Cooperation 1941

CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
OFFICIAL ORGAN
Of The
Consumers' Cooperative Movement

in the U. S. A.
VOLUME XXVII
JanuaryDecember
1941
i
Published by The Cooperative League of U. S. A.

167 West 12th Street, New York City
181
INDEX
INDEX
CONSUMERS' COOPERATION
PAGE
Consumers Book Cooperative .........................................................................................................

62, 94
Consumers Cannot Depend on Government Price Controls ....................................
Accountants Recommend Program to Meet Crisis ......................................................
......... 149
............... 155 Consumers Cooperative Association
......................................................... 24, 62, 87, 124, 220
Act Now or Regret Later ............................................................................................................
.................. 164 Consumers Cooperatives Associa
ted .......................................................................................... 62, 220
AE's Letters to Minanlabain, a review ........................................................................
..................... 240 Consumers Cooperatives in the North
Aiken, Senator George D. ............................................................................................................
Central States, a review ....................................... 190
...... 70, 126 Consumers Cooperative Services ..................
Alanne, V. S. ......................................................................................................................._
.......................................................................................... 142
55 Consumers Cooperative Stations ....................................
Amalgamated Cooperative Apartments ........................................................................
.......................................................................... 62
..................... 142 Consumers Incarnate the Public Welfare
American Cooperative Crusade ..........................................................................................
..................
..................................................................... 206
......................... 163 Cooperative Distributors ..................
....................................
Annual All-American Tour of Cooperatives ..................................................................
120, 183 Cooperative Plenty, a review .................................... .......................................................................... 125
Architectural Modernization, Plans Laid For ......................................................
................................................................................. 239
........................ 158 Cooperative Terminal, Inc. ..................
......................................................................................................... 166
Arnold, Mary E. ..............................................................................................................................
.................... 51 Cooperation, a Christian Mode of Industry
Arnold, Thurman ..............................................................................................................................
, a review ............................................................ 223
.................. 70 Cooperation at Home and Abroad, a
review ................................................................................. 144
Articles on Cooperatives, Recent ..........................................................................................
.................. 28 Co-ops are Comin', The, a review ..................
As I Remember ..............................................................................................................................
....................................................................................... 218
..................... 50 Co-ops in the Crisis ....................................
...................................................................................................... 220
Augustus, E. K. ..............................................................................................................................
..................... 234 Co-op Week .....*...........................................
...........................................................................................
Council for Cooperative Business Training ........................................................................ 31, 6l
......... 126
B
Covey, Esther ................................................................................................................................................
......... 218
Baker, Jacob ................................................................................................................................................
............ 80 Cowden, Howard A. ........................................................................................................................... 182,
Belloc, Hilaire ................................................................................................................................................
201
......... 127 Credit Union National Association ......................................................................................................
Bennett, J. L. ..........................................................................................................._
223
200 Curry, James ................................................................_........................................................................................
Bergengren, Roy F. ..............................................................................................................................
191
............ 223
Bingham, Alfred ..............................................................................................................................
..................... 71
Bolin, J. H. ................................................................................................................................................
D
............... 69
Bowen, E. R. .............................................................................................................................................
Debt and Disaster ..............................................................................................................................
102,
230
.................. 73
Bowman, LeRoy E. ..............................................................................................................................
............... 19 Declaration of Cooperation ........................................................................................................................ 210
Boyle, George ................................................................................................................................................
......... 191 Democracy's Second Chance, a review ................................................................................................ 191
Brandies, Louis D. ..............................................................................................................................
...... 98, 214 Douthit, Davis ......................................................................................................................................................
5
Brouckere, Professor Louis de ..........................................................................................
........................ 134 Drury, James C. ................................................................................................................................................... 144
Buy in Co-ops ................................................................................................................................................
......... 201
A
Calkins, Gilman ..............................................................................................................................

.....................
Call to Peace and Plenty ............................................................................................................
.....................
Campbell, Wallace J. ..............................................................................................................................
10,
Campus Cooperative, The Evolution of a ........................................................................
..................
Capitol Letters ........................................................................... 57, 92, 141, 153,
172, 189,
Carson, John ....................................... 57, 92, 141, 153, 172, 189, 206,
214, 223,
Central Cooperative Wholesale ............................................................... 31, 54,
125, 142,
Central States Cooperatives ............................................................................................................
...............
Challenge to Cooperative Accountants ........................................................................
........................
Character Building and Cooperatives ..........................................................................................
.........
Cheel, Mabel .........................................................................
Church and Cooperatives ............................................................................................................
..................
Circle Pines Center ........................................................................................................................
9, 122,
Coady, Dr. M. M. ........................................................................................................................
16, 71,
Coerr, Janet ................................................................................................................................................
...............
Cohn, Hyman ..............................................................................................................................
..........
Consumer Distribution Corporation .......................................................................................... 117,
............
PAGE
202
200
175
84
236
236
220
125
208
19
50
222
219
129
119
129
31
Eastern Cooperative Recreation School ........................................................................

..... 122,
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale ..........................................................................................
............ 31,
Economic Organization of Freedom, The ........................................................................
...............
Educate for Democratic Economic Action ........................................................................
...............
Education-Recreation-Publicity Institute ........................................................................
.....................
Edwards, Ellen .......................................................................................... 29, 59, 156,
187, 205,
Emporia Cooperative Association, The Down and Up Of ....................................
.........
Estes Park Co-op Camp ............................................................................................................
.....................
187
221
134
203
123
238
216
188
Farnsworth, Ruth Broan ............................................................................................................

.....................
Fay, C. R. .....................................................................^
Films ................................................................................................................._
13, 218,
Film Cooperative Society, Timmins ..........................................................................................
............
Finland Solved the Farm Tenancy Problem, How ......................................................
...............
Form Letters, Here's an Idea on ..........................................................................................
.....................
Foundation of Civilization ............................................................................................................
...............
Fowler, Bertram B. ..............................................................................................................................
...............
117
144
222
91
105
27
226
175
m^^^m
INDEX
PAGE
170
Fox, Glenn S. ................._...._................-...._
Friends of Rochdale Institute ..................................................................................................................... 208
24
From Consumer to Crude .......................................................................................................................
Getting Your News AcrossHere's an Idea for ........................................................................

Giles, Richard ....................................................................................._^
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins ...........................................................................................................................
Give Cooperation the Radiance It Deserves ....................................................................................
Gjores, Axel .........._......._...............^
Get Grocery Minded .......................................................................................................................................
Go Into Groceries Faster .................................................................................................................................
Goss, A. S. .............................................................................^
Group Health Association, Minneapolis ..........................................................................................
Group Health Association, D. of C. ...................................................................................................
Group Health Cooperative .....................................................................................................................
Groves, Harold M. .............................................................................................................................................
Grundtvig of Denmark .................................................................................................................................
140
224
148
202
212
17
227
52
62
124
94
190
89
PAGE
K
Kagawa, Toyohiko ............................................................................................................................................. 131
Kenyon, Dorothy ..............................................;................................................................................................. 14
Kreiner, Viola Jo .......................................................................................................................................... 9, 219
Kress, Andrew J. ................................................................................................................................................ 143
Labor and Cooperatives ................................................................................. 30, 61, 126, 142,
Lau 1 of the Organization and Operation of Cooperatives, a review ........................
Let's Drive for Modern Co-ops ...............................................................................................................
Let's Get the Cooperative Movement Together ...........................................................................
Lehner, Anthony ....................................................................................................................................... 31,
Lehtin, Laurie L. ...................................................................................................................................................
Lincoln, Murray D. ................................................................................................................................. 93,
Ligutti, Msgr. Luigi ..........................................................................................................................................
Local Cooperative Organization Managers ....................................................................................
Locke, John ........T...................................................................................._..............................................................
Long, Mary Coover .............................................................................................................................................
Lull, Dr. H. G. ....._......._.................._......._
H
Hackman, Vera R. .........................................................................................................................................
Halonen, George ...........................................................................................................................................
Hamilton, Peter ........_........................._.................................................^
Harris, Frank .........................._......._...^^
Hedberg, Anders ............................................................................................................................................
Highlights of 1940, Cooperative ............................................................................................................
Hill, Gladys ...,,.......................................................................^
Holmes, John Haynes .....................................................................................................................................
How Balance Prices and Income ............................................................................................................
How Co-ops Grow ........_................_.................................._.............-.............-.............-.-.......-..............--.
Hull, I. H. ............................................................................^
Hutchinson, Carl ........................_......._.................................._...............................-........-............-..-........
INDEX
151
166
50
159
212
10
151
71
230
87
52
168
MacMillan, Mary ................................................................................................................................................

Marketing, Consumer Co-ops Go Into ................................................................................................
Maurin, Peter ,......................................................................................................................_................................
McGowan, Rev. R. A. .......................................................................................................................................
McLanahan, Jack .................................................................................................................. 8, 27, 140,
Measuring Stick for a Cooperative Oil Co. ....................................................................................
Metzger, T. Warren ..........................................................................................................................................
Midland Cooperative Wholesale ................................................................................................... 31,
Miller, Joseph Dana ..........................................................................................................................................
Morale of Democracy, a review ...............................................................................................................
Morgan, Joy Elmer .............................................................................................................................................
Myers, James ..........................o................................................................................................................................
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ............................................................... 94,

I.L.O. Carries On, Cooperative Division Of ..............................................................................
Introduction to the Cooperative Movement, a review ............................................................
Insurance, Cooperative, Should be Organized How ...............................................................
Invest in Co-ops ......................._................-..........-..........-................-..........-............-.--------
Invest your Money in Cooperative Properties ..............................................................................
183
166
66
53
186
170
15
142
67
175
71
14
194
221
156
56
224
53
125
221
119
143
102
203
80
Nationwide Co-op Drive ..............................................................................................................................

National Cooperatives ................................................................................................... 61, 93, 124,
National Cooperative Recreation School ..................................................................... 60, 90,
National Cooperative Womens Guild Notes .................................................................................
New Books and Pamphlets Received ................................................... 15, 63, 127, 160,
Niemela, Waldemar ..........................................................................................................................................
Northwest Cooperative Society ...............................................................................................................
105
200
1M
214
'"'Her' in College Co-op ................................................................................................................................... 8 5

<~'e~re, Anders ...................................................................................................................................................... 66
C^'-io Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ......................................................... 93, 142, 221
^bio Farm Bureau Insurance Services ........................................................................... 11, 61, 124
Ohio O^'ers Complete Cooperative Investment Program ................................................... 234
J
Jackson, J. Hampden ........_......................._......_.............-..........-...............................-..-.....-..--......
Join a Co-op ........................................................................................................-...................-.............-.-....
Jones, E. Stanley ............................................................................................................... 66, 70, 129,
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, Counsel for the Consumer .........................................................
223
190
207
5
204
155
200
66
168
99
51
216
INDEX
INDEX
PAGE
One Day in the Life of a Cooperator ................................................................................................... 182

Organized Labor and Consumer Cooperation, a review ...................................................... 14
Organization of the Nationwide Co-op Drive ........................................................................... 196
Ownership, Three Forms of ........................................................................................................................ 100
Packel, Israel ........................................................................................................................................................
Pacific Supply Cooperative ...........................................................................................................................
Palo Alto Cooperative ....................................................................................................................................
Paying Patronage ReturnsHere's an Idea for ........................................................................
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ............................................................
Pioneer Cooperator, A ....................................................................................................................................
Price Boom Is On ................................................................................................................................................
Profit Motive and the Common Good ...............................................................................................
Progressive Education Association .........................................................................................................
Publicity and Education Committee .......................................................................................... 93,
PublicityHere's an Idea on ..........................:.........................................................................................
Quotations
190
31
126
58
94
70
72
136
62
158
8
..... 146
Rawe, Rev. John C. .............................................................................................................................. 130,

RecreationA Vital Part of the Nationwide Co-op Drive .............................................
Recreation Notes ................................................................................................... 29, 59, 91, 123,
Recreation Training Opportunities .........................................................................................................
Refinery, Cooperative ........................................................................................................................... 10,
Refineries, Consumers Cooperative .........................................................................................................
Rees, Albert ..,...............................,..............,,........,............................,...............,,.............................^
Restoration of Property, a review ............................................................................................................
Review of International Cooperation ...................................................................................................
Reviews .............................................................................. 14, 31, 126, 143, 174, 190, 223,
Rochdale Institute ................................................................................................... 30, 39, 62, 126,
Roosevelt, Eleanor .............................................................................................................................................
Ross, Rev. J. Elliot .........................................................................................................:...................................
Ruf, Dr. _.................................................._..
Rural Electric Cooperatives ...........................................................................................................................
Russell, George ............................................................................................................................... 101,
191
205
238
122
30
142
85
127
133
239
208
70
239
136
11
180
Schmiedeler, Rev. Edgar J. ..........................................................................,.............:..................... 71,

Selvig, E. F. ...............................................................................................................................................................
Shipe, J. Orrin ..............................................................................
Skillin, Edward ..................................................................................................................................._..............
Skomorowsky, Boris ..........................................................................................................................................
Smith, Robert L. ...................................................................................................................................................
Snyder, Ralph .........................................................................................................................................................
Social Reconstruction and Cooperation .............................................................................................
Socialist Trend as Affecting the Cooperative Movement, a review ...........................
Song Book, Cooperative, a review .........................................................................................................
223
208
31
127
71
203
66
133
14
16
Southeastern Cooperative Education Association ......................................................... 124,

Spencer, Anne .........................................................................................................................................................
State, Cooperation and the ...........................................................................................................................
Summer Opportunities in Cooperatives .............................................................................................
Swedish Cooperator in the Government, A ....................................................................................
PAGE
142
56
137
143
212
Teaching Cooperation at Pine Mountain ..........................................................................................

The Cooperative Consumer, reprint of May, 1914 issue ......................................................
The Cooperative League, First Twenty-five Years Of .........................................................
Tichenor, George ................................................................................................................................................
Times, New York ................................................................................................................................................
Torma, William J. .............................................................................................................................................
Trail to Co-op Fun, The ..............................................................................................................................
Train Employes to be Practical Idealists ..........................................................................................
Training Lay LeadersHere's an Idea for ....................................................................................
Twenty-fifth Anniversary Celebrations .............................................................................................
Twenty-five Years Ago and Now ............................................................................................................
151
41
37
175
70
207
138
204
186
95
48
U
United Cooperative Society, Maynard ................................................................................................
61
Voorhis, Congressman Jerry ........................................................................................................................ 130
Wallace, Henry A. .............................................................................................................................................

Warbasse, Dr. James P. ........................................................................ 14, 37, 95, 124, 144,
War Time Conditions, What Cooperatives Should Do Under .......................................
Warne, Colston E. .............................................................................................................................................
Webb, Mrs. Beatrice ..........................................................................................................................................
What's News with the Co-ops .............................................................................. 30, 61, 124,
What We Ought to Know About Credit Unions, a review .............................................
Whitney, E. A. ,.............,,.............................,.,.....................,.......^
Who is Responsible in a Co-op ...............................................................................................................
With the Co-op Caravan ..............................................................................................................................
Womens Guilds Plan Greater Activity ................................................................................................
Wright, Frank Lloyd ........................................................................................................................... 143,
163
175
26
52
164
142
31
203
82
183
157
146
Youth Councils, Farm Bureau .................................................................................................................. 91

Youth League, Northern States Cooperative ....................................................:............................ 142
Your Work is Prized ....................................................................................................................................... 117
Build Cooperatives Stronger and Faster

Follow These Successful Examples
Let s Get The Cooperative
Movement Together
Davis Douthit
Here's An Idea on Publicity

Jack McLanahan
Circle Pines Center

Viola Jo Kreiner
Cooperative Highlights of 1940

Wallace J. Campbell
Dorothy Kenyan and T. Warren Metzger
January
1941
lATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS
"THE CONGRESS ISSUE IS A MASTERPIECE
So said a prominent educator after reading the November-December Special

Congress Issue of Consumers' Cooperation.
"I want fifteen copies to give to members of the board of our co-op" said the
president of a flourishing midwest co-op food store.
"In our opinion every cooperator should study the Congress Issue of Con
sumers' Cooperation, for it gives a clear concise picture of the four cornerstones of
cooperation and the major problems and accomplishments of the American coop
eratives today." This was the unsolicited advice of a New York Cooperator.
The Eastern Cooperative League has prepared an advisory council study out-1 OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
line based on the Congress issue which will be used by a hundred co-op study,
clubs in the East as the basis for their January discussions.
Order your extra copies today while they are still available. This 64-page
report of the 12th Biennial Congress of The Cooperative League of the U.S.A.)
PEACE PLENTY DEMOCRACY
tor a dollar. Special prices on larger quantiti
is a bargain at 25c. Five copies for
quantities.
'
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
Mail your order to:

THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE

608 South Dearborn, Chicago
726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C.
DIVISIONS:
Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C.

Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C.
Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C.

Design Service, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C.
AFFILIATED REGIONAL COOPERATIVES
Address
Publication
Name
Superior, Wisconsin
Cooperative Builder
Central Cooperative Wholesale
2301 S. Millard, Chicago The Round Table
Central States Cooperatives, Inc.
The Producer-Consumer
Amarillo, Texas
Consumers' Cooperatives Associated
Cooperative Consumer
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Consumers Cooperative Association
Readers Observer
118E. 28St,N. Y.
Consumers Book Cooperative
Consumers Defender
116E. l6St.,N.Y.
Cooperative Distributors
The Recreation Kit
Delaware, Ohio
Cooperative Recreation Service
E.C.L. Cooperator
135 Kent Ave., Bklyn
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale
Ohio Farm Bureau News
Columbus, Ohio
Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n
Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Farm Bureau Services
Lansing, Michigan
Farmers' Union Herald
Farmers' Union Central Exchange
St. Paul, Minn.
Grange Cooperative News
Grange Cooperative Wholesale
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Indianapolis, Ind.
Midland Cooperator
Midland Cooperative Wholesale
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
National Cooperatives, Inc.
Pacific N.W. Cooperator
Walla Walla, Wash.
Pacific Supply Cooperative
Penn. Co-op Review
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Hitrrrsburg, Penn.
United Cooperatives, Inc.
Indianapolis, Ind.
Workmen's Mutual Fire Ins. Society
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
DISTRICT LEAGUES
135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Eastern Cooperative League
7218 So. Hoover St., Los Angeles, Cal.
Associated Cooperatives, So. Cal.
37240th Street, Oakland, Cal.
Associated Cooperatives, N. Cal.
National Cooperative Women's Guild
Carrollton, Georgia
Southeastern Cooperative Education Ass'n
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Credit Union National Association
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
Volume XXVII. No. I
JANUARY. 1941
Ten Cents
BUILD COOPERATIVES STRONGER AND FASTER

This is an enduring cooperative slogan for 1941 and the future. It summarizes
the double challenge of Cooperation to members and employees. It is expressed by
Dr. G. Fauquet, member of the Executive Committee of the International Coopera
tive Alliance and former Director of the Cooperative Division of the International
Labor Office, in these words:
"Two tasks are imperative: within the Movementto administer the
enterprises with diligence and also some inventive spirit, at the same time to
train and instruct cooperators and to instill in them a sense of individual
and collective responsibility; outside the Movementto give Cooperation
the radiance that it deserves, and to manifest to those who are ignorant
about it what are its principles and methods, and the goal towards which
it leads mankind."
No greater or more permanent goal was ever set before the Cooperative
Movement.
Build Cooperatives Stronger! Stronger recreationally, so that every cooperative
association will mean to its members a pleasurable place to play together, as well
as to learn together, buy together, and bank together. Stronger educationally, by
member discussion groups and employee and directors schools. Stronger commer
cially, by greater efficiency of operations and diversity of lines. Stronger financially,
by the elimination of credit and by increased capital and reserves.
Build Cooperatives Faster! Cooperators hold the key to the door of economic
democracy. We must persuade others faster to become active members. We must
"give Cooperation the radiance it deserves" as Dr. Fauquet urges. It is the Economic
American Dreamit is economic liberty; it is economic equality; it is economic
fraternity.
Every Cooperative and every Cooperator should adopt this as their principal
motto, "BUILD COOPERATIVES STRONGER AND FASTER."
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.
E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell, Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of
Cooperative Journals and Educational Directors of Regional Cooperative Associations.
Entered as Seecond Class Matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1 879. Price $1.00 a year.
The Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association issues a Weekly Neivs Service
to
local
papers. Write them for a copy.
The Consumers' Cooperative Purchasing Movement in the United States has
Floodwood, Minnesota, conducts a 1 2 Weeks Co-op Forum sponsored by the
now reached the place where successful illustrations have been developed in many
Community Adult Evening School. Write Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior,
fields. Further rapid development of the movement is primarily a matter of other
Wisconsin
for a copy of their program.
groups patterning after these examples.
Eastern
Cooperative Wholesale has a colored film "Consumers Serve Them
Much pioneering has been done during the past two decades in both the rural
selves."
Write
the Cooperative League for rental prices.
and urban fields. However, there is still too much time lag in adopting successful
Midland Co-op Wholesale, Central Co-op Wholesale and the Ohio Farm
methods elsewhere after the initial pioneering has been done, even though we are
Bureau Cooperative Ass'n have Educational Fieldmen in every district, as well as
speeding up the process through increasing national contacts between regional and
commodity fieldmen. Write their Educational Departments as to their programs.
local representatives.
The Ohio Farm Bureau Co-op Ass'n, Midland Co-op Wholesale, Consumers
Every local and regional cooperative Board of Directors should divide itself
Cooperative Association, Eastern Co-op Wholesale and Central Co-op Wholesale
into three major committees: Education, Business, and Finance, whose duties should
are organizing their members into Study Circles. Write their Educational Depart
be not only to supervise the present activities of the cooperative in each of these
ments for samples of their discussion outlines.
fields, but also to constantly investigate other projects which might be adopted. By
Central Co-op Wholesale and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative
subdividing the work, more rapid progress can be made. There is no necessary limit
until the members both distribute and produce for themselves cooperatively every
Ass'n conduct Directors and Employees Circuit Schools. Write their Educational
Departments.
thing they desire in the fields of recreation, education, business and finance.
Central Co-op Wholesale, Midland Co-op Wholesale, the Farmers Union
To help every local and regional cooperative to profit by the successful examples
Central Exchange, Consumers Cooperative Association, Eastern Co-op Wholesale
of other cooperatives and to speed up the process of duplication everywhere, we are
and Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n hold regional Employee Training
listing here some of the major examples of successful cooperative pioneering in the
Schools. Write their Educational Departments.
fields of Education, Business and Finance. It goes without saying that no such list
Central Co-op Wholesale, Midland Co-op Wholesale, Consumers Cooperative
can be altogether complete and we are only including illustrations of some of the
Association and Central States Cooperatives, have organized Women's Guilds.
better known examples to stimulate investigation in each field by every other
Write the National Women's Guild, care of The Cooperative League.
cooperative.
Central Co-op Wholesale, Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n, Midland
Follow These
Co-op Wholesale, Central States Cooperatives and Eastern Co-op Wholesale have
Successful Examples in EDUCATIONAL Activities
Youth Leagues. Write their Educational Departments.
Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior, Wise, has an Architectural Depart
Central Co-op Wholesale and Farmers Union Cooperative Education Service
ment which is modernizing store buildings and equipment. Write them for their
have organized junior Groups. Write their Educational Departments.
folder "Trends in Cooperative Architecture."
Central Co-op Wholesale and Central States Cooperatives have Co-op Parks.
Consumers Cooperative Association, North Kansas City, has developed its
Write their Education Departments.
second Five Year Plan by democratic discussion. Write them for their folder
Central Co-op Wholesale and Farmers Union Cooperative Education Service
"Second Five Year Plan."
conduct summer Cooperative Youth Courses. Write their Educational Departments.
Local cooperatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Schenectady, New York,
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n, Midland and Eastern Co-op Wholesales
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and others have modernized their stores into Self-Service
are actively promoting Cooperative Recreation. Write the Cooperative Society for
Food Markets. Write Consumer Distribution Corporation, 420 Lexington Avenue,
Recreational Education in care of The Cooperative League.
New York, for illustrations and information.
The State of Wisconsin has a Co-op Week officially designated by the State
Local co-ops in Washington, D.C., Evanston, 111., and Great Falls, Montana,
Administration. During the week more than 100 radio broadcasts are made and
have Co-op Book Stores. Write The Cooperative League.
hundreds of cooperative meetings are held. Contact your State Administration.
Some States have good Consumers' Cooperative Incorporation Laws. Write the
The States of Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota have developed pro
Cooperative League for a copy of the Department of Labor Bulletin with the
grams to Teach Cooperation in the Schools. Write the State Departments of Public
text of all State Laws and for a copy of the new District of Columbia Cooperative
Law.
Instruction.
The Michigan State Federation of Labor has appointed a Committee on Co
Follow These
operatives. Write the Co-op and Labor Committee of the Cooperative League.
Successful Examples in BUSINESS Actr/j
Cooperative Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Racine Consumers Coopera
Central Co-op Wholesale, Eastern Co-op Wholesale,
tive, Racine, Wisconsin; Konsum, Washington, D. C., and others have Union
fives,
Midland Co-op Wholesale and Consumers Cooper
Contracts with their employees. Write the Co-op and Labor Committee of then
handling Groceries. Write them.
Cooperative League.
I
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Consumers Coopei
Minneapolis and St. Paul have a Twin-City Co-op-Labor Council. Write theB
ciation
and others are handling Building Materials and Coal. Write them.
Co-op and Labor Committee of the Cooperative League.
f
FOLLOW THESE SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES!
I
t
Consumers' Cooperatioi January, 1941
I
LET'S GET THE COOPERATIVE
MOVEMENT TOGETHER!
Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperatives and others own
Fertilizer Factories. Write them.
Consumers Cooperative Association and Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperatives
own Petroleum Refineries. Write them.
Consumers Cooperatives Association and United Cooperatives own Paint
Plants. Write them.
Consumers Cooperative Association owns a Grease Plant and Oil Wells. Write
them.
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association owns Chick Hatcheries. Write
them.
The Range Cooperative Federation, Virginia, Minnesota, unites 18 local co
operatives for recreation, education and business activities. Write them.
The Cooperative Trading Company, Waukegan, 111., owns local Bakery,
Creamery and Meat Packing Plants. Write them.
Local cooperatives in Minneapolis, Madison, St. Paul and New York have
Cooperative Housing Associations for individual homes and apartments. Write
The Cooperative League.
Iowa and Minnesota and other States have Cooperative Burial Associations.
Write The Cooperative League.
Group Medicine is developing in a number of places. Write the Bureau of
Cooperative Medicine, 1790 Broadway, New York.
New York City has eight Cooperative Cafeterias. Write Consumers Coopera
tive Services, 433 West 21st Street, New York City.
F ever cooperative leaders received a

