father Parsons shows, these services described by the phrase "social security" would be per formed by the "orders," which would be industrial and service "families." The political state's intervention would be unnecessary. "The whole description of the 'orders' or 'vocational groups' is a picture of self- governing bodies," Father Parsons writes, "each cooperating autonomously within themselves and with each other for the common aims of the industry or profes sion. It is democratic industry and wou'd no doubt, function best in a democratic state." Father Parsons, unfortunately, does not discuss how the "orders" could be re established in modern industry, how a family spirit and a mutuality of interest could be developed. It is obvious that the non-profit cooperative system would make such a development possible, encourage it and further it. It is clear thus that the Pope's famous Encyclical would put ma- Consumers' Cooperation jor emphasis on the development of co operatives. If there is any other theory (or the organization of society which would permit the development of indus trial 'families," it has not yet been dis closed. MIDWEST COOPERATIVE RECREATION AND EDUCATION INSTITUTE IHDUHAPI, set in a sylvan forest on the shores of Lake Inde pendence near Minneapolis, will be the setting of the first Midwest Cooperative Recreation and Education Institute, May 28 to June 6. The Institute is sponsored by four of the middle west regional co operative associations: Midland Coopera tive Wholesale, Central Cooperative Wholesale, Central States Cooperatives id Consumers Cooperative Association. The Midwest Institute will offer leader ship training in a wide variety of recrea tion activities including folk dancing, play party games, simple forms of dramatics, fundamentals of acting and directing, non- musical games, group singing, and song leadership as well as music appreciation, jnd lectures on play activities in terms of social values and techniques of teaching «id leadership. There will also be courses DO techniques of cooperative education «id publicity ; techniques of teaching co operation in the school; and discussions „-- ru, "«*.- . .- on the place of cooperation in a world of change. The staff is drawn from the regional cooperatives which are sponsoring the Institute as well as former staff members of the National Cooperative Recreation School. Included are: Wilbur Leather- man, Camp Director, Gwen Goodrich, Frank Shilston, Glenn Thompson, and Carl Eck of the Midland Cooperative Wholesale; Merlin Miller, Consumers Cooperation Association ; William Torma, Central States Cooperatives; Ed Whitney, Central Cooperative Wholesale; Ellen Linson, The Cooperative League; James Norris, New York, and Alice Schweibert, Chicago, former National Cooperative Recreation School staff members; arid Harold Paukerts, principal of schools, Poynette, Wisconsin. When the decision to cancel the Na tional Cooperative Recreation School was made, emphasis was placed on regional schools where transportation would not >•• Training for Recreation Leadership if, 1943 79 be such an important problem. In ad dition to the Midwest Institute, recrea tion training schools are planned for the East and Ohio in August. The total cost per person for Tuition, room and meals for the Midwest Institute will be $25, plus the registration fee of $2.50. Registrations should be sent to the Membership and Community Relations Department, Midland Cooperative Whole sale, 739 Johnson Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. BOOK REVIEWS Robert Owen by Richard Robert Wag ner. Europa Verlag, Zurich, 1942. Price: 6.50 Swiss Francs. This book of 440 pages in German recites the life of Robert Owen in the form of a story. The subtitle is "The Ro mance of a lover of mankind." The story begins with Owen at eight years of age functioning as a teacher of the other children in the little town of New Town in North Wales. It carries him through a great career as successful manufacturer and leader of thought. Owen's visit to America, the establishment of his colony in Indiana, his disappointments and dis- illusionments, are all graphically por trayed in conversational form. The hos tilities which Owen suffered at the hands of the privileged Tories, the attacks of the Church, and the inefficiency of those whom he befriended were compensated for by his consciousness of the right of the cause he promoted and the faithful ness of friends who understood and be lieved in his aims and ideals. Owen approached cooperation from the workers' standpoint, but his concep tions of the subject were so large that his work made a profound impression upon the movement. The Rochdale Pioneers were helped by his idealism and educa tional aims. This book gives a warm impression of Owen's character. It discovers him in a great variety of human situations in which he always rang true. His contribu- 80 tions to our American civilization ate noteworthy. The work of no great teacher such as Owen is lost. The foundation he built is today reflected in the strength of our cooperative movement. He ad dressed the Congress in Washington in 1825. It was his son, Robert D. Owen, a member of Congress, who was appoint ed by President Lincoln to investigate the frauds perpetrated upon the Government during the Civil War, and whose report showed that robbing the Government took precedence over winning the War. Herr Wagner has made a noteworthy contribution to cooperative literature. To read this book is to know Robert Owen. —J. P. WARBASSE FIRST NATIONAL CO-OP STAFF CONFERENCES On the beautiful shores of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, staff members of regional and national cooperative organizations will meet June 15 to 20 to map out plans and programs of activity for the coming year. Mobilizing the experience of cooperative operation under the crisis situations of the last few years, staff members will make plans for "Building Tomorrow, Now." In the conference will be co-op Edu cation Directors, Editors, Recreation staff people, Sales and Advertising managers, the National Women's Committee and the co-op Personnel Committee. The con ferences are designed for full time em ployees and will be working conferences. Each group named above will have its own special meetings or a conference within a conference. Among the outside speakers who will address the combined groups at evening sessions are Hiram Motherwell, noted correspondent and author of "The Peace We Fight For," Dr. Howard Lane of Northwestern University ; Professors Mil ton Mayer and Neil Jacoby of the Uni versity of Chicago. Complete information 1 about the conferences may be secured I from The Cooperative League, 608 South Dearborn, Chicago. Consumers' Cooperation JUNE 1743 BEWARE OF POST-WAR INFLATION Editorial THE NEED FOR COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING H. O. Sanders CAMPUS CO-OPS PROVE SUCCESS Mary Dillman DEMOCRATIC POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION Wallace J. Campbell THROUGH COOPERATION NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS EVERY CO-OP OFFICIAL— Every cooperative official, whether he be a member of a board of directors or member of an educational committee, should be a regular reader of the National Magazine, Consumers Cooperation. Every co-op manager, educational director, and recreation expert— every co-op official of any kind—will find new material of value for his or her work in the columns of Consumers Cooperation. This is designed as a national magazine for cooperative leaders. Be sure the officials of your co-op get it regularly. $1 per year; 27 months for $2. Mail your subscriptions to: THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF USA 167 West 12th Street New York City THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 608 South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Name Address Publication Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co Farm Bureau Services Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League Southern California Cooperators United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 15 3 5 S. Peoria St., Chicago The Co-op News 27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer Amarillo, Texas 13 Astor Place, N.Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator 135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defender The Recreation Kit Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing. Michigan St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. Box 2000,Superior, Wise. Review Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia 2462 Lemoran Ave., Rivera, Cal. Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator S. Cal. Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. 6 JUNE. 1943 Ten Cents BEWARE THE POST-WAR DANGERS OF INFLATION WHAT YOU HAVE—LESS WHAT YOU OWE— EQUALS WHAT YOU OWN When cooperative auditors present balance sheets they often describe the Assets as "What You Own" and the Liabilities as "What You Owe". With all due respect to the cooperative accounting profession, we make bold to suggest that such a generalized description of the Assets and Liabilities is misleading in a cooperative statement. The Asset side of a balance sheet covers the five general divisions of Cash, Receivables, Inventories, Investments and Facilities. A cooperative usually has all five of these assets. It has them—but it 'does not necessarily own them. All that the Asset side of a balance sheet tells is "What You Have"—it does not tell whether you own what you have or not. Perhaps the creditors own a large part of the assets—not the members of the cooperative. To know What You Own, after What You Owe is deducted from What You Have, it is necessary to turn to the Liability side of the Balance Sheet. What You Owe is represented by the two items of Payables and Mortgages. What You Own is represented by the three items of Reserves, Capital and Savings. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter. December 19. 1917. at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. To make this point clearer, we present a sample balance sheet: WHAT YOU HAVE Assets Cash Receivables Inventories Investments Facilities 500 500 2,500 500 7,000 Liabilities $ 1,000 Payables 1,000 Mortgages 2,000 6,000 1,000 $11,000 Reserves Capital Savings WHAT YOU OWE WHAT YOU OWN $11,000 It is vitally important for cooperators to realize that we only own what we have paid for—not what we still owe for. COOPERATIVES SHOULD BE COMPLETELY OWNED BY MEMBERS When the Rochdale principles are quoted the emphasis is usually on Demo cratic Voting and Patronage Returns. Just why the basic principle of Member Ownership, which is the primary requirement of a cooperative, is not specifically described in the officially adopted statement of the Rochdale principles is hardly understandable, and is most unfortunate. It is, of course, covered by the principle of Limited Interest on Capital. But this principle would have been better worded as Member Owned Capital—Limited Interest. Member Ownership of the Capital in a cooperative is primary—limitation of interest on capital is secondary to owner ship by members. In altogether too many cooperatives, creditors own more than the members. A Minnesota University Bulletin, which surveyed 92 Cooperative Oil Associations, reports the tragic fact that in 41 out of the 92 cooperatives, creditors owned more than the members. In other words, debts to creditors exceeded the capital owned by members. We have recently attended two meetings of cooperative associations—one a regional and the other a local. In both cases the balance sheets showed that the principle of Member Ownership was not taken seriously—in both cases creditors owned more than the members. The members owned the fixed assets but creditors owned the quick assets. Why, by all that's good and holy in cooperation, why should not cooperative members take the Rochdale principle of Member Owner ship seriously and put it into effect everywhere? Some cooperatives depend upon commodity creditors and private banks for the money to finance their quick assets —some depend upon commodity creditors and government banks. Yet cooperators have the money in their own pockets or in the banks to fully finance their own cooperatives if they want to do so. This is true of every cooperative group without exception. Why not finance every cooperative cooperatively? That means through enough member-owned capital to cover both fixed and quick assets. Why should commodity creditors or private or government banks own any part of the assets of a cooperative? The best illustration we have ever found of the awakening of the Cooperatives in any nation to the necessity of following the Rochdale principle of Member Ownership is in Sweden. In 1920 they found themselves in the same position as all too many cooperatives in the United States are today—their creditors owned more than their members. They started to educate themselves to the need of owning their own cooperatives completely. Individual cooperative members and cooperative associations began to invest their savings in the capital of their cooperative dis tributive and productive enterprises. In time, they reached the point where they were entirely out of debt. Out of their experience they coined the slogan that "co operatives should neither give nor accent credit." Many cooperatives in the United States are fully member owned and have demonstrated that every cooperative can and should be. But other cooperatives have sadly violated the Rochdale principle of Member Ownership. There are dangerous post-war breakers of deflation ahead. We need to accept and adopt the Rochdale principle of Member Ownership everywhere as rapidly as we can educate our selves to do so. If the members own both the quick and fixed assets of their cooperatives then they can ride out any storm. We need to get our cooperative houses in order—we, the members, have the money in our pockets to do so and it's high time for action. Let's take the Rochdale principle of Member Ownership seriously and act upon it. WHAT BRANDEIS REALLY BELIEVED ABOUT BUSINESS Just what did the late Justice Brandeis think about the kind of organization of business that would best serve the interests of all the people? The president of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce has quoted him in a widely distributed article in the Readers' Digest. We quote below extracts from the article, and then extracts from Brandeis' best known book, "Other People's Money." Judge for yourself what kind of an economic system he really believed in and whether his name is rightly used in support of capitalism. From "/ Am for Capitalism" by Eric Johnston "I am for capitalism; and almost all labor leaders I know are really just as much for it as I am. "I summon to my aid one of the wisest friends of labor and of business that this country has ever had: the late Mr. Justice Brandeis. Addressing a trade union audience in Boston, Justice Brandeis once said: 'It is absolutely essential that a business be profitable. I do not mean merely that the business should not be run at a loss. I mean that the business should be run under such conditions that the owner is willing to risk his capital in the business.' "Note: 'risk his capital'. Mr. Brandeis, the sociological and judicial innovator and pioneer, was for capitalism ; and, under his great shadow, I am, too, without apology." "Labor . . . should help management to improve processes and to reduce costs. "They should master and memorize one other remark once made by Justice Brandeis. He said: "The one final way in which we can improve the condition of the worker is to produce more, in order that there may be more to divide.' "Capitalism has been the greatest force that the world has ever known for increased production. Labor in the future could greatly help to make that force wen more successful." A îfe A îfe From "Other People's Money" by Louis D. Brandeis "England, too, has big business. But her big business is the Cooperative Wholesale Society, with a wonderful story of 50 years of bénéficient growth. "Now, how are the directors of this great business chosen ? Not by England's leading bankers, or other notabilities, supposed to possess unusual wisdom; but democratically, by all of the people interested in the operations of the Society. "Albert Sonnichsen, General Secretary of the Cooperative League, tells this memorable incident: 'Six years ago, at an international congress in Cremona, Dr. Hans 82 Consumers' Cooperation june 1943 83 Muller, a Swiss delegate, presented a resolution by which an inter national wholesale society should be created. Luigi Luzzatti, Italian Minister of State and an ardent member, was in the chair. Those who were present say Luzzatti paused, his eyes lighted up, then, dramatically raising his hand, he said: 'Dr. Muller proposes to the assembly a great idea—that of opposing to the great trusts, the Rockefellers of the world, a world-wide cooperative alliance which shall become so powerful as to crush the trusts.' " "Thus farmers, workingmen and clerks are learning to use their savings to help one another instead of turning over their money to the great bankers for safe keeping, and to be themselves exploited. And may we not expect that when the cooperative movement develops in America, merchants and manufacturers will learn from farmers and workingmen how to help themselves by helping one another and thus join in attaining the New Freedom for all? When merchants and manufacturers learn this lesson money kings will lose subjects, and swollen fortunes may shrink; but industries will flourish, because the faculties of men will be liberated and developed." BEATRICE WEBB - A SERVANT OF SOCIETY At 85 years of age the spirit of the most famous woman economist in the world, Beatrice Webb of England, has passed on from this physical world and entered into the unexplored future in search of new adven tures. "It is not for naught," wrote our cooperative philosopher, Dr. Horace M. Kallen, "that heaven is pictured as a place of sheer con sumption." After discovering and clearly analyzing for us all the meaning and place of the consumer in this world, it would only be simple justice that Mrs. Webb should be privileged to experience the enjoyment of unlimited consumption in the world to which she has gone. There will be natural differences in opinion in the appraisals of her work. For the writer, the appraisal of Justice Brandeis, during his and her lifetimes, is the simplest and most acceptable. When asked the question as to what America needed most, he answered, "A Beatrice and Sidney Webb." We have not, to our misfortune, had any such a team of thinkers in the United States to guide our thinking as had Britain. Their joining together was, as Mrs. Webb said, "a mating of minds." Both Beatrice Potter and Sidney Webb were inheritors of certain incomes. Their sure incomes, however, did not lead them to lives of spiritual, mental or physical dissipation or laziness. Beatrice Potter heard of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement and started out to investigate it. Her investigation led to meeting John Mitchell who was president of the wholesale and the original clear interpreter of the consumer idea, and to the incorporation of his and her own ideas in the book, "The Consumers' Cooperative Movement in Great Britain," written in 1891 and now in its tenth edition which is still the primary interpretation of the Movement. In "The Discovery of the Consumer" she says, "I believe this dis tinction between the kinds of organisation—between Associations of Producers on 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 sociology." But, as she tells in her autobiography, "My Apprenticeship," she was unable to satisfac torily interpret the place of Public Ownership until she met her future husband, Sidney Webb, whose investigations into municipal organizations had led him to an understanding of the historical fact that publicly owned enterprises originally began as "voluntary" consumer cooperatives and in time evolved into an "obligatory" form of consumer cooperation. On the groundwork of their separate investigations of voluntary and obliga tory consumers cooperatives, as they described them, or of Consumers' Cooperatives and Publicly-owned Utilities, as we call them, they went on together as husband and wife to still deeper studies of both social organizations and to the study of the third type of democratic economic organization, or the producer type, in the form of Labor Unions, Farmers Marketing Cooperatives and Professional Associations, which make up the trilogy of a democratic economy—consumer, producer, and public. After forty years of study Mrs. Webb summed up their relationship in a single sentence: "Unless I completely misinterpret the irresistible ground- swell of British democracy, it is this consumers' cooperation, in its twofold form of voluntary association of members (in what we now know as the cooperative society) and obligatory association of citizens (in the economic enterprises of national as well as Local Government)—all of them in organic connection with an equally ubiquitous organisation of the producers by hand or by brain (in trade unions, farm marketing cooperatives, and professional associations) which will constitute the greater part of the social order of a hundred years hence." George Bernard Shaw says that the Webbs kid the necessary histori cal groundwork for the development of a democratic economy in all three fields. Their writings in these three fields are masterpieces of thorough investigation and clear description. It was not until years after they had investigated and described the three social organizations of a democratic economy that they took the time to write an indictment of the present profit economy, which they had rejected from the begin ning. H. G. Wells, in '"New Worlds for Old," says that the Webbs built on the groundwork laid by Robert Owen and never accepted the misinterpretation of the word Cooperation originated by Owen, which was grafted on to the original idea by Karl Marx and which has led to such tragic ends in Communism and Fascism. The use of revolutionary force and dictatorship of the proletariat were anathema to the Webbs' way of thinking. Evolution by education and democratic control by all the people were the foundations of their beliefs. The writer had the unforgettable experience of an hour's conversa tion with them in 1937 at the London School of Economics which they founded. Their beliefs, as they then expressed them, were unchanged. A cooperative economy was inevitably on the way to being eventually adopted by the people of all nations in the forms of Consumer, Pro ducer and Public democratically owned and controlled cooperative associations. Mrs. Webb's contributions to social thinking and those of her husband, will be studied and followed by succeeding generations who will increas ingly benefit by their fruits. In time, the autobiography of their years of work together will be published under the title, "Our Partnership," which should reveal additional thoughts for the world's future guidance. 84 Consumers' Cooperation I1"16* 1943 85 THE MEED FOR COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING A LTHOUGH many would have us •**• believe that all advertising is waste ful, there is a very definite and crying need for more and better advertising by our cooperatives. True, profit business has made some of its advertising disgust ing by resorting to half truths, exagger ated claims, various tricky appeals to the emotions, and even outright untruths. But the dictionary says that true advertising means "to call public attention to." And that's exactly what cooperative advertis ing should do. Some will contend that cooperatives should not advertise—that it is a waste, born of the capitalistic system. The con sumer pays all advertising costs. Why, they ask, should we have to tell the consumer what he should buy? CS> VI ;••*- * Posters Help Tell the Story H. O. Sanders, Advertising Manager Central Cooperative Wholesale It would be an ideal condition if ad vertising were unnecessary, outside of a few brief seasonal commodity announce ments. But we are still far from such a condition. At least, as long as the profit system of society exists, so long must cooperatives "call public attention to" their wares, to their operating methods and to their ultimate aims. How other wise are the people to be made aware of the benefits cooperative action offers them? Cooperators Require Reminding While we must of course direct much of our attention to those people who are not yet cooperative patrons, we need also to keep reminding our present mem bers and patrons to ask for their needs at the co-op. Too often we find an atti tude of indifference or even of plain ignorance of what the co-op handles. The so-called small purchases that are made elsewhere because something was forgotten, or it's too small to run to the co-op for, or some other such reason, add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Our cooperatives thrive on patronage, just as any business does. They grow and expand on it. We can not place too much stress on the need to constantly remind people of the im portance of "buying it at the co-op." Loyalty is a meaningless term to some people. They need to be told over and over again of the benefits they get through cooperative patronage. Adver tising does it. This advertising needs to be done by the local cooperatives primarily. They are the ones who contact the public. Even rural co-ops, with the nearest com petitor possibly miles away, need to advertise. Too often we overlook the influence of the motor car, paved highways, and of the mail order catalog. All co-ops need to advertise, and they need the help of the regionals in doing it. Must Teach Co-op Merchandizing More Thus far, practically all stress in our training school has been placed on the administrative sub jects, besides cooperative theory. That has been the need. But to day managers and clerks need to know more than bookkeeping and margin control. They need also to know modern merchan dising, including effective adver tising and display. And they look to their regional wholesales for help. Managers of local co operatives tell that they are too busy to spend any time on draw ing up ads for the local paper, or to draw up posters, or to plan and build displays. If the man- __^ ager is too busy, has the work been assigned to someone else? Often the answer is no. Very often, too, our cooperative advertising is DO different from the usual price copy used by profit business. We're too busy to write advertising copy that distin guishes the advertiser as a cooperative. Co-op Ads Must Sell Cooperation That distinguishing feature can be brought out in many ways. The use of slogans or short educational paragraphs is one way. We must "sell" cooperation to the people on its own merits. Then let us talk of those merits. Every com modity ad could very well include a short bit of educational copy, not to speak of ads built up on the educational angle alone. We in CCW feel that edu cational (institutional) ads in both our co-op papers and in outside publications have been a definite help in spreading the knowledge and understanding of the cooperative philosophy and in getting you ore all consumers 86 Consumers' Cooperation June, 1943 ORGANIZE your buginq power Important Aids to Organization new converts. Thus advertising is a valu able aid to our educational work. National Coordination Needed The sentiment for national unification and coordination of advertising and sales work by the regional wholesales through the committee composed of advertising and sales managers is evidence of the need for greater promotional effort. The American movement has already been helped considerably by the adoption of a national commodity purchasing pro gram, applied through the various com modity committees of National Coop eratives. Simikrly, the national publicity and education program brought about by the Publicity and Education Committee has aided in building and strengthening our movement nationally. Now it is time to tackle our merchandising program. True, we encounter some difficulties be- 87 Cause of the various nature and operating fields of the wholesales. But as the national commodity program develops, a national merchandising program should follow it closely. Among the national services that are available to us right now are the Co operative League's poster service and National Cooperatives' mat and copy service. The possibilities in the poster field have not yet been exploited to the II full. Some of the regional wholesales || are not using the posters at all. The dis tribution could be much larger. The poster is an effective educational and promotional medium when properly used. National Cooperatives can do a big serv ice in making available to the regional wholesales mats of the commodities pur chased through National. This work has barely been started. Also, National can obtain from the suppliers pertinent com modity facts that are useful in adver tising copy. I These, and other advertising and dis play materials, the regionals can then pass along to their affiliated retail asso ciations, helping to fill a sore need for just such materials. For another thing, the preparation of these advertising and display materials by the regionals and the Nationals permits the use of expert talent that would not be possible locally. And, nationally, we can undertake pro grams that will make a strong impression on the public. Our first national radio program was a good example of that. Education and Advertising Should Be Siamese Co-op Twins America is advertising conscious to the nth degree. If we are to build a national movement of any importance, we need to advertise. Every local and regional cooperative needs an advertising program, just as it needs an educational program. The two should work well together. Thus we can "call public attention to" a better tomorrow, through cooperation. FIRST OFFICIAL SURVEY BY U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS PROVES SUCCESS OF CAMPUS CO-OPS MORE and more campus co-ops are working together among them selves through student federations. More and more college cooperators are realiz ing their place in the Consumer Co operative Movement and its significance as a factor in creating a democratic economy at home. Student cooperative leaders are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of carrying on vigor ous cooperative education work side by side with building financially sound or ganizations. 297 Campus Co-ops Reported The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its first survey of student cooperatives reports that at the end of 1941 there 88 Mary Dillman The Cooperative League were nearly 300 active student coopera tives on 144 campuses in 44 states. On the basis of the study, recently completed and made jointly with the University of Maryland, it is estimated that in 1941 about 50,000 students were members of campus cooperatives. Of 297 student cooperative associations known to the Bureau, 181 furnished re ports for the study, which appears in the April issue of The Monthly Labor Review. These represented 113 educa tional institutions in the U. S. Seventy per cent, or 124, were eating clubs or "living" co-ops; 47 were book and sup ply stores, 4 were credit unions, 5 were educational bodies, and 1 was a cleaning and pressing association. The largest number of student co-ops were found in Illinois (40), California (24), and Michigan (23). Five other states (N. Y., Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin) had over 10 associations each. Over One Million Dollars Net Ownership Until the war, housing co-ops were the most rapidly growing form of student cooperative, the survey points out, for they enabled students to cut the cost of their education who might otherwise have had to leave college. Assets of over 2 million dollars were reported by 91 associations and the members of 49 co operatives owned an equity (members' capital, reserves, surplus, and undivided earnings) amounting to over one million dollars. High Student Scholarship, Friendly College Administrations "The levels of scholarship attained by the members of these houses is a matter of justifiable pride to the associations. Report after report pointed out that on the basis of the average grade of the residents the association was at the top of the list among the various organiza tions represented on the campus, or placed among the top few," the survey states. "A distinctly friendly and encourag ing attitude on the part of most colleges toward the student cooperatives on their campuses is evident from the reports on hand ... In some cases the college itself has advanced loans as the original capital. Faculty advisers have done a great deal by their interest and advice to keep the local cooperatives operating on an even keel. Only one association reported a really unfriendly attitude on the part of the educational institution whose stu dents it served, arid only a few reported indifference." Successful Operations A total business of $4,674,000 was done in 1941 by the 132 student co operatives that furnished reports on this point. The 38 book and stationery co-ops accounted for 74%, or $3,457,925, of this total. The 89 living and eating co-ops that reported did a combined business of $919,544. Net earnings of $230,779 were reported by 87 associa tions, losses aggregating $448 by 4. Fifteen associations reported that they Modern New Student Co-op House In Texas Consumers' Cooperation June, 1943 .89 just broke even. About 88% of the combined net was accounted for by the co-op book and supply stores. The com paratively low net earnings shown by "living" and eating co-ops is due to the fact that charges are set as near cost as possible. Only 48 associations re ported the return of patronage refunds on 1941 business. The total returned by these organizations amounted to $133,437, which was largely from the book and students' supply group. Active Educational Programs As to educational work, 41 coopera tive living associations reported that they had among their members 81 cooperative study groups which met regularly. Thirty- two co-ops made provision for a definite percentage of earnings to go toward edu cational work. Comparatively few of the bookstores, especially the older ones, however, showed any awareness of the social implications of their enterprise or do any educational work along coopera tive lines. Generaly speaking, effective member ship control is far more pronounced in the living co-ops than in the book stores, since conducting a co-op house touches the student in his every day life, while the book store represents only a small part of his budget. Current Problems The Bureau's survey asked each stu dent cooperative to report its major prob lems. Among those common to both the bookstores and the housing co-ops were (1) insufficient space in present quarters and the difficulty of obtaining suitable quarters elsewhere near the campus; (2) insufficient capital, for operation at the present level or for needed expansion; (3) obtaining efficient management; (4) obtaining continuity of management and administration; (5) obtaining paid non student labor; (6) a student body (and therefore membership) too small to pro vide a volume of business large enough for efficient operation; (7) loss of mem bers to armed services; (8) extension of credit and difficulties in collecting ac counts; (9) success of organization de pendent on a very small group of members; (10) lack of interest in the cooperative enterprise among the mem bership and/or among the students; and (11) putting over a really effective co operative education program to the mem bership or to the student body. Problems reported only by the book and supply co-ops were (1) too high operating costs in proportion to volume; (2) getting funds to pay bills in time to obtain discount; and (3) obtaining stocks of goods. The greatest problems peculiar to the rooming and boarding co-ops were (1) maintenance of house capacity, and consequently of low pro rata costs; (2) rents too high; (3) ris ing food costs; (4) getting sufficient variety and balanced diet in low-cost meals; (5) maintaining decent living standards on what members can afford to pay; (6) inability to estimate costs in view of rapid membership turnover and fluctuating prices; (7) getting mem bers to cooperate fully in the duties of the house. "Aside from the practical problems connected with the actual carrying out of the enterprise, the need for education in cooperation appears to be at the root of the difficulties experienced by a large proportion of the associations," the Bu reau's study concludes. * * * Read the CAMPUS CO-OP NEWS LETTER THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street, New York City DEMOCRATIC POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION REQUIRES COOPERATIVE ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION ANEW order of things is what a large part of the world is fight ing for. Neal Beaton, president of the great Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society, flew the Atlantic by clipper last Septem ber to bring greetings to the U. S. Co operative Congress. To representatives of two million co-op members he declared: "Our boys are not fighting this war to bring back the world of 1929 or 1932. They are fighting for a new world of freedom, security, economic and political democracy." His statement is not one to be brushed off lightly for the British cooperatives today are serving nine mil lion British families. They should play an important part in the British plans (or the coming peace. Cooperatives Officially Recognized by U. S. as Necessary Part of Post-War Reconstruction Program One event which has focused atten tion on the cooperatives is the recent appointment of Murray D. Lincoln, who is president of the Cooperative League of the USA, as one member of the five- man delegation to represent the United States at the United Nations Food- Con ference. Lincoln is the only non-govern mental representative in the delegation. This is the first time in American history that an official of the cooperatives has been appointed to such an important post. Lincoln's appointment followed closely the offer of the U. S. cooperatives to Hp in any way possible the work of former Governor Lehman, director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitations opera tions. The proposal presented by Howard A. Cowden, vice-president of the Co operative League, and chairman of the Cooperative League Committee on In- 90. Consumers' Cooperation June, 1943 Radio address by Wallace J. Campbell, Assistant Secretary, The Cooperative League ternational Cooperative Reconstruction, pointed out that already one-third of the foodstuffs handled by the Lend-Lease Ad ministration come from the American marketing cooperatives. Almost automatically the co-ops will come into the picture—for agricultural marketing cooperatives handle nearly a third of the foodstuffs of the United States. And one-sixth of the supplies to produce this food is purchased through consumer cooperatives. That puts a co-op base under a large share of the food that's to be used in post-war relief. Cooperatives Must Be Reorganized in Europe Then how about the cooperative ma chinery of distribution in Europe? The consumer cooperatives in Czecho slovakia, Denmark, Poland, France, Nor way, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic countries were handling from ten to forty per cent of the food distribution in those countries before the war. In many of those nations the co-ops were the krgest single distributors of food. Occupation by the Nazis has destroyed many of these cooperatives. But in most of these countries the physical set-up of the cooperatives remains intact al though leaders of the co-ops have often been put in concentration camps and "loyal" Nazis have been put in their places. The democracy and the non-profit features of the co-ops have been cast aside. But the members still remember and will restore those principles of eco nomic democracy immediately after the Nazis are driven out. Let me give you a concrete example. Just this last week I had a long talk with Dr. Ledislav Feierabend, Minister of Fi nance of the Czech Government-in-Exile. 91 Dr. Feierabend was head of the largest agricultural cooperative federation in Czechoslovakia before the German occu pation. He told me that the consumer cooperatives are being slowly liquidated. But that economic life in Czechoslovakia would be unthinkable without the co-ops. To liquidate them rapidly would throw the entire economy of the country into chaos, so the Nazis are moving slowly. One by one the co-ops are being sold out to their competitors, but most of the co-ops are still intact. Democracy, of course, is not tolerated and it is "ver boten" for neighbors to help each other to help themselves. In Poland, underground reports indi cate the Nazis are using the machinery that was once the cooperatives to leach the farmers. At the close of the war, however, that economic machinery of dis tribution of goods and services can be restored to its original purpose and will be the most immediate arid effective weapon of relief and of rehabilitation. Cooperatives—A World-Wide Federation Those of you who have not followed closely the growth of the co-ops at home and abroad may be amazed, to know that one hundred million families in forty countries were members of cooperatives before the war. They had their own world-wide federa tions. The International Cooperative Alli ance is still in operation in spite of the war. The International Cooperative Wholesale and International Cooperative Trading Agency have suspended opera tions for the duration. Before the tidal wave of Nazism swept Furope, one-fourth of the families in Europe were members of cooperatives. Even in Germany more than y/2 million families were members of cooperatives which did a business of nearly a billion Reichmarks. That was in the days of the Weimar Republic. The cooperatives resisted the Nazis stubbornly. Nearly ten 92 years were required to liquidate the co-ops —and even today the principles of self- help and democracy that are essential to cooperation are seared on the hearts of many of the common people of Ger many. In the occupied countries, many co-op managers have stood by their posts in spite of the ignominy of Nazi domi nation in an attempt to ease the suffering of their fellows until liberation comes. In the free countries the cooperatives have grown rapidly throughout the war— Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, Ice land, China. The Chinese co-ops have had a very dramatic growth. The iridus- trial co-ops—growing behind the lines as guerrilla industries — have supplied blankets, bandages, food, and clothing for millions in China. Less well known are the credit, consumer and marketing cooperatives with nine million members. Shih-Chi Hu, secretary of the Cooperative League of China, who is now in the United States, points to the co-ops as the basis of a new economy in China. The United States was once looked upon as the baby of the world cooper atives. But this lusty infant reported 2Vi million family members in 1942 and a business that was estimated at seven hundred million dollars. How International Cooperative Exchange Operates How does international cooperative business work? Let me give you an example right close to home. Before the war the cooperatives in the midwest were shipping oil compounded in their plant in North Kansas City to co-ops in Scot land, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Estonia. The Scottish Cooperative Whole sale Society, for example, bought a share in the U. S. cooperative. Savings on the purchases going to Scotland were credited to the account of the Scottish co-ops just as savings to farm and city folk in Kansas or Colorado were paid back to them. International trade was carried on with out any profit whatsoever. Since the out break of the war, the U. S. cooperatives that used to serve their European brethren have bought two refineries, a hundred miles of pipeline and a dozen oil wells. So oil for the co-ops of Europe, distribut ing without the war-making profit which has long tainted the petroleum industry, «ill be freer flowing when the wheels of international democracy start turning over again. This oil will be a lubricant of peace and the refineries that produce it will be as important to permanent peace as the marble palaces at the Hague. Organize Relief Cooperatively E. J. Phelan, Director General of the International Labor Office, rightly de clares that "In spite of damage and de struction, cooperative organizations have covered Europe with such a vast network that they appear among the most efficient agencies available for such relief work." As the Cooperative League's Recon struction Committee points out: "The cooperatives should be used for relief purposes because (1) they carry on busi ness for the purpose of service; (2) they have large experience both in local, na tional, and international commerce; (3) they have large warehouse facilities at their disposal; arid (4) they represent no political, racial, or sectarian groups, but consist of all kinds of people and exclude none." We advocate that all agencies of relief, whether private or public, plan their programs of rehabilitation on a cooper ative basis. By so doing initiative will be developed among the people. As E. R. Bowen, General Secretary of the Co operative League, points out, self-help, encouraged by the cooperative organiza tion of relief, will result in an expansion of the foods and goods much like the biblical story of the loaves and fishes. After the first World War, the French government used the consumer coopera tive societies for distributing many foods ind used their prices as yardsticks for fc prices of many other commodities. Ihe Italian Government—before Musso- Consumers' Cooperation ]unej 1943 lini—placed in the hands of the con sumer cooperatives the distribution of meat and potatoes. At the present the Swedish Government uses the over-sea agencies of the Swedish Cooperative Wholesale for the purchase of goods for all types of business and government use in Sweden. The reconstruction period at the close of World War I gives us precedent and encouragement. The Friends Service Com mittee in France placed funds for the feeding of the distressed population of the district of Nancy in the hands of a retired army officer. This man, instead of handing out doles, encouraged the people to organize consumer cooperative groups. They set up stores, bought at wholesale and from manufacturers and created what has grown into a great cooperative movement in that district. To encourage the people to help them selves will be one of the great tools for rebuilding civilian morale after the war is over. A Cooperative Economic World Plan Do the cooperatives have plans for the broader problems of the post-war world ? We believe that political democracy alone will not create a sound basis for permanent peace. Economic democracy must accompany and give greater life to our present democratic forms. On an international scale, we advocate the formation of a World Cooperative Economic Federation, co-equal and in dependent of, but parallel to a World Democratic Political Federation. A world political federation is impera tive. But a world political federation alone will meet the same fate as the League of Nations unless there is set in operation along with it a world eco nomic union. Cooperatives — with one hundred years of experience behind them and with a world vision and machinery of world economic cooperation already in operation could well be the nucleus 93 about which such a world economic fed- the common man to get into action, eration could be built. Self-help is a formula for freedom. Co- We have talked a lot about the Cen- operative self-help is the way for the tury of the Common Man. Economic Common Man to take hold of this cen- cooperation is a formula which enables tury and make it his own. RECREATION NEWS NOTES Cooperative Recreation Week-End Conference, Wilmington, Draws 56 Students Wilmington, Delaware—Fifty-six co- operators and their friends participated in the well-rounded program of sing ing, folk dancing, games, crafts and dramatics at the leadership training con ference held May 14-16 at Wilmington- Arden, Delaware. The conference grew out of a similar week-end at Pendle Hill, Pa., in December. Students came from cooperative recreation groups and co operative societies in Wilmington-Arden, Philadelphia, Westchester County, Pa.; Media, Pa., and Washington, D. C. The conference got under way Friday night with a party which drew together about 80 people for a rousing evening of American squares and reels and Euro pean dances. The party and the Saturday sessions were held at the YMCA in Wilmington. Crafts were on the pro gram for the morning, with folk dancing, singing, discussion, and practice in call ing squares in the afternoon. Over one hundred people attended the Saturday night party which had been planned by the students in the afternoon—wall flow ers and "sitter-outers" were unheard of as the group went from play parties to reels to squares to polkas or caught their breath in a quiet game. The Community Hall at Arden, Dela ware, was the scene of the group's activi ties on Sunday when the morning session started off with an hilarious two hours of charades. At the business meet ing in the afternoon the students de cided to form a permanent organization 94 by, interspersed with copious refresh ments. One of the co-op's directors was heard to mutter at the height of the evening's fun, "Lucky we advertised by word of mouth." Over $90 was turned over to the Radio Fund after all expenses were paid. The leader's group of the Pasadena Recreation Association leads group folk dances for various organizations in South ern California and is ready and willing to help any cooperative have an evening of fun. Ellen Linson —a federation of cooperative recreation groups in the area served by the ECW Philadelphia warehouse. Invitations are to be sent to play co-ops and cooperative societies in the area to send delegates to an executive committee which will meet in July. Activities which the federation might carry on through this committee include : planning similar recreation week ends; assisting new groups in recreation programs; exchange of new recreation material; list of co-op recreation groups in the area. Morton Trast of Wilmington was chairman of the committee responsible for the week-end. The staff included Ruth and James Norris of the National Cooperative Recreation School staff, and Ellen Linson, recreation secretary, The Cooperative League. Pasadena Recreation Association A REAL "BOOK FOR OUR TIME" the evening, included a wide variety of numbers: an exhibition of trapshooting, songs by the Sextette; scenes from the Broadway stage play, "I'd Rather Be Right," by the Drama Group; and a magician. Games and dancing to the tunes of the Hill-Billy Band wound up the evening's activities. A partial list of the hobby horses exhibited included: woodwork, metal work, guns, coins and stamps, paintings, leather tooling, hand work and scrapbooks. * * North Kansas City Play Co-op '•Hobby Night" Huge Success N. Kansas City — Over thirty hobbies were on display at the Hobby Night May 4th sponsored by the North Kansas City Play Co-op. "The whole thing went off beautifully and the 125-odd people there W a magnificent time," reports Gladden Haskell, Play Co-op member. The evening started with a chili sup per after which there was a chance to ride any or all of the Hobby Horses present. A program, presented later in BOOK REVIEWS Moves to New Quarters Pasadena, Calif. — The move of the Pasadena Recreation Association in March to Eagles Hall, 35 E. Union Street, Pasadena, is the latest in a series of moves necessitated by a constantly growing mem bership accompanied by growing com munity interest. The move happened to coincide with the need for additional funds for the Co-op Radio program, so the housewarming doubled as a benefit. Over 180 people thronged the new hall. The grand march was almost long enough to be a parade, and it was a delight to see fifteen squares in action at one time. Waltzes, polkas, schottisches, squares, reels, circle dances, etc., whirled A COOPERATIVE ECONOMY, by Benson Y. Landis. Harper and Brothers, $2.00. Special Co-op Edition available for $1.00 from the Cooperative League of the USA, 167 West 12th Street, New York City. A few years ago a high-ranking cooperator «the United States told the present reviewer Hat the best writing on the cooperative move ment being done at that time was by Benson V. Landis. This was about the time that Dr. landis published a very complete account of tie cooperative movement for the National Education Association. In his present book, Dr. Landis well sustains this reputation. Economic cooperation is the ultimate and itsolute in business. A free people with Hess to education should turn to cooperation u naturally as a magnet turns to the North Pole. For a long time the United States œmed to be an exception to this rule, but i the last decade the American people are proving that this principle is universally true. Consumers' Cooperation I1"16' 1943 Dates Set for Eastern Cooperative Recreation School New York—The third annual Eastern Cooperative Recreation School will be held August 14 to 22 at the New York University Camp, Lake Sebago, near Sloatsburg, New York. The camp pro vides an ideal setting for the leadership training course in a wide variety of rec reational activités. The staff and program for the school will be announced in the July issue of Consumers' Cooperation. Information can be secured from Ruth Norris, Eastern Cooperative League, 135 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Landis' book gives the story of the cooperative achievements of the American people in recent times. But it does something more than that; it gives us a new interpreta tion and a new synthesis. All the movements making for a cooperative economy are pre sented in an integrated whole. Voluntary co operation, both of the producer and consumer types, according to Dr. Landis, is only part of the democratic movement toward a coopera tive democracy. Working along with all this voluntary effort is what he calls public or necessary cooperation. These are the various economic activities carried on by the state. Even taxation and regulation of monopolistic business take on a new significance in the light of Dr. Landis' exposition. In other words, the natural evolution of the state itself is working out toward the establishment of a cooperative economy. Which element, volun tary or state, will be dominant in the future will be for the people themselves to say. Part Three, in which are discussed the re lationships between the professional and old- 95 n line business groups, is particularly able. Professional people and their institutions have been closely tied to the vested interests in the past. They can no longer dodge the peoples' economic movement as represented by coopera tion. Dr. Landis suggests the remedy to them: "And how can professional people of today, who wish to break through the crusts of tradition, best place the honor of their calling above the reach of their own weaknesses? By imposing new codes upon themselves through the creation of influential democratic economic organizations and agencies—volun tary and governmental—that is one answer. And it sums up the message of this book to the professions." Some of the chapters of this book are heavily freighted with statistics, but the cooperators of North America, who are now numbered in millions, will welcome this. They should be now past the baby stage where they need mere propaganda material. This book gives the real facts of the movement in the United States and clearly points the way for the future both in the national and international field. Cooperators are bound to realize that this is a real book for our time. The well- selected bibliography at the end of the book and the suggestions for study groups give leaders a chance for further investigation of the evolution of our dynamic society. —M. M. COADY From "Christendom," New York, Summer 1943) St. Francis Xavier University Anttgonjsh, Nova Scotia DOLLAR A SHARE, by Adam Alien. Special Co-op League Edition, $1.00. Order from The Cooperative League, 167 West 12th Street, New York City, 11. Here's a breath-taking co-op story for teen age boys and girls. For sheer interest and suspense it is unsurpassed in co-op literature. And it is important to the co-op movement, for—in a real, live story of real, live young sters—it shows the cooperators of tomorrow how they can cooperate today. The opening day of the new Kent Junior High School was a sad day for Ted Morgan and his friends. They had just heard the news —no money for football equipment, no team to play against Brandon Junior High. Luckily, Hank Cochrane, their red-headed history teacher and coach, had an idea. After much discussion and very hard work on the part of the boys—and the girls, too—the Kent Junior Cooperative opened its doors for busi ness. And then the trouble, and then the learning, began in earnest. Like adult cooperators, Ted, 96 Joe, Larry, Pete, Sally, Nan, and all the rest faced such difficulties as cut prices, credit trad«, insufficient reserves, attack by selfish and mis understanding people, too little membership education. Guided, not driven, by the wise Mr. Coch rane, these young cooperators worked their way through knotty problems to a successful semi annual meeting, in which they reported net savings of $311.50. They disposed" of their savings in the best co-op practice, by voting $200 to be held in reserve and $111.50 to be paid out in patronage refunds. Then — to cap the climax — they decided unanimously to loan their patronage refunds to the Board of Education for the purchase of baseball equipment, and, just for good meas ure, they whipped Brandon Junior High! The co-op had become a fine little business, which had tied the community together anil taught the students the judgment, the respon sibility and the fair play that make good citi zens in a democracy. Co-op members will want copies for their teen-age children. They will also want to make sure that their own co-op puts copies in the high school library, the public library, or both. —From The Cooperative Consumer WRITE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS ON CONSUMER COOPERATION There are several hundred books and pamphlets on various aspects of Consumer Cooperation. Are you in terested in: Cooperatives in the U.S.; Co-ops Abroad; Philosophy of Cooperation; Nova Scotia Coop eratives ; Materials for Study Action Groups; How to Read a Balance Sheet; Co-ops in Post-War Recon struction? Or any of a dozen other fields of "coopeiaction" ? Write us for a complete list of the literature of cooperation. Send your inquiry to the Book Department THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF THE U.S.A. 167 W. 12th St., New York 11, N. Y. 1 Consumers' Cooperation "A Consumer at the United Nations Food Conference." EDITOR'S SPECIAL Editorials Four Great Steps in Co-op History United Nations Food Conference Recommends Cooperatives to Cut Food Costs National and International Recognition Given Co-ops in New Blaze of Publicity NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS FOR COMPLETE DETAILS . . . The August issue of CONSUMERS COOPERATION is designed to give you complete details on the 1943 CO-OP STAFF CONFERENCES. Conference reports, committee findings, resolutions ... all will be stream lined to give you a well-rounded, over all picture of the proceedings of the conference. If your subscription is about to expire renew it today. Send a subscription to someone who should be reading the National Magazine for Cooperative Leaders. Price: $1 per year, 27 months for $2. THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street • New York 11, N. Y. THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 608 South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Name Address Publication Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Farm Bureau Services Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League Southern California Cooperators United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 1535 S. PeoriaSt., Chicago The Co-op News 27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Cooperative Consumer Amarillo, Texas 13 Astor Place, N.Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 44 West 143rd Street New York 30, N. Y. Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing. Michigan The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defender The Recreation Kit St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. Box 2000, Superior, Wise. Review The Cooperator The Cooperator Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia 2462 Lemoran Ave.. Rivera, Cal. Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator S. Cal. Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE-PLENTY-DEMCXMCy Volume XXIX. No. 7 JULY. 1943 Ten Cents AN EDITOR'S DREAM The unrealized dream of an editor is to have a publisher say just once "Your editorials are so much more significant than the news that we are going to turn the news columns over to you and fill them with your editorials." That could only happen in a dream, or when the editor and the publisher are represented in the same person. The "partial" impartial judgment of the editor of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION this month is that editorials on current events are more important than general articles, because of the high speed schedule of passing time today. So here goes for the first EDITORIAL SPECIAL in the regime of the present editor. There may or may not be another one. The past two weeks of Staff Con ferences and Directors Meetings have lifted us up to a high peak, until it was hard to relax and run down to normal. While the editorial muse was working nights as well as days, the following came out of the mental cauldron. We express the hope that the results will stimulate and inform you and arouse you to greater action. If so, the energy expended will be worthwhile. If not, we will be sorry but will be unable to do anything about it this time—but we will not do it again. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter. December 19. 