mandate to set about collecting and
tying together the various loose ends of the
cooperative movement in this country, they
got it at the 12th biennial congress of
The Cooperative League in Chicago last
October.
"LET'S GET TOGETHER!"
It was implied by some speakers,
touched upon by others, and finally, it
was shouted right out loud by the rankand-file delegates themselves.
It is becoming trite to say that the most
effective brake on the consumer coopera
tive movement has been the failure to get
together, to cooperate. American coopera
tion, despite local and regional headway,
has yet to ring the bell as a genuinely na
tional movement. It consists, in large part,
of sprawling, provincial cooperatives, each
a movement unto itself. True, these co
operatives do associate together education
ally in the League and for occasional joint
buying purposes in National Cooperatives,
but the association is somewhat polite and
uneasy. The regional leaders (who are also
national leaders) appear to find it advis
able to keep a wary eye on each other to
see that no tricks are pulled which might
affect their own special provinces.
Follow These
Successful Examples in FINANCE Activities
Waukegan, Illinois; Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and other cooperatives require each
member to own a minimum number of shares before receiving dividends. Write
them.
Consumers Cooperative Association is actively promoting Cash Terms on both
farm and home supplies. Write them.
Midland Co-op Wholesale is using a Condensed Comparative Balance Sheet
to help build capital. Write them.
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Central Co-op Wholesale and
Midland Co-op Wholesale have organized Finance Associations. Write them.
Consumers Cooperative Association and Farmers Union Central Exchange,
are building up Loan Capital. Write them.
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association has a Co-op Bank. Write them.
Central Co-op Wholesale and Midland Co-op Wholesale publish Year Books.
Write them.
Cooperatives in Washington, D.C. have organized Cooperative Properties to
own and rent land and buildings. Write them.
"You Can Lead a Horse to Water"

Important strides have been taken nev
ertheless, toward getting the movement
together. Uniform dues to support educa
tional and legislative activities have been
agreed upon; the League and National
Cooperatives, though still separate organi
zations, now have the same address, in
terlocking directorates and a common
blueprint for the future. Cooperative
leaders have, one might say, led them
selves to the headwaters of a truly national
stream. Will they drink, or will they kick
up their heels and gallop each for his
own pasture ? The answer to this question
is tremendously important. It may deter-
Learn from Others Experience

There are just two ways to learnfrom your own or others' experience. The
more we can learn from others, and thereby avoid the trial and error method, the
more rapid progress we can make. These are some suggestions for action. Their
success should encourage others. Build Cooperatives Faster! Follow these Successful
Examples.
$
Consumers' Cooperatict
I
January, 1941
Davis Douthit, News Editor

Midland Cooperator
mine whether consumer cooperation ma

tures in this country, or whether it is des
tined to wind up in the barnyard, a sort
of rural "dead-end kid." If the former,
time's "a-wastin" ", for these are blitz
krieg days, and the stream may, before
long, be sucked dry by the whirl of events.
A "truly national" movement is an alltogether movement. It consists of parts or
units, none of which is bigger or more
important than the whole, and all of
which are headed, like the cars of a train,
for a common destination. Such a move
ment must have, of course, democratic
control from the bottom up. The pas
sengers must have the right to decide
where and how they want to go and what
engineer they want to take them there.
But this "truly national" movement also
must have management coordination
from the top down. The passengers, un
less they're more interested in playing train
than in getting somewhere, really ought
to let their engineer run the train, and he
really should have only one locomotive to
attend to, not one for each car, going off
in all directions at once.
Gets Picture of Hen with Head Off
Too many cooperators, saturated with
literature based on 1844 theologyprechain and pre-monopolygive all their
attention to democratic control from the
bottom up, none whatever to coordination
from the top down. Yet, if the cooperative
technique is to survive chains, trusts and
monopoly fascism, such coordination is
absolutely essential. A just-beheaded hen
has plenty of democratic control from the
bottom up, but no coordination from the
top down. It is a temptation to say that
this hen picture is much like the one ob
tained by looking at what is known as the
national cooperative movement today. Its
top has no power to coordinate the some
what spasmodic jerkings and twitchings
down below.
A similar weakness, it is now being re

alized, afflicts the British movement. CarrSaunders and other British economists, in
their important research volume, "Con
sumer Cooperation in Great Britain," put
it this way:
"A movement which consists of a large
number of completely autonomous units,
subject to no unifying authority, bound to
no common policy even as trading units,
cannot effectively work out a common will
or apply that common will to the prosecu
tion of its aims. ... A unified central
authority, answerable to a united coop
erative democracy, would become one of
the most powerful influences in the state,
capable of directing economic policy so as
to ensure the widest distribution of those
benefits which modern civilization and
the modern technique of production
should enable all to enjoy."
Proposes Merger of Two Wholesales
A most significant cooperative wartime

development has been the increasing
amount of agitation for drastic overhaul
ing of the British cooperative machinery
to give the movement a united front. W.
Gallagher, a director of the Scottish whole
sale, and president of the Congress of the
Cooperative Union, proposes the merging
of the chief factories of the English Co
operative Wholesale and its Scottish coun
terpart, and he urges coordinated manage
ment of the British movement by "some
body whose decision should be final and
binding."
In an important series of "Plan for the
Future" articles in the English Coopera
tive Neii's, Alfred Barnes, cooperative
member of parliament, points out the
clumsiness, weakness and inefficiency of
the present set-up of separate national
educational and business federations. And
he proposes replacement of what he calls
the present "happy-go-lucky" cooperative
methods of operation and government
with a genuine Cooperative Union having
the authority (1) to enforce decisions
of policy democratically arrived at, and
(2) to "accomplish its economic purpose
without becoming involved in a mass of
sterile controversies about local parochial

ism and the individual interests of persons
and societies."
These articles aroused such enthusiasm
that they were followed up with two na
tional conventions organized by the Co
operative News to discuss and promote
the proposals. One statement at the second
convention in support of the Barnes plan
is especially noteworthy, for it applies to
the United States as well as to Britain.
It was made by J. J. Worley of the Co
operative Press.
Co-ops Challenged by New Capitalism
"This country," he said, "is passing

through what I regard as another indus
trial revolution which threatens to en
trench the new capitalism, new because
it marks a distinction between competitive
capitalism and corporate capitalism. If the
cooperative movement shrinks jrom the
inescapable challenge of the new Cor-*
porate State tendencies, its progress will'
be arrested and the movement will be
gradually merged into statutory schemes
for industrial rationalization and in thai
process will lose its identity and au
tonomy."
O
The conventions, reported the Coop

erative News, revealed a "unanimous
recognition of the urgent need for co
operative reconstitution."
Now if a movement as huge and wellfounded as the British is finding it urgent
ly necessary to coordinate and centralize
its government and operations to meet
modern conditions, how much more im
perative it is that cooperators in this
country read the handwriting on the wall.
Co-ops With No "M.A."
Have Little Chance
- American cooperatives have succeeded

best so far in lines such as petroleum
products and fertilizer and feed, where
the retail margins have been large. Coop
eratives in such fields required no great
amount of efficient management or capital,
and they saved their members money. They
had "mass appeal." But cooperatives, in
this country or elsewhere, have not been!
generated on a wide scale where margins

were narrow and where considerable cap
ital, purchasing power and efficient man
agement were necessary to successful com
petition. In such fieldsand their num
ber is increasing swiftly cooperatives
lacking those necessary qualities have been
unable to develop mass appeal and they
have not flourished. They never will until
they, like their competitors, pool their
money and brains, coordinate their opera
tions and develop efficiency and expertness in serving the public.
Poll members of Swedish or British
co-ops, and it's ten to one a big majority
will say they are cooperators, not because
cooperation is a "new way of life" or "the
label tells the whole truth," but simply
because the co-op stores are nice looking,
inside and out, they have good stuff, and
you save money there. They have, in brief,
"m.a." They have what lone wolf co
operatives, going it more or less alone
without enough capital, will never, never
have.
ought to drown their professional jeal

ousies and personal ambitions in a sea of
unselfish cooperation, but it's quite another
thing to "rare back" and pass such a
miracle.
Perhaps the most cooperators can do is to
keep right on repeating and repeating that
the miracle just must be passed, or else
and to keep drumming away on the tune
that if only we did have more coordination
and unity this American cooperative move
ment would be going places nationally in
groceries, gasoline, tires and other com
modities, in insurance, publicity, educa
tion, finance, recreation and in Lord knows
how many other categories at least 100
per cent faster than it is going now. Cer
tain it is that as cooperatives plunge into
production they're going to need all the
national coordination of purchasing power
and management they can get. And they
must go into production if they expect to
do a halfway decent job of controlling
quality and costs.
Most People Still Remain Folks
It might help, too, to point out that if

the cooperative movement doesn't develop
some sturdy, centralized machinery pretty
danged soon, shrinking retail margins, in
creasingly stiff competition from vast in
dustrial aggregations of capital and the en
croachments of American Fascism are apt
to strip the movement of the mass appeal
it now has and wreck the whole co-op
train.
Yes, the American cooperative move
ment needs desperately to get together. It
needs to get together on a coordinated in
surance program; on a coordinated pro
duction program; on a coordinated distri
bution program; on a coordinated finance
program; on a coordinated educational
program. "Union Now" ought to be the
slogan of the day for co-ops as well as
for nations; union of retail co-ops, union
of wholesale co-ops. Co-ops exist to serve
the people. Very well, then, if one large
wholesale can serve the people better than
two medium-sized ones, why not add one
and one and get ONE? And so on.
Bigness, or coordination, or centraliza-
The Sales Management survey, which

found that most members of urban co-ops
belong because the CO-OP label tells the
whole truth, may be more significant for
its indication that few members belong be
cause they save money. This, it is possible,
explains why co-ops don't have more
members than they do. You can shout the
virtues of cooperation as a new way of
life at people until you're blue in the face,
but in the end most of the people will
still be folks and they'll still belong to the
co-op only when and if they think they
can save money or get better stuff by doing
so. And it is only through centralization
and coordination of capital and purchas
ing power and management brains on as
large a scale as possiblelocally, region
ally, nationallythat co-ops are likely, in
the small-margin, big-capital fields, to
make it possible for folks to do those
things.
Now it's all very well, of course, to be
writing about a genuinely national move
ment and saying that cooperative leaders
January, 1941
Consumers' Cooperation
Warns Against Wreck of Whole Train
tion, do not in themselves, of course, spell

efficiency. All machinery requires human
care and operation, and you know these
humans. Nevertheless, other things being
equal, an intelligently coordinated coop
erative movement, with its educational and
economic gears meshing in a single-pur
posed mechanism-of-the-people, would be
the most powerful agency we can think of
for the defense of America, for the exten
sion of American freedom and democracy,
and for the elevation of the American
standard of living.
Unite Before It's Too Late
This article, then, is an appeal to Amer
ican cooperative leaders to achieve re
gional and national unity in these unpre

dictable times by building as quickly as
possible regional and national organiza
tions with enough authority, derived dem
ocratically from the bottom up, to coordi
nate the management and operation of a
strong, united movement from the top
down.
Cooperative leaders have "within their
own hands" the power to make consumer
cooperation a tremendous influence in
the life of the country "in our time." They
also have the power to doom it to a
piffling, hand-to-mouth existence, scorned
and derided by its rivals, apologized for
by its friends.
HERE'S AN IDEAON PUBLICITY

Jack McLanahan
WICE within the week I've heard

people stand up in a co-op meeting
and ask why it was that they had not heard
about the cooperative in that community.
In both cases they and the co-op had been
there longer than two years. A third man
put it this way, "Don't the co-ops believe
in telling the public what they are doing?"
Whether they do or not seems to depend
on the particular co-op being referred to,
but the point is that co-ops in general
haven't made a real effort to tell people
about their commodities and their organi
zation. Compared to the clever and imag
inative methods employed by competitive
private business the co-ops are not even a
voice crying in the wilderness. Truly we
have hid our light under a bushel. Perhaps
it is time to reveal it to a waiting world.
Here are some ideas that are being used
to get news about cooperatives in the
press. With a little thought others will
come to mind. The Cooperative League of
the U.S.A. sends out news releases every
week, two or three pages of well written
concise articles that can be lifted in toto
by an editor of a mind to print such items.
This news service now goes to over 500
papers and writers. Ohio Farm Bureau
Co-op sends out news releases every week
to all papers in the state. Midland Co-op
does the same thing, not as a regular ser

vice but whenever there is news of a na
ture that might be accepted by the local
press.
Many local co-ops have realized the
value of getting news into print and regu
larly write up accounts of interesting meet
ings and happenings to send to their
local papers. Some papers have even been
persuaded to set aside a column or part of
a page in each issue for news of the co-op.
In getting your story to the papers in
regular news releases or in contributed
articles here are a few things to remember:
1. Send in newsnot personals or fea
ture articlesunless you know the paper
will accept them. Of course, local people
can hand in personals with good results.
2. Write the news with a general inter I
est slant to appeal to as large a number of
people as possible.
3. Use names of people concerned.
Those who send news releases will often
cover a story such as the Cooperative
League Congress and leave space at the
end for adding names of those who have
attended as delegates from that particular l
locality.
4. It is sometimes better to write up
the news and give it to a local manager or
member. These persons may have a right
of way with the local paper not open to an

outsider.
5. Be brief and be certain that the
article is well written. Busy editors don't
like to take time to rewrite and may assign
your contribution to the wastebasket.
People read the daily papers and they
are perhaps impressed by what they read
much-more than we realize. Co-ops should
not overlook the possibilities. In the face
of a new year it is a good time to resolve
that we are going to get our story before
the public. If yours is a regional, send
news releases regularly. If yours is a local,
send in articles of your activities as often

as there is something worth reporting.
You can find plenty to write about;
world shaking cooperative events are in
the making. There is hardly a single paper
in a community with a co-op oil station
that would not have carried an article on
the CCA refinery and oil wells if properly
presented. Follow Consumers Coopera
tion, the national magazine and the re
gional papers for such news and then keep
your eyes on the alert for the things in
your own community that ought to be set
down in black and type.
CIRCLE PINES CENTER

HPO catch the spirit and significance of
1 Circle Pines Center in the space of a
short column is an assignment too great
for this writer. Suffice it to say that in
Lower Central Michigan is a cooperative
camp that is challenging many a firm be
liever in cooperation and many a disillu
sioned Thomas to a realization that the
cooperative way of life means more than
activity in the field of economics. This
unique recreational and cooperative ven
ture started three years ago when a few
far-sighted members of the Central States
Cooperative League dared to gamble the
rental of one of the National Park Service
camps for a summer vacation and educa
tional center. The season passed with
people from a dozen states coming to
learn that here was a camp operated by
the people, set up to satisfy the need for
family vacations at a cost available to
working people, where elbows could be
rubbed with people of all races, creeds,
and stations of life, where "learning by
doing" was the watch-word, and coopera
tive living the goal.
Out of this pioneering venture has
grown the Circle Pines Center Associa
tion, a Rochdale cooperative that has purchased a 283 acre farm on Stewart Lake at
Cloverdale, Michigan. Enthusiastic mem
bers from several states are building this
property into their ideal of a cooperative
vacation camp and educational center. At
'January,
1941
Viola Jo Kreiner
their farm house, which is kept open for
winter sports and which was reconditioned
last summer by members of a Friends'
Service Work Camp, the Board of Direc
tors met a few days ago. From three states
they came to cut wood, to do preliminary
clean-up work, and to lay plans for the
coming season. Indications are that again
the Friends' Service Committee (Quaker)
will set up a work camp to assist in the
building of the project. The National
Park Service camp which accommodates
120 people may again be rented. A sep
arate children's camp will be maintained,
and a cooperative youth work camp will
be carried on. Institutes on cooperative
recreation, education, management, and
labor relations will also be offered. Con
struction work will begin on central camp
buildings and many cooperators whose
society has a group membership will start
the erection of their own cabins and
lodges. Oak lumber taken from the wood
land and the natural fieldstone from the
property will be used for construction
purposes.
From the viewpoint of recreation, Circle
Pines Center is one of the significant
cooperative developments in America. It
makes a reality of the belief that out of
democractic action and creative group
"re-creation" will grow the Good Life. It
upholds our faith in the ultimate triumph
of democracy.
COOPERATIVE HIGHLIGHTS OF 1940
URING the past year the pine trees

have been growing so rapidly it is
hard to see the forest.
It is safe to say, however, that the year
was marked by a concerted drive toward
cooperative production of goods distrib
uted through cooperatives; that important
steps were taken to modernize and stand
ardize co-op food stores; that the ground
work was laid for the eventual financial
independence of the movement through
the operation of cooperative finance asso
ciations; and that the democracy of the
movement was made more effective by the
expansion of the discussion group method
of cooperative education.
Greater Organization Strength
For The Cooperative League, the year
marked the close of the first quarter cen
tury of organized cooperative activity. At
its 12th Biennial Congress held in Chicago
in October, The League's membership was
reported as 1,115,000 patron-members.
Two new-organizations, the Southeastern
Cooperative Education Association and
Associated Cooperatives of Southern Cali
fornia were admitted to membership in
The League and since that time the Asso
ciated Cooperatives of Northern Califor
nia have applied for membership. During
the year the Central States Cooperative
League and The Cooperative Wholesale,
Chicago, were merged into a unit organ
ization, Central States Cooperatives, Inc.
At the co-op congress steps were taken
toward the creation of a National Coop
erative Finance Association which will act
as a financial clearing house for the co
operative movement. Already three coop
erative banks or finance associations have
been established by regional cooperatives.
The movement into finance should give
the cooperatives greater strength and fi
nancial independence.
Another milestone in The League's his
tory was the opening of a Research and
Information office in Washington, D.C. in
July. John Carson, former Consumer's
10
Wallace J. Campbell
Counsel of the Bituminous Coal Commi;
sion and previously secretary to the late
Senator James Couzens, was chosen t
head the office.
Co-ops Move Into Production
The big news of the year, of course,
was the very dramatic progress of the co
operatives in producing goods for distrib
ution through the retail and wholesale cc
ops already established. A dozen mills
factories and refineries and a coal mire
were built or purchased during the y
and the world's first consumer cooperate
oil wells began production.
By producing goods for use the coop
eratives enlarge their field of service, c
the costs of goods by eliminating one exti
profit and increase efficiency by producinj
at peak capacity for a known demand
More important than these factors, how
ever, is the fact that productive enterpris
assures the cooperatives a constant ane
dependable source of supply.
The first of January, 1940, the first c
op oil refinery in the U.S., an $850,001
plant at Phillipsburg, Kansas, began op
erations. Early in May, 25,000 co-op mem
bers and their friends took part in dedi
cation ceremonies. Ten days later privai
profit oil interests were responsible fo:
cutting the co-op's source of crude oil;
drastically that the refinery had to shii
down for lack of oil. But the co-ops vote
$42,000 to build additional pipe line
into adjoining fields; made arrangement
with friendly private oil companies, fi
whom the co-ops had been good cui
tomers, for a temporary supply of crude
and protested to the Governor of Kansa
on behalf of the 56,000 co-op members L
the state against the "squeeze play." Bt
tween these three moves the co-ops secure
enough oil to reopen the refinery. Thei
to assure a constant source of supply, th
cooperatives bought an interest in an o
lease and started drilling for oil. By K
year's end, five co-op oil wells were i
production making a complete cycle
distribution and production without profit.