1917. at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. "THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION" (Headlineof a front page editorial from the Chicago Tribune) "HALF OF CAPITAL'S DWELLERS FOUND PACKED IN SLUM AREA" (Headline of a news story directly underneath the editorial) We give credit to an editor arid reporter of the Chicago Tribune for the juxtaposition of the two headlines above, which, combined together form the basis for the best comparison we have seen in recent months. The Tribune editorial, as would be natural, praises the overriding of the President's veto of the anti-strike bill and declares that Congress has saved the country by staging "the second American revolution." The real truth is that big business is no longer scared of big government, as it was in the 1930's, when profit banks failed and only opened up for business again with government guarantees after a housecleaning had permanently closed one- third of them, and when profit business almost passed out permanently and would have if the government had not subsidized it by WPA's to its employees. That is why the political representatives of big business now presume to again take over in the interests of their masters, the owners. Monopoly is staging a come-back. That's all the so-called and mis-named second American revolution is about. The second real revolution is still to come. The signs of its eventual coming are seen in the news headline about our Washington slums. They are only typical —just a little more glaring because they are in our national capital. But ugly profit monopoly surely could not be presumed to have any sense of the appropriateness of the beauty of things. To own slums in the national capital is good business-for- profits—if not for the people. The political government in Washington is pre sumed to represent the people—as it does not today—while big business is pre sumed to represent profits—as it does. When the real second American revolution comes—the economic one—then the people will not only be represented by democratic political leaders of their own choosing, but by cooperative economic leaders of their own choosing as well. Speed the day ! And may it be peaceful ! RIDE THE PUBLICITY WAVES! The way to get real publicity for any program is to ride the waves of popular discussion. That's what the Consumers' Cooperative Movement did in 1934 to 1936, when it received the compliment of having gotten a million dollars worth of free publicity and of having done the best publicity job of any national organ ization. The organization of hundreds of successful cooperatives followed. We rode into the limelight on the wave of unemployment, which was on everyone's mind and in everyone's mouth. Now we are beginning to ride still higher waves. The present publicity wave for Consumers' Cooperatives, which is rolling up, is riding on the current dis cussions about, first, national inflation, and second, international reconstruction, and will ride the third wave of the hundredth anniversary of the Movement in 1944. Talk it up! Consumers' Cooperatives are the answer to national inflation—deflation. Consumers' Cooperatives are the answer to international reconstruction. Consumers' Cooperatives are celebrating their 100th anniversary which proves that the idea is sound. 98 Consumers' Cooperation juu 1943 Let's go, everybody! And don't be afraid! Let's express some of that divine impatience we all have in our systems. One moral: we don't need a high-powered deceptive publicity agent like profit business uses. We are all publicity agents of cooperative truth, if we will all speak up and out ! THE WAY TO POLITICAL PEACE IS THROUGH ECONOMIC COOPERATION The famous George Russell, poet-cooperator of Ireland, of which we need a duplicate so badly in the United States, said that "The light out of heaven is not vouchsafed to groups, but only to individuals." In Biblical language, it was not a group of people, but an individual, who was struck by lightning on the Road to Damascus. Just so it is today and always will be. True conversion does not take place in mass meetings or by masses. Such conversions are froth and the foam vanishes quickly. Of what is all this apropos ? A simple truth. That the thing that must happen, and be repeated over and over again, is for individuals to reject their social sins of profit-competition and start building new lives as followers of cooperative- service. I won't compete—I will cooperate—is the mental and physical process simplified. Then, after one has become converted to non-violent economic cooperation, then and then only will one be ready to quit fighting as a political citizen. From economic competition, to economic cooperation, to political peace, is the road to the Promised Land. WALL STREET WARRIORS IN WASHINGTON It's high time that we Americans brought the Rochdale principle of political neutrality up to date, as the Swedes brought all the principles up to date twenty years ago. Otherwise we will probably lose out in time—and not long hence. Sure, we are a politically neutral group and will continue to be. But what does political neutrality really mean? Does it mean keeping respectfully silent while Wall Street steals our government from us, and throws us into an American brand of Fascism ? Well, not for this editor, at least. I will not discuss politics from the standpoint of whether one is a tweedle-dee this or a tweedle-dum that. Each of us has our individual right as cooperators to choose what political party we vote for and support. But to confuse policies with politics, and fail to discuss policies is, to me, social treason, so long as I have a voice and a typewriter. Shall we be silent when Knox admits that he "muffed it" in signing the contract, as he testified before a Congressional Committee investigating the Standard Oil-Navy lease, which smells like the fumes from another Teapot Dome? Shall we be silent when the story comes out of Wall Street of corporation shareholders arid others reaching out into the agricultural State of South Dakota (which the farmers could control in their own interest as consumer-citizens if they would get together economically and politically) and contributing to the campaign fund of a Senator? Such contributions are reported as having been made by share holders of Dupont, of Sun Oil, of General Motors, and the Chicago Tribune. How do you cooperators of South Dakota like it for them to determine your Senator for you ? And the same thing goes on in other States. Shall we be silent when Barney Baruch is announced as an advisor to Byrnes, as he has been to every President since Wilson ? Are we political mice or coopéra - 99 tive men when we see a cartoon in the Washington Star of Justice Byrnes, sitting on the ground at the feet of Baruch who is clothed in ancient righteous robes of justice, or a cartoon in the Chicago Tribune showing Baruch as a Park Bench Oracle surrounded by political lackeys? He is described by Time as an "elder statesman." God save the mark ! True statesmen are those "elected" by an economically intelli gent people to represent them and not "selected" by Wall Street to represent it in Washington. Those who would question such a statement should study, if they can dig up the hidden facts, as to how it happened that two so-called Baruch men, in the persons of General Johnson and George Peek, were chosen to head the NRA and the AAA, or to control industry and agriculture respectively. It might be illuminating. Must we hush-hush, because of our political neutrality ? Must "we hush-hush because of national unity ? Must we ? Really ! Then goodby to the political democ racy we have and the economic democracy we hope to have, as we blindly fly towards our fascist fate, as moths fly toward a burning candle. COOPERATIVE LEAGUE DIRECTORS MEETING OPENS WITH POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY Disclaiming any pretense of being a poet or a philosopher, the president and secretary of The Cooperative League respectively proceeded to open their reports to the recent Board meeting with poetical and philosophical quotations. Seldom does the Board have such an opportunity, and perhaps never again, even though they seem to have enjoyed the experience. President Lincoln's poetical contribution was "The People," by Tomasso Campanelle, whose life spanned the years from 1568 to 1639. "The people is a beast of muddy brain That knows not its own strength, and therefore stands Loaded with wood and stone; the powerless hands Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein; One kick would be enough to break the chain; But the beast fears, and what the child demands It does; nor its own terror understands, Confused and stupefied by bugbears vain. "Most wonderful! With its own hands it ties And gags itself—gives itself death and war For pence doled out by kings from its own store. Its own are all things between earth and heaven ; But this it knows not ; and if one arise To tell this truth, it kills him unforgiven." 100 Consumers' Cooperation Secretary Bowen's philosophical contribution was from an autobiography by Eric Gill, an artist who died in 1940, and whose life extended the philosophies of former artists, John Ruskin and William Morris, into today's mad world. "All capitalism really is ... is a scheme for making chickens lay more eggs than they had inside them. In the hope of increasing your product beyond human limits, you borrow money (from some robber) and employ some wage slaves. Then you have not only to pay their wages, and your own salary for looking after them (and naturally they won't want to do more work than they can help), but also interest on the money you've borrowed (or a share of your takings). You can only go on doing this as long as the people who buy whatever it is you turn out or produce (you can't call it "making") do not see that your eggs, for example, are becoming more and more sterile and diseased and, in fact, are not really there at all, but only a more or less fraudulent imitation. "We live in a world which is ruled by men of business, and ruled therefore according to business men's notions of what is good. This is a simple fact and it seems to me, and to the few who think likewise, that it is an insufferably monstrous, iniquitous and vile state of affairs. "We place those who have successfully amassed money in the highest seats of government and give honour to the rich as to the saints of God1. Do I exaggerate? No words that the most eloquent could write could make this enormity more enormous than it is. Hence it is that we must go down into the dust disgraced and infamous, with no monument to our prowess but the filthiness of our cheap idols; for even our idols are filthy, having no reason for existence but the money profit of those who sold them. "The man of business, as such, is a parasite. In the nature of things there is no reason for his existence. There is no reason whatever why there should be any men of business at all. But, be that as it may (and any civilization can endure a certain small proportion of pimps and thieves without succumbing —just as a man can endure a few warts and spots on his body without dying) what is truly monstrous and disruptive and corrupting to our life and virtue is that such persons should be our rulers—that they should have usurped the seats of kings, that their hideous teaching should have replaced the Gospel. That is what is unendurable; that is what is unforgivable; that is what God will neither endure nor forgive." In addition, the Secretary prefaced his report with the statement that "What we need1 to do in America is to put a new crack in the Liberty Bell—made by ring ing out the news of economic freedom, as the first crack was made by ringing out the news of political freedom." SIGNS OF "THE MARCH OF FASCISM" IN AMERICA Those who were privileged to hear him will never forget the address of Stephen Raushenbush, author of "The March of Fascism" on the same subject before the delegates to the 1940 Congress of the Cooperative League. All too many of the same tragic steps he described, about the blind march of the people to their doom in other countries, are being reproduced in America today. The principal single sign of the march is the "buddying-up" of industrial and farm leaders against labor. Every time I see an official of a farm organization and an industrial organization on a platform, not only arm in arm but with arms around one an- July, 1943 101 other, as I have done more than once, I cringe for the common people on the farm and in the factory. They have something coming to them, of which they are largely unaware, in such a gesture of other-worldly brotherliness on the part of a farm and an industrial leader. "We are all brothers under the skin." Yes, finance and industry are, and farmers and workers are. But when monopolistic finance and industry lie down with dispossessed farmers and workers, it is a case of the lion and lamb lying down together, and today the lamb had better look out or he will lose some of his vital organs, as he has already lost his wool shirt. THE "DEFECTIVE" PROFIT-DEBT SYSTEM Some of the "defects" of the profit system are being exposed even though the war is still on, and we need unity so badly that we attempt to cover up the truth. For example: Manufacturers can still refuse to tell consumers what's in the can behind the high-sounding advertising label. They won out behind the lines in an OPA battle to save this "defect" of the profit system. Did we not hear something about ship plates having been found "defective" as a result of an attempt to make more profits ? And now the news leaks out that attempts have been made to sell "defective" cartridges for profit to the Russian, Chinese and French governments. Also profit-minded banking and business leaders protest against the govern ment's taking their "seed" money in taxes, and thereby put the government into greater debt. But this is only natural, as 'debt is on the opposite side of the coin of profit. But why should one imagine that a leopard can change its spots, or that profits are "patriotic" ? The profit system is by its nature "defective." So why should not its products be "defective" ? The means and the end are always the same. WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT—AN EDUCATIONAL OR A COMMODITY MAN? We hasten to answer—neither—lest we start a violent debate. A decade ago there was only one regional department head with the title of Educational Director, though every regional had a Commodity Manager. Today every large regional has both Educational and Commodity Department Heads. Five years ago there was no regional which had district Educational Fieldmen, though every regional had Commodity Fieldmen. Today five regionals have both Educational and Commodity Fieldmen, and others intend to follow suit. A new educational phenomenon has now appeared in the person of local Educational Men—and don't overlook Educational Women as well. Ohio brought twenty-five or more of such local employees to the National Staff Conference just held at Lake Geneva, which will be reported on in a Special Staff Issue in August. Whet your appetite for some real educational organization news. And to make your appetite all the more watery, there was a discussion at one regional annual meeting by the delegates as to whether they could not eliminate the Commodity Fieldmen—but never a word' about eliminating the Educational Fieldmen. Commodity Fieldmen, look out for your ration books! Education may have a real priority over commodities in cooperatives in time—as it, of course, always should have. But it is not "more" important—just of "prior" importance. WHEN AND WHY DO POLITICAL GOVERNMENTS CHANGE? It is well for cooperators to remember the simple fact that economics rules politics. As a result of the economic depression of 1912, we changed from a political tweedle-dum President to a tweedle-dee President. As a result of the economic depression of 1920, we changed from the tweedle-dee political President to a tweedle-dum President. As a result of the economic depression of 1929, we changed back from the tweedle-dum political President to a tweedle-dee President. As a result of the next economic depression, when it comes, we will again change from the tweedle-dee political President to a tweedle-düm President. You can fill in the names of the political parties — the editor is neutral. And so what? This will go on and on until at long last we organize enough cooperatives so that people vote their consumer interests both economically and politically. Then it will be too bad for the tweedle-dees and the tweedle-dums — but it will be good for the people — as Justice Brandeis once suggested. COVERING UP THE PROFITS As though "profit" business needed any new lessons in the art of covering up the truth by setting up reserves, by splitting up its shares and by other even less devious methods, the NAM suggests in a booklet that it might be well to do a still better job. Advertising publications, like Colliers, then follow the leader and sound off on the same note, by declaring that 40 leading companies now engaged mainly in war production made only a little over 4% in 1942 — "a modest margin in either peace or war." But 4% on what ? That's the $64 question. 4% profit on investment, you would naturally assume, since that is the way business figures its profits. But no! 4% profit "on sales." These are the weasel words you should note — and which few people probably will. There's a difference — and a mighty big one! Did anyone ask how much their investments should be multiplied by to equal ir sales? When you find out, use the same figure to multil 4 b, and ou ther saes en you will be surprised — and even "after taxes." INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES vs. GENERAL AVERAGES AS THE FOUNDATIONS FOR CONCLUSIONS We all reach wrong judgments when we either draw general conclusions from individual instances or make dogmatic conclusions about individual situations from general averages. "It is quite true," said the War Labor Board of the percentages by which it undertook to prove to the miners that they were well off, "that these figures are statistical averages without much appeal to the individual worker who has diffi culty in making both ends meet." Nevertheless, said the board, the averages were true. It was also true that individual miners were suffering from too low pay in the mines and too high prices in company stores, both of which are determined by the mine owners. The reconciling of general statistical averages showing that there is no need for pay increases with individual suffering from too high prices and too low wages, is not easy. But we cooperators do not need to draw false conclusions from either. That, at least, we should do as a part of our responsibility as consumers, who are the common denominator of producers' groups. 102 Consumers' Cooperation July, 1943 103 LISTEN! THINK! ACT! When you listen to "Information, Please" you are compelled to listen to Heinz commercials—then you should go right on thinking about the Maxon Ad vertising Agency which handles the Heinz account—then on about Maxon, the OPA Assistant whom Brown brought in—then on about the breakdown of grade labeling under Maxon's direction—then on about the $10 tips which Wmcnell reports Maxon gives to hatgirls—then on about the rationed goods which the United Automobile Workers charged were being delivered to the Maxon Agency s summer camp—and then on ad infinitum to the simple conclusion that the profit system rules American economic and political life—and then on to the right kind of swearing to do more about it. PAY ONCE OR PAY THRICE FOR THE WAR In resigning as Food Administrator, Chester Davis said in his letter to the President, among other things: "I do not believe such subsidies will be effective in controlling inflation unless they are accompanied here, as they are in England, by current tax and savings programs that drain off excess buying power and by tight control and management of the food supply." The President, in his reply to Davis, expressed his agreement in these words: "I agree with you that we cannot fully or effectively enforce our price or rationing programs or fully or effectively stabilize the cost of living without an adequate tax savings program to drain off excess purchasing power." Note that they both agreed that more income taxes was the vital necessity underneath price controls. . That is what we have been trying to say ever since the war started in 1939. In "Facts about War Debts and Taxes" (Price 10c, read it) we showed six posi tions of a moving chart we made to illustrate how to prevent inflation and deflation. We can either pay ONCE NOW for the war in TAXES NOW—or we can pay THRICE LATER in INFLATED PRICES, INTEREST ON BONDS, and finally in TAXES. . Take Your Choice! Will you, as a consumer, help to educate America to pay ONCE NOW in TAXES? A ROBIN CO-OP "Believe it or not" it's true, that in the Glenview Co-op Community, the birds have begun to follow the example of the people, and have organized their own "Robin Co-op." When one mother robin had completed her motherly duties by cheerio-ing her brood of babies off the nest she had built, and had led them out into the warm co-op world around, another mother robin took over and re- lined the co-op nest and is now raising a second crop of co-op baby robins which will soon be old enough to become active co-op members themselves. Thus does the example of cooperation spread in cooperative housing projects, even to the animals. They become quite tame, as do the people. There are signs that cooperation is about to spread to the thrashers and the grosbeaks, about which we may report in time. As Dr Allée president of the Zoological section of the American Association of Science ' indicated in a previous issue of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION "Cooperation is natural in both the animal and the human world." AU that is needed is for animals and humans to act cooperatively according to their nature. FOUR GREAT STEPS IN CO-OP HISTORY (Wallace J. Campbell, Publicity Director of the Cooperative League interviews E. R. Bowen, General Secretary, at the conclusion of the Directors' meeting on June 24-25, 1943.) MR. CAMPBELL: Will you please sum marize for the half million dues pay ing members of the Cooperative League the highlights of the Directors' meet ing which has just concluded ? MR. BOWEN : I think, Mr. Campbell, that as we crystallize in our mind's the high lights, we will all find that they were the brightest that ever shone at any meeting which we have attended. In other words, I think that time will prove that this meeting was the most constructive in the last ten years of history of the Cooperative League. MR. CAMPBELL: That is a very strong statement and when supported by the data would surely be a most interest ing story for all of our members to read and would justify a far more com plete account than we have been ac customed to making in our short sum maries in the League News Service. Won't you please elaborate on your statement. MR. BOWEN: Well, Mr. Campbell, you and I have been employees of the Co operative League almost the same length of time—I am only about six months older than you. We have seen many important events take place dur ing the past decade of our employ ment. I submit to your judgment as to whether what we have just witnessed at the Directors' meeting does not justify my broad statement. MR. CAMPBELL: Well, shall we start? MR. BOWEN : Why not ? I should say that the report by Mr. Lincoln, president of the League, on the United Nations Howard Cowden—"The Reconstruction Committee has presented to Governor Lehman a proposed program of cooperative relief and reconstruction." 104 Consumers' Cooperation July, 1943 105 Murray D. Lincoln—"The State Department was worried that the Food Conference might become a Co-op Conference." Conference on Food Production, of which he was the only civilian member appointed by the President of the United States, and which was the greatest public honor ever accorded an official of the League, was the No. 1 highlight which our members would wish to know about. In his report, Mr. Lincoln recounted how the sowing of the seeds of Coop eration into the conversations of the delegates eventually resulted in such intense interest that he extended an invitation to those who wished to do so to attend a special cooperative din ner which proved to be so popular that it almost broke up the general meeting and had the State Department worried lest the Conference swing over to a Cooperative Conference in its discus sions. He also recounted the inside facts as to how the ban on reporters was broken as a result of his having talked to one, who then brought to- 106 gether two others and the three with Mr. Lincoln agreed on procedures and by phoning to the powers-that-be in Washington succeeded in breaking the ban, as has been credited to him by the Editor and Publisher. Mr. Lincoln concluded by saying that apparently the people of the world are ready for eco nomic cooperation, if and when the political rulers will permit them to act. MR. CAMPBELL: Well, that was a real highlight. And what more? You said there were several. MR. BOWEN: Second, I would place the adoption by the Directors of the Code of By-Laws of the National Coopera tive Finance Association and election of temporary officers by the Directors, who are the same Directors and the same officers as those of the League. It will be recorded that, when Mr. Green, chairman of the Directors Fi nance Committee, moved the adoption E. R. Bowen—"/ recommend a double-democratic controlled organization of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement." Perry Green—"/ move the adoption of the By-Laws of the National Cooperative Finance Association." of the By-Laws, which motion was unanimously passed, it brought to con clusion a most important series of dem ocratic discussions over the course of several years as to how best to begin to enter into the cooperative finance field. Mr. Green is to be highly com plimented on having piloted the dis cussion smoothly to a successful con clusion. As a result, we now have three incorporated national bodies covering the three fields of Education, Finance and Business, in the Cooperative League, the Cooperative Finance Asso ciation, and National Cooperatives. MR. CAMPBELL: This story gets more significant all the time. What next? MR. BOWEN: Well, anticipating the probable conclusion of the long dis cussion to launch the Finance Associa tion, and realizing that that would bring into sharp focus at once the ques tion of the coordination of the three national bodies, the General Secretary had prepared a large blow-up chart, Consumers' Cooperation July, 1943 based on first hand analysis of the functional organization of Cooperatives in the European countries as well as the regional organizations in the United States, which was the culmina tion of eight organizational charts that he had presented over the course of the past decade. He recommended, in brief, a double-democratic control of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the form of a policy control by all the members of all three national bod ies through a Congress which would elect an over-all policy making Board of Directors, and an operating control of each of the three national bodies through those who became members of each with separate operating Boards of Directors. This, the General Secre tary said in substance he believed of fered a superior type of organization of any in the world because of the double-democratic control feature. The presentation of the matter evoked in tense interest and discussion which crystallized the recommendations and 107 Ir extended them still further into a large degree of unanimity of opinion. In the end the matter was referred to the Con stitutional Committee which is charged with bringing a revised constitution be fore the delegates of the 1944 Congress. MR. CAMPBELL : This would take my hat off, if I wore one. I am glad to have had the opportunity to sit in on such an historic cooperative event. And were there any more highlights beyond these three of such great importance? MR. BOWEN: Yes, there was another, I should say, that would be of interest to our members generally. It was the report by Mr. Cowden, chair man of the Reconstruction Committee, of the progress made thus far by the Committee. The structural organiza tion of the Committee was first re ported on, after which the Directors approved the recommendations of the Committee to appoint an Advisory Council made up of representatives of the various world-wide divisions. Mt. Cowden then presented to the Direc tors a detailed report as well as copies of charts and statistics which the Com mittee had submitted to Mr. Lehman,1 chairman of the Relief and Reconstruc tion Commission, showing the organ ization of cooperatives in European countries before the war and urging their rehabilitation and use in the dis tribution of relief. MR. CAMPBELL: This makes the greatest story it has been my privilege to handle. MR. BOWEN: You are right. This time, do you not think it might be wise to illustrate these highlights with action pictures? How about it? MR. CAMPBELL: I should say so, and •with banner headlines. It's a great story. UNITED NATIONS FOOD CONFERENCE RECOMMENDS CO-OPS TO CUT FOOD COSTS THE United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture at Hot Springs, Virginia proved conclusively that men •want to work together and can work to gether to accomplish a common purpose, Murray D. Lincoln, president of The Cooperative League of the USA and one of six U.S. delegates to the conference, reported on his way back to Columbus. The conference, in developing a report on food and nutrition standards and in presenting plans for the establishment of a permanent conference body established a goal towards which the world must strive and created machinery to facilitate progress toward that goal, Mr. Lincoln pointed out. Among the many important recommendations of the conference was one on cooperatives presented by the section on "Expansion of Production and Adaptation to Consumption Needs" and adopted by the food conference as a 108 •whole. The statement on cooperatives is as follows: WHEREAS: 1. The cooperative movement has been of very great importance in many countries, both to urban and rural pop ulations, especially in agricultural dis tricts where farming is based on small units and in urban areas of low-income families; 2. The proper functioning of coop erative societies may facilitate adjust ments of agricultural production and distribution, as members have confi dence in the recommendations and guidance of their own cooperative or ganizations, which they know operate in the interest of their members and of society in general; 3. The democratic control and edu cational programs, which are features of the cooperative movement, can pky a vital part in the training of good democratic citizens, and assist in in ducing a sound conception of economic matters ; THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON FOOD AND AGRICULTURE RECOM MENDS: 1. That, in order to make it pos sible for people to help themselves in lowering costs of production and costs of distribution and marketing: (a) All countries study the possi bilities of the further establish ment of producer and consumer cooperative societies in order to render necessary production, marketing, purchasing, finance, and other services; (b) Each nation examine its laws, regulations, and institutions to determine if legal or institution al obstacles to cooperative de velopment exist, in order to make desirable adjustments; (c) Full information as to the pres ent development of cooperatives in different countries be made available through the perma nent international organization recommended in resolution 11. Thirty delegates of the United Nations Food Conference from twenty-two na tions attended an informal dinner to discuss cooperatives May 28. Murray D. Lincoln, president of The Cooperative League was host at the informal dinner. He told the other delegates, many of •whom are associated with cooperatives in their own countries, that "although the cooperatives in the U.S. are smaller than they are in Great Britain, Sweden and many other countries, that several million U.S. families are now members of con sumer and marketing cooperatives which are bringing economic democracy to the people" and he predicted that the day would come soon when "cooperatives in my country will trade directly with co operatives in your country to make more goods available to more people with less profits." Delegates discussed a proposal which would urge the creation of a special section on cooperatives in the interna tional food organization which is ex pected to grow out of the United Nations Food Conference. Mr. Lincoln came from the conference with great confidence in the future and greater enthusiasm for the future of co operative effort. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION GIVEN CO-OPS IN NEW BLAZE OF PUBLICITY THE spotlight of public attention has been focused on the cooperatives na tionally and internationally in the last few months in a manner unprecedented in U.S. co-op history. More newspaper and magazine space, radio time and pub lic discussion has been devoted to coop eratives than ever before. An important part of this publicity has grown out of recognition of the cooperative movement in both national and international spheres. The United Nations Food Conference at its closing session at Hot Springs, Vir ginia, June 3, recommended to the United Consumers' Cooperation M' 1943 Wallace J. Campbell Nations governments throughout the world that they encourage the organiza tion of consumer and marketing coop eratives as an important way of cutting the cost of food production and distribu tion. Co-ops at the Food Conference Murray D. Lincoln, president of the Cooperative League of the USA and one of the six-man delegation to the Food Conference from the United States, held an informal dinner for delegates at the conference interested in the cooperative movement. Thirty delegates from twenty- 109 two countries took part in the discussion and expressed keen interest in the estab lishment of a continuing body to for ward the work of cooperatives through out the world. Mr. Lincoln's appointment to the United Nations Food Conference brought editorial comment in The Nation, New Republic, Common Sense, and Common weal. The New York Post devoted a full- page picture story to Mr. Lincoln and his work with the cooperatives. Feature stories appeared in the Boston Globe and several other papers. The Associated Press carried several stories on the conference to papers throughout the United States. A particularly long AP story was devoted to the results of the cooperative dinner. Radio commentators, both on the scene and nationally, commented on the coop eratives' part in the Food Conference. Editor and Publisher, trade journal for the publication field, gave Lincoln credit for having opened the Food Conference to the press through his intervention at the White House. Canadian Parliament Hearings A special Committee on Post-War Re construction of the Canadian Parliament held a two-day meeting on cooperatives May 11 and 12 during which Dr. M. M. Coady of St. Francis Xavier University, Mr. W. C. Good, president of the Coop erative Union of Cana'da, and H. L. Fowler, manager of Consumers Coopera tive Refineries, Regina, presented the case for cooperatives. In addition to the recog nition of the parliamentary hearing, which in itself was a feather in the co operative hat, the hearings brought wide spread publicity throughout Canada and the United States. Post-War Reconstruction The Cooperative League's Committee on International Cooperative Reconstruc tion has hit the headlines in several im portant U.S. publications, particularly the Christian Science Monitor, St. Louis Post Dispatch, New York Times, and New York Post. Howard Cowden, chairman of the Committee, made a 110 nation-wide broadcast over the Colum bia Broadcasting Network, May 31. The Committee is working with the Leh man committee on Post-War Reconstruc tion and Rehabilitation on a program for use of cooperatives in post-war recon struction. Fortune Magazine issued a special sup plement on "The United States in a New World—No. 4: Relations with Europe," in which the editors of Fortune recom mended the use of cooperatives as the fairest possible means of taking over Nazi held property at the close of the war. Free World Magazine devoted fifteen pages in its April issue to a round table discussion of cooperatives and post-war reconstruction. Participating in the round table were Dr. James P. Warbasse, presi dent emeritus of the Cooperative League, as chairman; Wallace J. Campbell, As sistant Secretary of the Cooperative League; Dr. James Drury, Professor of Marketing at New York University; Mr. Shih-Chi Hu, General Secretary of the Cooperative League of China and Vice- Président of the National Cooperative Training Institute of the Chinese Ministry of Social Affairs; Lionel Perkins, Regis trar of the Rochdale Institute, who stud ied the Cooperative Movement in Eng land ; Dr. Kinn Wei Shaw, President of the China Institute of Industry and Com merce and Secretary-General of the Chi nese American Institute of Cultural Re lations; O. S. Sindelka, Field Secretary of the Rochdale Institute and Editor of Rochdale Cooperator; Johann J. Smer- tenko, member of the international edi torial board of Free World; and Dr. Maurice William, whose book, "The Social Interpretation of History," has im measurably effected the political and eco nomic development of China through its influence on Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese republic. Sweden in the Spotlight Cooperatives in Sweden under wartime conditions drew the attention of six crack U.S. correspondents who toured Sweden in the last month and cabled their stories to U.S. newspapers and syndicates. Ray mond Clapper, who does a syndicated col umn for the Scripps-Howard papers, gave i credit to the Swedish cooperatives for J having eliminated the black markets in Sweden. Marquis W. Childs in a syndi- Icated column for the Chicago Sun, New York Herald Tribune, and the Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate, devoted an entire feature article to the cooperatives and pointed out in a preced ing dispatch that the cooperatives were one of the most important factors in lighting against complete freezing of the Swedish economy under government re strictions. Charles Gratke, foreign editor of the Christian Science Monitor, devoted kis front page dispatch to the coopera tives and their battle against growing cartelization in Sweden. He concluded with a statement that the cooperatives are playing a major role in reminding free Enterprise that its role in life is to main- tiin a free economy. The New York Times devoted a full column to plans for Cooperatives for post- Mr reconstruction. It also gave important place to stories on Shih-Chi Hu and his appraisal of the U.S. cooperatives, to the Eastern Co-op Wholesale Annual Meet ing, and to the speech of Jerry Voorhis it the recent northeastern conference of fte Farm Bureau Federation. Roll, Presses, Roll!!! Sylvia Porter, financial editor of the (few York Post; devoted two columns to fe progress of the petroleum co-ops in wing back into the field of production. New York's afternoon newspaper, PM, tos consistently devoted space to the co operatives and topped its record on June 13 with a two-page story on "Coopera tives in New York City." "Food, Jeeps, and Co-ops," by Bertram Fowler, was the lead article in the June »sue of Common Sense. Colliers Maga- me, of May 29, carried a story by J. Henry Carpenter on the Chinese indus- liial cooperatives. The Christian Herald Consumers' Cooperation Hf' 1943 carried an even fuller article by Dr. Car penter in its June issue. Most important summary of the U.S. cooperative development in the last few months appeared in Business Week, which devoted a two-page story to the growth of cooperatives, basing its report on the annual meeting of National Co operatives. Dr. M. M. Coady's trip to the Eastern Cooperative Wholesale's annual meeting was greeted with a full column story in the New York Herald Tribune and a full page feature story scheduled for appear ance soon in the New York Post. Dr. Michael Shadid was the subject of a full column interview in the newspaper PM at the time of the luncheon in his honor in New York in May. Business Looks to Co-ops Roger Babson, noted economist, de clared in his recent news letter: "Cooperative production and dis tribution continue to grow even un der war-restricted economy. Look for rapid development of cooperatives after the war along lines that may bring producer and consumer closer together than ever before." Oilgrams, a special news service of the W. C. Platt Company, devoted nearly a column to the cooperative trend into the purchase of refineries, in an issue May 17. This brings to mind a kind of recogni tion which can't fall into the classification of publicity. The Standard Oil Company has put its researchers in the field to find out the growth and extent of U.S. co-ops in the oil business in recent years. The Curtis Publishing Co., publishers of the Saturday Evening Post and other publi cations has just made a survey of U.S. Co-ops available to its advertising clients. These are but a few of the articles, news stories, and broadcasts which have grown out of increased recognition of cooperation as one of the important fac tors in a wartime economy scheduled to play an important part in the post-war world. Ill EASTERN COOPERATIVE RECREATION SCHOOL The third annual Eastern Cooperative Recreation School will be held August 14 to 22 at New York University Camp, Sloatsburg, New York. Most of the time will be spent "learning by doing" in the fields of games, design and crafts, dramatics, group singing, instrumental music, and folk dancing. There will also be discussion of leadership techniques, of what makes a group tick, and the kind of organization and leadership which help a group to be harmonious and creative. Chester L. Bower, assistant professor of Group Work, Western Reserve Uni versity, will lead the discussions on lead ership techniques and group organization, and will be in charge of group singing and instrumental music. Others on the staff include James and Ruth Norris, Ger trude Corfman, Jack Stein-Bugler, Ellen Linson, and Elsie Sexton all of whom have been students or staff members of the National and former Eastern Coopera tive Recreation Schools. The cost for the nine days—the first meal is Saturday lunch, August 14, the last meal, Sunday dinner, August 22 — will be approximately $30 for room, board and tuition. For further informa tion or registration write to Ruth Norris, Eastern Cooperative League, 44 West 143rd Street, New York 30, N. Y. BOOK REVIEW OF THE MONTH NOVA SCOTIA — LAND OF COOPERATORS — Sheed & Ward. 207 pages. Co-op Edition, $1.00. Available through The Cooperative League, 167 West 12th Street, New York 11, N. Y. Father Leo Ward, during his numerous visits to Nova Scotia, has succeeded in grasping and presenting to us in dramatic fashion the spirit of the "little people" of that picturesque but poor country, who have made the cooperative movement a workable philosophy in their every day living. We have met before, in various books and pamphlets, the leaders of the "Antigonish Movement" and the names of Coady, Tomp- kins, Maclntyre and the various MacDonalds have become synonymous in our minds with the cooperative movement. We have even ex perienced a friendly feeling of warmth for the lobsters of various sizes that have figured so prominently in this great saga of cooperation. But not until now have we been taken into the homes, invited to sit down, drink tea and talk with the people about the cooperative movement and listen to the story of how it changed the lives of the thousands of people living in the Maritime Provinces. Father Ward is a man to avoid if you would prefer to keep your philosophy of life a "deep dark secret." He has a way of drawing people out, making them lose their self-consciousness —and talk. In "Nova Scotia—'Land of Coopera- tors," he relates for us in detail what he saw and heard as he went around the country, talking with individual people, attending meetings and visiting the homes of cooperators. He himself 112 does very little talking, making only an occa sional remark as a "lead-on" for further dis cussion. His ability to observe and "take-in" the characteristics of people is unique. Ed Power and old Ben Marchand, Johnny and Jean LeClari, The Labens and Curries and the others to whom he has so fittingly dedicated the book, are not just names to the reader. They live and talk and are very real indeed. The reader will come to know them well. He will converse with them and will be told in their simple phrasing that cooperation in Nova Scotia does not mean merely stores and credit unions and lobster canneries, that it means learning to work, to live with and for one's neighbor; or as one good cooperator phrased it, "The man who is good only for himself is no good" and another "This cooperation is kinda on God's side." This book hits a new high in human interest appeal. Following the pattern of the lobster which moves forward by going backward, Father Ward begins his story in New Brunswick and traces the cooperative movement to its source of inspiration at St. Francis Xavier University. During our tour through New Brunswick we are constantly being prepared for what we are to see and hear in Nova Scotia and we do a mental act of stepping on the gas as we hear more and more exciting stories of what has happened there. All of us who have heard and read about the Nova Scotia cooperative movement have wondered what makes it "tick." Here is the answer—the people. —MARY MACMILLAN Consumers' Cooperation *- • '•••**' Cohege Camp, Lake Geneva, Wise, site of the 1943 Co-op National Staff Conferences. e • / ^j^etYat r 1943 CO-OP STAFF CONFERENCES ISSUE NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS PREPARE FOR THE CENTENNIAL! The 1944 Centennial Celebration of 100 years of consumer co operation presents the world-wide cooperative movement with its greatest opportunity and its greatest challenge. This is our chance to tell the world about cooperatives and the part they can and must play in the postwar world. To get a total, nationwide picture of the plans for the Centennial as they develop, to prepare to play your part to the best of your ability next year, you should read every issue of CONSUMERS COOPERATION, the national magazine for cooperative .leaders. If your subscription is expiring, renew it today. Introduce a fellow cooperator to CONSUMERS COOPERATION. Price #1 a year, 27 months for $2. THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 60S South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Name Address Publication Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Farm Bureau Services Farmers' Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League Southern California Cooperators United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 15 3 5 S. Peoria St., Chicago The Co-op News 27 Coenties_Slip, i\.^ .(_. Headers Observer Cooperative Consumer The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defender N. Kansas City, Mo. Amarillo, Texas 13 Astor Place, N.Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 44 West 143rd Street New York 30, N. Y. Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Lansing, Michigan St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. Box 2000, Superior, Wise. Review The Recreation Kit The Cooperator The Cooperator Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Carrollton, Georgia 2462 Lemoran Ave.. Rivera, Cal. Indianapolis, Ind. 227 É. 84th St., N. Y. FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator S. Cal. Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT PEACE • PLENTY • DEMOCRACY Volume XXIX. No. 1943 Ten Cents THE 1943 NATIONAL CO-OP STAFF CONFERENCE Cooperators learn by doing, as most people do. By holding seven previous National Staff Conferences, one each summer, those who have attended have learned a lot. Not only a lot of facts from others, as well as a lot of inspiration, but a lot about how not to and how to hold a conference. As a result, each Conference gets better and better. This year, there was more than the ordinary step-up. The reasons were primarily these: First, since the 1942 Conference there has been added an Educational Director to the national staff who could and did devote a lot of time to the program and the advance preparations and handling of the Conference; Second, the national, regional and local paid staffs have now grown so large in number that the attendance was largely limited to paid staff members which stepped up the quality of the discussions. Third, the number of addresses was limited. Those who spoke were carefully selected. Fourth, time for as many as eight two-hour meetings of each group was pro vided for, if they so desired. Fifth, reports were made by two from each group to the whole Conference: one on national and regional activities and plans, and the other on local programs. Sixth, the latter part of each evening was given over to recreation, singing, dramas, etc. Seventh, the place selected for the Conference was ideal—the George Williams Camp of the YM and YWCA's at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter. December 19. 1917. at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. This Special Issue of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION is given over to con densed summaries of the National Staff Conferences in order that those who were there may have a complete reminder, arid in order that those who were not there may know what the Co-op Staff Members discussed and decided upon. We are sure that every reader will find the summaries stimulating. They are presented in three sections: SECTION ONE: What Co-op Staff Members Are Doing and Planning; SECTION Two: Developing Local Co-op Programs; SECTION THREE: What the Speakers Said. Section 1 WHAT CO-OP STAFF MEMBERS ARE DOING AND PLANNING WHAT CO-OP EDITORS ARE DOING AND PLANNING Erick Kendall, Editor The Cooperative Builder Central Cooperative Wholesale THE development of co-op journalism in America for the past two decades is encouraging—just as encouraging as is the development of the whole Move ment. From three publications with pos sibly 10,000 readers to 20 with a million leaders within the last 13 years is quite an achievement. Editors Fight Co-op Battles 1. They helped collect the fund that put the Movement on a nationwide radio hookup for the first time. 2. Conducted a nationwide protest drive of such proportions that it made the radio industry back down. 3. Conducted one nationwide drive which we lost—the battle against the anti-co-op application of the Guffey Coal Act. 4. In several of the regionals, co-op scribes can take credit for helping to win local battles, such as: a) Railroads' at tempt to outlaw petroleum transport by truck in Minnesota; b) attempt by reac tionaries to repeal the co-op teaching law in Wisconsin ; c) Cooperative Consumers' (CCA) drive for use of grain alcohol in manufacture of synthetic rubber; d) 114 Erick Kendall talks things over with E. R. Bowen Midland Cooperator's and Builders' con stant drive to draw Midland and CCW cooperators into closer working rela tions; e) The Cooperator's (ECW) help in the successful fight against the pro posal in Massachusetts to stifle co-ops by special taxes. Constructive Technical Services We try to interpret the numerous and voliiminuous orders on commodity restric tions. We keep the consumer posted on rationing information. We try to help Mary Modern get wise to the clothing- and-food savings ways of Nanny Nine ties. We try to show her how to mend the old man's breeches and how to make her meager meat ration stretch out to keep her family healthy and strong. Tasteful Desserts with Co-op Meals The semi-monthly and weeklies also have the space and frequency of issue to be able to garnish the calories of educa tion with a little fancy-writing and bet tet technical make-up, so as to make the calories more palatable to the Johnny- Come-Latelies. They can occasionally throw in some out-and-out dessert, such as a good piece of fiction or a human in terest feature that has nothing whatever directly to do with Cooperation. We must sugar-coat the education pill with good make-up, interesting stories, cartoons, and human interest features. If we don't, the patient will cast the pill aside. If we do, he may swallow the pill SOMETIME, even though he may merely lick the sugar coating at MOST servings. We try to do that on the Builder—in (act, our constant ambition is to be the all-in-all paper to every subscriber fam ily. We can't, \of course, make it, but it's a nice goal, and it keeps the scribe on his toes. A Co-op S.E.P. 1 vision a Co-op Saturday Evening Post which would contain no co-op family in side matter — no organization stuff. It would be full of interesting, easy-to-un- derstand, straight-from-the-shoulder con sumer news, fiction, human interest fea tures, etc. Only the advertising slant and, Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 very slightly, the editorial slant, would be pro-cooperative. The Swedish magazine "Vi" has a circulation of 600,000 out of 6,000,000. To tie the Swedes' record, we've got to build a co-op periodical that has 13 mil lion subscribers. "Vi" is not the Swedish Movement's only official organ. For the organization staff, for articles on "cooperation" and general economic subjects" they have "KOOPERATOREN" It is "a forum for the exchange of ideas within the Movement. It is a fortnightly magazine with a circulation of about 15,000 copies, which reach committee members and other officeholders of the Movement. . . ." A Co-op Daily Other long-term publication needs of the American movement include a truly free daily press—free from control by advertisers or producer pressure groups. In other words, a press that would treat news as a commodity, and would control that commodity through co-op consumer ownership, as Paul Greer proposes. Co-op Editors' Next Year's Plans A national rotogravure insert for the coming Rochdale Centennial year will be a four-page tabloid, printed at some cen tral point and shipped in bundles to the various regional papers, for insertion with their regular issues. There will be at least three editions, maybe even 12, and, more dramatic still, the insert may well become a regular thing—it may be the beginning of that national paper that we've been dreaming about. The editors' conference estimated that we will be able to take a printing of about half a million copies, and this should bring the costs of the insert to within reach of every regional paper. An expanded co-op feature service from the League to the regionals, with regional editors helping by interviews of prominent cooperators in each area and syndicated material on home economics and consumer information (for each paper's "Women's Page") are also on the fire. A Washington news service, which 115 would be made self-supporting by sale to liberal political, labor, and coopera tive papers throughout the nation is an other plan. Finally, there is the plan for the na tional technical magazine that will give practical advice to directors, managers and other cooperative executives. So you see that the co-op journalists, or "scribes" have quite a bit up their sleeves for their share of the job of co- operatizing America. WHAT CO-OP EDUCATORS ARE DOING AND PLANNING WE regard our elementary and sec ondary school system as the best in the world. But even in the face of this only 46% of our children complete the first eight grades. We must also re alize that in comparison with other pro fessions our school teachers are very poor ly paid. This means, for the most part, that the best qualified people have been going and will continue to go in the di rection of better paid jobs. We also seem unwilling to spend money for adequately equipping or providing the necessary school buildings. In studying trends on the college edu cational level, we find that only 5.4% of our young people ever go to college and only 4.6% of them ever complete their four-year course. The broad cultural, lib eral arts training has also been abandoned for the duration. President Hutchins of the University of Chicago and others see in this a very grave threat. "How," these men ask, "can the present generation car ry on the traditions of our culture and civilization if this kind of training is now to be denied to them?" In the field of adult education in the last few years, strides have been taken more rapidly than ever before. All kinds of agencies, both private and public, are undertaking training programs for adults. They are going to want to continue to have this privilege after the war. There is also a growing awareness on the part of the colleges that they have a responsibility to educate the people in the 116 C. J. McLanahan Educational Secretary The Cooperative League communities in which they exist. We may presently begin to see the kind of friendly relationship that will make the colleges, especially in smaller towns, something like the folk schools of Sweden and Denmark. Co-op Education and the Schools On the elementary and secondary school levels, very little is being taught di rectly about the cooperative movement. The best teaching about the cooperative movement is that taking place where school cooperatives are in existence. Activity has stepped up of late on the college level, and today we find campus cooperatives in colleges from coast to coast. Not only are students enabled to live more economically while in college, but students engaged in cooperative housing, cooperative eating clubs and other kinds of cooperatives are learning about the cooperative movement. Our Own Co-op Educational Activities In almost all of our regionals there is a well worked out employee training pro gram. These same regional cooperatives have also mapped out a rather compre hensive and complete method of bringing essential information to the members through newspapers, membership meet ings and special mass meetings. When it comes to basic education of the members, however, in a continuous participating program, we have a long distance to travel. Every regional cooperative board of directors should commit itself to an edu cational program. It should follow this commitment by the appointment of an educational committee, and one of the board members, at least, should be on this committee. The first responsibility of this educa tional committee is to help in the organ ization of an educational department if such a department is not already in ex istence. Working through the field staff, is the educational department's first job. The next job is to organize an educational committee in every one of the local co operatives. This committee of three or five members should meet and map out a program for the local community. The regional should be ready to place a WORKBOOK of suggestions in the hands of the educational committees for their guidance. This educational com mittee should be encouraged to develop a sound program built around education, publicity, recreation and relations. Above all, they should be encouraged and helped in the organization of Study-Action groups. A next step in the organization of the local educational program might be the payment of the members of the educa tional committee on the same basis that board members are remunerated. We ought to note the trends of the time, be aware of what is happening on the various educational levels and be ready to adapt our techniques and meth ods for greatest effectiveness. We shouL take steps to see that at least the bare essentials of the cooperative movement are brought before our young people in the elementary and secondary schools. We should see that courses are taught in the colleges. In addition, we should be quick to follow up and aid the present interest in campus cooperatives. On the adult level, our job is unlimited. We must not only educate our present members, but we also have a responsibility to inform the public at large of the advantages which lie in consumers cooperation. In the next year our big job is to organize a fundamental educational program that will convert our members into cooperators at a much more rapid rate. A group relaxes on the shores of Lake Geneva Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 117 WHAT CO-OP RECREATION LEADERS ARE DOING AND PLANNING i i THE importance of training leadership in the field of recreation has been recognized by cooperatives. For the past seven years The Cooperative League has sponsored a two weeks National Coop erative Recreation School which is demo cratically run and entirely financed by the students who attend. Because of the war it was felt advisable to suspend the school this year and to concentrate on regional schools. Regional Recreation Schools These regional schools, usually one week to ten days in length, have aimed to maintain the same basic approach to recre ation and the high quality of material as the National School. The Eastern Coop erative Recreation School was set up in 1941, endorsed by the Eastern Coopera tive League and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association. Twenty- five students attended the first year, forty- three the second year, and prospects look very promising for this year. The Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association sponsored a one-week recreation training school in 1942 attended by fifty-three full time students. Four regional coopera tive associations, Midland, CCA, CCW and CSC cooperated in sponsoring the first Midwest Cooperative Recreation and Education Institute this year which was attended by forty students. The struc ture, methods of financing and relations to regional cooperatives for each of these schools differ but the programs and ap proach to recreation is basically the same. Week-end Conferences Week-end Conferences have been one of the most effective means of creating an interest in group recreation as a part of the cooperative progam and in providing an opportunity for recreation leaders to 118 Wilbur Leatherman, President Ruth Norris, Cooperative Society of Recreational Education meet to exchange experiences and dis cover new material. Such week-ends have been held in all of the various regions. In some cases these have been youth groups; others were reunions of formet students and staff of national and re gional recreation schools; others were stimulators or refreshers for leaders. Helping Other Groups As leadership in cooperative recreation has developed in various sections of the country, other groups have turned to the co-ops for assistance in recreation. This is a recognition of both the quality of the leadership and the type of recreation