In May, co-ops in Indiana opened a
$330,000 refinery at Mt. Vernon, Indiana
and in July the Consumers Cooperative
Refineries, Regina, Saskatchewan com
pleted a modern quarter-million dollar re
finery to supplement its other plant.
Cooperatives in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsyl
vania, New York and a few southern states
built five co-op fertilizer factories and in
Ohio alone saved the farmers $700,000 on
their fertilizer purchases. A modern paint
plant in Alliance, Ohio was built to sup
ply an already sizeable business in co-op
paints. In Superior, Wisconsin a new co
op printing plant started its presses roll
ing. Feed and flour mills in Pennsylvania,
Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Saskatche
wan and Washington state were built or
enlarged during the year. Canadian co
ops, moving into coal production, pur
chased a substantial interest in a 1,000-tona-day coal mine in Drummeheller, Al
berta, marking the first step on the part
of co-ops in the Western Hemisphere into
coal mining.
The cooperatives' accomplishment in
reducing artificially maintained price lev
els in fertilizer may be rated as a first evi
dence of their power as American trust
busters.
Streamlining Grocery Distribution
In the field of grocery distribution,
1940 was marked by a concerted drive for
modernization of old stores and opening
of new "kitchen clean" self-service coop
eratives in the East and Middlewest. Co
operatives were aided in this venture by
technical assistance from Consumer Dis
tribution Corporation, established by the
late Edward A. Filene. Central Coopera
tive Wholesale at Superior, Wisconsin,
set up an architectural service for design
ing new stores and opened a testing kitch
en to check the quality of goods packed
under the co-op label. This gives the Mid
west co-ops a "food laboratory" to sup
plement the work of the first co-op testing
kitchen established two years ago by East
ern Cooperative Wholesale in Brooklyn.
Many new commodities were put under
Consumers' Cooperatic January, 1941
the co-op label as the consumer coopera

tives led the field in introducing govern
ment ABC grade labeling.
Sales Management magazine, making
a scientific survey of the cooperative
movement sent research men into 15 typi
cal eastern cities to ask co-op members
why they joined and maintained their loy
alty to cooperatives. Eighty-eight per cent
checked as vitally important, "Coopera
tives can be depended upon to tell the
whole truth about merchandise." Next in
importance co-op members rated "Even
where there is no money saving, the coop
erative member may reasonably expect
better quality."
Co-op Farm Supply Purchases
Gain 23 Million
Cooperative purchasing of farm sup
plies j umped $23,000,000 ahead of its
volume for the previous year according to
statistics just released by the Farm Credit
Administration. During the 1939-1940
fiscal year cooperative purchases of farm
supplies totaled $448,000,000an all
time high. Nine hundred thousand farm
ers were members of 2,649 associations.
Buying organizations are responsible for
17.2 per cent of all farm co-op business.
Cooperative insurance reported remark
able progress. The Farm Bureau Coop
erative Insurance Services, Columbus,
Ohio, reviewed their progress from a
$10,000 business in 1926 to its present
$10,000,000 a year premium income, pro
viding auto, life and fire insurance for
380,000 consumer members in 11 states.
During the year Minnesota and Wiscon
sin cooperatives established Cooperative
Insurance Services, backed by Central Co
operative Wholesale, Midland Co-op
Wholesale and local cooperatives in those
two states to coordinate the life and auto
insurance program carried on by Cooperators Life and the Cooperative Insurance
Mutual.
Rural Electric Cooperatives, set up with
the assistance of long term loans from
the Rural Electrification Administra
tion were reported to be handling
92 per cent of the new develop11
ment under the REA program. At the

end of the year more than 600 co-ops
with 483,000 members were operating
well over 200,000 miles of power lines.
More rural homes have been electrified by
co-ops in the last five years than were
supplied power by all agencies in the
previous fifty years.
Cooperative burial associations in five
midwestern states served more than 30,000 members through 40 societies. The
average cost of a co-op burial was re
ported to be $166 as compared with an
average of $363 per burial in private
profit mortuaries, according to a study
made by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis
tics.
Other Cooperative Services Grow
Cooperative housing associations in
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Madison and Nova
Scotia completed about a hundred new
houses. At the year's end, members of
Amalgamated Cooperative Apartments in
New York City voted to erect a new build
ing consisting entirely of small apartments.
The project, akeady housing 638 families,
will thereby make its fourth addition
since it was founded in 1927.
Almost 2,000 new co-op credit unions
were organized during the year, bringing
their membership up to 2,250,000 and
boosting their capital to above $200,000,000.
Student co-ops on 160 campuses con
tinued to expandorganizing new hous
ing associations, eating clubs, book stores,
laundry services, credit unions and medi
cal associations on their campuses. The
Pacific Coast League of Student Coopera
tives and the Midwest Federation of
Campus Co-ops increased their activity
and worked in closer cooperation with the
movement as a whole. A new Central
League of Student Cooperatives including
campus co-ops from North Dakota to
Texas was formed during the annual
meeting of CCA in North Kansas City
in November.
At the end of the year cooperative
health associations were in operation in
New York, Washington, D.C., Greenbelt,
12
Maryland, St. Paul, Superior, Wisconsinr-joîon. annuai meetings of cooperative

Elk City, Oklahoma, St. Louis, the Uni- wholesales took time to sing and folk
versity of Georgia, Washington State Col|dance as part of their program; the anlege and in the Texas Panhandle.
fnual congress of the National Recreation
Cooperative Education and Recreation 'Association had a special session on RecCooperative democracy .is dependent o reatlon ln Cooperatives for the first time;
intensive cooperative education. In th d loxcal cooperatives from California to
state of Ohio alone 667 discussion grout.
ôrk, began to discover the values
or advisory councils were in action at th of group play in building the cooperative
close of the year. More than 8,000 fami way ot Melies were meeting regularly in thes' Cooperation in the Spotlight
groups. Inspired by the results accom: Among the important national organplished by the Ohio Farm Bureau Co Jzations which gave or renewed their enoperative Association, the Consumers Co1 dorsement of the consumer cooperative
operative Association, Midland Co-o, movement were the National Education
Wholesale, Central Cooperative Whole Association, Federal Council of Churches,
sale, Eastern Cooperative League and th American Federation of Labor, Congress
California cooperatives launched simil Of Industrial Organizations, the National
adult education programs reaching an Grange, the Farmers Union and the
other 800 study clubs with 10,000 men American Farm Bureau Federation. Many
bers.
individuals in the field of political action
Employee education, spurred on by th endorsed the movement. Among them
rapidly increasing demand for traine were: Vice-president-elect Henry A. Walpersonnel, reported its most successfu lace, Senator-elect George D. Aiken,
year. Rochdale Institute, in cooperatio- Congressmen Jerry Voorhis and James C
with the Council for Cooperative Busine, Oliver; candidates for presidential nomTraining, made up of representatives o t jnation Thomas Dewey, Robert Taft, John
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, Cotj Bricker, Burton K. Wheeler, Norman
sumer Distribution Corporation and w Thomas and others.
Institute, graduated its sixth class o! During the Cooperative League Contrainees. Central Co-op Wholesale ranjgress the major press associations and
ten-week training school in Superior, Wtfradio news services carried stories on the
consin. Ohio Farm Bureau Co-ops ra Congress. Metropolitan newspapers in
their first employee training school thijNew York, Chicago and Boston sent
fall, while Midland and CCA ran shorMSpecial correspondents to cover it and
courses. Youth camps and institutes wd several trade journals and other magazines
run by half a dozen regionals.
I wrote feature stories on the Congress
For the first time group singing, in Highlight of Congress publicity was a
promptu dramatics and folk dancing we: special broadcast over the Columbia
made a part of the Cooperative Congra Broadcasting network immediately folprogram, thus reflecting the growing ii lowing the Congress.
terest in all sections of the country i More than sixty important magazines
recreation. Evidence of this interest i from Readers Digest to New Republic to
shown in many waysthe enrollment i t, wvey anc[ Business Week published arthe National Cooperative Recreatio ades about the cooperative movement
School reached a high of 125 studentij
regional recreation conferences were con New Books and Pamphlets
ducted by Midland Cooperative WhoL Among the new books on cooperatives
sale, Eastern Cooperative League, Centr lfUblished during the year were the first
States Cooperatives (Circle Pines Campitffo books published by The Cooperative
and Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative A[ 'eague:
Consumers' Cooperatio|jaiiuary> 1941
Cooperation and Nationality, George

Russell (AE)
The Story of Tompkinsville, Mary E.
Arnold
Other new books included:
ABC of Cooperation, Gerald Rich
ardson
Cooperation to the Finnish, Henry H.
Bakken
Credit Unions of North America,
Roy F. Bergengren
Belgian Rural Cooperation, Eva J.
Ross
My Story by Paddy the Cope
Manual for Cooperative Food Stores,
Consumer Distribution Corp.
Among the pamphlets published were:
The Socialistic Trend As Affecting
the Cooperative Movement, Dr.
James P. Warbasse
Organized Labor and Consumer Co
operation, James Myers
Cooperation Between Producers and
Consumers, E . R. Bowen and
Murray D. Lincoln
Report of the NBA Committee on
Cooperatives
New Plans for Medical Service, Bu
reau of Cooperative Medicine
What You Ought to Know About
Credit Unions, Anthony Lehner
Credit Unions, The Peoples Banks,
Maxwell Stewart
Come On, Let's Play, Frank Shilston
All Join Hands, Ellen Edwards and
Jac Plauche
A Manual on the Church and Coop
eratives, Benson Y. Landis
Among the new motion pictures on the
cooperative movement completed during
the year were: Consumers Serve Them
selves, produced by the Eastern Coopera
tive Wholesale and Consumer Distribu
tion Corporation describing the co-op
wholesale, testing kitchen and model
store, and Traveling the Middle Way in
Stceden, a 6-reel movie in color, including
a two-reel unit on Consumers Coopera
tion in Su'eden. Produced by the Harmon
Foundation and The Cooperative League.
13
REVIEWS
ORGANIZED LABOR AND CONSUMER COOPERA
TION, by James Myers. Published by The
Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167
West 12th Street, New York City, 40
pages, 15c.
This booklet is addressed not to cooperatives
but to labor. And a good and challenging state
ment to our friends in the labor movement it
certainly is. The labor movement in this coun
try needs to know much more about the coop
erative movement. It needs to know it, as Dr.
Myers points out, not only in its idealistic
aspects but also as a plain matter of dollars and
cents. If it is the practicality of our ideas that
Dr. Myers stresses most in this connection no
one will be likely to quarrel with him. For
while men cannot live on bread alone they also
cannot live without it.
Organized labor, says Dr. Myers, has found
one means of raising living standards, the
trade-union. That device has proved highly
effective in putting more dollars in the payenvelope of trade-unionists. But, as he points
out, the device only skims the surface of the
problem. Another and very much more po
tent device for expanding pay-envelopes lies
ready at hand in the cooperative movement
which, as we cooperators know, makes each
dollar in the pay-envelope go further by giving
us better merchandise at lower cost. Labor
gives lip-service to the idea of consumer co
operation but as yet has shown little inclina
tion to do more than talk about it. All this
and more Dr. Myers points out in his plea to
labor to join forces with American cooperators
in our great self-help movement.
The cooperative movement is described from
its humble beginnings among the Rochdale
weavers (sweated workers every one of them)
down to the amazing developments of the last
few years in England, the Scandinavian coun
tries and, most recently, here. Its relation to
the labor movement is described in terms that
should be helpful to cooperators as well as to
labor. European cooperatives have adopted the
policy of giving their cooperative employees
better working conditions than are given their
competitors in ordinary business. At the same
time, as Dr. Myers is careful to point out, the
trade-unions have shown a keen understand
ing of the business problems involved and, as
lie phrases it, have been careful not to "kill
the goose that lays the golden eggs" by exces
sive demands.
The book concludes on a note of challenge.
The cooperative idea has shown amazing vi
tality in this countiy in the last decade. All
branches of labor support it. Let us all there
fore go forward together, labor and coopera
tors alike.
14
And, as a final challenge of our own, let us

assume the role of missionaries and see to it'
that this booklet gets everywhere into labor's
hands.
DOROTHY KENYON
Current of war hysteria; if you can't gain a

broader vision than that of the momentdon't
read it awhile. Wait until you can read it in
the crisp air and warm sunshine of clear
thought. Then you will have a better idea of
Cooperation as a practical idealnot to be con
fused with the reactionary theories of socialism
that lead us away from democracy.
T. WARREN METZGER
THE SOCIALISTIC TREND As AFFECTING THE

COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT, by Dr. James P.
Warbasse. Published by The Cooperativt
League of the USA, 32 pages. 15c.
LATEST BOOKS RECEIVED
This brochure, Dr. Warbasse's latest, renders

a signal service to the Cooperative Movement
in America. Once and for all, we have a
definite, two-fisted statement that "Cooperatio^
is the opposite of Socialism, and is the one
effective organized force to-day that is mov
ing the world away from Socialism." On this
premise the Doctor builds an argument that
will be hard to answer in as coolly logical
manner. He traces the creeping paralysis of
stateism, and, looking ahead, sees more and
more government ownership and dominatio:,
"if the organized consumers do not prevent
it." And thus we go, step by step, toward totolitarianism, and all its damage to democratic
rights. . . . and this is Socialism in effect, if
not in pure theory.
And here will come, says the author, "the
conflict of the futurebetween a growing stateism, (or Socialism in effect) and Coopera
don." The severest critics of this contention
will be those who have followed, without fear,
the encroaching powers of the state in these
rapidly recurring periods of depression. The)
believe that an expanding political state can
save democracy. Dr. Warbasse doesn't. The;
believe the state must ever be doing more and
more for its people. Dr. Warbasse believes
through Cooperation the people should be do
ing more and more for themselves. Like squir
rels, they jump from limb to limb and from
tree to tree as one socialistic, or fascistic, ex
periment "turns sour" for their ideals. Dr
Warbasse remains constant. As they expect
miracles from the power of the state, Dr. War
basse may also be expecting the impossible
from Cooperationbut as between some doc
trine of crass materialism and the doctrine of
the Golden Rule we must reject the former
always. Likewise in this growing conflict, wt
accept the calm, dispassionate, logical reason
ing of the author.
This is a brochure to which only less thought
must be put into the reading than the author
has put into the writing. Every sentence de
serves mental parsing and close analysis. II
will stand it. It must be read in a sense of d"
tachment, if you will, from the dreary, opaque
conditions here and abroad. If you can't di
vorce yourself for the moment from the under-
(Available through The Cooperative League)

ON COOPERATIVES
Cooperation to the Finnish, by Henry H. Bakken, Mimir, Madison, Wis., $2.50
Credit Union North America, by Roy F. Bergengren, Southern Publishers, Inc., New York,
$2.00
Marketing Cooperatives, by Donald F. Blankertz, The Ronald Press, .New York, $4.00
Cooperation the Master Key in Universal Prob
lems, by Lemuel Call Barnes, Schulte Press,
New York, $1.00
Belgian Rural Cooperation, by Eva J. Ross,
Bruce Publishing Co., Milwaukee, $4.50
The Problem of Cooperative Medicine, by V. J.
Tereshtenko, Works Projects Administra
tion, New York.
*
*
*
WITH SECTIONS ON COOPERATIVES

Rural Roads to Security, by Msgr. Luigi G.
Ugutti and John C. Rawe, S.J., Bruce Pub
lishing Co., Milwaukee, $2.75
Do You Know Labor? by James Myers, Na
tional Home Library Foundation, Washing
ton, D.C., 50 $
Into Abundance, by Soren K. Ostergaard, Willett, Clark & Co., Chicago, $1.50
Society in the Making, by M. N. Chatterjee,
published by the author, Yellow Springs,
Ohio, $1.00
So You're Going to College, by Clarence E.
Lovejoy, Simon and Schuster, New York,
$2.50
Trails to the New America, by John W. Her
ring, Harper & Bros., New York, $2.00
Leadership for Rural Life, by Dwight Sanderson, Association Press, New York, $1.25
Rural America Lights Up, by Harry Slattery,
National Home Library Foundation, Wash
ington, D.C., paper bound, 25(S
Tomorrow in the Making, Ed. by John N. An
drews and Carl A. Marsden, McGraw Hill,
New York, $3.00. Ch XII. The Cooperative
Way, by Jacob Baker.
Group Life, by Mary K. Simkhovitch, Associa
tion Press, New York, $1.00
January, 1941
I
Consumers All, by Joseph Gaer, Harcourt,

Brace & Co., New York, $2.00
Getting A Living, by Lutz, Foote and Stanton,
Row, Peterson and Co., Evanston, 111., $1.80
Consumer Representation in the New Deal, by
Persia Campbell, Columbia University Press,
New York, $3-25
The American Stakes, by John Chamberlain,
Carrick & Evans, Inc., New York, $2.75
Problems of American Democracy, by Horace
Kidger, Ginn & Co., New York, $1.68
Introductory Sociology, by Robert L. Sutherland
and Julian Woodward, Lippincott & Co.,
New York, $3.50
The City of Man, A Declaration on World De
mocracy issued by Herbert Agar and others,
Viking Press, New York, $1.00
Social Education, Stanford Educational Confer
ence, Macmillan Company, New York, $1.75
Rosscommon, Charles Alien Smart, Random
House, New York, $2.00
Making Consumer Education Effective, Proceed
ings, 2nd National Conference, Institute for
Consumer Education, Stephens College, Co
lumbia, Missouri, $1.00
*
*
*
LATEST PAMPHLETS RECEIVED

Credit Unions: The People's Banks, by Max
well Stewart, Public Affairs Committee,
New York, 10(S
What You Ought to Know About Credit
Unions, by Anthony Lehner, Pennsylvania
Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n, Harrisburg,
Penn., 10<f
New Plans of Medical Service, Bureau of Co
operative Medicine, New York, 15(S
People Who Have Made a Difference, by Ezra
Young, Friendship Press, New York, 25(S
Consumers Cooperation Under the Nazi Re
gime, Published by International Coopera
tive Alliance. Available through The Coop
erative League, New York, 10<!
Second Five Year Plan, 1940-194), Consumers
Cooperative Association, N. Kansas City, Mo.
Photographs, Consumers Cooperative Associa
tion, North Kansas City, Mo.
Organization, Development and Operation of
Cooperative Hatcheries, Indiana Farm Bu
reau Cooperative Association, Indianapolis.
Invitation to Labor, Midland Cooperative
Wholesale, Minneapolis, Minn.
Behind the Bricks and Mortar, Central Coopera
tive Wholesale, Superior, Wis.
What is Midland? Midland Cooperative Whole
sale, Minneapolis, Minn.
1940 Yearbook, Midland Cooperative Whole
sale and affiliated cooperatives, Minneapolis
and Milwaukee.
15
CO-OP SONG BOOK

This song book, which was prepared
for use at the Cooperative Congress, con
tains a selection of old American tunes,
Negro spirituals, patriotic songs, songs
of social meaning, and European and
American folk songs. It is excellent to use
whenever cooperators get together. Edited
by Alta May Calkins, it is published by
the Cooperative Recreation Service and
available through the Cooperative League
for lOc.
CO-OP LITERATURE
^ Novels and Biography
UVi-sli fturron.
Fnrrn.. Burns
Rnrris Jenkms
Tonkins (Special)
^npînn
iresh
The Brave Years: Wm. Heyliger ..................
My Story, by Paddy the Cope, Co-ops in
Ireland ..................................................................
A Doctor for the People, Michael Shadid,
special edition ....................................................
Textbooks on Cooperation
,,,
..
T ,. T, , ,
Kn-Trfhnt
wPe rtah *' ..................................
son,
Debate Handbook
When You Buy, Trilling, Eberhart and
Nicholas, High school and college, two
chapters on consumer cooperatives ........
.,
TT ,,
,-r t.
<-,
Cooperation,
Hall
and, Watkms,
Official
British lextbook ..............................................
The Consumers Cooperative as a Dlstrlbutlve Agency, Orin E. Burley ......................
Windows on the World, Kenneth Gould,
high school text, one chapter on cooperatives ................................................................
9 00
AOO
1.50
2.75
1.25
on
.90
1.80
3.00
3.00
d.w
Student Cooperatives
American Students and the Cooperative

Movement
02
Co-ops on the'Campus,' Bertram"BTFowIer !o3
Campus Co-ops, William Moore ... ........
05
Cooperatives and Peace

Cooperatives and Peace, Harold Fey .
Cooperat,on-A Way , Peace, J. P. Warbasse, Co-op Edition ......................................
16
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way In Sweden, 16 mu,.;
silent, produced by the Harmon Foundation'
Unit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit II,'
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit in,'
A gricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Rental pei|
u"lt:
$5 ; black
and white,
$3; blart
add!
tional color'
Bhowings>
$2.50 color
and $1.50,
and white.
|
_.
"The Lord Helps Those Who Help KM*
Other," a new 3 reel, 16 mm. film of the NOTI,
Scotla'
a<jult education and cooperative pro
gmln 1>ro<J,,ced by the Harmon Foundation'
Excellent photography. $4.50 per day. J2.2S.
additional showings, $13.50 per week.
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel. 16 mu,
Kodacrome. shows how cooperators on tte
eastern seaboard are providing themselv*;
with tested, quality CO-OP products. $2 peri
day, $f> per week.
"A HHe Without Landlord," a new 2UI

reel, 16 Mini, silent film on the Amalgamated!
Cooperative Houses in New York City.
"ClaHpliiR IliiiulM." 1(! mm. silent, two reel filiL,
showing how cooperation is taught in tlii
schools of France.
05
.50
CarHifrativf
Rrrreati
cooperative Kecreation
The
Consumer
Josephine
Johnson, a PuppetConsumed.
Play ........
.
05
,,
..
.,
-,
,
TT
. ".
Cooperative Recreation, Carl Hutchinson,
reprinted from The Annals .......................... .05
Two One Act Plays, Ellis Cowling .............. .15
The Answer. 3-act play, EHis Cowling ...... .20
The Spider Web, 3-act play, Ellis Cowling .25
_ .. .
, , .. .
Let's Play, Frank Shilston

.............................. .20
All Join Hands, Edwards and Plauchfi .... .15
Education Through Recreation. L. P. Jacks 1.50
List of recreational materials, songs, dances.
ames, available from Cooperative Recreation
ervice, Delaware. Ohio.
Fun for All, two spinning games, Midland
Co-op Wholesale ................................................ .10
Leaflets to Aid You:

CooperativesThey Form a Gigantic
Democratic Business, Pathfinder ..
How a Consumers Cooperative Difers From Ordinary Business ........
1 Saw a People Rising From the
Dead, Rev. Ignatius W. Cox, S. J.
Learn About Consumers Cooperation
Sure Way is the Quick Way ..............
The Burden of Credit ............................
What Cooperation Means to a De
pression Sick America, Cooley ......
Answering Your Questions About
the Co-operative ................................
What Attracts Members to the Co
operative Store Movement ..............
Building a Brave New World ............
A $600,000,000 Business With 2.000,000
Customers, Richard Giles, Printers
Ink Monthly ............................................
Union of Church and Economics is
Dramatized
Kapid
Progress, 1'.asH.Co-ops
Erbes, Heveal
Jr., Printers'
iuk ................................................................ .02 !.)
"When Miiiiklnil IN \VlllliiK." n 10 mm. sileu

S^S êsâ..^'^^^
Frani-e.
A Kagawa
Day wlth
reel,
silent, 16 mn
andKaKawu.
his co-ops3 in
Japan.
*.,*,,*
,.
.
,
.-..,,
Kental: Each of four above $3 per day,
$1.50
for each additional showing or $10 per week.
Organize Cooperatives, 19"x28"
tjreen- r* ** .................................................
Cooperative Principles. 19"x28"
Bfue_ 5 for $1 ...................................................
Cooperative Ownership, 19"x28"
Mulberry, 5 for $1 ..........................................
Consumer OwnershipOf, By and For
the People, 19"x28", Red-White-andBlue. 5 for $1 ....................................................
Buy Co-op, 19"x28", Red-White-and-BIue.
5 for $1 ..............................................................
.-
.2
.2
.2(1
Stimulate Consumption Instead of

Subsidizing Scarcity
Cooperatives and Character Building
Dr. LeRoy E. Bowman
From Consumer to CrudeCooperation

All the Way
Ten Things Which Cooperatives Should
Do Under War Time Conditions
Here's an Idea
Jack McLanahan
Cooperative Recreation Notes

Ellen Edwards
What We Ought to Know About

Credit Unions: A Review
J. Orrin Shipe
February
1941
I
.20 f
Consumers' Cooperation!
NATIONAL MAGA7INE FOR COOPERATIVE LEADERS'
1i
25 YEARS OF COOPERATION
f CONSUMERS'
On March 18th the Cooperative League will celebrate its 25th birthday, by
looking back over a quarter of a century of organized Cooperative education and
looking forward to the job of post-war reconstruction. "Nothing is so powerful
as an idea whose time has come." As America turns into a new period of its
economic history, the Cooperative Movement is destined to an important position
of leadership.
i
In recognition of this 25th Anniversary, the March issue of Consumers' Co- |
operation will be a special number, dipping into the past and laying out a partial !
blueprint for the future.
We urge you to place your order n ow for extra copies of the March issue* or
for subscriptions to Consumers' Cooperation, $1 per year, 27 months for $2.
COOPERATION
OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
PEACE -PLENTY DEMOCRACY
Mail your order to:
THE
COOPERATIVE
LEAGUE

DIVISIONS:


AFFILIATED REGIONAL AND NATIONAL COOPERATIVES

Name
Address
Publication
37240th St., Oakland Cooportunity

7 218 S. Hoover St.,
New Age Living
Los Angeles
Superior, Wisconsin
Cooperative Builder
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers Observer
116 E. 16 St., N. Y.
Consumers Defender
Delaware, Ohio
The Recreation Kit
135 Kent Ave., Brooklyn The Cooperator
The Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Pacific N.W. Cooperate
Penn. Co-op Review
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n Harrisburg, Penn.
Southeastern Cooperator
Carrollton, Georgia
Southeastern Coop. Education Ass'n
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.

FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
Volume XXVII, No. 2
FEBRUARY. 1941
Ten Cents
GET GROCERY MINDED!

When will every cooperative leader answer the expressed and unexpressed
demand of the members to get into groceries? When will we all answer the chal
lenge of Sir William Dudley, late president of the Cooperative Wholesale Society
of England, that feeding human stomachs cooperatively is more important than
feeding animal and tractor stomachs cooperatively?
The consumer need is here. The statistics show that even farmers buy more
food than any other commodity. Fortune magazine gave these figures for one year
of the distribution of farmer purchases: for the farmer, 5 71/2%, for the farm,
The economic requirement is here. Margins in farm supply lines into which the
cooperative movement has entered are declining as a result of cooperative competi
tion. It is necessary to broaden the base of cooperatives with home supply lines to
insure economic success for the future.
The member demand is here. The Cooperative Reporter, published by the
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, challenges leaders to lead out in these
words, "Instead of searching for facts in their field, with a view to extending the
range of their services as quickly as possible, cooperatives are inclined to hold back
until forced by an impatient minority to take some forward step. It is the exception
and not the rule, it seems, to find an association that does not have to be almost
driven to subscribe to the wider ideals of the cooperative movement."
The evidence of success is here. The bogy of chain store efficiency is cracked.
The Harvard study proved that even in their early stages cooperative stores have
been able to equal chain stores in percentage of expense. Market basket test pur
chases show that cooperative stores can and do equal chain store prices and give
higher quality. A cooperative store has the precious ingredient of business which no
under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year.
chain store can ever achieve, of the loyalty of consumer ownership which results in
mass automatic distribution to equal modern automatic production.
All too slowly are cooperatives going into groceries. Why should not every
farm supply cooperative appoint a committee to investigate the addition of home
supplies to their lines. It's time to act now! Why should not urban cooperatives be
formed more rapidly where none exist and follow the proven methods and achieve
the possible results which others are doing ?
Superior has pioneered the way. Midland, Kansas City, Chicago and Brooklyn
have followed. Now the Great G.L.F. of Ithaca, N. Y. is starting to answer the
unexpressed and expressed demand of their members for cooperatively purchased
and processed food, as well as animal feed, by opening a modern food-store at
Rome, N. Y. Other regionals should "do likewise."
Religious, educational and political democracy will never be retained in Amer
ica and still further developed, unless and until a cooperative economic democracy
is built alongside them. Either a brighter democratic age or a darker dictatorial age
is ahead of us, and we are the ones who will decide which it will be in America.
STIMULATE CONSUMPTION INSTEAD OF

SUBSIDIZING SCARCITY
We must turn our faces toward abundance. We must accept the possibilities
of power production to provide plenty for all. We must build an automatic
method of mass distribution to match our automatic machines of mass produc
tion. We must release our power machines from the hands of finance-capital
which operates them to produce profits for the few and poverty for the many.
We must take off the brakes and dig out the sand in the gears by which profits
slow up production.
Finance started the scarcity program by high interest rates. Industry fol
lowed by high prices. Labor followed by immigration quotas and other restrictions.
Agriculture then followed in line by reducing production. Now all four great
producer groups are following a scarcity instead of an abundance program. And
with what result? Not parity of plenty, but parity of scarcity. It could not do
otherwise. Means and ends are always the same. Scarcity policies result in scarcity
production, not plenty.
We have reached the age of producer groupism. Finance, industry, labor and
agriculture are fighting out a battle as groups instead of individuals, but it is
still the same old battle with the same old results. Finance and industry continue
to increase their percentage of ownership, and labor and agriculture increasingly
lose out. When Henry A. Wallace, our Vice-President, went to Washington
eight years ago he said that the government was going to take hold of the heads
of this four horse producer team and keep them in line. But no free government
can do it and continue to be free. Government cannot control economics in a free
society, nor can economics control government. Economics is made up of pro
ducers and consumers. Government is made up of citizens. Only economic con
sumers, not political citizens, can control economic producers in a free society.
If citizens attempt to take control of producer groups, then the end is Statism.
The basic trouble in America is that consumers have not recognized their
potential power and organized to deal directly with the producer groups. Pro
ducers are basically farmers and workers. Consumers (who are the same farmers
and workers) must become the owners of finance and industry. Then represen
tatives of farmers and workers, organized as producers and consumers, will meet
across the table and bargain with themselves. Only then can we have plenty
18
never so long as we permit finance and industry to be owned by a few middle

men for their own profits.
Speed the organization of farmers marketing cooperatives and labor unions!
Speed the organization of consumers cooperatives in every field of industry and
finance! This is the road to plenty. This is the next and final step for democracy.
In the meantime, until these voluntary democratic producers and consumers
cooperatives can take over, the government should base its relief program for all
groups on the principle of stimulating consumption instead of restricting pro
duction, as it has largely done thus far. The two things most necessary are, first,
to make every effort to reduce consumers prices and second, to tax away the
excess savings from the few. Taxation of excess incomes, inheritances and profits
is the most important function the government could perform to stimulate con
sumption, instead of continuing to borrow the excess savings away and paying
interest on them. The two greatest mistakes in government policy in recent years
are in encouraging price fixing at higher levels and in borrowing instead of
taxing. It's high time for the government to encourage consumption rather than
reducing production.
COOPERATIVES AND
CHARACTER BUILDING
""THERE is always the temptation,
A whenever one speaks of an organiza
tion with which he is identified, to find
in it the elements of virtue and to assume
that competing or parallel organizations
are "not so good." In time of war or
preparation for war this temptation is
stronger. Our country is the best in the
world, our institutions perfect. Hence,
cooperators should be on their guard
right now not "to claim virtue for coop
eration merely because it is their organ
ization. We should be objective and criti
cal of ourselves, in order to know the
truth which is in itself a satisfaction, and
in order to know where we should im
prove. It may be well to admit, therefore,
at the outset, that while there are many
ways in which cooperation builds char
acter, a brief survey of the movement may
reveal limitations which should be stim
uli to efforts to supplement its operation,
by other activities that will round out its
character forming potentialities. There
may be gaps in the practices of coopera
tives that should be filled by adoption of
other or changed practices.
What Is Character Building?
"Character building" is a loose phrase,
made up of "weasel" words. I shall not
Consumers' Cooperation February, 1941
Dr. LeRoy E. Bowman

attempt to define it, because I do not be
lieve definition important here, nor con
ducive to harmonious thinking. There
are several generally accepted attributes
of human beings which are affected di
rectly and vitally by cooperative prac
tices. It is these that furnish the most
fruitful basis for consideration.
First and of greatest significance is the
question: is character building essentially
a function of consumers' cooperation?
To maintain that the movement is a
business and the job of building charac
ter belongs to other agencies, is to pre
clude any real opportunity to build char
acter. For, it is in the direct connection,
even the essential identity, of practical
day by day affairs and ethical considera
tions that character depends. To separate
business methods from goodness, from
unselfishness, and from ideals, is to rele
gate these flowers of the human spirit to
the vacuum of abstract considerations.
Nothing happens to the character of those
people who only in home, or church, or
school are instructed to deal justly with
their fellowmen, and who regard busi
ness transactions outside the moral realm.
Character grows in exercise of important
functions. It may have been true in by19
li
praise of cooperatives as a wholesome chan

nel of business relations between equals.
But, after it has all been said, several
questions present themselves. The first
is: do consumers want to know the truth ?
Are not some of them better satisfied,
that is get more of what they want for
their money, if they are told in glam
orous advertisements of glories that ac
tually do not reside in the articles they
purchase? If there are consumers of
that kind, is it ethical to deflate their
expansive expectations and make them
conscious of the cold, hard facts about
cosmetics, for example? The answer is
that in this respect the cooperative move
ment is not merely giving to consumers
just what they want. It is educating them. |
It is actually teaching them to want the
truth, and in so doing, it is building
character. The whole effort at grading
and labeling is as much character build
ing as it is a business effort to satisfy
demands from cooperative consumers.
Is There Morality in Buying Cheaper?
In the matter of grading and labeling,
however, the effort has come from the
leaders in the movement. Perhaps that
is the way it must come. But it raises the
next question as to character building,
and it is: to what extent are the prin
ciples of cooperation the appeal to mem
bers of local cooperatives, and to what
extent, on the other hand, are these mem
bers responding merely to the opportuni
ty to get things more cheaply than from
competitive enterprises. Those who are
Does Cooperation Foster Honesty?
solely or chiefly motivated by the latter
The principles of cooperative organ desire surely are not being bettered ethi
ization and control, if carried out con cally by "buying co-op." To the extent
sistently, take away many of the incen that cooperative education is carried to
tives of cheating and exploitation. If the each member, to that extent the prin
members own the business obviously it ciples and practices of the movement hast
is to their own interests to tell all the an uplifting influence on the members.
truth about the quality of goods or ser
vices they sell themselves. The usual dis Learn to Demand Democracy
Do the leaders in the cooperatives give
honesty of advertising fails to have any
purpose in a cooperative enterprise. There to the members the amount of democraq
that the advocates of the cooperative
is a social, democratic flavor to a coop
erative that fosters a spirit of loyalty and movement say they do? Do the members
demand and practice as much democrats
fair play among the members.
Much more might be said in high control as the statement of our prin
gone days that personal relations were

the important channels of ethics. In face
to face contact one was just or unjust. But
today, the welfare of us all depends on
the business transacted in the country as
a whole, not to say in the world. Virtue
consists in doing the things which in
their results bring most good to most
people. Therefore, a business transaction
that seems impersonal may be, and usu
ally is, fraught with more significance of
virtue, human kindness, unselfishness and
even patriotism, than individual attitudes
toward individuals.
It is in the realm of consumption that
life is enjoyed or suffered. We run co
operative businesses in order to consume
goods and services and social contacts
(for they, too, are part of the area of con
sumption). It is easy to see that virtue
and its opposite are of first importance
in the family where we consume the elementals, and in the other social group
ings where consumption is on a less phy
sical basis. In other words, no matter
what type of business we may be in, we
produce and exchange in order to live
the best lives possible in the realms
where character counts most. How incon
sistent and destructive of its own aim
would be a system of production and dis
tribution that ignored or destroyed char
acter building in its own operations.
Character building is no side line to the
aims and operations of a cooperative, it is
of the essence of cooperative business.
20
ciples would indicate? The answer is ob

vious: in most cooperatives, no, altho
they vary greatly. Further, it takes time
for democracy to develop in any group.
Nevertheless the inescapable fact remains
that the cooperative movement is given
more credit for democratic organization
than it deserves. And the effect on char
acter of getting more praise than is due
is negative; it detracts from character.
Practically there are but two conclusions
to come to: (1) to build character, all
ccoperators should be ruthless in telling
the truth about the degree of democracy
they possess; and (2) building character
in cooperators in any given enterprise is
necessary in the sense of using every
means constantly to make the organiza
tion democratic. To try once and sit back
defeated because the members in other
organizations have become habituated to
the goose step, is to be untrue to the
highest challenge of the movement.
I would like to dig deeper. One of our
essential principles concerns neutrality.
We are all one family, all faiths, races,
political persuasions. But are we? Do we
believe in this principle? To answer one
can say without fear of contradiction that
the effect of cooperative experience is
broadening. But we are not free of preju
dice. That much could be taken for grant
ed; if we are improving we can not be
criticized too severely. The awful thought
pops up, however, that we are not as
neutral as we pretend. And pretending
is not building character.
Weed Out Prejudice
There are cooperatives in which one

kind of people predominate, whereas the
community contains many other kinds
who would profit from membership even
more than those who belong. I speak of
middle-class cooperatives which are suc
cessful and satisfied, while workers are
being exploited in another part of town.
Lately I have heard, without great sur
prise, of cooperatives, fearful, suspicious
and exclusive in the attitude of their
members toward Jews. The farmer cooperators and the town cooperators hardFebruary, 1941
ly understand each other in some essen

tial points, to say nothing about coop
erating in the big venture. It is not nec
essary to give in any greater detail what
a moments' critical thought will bring to
the mind of any competent observer
about smugness and prejudice within co
operatives.
Furthermore, the usual development of
a local cooperative (which I am not ad
versely criticizing here), beginning with
a few and spreading to their friends, is
quite often conducive of a closeness of
understanding that is fine, but also a
smugness that is bad. The fact is the
modern world demands a positive reach
ing across racial and other barriers in
economic relations that is inadequately
furnished by local cooperatives. Here, too,
the question is not one of satisfying the
consumer demands in the matter of com
modities alone. Character building is
needed in the extension of understand
ing, tolerance, appreciation of common
interests, even fellowship. Usually in the
long view, cooperative business interests
are to be served by the extension of group
consciousness in cooperative members.
Double-Edged Sword of Leadership
Is the cooperative movement rigidly

honest in one other particular, that of
the reward given the leader? This is a
two-edged sword. Sometimes the leader
sacrifices much and is rewarded little.
Sometimes a leader, even in the coopera
tive movement, becomes entrenched. The
emphasis has been rightly on "one-manone-vote," but there needs to be a much
more conscious and concerted effort to
think through the problem of leadership.
It is primarily an ethical one. The rela
tionship of leader and group is contrac
tual in nature, even though money never
is mentioned. If a leader or a manager
stays too long, and shuts off the chance of
others in the local group there is surely
going to be resentment, and lack of ini
tiative on the part of those who might
become more important leaders. Such a
situation is stultifying, not character
building. Some leaders are not growing
21
in character in their position any longer.

For their inner ethical development often
times a change, even a disappointing one,
is necessary.
The exhibitionism of most leaders is
insatiable. They could listen to them
selves make speeches forever and think
the world was being led onward and up
ward so long as they talk. There is more
development of cooperative character in
them and surely in the membership when
speeches are few and short, as well as
widely distributed, and when discussion is
led well and is participated in generally.
Is the Social Drive of Cooperation
Intense Enough?
Ethical evaluation of a person can be
made not alone by seeing what he is, but
how he relates his acts and himself to
others. So, too, with a movement.
Today cooperation faces the greatest
responsibility it has ever seen in this
country. It is the one unquestioned an
swer to the need for a business system
that is sound; that returns its benefits to
the many consumers and not the few
owners; that teaches an understanding
of the whole economic process that has
been stretched out and specialized beyond
the imagination of 95% of those it
serves; that trains individuals in democ
racy; that helps spread things and ser
vices to those who need them; that
stabilizes business in a world in which
crazy depressions follow cock-eyed peri
ods of prosperity. These are days that
demand courage, daring, initiative, na
tional vision.
We should be intense, we should be
devoted, we should be single in our ef
forts. Cooperators are taking their or
ganization too casually. We should be
relating what we do to the crisis we are
in. We should be showing that in the
philosophy, the effects on people, the
economic results, in short, in its national
significance, cooperation is of vital mo
mentNOW! We can't stop war per
haps; it is already melting in this early
stage some of the finest metal of our
democratic ideals: But we could give co22
operation the place it deserves and build

for the day when normal relations again
must be established.
i
I am urging less devotion to inconse-J
quential organizations, and more to co-|
operation. Sociability, recreation, culture,
these and other things for which Ameri
cans organize hundreds of good but in-|
effective organizations that clutter ur
communities, these should be built into
the movement. We need to change our
lives that they may count for the things)
that are important. To do so takes cour
age. Not to do so in the light of what is
happening in America and in Europe may
mean that they will be changed for us.
In substance I am saying that coopera
tors cannot now live up to the demands
on them from the times in which we live
unless they do two things. One is to have!
the bearing of cooperation on national
economics and national politics explained
and discussed, with scientific charts and
research experts, but discussed by every
man, woman and child in the movement.
The second is to concentrate our social;
contacts and our dispersed activities ici
two or three rather than a score of organ I
izations. One of the two or three is the
cooperative. It is too often a store when'
it should be a community force driving ati
the establishment of a dynamic democ
racy in the face of totalitarian threats.
preciation of economic advantages of co

operation. It adds to such appreciation.
It is impossible to build character except
through vital, interesting give-and-take
between people.
Many will think immediately of the
meeting. Usually the meeting can be hu
manized a great deal. Give-and-take
should be the ideal. Instead of a long
and dry presentation of figures or a set of
facts, discussion could be induced among
all the members as to what they want
in the matter in hand, and the facts and
figures brought in to feed this give-andtake. Graphic material is social, believe it
or not. The reason is that a chart, or a
diagram, or a graph of any kind, maybe
a picture, held up before a crowd gives
a feeling of oneness, of something they
all can look at together, of an object that
is common for discussion.
The important points in any meeting
should be few. If they could be gotten
across to all the audience it would lift
the interest in almost every organization.
A skit, or an original song, a poem said
in unison, a Punch and Judy illustration
might be more effective, use more people,
spread the leadership, interest more of
the audience and go deeper into the feel
ings, than a meeting wholly devoted to
reports and speeches.
One human proclivity organizations
learn to use to connect members with the
Does Cooperation Affect the Human
organization is the universal desire to eat.
Side of People or Just Do Business?
To eat together is not pampering the dis
For any organization or institution to
interested. Even the wise old timers have
gain a hold on its members, or to extend
cooperation driven closer into their in
its influence widely and permanently, it
most selves by a meeting at a meal than
is necessary that the organization relate, by the same meeting in straight back
itself closely to human or social drives ofi chairs in rows.
all the people it affects. It is in this re-j
Is this character building? It is, if ever
spect that competitive business fails most' cooperation builds character, for it is con
completely and makes its most farcical
structed out of the responses we make
efforts to remedy its defect.
rather than the words we hear. At a din
To the cooperative on the other hand isi ner everyone is served the same. Everyone
open practically all the avenues of ap. responds. Any experienced leader will
proach to people as humans, and all the! say that a feeling of equality and uni
opportunities of associating the membeiJ versal, active response is the best possible
as active, interacting persons, interested^ prelude to an important development in
in each other. To take advantage of thest a meeting. For this reason community
opportunities in no sense lessens the ap
singing is often resorted to, or congreConsumers' Cooperation
February, 1941
gational reading. Perhaps it is wise to

say that universal response on a basis of
equality is the essential condition to be
achieved before character can be built.
A prominent organizer and educator
replies to the question: what is needed
most to get cooperators back of their or
ganizations, by saying: (1) Get people
waked up; (2) Get them working to
gether, not just being dominated. Noth
ing could be better then than an active
game, a square dance, singing of wellknown songs. It is easy; it is enjoyable;
it always works. After there has been a
feeling of common response, then the
individuals will more freely take the ini
tiative in discussion, in committee activity
or in work in the business.
Action, Creation
Even a Dash of Romance
In the active, the social, the creative,
and the expressive response, there will be
a play of many of the wishes of people.
Everybody will count as one, he will be
recognized by simply taking part. Every
one will get the satisfaction of others
responding to him, in games, dances, dra
matics, discussion. Friendliness, even a
bit of romance for some, a chance to show
ability for many who are silent in meet
ingsthese and other emotional responses
are stirred. Many if not most people, per
haps all, are stirred more deeply by active,
social or aesthetic expressions than by
mere talk. It is for this reason that coop
eration must include expressions of the
kind mentioned if it is attempting to
affect at all deeply the individuals who
form its membership.
The deepest feelings and the universal
appreciations have been the best impulses
of artists to create in song, sculpture,
painting, dance, drama, in prose or in
poetry, the finest formulations of the
spirit. In our movement we have the
form, the logic, the economic interest.
For them to take the place of beauty in
our lives that they deserve it will be
necessary that they be formulated out of
living experiences involving thought and
feeling of us all.
23
, . COOPERATION ALL THE WAY
FROM CONSUMER TO CRUDE ....
N THE saga of cooperative history in America it will be recorded that Con