material. In asking for a recreation leader for three Business and Industrial Confer ences this summer, the National Board of the YWCA said they were turning to the cooperatives because they felt that the cooperatives were the outstanding group in the country providing the type of recreation leadership they wished. Other groups in which cooperative rec reation leaders have helped are: Ameri can Red Cross, New York School of So cial Work, USO centers, Welfare Coun cil of New York, Home Bureau of Il linois, Wisconsin Recreation Lab, Chi cago Community Center, Capital Uni versity Physical Education Department, to name a few. In addition, high schools, church groups, labor unions, settlement houses, Coast Guards, Extension Depart ments, etc. have turned >to the coopera tives for recreation leadership. Play Co-ops The last few years has seen a wide spread development of groups of con sumers organized on a cooperative basis to provide their own recreation. The name "Play Co-op" seems to have caught on to describe this cooperative develop ment. Varying slightly in form and or ganization, there are now Play Co-ops (and there may be others not reported) in New York, Minneapolis, Washing ton, Wilmington, New Haven, Los An geles, Pasadena, Ridgewood and Trenton, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Harrisburg, County Line, Waukesha and Milwaukee. Word has just arrived that Play Co-ops are being organized in the Japanese Relo cation centers. Recreation in Cooperative Groups In addition to groups organized specifi cally to provide recreation, recreation is now an important part of practically every cooperative group—youth groups, study- action groups, guilds, membership meet ings, and annual meetings. At all kinds of educational and busi ness conferences and camps, recreation is becoming an accepted part of the pro gram. Examples of this type are: ECL's Amherst Institute, Pennsylvania's Newton- Hamilton, CSC's Circle Pines Camp, New Jersey Co-op Federation's Lake Shawnee Camp, CCW's Brule Park, CCA's Estes Park camp, Ohio's summer institutes, and Rochdale Institute. Community Recreation Mixers Recreation can be the means of break ing down barriers between the coopera tive arid the rest of the community (which exist in some cases) and in helping to integrate the cooperative way of living as part of the community pattern. In several instances, cooperative recreation groups have taken the leadership in set ting up community recreation programs through either building or "fixing up" an old community hall and making lead ership in all types of recreation available to the community. This is especially true in sections of Minnesota and Wisconsin and is a pattern which all cooperative recreation groups hope to follow. Program for Tomorrow One of the first steps, looking to the future, is the resumption of the National Cooperative Recreation School just as soon as conditions permit. A similar Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 training session might be set up during the winter months to suit the needs of farm people for whom summer is a bad time. In the meantime, regional schools should be organized in more places and oftener. The possibility of an exchange of staff from one regional to another for limited periods for specific occasions such as re gional schools has been suggested. A great deal more time and attention should be given to working with children and young people than has been done in the past. Group play activities can help to make the cooperative way of living a part of the social pattern which children will naturally follow. Cooperative Cultural Living Beyond the immediate future we look toward developing a pattern of coopera tive living in other fields than economic. We would like to put in a plea for this as one of the most important frontiers of the movement and yet as unchartered. Man may live by bread but he does not live for bread. A cooperative economy is essential and each person contributes to it and benefits from it in proportion to his individual ability to do so. Coopera tive art, cooperative culture is also essen tial and it is just as important for each individual to develop along artistic lines to the fullest extent of his capacity as along economic lines. We should devel op them together. We do not agree with the Communists who hold that "Culture, is post revolutionary activity." Our rec reation programs are a start along the long road toward the emergence of an art which will be the expression of co operative human values. New patterns of human relationships require new techniques of artistic ex pression just as they require new tech niques of economic organization. If we turn to old line experts we will get old line techniques that are often not ap plicable to what we want to do. These new techniques will be developed by the people who have the new things to 119 say and who have to say them or bust. The whole history of art abounds with illustrations of this. This will one day happen no matter what we do or what we don't do, but we can save time and detours by a little foresight and preparation of the soil so that it is easy for it to happen. When it comes it will be as different and as much finer than the old line culture (juke boxes, slot machines, double features, soap op eras, plays whose very titles are give aways — "It Pays to Advertise," "Get Rich Quick Wallingford," "The Dough- girls") as cooperative business differs from and is finer than old line business. WHAT CO-OP MERCHANDISING MANAGERS ARE DOING AND PLANNING G. E. Nevins, Chairman National Co-op Sales and Advertising Committee Midland Cooperative Wholesale FROM the standpoint of sales promo tion snd advertising, we have very few problems at present pertaining to the selling of merchandise. Our problem to day and for the past year is like a great many of the larger corporations who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising, to keep our co-op name before the public. We should not go too far in cutting advertising appropriations for the simple reason that even in this Cooperative Movement the public for gets. Not cooperators, but people we should be constantly appealing to to join this movement. We should do institu tional advertising along with advertising on different commodities such as fertilizer, farm machinery, petroleum products. What We Have Been Doing Is Relatively Unimportant By comparison what we have been do ing is relatively unimportant with what we are going to have to do in the post war period. It has been my privilege and pleasure in the past three or four months to go on short research trips to try to determine what our competition is go ing to do. In other words, what the big boys are going to do. There is going to be a lot more com petition after the war with the big boys getting bigger and getting ready to ad vertise more efficiently both from the 120 sales promotion and price angle. The big boys will be getting bigger if the little ones aren't careful—and the co-ops aren't little—but we are going to have to be prepared to do impossible things. We know there are both small and large concerns which have purchased heavily of merchandise and have gotten higher prices for it, but as we go into this next 6-8-month period, there will not be such plentiful amounts of merchandise. Inventories of manufacturers and dealers are being depleted. Everyone is trying to increase efficiency by hiring more women to replace men. In about 50%-60% of the instances they find many of the jobs thought impossible to be held by women are now being done by women more efficiently. Immediate Merchandizing Plans At our sales and advertising committee meeting yesterday and this morning we discussed many joint activities that might be possible. For example, the national calendar and poster service. The commit tee favored the establishment of an Ad vertising Department in National Coop eratives and it was very pleasing to me to hear that the Board had already made appropriations to employ an advertising man. We should analyze our consumer dol lars and on that analysis should determine how to further diversify our program. Obviously when you analyze the dis tribution and spending of the consumer dollar, groceries, for example, run very high. Almost every one of the coopera tives represented have some definite plans for expansion in the grocery program. Another program of expansion will be Building Supplies. Post-War Merchandizing Methods 1 want to give you one illustration as to what we are going to be up against after the war. Gamble Stores say they are go ing to move the future backward. This is a little peculiar statement to make. In other words, they are going back to the Jays when there were the general stores in all large and small cities where people wild go in and buy all types of mer- thandise from clothing to groceries. This gradually changed to where we have the specialized store such as the Super-Gro- ttry Market arid the Super-Drug Store. lut what is going to happen in the fu- lite? We are going back to the gen ial store idea of merchandising. Gambles live money appropriated for ten of these «iper chain stores which will cost an iiiginal outlay of $150,000 each. They are all standard, 250 x 250, full base ment, full first floor and second floor. This type of store is going to survive and will make as much progress in the next year or two in this direction as the efficiency of the automobile. These stores will be so arranged that they can get seeds and fertilizer from the basement, the first floor is a super-market with any thing from peanuts to a bag of flour and the second floor has textiles, work cloth ing, etc. In the Northwest area alone Wards have already spent $2,500,000 in acquiring property, in most instances block sites, purchasing property with three or four buildings, tearing them down and preparing the site for a super market with adequate parking facilities, a super-service station and arranging to have everything taken care of for the shopper when doing business. One thing I hope I can put across here is that what we have done in the past is relatively unimportant, but what we are going to do in the post-war planning period is a lot more important because if we do not make definite plans to meet competitive conditions, I am afraid some of our weaker cooperative associations are going to fall by the wayside. WHAT CO-OP WOMEN ARE DOING UND PLANNING OMEN'S part in building to morrow, now" was the theme i the third meeting of the National /omen's Committee held during the staff inferences at Lake Geneva. "The pur se of the National Women's Commit- is to promote a truly national co-op omen's effort by participation of women cooperative work among all regional ups, whether through organized cups such as guilds or separate women's mmittees," stated Mrs. Armstrong, Consumers' Cooperation 'ugust, 1943 Helmi Lake, Secretary National Co-op Women's Committee Central Cooperative Wholesale chairman, as she called the meeting to order on Tuesday, June 15 at 3:00 p.m. Youth work, efficient communications between all women's groups, publicity of all women's activities, inflation and de flation, representation on price and ra tion boards on local, regional and national levels are important problems in the women's committee program that call for immediate action, the conference decided. First step in the youth projects will be a survey of cooperative youth activities 121 -Jn I'- f VH '&*&&+*•?•'•'• J. ^lA^n^AH^'-e. WHAT CO-OP PERSONNEL DIRECTORS ARE DOING AND PLANNING Carl Eck, Secretary Talking over "Women's part in bulding tomorrow now" at the Lake Geneva Staff Conferences were (left to right) Gladden Haskall, Consumers Coop erative Association; Mrs. Aimer Armstrong, Indiana Farm Bureau Coopera tive Association; Mrs. Ruth Steva, Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa tion; Mrs. Howard Cowden, Consumers Cooperative Association; Dorothy and Elsie Metzler of Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association; and Helmi Lake of Central Cooperative Wholesale. throughout the nation. The Committee will work on nursery-school plan aids and will arrange for reference material from those regional groups that already have Junior groups established. A census of women's activities had been taken, and according to returns received, there are 93 women's guilds, 1189 mixed groups (clubs consisting of a membership of both men and women). Women are also active as shareholders, participate at annual meetings, serve on boards and serve as employees. In the Central States area, there are 23 women cooperative store managers. This conference was a more representa tive meeting than the former ones in the matter of delegates from the different regionals. The respective areas were repre sented as follows : Consumers' Cooperative Association, Mrs. Howard A. Cowden and Miss Gladden Haskell, North Kansas City, Missouri ; Indiana Farm Bureau Co operative Association, Mrs. Aimer Arm strong, Chairman of the Committee, 122. Indianapolis, Indiana; Northern States Co-op Guilds and Clubs, Helmi Lake, Secretary of the Committee, Superior, Wisconsin; Ohio Farm Bureau Coopera tive Association, Mrs. Ruth Steva, St. Mary's Point, Ohio; Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Miss Elsie Metzler, Paradise, Pennsylvania; Central States Cooperatives, Mrs. Julian W. Perkins, Columbus Station, Ohio. The National Women's Committee was first organized at a meeting in Chicago on November 8 and 9, as a result of decision made at the National Co-op Women's Conference in Minneapolis, September 27. A "Handbook of Women's Activities" containing a list of women's projects in outline form has already been printed with assistance and cooperation of the Cooperative League staff. Supplements to the original handbook will be printed where space will be devoted to the techniques groups can use for organizing women for the work and for carrying out specific projects. WITH representatives from Central Cooperative Wholesale, Consumers Cooperative Association, Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, Cooperative Re finery Ltd. and the Saskatchewan Section of the Cooperative Union of Canada, and Midland Cooperative Wholesale, the Per sonnel Committee of rhe Cooperative League and National Cooperatives of the U.S.A. was organized at College Camp, Wisconsin on June 15. Herbert Evans of Ohio was elected chairman and Carl Eck of Midland, secretary. This was the first time that those re sponsible for personnel selection and training from the regional wholesales have formally had an opportunity to sit down and plan for action. A united action deal ing with personnel problems as it affects not only the regional» but the local so cieties. It was the opinion of those present that the selection, training, place ment and promotion of cooperative em ployees have been conducted on a slip shod basis which has resulted in a mor tality rate far too high. Cooperative employees thus do not have a feeling of security. When this feeling of security is gone employees cannot do their best work and will not willingly give of their time to improve themselves for promo tion. • Reports by Committee Members In summing up what is now being done by the regionals, the following was re ported : 1. All departments within the regional are alike in selection and promotions ; 2. Inter-office routines as set up with in the personnel departments ; 3. Personnel administration is now mnsidered a major function in some regionals ; Consumers' Cooperation 'Angust, 1943 National Co-op Personnel Committee Midland Cooperative Wholesale 4. No department head has authority to hire personnel, but the hiring is a joint function of department head and personnel director; 5. Job introduction is a joint function of department and personnel director; 6. One of the regionals requires a school for new employees on company time 11/2 hours per week for three months ; 7. One personnel department gets a periodic report from the library as to what books, pamphlets, and other read ing materials the employees are using: 8. Job classification makes administra tion easy; 9. A personnel audit is being made at intervals of three months, six months, and each year; 10. Salary increases are made on the basis of accomplishments; 11. Employees within the structure should all be graded and every class have an in-training period of six months, promotions and salary increase to be made on the basis of accomplishment within the six months; 12. One regional reported the taking of a draft census of the employees of the wholesale and local, thus giving more time to get ready to replace the man being called into service; 13. One regional is going to use a personnel round-up and dramatize the cooperative work to get prospective em ployees' names on file; 14. One regional asks locals to regis ter for personnel service; 15. A proposal was made that a group of local associations be selected as training centers and when the personne! department finds a likely candidate he would be sent immediately to this asso ciation who pay 3/5 of his salary and 123 the wholesale 2/5. There would be an understanding between the training local and the regional that they give certain training and both the local society and employee report to the regional. After this employee is ready and a permanent posi tion opens up the hiring society would pay the regional one week's salary to reimburse for expenses; 16. One regional gives each employee one month's pay and vacation money when employee goes into service with armed forces; 17. Part-time work for students ; 18. Field staff always to hunt for likely candidates; 19. Someone from regional to visit college freshmen and sophomores and to help them outline their course of study; 20. One regional makes a blanket commitment of twenty college graduates from the colleges within its area each year even though they may not know at the time where they will place them ; 21. All agreed that Japanese evacuees should be placed in small numbers. Our reaction to the Japanese evacuee is to be a test of our co-op faith ; 22. Herbert Evans, Personnel Di rector of the Ohio Farm Bureau Coopera- tive Association, was appointed to contact General Hines of the Veterans Bureau and bring to the other personnel directors something concrete as to getting returning soldiers into co-op work, and further to contact Mr. Studebaker of the U. S. De partment of Education to determine steps necessary to train these; 23. Finally it was agreed that the care of the. old and physically handi capped employees who are now working in the co-ops must be considered one of the costs of war. Rules Adopted by Committee Before adjournment, those in attend ance adopted the following rules: 1. All personnel directors, managers or representatives named by the regionals, provided the regional is a member of the League or National Cooperatives, are to be considered members of the personnel committee. The committee is also to in clude people responsible for employee training. 2. Present officers to hold office for one year. 3. Future meetings to be called by the chairman. Two meetings should be held each year. ' Section 2 DEVELOPING LOCAL CO-OP PROGRAMS DEVELOPING A LOCAL CO-OP PUBLICITY PROGRAM The Personnel Committee '"["'HERE was a man who sat with his JL wife before the fireplace every evening. She knitted and he "played" the cello. It had only one string and he always grabbed it in one place and sawed back and forth. After six years she raised her head: "Eustace, this afternoon I went to a show they called a concert, and I saw a lot of men playing things like you've got there. They had a lot of strings and they kept moving their fingers this way." Then she tucked her head. He raised his: "Maria, when those men were fooling around with all those strings and moving their fingers up and down like this, they were hunting for some thing." Exultantly, "I've found what I want!" Having found what we want, many of us co-op editorial fanatics are impervious to the adverse effect our method of ap proach may have on others. Three Publicity Rules There are three rules in any sort of publicity: (a) contact the prospect where le /j. (b) Demonstrate that his problem is also your problem, and (c) show him that your answer can also be his answer. Most of us start with point "c" without ever inquiring into the prospect's interests or what he considers to be his problem. Four Publicity Outlets There are generally outlets for publicity for a local cooperative: the regional paper, a mimeographed bulletin, the local news paper, and displays. 1. Every member should get the re- 124 Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 George Tichenor, Secretary National Co-op Publicity and Educational Committee, Eastern Cooperative Wholesale gional paper, because it is the cheapest, most informative, and easily distributed piece of literature we have. Also a bundle should be ordered for the store to give to newcomers. Our papers are sufficiently presentable to give a newcomer an im pression of the wide extent of our move ment and strength. 2. The most important consideration of a local bulletin is the appearance. I know it would be virtuous to lay stress on con tents first, but with all the demands on everyone's time no one will waste time trying to decipher a repellant piece of literature. Three things make for good appearance: (1) good clear typing, (2) art work, and (3) headlines. In the Cooperative movement we go on the the ory of "lift and let lift" and should have no hesitation of picking up lively illus?;, trations wherever they can be found. You, might keep a folder for future use. Thç A. B. Dick Co. will give mimeograph, owners all kinds of traceable illustrations; free of charge. In Eastern Cooperative Wholesale we have prepared some lively, whimsical drawings to illustrate various Co-op commodities and these have been sent to our bulletin editors. No illustra tion is better than a poor illustration. Headlines should be put in with a letter ing guide. I suggest two different sizes of single line letters as being neatest and less affected than fancy lettering. . Minimum equipment would be a mim- eoscope, a utility stylus, two lettering guides and a shading block. As a substi tute for a mimeoscope you can use a 'lesk 125 Bill Torma, new president of the Publicity Committee confers with George Tichenor, retiring secretary drawer covered with frosted glass and a light bulb under it. The bulletin should eschew any pre tense at covering national news which is properly done by the regional Co-op paper. Gossipy items with the names of many persons, editorials, household hints, and particularly information about com modities handled by the store and notices of meetings will very well fill a one- or two-page bulletin. Don't use paper less than 16 pound, in which case mimeographing should be on one side only. You shouldn't mimeo graph on both sides on stock less than 20 pound. Cheerful colored stocks are de sirable, rotated to indicate to readers that this is a new issue. The staff should be well trained and the A. B. Dick Co. gives free instructions to mimeograph owners. For the sake of appearance, the paper should be laid out before it is writ- 126 ten with indications where illustrations are to go. You can trace on typewriting paper the area to be filled and write to fill without wasteage. Typing should be done before drawings are filled in as they might otherwise be ruined in the type writer. An ideal staff is an editor who does most of the writing, an expert sten ographer, and an artist who can also letter. Have your bulletin entered under Sec tion 562 PL&R at your nearest post office. This enables you to send out bulletins at one cent apiece using precancelled stamps which can be folded over the edges of the bulletin to keep it together. Eastern Cooperative League thinks so highly of the effectiveness of bulletins that each year we have a bulletin round- up and display at our annual meeting. Competent newspaper men divide entrants in the three categories: highest merit, merit and mention. Since anyone can qualify, no one "loses." Insignia with the proper class designation can be car ried by the bulletin for the ensuing year. 3. The technique of writing a story for a local newspaper can be learned in half an hour. Expertness comes with experi ence. The first parapraph of a news story, called the "lead," tells who did what, when and where. Newspapers say they don't like stories that editorialize. Avoid opinionated writing unless you are quot ing someone directly. Stick to the facts. You don't have to use the word "beauti ful." If you describe the person or inci dent accurately the impression is unavoid able. In using names, always give the full name the first time it appears in the story. Afterwards designate so-and-so as Mr., Mrs., or Miss. Papers like lots of names. Write your name and address and tele phone in the upper left hand corner of the page and date of release in the right hand side. If there is no particular reason for releasing on a definite date, put "For Release Immediately." The best time to send out a story is on Friday because Sun day papers are large and Monday papers are thin for lack of news happenings. What is news ? News is whatever inter ests the most people at the moment. It is not necessarily the most important event but usually it is something that touches the daily lives of all of us—such as food rationing. Try to tie-in your news story to "whatever is interesting the most people at the moment." Get to know your local editor. He may have thrown out your earlier stories be cause he thought your organization was "communistic." Several of you call on him. The best time is about three in the afternoon, because on a morning paper, the assignments have just been made, and if it is an afternoon paper, the day's work is done. 4. Bulletin boards calling attention to meetings and frames for holding educa tional posters should be as scrupulously displayed and cared for as any merchan dising display in the store. DEVELOPING A LOCAL CO-OP EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM Hanford Olson Educational Department Central Cooperative Wholesale dents to children's summer camp, sponsor ing a community-wide consumer informa- LOCAL conditions and the abilities and talents of people vary so much in different communities that it is un wise to 'draw a blueprint, or set up a "master plan" of an educational program for the local community intended to ap ply equally well in all communities. Rec ognizing these differences, perhaps the best approach to the local educational pro gram is a series of illustrations describing effective projects in a limited number of typical communities. These illustrations ate selective rather than inclusive. The illustrations will be chosen from communities where the dominant idea in educational effort is the securing of un derstanding and action through member ship participation. These activities, predi cated on membership participation, were the result of projects sponsored by Guilds and Clubs, Youth Leagues, Junior groups, Employees, Boards of Directors, and Ed ucational Committees. Co-op Guilds and Clubs At Kettle River, Minnesota, a mixed dub meets in the homes of members with a usual attendance of 30. The group is a clearing house for all cooperative plan ning in the community. Currently it is dis cussing merits of merging two regional federations, recruiting students for two- week youth courses and vocational train ing institutes, arranging to finance stu- Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 tion center, and helping to find employees for local cooperatives. The Floodwood, Minnesota, guild and mixed club owns a medical loan chest available to anyone in the community. At Superior, Wisconsin, a well organized and active consumer information center lo cated in the cooperative store is sponsored. Co-op Youth Organizations At Cromwell, Minnesota, the Youth League arranges for its members to help meet man-power shortage by working in store. Chairman of League and manager of store make arrangements for such work. The Tamarack, Minnesota League recently conducted a panel discussion be fore local student body on Vice-Président Wallace's film "Price of Victory." Co-op Junior Groups At Toivola, Minnesota, a Junior group, with aid of local school authorities and the Women's Cooperative Guild has es tablished a school supply cooperative pat terned after a streamlined model store. Co-op Employees Employees quite generally take part in local educational planning as members of guilds and clubs, youth leagues, and edu cational committees. With technical help practically non-existent, the board and 127 the manager must also arrange for the training of technical employees. Techni cal courses in clerking, fruits and vege tables, merchandising, meat cutting, and clothing knowledge have been and will continue to be held at CCW. Co-op Board of Directors Regional organizations should conduct boards of directors schools, bringing in formation arid interpretations right to the local board. Very measurable results from such board schools have been observed, such as detecting bad management prac tices before irreparable harm was done, putting cooperative operations on cash basis ; establishing better relations between board and employees, etc. Co-op Educational Committees Members of educational committees should represent different elements in the cooperative. Such members should be compensated and responsible to the board for committee activities. The Kettle River, Minnesota, educa tional committee is composed of repre sentatives from the co-op store, creamery, REA, regional federation, guild and club, and credit union. Thoroughly coopera- tized community and consequently com mittee has charge of community affairs. Committee is compensated and its mem bers are responsible to the various coop erative boards. Quite thorough integra tion of the purpose of different com munity co-ops. The Superior, Wisconsin, educational committee has arranged for phone call reminders to shareholders urging attend ance at membership meetings, planned and carried out discussion at membership meeting at a time when to move to larger quarters arid self-service were con templated, sponsored appearance of speakers in community, arranged for showing of movies in local fire halls, arranged for discussion meetings in local homes to publicize services of the local retail cooperative, published a pamphlet on services and commodities of the store. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENTS A fundamental weakness in local co operatives is the absence of any method that orients newcomers—new patrons and shareholders—to an understanding of co operative opportunities. This process will be more complete and speedy if such new shareholders are formally welcomed into the cooperative at a social, or if their first evidence of cooperative ownership—the share certificate—is delivered to each in a personal manner. Another fundamental weakness of co operative membership is its inability to understand the financial condition of its organization or to grasp the significance of current operating results. Regional or ganizations can help by having education al representatives present such financial conditions and operating results graphi cally through the use of charts. Just a Few Samples These illustrative samples of local co operative activity do not cover the field of educational animation, but they do de scribe some highlights that point the way to a local educational program. They are but samples taken from the kit of local co-op educational programs. DEVELOPING A LOCAL CO-OP RECREATIONAL PROGRAM Darwin R. Bryan Educational Department Ohio Farm Bureau Co-op Association T EADERSHIP is the yeast that raises co-op. With leadership understanding the ••— ' the dough in the development of a unique contribution play holds for coop- recreational or play program in the local 'erative interaction among local coopera- t g^J^ /•**:' i»' *#S „^ ^^r' * "V^\^.. -»wSäi*1"" *•-•""* }**»*•"- A breathing spell for hardworking recreation leaders tors, we can be reasonably sure of a stur dy foundation for good social relations. And, of course, the local co-op should constantly strive to see that in an educa tional way situations for the common good are promoted. It is the mutual satis factions which the consumers absorb in relation to their own business that makes for volume, patronage savings, and whole some feelings. Qualifications of a Recreational Worker A word about qualifications to be con sidered by the local co-op in taking into its employ an educational-recreational worker. This worker by all means should have a theoretical background in group work, techniques of play leadership, an unlimited amount of practical experience in games, play parties, folk dances and dramatics, and experience in the organ ization and leadership of integrated groups. If I were on the Board of Direc tors of a local co-op and we were ex pecting to employ a person to do educa tional work through recreation, I would request that such a worker be required to prove his capacity for getting better social relations among people by putting on a party with the cooperators. If, in the party, we observed this working getting 128 Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 the folks to really put themselves down temporarily in the play situation and wholeheartedly lose themselves in fun through group participation, we could be reasonably sure of getting our money's worth from such an employee. In the past our local co-ops have been assuming that an educational worker should carry on a recreation program, even though, in many cases, he has had no training in recrea tion. We fail to realize that recreation is a specialized field in education. As ad ministrators, you wouldn't think of hiring a bookkeeper who had never prepared a balance sheet, but too often we have ex pected results in recreation from workers who haven't had training and experience in group recreation. Co-op Play Program Vital The local co-ops cannot afford to dis regard the tremendous need for bringing to pass an adequate play program, not only for adults, but also for the children of its members. Look, if you will, toward the highly individualized play and sports, with emphasis upon rewards and best players, taking place in our local school programs. The playgrounds of our schools are more and more becoming conflict areas and delinquency spots in our com munities. Feature, if you will, good feel- 129 ings among school children and later as adults, coming forth when youngsters are segregated as to sex upon the playground and then after segregation you see teeter- totters, swings, whirl-arounds and slide boards constituting the sole provision for their fun. This system of play breeds the philosophy of "everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost." We are leaving our children wide open for the commercializer. Organized play for chil dren with a program including competi tive games without rewards, cooperative games such as play parties, folk dancing and simple dramatics, will do the trick of turning children toward looking out for the other fellow, and destruction of much conflict at the same time lifting ini tiative on the part of each youngster for the good of the whole. I realize, of course, the limitations our co-ops have, but some day we must tackle this training of our children in our so cieties into real cooperators by group ac tion through organized play. Organize a Co-op Party After trained leadership is procured in the local co-op, then action must follow. This action could well begin with a simple party. The place for the party must be considered. Ideally, it would be a hall above the co-op store. If not, select a place for the meeting where there is ample space, good acoustics and lighting. An extensive publicity campaign coloring the features of the first party should be put on. Every member ought to be reached either by telephone, letter or newsletter, and in some cases, the local newspaper could give assistance. The program should be loaded with group activity—play par ties, square dancing, simple dramatics, and non-musical games. A place in the hall for those who want to play cards or juiet games should be provided. A quali- Jed pianist is a necessity. A square dance orchestra helps to liven up the spirit of fun. An admission fee will always assure keeping the recreation activities in the black and will provide a surplus fund for future development. All these things are details, but they must be thought through 130 2 thoroughly beforehand. Given half a chance that first party should start the development of a recreational program in a local co-op. Why Not a Co-op Recreation Center? Many such parties, by their very nature, might eventually lead to the purchase of a few acres of ground upon which a rec reation center could be founded. This may sound idealistic now, but surely it must be considered if we ever hope to compete with commercialized recreation as we are now competing in our other cooperative services. Careful, long-time planning to such a center would result in the erection of a modern building with air conditioning, proper acoustics, and a refreshment bar. The basement of the center could be used for handicrafts, bil liards, table tennis, card playing and many other such games. The first floor could be used for all types of dancing, arid the second floor as an auditorium for dramatics, musical activities and co-op membership meetings. On the ground outside the center one might find courts for tennis, badminton, volley ball, cro quet, and a specially constructed court for basketball and roller skating, etc. The recreation program would need to include group activities for children of various age levels. Family night for group fun could be instituted. A special time should be turned over to couples over age 50. Have you noticed how these older folks of this age and over are excluded from organized recreation? Special time would be provided for adolescents in many types of dancing, play parties, square dancing and ballroom dancing. In summary: first, well qualified trained leadership, in group recreation is a must; second, we dare not hold off too long in organizing co-op play for our children; third, we need to build cooperatively owned recreation centers to cover most phases of recreation for all age groups. Such a recreation program in a local co-op would insure a social education that would bristle with group action, and would re sult in a widespread interest in the wel fare of the community. Consumers' Cooperation DEVELOPING A LOCAL CO-OP SALES AND ADVERTISING PROGRAM A SALES and advertising program is as essential to a cooperative as an educational program. We cannot hope to build one without the other. Unfortunate ly many local cooperatives even today are satisfied to go from day to day with out really formulating any program of advertising or selling. We need to tell the people about the cooperative, and then we need to follow with a planned program of merchandising. There are some who contend that a co operative should not advertise, that ad vertising is an evil born of the capital istic system and that cooperatives should not resort to such an economic waste. Our auditing departments are prone to say, "Advertising money should be spent only when reasonably certain it will bring a return." But we say, "Keep on advertis ing but make it pay." How can we build cooperatives by keeping silent? Why Should a Cooperative Advertise? Cooperatives have two main objectives to accomplish through advertising: 1. to sell merchandise, 2. to "sell" cooperation. Being a part of a world-wide social movement, cooperatives have far more to sell than mere material goods. We have a social aim. We must tell the people about it through our advertising as well as through our educational work. Coop erative advertising can and should be a valuable supplement to cooperative edu cation. Co-op Advertising Should Be Budgeted How much should we spend ? The ex act amount to be spent depends on local August, 1943 Harvey Sanders, Secretary National Co-op Sales and Advertising Managers Committee Central Cooperative Wholesale conditions. Throughout the country the average expenditure seems to be a little more than 1/3 of 1% based on sales. When the total allocation for the year has been determined, it should be budg eted—how much to use for newspaper space, how much for handbills, how much for radio time, etc. That budget is the beginning of a sound advertising plan for the entire year. Popular Co-op Advertising Methods 1. Demonstrations—one of the most effective methods of presenting any com modity to the people. Through demon strations they can know exactly what it is and what it will do. 2. Direct Mailing—a means of reach ing people directly with our advertising message. Very effective for both com modity arid educational advertising. 3- Broadcast and Mass Advertising — newspapers, handbills, and radio which reach the mass of people. Cooperative publications are our first concern because they are our regular spokesmen. But when we want to speak to all the people in the community we need to turn to the local press. To control the distribution of our message, we might use printed or mime ographed handbills. Another method is the use of radio time, now being done both locally and nationally. 4. Signs — one of the most effective and most important methods of advertis ing, and yet often the most neglected. The sign on a store front is our spokes man to the public, giving the people their first impression of the cooperative. Our store front sign should create an atmos- 131 phere of cleanliness, efficiency, economy and good service. To enable cooperatives to standardize on signs and to bring down the cost, the national movement has adopted a uni form type of store front sign, consisting of the word "CO-OP." The national importance of the move ment is also emphasized through the use of uniform store front colors. The coop eratives nationally have adopted light ivory and forest green as a uniform color scheme. Truck signs are almost as important as our store front signs, for they are travel ing billboards. We are overlooking a golden opportunity if we don't make maximum use of the space provided on the sides of our trucks to advertise our commodities and our movement. Posters are also an effective medium that can be used to promote the sale of merchandise or to publicize our prin ciples. The educational posters issued each year by the Cooperative League serve an excellent purpose and we feel that all cooperatives should make full use of them. 5. Souvenirs—cooperatives can add to the effectiveness of their other advertis ing by the use of souvenir items in con nection with special events, such as an niversaries. Effective Co-op Sales Programs When we advertise merchandise through newspapers, handbills, or over the radio that merchandise will sell better if we display it simultaneously in the store, either in our window, on the floor, on the counter, or on the shelf. Each method of display has its place and all are important. The second item in our sales program is stock arrangement, store planning, and cleanliness. Our stores must be arranged so as to provide the maximum amount of efficiency and enable us to give the people the best possible service. 132 The attitude of our employees today is quite a problem. Even in normal times it is absolutely essential that cooperatives maintain a consistent program of em ployee training, and it is doubly impor tant today because of the high turn-over in cooperative personnel. Cooperatives should hire cooperators. A program of cooperative and business training needs to be started before the person is hired, and must be continued afterward. It should not be allowed to stop when he is on the cooperative payroll. One reason why cooperative employees require spe cial training is the fact that it is up to them to promote the sale of Co-op mer chandise in preference to the nationally advertised profit brands. Profit business in America is extremely advertising con scious and this advertising has built up a demand for certain brands. Our employees should be prepared to explain the ad vantages of our movement and of the Co-op brand name. Aid from Regionals No local cooperative can hope to carry on a successful advertising and sales program without help from the regional organization. With the movement now organized on a national scale, it is pos sible for the regionals to give more and more aid to the local cooperatives in their advertising and sales problems. Some re gional cooperatives employ advertising personnel whose job it is to assist the local cooperatives in their advertising work by supplying some of the needed materials and actually doing some of the work for them. They can be particularly helpful in the procurement of both com modity and educational posters, in the preparation of handbills and newspaper advertisements, in the designing and pur chasing of items such as calendars, pen cils, etc. Working jointly, the regional and the local cooperative can thus establish an economical and effective all-around sales and advertising program for the local co operative. Section 3 WHAT THE SPEAKERS SAID TRIAL BALLOONS THROWN UP AT GENEVA E. R. Bowen, General Secretary The Cooperative League of USA amount, for the time being, in order to make convenient adjustments between us, but that would be all. The reason we do not do this is because we have been inoculated with the virus of profit to such a degree that we do not realize generally that debt is the opposite side of the coin .of profit. Unless and until we learn to build non-profit coop eratives to replace profit business, we will not learn to get and keep out of debt per sonally and nationally. Until then, coop erators and cooperatives should get their own houses in order and get themselves out of debt, while the getting is good, to withstand the storm of depression that is brewing. We are in an inflation period and deflation will inevitably follow. If we are not intelligent enough to prevent inflation, we will not be intelligent enough to prevent deflation. MY part of the annual Staff Confer ence, held at Lake Geneva in 1943, was to throw up some trial balloons in the hope that they would land in the minds of those who were present and cause them to take mental flights upward toward dearer truths and greater accomplish ments. Get Out of Debt I am greatly concerned over the dan gers of the rapidly increasing public debt. At the close of the fiscal year on June 30, it had reached over 140 billions, or near ly double the previous year. I hold that an economically intelligent people — a people as economically intelligent socially as we are individually—would not permit their government to go into debt to any such a degree, but would insist that the ' savings of each year be taxed out of their pockets equitably by a graduated income tax, and adequately enough to pay for all or nearly all of the cost of the war. In the calendar year of 1942 we saved a total of 43.5 billions of dollars. We permitted our national government to go into debt to the extent of 39-3 billions. Suppose, instead, we thought of these figures as dollars and of all of us an individual. Suppose any one of us saved 435 dollars and went into debt 393 dollars. What would we naturally do? Why pay off the 393 dollars and have the difference, or 42 dollars, left, of course. If we were eco nomically educated as a social group, we would do the same thing—pay off the 39.3 billions out of the 43.5 billions and have 4.2 billions left as savings. We might find it advisable to keep a few bil lion more of our savings in our pockets and go into debt as a nation to the same Consumers' Cooperation Augus*, 1943 Prevent Farmer and Worker Antagonisms I am also greatly concerned over the growing antagonisms between farmers and workers. When farmers and workers are united on a common objective, it is their practice to present a chart showing that their incomes rise and fall together, as they do to a large degree in normal times. When they are set at loggerheads, as they are unfortunately now, they present mis leading statistical comparisons and state ments to try to show that the other is receiving an excess income. Such prac tices lead straight to an American brand of Fascism. We should, as consumers who are the common denominator of producer groups, do everything in our power to bring out the true statistical facts and try to help farmers and workers to realize 133 that their interests are common against monopoly finance and industry. Other Contributions My attempts to contribute further to the discussions at Lake Geneva were briefly the following: It was my obligation to introduce the personnel directors to one another and to help them get off to a start by electing officers of our new National Personnel Committee of which we can expect real results and which is of such great impor tance today. I was gratified over the reception ac corded the suggestion made to the Edi tors to begin the publication of a series of statistical charts and figures covering basic economic facts with which coopera- tors must be far more familiar. I was pleasantly surprised over the im mediate adoption of a suggestion made to the Cooperative Accounting Terminol ogy Committee that what is commonly called in profit business a "Balance Sheet" should be renamed an "Ownership State ment," and that the "Assets" should be renamed "What We Have," and the "Liabilities" be renamed "What We Owe" and "What We Own." It was necessary for me to present the Centennial Campaign Plans, as revised at the first meeting of the Campaign Com mittee, on account of the enforced absence of the Chairman of the Committee. A large number of excellent suggestions were added to the plans as a result of a splendid democratic discussion. Finally I tried, with apparent uncertain results, to re-emphasize the significance of Recreation as a thing in itself, apart from Education, Finance and Business, as well as a part of the whole of Cooperation. As a result of an inspiration, growing out of the discussion, I offered a few illustrations from my own personal ex perience in living in a cooperative hous ing project for the past year, and tried to express what "cooperative" neighbors meant, as compared with "ordinary" neighbors. Other contributions were briefer inter jections into the discussions from time to time, which I hope were helpful but which do not need to be recounted. HOW TO WORK WITH PEOPLE IN BUILDING COOPERATIVES [A summary of the general morning sessions) IN four sessions Neva L. Boyd discussed the topic, "How to Work with People." She confined herself largely to the analysis of the organization of various types of groups arid their function in the solving of social problems. She pointed out the fact that many problems encoun tered in community life can be satisfac torily solved only by cooperative action of the group primarily concerned. She stated that not only is this of importance to cooperators but that it is also essential to the maintenance of a democracy. She urged, therefore, that social as well as academic education should be undertaken wholeheartedly by the schools. "Man," she said, "is not primarily a cortex but a 134 social being creating and living in a so cial world for better or for worse, accord ing as he is equipped for social living." Pointing out that many millions of dol lars are spent for play and recreation by people of all walks of life, and that this whole field of-human interest holds great possibilities for social education, especial ly for children and adolescent youth, and great satisfaction for persons of all ages, she advised cooperators who value social education to use their influence on school boards and with educators in schools of higher learning in urging its importance and in securing its place in the curricu lum. "The essence" of good recreation is far more creative and cooperative than the casual observer may think," Miss Boyd said. "If the art of living is to be achieved, the spontaneity and responsive- ness which characterizes the best of play in childhood must feed these qualities into the blood stream of social living. Dead spots in adults are largely due to the omission of rich play experience in child hood." Continuing, she said, "If the ranks of the pioneers of the cooperators who believe it to be a good way of life are to be filled with youth who will some day carry out their ideals, they cannot afford to neglect youth programs in the coop erative movement. Youth cannot be im bued with a working basis for the com mon good merely by the conviction of the soundness of the economic philosophy of the cooperative movement; the conviction of the common good as the only happy way of living must be based on demon strated proof in human living, and it must begin in childhood. Therefore, if for nothing more than their own protection, cooperators should work definitely for the inclusion of social education in our schools and provide youth programs for their own children." Miss Neva Boyd, former Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Division of Social Work, Northwestern University EDUCATION FOR THE WORLD WE WANT EDUCATION is more important than ^-" one often realizes for it is during the elementary and secondary school years that an individual develops his character and basic outlook on life. This development is through gradual acquisition. It does not come through any kind of revolution ary process. Characteristics of our present school system are due to certain forming fac tors that existed in the past. Then we were self-determining individuals living on the land. We read the Bible and fol lowed it literally. There was little need for education as we think of it today. To learn to read and write was about all that was considered necessary. As time went on, secondary schools Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 Summary of address by Dr. Howard Lane were set up for the brighter boys. These boys grew to become the bankers and the leading citizens. Other people, seeing this, said to themselves, "We want this for our boys." And they proceeded to move in on the secondary schools. In some respects then modern education developed out of the quest for advantage. Fathers did not want their sons to have to work like they did. It is out of this rather narrow selfish philosophy that our educational system evolved. Today we take a different view. We realize that the purpose of education is to promote growth. We are products of our environment and education is the most determining factor in this environment. In the begin- 135 ning, Baby Hitler and Baby Roosevelt were much alike. It was the schooling process through which they went which made them what they are today. It is the function of the school to provide the richest fertility for the growth of the in dividual and to adapt him to the kind of world we want. Unless the schools can help man to grow up and to master the machine he has created the period fol lowing this war may offer the last pos sible chance to survive as a democratic people. Schools Have Not Supported Democracy In the past the school has been un democratic and individualistic. Frequent ly the methods employed contributed di rectly to this. Fault-finding as a tool of education is a good illustration. It has been a chief technique of the teacher to find fault with the student and to do this in front of all the rest of the students. There seemed to be the feeling that edu cation was falling down on the job if it did not point out every flaw as it ap peared. We should have long ago realized that fault-finding does not alter people except in the presence and under the pressure of the fault-finder. Education has been designed for the advantage of the one being educated, not for the group. The motive that has al ways been held out is that of gaining for oneself. The present war is testing out whether it is valid for one to live at the expense of the many. We don't like Hitler's meth ods but we like his devices. We don't like force. We want to be clever. But in the end the results are similar. Somehow there is the prevalent attitude that we have the right to live off another if we are smart enough to put ourselves in such a position. We don't like the WPA be cause we can no longer hire a man for $1.25 a day. Agriculture like industry has been dependent on poverty to get people to work. By keeping them poor, we have always available a good labor supply. All that is human about man is learned. 136 Tragically we learn much in our schools that is not good for us. We learn that it is right to compete when the truth of the matter is that much better results come through cooperative efforts. In the schools we ought to learn how to be sympathetic —"to love thy neighbor as thyself." We must care how other people feel. In schools all too often we have activities that work against sympathy. Contests around which so much of school life re volves, are activities of this kind. We are happy if the football team arid student body of another institution are unhappy. In a scholarship contest 4,000 people were entered. When the winners were announced, all but 20 went home mis erable. If there had been games or some other kind of activity in which all could have participated, they could all have been happy. Contests spread misery, make people happy as the result of other people's misery. We must learn to pro mote the feeling of "we" the "in" group. We must be shown that all people are our neighbors, and we must be helped to find pleasure in association with them. In a 23% delinquency area a toy-lend ing center was set up. In five years not a single toy was lost. As one kid put it, "Ain't no use stealing your own stuff, is there?" Schools that .have windows broken are a problem. Where the faculty has tried to work this problem out with the students and has made them partici pants in the educational enterprise, the problem of broken windows almost com pletely disappeared. As they put it, "It's no use throwing bricks through your own windows." Schools Must Undergird Democracy In the schools we should gain a new concept of morality. We should bring everyone to see that to be worth some thing they must not only carry their own weight but help others do the same. When it was said about Aunt Hattie that she 'never did anything wrong," you could just as well leave off the last word. De mocracy should say that Aunt Hattie was wicked because she lived off others. Consumers' Cooperation One who lives by deception is the en emy of democracy. We must turn our morality to see that he who would be greatest must be the servant. "As ye do unto the least, ye do unto me." Today our concepts of morality are scarcely ade quate to the situation. A man who gave a meal to an escaped prisoner is to be shot. The company which turned out de fective wire is let off with a relatively small fine. We cannot tolerate the be trayal of public trust in a democracy. How can our schools teach morality .J They can make their basic activities that , of group enterprise where the welfare of each depends .upon the welfare of all. It should no longer be a question of who is smartest, but smartest at what ? Each one should be recognized for the contribution he is able to make. Through group enterprise the schools can develop a sense of responsibility for the group. Children learn through action, planning something that works, planning beautifi- cation of the school yard or some other worthwhile project. Suggestions of Change These are developments that I would like to see taking place in the educational world in the not distant future. The schools should start their training at two pears of age. There should be a wider use of school property. At present it is the custom to lock the students in till three and then lock them out after three and only to use the school building nine months out of the year. The schools should be the community center. Services of the school should be extended to take in health, recreation and adult education. Where necessary, taxes should be in creased to support such a program. I should like to see federal support for the schools. Farmers are against it. They are afraid of losing control. Yet it is the only way in which the national wealth can be equitably taxed for educational purposes. I foresee in the future that much of our education will be community activity. We will do away with the graded system. Already we have discovered that children learn from each other and get along bet ter with different age grouping. Educa tion should be a local function. I don't like the consolidated high schools. A good local school is far better up to the twelve- year age level. The teacher should be a professional worker and leader, not the village hired hand. Education in a de mocracy must be democratic. The best methods of democracy are the best meth ods of education. We must face our common problems and seek our solution together. We can well re-emphasize the learning skills, us ing them as tools, but the essence of de mocracy is the person-to-person relation ship. Our schools must place their empha sis here. It is of little value if people shout about democracy and yet mistreat their kids. What happens when we are to gether is the real test of democracy. HELPING EUROPE AFTER THE WAR When the Nazis Collapse ONE of these days, this year or next, the Nazi machine will collapse from one end of Europe to the other. My guess is that it will collapse all of a sudden, ill parts at once. Then what will be the situation of three hundred and fifty mil lion people in non-Russian Europe ? Unfortunately, we can predict many August, 1943 Summary of address by Hiram Motherwell aspects of this coming situation all too accurately. We can do it from our knowl edge of what happened after the first world war, plus our certain knowledge that the destruction this time has been many times greater. Here are some of the elements : The productivity of the soil will be reduced by as much as 25%, in many parts of the continent by 50%. That is 137 because of lack of animal manure, lack of sufficient artificial fertilizer, lack of draft animals, wearing out of farm ma chinery. Even what diminished produce there is cannot be adequately distributed because of deterioration of transportation, and other factors to be mentioned. Railroads will be in a state of collapse. War is merciless to rolling stock and roadbed, and inferior lubricants will work havoc on such rolling stock as remains. Motor transport will be paralyzed for lack of gasoline; river traffic for lack of coal supplies. Everywhere factory machinery, where it has not been bombed, will be in the last stages of delapidation. Homes will lack practically all those things which daily living needs, and consumer goods will nowhere