sumers Cooperative Association of North Kansas City pioneered the road in
petroleum products all the way from consumer to crude. What this will mean
in the long future as others follow down the same road is scarcely imaginable.
Even now many cooperators and others are only beginning to grasp the significance
. of this true far-reaching event.
A prominent cooperative leader said recently in an executive session that

cooperatives should perform the maximum number of practical operations on a
commodity. He illustrated this in farm products by discussing the possible savings
from the producer to the consumer in marketing, in transportation, in processing,
in warehousing, in containers, in distribution.
The commodities into which cooperatives enter should be decided upon only
after careful research into margins, etc. The widest margin and simplest and
bulkiest form of consumption commodities should be the first. This was the great
decision that transformed the cooperative purchasing movement from failure to
success when it entered into feed and fertilizer and petroleum products after
the war.
The log of the CCA cooperative ship records the following dates: 1929, the
organization of the cooperative wholesale owned by retail cooperatives which in
turn were owned by consumers. 1938 the organization of a cooperative trucking
service hauling from refinery to wholesale and retail cooperatives. 1940 the starting
of the cooperative refinery. 1940 the flow of crude in a cooperatively owned pipe
line. 1940 the drilling of the cooperative oil wells. At kst it can be said in
America, the consumers cooperative movement has gone all the wayfrom
raw material production, to transportation to the processing plant, to processing,
to trucking to retail cooperatives, to retail distribution to consumer members. But
the consumer story must be told in reversethe steps were from (1) retailing
to (2) trucking to (3) refining to (4) pipe-lining to (5) production.
How much of the total volume shall cooperatives do, is constantly asked.
Why set any limit? Let time and not theory determine. We feel like George Russell,
when someone says the cooperative movement should only do some certain per
centage, "I would like to exile the man who would set limits to what we can do,
who would take the crown and sceptre from the human will and say, marking
out some petty enterprise as the limit, 'Thus far can we go and no farther, and
here shall our life be stayed'." In Finland cooperative distribution has reached
36% and has been gradually absorbing private-profit business at the rate of 1%
per year. Who can say where the limit should be? Of course, the immediate
necessity is to grow large enough in every line to become an effective yardstick.
But then? Well, who knows? There should be no theoretical limit. Practical re
sults alone should determine the answer.
We hasten to say, lest there be unwise conclusions drawn, that while a

hundred years of history show that consumers can go all the way cooperatively in
the distribution, transportation, processing and production of industrial com
modities, the same hundred years show that consumers largely fail when they try
to go all the way in agricultural commoditiesagricultural producers must come
part way and meet the' consumers to achieve the greatest success in lower prices
for consumers and higher pay for producers. We also add, to make the record
complete and accurate, that producers generally fail in the long run when they
try to go all the way to the consumer in agricultural commoditiesthey must let
the consumer come and meet them part way.
The moral of the story we started out to tell isnow we will in time have
a yardstick of costs all the way in petroleum products from crude production to
petroleum consumptionthe end results of which are beyond comprehension today.
R E T A I I I N C
P I PI N C
24
Consumers' Cooperation,
February, 1941
25
TEN THINGS WHICH COOPERATIVES SHOULD DO

UNDER WAR-TIME CONDITIONS
1. Increase Membership. A coopera
tive is alive only when it is growing.
Membership drives should not only
be put on at periodic times, but every
day should be new member day, with
every employee and every member
soliciting new members as they
meet them.
2. Increase Services. New services
should be added as rapidly as pos
sible, after thorough investigation,
both in order to better serve the mem
bers, and also to offset the constantly
reducing margins on the older lines
handled.
3. Increase Capital. The capital of a
cooperative should be increased until
the cooperative is out of debt and the
members are full owners, and then
should continue to be increased still
further to provide for the financing
of additional new services. There is
no other investment equally as sound
today as investment in a cooperative.
4. Increase Reserves. A large per
centage of the savings made by a co
operative should be retained, rather
than paid out in patronage returns.
They may be retained in the form of
general reserves to provide against
emergencies, and as patrons equity re
serves to more rapidly supply addi
tional capital.
5. Increase Education. Increased edu
cation of both present and prospec
tive members is necessary to build
strong cooperatives. The best way to
provide the necessary funds is to ap
propriate a definite percentage of
volume monthly as a part of current
operating expenses. One per cent of
the volume of a local cooperative is
recommended by the Directors of The
26
Cooperative League for education and

recreation.
6. Decrease Receivables. A coopera
tive business institution should not
endeavor to be also a credit institv
tion. Where credit is necessary it
should be provided by a separate co
operative credit association. However,
members should educate themselves
to save and put their budgets on a
cash basis as rapidly as possible.
7. Decrease Payables. The Swedes say
that cooperatives should neither give
nor accept credit. No cooperative is
fully free so long as it is in debt.
8. Decrease Inventories. Efficient op
eration requires a constant increas
ingly rapid turnover of inventories
or a reduction in percentage to vol
ume. Increases in inventory values
should be set up as reserves against
possible future declines. A coopera
tive cannot gamble on the stock mar
ketit should not gamble on the
commodity market.
9. Decrease Investments. Care should
be exercised in making additional
investments in facilities at excessive
ly high prices to prevent later heavy
depreciation.
10. Decrease Expenses. Economy in op
erations is not a matter of under
payment of employees, but of elim
ination of waste and unnecessary ex
penses and the increased efficiency of
everyone's efforts.
J
While these recommendations are urged |
for war-time conditions, they applywar
or no war. Cooperatives cannot go wrong
in following them at all times.
HERE'S AN IDEA ON FORM LETTERS
AS it ever been your job to sit down

and try to write out a form letter?
Sooner or later every co-op makes use
of them, for everything from collecting
bills to interesting the housewife in buy
ing co-op groceries. Such letters make
it possible to handle many situations
quickly and easily and there is a clear
cut place for them in publicity and edu
cational work.
Now, along comes the occasion when
it is your responsibility to turn out such a
letter. You sit down to make a draft. You
scratch your head, go over all the past
experiences you've had, try to remember
a point here and there that you thought
was good. You realize that a form letter
must ring the bell. After several hours,
perhaps late into the early morning, you
come up with a letter. It may be good, but
it is not checked against experience. You
can only hope it will do the job.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to make
a collection of form letters you know have
been successful. Then, when it is your
turn to draw up such a letter, you could
just use the one that seemed to meet your
needs. Below are listed excerpts taken
from successful form letters:
Dear School Teacher: We are taking
the liberty of sending you the enclosed
literature on Consumers' Cooperation.
In view of the interest in and support
of this movement by the National Ed
ucation Association we believe you will
find the subject of interest. . . . Now
is the time to begin working for prac
tical social ideals; your local Coopera
tive is an integral part of a better fu
turehelp it grow!
Dear Housewife: Isn't it confusing to
try to decide what brand or label of
canned goods to take from among the
many different kinds in a modern gro
cery store? How is the consumer to
know what is inside the can ? . . . Come
down to the store and look around.
The store manager will be glad to
February, 1941
jack
help you and to answer questions you

have.
Dear Minister: As times grow harder
and the world is torn by war, we all
wonder just what may be a solution to
it all. And surely the inequalities
among the people in our own com
munity must cause suffering to one
who is preaching the Christian faith.
. . . Churches everywhere are begin
ning to realize the necessity of sup
porting some movement. . . ... There
is already a cooperative store organ
ized on the Rochdale principles in
..................................... Why not drop in some
time soon to see what the people are
actually doing for themselves?
Dear Farmer: A long time ago the
farmers in the U.S. and other coun
tries found that they could benefit by
owning their own businesses. They
bought feed and fertilizer together to
save money. . . And the best news of
all is the fact that there is a real co
operative food store in............................... ...
Dear Union Member: The national
labor organizations have officially en
dorsed the consumer cooperative move
ment and encouraged union members
to support the movement. . .
Announcing an annual meeting: An
other year has come and with it many
problems that need our attention.
Have you told us how we might make
your store better, and make it all that
you wish it to be? ... If every stock
holder will make it his business to buy
at least one-half of his grocery needs
at his own store, the premises will
have to be expanded in a few months.
To New Members: We wish to wel
come you as a new member of our
Cooperative Association and we hope
that you will not only enjoy the prod
ucts in our store, but will get the same
pleasure as we do in building up the
whole cooperative movement. You
27
probably have many questions in your

mind about the movement and about
our local association. We are enclos
ing a pamphlet. . .
Possibly the League, acting as a clearing
house, should make a collection of form
letters, sift out the poor ones, and make
the rest available. Then when a co-op
is faced with the problem of writing a
form letter the collection could be re
ferred to and the proper form selected

No doubt changes would have to be
made, but the local co-op could feel pret- (
ty safe that the chief components of the'
form letter were tested and would fill
the bill. What do you think?
(Complete copies of the form letters men
tioned above may be had by writing Jack
McLanahan, Midland Cooperative Whole
sale, Minneapolis, Minnesota.)
RECENT ARTICLES ON COOPERATIVES

ADVERTISING AGE, October 21, 1940, "Co-op
Head Sees Movement Replacing Economic
System"
AMERICAN MAGAZINE, October, 1940, "North
Woods Miracle," John F. Coggswell
BUSINESS WEEK, October 12, 1940, "Co-ops
Organize Financing Unit"
CANADIAN FORUM, July, 1940, "Cooperatives
in Canada," Janet Coerr
CATHOLIC RURAL LIFE BULLETIN, November,
1940, "Why Discussion Groups?" Alva H.
Benton, and "Let's Do Something About
Housing," Richard Deverall
CHINESE RECORDER, August, 1940, "Coopera
tives and Christian Missions," Lewis S. C.
Smythe
CHRISTIAN CENTURY, October 9, 1940, "Are
the Co-ops Getting Anywhere?" George H.
Tichenor
COLLIERS, November 16, 1940, "Their Own
Juice," Jennings Perry
COLUMBIA, December, 1940, "Co-ops are Con
crete," George Boyle
CORONET, February, 1941, "Beating the High
Cost of Living," Michael Evans
FREE AMERICA, October 1940, "Quiet Mir
acles," P. B. Stoyan, January, 1941, "The
Outlook for 1941," Wallace J. Campbell
FRIDAY, October 18, 1940, "Miracle of Men of
Antigonish"
INDUSTRIAL WORKER, December 14, 1940,
"Haywood and Cooperation," Justus Ebert
JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS AND OP
ERATORS, October, 1940, "Built by Cooption," an editorial
MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW, September, 1940,
"Consumers Cooperatives, 1938"
October, 1940, "Consumers' Coopera
tives, 1939"
November, 1940, "Operations of Co
operative Burial Associations, 1939"
NATIONAL PETROLEUM NEWS, November,
1940, "Making the Democracy of Private
Ownership Work," Warren C. Platt
NEW REPUBLIC, October 7, 1940, "Cooperation
Marches," an editorial
OPPORTUNITY, November, 1940, "Cooperation
Nothing New," Cornelius King
28
PARENTS' MAGAZINE, October, 1940, "Youth

Finds a Way to Get What It Wants," Helen
Buckler
PM'S WEEKLY, January 5, 1941, "Fast Grow
ing, Cost-Cutting U.S. Co-ops Shun 'Isms'"
PRINTERS' INK, October 25, 1940, "Union of
Church and Economics is Dramatized as Co
ops Reveal Rapid Progress"
PRINTERS' INK MONTHLY, November, 1940,
"A $600,000,000 Business With 2,000,000
Owners," Richard Giles
PROTESTANT DIGEST, October-November, 1940,
"When the Rains Come," an editorial
PUBLIC AFFAIRS, August, 1940, "The Coopera
tive Movement in Newfoundland," H. B.
Mayo
READERS' DIGEST, November, 1940, "Maine
Line to Recovery," a reprint of "North
Woods Miracle," from The American
February, 1941, "China's Guerrilla In
dustry," Bertram B. Fowler
SATURDAY EVENING POST, February 8, 1941,;
"China's Blitzbuilder, Rewi Alley," Edgar I
Snow
SOCIAL FORUM, October, 1940, "Co-ops Give
Worker Freedom and Security," John Hallinan
SOCIAL PROGRESS, December, 1940, "Miners
Build Homes," Mary Ellicott Arnold
SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, July-August,
1940, "The Cooperative Study Group," Dr.
Emory S. Bogardus
SURVEY GRAPHIC, February 1941, "China's
Guerrilla Industry," Bertram B. Fowler
TIDE, November 1, 1940, "Co-opsThey MectM
in Chicago"
I
WELCOME NEWS, September, 1940, "Producer-"
Consumer Economics," Jesse Bryan
Summary of Cooperative Business for the Year
appeared in:
The New York Times, January 2, 1941,
"Cooperatives Push New Construc
tion"
PM, December 31, 1940, "Cooperative
Business Flourished in 1940"
Netv York World Telegram, January 9,
1941, "Co-op Units More Active'
RECREATION NEWS NOTES

Two regional recreation conferences
were held recently by former students of
the National Recreation School. The last
week-end of the old year, 30 students in
Minnesota and Wisconsin and others in
that area interested in recreation got to
gether for a week-end of folk dancing,
singing, games, dramatics and discussion
at Osceloa, Wisconsin. Frank Shilston and
Wilbur Leathermen, Midland fieldman
and members of the board of the National
Recreation School, headed the confer
ence. The group unanimously decided to
hold similar week-ends in the future and
a volunteer committee was set up to work
out plans. In Ohio, 25 former students
gathered for "fun and frolic" at Marion,
Ohio, January 24-26.
*
*
*
A recreation committee fired with zeal
to promote folk dancing, athletic teams,
parties, skiing, skating, short plays, co
op skits, musicals and movies has been
set up by the Associated Cooperatives of
Northern California. John Affolter, chair
man, reports that the recreation commit
tee will be available to work out programs
with local societies. Associated Coopera
tives is now represented by the first co
op basketball team to invade Northern
California. One or more skiing parties
are planned under the leadership of Larry
Collins. Plans are also under way for a
play-writing contest, and one cooperator,
Mrs. William Girdner of Palo Alto, au
thor of a three-act play on the Rochdale
Weavers, is now working on a one-act
play portraying the need for consumer co
operation. In San Francisco the chief
recreational interest is in folk dancing and
plans are being made for a Fun Co-op
"for the sole purpose of dispensing recre
ation with the Twin Pine label." A folk
dance party will be held February 15.
*
*
*
To meet the increasing demand and
interest in cooperative recreational activi
ties throughout the Central Cooperative
Wholesale area, a Cooperative Recreation
School is planned for the week-end of
Consumers' Cooperation! February, 1941
Ellen Edwards
March 1-3. The school is sponsored by

the District Education Committee of the
Northern States Cooperative Youth
League and will include instruction in
folk games, dances, singing, crafts and
dramatics as well as an opportunity to
discuss recreation problems. Chester Gra
ham, educational director for the Madi
son Cooperative Council and Frank Shils
ton, Midland fieldman and director of
the National Recreational School will be
the instructors.
*
*
*
The February issue of the OHIO
FARM BUREAU NEWS features an ar
ticle on the Washington County (Ohio)
Youth Council. A picture of the group
doing "Bow Belinda" makes a striking
cover. There are more than 70 young
people active in the Council. After many
discussions the group decided that coop
erative action is the best way to solve the
serious problems facing them and their
fellow citizens, that only through mutual
education can that cooperative action be
effective, and that both education and
action can be best developed through the
spirit of group understanding resulting
from playing cooperatively. Consequently
the group has chosen for one of its jobs
during the coming year the leadership and
training of other groups interested in
folk dancing and other forms of coop
erative recreation. A group of fifteen,
headed by Chairman Jim Wagner was
chosen to meet frequently, plan programs
and arrange for engagements to be filled
from week to week. Judging by demands
from various organizations in the county,
the group will be kept busy.
*
*
*
An enthusiastic crowd of one hundred
and thirty attended the first party given
by the Consumers Cooperative Society of
Leonia, New Jersey late last month.
Games, and European and American folk
dances, under the direction of the Play
Co-op, New York, were enjoyed by the
group.
29
WHAT'S NEWS WITH THE CO-OPS
On the New Store Front

During the last six weeks co-op store
modernization has been moving rapidly
in the Eastern Co-op Wholesale area. Co
operative societies in Hempstead, L. I.,
Staten Island, N. Y., Mid City, Phila
delphia, Port Washington, L. I., Read
ing, Pa., Weymouth-Braintree, Mass, and
Rockeville, Conn, have opened full-time
cooperative food stores or moved from
small stores into large ones. The Maynard
Cooperative Society appropriated $50,000
to make its store into a streamlined super
market. Co-ops at Madison and Ridgewood, New Jersey and the Co-op Trad
ing Association in Harlem, New York
City opened new produce and dairy de
partments.
In Rome, New York, the first co-op
food store sponsored by the Cooperative
G.L.F. Exchange opened for business
February 5. Consumer Distribution Cor
poration and Eastern Cooperative Whole
sale are working with local cooperators,
supplying technical assistance and tem
porary financial aid.
In Superior, Wis. and Duluth, Minn.
new self-service stores were opened as
Central Cooperative Wholesale launched
a drive for ten stream-lined stores by
April. Berkeley and Palo Alto, California
co-ops moved to larger, more modern
stores.
Seventy-two cooperative grocery mana
gers, clerks and directors gathered at the
headquarters of Consumers Cooperative
Association in North Kansas City, Janu
ary 27-28 to discuss modernizing grocery
stores. Herbert E. Evans, vice-president
of Consumer Distribution Corporation
told the co-op grocery managers, "We
shouldn't tolerate a third rate co-op store
imitating the methods of fourth rate com
petition. Co-op stores must be leaders in
their communities."
New Service Stations
Among the co-op self-service stations
built by cooperators in important cities
30
in the last few months were the Konsum

Service Station in Washington, D.C., and
co-ops in Berkeley, California and Colum
bus, Ohio.
Institutes and Training Schools
Central Cooperative Wholesale's ten
week employee training school this fall
was followed by the first employee train
ing institute to be sponsored by the Ohio
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association.
Shortly after the first of the year, em
ployee training schools were opened at
Midland Co-op Wholesale, Consumers
Cooperative Association and North Da
kota Farmers Union. Rochdale Institute,
national training school in consumer co
operation working with the Council for
Cooperative Business Training, will open
its spring term, February 24.
Labor and Cooperatives
As we go to press, 194l's first Institute
on Organized Labor and Consumer Coop
eration is being held in North Kansas
City, Missouri with labor, farm and co
operative representatives participating.
During the fall, the A. F. of L. and C.I.O.
conventions renewed their endorsement
of consumer cooperation.
Oil
The cooperative refinery at Phillipsburg, Kansas ended its first fiscal year in
the black although it had been in opera
tion only six months of the fiscal year.
It paid interest dividends totaling $13,000
to 7,000 co-ops and individuals.
A seventh co-op oil well supplying
crude oil for the co-op refinery "came in"
January 26.
A report on oil distribution in the state
of Minnesota prepared by the Division
of Agricultural Economics and Agri
cultural Extension of the University of
Minnesota showed that the volume by gal
lons of light oils handled by cooperatives
in the state of Minnesota has tripled in
the last seven years and that the co-op
percentage of oil handled in the state had
grown from 6.1% in 1933 to 10.6% in

1939- Kanabec County reported that
69.2% of the light oils distributed in the
county was handled by cooperatives.
Consumer Cooperative Refineries at Regina, Saskatchewan took a revolutionary
step forward at its annual meeting in De
cember when the co-op voted to post its
own prices for petroleum products dis
regarding those posted by the major com
panies. The move is designed to eliminate
the inequities of the present price struc
ture controlled by the old line companies.
Record Business!
Midland Cooperative Wholesale re
ported an all-time high volume of $4,426,536 in 1940 including grocery sales
amounting to $246,492. Business volume
not including groceries showed an in
crease of 11%. Since the grocery depart
ment was launched in mid 1939 no com
parable grocery figures are available.
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale report
ed an increase of business of 45% over
1939 booming forward to a record busi
ness of $1,555,000.
Central Cooperative Wholesale re
ported a business of $3,883,658 in 1940,
an increase of $457,000 or 13.34%.
"Co-op Week"
Governor Julius P. Heil of Wisconsin

issued a proclamation designating Febru
ary 17-21 inclusive as "Wisconsin Coop
erative Week." In issuing the proclama
tion, Governor Heil declared: "In these
days of strain, fear, misunderstanding and
conflict, there is greater need than ever
for our people to consider ways and means
of working together."
Farm-Labor-Cooperation
The Third Biennial Educational Con
ference of labor-farmer-cooperative groups
meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, January
17-18 demanded that facts about the co
operative movement should be taught
more widely in Wisconsin schools and
urged that more courses and institutes on
cooperatives be held in major educational
institutions.
New Warehouses
The Pacific Supply Cooperative with
headquarters at Walla Walla, Washing
ton opened new branch warehouses in
Portland, Oregon and Pocatello, Idaho in
December to handle the rapidly growing
business of the six-year-old co-op whole
sale serving 60 co-ops in the Northwest
ern states.
REVIEWS
WHAT WE OUGHT To KNOW ABOUT CREDIT
UNIONS, by Anthony Lehner, Department
of Education, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
Cooperative Association, Harrisburg, Penn
sylvania, lOc. Available through The Co
operative League of the U.S.A.
Here is a pamphlet which fills a longfelt
need. It is written by a man who knows what
credit unions are, how they operate, and what
they can do to help people to help themselves.
He writes with the intimate knowledge of an
active credit union member, and the observa
tions he made while connected with the Indi
ana Farm Bureau, which was one of the first
farmer organizations to realize that credit
unions are ideally geared to serve the farmer,
and now has 45 credit unions with a mem
bership of over 5,650.
In answer to the question, Can Credit Unions
operate successfully among Farm Supply Co
operatives? Lehner not only brings out all the
pros and cons but cites concrete examples and
figures to substantiate his definite statement.
February, 1 941
"Credit Unions among farmers can and do

junction successfully whenever we really want
to make them junction."
The writer of "What We Ought to Know
About Credit Unions" strongly recommends
that Credit Unions should (1) Set aside a
portion of their earnings and allocate them
to an educational fund which should be used
to acquaint the members and others thoroughly
with the services and benefits of their Credit
Union, to explain to them how it operates and
to make them understand they share in the
responsibility of managing it. (2) Credit
Unions should affiliate with their State League
and the Credit Union National Association.
This pamphlet, although written particularly
for rural cooperative groups, contains much
information which will profit everyone to read.
It will, however, be especially useful to rural
groups which need credit union service just as
badly as the urban industrial worker.
J. ORRIN SHIPE, Educational Director
31
1940 INDEX
An index of CONSUMERS' CO
OPERATION for 1940 will be
sent to subscribers free on request.
CO-OP LITERATURE
Novels and Biography
Fresh Furrow: Burris Jenkins .................... 2.00
The Brave Years: Wm. Heyliger .................. 1.50

Ireland .................................................................. 2.75
A Doctor tor the People, Michael Shadid,
special edition .................................................... 1.25
Consumers' Cooperatives, Julia E. John

son, Debate Handbook .................................. .90
When You Buy, Trilling. Eberhart and
chapters on consumer cooperatives ........ 1.80
Cooperation, Hall and Watkins, Official
British Textbook .............................................. 3.0(1
The Consumers Cooperative as a Distribu

tive Agency, Orin E. Burley ...................... 3.00
Windows on the World, Kenneth Oould,

high school text, one chapter on coop
eratives ................................................................ 3.0(1

Movement ........................_......................
.02
Co-ops on the Campus, Bertram B. Fowler .03
Campus Co-ops, William Moore .................... .05
Campus Co-op News Letter ............................ .25
Cooperatives and Peace, Harold Fey ........
CooperationA Way of Peace, J. P. Warbasse, Co-op Edition ......................................
.0.1
.50
Cooperative Recreation
Consumed, Josephine
Consumer
The
Johnson, a Puppet Play ._......._.............. .03
Cooperative Becreation, Carl Hutchinson,
Two One Act Flayi, Ellls Cowling ..............
.15
All Join Hands, Edwards and Plauchi ....
.15
The Answer, 3-act play, Ellis Cowling ...... .20

Let's Play, Frank Shilston .............................. .20
Education Through Becreation, L. P. Jacks 1.50

Co-op Wholesale ................................................ .10
List of recreational materials, songs, dances,
games, available from Cooperative Recreation
Service, Delaware. Ohio.
Credit Unions
Credit TJiiions, Frank O'llara ........................