be obtainable. Finance and credit will be non-existent because all the assets of all the banks of Europe today consist of Nazi promises to pay, and Nazi promises on armistice day will be worthless. Money, which has for years been in a condition of repressed in flation, will explode. Barter—a saw for a chicken—will be the typical form of trade. Property—all except personal and phy sical property—will cease to exist. All stocks and bonds and credits and obliga tions have been taken over by the Nazis, secured by Nazi promises to pay. Government will cease to exist. The Nazis have annihilated all governmental forms and organisms save their own, and on armistice day their own will crumble in the universal anger, leaving a vacuum —political anarchy. Finally, the habits and channels of so cial cooperation will have been oblit erated, and in place of mutual trust, which is the cement of all society, there will be universal reciprocal hate. It will be a hate that snatches, conspires and kills. To What Shall People Hold? What elements from the pre-war world will survive this physical and spiritual devastation? A few, in all probability. Among them will almost certainly, be these: 138 The churches. The churches have, by and large, fought their fight courageously and have refused to permit their spiritual integrity to be hitched to Caesar's chariot wheel. The church parishes will persist as centers of loyalty and order and—rela tively speaking—of sanity. The labor unions. The labor unions have been physically obliterated by Nazism and their leaders murdered or sent to rot in concentration camps. Yet in every factory, trade and city, labor unions will spring up again overnight, selecting new leaders from among their trusted comrades or perhaps from the under ground. They will be clusters of authority which will be able to guarantee many of the services—such as policing, justice and operation of the utilities—which run away government has left adrift. Local governments. Many municipal and other local governments will prob ably persist reasonably intact, after ex pelling or arresting the most flagrant of their Nazi or Quisling bosses. They will in many instances be able to perform the services needed to make emergency living possible. Finally, the cooperatives. We have little accurate information concerning the con dition of the cooperatives under Nazi tyranny. But it would seem that by and large they have been less mauled about than most of the other organs of Euro pean society, precisely because they have been relatively non-political. Their lead ers have certainly been replaced by Nazi stooges, but apparently their minor execu tives and their membership have remained as organic parts of the state machine. People Must Be Helped to Help Themselves The vast and urgent work of emergency relief—including the distribution of food, seeds, fertilizers and indispensable con sumer goods—must be the responsibility of these organisms which will have re mained more or less intact through the debacle. Foreign administrators cannot, and should not, undertake retail distribu tion. All must help. But none, in all probability, will be so well equipped bv Consumers' Cooperation experience and by philosophy to do the job as the cooperatives. The opportunities are beyond our pres ent imagination. The cooperatives might assume emergency responsibility for en tire cities and districts. American coop erative administrators might be invalu able aids to the United Nations Relief Administration. International cooperative supplies and credits might solve a host of problems which would take govern mental bureaucracy many months to un derstand. Finally, much of the industrial and merchandising organization which Hitler will have bequeathed, ownerless and masterless, to European society, might be salvaged and revitalized under coop erative ownership and management. The first century of the cooperative movement coincided with the age of predatory industrialism. The second cen tury, beginning in 1944, may become known in history as the age of interna tional cooperation. WHERE DOES THE CONSUMER COME IN? IF we would get on with building an adequate philosophy, we must con sider people as persons and not as con cepts or as mechanisms. When we take this view of human nature as being per sonal, we readily realize on analysis that the person is not essentially a worker. His primary purpose is to live. It is a point of view recognized in all religions and in all philosophies. The setting of man and woman in the garden of Eden was in an economy of abundance. They were placed there to eat and drink for the fun of living, not for the purpose of surviving. Working is not an end but a way of using up your energy, a way of expressing your cre- ativeness. The change in emphasis came with the fall of Adam and Eve and the curse that was placed upon them. Eve was to be cursed with the bearing of children and that has always been known as labor. Adam was to be cursed with the necessity of working and that likewise has been called labor. Throughout history people have di vided into two groups—the first made up of those who live off the work of others, the second made up of those who earn a living without living a life. The first class is made up of the infant who is an ab solute consumer and of the leisure class of citizens who are free to live. The •August, 1943 Summary of address given by Horace M. Kallen second class is made up of the rest who toil and have not their results to show for it. The slave to the first group is merely a tool with life in it. Strangely enough, it has been considered a disgrace to earn a living but not considered so to live on the income of others. This con cept seems to to have run through all of civilization. We now discover that the virtues of leisure are those of which all men are capable. It will be recorded that the American culture made this contribution to the thinking of men. In our Declara tion of Independence, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were considered to be the rights of man and not the right to work or produce. In every way man was regarded as a consumer, not a producer, and his rights were so stated. We see this philosophy being carried out in the labor movement. Workers are trying to cut down hours and raise wages. They are not trying to extend their right to toil. Living in Two Worlds This difference between earning a liv ing and living a life is noticeable every where in our culture. The difference be tween earning and spending is as the difference between day and night. We live today in almost two worlds—a day life and a night life. In the day life we go to work, spend 139 8 hours performing some mechanical op eration or engage ourselves in some other kind of occupation. At the end of the day we can say that we have earned a day's wages but have we lived? We are not a citizen of the industry in which we are employed. We are merely cogs. We organize to raise wages and better our position. Why do we not organize to convert this activity of production into an activity of consumption? At the end of the day life, we hur riedly throw it off and turn to the night life. We eat the evening meal in a dif ferent way. We relax afterwards. Per haps we listen to the radio, go bowling or attend a movie. Through the evening hours we "spend," we "live" our lives. The only common tie between the day and the night life is that they are united in us. Somehow we consider work to be a curse and yet so necessary that we do little about it. The artist shows us the way out. He does not care about money. He may live in poverty upstairs in a garret. Yet he treasures life because out of it comes the great fulfillment of his life. Likewise we see the same kind of art of living illustrated on the football field. Here men are working at exhausting ath letics. Yet it is consummatory in nature. Men do it at their own free choice and, hard as it may be, they thoroughly enjoy it. Music, whether we are listening to it or actually producing it ourselves, is a consummatory enjoyment. On Becoming Consumers This leads us to the question of how can we sustain the primacy of the con sumer in a world where man must work ? One way is through arts and sports. Here we extend our lives vicariously. Too of ten, however, arts and sports become opi ates by which we make the day life en durable. Another way to sustain primacy is through knowledge. We can turn the producer into a consumer by the exten sion of participation. It is the denial of participation, that has held the worker 140 from becoming more than a producer without purpose. Management has special knowledge which is usually held as a monopoly. This puts the non-informed at their mercy. In the beginning the three R's were called communistic. There were certain groups that did not want the people to have tools of knowledge. Even now in some circles a fair demand by workers is re garded as a communistic activity. Somehow we must learn the art of lift ing our productive activities to a con sumer level. We can drink our milk like an animal or we can put it in a cup. When we do so, we humanize a simple process. We lift it to a consummatory level when we understand and have knowledge about the commodity. If we understand the dairy industry, the people behind it and how it merges as a part of our total economic system, we have an entirely different attitude. The drinking is raised to a still higher level through the association with the people with whom we are drinking. If employees shared the knowledge of management, knew the sources of raw material, knew the market and other fac tors involved in production, they would then become citizens of the entire econ omy. Our spiritual citizenship would be implemented by an understanding of the pattern of economic organization. If we think of social organization in terms of competition and profit, we re main on the production level. The prin ciple of social organization must be the primacy of the consumer. When we enter into the relation of consumer buying and working together, life takes on a new significance. We still have problems, but they are of a differ ent kind. Educators Must Take a New View Insofar as we lay emphasis on tech niques, we are only schoolmarms or busi ness people trying to do a job better than our competitors. In the consumer work we must add a new view of hu man nature. We must substitute the no- tion of the human as a producer with that of the human as a consumer always. Our problem is to bring back this con summatory approach to make all work equivalent to art. These two steps will help: One is to measure all activity against the frame of reference of the con sumer faith. The second is to emphasize the kind of education that will bring into every operation the perspective of fellow ship and purpose. We must show that all vocational activity or work envelopes the totality of culture and that culture in cludes all vocations. Today we are growing towards an economy of abundance. The economy of abundance is a consumer concept, and we are beginning to have the faith that a consumer world can be built. Economic activity carried on for its own sake and lighted by knowledge coming through co operative channels will give us this new kind of world. CHALLENGE OF AMERICAN BUSINESS TO THE COOPERATIVE ECONOMY Si my work I spend a great deal of time analyzing economic trends. Frank ly, I am skeptical of the adequacy of most plans that are now being proposed by private business to cope with current eco nomic trends. On the other hand, I have been impressed by some of the plans of the cooperative movement. I believe that they have a great deal of pragmatic value to contribute to our present dilemma. We are going to find it necessary to make much greater adjustments of our political and economic habits to changes already here in the physical world than most busi ness men can now conceive. The president of the Dow Chemical Company recently said, "The war, if it demonstrates anything, demonstrates that man is morally and mentally unfit to use the power that science has placed at his disposal." On all fronts we are trying to grapple with this problem. There are many planning groups, but most of them leave me not cold, but concerned. Few seem to be aware of basic causes, and most of them propose remedies that are mere palliatives and thus outright dangerous for so serious a situation. Much time is spent today discussing new mechanical and chemical processes of the future. The socially significant thing about most of these new processes is that they employ fewer men per unit Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 Summary of address given by Harland Alien of product. This means less adequate pur chasing power. Yet such has been one of our chief problems for a long while. In many quarters there still seems to be the belief that post-war government priming is all that our system needs, not realiz ing that deficit spending was the make shift pulmoter which barely prevented complete collapse for ten years prior to the war. By the time the war has ended, we may have run the federal debt to an amount equivalent to the value of all property in the nation. Under such circumstances, it is not sound to think in terms of fur ther deficit spending to keep on priming the present economy. Somehow we must solve this problem of conserving and building purchasing power. Cooperatives Have an Answer If the cooperative movement can rise to the occasion, it has the opportunity to make two lasting contributions. First, it can build purchasing power while pro tecting the consumer. Second, it can strengthen and invigorate democracy. There is a great potential receptiveness to cooperatives today. This is inevitable as production continues to outrun consump tion. In the past this problem was solved as the economy expanded into new geo graphical areas. More and more as the frontier expan- 141 sion possibilities dwindled, property and the productive capacities of the com munity tended to center in the hands of a few. With this centralization of purchas ing power and diminishing frontier, pro duction again ran ahead of consumption. It has stayed ahead. We can no longer run away from this problem. We are the first generation that has ever had to face it and solve it. Somehow we must learn to balance production and consumption. Private busi ness realizes this on the corporation level; yet continually its spokesmen dealing with the broader horizon insist that all we need is confidence and perhaps some government money to tide us over until private business can again "get on its feet." Neither of these solutions has any relation to purchasing power. Yet coop eratives can provide confidence in pur chasing power. In the Dow Chemical Works we see a clear illustration of the kind of problem that we are going to have to meet. This concern is producing millions in goods, making these goods out of water and salt brine and employing few people in the process. These prod ucts are to be sold to the people; yet the money or purchasing power with which these products can be bought is not being placed in the people's hands. During this war there is a tremendous plant expansion and with it a great in crease in the national debt. The two seem almost fatally related. After this war we must keep not only production but con sumer income on a high level in order to hope to retire this big debt. Production capacity will so greatly exceed our pur chasing power in the restrictive capitalist economy that we will be under tremen dous pressure to accept the expansive economy. We used to be able to shut off pro duction in times of so-called over-pro duction in order to protect prices. Grad ually this shut-down to protect price be came more objectionable, and I doubt if our people will stand for it again. The old restrictve economy idea is being 142 broken down and in its place comes the concept of an expansive economy. Democracy Is Fundamental I have come to a new conviction of the importance of democracy in solving our economic problems. I believe that demo cratic institutions failed in France only because that country had not conceded the right of majorities to rule and to work out their own solutions. Thus the monop olists were able to take over in the face of the will of the people and sell out to Germany. Democracy was too dangerous for the rentiers (coupon clippers) ! Slowly the democratic process of ma jorities taking control has been going on in this country. It has been speeded up under the Roosevelt Administration. There is no doubt that the New Deal has represented power by the majority. As we flaunt the New Deal, we are flaunting majority rule. If we had more confidence in democ racy, we would give it a real 100% try. We need democracy badly. a. To ward against discrimination of color, sex, property and religion, all of which antagonisms and prejudices make for friction and war. b. To foster and expand the individ ual's rights as fast as production and science expand the potentials of life. Economic expansion is more and more related to invention. The lib eralization of patent restrictions be comes more and more essential to social progress. c. To police and supervise production and protect consumers, to insure that they do receive reasonable value for their money. d. To protect the masses of people from privilege of small groups, e. To provide government that is stable enough to be tolerable and yet flex ible enough to change with the facts of life, f. To bring about emancipation of women. The Sylvania Corporation recently asked its thousands of women employees what problem was uppermost in their minds. It was not about war. 80% of these women answered, "Am I going to be able to hold my job when the war is over?" Many of our people have naively assumed that at the termination of the war men would be re-employed rapidly and room would be made for them by sending all of the women who have taken jobs during the war period back to their kitchens. In Russia women have achieved real equality with the men, and never again in this country will women accept a lesser position. As they have more experience with equality, they will never go back to the old days of inequality. The unequal status that we have given 1 to women in our economic life has left its imprint. Indirectly this attitude stifles man himself. Under it women take on an in feriority complex. These women are the 'mothers of the whole race and without blame to them they pass on their inferi ority complex to the children they rear. Do We Have the Intelligence? Cooperatives have a great opportunity in building the right kind of democracy. It is a challenge to the intelligence of the people who run the cooperatives whether they will accept this opportunity or not. In our efforts to support and extend democracy, we should realize that it like wise changes with the times. The town THE ONE IN THE MANY THE two outstanding facts of our time are: (1) the world is one as it has never been before, and (2) the world has never before been so many. Our equip ment for communicating culture has been approaching perfection. Our speed in communicating culture has been ap proaching instantaneousness. But our cul ture has been falling to pieces. Even the technology which gave us the speed and equipment has enabled each of us to live more remotely from his next-door neigh bor than did our ancestors on isolated Consumers' Cooperation August, 1943 meeting was the cradle of democracy, but it is not the whole of democracy. Our society today calls for some new imple mentations of democracy. We should re alize that it is as democratic to delegate authority to an executive as it is to dele gate it to a committee that is ineffective. The criteria always is the degree to which delegation of authority protects or ad vances the public interest. The cooperative movement may show to decidedly less than its maximum ad vantage if it tries to monopolize all eco nomic life. We must understand the econ omy in which we live arid analyze as to where the cooperative movement can be of greatest use. We should be ready to realize that there are areas where other types of economic organization may serve better over the long run. Public ownership of the transportation system is one example. We cannot have national planning without it. We cannot locate steel mills where they should be. Also at the times when private enterprise runs to cover, government should be in position to step up the activity of such important sectors of industry as may be under its control. Through such a bal anced economy (cooperatives, private en terprise and government), we can hope to succeed with the problem of placing adequate purchasing power in the hands of the people, and we can do so in a truly democratic manner. Summary of a talk by Milton Mayer farms. Being one by physical proximity is not enough to unite us. The unity of a com munity must be sought in something that is common to all its members. It is the common something that holds a com munity, even a band of thieves, together. Where, if we cannot find it merely by throwing the many together, shall we look for the one in the many that make up our one world? Where shall we look for the unum in the pluribus? 143 In What Direction? In economic organization ? Unlikely, for the economy is only a tool of the com munity. Certainly not in the capitalist economy which, even if it were a work able tool, would still, by its very defini tion, set every man against his neighbor. Not even in a socialist economy, if per chance socialism is a better tool, for the economy has to do only with material needs, common to all forms of life, while we are trying to erect a human com munity. In love of country? But countries are the many, and we are looking for the one. Besides, love of country leads to nation alism, which makes the divisions among the many even sharper. And nationalism sometimes leads to international war, the very antithesis of unity. If neither economics nor nationalism is the answer, is science? Probably not. Science concerns itself with unity, but with (1) unity of the physical world outside us, ,and (2) the unity of man as animal. Science can only say: "If you want to live like this, we can show you the way to do it." It cannot tell us how to want to live; it cannot find the one in the many choices spread out before us. It is a means—a tool, like the economy — to the achievement of any of the manies. As Confucius said, men cannot work together unless they have, and can com municate, common principles. It is the business of research to discover common principles and of education to transmit them and to teach the arts of communi cation. But vocationalism and electivism have displaced this function of education, while specialization has displaced this function of research. Great scholars in different fields can't talk to each other. Where Shall We Turn? If economics, nationalism, science, tech nology, and éducation fail to yield up the one in the many, we look next to re ligion. But our diversity of creeds grows more diverse, more manied, though all creeds speak of one God, all assert one 144 definition of justice. Religion's effort to find the one by force failed. Religion, whether or not it had to, failed to unite us just as education, whether or not it had to, failed to unite us. The one in the many must be the ideal of any community. The one is that which (a) is common to all the members of the community and (b) distinguishes that community from all others. It is what the ancients called the essence or nature of a thing, what modern biology calls the species characteristic. Interdependence cannot be the species characteristic that will snatch us from the Apocalypse, because the strong, the rich, the lucky, or the many can never be per suaded that they depend upon the weak, the poor, the unfortunate, or the few. Even materialistic cooperation — the just distribution of goods—will never take place until we have dedicated ourselves first to the immaterial ideal of justice. This May Be a Clue? Justice may be the answer. We see in our own country that the ideal of govern ment by justice has given way to gov ernment by pressure-group, in which groups of men, organized entirely on the basis of interest and not at all on the basis of justice, compete with each other, not for a just share but for all they can get. This is obviously unjust, and in the midst of this obviously unjust struggle we have seen the common good, the one in the many, disappear. If justice is the species characteristic which, however badly developed it may be in most members of the species, con stitutes the one in the many, then we have got to cultivate it fanatically. We will not want to cultivate it unless we are sure that justice, and nothing else, will save our one world; since we want to be saved, we will then want to cultivate justice. But when we have decided that we want to cultivate it, we will still be unable to do so unless we know exactly what it is; we will have to begin by discovering why we are our brother's keeper. Consumers' Cooperation ss f Students at Eastern Cooperative Recreation School, Sloatsburg, New York learn to play shepherds' pipes. A REPORT ON THE UNITED NATIONS Murray D. Lincoln SEPTEMBER 1943 f FOOD CONFERENCE THREE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO NATIONAL CO-OP STAFF COOPERATION: THE ONLY BASIS FOR PERMANENT PEACE Albin Johansson NEARLY 100 MILLS, FACTORIES, AND REFINERIES NOW OWNED BY AMERICAN CONSUMER CO-OPS Wallace J. Campbell EASTERN COOPERATIVE RECREATION SCHOOL Ellen Linson NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS WANTED: APRIL and MAY 1942 issues of CONSUMERS COOPERATION Every year we bind the preceding year's issues of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION. This year we find ourselves short on April and May issues for 1942. If you have any of these "rare magazines" around we'll appreciate it very much indeed if you'll send them to: THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF THE U.S.A. 167 West 12th Street, New York 11, N. Y. Bound copies of each volume of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION through 1941 are available at $2.00 a year. Here is a way to insure having a complete file on the National Magazine. THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 608 South Dearborn, Chicago 167 West 12th Street, New York City 726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C. DIVISIONS: Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C. Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C. AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES Name Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co. Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal. Central Cooperative Wholesale Central States Cooperatives, Inc. Consumers Book Cooperative Consumers Cooperative Association Consumers' Cooperatives Associated Cooperative Distributors Cooperative Recreation Service Cuna Supply Cooperative Eastern Cooperative League Eastern Cooperative Wholesale Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n Address Publication St. Paul, Minn. 815 Lydia St., Oakland Cooportunity Superior, Wisconsin Cooperative Builder 1535S.PeoriaSt., Chicago The Co-op News J7 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer N. Kansas City, Mo. Amarillo, Texas 13 Astor Place, N. Y. Delaware, Ohio Madison, Wise. 44 West 143rd Street New York 30, N. Y. Columhus, Ohio Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Columbus, Ohio Farm Bureau Services Farmers Cooperative Exchange Farmers* Union Central Exchange Grange Cooperative Wholesale Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Midland Cooperative Wholesale National Cooperatives, Inc. National Cooperative Women's Guild Pacific Coast Student Co-op League Pacific Supply Cooperative Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Southeastern Cooperative League Southern California Cooperators Lansing, Michigan Raleigh, N. C. St. Paul, Minn. Seattle, Washington Indianapolis, Ind. Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. Box 2000, Superior, Wise. Review Cooperative Consumer The Producer-Consumer Consumers Defender The Recreation Kit The Cooperator The Cooperator Ohio Cooperator Ohio Farm Bureau News Michigan Farm News The Carolina Cooperator Farmers' Union Herald Grange Cooperative News Hoosier Farmer Midland Cooperator Berkeley, Calif. Walla Walla, Wash. Harrisburg, Penn. Cairollton, Georgia 2462 Lemoran Ave.. Rivera, Cal. Indianapolis, Ind. 227 E. 84th St., N. Y. United Cooperatives, Inc. Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society FRATERNAL MEMBERS Credit Union National Association Madison, Wisconsin Campus Co-op News Letter Pacific N.W. Cooperator Penn. Co-op Review Southeastern Cooperator S. Cal. Cooperator The Bridge CONSUMERS' COOPERATION OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT i» v » MI »rf ici PEACE-PLENTY-DEMOCRACf Volume XXIX. No. 9 SEPTEMBER. 1943 Ten Cents COOPERATION ADVANCES ON ALL SEVEN FRONTS IN SEVEN-LEAGUE BOOTS The Consumers' Cooperative Movement has seven big jobs to do. It is today working hard at all of them and is accomplishing real results. Job No. 1 is to Strengthen the National Cooperative Organization. The Con stitution Committee of The Cooperative League met for a full day on August 4 and carefully considered various coordination proposals to that end. Job No. 2 is to Crusade for Cooperation. The Centennial Campaign Committee will meet on September 10-11 with our new Centennial Director, Oilman Calkins, on the job to make specific assignments, plan budgets, etc. Our entire publicity and education program for 1944 is being organized into an effective Cooperative Crusade. Job No. 3 is to Mobilize Our Money Cooperatively. With the adoption of the Code of By-Laws and the election of temporary officers, the National Cooperative Finance Association is under way. When the subscriptions for common stock by the regionals are received, we will begin to wholesale our own credit and eventually to manufacture it, as National Cooperatives is increasingly doing in commodities. Job No. 4 is to Produce in Our Own Factories What We Distribute Through An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need. Published monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City. On alternate years, however, published monthly excepting Nov.-Dec. issues bi-monthly. E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations. Entered as Second Class Matter. December J9. 1917. at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. Our Cooperatives. The recent organization of the National Cooperative Refinery Association by five regionals and the purchase of a five million dollar refinery marks the largest step into production we have ever taken at one time. Job No. 5 is to Develop Working Relationships Between Voluntary Democratic Groups to Promote Consumers' Cooperatives. Three forward steps have been taken during recent weeks as a result of the invitations extended to President Murray D. Lincoln to speak in Detroit before the Michigan CI.O. Council, the International Brotherhood of Maintenance of Waymen, and the United Automobile Workers National Executive Committee. Job No. 6 is to Strengthen the Economic-Political Stability of the Government. The Consumers' Cooperative Movement has presented to Congress a consumers' plan for adequate and equitable taxation, which is being increasingly supported by economists, journalists, and various groups. Job No. 7 is to Help in Building a Cooperative World. The first American International Cooperative Reconstruction Conference will be held in Washington soon under the sponsorship of our Committee on International Cooperative Reconstruction and will be in charge of the Director of our Washington office, John Carson. The preliminary program of the conference follows. Never before has the Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the United States visualized so clearly the seven jobs it has to do, and never before has it done so much about them, as this brief story of recent major steps proves. The Consumers' Cooperative Movement is advancing on all seven fronts in seven league boots. CO-OP FACT CO-OPS ROLE IN POST WAR RECONSTRUCTION U. S. A.