Unions, Anthony Lehner ..............................
Credit Unions: The People's Banks, Max
well Stewart ......................................................
Tuna Emerges (Credit Unions), Eoy Bersengren ................................................................
Credit Union North America, Roy Bergengren ........................................................................
32
Per
Leaflets to Aid You: Copy
.05
.10
.10
1.00
2.0(1
How a Consumers Cooperative Difers From Ordinary Business ........

I Saw a People Rising From the
The Burden of Credit ............................
the Co-operative ......................................
operative Store Movement, from
Sales Management ................................
Building a Brave New World, George
Ticheiior ......_...__....._....._____
A $600,000,000 Business With 2,000,000
Customers, Richard Giles, Printers
Ink Monthly ............................................
Dramatized as Co-ops Reveal Rapid
Progress, P. H. Erbes, Jr., Printers'
Ink ...._................____........._
Brickbats and Boomerangs, E. R.
Bo wen ........._......._...._._...._......__
OPERATION
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way In Sweden, 18

silent, produced by the Harmon Foundath
Unit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit II 1
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit in,
Agricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Rental pi
unit: color, $5; black and white, $3; add!
tional showings, $2.50 color and $1.50, bind
and white.
"The Lord Help* Thole Who Help Bull
OJie," a new 8 reel, 16 mm. film of the Notil
Scotia adult education and cooperative pro I
gram, produced by the Harmon Foundation!
Excellent photography. $4.50 per day, $2.!lf
T
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel, 16 mm,
Kodacrome, shows how cooperators on tl
eastern seaboard are providing themselveil
with tested, Quality CO-OP products. ?2 pe*
f
day, $6 per week.
"A IlouHe Without a Landlord," a new 2U
reel, 16 mm. silent film on the Amalgamated
"CluMpliig Ilandd," 16 mm. silent, two reel film,
allowing how cooperation ! taught in tin
schools of France.
"When Mankind ! Willing." a 10 mm. silem
three-reel film, with English title*, of coop
erative stores, wholesales and factories If
France.
A Day With Kaeawa, 3 reel, silent. 18 mm.
Kagawa and his co-ops in Japan.
Rental: Each of four above $3 per day, J1.E.
Tor each additional showing or $10 per week.1
POSTBBS
DOCTOR

Green, 5 for $1 ................................................ 3
Cooperative Principles, 19"x28"
Blue, 5 for $1 ..__...................._.................... .2fl
Mulberry, 5 for $1 .......................................... .21
Consumer OwnershipOf, By and For
the People, 19"x28", Red-White-andBlue. 0 for $1 .................................................... .21
Buy Co-op, 19"x28", Red-White-and-Blue,
~" '
5 for $1 ................._....._....-......_.................
MARCH. 1941
NATIONAL
JAMES
PETER
WARBASSE
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

25 YEARS OF COOPERATION, James P. Warbasse
AS I REMEMBER, Peter Hamilton, Mabel Cheel,
Mary Arnold, Mary Coover Long, Colston Warne,
A. S. Goss, I. H. Hull, Waldemar Niemela,
Rev. R. A. McGowan.
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
Like the Blooming of a Rose
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
"The beginning of The League did not occur per saltern, but is somethirL
more like the blooming of a rose," thus wrote Dr. Warbasse when he described
the first days of organized consumer cooperative education under the guidance
of The Cooperative League of the USA.
irst saw the
So it was! For our national magazine Consumers' Cooperation f
light of day in May 1914 almost two years before The Cooperative League m
formally organized. While we are celebrating, The Magazine bids its younga
brother a happy 25th Anniversary and takes a couple of extra bows itself.
OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OFTHE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
In keeping with this occasion Consumers' Cooperation bursts forth with
new cover format and with sixteen extra pages under its belt.
Send a subscription for a friend, or have other members of your co-op sul
scribe. And if your own subscription is about to expire, renew // today so you
not miss an issue of the Consumers' Cooperation$1 per year, 27 months for $2.
PEACE PLENTY- DEMOCRACY
Send your subscriptions today to:
THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF THE USA
New York City
167 West 12th Street

DIVISIONS:
Publication
Address
Name
Ne*/ Age Living
7218 S. Hoover St.,
Los Angeles
Cooperative Builder
Superior, Wisconsin
Central States Coopeiatives, Inc.
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
Consumers Defender
116 E. 16 St., N. Y.
The Recreation Kit
Delaware, Ohio
The Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Penn. Co-op Review
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
Volume XXVII. No. 3
MARCH, 1941
Ten Cents
THE ROCHDALE PIONEERS SALUTE THE AMERICAN PIONEERS

Today we of the present generation of cooperators, salute the American
Pioneers who formally organized the Cooperative League 2 5 years ago on March 18,
1916. We also salute those American cooperators whose still earlier pioneering
efforts laid the groundwork on which the League was started. But, much as we
of today honor those who laid the groundwork for a national organization of the
Consumers' Cooperative Movement in the United States (of whom many, happily,
are still among us), we are moved to suggest that, since the pioneering spirit
goes marching on, it may not be amiss to imagine that the Rochdale Pioneers
today salute the American Pioneers with even greater joy.
Yet the dreams of the Rochdale Pioneers and our own American Pioneers
are far from being realized. Today, it seems that they are even being discarded
in many countries. But "the Light knows the need, and the way." And the Light
never fails to draw the souls and minds of men on toward the truth, though the
economic and political clouds may seem at times to hide it. So while we salute the
Pioneers of the past, we also challenge the Pioneers of the future to struggle on in
the unfinished task of freedom, as Marie de L. Welch said in the New Republic:
"There is much space still to explore and conquer,
Between these old seas, on this well-known ground;
The world is wide as always, and as always
Wider than the world is round.
Last league of water sailed, last island settled,
Still must explorers voyage hardy hearted.
Peace is a country yet unknown, and Plenty
Has been discovered but is not yet charted."
under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1,00 a year.
"THESE ARE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOULS"

a free society. If such is done, the result is dictatorship, not democracy. A gov
So challenged Thomas Paine during the Revolutionary War in "The A.metf ernment regulated economy is on the greased toboggan toward dictatorship. A
can Crisis." Today we are in the midst of the third great American crisis. Merii free economy must be self-regulated and self-containednot dependent on a
political government.
souls are being tried again today, as perhaps never before.
That is what a Cooperative Economy would be. It does not lean on the gov
This issue of the national magazine is largely given over to the history of T
years of The Cooperative League. But in such trying times as these, we cannd ernment. It asks only the right to develop free from government interference.
forget the problems of the present. The following editorials are according!;
directed toward these immediate problems. After you have read these few page^
you will then find many interesting pages from the history of the past 25 years "WE MUST TEACH IN SPECIFICS"
A group of British churchmen have published a joint letter advocating that
"extreme inequality in wealth and possessions should be abolished." The Pope's
THE SILLINESS OF SUBSIDIZING SCARCITY
Christmas eve prayer was for "victory over economic maladjustment." President
There is no other possible word to accurately describe our economic illiterao Roosevelt's annual message set as a goal "freedom from economic want."
than "silly." "When a people become imbecile they place themselves in the hand:
The people of the world are becoming skeptical of such generalities. They
of the State." That is what we are increasingly doing. One of the latest and mos want specific action and results. One
reason we do not have definite action is
definite evidences of our mental aberration is illustrated by the application of th that definite thinking is lacking. At
times we hear some one say "I know what I
stamp relief plan to cotton, which will give to cotton planters, in payment f. want to say, but I cannot express it."
Yet if he really knew, he could express what
not planting cotton, stamps entitling them to cotton sheets, pillow cases, tabl: he knew. So leaders speak vaguely
because they have not yet thought their way
cloths, napkins and underclothing. For the producer to get finished cotton throu
through to specific methods of action and can accordingly only express highpolitical government hands after it has passed through private-profit manufat sounding general goals.
turers and distributors hands, in return for not raising raw cotton, is the heigk
Dr. M. M. Coady, the famous adult-education cooperative-organization
of mental economic illiteracy. The producer of raw cotton should deal direct witf
himself as the consumer of finished cotton. He can do so when he organizes t1 leader of Nova Scotia, says in his book, "Masters of Their Own Destiny," that
market raw cotton and purchase finished cotton cooperatively. Then he will bypas "We must teach in specifics . . . We preach and teach in the abstract. We expect
both the political government and profit business, which will drop out of tK the common man to transfer these abstract doctrines into concrete actions. We
perpetuate the old educational fallacy that abstract knowledge is sure to transfer
economic picture as they should.
to the realm of practical life. We might as well try to teach piano by lecture."
It was explained as a clerical error when a cranberry farmer received a gw
An outstanding evolution of thinking from generalities to specifics is illus
ernment AAA check for $1,000,015.25. But there are more than one millio
dollar keys punched in error in paying for the waste in the present political relic trated by two succeeding year's resolutions adopted by the annual conference of
and profit system of getting raw products from the producer back in finishet the Northern Baptists. At their 1934 annual conference generalized goal resolu
tions were adopted which read, "we believe our churches should study the coop
form to the same producer as a consumer.
erative commonwealth." In 1935 they had thought their way through to specific
action and urged, "we recommend to our churches that they study consumers co
THERE ARE NO HALF-WAY STOPS ON A GREASED TOBOGGA1* operatives and credit unions."
It IS
is I'CLCS!*"y
necessary
Yesterday it was said that "A nation cannot continue half slavd and half free.'i , ll
to **
set lorun
forth general
general fgoals, but it is even more necessary to
1
advocate specific steps toward those goals.
Today we are in the process of demonstrating that "a nation cannot be half
at war and half at peace." The Special Peace issue of CONSUMERS COOPERA
TION, published in October 1939 immediately after war was declared in Europe COOPERATORS SHOULD NOT BE FOOLED
recited the four steps leading to war as (1) Materials, (2) Munitions, (3) Monej
5y GOVERNMENT PRICE REGULATION
and (4) Men. Today we have reached the third step of supplying Money.
~
.
,
.,,
, , .
.
.
should be the "salt of the earth" in clearly explaining the reaTomorrow, when the present worlds
war insanity of destruction is ove<|i ^ Cooperators
^&
o
f
m ^ ^ wQ[k .
governiint intervention
and we start again at the age old task of building a world of plenty may we havr leadj ^ ^torship; and in advocating the ûs elements of a cooperative
also learned the lesson that an economic system cannot be half regulated and hall __._-.; T..
t
no.
i
i. u
,
,. ... .,,,
i t j . ti
i- t - i
,i r
economy. Just now we are concernedjilestt cooperators
allow themselves
to be
free. It will either be all regulated
by the political governmentt or all
a free ecor, fooled ,
nment ke regulation
v
omy. There is no permanent half-way stopping place.
I
r
We repeat the profound observation of Dr. Philip Cabot of Boston W , all fthe, sThuting jf over-bracking the whip of legal prosecution by
declared that a government and an economy in a democracy are creatures of S'^ ^ t '^ffr
K ^
^
u" Defense Commission
c
.. M -S.
..
..u ..u
r
i
-i-u
t t"4' government might take over businesswhen
it is all over it will
be found
free society. Neither
can controli the
other in a free
society, nor can either
contra
,
i-î
ti
a
,.^
T*
j
j
n
i . Lt- i
u- u
1
}
to be little more permanently effective than Teddy Roosevelt
s big stick,
which
34
Consumers' Cooperate ^
35
proved to be less effective than a toothpick in strength, or than the NRA blue
eagle's claws,' or the world-war's price decrees.
Once more consumers are going to be milked by higher prices, no mattei
how bombastic may be the threats of prosecutions or taking over. If the govern
ment does fix any prices it will be for the producers and not for the consumers.
All government regulation of private business results in higher prices than would
otherwise be the case, rather than lower prices. The reason is simplewhen thei
government tries to enter into price fixing it must always fix prices that will take
care of the high cost producers. They would be eliminated by normal competi
tion, but under government regulation they get a lease on life by higher prices
fixed by the government. As an illustration, witness the Coal Law. The consume*
I
pays more for coal since the law was put into effect, not less.
When the Vice-President went to Washington he spoke of the government
taking hold of the heads of finance, industry, labor and agriculture and keeping
them in line. This follows the Locke theory of "government ringmaster." But no
political government can itself overcome "capitalist sabotage" and remain free.
If the government did fix lower prices it could only do so by converting itself
i
into a dictatorship.
The only way the government can really help the consumer is by promoting
cooperative arid public ownership of non-profit yardsticks which will act as auto
matic regulators of consumers prices. As an illustration, the Attorney General,
has announced a suit against electric light bulb manufacturers. He should havi
left this to the cooperatives to take care of in time, as they did in Sweden, and as
the government cannot do unless it takes over bulb manufacturers.
THE FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

OF THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE
EFORE 1916, there was no integrated

cooperative movement in the United
States. There had been scattered coopera
tive societies for more than a hundred
years. But no national federation had
united them into a concerted movement.
There was practically no cooperative edu
cation. The directors of most cooperative
societies were aware of the Rochdale prin
ciples. The prevalent educational idea
was that of "learning by doing." The
leaders in cooperative promotion organ
ized cooperative societies with the view
that the people would learn about coop
eration by patronizing and running their
society. Usually they made fatal mistakes,
and failed. Without a central place of
information and lacking coordination,
within a few miles of a society that had
failed, another society would start, make
the same mistakes, and perish from the
same errors.
Cooperators should develop a long memory and learn from the past failure
of government to regulate prices in the interest of the consumer, as well as lean Education and Unity
from following the course of the present ballyhooed efforts, which we predid
It was obvious that two essentials had
, to be met in order to create a cooperative
will end with the same futile results.
movement. The first was education. The
second was unity. The Cooperative
SAVE-SPEND COOPERATIVELY FOR SECURITY
League was planned in 1915 to meet
If the people of the world had learned to Save-Spend Cooperatively we woulilj these needs. Its constitution was adopted
not be discussing today Lease-Lend Preparedness. We would already be secure-1 on March 18, 1916. It first made a survey
secure from war, as well as secure from want. Unfortunately we are apparentlji of existing societies in the United States
not willing to learn as yet except in part through destructiontather than con and developed the first roster of such
* societies. It examined into the causes of
struction.
A voluminous literature in pam
Yet, "it is all so simple," as Kagawa said. First, we must learn that Coop failure.
was then issued. This dealt
form
phlet
eration, not competition, is the life of trade and be willing to cooperate. Second
with cooperative principles and methods,
we must learn to save our money cooperativelyto mobilize our money in coopj
and the history of cooperation, taken
erative credit unions, cooperative finance association, cooperative banks, coopera
largely from the British, French, and Ger
coopen
cooperativelyin
money
our
spend
to
learn
must
we
Third,
tive shares.
cooperative literature. The failures of
man
tive stores, oil stations, cafeterias, medical and burial associations, and so fortl cooperative societies were discussed. We
The biggest thing right now we need to learn is to mobilize our money coop gained strength out of these errors by
eratively and get out of debt, both as individual cooperators and as cooperatives recognizing them and by taking measures
For, after this war is over, there will be no end of Humpty-Dumpty cooperative for their correction.
that will fall and cannot be put together again, unless they increase their ttl
During the first twelve years of its
serves and capital and decrease their receivables and payables to a far greatei existence, The League was financed mostdegree. As "a watchman on the wall" we urge you to heed this warning and ge
March, 1941
cooperatives down on solid ground financially while there is yet time.
.1
Consumers' Cooperatt
36
J. P. Warbasse
ly -by voluntary philanthropic contribu

tions. It developed contact with the ex
isting cooperative societies. These in time
began to join The League. From the be
ginning, the societies which came into
this federation were the soundest, the
most progressive and the societies with
the best understanding of cooperation.
This has continued up to the present
time; and for this reason The League
has been recognized as the center of the
best cooperative principles and practices
and as the authoritative source of infor
mation on cooperation.
Tools of Cooperation
Among the first pamphlets published

by The League were "The Cooperative
Movement in America," "How to Organ
ize a Cooperative Society," "The Distinc
tion Between Consumers' and Producers'
Cooperation," "The Cooperative League
Its Aims and Principles," "Dangers
which Threaten the Cooperative Society,"
"Cooperation and Labor Organizations"
and "Consumers' Cooperation during the
War." "Why Cooperative Stores Fail"
was published in 1918. The first three
books.on general cooperation published in
America were written by the directors of
The League.
After collecting information about
the existing societies, the next thing was
to provide them with information about
cooperation. This was done regardless of
whether they were members of The
League or not. The pamphlets of The
League were widely and freely distrib
uted. A Speakers Bureau provided lec
turers. An Educational Secretary func
tioned during the first twelve years. Lec
ture courses on cooperation and schools
for study were conducted. The labor
movement was brought into close rela
tion with The League. A traveling ex
hibit was sent across the country and in
37
1924 it was taken to the Congress of the

International Cooperative Alliance in
Belgium. The League became a member
of the Alliance in 1921, and has had rep
resentation on its Central Committee and
has sent delegates to each international
congress of the Alliance since that time.
The First Congress
The first congress of The League was

held in 1918. Since then a congress has
been held every second year. The con
stitution of The League has scarcely been
changed since its adoption. The organiza
tion is simple. The League consists only
of cooperative consumer societies which
are conducted according to Rochdale prin
ciples. Its membership now is almost ex
clusively regional federations. Its con
gresses are composed of delegates from
the constituent societies. A board of di
rectors and an executive committee are
the administrative bodies. In 1918 there
were less than 100 societies in member
ship. With the exception of a few credit
societies and some with general stores,
most of the societies conducted only gro
cery stores. By 1924, The League had 333
societies in membership, with 50,000
members, and a turnover of $15,000,000
yearly. It had published and was circulat
ing 59 different pamphlets and leaflets.
It was publishing two magazines one
for executives and teachers and one for
the general membership and was issu
ing a News Bulletin to 275 newspapers.
In 1928 The League was disturbed by
communist dissension in some of its so
cieties. The "prosperity" which had pre
vailed had caused a decline of interest in
cooperation among industrial workers.
But a new element was joining The
League which in time was to change its
character. This was the organized farmers.
They had discovered that they were con
sumers, and as purchasers of farm sup
plies were proceeding to cast their lot
with the consumers' movement. By 1932
the majority of members of The League
were agricultural consumers' societies. In
1934, there was a membership of 450
38
societies with 160,000 individual mem creased jts turnover 29%; the Eastern
bers. When National Cooperatives, thi Wholesale, wth 200 societies, advanced
national wholesale, joined The League; its business 45%; the Consumers Coopthe membership rose to 1,498 societies erative Association, a federation of 450
with 500,000 individual members, and;.societies, increased its turnover 15%;
with a yearly turnover of $100,000,000, and no wholesale in membership in The
By 1935 the 1,500 societies had 750,008 League experienced a decrease in business,
members and a turnover of $150,000,000, National Cooperatives, Inc. formed in
1 1933, is a federation of 14 regional
Nearing the Million Mark
wholesales which did a business of over
$50,000,000 in 1940. These organizaIn 1936, the individual membership of tions are becoming dominant factors in
the constituent societies was 704,000. V many fields. They now regulate the price
1938, it was 965,000. In 1940, it was of fertilizer in several states. The testing
over a million; and the turnover of the. laboratories of some of the wholesales
2,000 member societies was $200,000, . are standardizing certain foods.
000. The majority of societies in mem
bership in The League are still agriciu- Moving Into Production
tural consumer societies. They begin bj

supplying to their members farm essen.
tials such as feed, fertilizer, tools, machinery, and petroleum products. Already
among these societies are some large and
efficient manufacturing plants for the pro-r
duction of these commodities as well as
flour mills, paint factories, and oil refineries. They have been highly successful in the production of lubricating oils, 1
and more recently in the manufacture of
fuel oils and fine gasoline. One of these
organizations during the past year has
built a gasoline refinery with a dail,
capacity of 3,000 barrels of oil. It has
built 92 miles of pipeline connecting ,
refinery with the seven oil wells which
At the 1940 Congress of The League,

delegates from 40 out of the 48 states
were present. Progress in every departrnent of cooperation was reported. The
greatest progress was that of the oil in
dustry. The year 1940 was characterized
by the erection of additional cooperative
factories, mills, and refineries. Cooperative banking and insurance expanded.
Grocery distribution steadily increased.
Outside of The Cooperative League is

.
number of ^^ whkh are
it There are over 1 7)000
nuence
consumer
The mfal dectric so.
^ haye madg electdc
and ht
le to 500,000 families; they have
*ir,r,r,r,r,r,r,r,
..u t ' .. i
j built 200,000 miles of lines. There are
$100000,000 worth of petroleum pro ' r
ative banks (credit unions)
ucts flowed through cooperative channels ^ 2ÔQO members and assets of
in 1940.
, $200,000,000. Several thousand cooperaThe consumer cooperatives in the tive telephone societies are highly successUnited States now represent a highly ef- ful. Cooperative burial societies and
ficient as well as expanding factor in the housing societies are expanding slowly,
oil industry. Since March 1935, they have The total purchases of the commodity soshipped petroleum products to the coop- cieties in 1940 amounted to about $500,erative wholesales of Esthonia, Bulgaria, 000,000. Student cooperatives have deBelgium, France and Scotland at lower, veloped on the campuses of many colleges
cost and in superior quality than were and universities for supplying housing,
available in those countries.
food, and other student needs. The ex
pansion of cooperative health associations
As examples of business expansion dur- f is s[ow Although there is much interest
ing the past year: the Central Cooperative i n this subj ect and a Bureau of CooperaWholesale, serving 140 societies, in- t;ve Medicine for its promotion, and al
though the need for cooperative medicine

is very great, the nationally organized
medical profession in its powerful trail
union is able to obstruct the advancement
of this form of cooperative service. As a
result of this obstruction, state medicine
such as is developing in Europe, instead
of voluntary cooperative medicine, is the
likelihood.
National Training School
Rochdale Institute was started by The
League in 1937. This is a national school
for the training of cooperative executives
and educators. It follows new lines of
education based on the idea that educa
tion is a continuous process rather than
an accomplishment. Cooperative study
groups are in action in all parts of the
country. The State of Ohio has over 600
such groups. Moving pictures and radio
are used for educational purposes.
March, 1941
Cooperative League House
39
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M
The League lays emphasis on coopera

tive education and upon adherence to
Rochdale principles. Like the Swedish
cooperative movement, the union of so
cieties is being effected in an educational
and promotional national organization.
Within this league of societies is the na
tional cooperative wholesale. There is no
official violation of the principle of neu
trality. The Cooperative League resists
any tendency toward an alliance with any
political party. As a result of this political
neutrality, every political party, appeal
ing for the support of citizens, writes
into its platform endorsement of con
sumer cooperation. Because of this neu
trality, the churches of all denominations,
the great educational associations, and the
important social organizations openly en
dorse and express approval of consumer
cooperation. The cooperative movement
in the United States has won the respect
and the approval of every organized ele
ment in the country excepting the traders'
and business interests which fear its com
petition because of its efficiency. The hos
tility against cooperation is due to its
efficiency as a means of supplying human
needs. And that hostility comes from the
field of profit business, with a growing
consciousness of its own inefficiency in
supplying human needs, and a growing
realization of its destiny to fade out and
pass over into stateism. Stateismthe ex
pansion of the state into a position of
dominance over the individual and over
propertyis seen as the ultimate threat
to cooperation.
To Build a Free Society
The Cooperative League of the United

States is preparing itself to become the
center of guidance and promotion in the
evolution of the new economy toward
which this country is moving; to avoid
stateism; to circumvent autocracy; and to
attain cooperative democracy by the con
sistent policy of building free and volun
tary cooperative societies.
40
THE
CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMER I
^^1
^^R
la Publishing Association,
Published by The Co-operative Propaganda
York, New Jersey
567 Thirteenth Street, West New York,
mmittee:
Provisional Executive Committee:
MRS. A. ROSENTHAL, Treas., EMERSON P. HARRIS, M. H. COHN.

ALBERT SONNICHSEN, Editor
^H
Five cents a copy
Subscription, 25c. a year
VOL. I
^^1
WILLIAM A. KRAUS
MAY, 1914
No. 1
Why.
lust seventy years ago, in a small
English mill town, twenty-eight weavers
out on strike got together in the tap
room of a dingy tavern and organized
themselves into a club. Their purpose
but that is an old story and nearly
everybody knows it. They were the
famous weavers of Rochdale.
Their club prospered and grew in
membership. Its ultimate purpose, to
establish a world-wide industrial demo
cracy, has not yet been accomplished.
But there are to-day ten million people
throughout the civilized countries of the
25th Anniversary Dinners
world who believe that if eyer we are to
obtain a higher social order, it must be
Chicago, March 18
by the path mapped out by the Roch
An anniversary dinner sponsored by
Central States Cooperatives and local dale weavers. Each year sees a huge
cooperatives in the Chicago area. The ' increase in their numbers. In Great
full Board of Directors of The Coopera- i Britain alone 116,000 new members
were enrolled last year, bringing the
five League will be special guests of
honor.
total membership of the British co-oper
I ative societies up . to three million;
New York, March 20
counting each as the head of a family,
A 25th anniversary dinner, honoring
they now include more than one fourth
Dr. and Mrs. James P. Warbasse, spon
of the whole population.
sored by Eastern Cooperative League I
Together with Greece and Turkey and
and a host of old-time cooperators.
Abyssinia we have been slow to respond
25th Street branch of Consumers Co
to the call of the Rochdale% Pioneers. But
operative Services, 7 p.m., $1.50.
to heed. The
1 at last we are beginning
co operative idea, if not yet the move
Washington, D. C., March 24
ment, has gained a foothold in this
A special dinner commemorating the
country. Not only is co-operation being
25th anniversary of The Cooperative
discussed on all sides but here and there,
League, sponsored by the District of
throughout the land, small groups have

organized, as did the Pioneers them
selves, and are trying out the idea in
actual practice. Forty thousand they
number, according to Washington sta*
tistics.
In the eastern states alone there are'
over a hundred such groups, each trav
eling its solitary way, ignorant of wha't
the other groups are doing or may have
Surely these groups,
accomplished.
each with its own experiences, good and
bad, must have much to teach each
other.
If there is one thing you can not learn
from the text book, it is co-operation.
The literature on the subject is scant
enough at the best. Co-operative prac
tice can only be learned from many ex
periences, and this is especially true of
those little details which vary with local
conditions but which must, nevertheless,
be overcome before success can be at
tained.
It for no other reason than this : the
exchange of experiences and ideas, cooperators should get together. It is in
the hope of bringing tfiis about that The
Co-operative Consumer is issued by a
group of individuals devoted to the
By publishing reports
Rochdale idea.
of significent events among the co-oper
ative groups, by serving as a medium
through which individuals may tell how
Columbia Cooperative League.
March, 1941
41
and why they succeeded or failed, we

hope to give each group the benefit of
the experiences of all.
But there is yet a greater reason why
the local groups should come together.
The co-operator who believes that the
co-operative store is an end in itself is
wasting his time and energy; he might
better collect stamps. This much, at
least, Europe njay teach us. It is not
the profits of the small retailer that
weigh us down; usually his gains
amount to little more than a fair reward
for very hard labor.
If co-operation is
worth working for, it must promise more
than the reduction in price of a loaf of
bread from five to four cents; the excep
tional store that has accomplished so
much has given all that it has to offer,
by itself.
Before co-operation can influence
economic conditions at all, it must reach
up into the higher stratas of capitalist
trade and industry. If we devote so
much time and pains to the management
of our store, it is only because we are
undergoing the preliminary training that
shall fit us for greater tasks beyond.
Without its own independent source of
supply, without co-operative production,
carried on in factories owned and con
trolled by the organized consumers, as
is already done abroad, the co-operative
store remains utterly insignificent.
To attempt these bigger enterprises
without solidarity of organization would
be futile. And here you have the chief
reason why we must come together, first
through mutual intercourse, then in the
bonds of a wide spread organization.
But you cannot build without mortar.
Such an organization will only be poss
ible when we all have a common under
standing of what our aim is, when we
are all agreed on 4iow to attain it. Unity
of purpose and a clear conception of
fundamental principles is the mortar be
tween our bricks.
When we say that
the time is not ripe for a certain new
development in our movement, such as
the establishment of a wholesale society,
we only mean thereby that the brains of
42
the co-operators are not yet in a con

dition to put such an enterprise through.
It all comes down to a propaganda of
education.
By that it must not bf> un
derstood that we, a few of us who have!
read half a dozen books or papers on i
the subject, constitute a select group
who are going to instruct the ignorant
masses. All we can do is to stir up the
debate, through which we shall all lean
together.
We do not need teachers to
hand us out a set of dogmas, to be
learned by rote; what we want is stimu
lation of thought. Lack of thought is
the only real obstacle that co-operation
has to overcome.
This is the work which The Co-pperative Consumer proposes to undertake;
stimulate thought on this one subject.
The theories it voices editorially may
not all be sound; some may be absolut
ely wrong, but if it stimulates thought i
and action, it accomplishes its purpose. I
Of course, it should not be the sole I
business of a publication such as ours I
to propound great theories. Most of our i
space must be devoted to reporting
actual events that have some significence, some instructive value, to all the
members of the movement. Then there
must be open discussion of the details
of actual practice, whether it be how to
establish a delivery system for a store
or to organize a national union.
But on the other hand we cannot eli
minate theory altogether. Theory is
only another name for the engineers'
blue prints. We are building up nothing
less than a new industrial system, and
it is perfectly legitimate to discuss the
roof, though we are still only at work on
the foundation walls. It is his vision
of the finished structure, no matter how
exaggerated its glories, that gives the
worker the enthusiasm to continue
building the dull foundations.
However, discussion of theory does
not mean a mere indulgence in visions.
What we want is to draw our blue
prints. The object of a blue print is to
guide your work so that you limit your
energies to the efforts th/it count.
Theory will help us formulate our
thoughts on what we are aiming at. By

knowing OUT aim we shall also know
how to distinguish the useless from the
real.
That is especially necessary in this
country, where countless forms of enter
prise travel about under the name of
co-operation. There are private corpor
ations with profit sharing schemes, rural
batiks, building and loan associations,
fruit packers' associations. The Co
operative Consumer starts out with the
assumption that these enterprises, no
matter how beneficial they may be to the
actual participants, do not represent the
co-operation which shall benefit the
whole people. We are aware that there
are thousands of sincere co-operators
who will not agree with this view. An
open discussion will present the evidence
on both sides ; the majority shall then
decide. There is only one principle

tha. we shall not discuss, and that is
the principle of democracy itself. That
stands, argument or no argument.
Whether The Co-operative Consumer
shall sink or float depends entirely on
the support it gets from the rank and
file of the movement. The dozen in
dividuals behind the publication of this
first number are in no financial position
to sustain such an enterprise by them
selves.
And of all the kinds and
varieties of publications that apply for
second class mailing privileges, a co
operative publication is the last that
may hope for support from advertising.
Our working capital must come from
direct taxation. It is up to you, the
individual. Without your direct sup
port there can be no organ for the move
ment.
WHY? HOW?
In using the word "Why" as the subject of the first editorial written for the
national magazine, then called The Cooperative Consumer, in 1914, Albert Sonnichsen led his readers into doing straight thinking. He might well have also
added the word "How," since the magazine was started to answer both questions,
"Why Poverty"?"How Plenty"? Read this editorial and see how prophetic of
the future it was.
Sbnnichsen's story of the life of John T. W. Mitchell was one of the strongest
appeals ever written to private business men to transfer themselves over into the
Cooperative Movement where they can truly serve the people. John Ruskin says
that the principal question in life is "What should a man die for?" He then adds
that a business man is not presumed by society to die for anything. But John
Mitchell, a former business man, discovered the answerthat by transferring
over into the Cooperative Movement he had a cause worth dying forthe devel
opment of an economy of plenty for all and peace on earth.
Sonnichsen's book "Consumer's Cooperation" should be reprinted and kept
in circulation indefinitely. It is one of the clearest interpretations of the Move
ment ever written, and his style of writing was incisive.
The present editor owes much to the first editor, Albert Sonnichsen, and
hereby pays him his deep respects.
Consumers' Cooperation I March, 1941
43
^m
THE
CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMER CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMER

THE
Published by The Consumers' Co-operative Union,

567 Thirteenth Street, West New York, New Jersey.
Published Monthly by The Consumers' Co-operative Union

490 Bergenline Avenue, West New York, New Jersey
Entered as second class matter July 21st, 1914, at the Post Office at Weehawken, N. J.
under the Act of March 3rd, 1879
EMERSON P. HARRIS, Pres.; RUFUS TRIMBLE, Sec.; MRS. A. ROSENTHAL, Treas.
WM. A. KRAUS, Business Mgr.; ALBERT SONNICHSEN, Editor
Five cents a copy
EMERSON P. HARRIS, Pres.; RUFUS TRIMBLE, Sec'y; MRS. A. ROSENTHAL, Treas.;

WM. A. KRAUS, Business Mgr.; ALBERT SONNICHSEN, Editor.
VOL. I
Five cents a copy
JUNE, 1914
No. 21 VOL. II
What Co-operators Are Doing.

The third meeting of the organizers
of the Consumers' Co-operative Union,
(Consumers' Co-operative Publishing
Association) was called to order in the
evening of April 24, at 394 First Street,
Hoboken, N. J
It was unanimously decided to change
the name of the society to "Consumers'
Co-operative Union", as indicating
more comprehensively its program,
which includes other forms of co-oper
ative propaganda beside publishing
literature. The purpose is to make it a
federation of the store societies for
propaganda, similar to the British Co
operative Union, rather than an organ
ization of individuals. Among those
present were representatives from
Elizabeth, N.J., West New York, N.J.,
The Co-operative League, Ne-v York
City and Paterson, N. J.
after which it was unanimously decided

that the society was justified in contin
uing the publication of the Co-operative
Consumer, the number of subscriptions
being especially encouraging.
An elelction of permanent officers'
followed.
Emerson P. Harris, (Mont- 1
clair, N. J.,) was chosen president,
Rufus Trimble,
(New York City),
secretary, Mrs. A.. K. Rosenthal, (.Pat
erson, N. J.,) treasurer.
'
The certificate of incorporation was
read and, after some few amendments,
was unanimously adopted.
A meeting of the new Board ol>
Directors was held immediately afti
adjournment of the general meeting.
Wm. Kraus was elected business man
ager and Albert Sonnichsen editor" ol
The Co-operative Consumer.
APRIL, 1916
The Co-operative League of America
For three months The Co-operative

Consumer has not been issued. But
we, those of us who believe the need
for a centralized organization of the
movement is the most pressing just at
this time, have not been idle. Not un
like the Germans at Verdun, we have
gathered together all our forces and
resources and have made one strong
and determined effort to push ahead.
The result is the Co-operative
League of America, organized on the
18th of last month.
Certainly it would have been more
desirable to have organized a federa
tion of local co-operative societies, and
so have created a true-to-type Co-oper
ative Union. But unfortunately our
local societies are too scattered to form
an effective Union just at present.
And even if they could have been
The treasurer read a detailed report,
brought together, the dues which they
could reasonably have been expected
to contribute toward a working fund
would have been too insignificant to
have paid the expenses of the most
GREAT DAYS IN COOPERATIVE HISTORY
> modest kind of a central office.
April 24th, 1914 should be recorded in American Cooperative annals as the
The local societies are too few 'and
day when a small group of cooperators met and formally organized the Consumers
too weak financially to support an ef
Cooperative Union. The brief story is reproduced herewith from Volume I, fective general propaganda..
Number 2, of the national magazine published in June, 1914.
>
But scattered all over the country
March 18, 1916 should be particularly recorded in American Cooperative are many individuals
keenly interested
annals as the date of the organization of The Cooperative League. The story is irf Co-operation; keenly interested, but
reproduced here from the April 1916 issue of Volume II, Number 7, of die too isolated to form themselves into
magazine.
Taking all
co-operative societies.
these individual's together, the^- are
probably quite as numerous and quite
44
Consumers' Cooperation,
I
No. 7.
Marcn> 1941
as enthusiastic as the members of the

societies. It was to utilize the strength
of this element, in combination with
the members of societies, that the Cooperaive League was organized.
The Co-operative League is, there
fore, a society of individual co-opera
tors who propose to push a general
campaign of propaganda until the so
cieties shall be strong enough to under
take it for themselves.
The organizers were: Dr. and Mrs.
James P. Warbasse, Mr. and Mrs.
Scott Perky, William Kraus, Emerson
P. Harris, Ferdinand Foernsler, Hyman Cohn, Charles F. Merkel, Dr.
Louis Lavine, Max Heidelberg-, W. J.
Hanifin, Isaac Roberts, Peter Hamil
ton, Walter Long, Mrs. and Mr. Ernst
Rosenthal, Rufus Trimble, A. J. Margolin, Albert Sonnichsen, most of
whom are familiar to our readers as
persons who have devoted much en
ergy in the past for the cause and who
have graduated through the experi
ences of local organization.
The constitution and by-laws for
the society, which were approved by a
general meeting, held on March 18, at
384 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, N.
Y., deserve close, consideration.
The aim of the League is "to spread
a knowledge of the history, principles,
purposes and methods of the Co-oper
ative movement: to encourage the for
mation of consumers' co-operative so
cieties, to publish periodical and other
45
50
forms of literature, to conduct such

investigations as shall contribute to
the knowledge necessary for the suc
cessful operation of co-operative soci
eties, to establish a central office to
disseminate information and to serve
as a medium for the exchange of ideas
and experiences between co-operative
societies, and to organize a staff of
persons, experienced in the theory and
practice of co-operation, to guide new
ly-formed co-operative groups through
the difficulties of their early organiza
tion."
The members also express the opin
ion "that all propaganda for Co-opera
tion should be carried on and finan
cially supported by the co-operative
societies themselves, on a democratic
basis, as is done in other countries."
To bring this about all co-operative
societies are urged to participate in
the work of the League by affiliating
themselves with it, gradually assuming
full control, until the League shall de
velop into a proper Co-operative Un
ion, such as exists in nearly every other
country in the world.
Sticklers for democracy may object
to this form of organization as being
neither fish or fowl; a hybrid, in which
individuals and co-operative societies
are herded together.
To such persons it may be pointed
out that the League has one of the
most notable precedents in the history
of the Co-operative movement. Twen
ty years ago, when the International
Co-operative Alliance was organized,
its membershin was composed largely
of individuals, who represented noth
ing but themselves. Societies were
reluctant to join for this reason, until
finally the British Co-operative Union
broke the ice by affiliating itself with
the Alliance. Other societies in other
countries began joining.
Little by little the privileges of the
Then
individuals were restricted.
their votes were taken away from
them. And today, the I. C. A. is a true
federation of the co-operative societies
and unions of all the world. This was
the example the organizers of the
46
THE CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMER
THE CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMER

League had in mind when they drafted
1
the constitution.
From the very beginning, however,!
the affiliated societies will have the bal-l
ance of power. The dues of individual
members will be: active members, $1
a year; contributing members, $10 a'
year and life members, $100. Active
members will be entitled only to a sub
scription to the official organ of the
League ; contributing and life member-(
ship will include all literature issued
by the organization.
The dues of affiliated co-operative
societies will be only five cents pen
member per year. And while each in
dividual member has only one vote in
the affairs of the society, the co-opera
tive societies have one vote for ever)
forty members.
In referendum voting, however, the
members of the affiliated societies 'have
each one vote; thus the balance of pow-j
er remains in their hands.
The officers of the league are a Pres
ident, Secretary and Treasurer who, to
gether with twelve other members, will
comprise the Executive Committee,
whose function it will be to carry outl
all the activities initiated by the mem-l
bers at the general meetings. Aside
from Executive Committee there is A
Control Committee of three member
whose business it will be to audit all
the accounts of the organization and
supervise the referendum elections.
The organizers feel that they have,
made every possible provision for a
truly democratic government.
For all that, however, the present i
constitution has been adopted only pro
visionally. It was unanimously decid
ed that the League should call a gen
eral convention of co-operators, to take*
place some time next autum, at which
the constitution should be finally rati
fied or, if need be, ammended or revis
ed. Every effort will be made to give;
national scope to the organization. So
cieties, or unions, in all parts of the
country will be urged to join and make
their voices felt in the affairs of the,
League. In fact, so strong was the de
sire to give a voice to future members
Consumers' Cooperation'
that at this first election several va

cancies in the Executive Committee
were left so that they might be filled
by persons representing co-operation
in other parts of the country, just so
soon as they can be persuaded to join.
The provisional officers elected were:
President, Dr. James P. Warbasse;
Secretary, Scott Perky and Treasurer,
Peter Hamilton. Members of the
Executive Committee: Ferdinand Foernsler, William Kraus, Isaac Roberts,
Hyman Cohn, Albert Sonnichsen, Em
erson P. Harris and Rufus Trimble,
to hold office until the convention.
Meanwhile, however, the Executive
Committee proposes to get the work
proposed well on its feet. Already
the copy of some of the literature to
be issued is in the hands of the printer.
First of all will be published the Constiutution of the League in full and
a leaflet explaining its aims. The ten
tative list of titles of publications to
follow, prepared by the committee on
literature, is as follows:
The Co-operative Movement Before
the War (Illustrated).
The Co-operative Movement During
the War.
The Co-operative Movement in
America.
How to Organize a Co-operative
Society.
Dangers Which Threaten the Co
operative Society.
The Distinction Between Consum
ers' and Producers' Co-operative So
cieties.
The Destiny of the Co-operative
Movement.
Co-operation and Labor Organiza
tions.
As for an official organ, while the
transfer has not yet been made, The
Co-operative Consumer will be taken
over by the League as such. As prac
tically all the members of the old Con
sumers' Co-operative Union are now
members of the League, it may be said
that the two organizations are merged
and that thus the Consumer becomes
the official organ of the League. The
March, 1941
51
legal formalities will be undertaken at

once.
While the Treasurer has not yet is
sued a report (only ten days having
passed since the organization of the
League), the applications for member
ship so far received have been extreme
ly encouraging; already there is
enough money in the treasury to make
a start.
But, of course, no matter how many
individuals may show their enthusiasium by joining, the ultimate success of
the League is by no means assured.
That depends entirely on the co-opera
tive societies. Quite aside from the
question of funds, if the societies show
no interest in pushing for a general
organization, individuals will soon find
their enthusiasm evaporating.
Again we urge members of local co
operative societies, and especially the
officers of such societies, to consider
the work which the League proposes
to undertake, as expressed in its Con
stitution, and quoted above.
Do you not realize that alone, iso
lated, your society can never become
a permanent success?
Is the end of all your efforts to be
only a miserable little five or six per
cent, dividend on the purchases of your
members?
Don't you realize that in all other
countries there was no real success
until a co-operative union was estab
lished?
Don't you realize that the moment
a chain store corporation decides to es
tablish a branch in the next street, you
are done for?
You are frittering away your time
and energy in trying to solve those ir
ritating little problems that confront
every isolated co-operative stbre, be
lieving and hoping that you will finally
overcome them.
There is only one solution to all
those local troubles: ONE POWER
FUL, GENERAL MOVEMENT.
WHICH SHALL STAND, ALL FOR
EACH AND EACH FOR ALL.
47
25 years ago the national magazine asked, "How shall we