— Production EUROPE-Distribution (PRE WAR CO OP DEVELOPMENT) 3.130 NORWAY fê256'000 '/3 OF ALL FOOD IS BEING SUPPLIED THROUGH AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES PICTOGRAPH CORPORATION FOR CO-OP LEAGUE NEWS SERVICE 146 Consumers' Cooperation September, 1943 A REPORT ON THE UNITED NATIONS FOOD CONFERENCE By Murray D. Lincoln President of The Cooperative League U.S. Delegate to United Nations Food Conference FOR Americans this is a time of crisis. On one hand we are waging a war against international lawlessness and ban ditry. On the other hand we seek a per manent peace. Herein lies a danger. It is the danger of words. Catch-words and phrases. "Lasting peace." "Durable peace." "The four freedoms." These fine phrases are common in the American scene. One hears them at his radio, sees them in print, and discusses them with his neighbor. But our mere desire for perma nent peace will not insure it. Power to Demand a Constructive Peace We, as American citizens, have within our grasp, the power to demand construc tive peace measures. But first we must have an intelligent understanding of the ' factors which make for peace. This is our duty and our responsibility. We must not fail here. Already, the forces are at work which seek a return to the ills of pre-war world policy. Only an informed and vigi lant public can resist these forces. Six weeks ago a group of world citizens met at Hot Springs, Virginia. They came to talk about food. Their findings and recommendations constitute one of the first sound approaches to world peace. The delegates to the United Nations Confer ence on Food and Agriculture spoke with authority. They represented 44 countries and 80 per cent of the world's peoples. A hungry world is a restless world. The conferees brought with them research data from the four corners of the earth. These data combined, revealed that vast sections of the world population were underfed, diseased, and victims of malnutrition. Small wonder wars, rebellions, strike and unrest. Peace and hunger are poor allies. Poverty, Ignorance and Scarcity This world ill has at its root three sig nificant causes. Poverty; lack of general knowledge on life-giving diet standards; 147 from The Scottish Cooperator July 31, 1943 Mr. Neal S. Beaton (president of the Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society) told the Scottish Cooperator that when he announced at the Cooperative Con gress that his friend Murray Lincoln was appointed to represent the coopera tive movement he did not anticipate that as a single cooperator Lincoln would have been successful in getting the Food Conference to agree to such far-reaching proprosals as far as the movement was concerned. "The International Cooperative Move ment will forever be indebted to our good friend, Murray Lincoln, for his success at Hot Springs," he declared. Mr. Beaton said that during his all too short visit to America he formed a very high opinion of Mr. Lincoln. He is cer tain that Mr. Lincoln will play a promi nent part in the future of the Interna tional Cooperative Movement. "Hot Air" About Hot Springs. A Reply to Beaverbrook Speaking in the House of Lords last week, Lord Beaverbrook said Hot Springs was a "curious and strange" proceeding. It was decided, he said, that the promotion of cooperative so cieties would lower the cost of distribu tion and marketing. Lord Beaverbrook went on to say that "Great Britain does not believe that cooperative societies lower costs of distribution, but adhere to the little trader." When Mr. Beaton's attention was drawn to these statements, he expressed surprise that despite what had happened during the war, and despite the vital part played by cooperation, Lord Beaver brook should be so ready to take an opportunity to deprecate the progress of the movement. "Lord Beaverbrook has again chal lenged our movement," said Mr. Beaton, "and I am certain that we are prepared to take up the challenge and prove be yond a doubt that the cooperative move ment has rendered invaluable services to the Allies during the present war." Mr. Beaton is sure that the movement will play a great part in the reconstruc tion, along the lines decided upon at the Hot Springs Conference. and failure of the world to ever produce, in sufficient quantities, the foodstuffs nec essary to minimum health requirements. Shall we, at the dose of this war, return to our pre-war unconcern regarding world conditions? Or have we realized that we are, in reality, one world? Have we re alized that our own security depends upon the security of all nations? The Golden Rule has not been outmoded. It has been unused. The delegates to the United Nations Food Conference did not come here to beg for food. They came here to examine world need and to plan an international program of cooperation and assistance to meet that need. They approached food as a weapon for peace. And based on sound business principles, they set up a blueprint for helping needy nations to help them selves. Is Abundance Possible? Is abundance possible? Do resources exist, in terms of world need, to raise the standards of all people? The answer is an emphatic "Yes." World resources have been barely scratched. Technological de velopments have brought modern miracles in production. But our scientific values have outdistanced our human values. We have produced in terms of price rather than in terms of human need and service. Let us consider a concrete example. To maintain prices here in the United States, we plowed under and destroyed valuable foodstuffs while sections of our population were in need. To maintain prices we combined, through international finance, to allow only small quantities of vital raw materials to reach the markets. We wanted to sell to the world but we didn't want to buy. To this end we set up high tariff .barriers. We got most of the world's gold and lost most of our world trade. We wanted to be whole hog or no hog at all. We were, but something was wrong with the system. As the world got poorer, we got poorer. We slid into a severe economic depression and wound up in World War II. This was produc tion for price. Today a new philosophy is 148 in order. A philosophy of abundance. Production to meet human need and serv ice. To guard prices in the past we have planned scarcity and robbed not only our own, but other nations of essential com modities. The results have not been glori ous. Let us try a new tack. Chartering the Road Ahead The Food Conference did not attempt in ten days to solve the multiple problems of world intercourse. But they charted the road the world must take if we are to embark on a mission of permanent peace. The following points cover high spots of conference recommendations: 1. CONSUMPTION LEVELS AND RE QUIREMENTS. Conference reports clearly showed that millions of people through out the world are underfed. No continent is without the stamp of malnutrition and disease. Nutritional science has given us minimum food requirements for sound health. We must apply that yardstick to the nations of the world. To this end the following recommendations apply: All nations must establish nutritional organizations to study the needs of their peoples; disseminate nutrition al knowledge to all sections of the population; assist and protect vul nerable groups including nursing mothers, young children, and low wage earners. They must exchange information and research with other nations; and face determinedly the task of providing all of their peoples with adequate diets based on modern nutritional research. 2. EXPANSION OF PRODUCTION AND ADAPTATION TO CONSUMPTION NEEDS. Two realities present themselves in this area. First, vast quantities of foodstuffs will be needed to allay famine and starva tion in the immediate post-war period. Secondly, even in peace time, sufficient quantities of health-giving foodstuffs were not available to the peoples of the world. We must meet both of these demands. Short Term Period. To meet famine and scarcities in the post-war period, food production must be increased Consumers' Cooperation wherever possible. Cereals and bread- grains must be emphasized in this period. Devastated nations must be assisted in rebuilding their agricul tural programs. Machinery, imple ments, seeds, fertilizers, etc. must be made available. To prevent injustices in distribution, extreme price fluctuations, and un economic surpluses, an international body should administer the flow of goods. This would serve to protect both the producer and the consumer. Long term Plans. The aim here is to provide the peoples of the world with adequate diets. It calls for the rebuilding and expansion of agricul tural programs throughout the world. Measures to make capital, equipment, and technical skill available to needy nations are recommended. Aids to farm producers in terms of easier credit, land tenure revisions, educa tional service, cooperative organiza tions, etc. were further recommend ed. The entire program rests on international cooperation and as sistance. 3. IMPROVEMENT AND FACILITATION OF DISTRIBUTION. World need following the war is a certainty. International trade, however, in the pre-war period had grown rusty from dis-use. There will exist a great demand for the products of pro ducer nations like the United States. We must be able to meet these demands. The following recommendations apply: A poor country is a poor market. We must assist needy countries to get on their feet—economically. An in ternational organization must help these countries build and strengthen their national economies. A country which buys must also sell. A man who does not earn may not buy. Nations are the same. We must provide markets for the goods of all nations if we expect them to buy from us the goods they need for im proving their way of life. Trade bar riers must be progressively relaxed. September, 1943 Standard weights, grades and quali ties make for better understanding. They are more economic and would eliminate many of the causes of mis understanding. Such an international program is recommended. Carrying Forward the Work of the Conference The conference made one point per fectly clear. Food is an international prob lem. Hunger is a basis of world insecurity. And, if we are to hope for peace and the better life, we must look beyond our own borders. We must help needy nations to a share of the world's goods we are en joying. Such a task is not ours alone. It is the world's task. An international food organization must be set up representing all peoples. Through it we may all co operate in relieving world need. Through it we may jointly attack hunger, the least common denominator of world insecurity. The delegates recommended the establish ment of an interim committee to plan the structure of a world food organization. We Can No Longer Live Alone and Like It Never before in world history has the challenge to thinking men and women been as great. Can we 'earn the lesson? Can we follow the arrow of common sense? We are well on our way to win ning the war. We will win the war be cause we are working together. In pro duction, in shipping, in field of battle, the United Nations are cooperating. Must war alone see nations working together? The Food Conference brought four- fifths of the world's millions to a com mon table. It stated frankly the problem of hunger, of malnutrition, and disease throughout the world. It is for us to ac cept the challenge. It is for us to realize that we can no longer live alone and like it. We have learned to fight together. Let us learn to live together. We need not be our brother's keeper but we must be his helper. We were too late to realize that a fraction of this war's cost might have relieved the conditions which brought it on. The world's gain 149 human and physical resources to see that mankind gets its fair share of plenty. As E. H. Carr puts it in his "Conditions of Peace": "The old world is dead. The future lies with those who can resolutely turn their backs on it and face the new world with understanding, cour age, and imagination." can be our own gain. Prosperity is like strawberry jam. You can't spread even a little of it without getting some of it on yourself. National selfishness and isolation have been costly privileges. We dare not return to our pre-war short-sightedness. The era of imperialism must cease. Economic ex ploitation of backward peoples must go. And men and nations must pool their COOPERATION: THE ONLY BASIS FOR PERMANENT PEACE Reprinted from the Review of International Cooperation Albin Johansson, Manager Kooperativa Forbundet, Sweden (EDITOR'S NOTE—Rarely in a National Coop- operation and its aims. There are few erative Congress has the significance of Inter national Cooperation and the influence which the International Cooperative Alliance should hold in world councils been given so promi nent a place as at the Congress of Kooperativa Forbundet which met at Stockholm on the 4th of June. The full report of the deliberations is not yet available, but we are able to publish Mr. Albin Johansson's speech in moving a Resolution framed in the form of an appeal to the Alli ance to prepare for the historic tasks which await it immediately the war is over. Mr. Jo hansson is Managing Director of the Swedish Cooperative Union and Wholesale Society, K. F., and a member of the Executive and Central Committee of the I. C. A.) WHEN peace is restored the people the world over will have to face very hard trials, and all those responsible for the solution of post-war problems must be acquainted with the cooperative point of view. Consumer's Cooperation, based upon mutual self-help, has spread far over the world; it exists today, in varying stages of development, in practically all countries —in Europe, in North and South America, in India, China and Japan, in Australia, and in Africa. Most of these separate Move ments are united in the International Cooperative Alliance, which as the larg est international organization in the world, must play an active part in the Peace and the re-shaping of the world. Our International must convince those in power of the real significance of Co- 150 vho realize what Cooperation is, most people see in it just an ordinary enterprise with shops and factories. They see only the surface of economic activity; that gives no power to capital, but only to the individual; that do not make profit out of themselves; that all who take part in the enterprise receive a share of what can be saved through cooperation correspond ing to the extent of their contribution to the common effort. There is no other form of economic activity which guarantees this supremacy to the consumer. Coopera tion is an instrument of peace of im measurable value, a factor which must be considered when the peace is made. But the politicians who appreciate this are lamentably few. Let us try to teach them, to awaken their interest. A Just Basis for Distributing Natural Resources Most other forms of economic activity exploit the consumer to the advantage of those who own the particular enterprise, and it is on this basis that the exchange of commodities between nations rests. Those countries which possess natural riches use them to their own advantage. They exploit their position by monopoly, and levy taxes (monopoly rents) on pur chasing countries. This is against the rules of justice as applied in our country where the people themselves decide what taxes they shall pay. This same rule should also be applied between States, but instead nations who are obliged to buy raw ma terials must pay excessive prices arbitrarily fixed by the owners. If we want a lasting peace it is absolutely essential that a more just basis for sharing the natural riches of the earth must be found. Promises to this end are held out by leaders of the world powers. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill in Point 4 of the Atlantic Charter of 14th August, 1941, declared— "They will endeavor with due re spect for their existing obligations, to further enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity." This declaration, while stating very clearly its aim, does not, however, indi cate how it is to be achieved. It merely says that all will receive raw materials on equal terms. Does this mean that the countries within whose boundaries they are to be found will be free to fix the prices? If so, those who possess raw ma terials will continue to take toll from all other nations. Thus the fight for raw materials will go on and, regardless of how economic life is organized, within the different countries—whether on a co operative, national-socialistic or capitalis tic basis, or on a combination of these— friction will again arise as a result of the inequitable distribution of natural re sources. I doubt whether there is any principle other than the cooperative one, that could be more successfully applied to the problem of the world distribution of raw materials which cannot be solved by legislation or generally accepted inter national agreements. Needed: A Program for International Economic Justice It is possible that President Wilson had some such thought in mind when, as the first of his Fourteen Points, he advocated—Open Covenants of Peace openly arrived at, after which there should Consumers' Cooperation September, 1943 be no private international understand ings of any kind. How differently world affairs might have developed if President Wilson's conception of justice had been adopted in 1918 and realized in the years which followed, but how little his pro gramme influenced people's minds may perhaps best be judged by the numerous international agreements which were made immediately after the last war. We do not believe that the great men who conceived the Atlantic Charter thought that an equitable distribution of raw materials could be achieved merely by a declaration, but, as far as we know, neither they nor anyone else have yet drawn up a programme for achieving their aim. This question presents difficulties for those whose minds are steeped in capital ism, and it is for us, as Cooperators, to open their eyes to the guarantee which the cooperative system offers as the basis of an understanding between nations in this respect. International Cooperation Democratically Controlled If all nations are to have access to raw materials on equal terms the exploitation of the world's natural resources will have to be organized. It may be found desir able to create an economic organization for each commodity—one for iron ore, one for oil, etc.—in which all States could collaborate. Thus all mines and minefields in the world would be the property of an organization created by and representing every country. The capital for the purchase of existing plant and for administration would be provided by the member States and yield limited interests. All members would have equal voting rights regardless of their capital holding. The ore or other raw material would be sold at cost price at the mine, plus a surcharge to cover interest on capital and wages and also the cost of the acquisition and mainte nance of the plant. Costs of transport would be met by the buyer. These are the basic principles of co operative enterprises, where members purchase goods at the price they cost to 151 produce or to buy, plus the costs of dis tribution. If a higher price is charged the difference becomes their common prop erty or is distributed to them in propor tion to their purchases. This rule, so simple and so revolutionary, should be applied to the exploitation and distribu tion of raw materials. Here is a field where Cooperative Principles could with advantage be applied, and the value o the cooperative solution should be made known by the International Cooperative Alliance at the coming Peace Conference. A Plan for Dealing with Scarce Natural Resources It may be said against my argument that the supply of all raw materials would not meet the demand that would arise if they were to be available at cost price. If the world supply of a certain material were so small that an extra charge had to be made to the consumer to relate demand to supply the profit which would result should be used for the discovery of other sources of supply or for pro ducing substitute commodities. Another probable objection is that State intervention and the elimination of profit would paralyze the search for natural resources or the invention of sub stitutes. But could not this be avoided if the country which discovered the prod uct were given a monopoly for a certain number of years?—in the same way that inventors are granted sole rights to their discovery for a certain period, in Sweden seventeen years. If a longer period were fixed during which States would have monopoly rights to their particular source of natural riches, interest in the search for fresh resources would be preserved. The Interests of the "Little Men" Must be Considered Apart from the question of raw ma terials, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill also promise all States the right to trade on equal terms. Inter national trade and international transport must also be based on cooperative prin ciples as a guarantee of peace—but I have not time to enlarge on the subject. I hope 152 that what I have said will suffice to show the tremendous value of Cooperation as an instrument of peace. Is it impossible that cooperative principles should be ap plied to peace-making? Governments in different countries appear to have aided and abetted private international capital istic agreements which aimed at lowering the standard of living. In so doing they have considered only the interests of pri vate capitalists. Is it out of the question that, instead, the interests of the "little man" should be considered—the "little men" who form the great masses of the people in all countries. It is the task of the International Cooperative Alliance to try to make Governments everywhere listen to the voice of the consumer—and it is our duty to make its task easier by spreading a knowledge of Cooperation throughout our own country. I would also draw the attention of this Congress to the necessity of removing all obstacles to Cooperation, especially in the autocratically governed States, so that all peoples may be free to organize them selves on a cooperative basis, and through Cooperation to improve their standard of life. The greatest possible support must be given to the efforts of the International Cooperative Alliance to assure freedom of action for the cooperative organizations in every country. We Must Not Forget Want and Suffering At the same time we must not forget the want and the suffering of the people in the countries which are at war. It is possible that at the end of hostilities we shall witness most appalling conditions in these countries. This will involve another task for the Alliance—to help, as far as it is in its power, to relieve suffering and misery. The British Cooperative Union has decided to raise a Fund of 500,000 pounds to be used to aid the Internation al Cooperative Alliance in this relief ac tion. We, too, must help, though it is painful to realize how small is the con tribution we can make compared with the vastness of the need which exists. We nave no right to judge any people for the convinced that any sensible world order misfortunes that have overtaken them, must be based on the fundamental prin- Love for our neighbors must be our only ciples of Cooperation. In the opinion of rule of life if we desire peace and under- this Congress these principles should be standing. Let us advocate forgiveness and the guiding rule in the division of raw peace between men. Cooperation must be materials on the world market between recognized as a living force; its message the various countries. One of the most must be carried into a wider field, and urgent of all postwar tasks- will be to its Principles become the foundation of a facilitate and promote the popular move- new and better world. Let us not be timid, ments for self-help on our war-ravaged but act boldly and with conviction. We continent. In certain totalitarian states have seen how the aggressor States per- Consumer Cooperation has been destroyed secure Cooperation and Christianity, but and must be rebuilt. In other countries just as in Norway the Churches and other where the Movement has been deprived guardians of the flame of culture remain of staff and material resources and has undaunted, so will the living spirit of as- been regimented or oppressed in connec- sociation, which is the essence of Coop- tion with military occupation it must be eration, prove indomitable. A Sensible World Order Must be Based on the Principles of Cooperation allowed to work freely again. Above all it must be ensured that such totalitarian compulsory measures as enforced cartels, I ask the Congress to pass the follow- bans on new firms and import and raw ing Resolution:— "The Congress of Kooperativa For- material quotas which even democratic countries have resorted to during the war bundet—assembled in ordinary session at are not retained after the war. Stockholm—appeals to the International An historic task awaits the International Cooperative Alliance to prepare suitable Cooperative Alliance after the war. We measures for supporting and facilitating Swedish cooperators appeal to the Alli- in conjunction with the coming Peace ance to take the lead in collaboration be- Conference and in other ways, the efforts tween the cooperators of the world's free to reconstruct the Cooperative Movement countries, bringing their joint efforts to which will then emerge, and to rally the bear in overcoming the post-war difficul ties for Cooperation throughout the world. This work will undoubtedly be one of the most valuable contributions to wards the creation of a better world." The resolution was adopted. Cooperative Movements in different coun tries for profitable international collabora tion on both ideal and economic founda tions. We Swedish Cooperators are firmly THREE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO NATIONAL CO-OP STAFF WITHIN the past few months great- we can't introduce them all. But here are er demand on the national coopéra- three of the new executives, tive organization—demands which grew JAMES L. PROEBSTING of Chicago has out of greater co-op opportunities—have been named advertising and promotion brought important additions to the ex- manager of National Cooperatives, Inc. ecutive staff of the Cooperative League He will be in charge of merchandising and National Cooperatives. and advertising of Co-op products han- A recent news item points out that dling copywriting, lay-outs, and direction the staff of National Cooperatives, includ- of art work, photography and other pro- ing its factories in Chicago and Wauke- motion work. He will devote his time to gan, now totals 108. The league in its items produced by factories owned by three offices now boasts 14. We're sorry National Cooperatives, as well as to pro- Consumers' Cooperation September, 1943 153 100 MILLS. FACTORIES. AND REFINERIES OWNED BY AMERICAN CONSUMER CO-OPS AI. G. Rose Gilman Calkins James Proebsting motion of co-op labeled items distributed through National Cooperatives. "Jim" Proebsting comes to National Co-ops from Bendelow, Proebsting and Associates, outstanding Chicago commer cial art firm. Prior to this connection he was head of James L. Proebsting Studios and prior to that was associated with Plumer, Inc. advertising firm in Chicago. He is a graduate of Nebraska University, 1923, with a Bachelor of Science in ag riculture. No stranger to the cooperative movement, Mr. Proebsting has been active in cooperative circles in Chicago for the past five years, serving for the past four years on the board of Central States Co operatives. Two and a half years ago he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Cooperative League of the U.S.A. OILMAN CALKINS, assistant editor of the Ohio Cooperator and the Ohio Farm Bureau News, has joined to direct pub licity of the Cooperative Centennial Cam paign in 1944, and also serve as editor of the national magazines. For the past seven years "Gil" Calkins has been on the staff of the Farm Bureau cooperatives with headquarters in Colum bus, Ohio. For the past five years he has been assistant editor of the Ohio Farm Bureau News and has been assistant edi tor of the Ohio Cooperator since it was founded 2l/2 years ago. The two publica tions have a circulation of well over one hundred thousand. For three years Calkins was a member of the board of directors of the Central States Cooperative League and has since been a member of the board of Central States Cooperatives (Chicago) 154 which grew out of the amalgamation of CSCL and The Cooperative Wholesale. During 1941 and 1942, he was chair man of the Publicity and Education Com mittee of The Cooperative League and was selected as chairman of the League's Centennial Committee earlier in the year. AL G. ROSE was named manager of National Cooperatives newly acquired Universal Milking Machine factory at Waukegan, Wisconsin earlier in the year. For several years Al Rose was a member of the board of directors of Central States Cooperatives and was one of the spark plugs in his local Co-op. Cooperators who attended the 1940 Co-op Congress in Chi cago may not have realized that behind the scenes Al Rose handled the arrangements that made Congress details click. Al Rose is a graduate of Northwestern University. He was for several years in charge of cost and production control for the Duraplate Company and the R.R. Williamson Company. He was later with the Western Electric Company as shop supervisor and engineering supervisor in charge of process arid machine develop ment, factory layout, manufacturing and planning, time and motion study, and cost reduction. He was active in the fields of machining, metal and wood finishing, wiring and assembling, die casting, mold ing in plastics, material handling, and many other well-known processes. Among his cooperative affiliations are former treasurer of Central States Coop eratives; president of the Chicago Coop erative Union; treasurer of the County Line Cooperative Society. A MERICAN consumer cooperatives **• are already "big business" in the retail field with volumes totaling nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in the distribution of goods and services. But several dramatic moves in the last few months have also placed them in an im portant position as manufacturers. Over 100 mills, factories, and re fineries and other productive works are now owned by the co-ops in addition to twenty-five oil wells and 509 miles of pipe line which serve the refineries. No figures are available for the total