26 T^RS AGO AM) HOW
and answered the question, "from study circle, to buybegin?"
"" ' ~~"
to cooperative society". 25 years later L. E. Woodlub,
^
the
of
dues
"the
said,
magazine
national
the
26 years ago
constituent societies shall amount to five cents per member pet* * said "with our oity cooperatives in the east there is reyear", 26 years later the Treasurer reported that the League Pated again and again the progress from discussion group, to
had paid its own way out of dues of five cents per Bember for buying lt>. to nall store, to full food market",
* * * *
}
the first time in it* history.
26 years ago in the national magazine, John H. Walker,
* * * *
26 years ago the first publication by the Cooperative LM- President of the Illinois Federation of Labor answered the
gue was announced. 25 years later the League bibliography ia-lquestion, "Why the Labor Van Should Become a Cooperator". 26
lyeare later Jacob Baker and Mark Starr answered the same queseludes hundreds of books, pamphlets, leaflets, etc.
Btion in the same way, "to lower prices and to raise pay".
* * * *
* * * *
f
25 years ago a writer in the national magazine urged,
25 years ago Albert Sonniohsen, editor of the national
"Why not add insurance to groceries and so build powerful coop,
erative societies?" 26 years later the question is, "Why not nagasine said, "This world is a hell these days. God speed Cooperation I" 26 years later the present editor says, "The
add groceries to insurance and farm supplies."
gates of hell are wide open today. Build Cooperatives faster I"
* * * *
* * * *
26 years ago the national magazine published an article
magazine. Dr. J. P. Warbasse,
national
the
in
ago
years
25
advocating cooperative recreation and said, "we must get the
system of profits and
competitive
old
"The
said,
President,
lo
by
people by the heart strings} those who can be persuaded
Its utter inadequacy
goal.
its
gio are too few...It is not enough to held people by their sto privilege has at last attained
has led the world
It
revealed.
is
problem
great
the
to solve
machs. It is also necessary to hold then by their hearts".
James F. War
Dr.
later
years
25
death".
of
cataclysm
a
into
Evidence was cited from Belgium, *Hhen music and dancing were
is due to the
raging
now
conflict
"The
said,
President,
basse,
introduced, the membership expanded rapidly". 5 years later
system".
profit
the
of
decay
corner
fourth
a
as
the Cooperative League included recreation
* * * *
stone of cooperation.
magazine urged "Cooperative pronational
the
ago
years
25
* * * *
controlled by the organized oonand
owned
factories
in
faction
I
RUBW.
George
quoted
magazine
national
25 years ago the
and H. A. Cowden desoribBriggs
R.
II.
later
years
25
*
811011
movement,*
one
in
townmen
and
countrymen
unite
to
want
"I
,
sell
had built.
associations
cooperative
factories
and to aake the cooperative principle the basis of a national ed the
*
*
*
*
civilization". 25 years later R* H. Benjamin said, "In our
26 years ago the national magazine was trying to educate
educational program we have answered the call for help from
that "profit is not created by capital, but is an
Americans
the town as readily as from the farm".
arbitrary overcharge which comes out of the pockets of the
* * * *
still
25 years ago the national magazine said that, "The Swed consumers". 25 years later the national magazine is
thing.
same
the
saying
ish associations are moving in the direction of the abolition
* * * *
of credit". 25 years later Consumers' Cooperative Association
magazine was discussing the
national
the
26 years ago
of Horth Kansas City reported that "Strictly oash trading was
later cooperatives are so
years
25
cooperatives.
of
failure
put into effect at CCA on February 1, 1959"*
fail.
never
almost
they
audited
well
* * * *
* * * *
25 years ago the national magazine quoted George Russell,
25 years ago in the national magazine. Justice Brandeis
"The best solution of our national troubles might be to make
as speaking of chain store "misleaders". 25 years
quoted
iraa
all Irishmen oooperators". 26 years later the Cooperative Let
goods were being chosen because the labels told
CO-OP
later
gue is trying to persuade Americans to be oooperators.
the truth.
* * * *
* * * *
48
Consumers' Cooperation 1
March, 1941
49
I*
II
AS I EElffiMBER
j
Twenty five years ago I received an invitation from Doctor I
and Mrs. Warbasse for an evening at their home to discuss
|
plans for the promulgation of the Cooperative Idea. At that
meeting in the doctor's library every shade of radical opinion i
of the period seemed to be represented. There were socialist!
and syndicalists, labor agitators and direct actionists and a
saving number of those who believed in the benefioient possib
ilities in the gradual development of Consumer Cooperation.
Among these latter were Albert Sonnichsen, e crystal oleer
thinker, since deceased, and Hyman Cohn, a lover of his fellci
men, who believed in putting principles into practice and who
had had actual experience in organizing cooperatives. That first meeting was a |
very exciting one with the forceful expression of widely divergent opinions, but I
there were succeeding meetings under Dr. Warbasse*s auspices at which a more mod
erate temper was displayed and out of these came the definite organization of tot
Cooperative League of America with Dr. Warbasse as President, Mr. Scott Ferky,
Secretary and myself the original Treasurer. Hyman Cohn and Albert Sonnichsen
were on the board of directors and the latter was the editor of the Cooperative .
Consumer, the League's magazine, the name of which was afterward shortened to
I
"Cooperation".
I
The immediate objective of the League was educational and statistical, essen
tially a propaganda body, and its financial support was, theoretically, by dues
from its members who, in the first instance, were individuals imbued, to e greater
or less degree, with enthusiasm for the cause. But for many months there was a
recurring deficit, always met by a cheque to cover from Dr. Warbasse, so great
were the faith, the vision and the zeel of this leader in America of the great rev
olutionary (evolutionary) economic movement making for true industrial democracy.
The League today, supported by many successful Cooperative societies, no long
er needs a good angel to meet deficits, but has become a permanent institution for
the spread of the gospel of Cooperation and with every prospect of future growth
and usefulness.
It is a source of great satisfaction to me that I was privileged to be one of
its organizers.
/^\ *
j.
d (//^l^lft^W4t/t<&l First Treasurer
Prior to the early days or the Cooperative League, before the World War, coop
erative societies were failing because there was no organization in the country'Ui
which they could turn for information and help, and the birth of the Cooperative I
League in 1916 at the home of Dr. and Ilrs. J. F. Warbasse in Brooklyn marked the r
first effort to federate the existing societies and to organize an educational in
stitution on a national scale. This was when I became acquainted with the little
group of twenty or thirty pioneers, among whom were - Albert Sonnichsen, with his
burning convictions, Emerson Harris, with e good deal of practical experience, and
Feter Hamilton, with his thorough understanding of Cooperation and his business
acumen. My first work for the League included helping Scott Ferky, the ardent, UK
selfish first secretary, at the little office room at 70 Fifth Avenue, Hew York
City, in listing and corresponding with many cooperative organizations, and assist'
ing Dr. and Ilrs. Warbasse, whose vision and careful leadership were responsible
for the solid foundations laid that year. Working daily for the Cooperative Move
ment with unity of purpose and realization of the magnitude and future value of
our efforts, and associating with people of principle brought great joy, enthusi
asm and satisfaction to ne.
The friendships made in New York and at the many district and national conven
tions during those first six years, and the contacts since then, are the most
cherished possessions of my life.
While the progress mada in the early days was not so spectacular as in recent
years, it was progress that proved the triumph of principle.
In the early days of the League it was the same people, year after year, that
we met at board meetings or who got up to argue questions at the biennial con
gresses.
Always there, regardless of distance, were the members of the Central Exchange,
Eskel Ronn, who can forget Eskelf N. T. Kurmi and Tenhunon and Halonen and Alanno.
Then there was Liukku, Hummivouri and Grandahl and Niemela. The Finnish names
teemed strange to us from New York in those days, but without the Finns we could
not hava built the movement. There were others who played a no less important
part, too many to be mentioned here. Walker, Blaha, Nordby, Edberg, Warriner,
GOBS, Herron and Woodcock. Some others like Otto Endres only came to meetings in
the east and Cort, Jacobson and Kazan were of a later day.
But at every meeting, the central figure in every group, was the Dootor, mak
ing the cooperative path clearer for those who travelled it, and with him were
Cedrio Long and Ilrs. Warbasse. Nor must we forget Ilrs. Parkins, the first person
to greet us at every meeting.
What did we talk about in those days? liuoh the same thing we hava discussed
many times sinoe. Education. The financing of the League. How to build the move
ment. Cooperation in new fields. And, a difficult question in those days, who
were true blue cooperatives and who were not. Then there was the question which
threatened to split the movement. Communists or oooperators? It was foremost in
every session until the famous meeting in Superior when we resolved our differenoss and there were only oooperators in the Cooperative Movement.
There is a still earlier day which should not be forgotten, when Albert Sonniohsen and Hyman Cohn and Rosenthal and Kraus met in a back room in the Bronx and
dreamed of the Cooperative Movement that was to be.
Perhaps, after all those years of struggle, when the foundation stones of the
llovemsnt were laid, the meeting that many of us remember best was 1934 in Chicago,
whsn the little group who for so long had seen the vision of cooperation in the
United States, met in a great hall filled with new faces, heard new voices talking
the cooperative language, found new leaders pledged to carry on, and realized that
the dream of yesterday had become the great Cooperative Movement that we see today.
Former Treasurer
We have come a long way sinoe my husband Cedrio Long started to work in the
Cooperative League office in 1921 as General Secretary. His first job was track
ing down fake cooperatives, analyzing cooperative failures, teaching the "princi
ples", and sitting through endless board meetings, where he tried to chisel ideas
out of the Finnish, Italian, Russian, Jewish and Bohemian tongues. Except for the
heavy crop of "fakes" then, cooperators are still doing the same things.
In 1921, the League was not yet a federation, but an office to promote a know
ledge of Consumers Cooperation. Cooperative societies from all over the country
were 'members" - at dues of fl.OO per year! It had been set up through the per
sonal vision, energy and financial contribution of Dr. and Mrs. Warbasse. Some
where between two and three hundred Cooperatives registered their existence at
this central point. And from this beginning has sprung the self-supporting, com
pletely representative League of today.
In those days, the backbone of the Movement lay with the foreign groups.
First were the Finns, centering around the "Central Exchange" of Superior, (now
Central Cooperative Wholesale) in the mid-West and around Ilaynard, Fitohburg,
Quinoy and Brooklyn in the East. Also in the East were a half-dozen Jewish Coop
erative Bakeries, two Italian Cooperatives in Stafford Springs and Lawrence. A
freak in those days was "Our Cafeteria" which white collar Americans had started
in New York in 1920.
The Bohemians of Dillonvale had many years of sound history behind them; among
the farmers just two wholesales were represented: The Farmers' Union of Qnaha and
Grange Wholesale of Washington State.
From this beginning, the League has seen strong wholesales grow up, and has ex
perienced having its control pass to cooperators themselves. Few realize that in
this change the budget has remained almost stationary. In 1921, fSOO came from dues
out of a $20,000 budget. In 1940, all of a $23,000 budget came from dues.
First Financial Secretary

50
Consumers' Cooperation March, 1941
51
My earliest recollection of.the Cooperative League centers

about a hotel ballroom on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago,
where the 1922 Convention was in progress. On the rostrum
the "old doctor", engaged then as now in the defense of o
er' cooperation as an all-inclusive way of life. My first
contact -was -with Cedrio Long, an heroic figure among oooperators. He took great pains to introduce me to the delegates anil
to discuss with intimate knowledge the difficult problems with
which the movement was then confronted.
Those with labor affiliations appeared to predominate in the
j_
1922 convention. The destructive downswing of prices of 1920,
coupled with a widespread departure from Rochdale principles, had weakened or era*
ed a large share of the movement, including the premature wholesales which had
been launched in Seattle, Chicago, and New York under the aegis of the League. Yet
there were in the Middle-west and especially in Illinois a considerable number of
seasoned organizations backed by miners and rallwaymen whose delegates were most
active in League work. Then, too, Jack Walker of the Illinois Federation of Later
and his rival, Dunoan MacDonald, were potent forces in mid-western cooperation.
Cooperation in 1922 was weak, desperately weak. Yet it possessed a force
which it has since lost - the genuine enthusiasm of a considerable number of the
leaders of organized labor who would do more than pass formal resolutions in favor
of cooperatives. Is it possible that in the now imminent upsurge of prices Labor
will once more actively promote the enduring principles of consumers' cooperation?
Former Director
My first direct contact with the Cooperative League was made in the summer of
1922. I carried away three or four distinct impressions. The strongest was one
of the deep sincerity of purpose of Dr. and Mrs. Warbasse and their associates.
My earliest recollections as a board member, beginning a year or two after my
first contact; are concerned chiefly with the struggle for finances to carry on
the work, and with the efforts made by some of the most successful cooperatives to
inject political issues into the League councils. This was fought out on the
issue of endorsing the Soviet Government. It was a real fight which bid fair at
one time to disrupt the League. As I look back, I am sure that it was an excell
ent thing that this struggle came up in very definite form early in the life of
the League, for out of it came the clear cut understanding that the League's ac
tivities should be confined to serving the cause of Cooperation; that here was a
place where men and women of every political faith or religious creed could join
in working for the welfare of all; that the movement belonged to the worker or
farmer no more than to the banker or lawyer; that here we could all meet as con
sumers on a common ground.
My early recollections are those of working out principles and fighting out
issues the hard way, but I believe the foundations were soundly laid.
~" " Former Director

My first contact with the Cooperative League was at the Con
our communist friends
as
gress in Superior. I arrived just
were walking out of the meeting. I was very much interested
that some of the leaders who stayed while in sympathy with the
communist political theories insisted that all such political
ideas should be kept completely separated from the Cooperative
Movement.
At that meeting I met Dr. Warbasse, Secretary Long, Eskel
Ronn, E. G. Cort, L. S. Herron, and Mr. McCarty of Nebraska
Farmers Union. The high ideals and broad vision of these men
. were sufficiently impressive that it gave me a wholesome res
pect for the organization which before that I had not understood or appreciated.
/
52
I have had the opportunity of being associated with Coopera

tive League activities since the Convention of 1917. At the
last Convention in Chicago, I made a check up to find out how
many of the old-timers were still active in the Movement. Only
Dr. Warbasse, Joe Blaha and myself were present. At the 1917
Convention there were only a few cooperatives represented, and
they were most foreign groups: Finnish cooperatives from Mass
achusetts, Jewish cooperative bakeries from New England and New
York, and Bohemian cooperatives from Ohio. The Finnish and Bo
hemian cooperatives are still going strong and prospering.
A few years after the League was organized, a strong consumer
movement came into being to combat the high cost of living re
sulting from the War. Cooperatives sprang up all over the country} unscrupulous
adventurers took hold of the idea and began organizing cooperatives and collected
high compensation for the work they did. Many regional wholesales were started
before there were enough cooperatives to support them. It was unfortunate that
the understanding of Consumers' Cooperation was so feeble at that time, for all
the tremendous consumer interest went to waste. Very few of the newly organized
cooperatives of the post-war period survived. The League was too weak and too
small to give enough help and guidance to curb the wide-spread development or
guide them to a sounder growth, so most of them disappeared.
There was one particularly regrettable experience during this period of our
cooperative history. The Illinois coal miners started to organize large numbers
of cooperatives. They expected to get a cooperative going quickly, to set up a
system of centrally-controlled food stores with a central wholesale warehouse,and
to finance the venture'largely from miners union funds. They disregarded many of
the Rochdale principles, and, so in a few years failed completely, losing large
sums of money.
There was a time for several years after the War when the League was constant
ly in danger of falling under political influence. A number of influential people
among the cooperators sincerely believed that the present capitalistic system was
going to pieces and radical changes in our economic system were just around the
corner. To hasten the change, they were anxious to use the funds of the cooperaand the prestige of the League for political purposes. By the vigorous action
and sound leadership of Dr. Warbasse and Cedric Long, the League survived this
trying period, and those politically minded were defeated.
The League was financed by the Warbasses for many years. This was a source
of constant embarrassment to the member societies and probably to the Warbasses
as well. Many old-tim oooperators were convinced that a democratic movement
such as cooperation should not accept contributions from individuals. Year after
year attempts were made to raise at least a minimum budget to maintain an office
with a secretary. Through the untiring efforts of Mary Arnold, that budget was
finally realized.
After Mr. Bowen became secretary of the League, things began to happen in a
big way. Great farmer cooperatives began to join the League and within a few
years the membership had grown tremendously. After the adoption of a uniform sys
tem of membership dues the question of the League budget was solved.
It seems to me that the League is headed for a great future in this great na
tion of great opportunities.
Director
My earliest memory of the Cooperative League is of reading
of its work. That must have been around 1916 or 1917. And
my first considerable use of its material was in 1919. I was
writing a pamphlet on both consumers' and producers* coopera
tion for the old national Catholic War Council; and of course
had to use what the Cooperative League produced. The pamphlet
was issued that summer. It advocated both kinds of coopera
tion and described how both kinds could be organized and what
good they could do. A good many copies of it were distribu
ted that year and the next.
Director
Consumers' Cooperatio.!
March> 1941
53
My pamphlet had been preceded by a paragraph on consumers' cooperatives in

the War Council's "Bishops' Program of Social Reconstruction," issued Lincoln's
Birthday, 1919. The pamphlet I wrote was based upon it and included an account
and advocacy of producers' cooperatives as well.
I kept in touch with the work right along. The first national meeting I at
tended was the Cincinnati meeting in 1922. Those were pioneering days in the move
ment in this country. The meeting was small but it was hopeful. I remember par
ticularly the work of Dr. Warbasse at that convention and the close friendships' I
struck up with Father Reiner of St. Francis Xavier's College in Cincinnatti and
with Mr. Brockland of the central office of the united German Catholic societies.
Consumers' cooperation, then as now, was in the vanguard of the change from
an old and bad era into a new and good era. The movement was often attached. For
example, a New York organization, headed by a man whom a friend of mine publicly
said was "a retainer of plutocracy," blasted me for taking part in the Cincinnati
meeting and called consumers' cooperation all sorts of .names.
In the new age that has to come, or we are all destroyed together, consumers'
cooperation has to have an important part. And it is part of the transition from
the memory of the old days to the actions of the present to record that I am now
pushing consumers' representation in the defense industries and pushing also a
bill for a commission to study unemployment and post-defense unemployment in which
representation from the consumers' cooperatives will be included.
CENTRAL COOPERATIVE WHOLESALE, SUPERIOR

THE FIRST REGIONAL MEMBER OF THE LEAGUE
Cooperative history during the past 25 years must give an out
standing place to the Central Cooperative Wholesale of Superior,
Wisconsin. Organized 24 years ago, only a year younger than the
League, it was the League's first regional member. For many years
the members of this loyal cooperative group carried on almost lone
handed the struggle to educate the American born citizens to the
significance of Consumers' Cooperation. The results of their pi
oneering efforts and financial support are now in evi
dence in the present membership of the League. We pay
them sincere tribute on this anniversary celebration.
Central Cooperative Wholesale started in a pack
ing box on September 9, 1917. Its progress is shown
by these figures:
Savings
Volume
$ 2,062.93
$ 132,286.79
1918
105,192.14
3,883,841.28
1940
The first lines handled were coffee and flour. Sow
CCW handles groceries, clothing, electrical appliances,
hardware, building materials, fuel, petroleum products,
automotive supplies, feed, etc. It bakes bread, grinds
coffee and grinds feed in its own factories.
The
First Buildine
One of my earliest contacts with and reminiseenses of the Cooperative League

dates back to the year of 1920. In the Spring of that year I started to work for
the Central Cooperative Wholesale (then known as the Cooperative Central Exchange)
s thair first full-time educational director. Chosen as one of the three dele
gates who represented the CCE at the second biennial convention of the Cooperative
league held in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 11-14, 1920, I bad an opportunity to at
tend my first League Congress. Since then, 1 have attended nine consecutive bien
nial conventions or congresses of the League (missing only the last one) but I
still feel that the Cincinnati convention was one of the most interesting, if not
the most interesting of them all.
During the four days, the Cincinnati convention actually held 10 sessions which
meant a night session on each of the first three convention days. Delegates at
tending recent congresses of the CLUSA have had a picnic compared with those early
conventions which were much more strenuous and sometimes rather stormy.
The first unpleasant task before the Cincinnati convention was to oust the five
delegates which came with credentials from the national Cooperative Association in
Chicago, the first abortive attempt to establish a cooperative wholesale on a na
tional scale in the United States. Significantly all these five delegates were
employees of MCA, including the manager. It took the convention three sessions to
dispose of the matter and the discussions which are recorded in the printed pro- oeedings of the convention make very interesting reading. In the view of some
more recent attempts to build cooperation in the United States "from the top down"
with the inevitable failure of the attempt, one is tempted to say that "history
repeats itself."
There were other delegates at the Cincinnati convention who advocated such un
sound ideas as that of speeding up cooperative development by inducing labor
unions to start cooperative stores, the union furnishing the necessary capital and
all union members thus "automatically" becoming members of the local cooperative.
This idea was championed by delegates representing the Central States Cooperative
Wiolesale Society of East St. Louis, Illinois, which organization at that time was
at the height of its development, having over $3,000,000 annual sales, but whioh a
few yeare later went out of existence. The CSCWS delegates also advocated the use
of the "cost plus" system, another unsound method whioh undoubtedly contributed to
their failure.
In my opinion, the most constructive task accomplished by the Cincinnati con
vention was the adoption of a new constitution for the Cooperative League whioh
permitted the organization of district Leagues as an integral part cf the Nationel League. Of the 66 regular delegates taking part in the convention, nearly 40j{
oame from the Ohio cooperatives, most of whioh were urban societies. These dele
gates held a meeting of their own before the adjournment of the convention and
decided to organize the first district league under the new constitution. Unfor
tunately this Ohio Cooperative League never actually amounted to much more than
"peper organization". Evidently, the Ohio cooperatives lacked a keen realisation
of the importance of educational work, and failed to provide enough dues to enable
the League to hire a full-time secretary. After a year or so nothing was heard
any more of that League and it remained for the CCE in Superior to organize in
1922 the first district league that actually got going and functioning, more er
less vigorously, for a period of 16 years.
It is interesting to note that among the 15 directors that were elected to the
board of di ectors of the Cooperative League at the Cincinnati oonvention, there
waa a United States senator, a catholic priest, four or five prominent labor lead
ers and three managers of cooperative wholesales of whioh only one, the Central
Cooperative Wholesale of Superior, Wisconsin, today is siill operating. In those
times the CLUSA was almost desperately trying to interest labor unioniets in the
consumers cooperative movement, but 16 years later that problem still lacked sat
isfactory solution, and it remained for the farmers cooperatives to put new life
into the League, and actually get it functioning independently of the financial
anfl moral support of a few prominent individuals.
Former Director
54
The Present Building
55
NATIONAL VJQMEE'S GUILD NOTES
II-
<tt
Anne Spencer, Secretary .
On October 14, 1958, at the Congress of the Cooperative League of the USA, a
provisional national Women's Cooperative Guild was set up, looking forward to th
establishment of a permanent national women's auxiliary of the Cooperative Move
ment two years hence and affiliation afterwards with the International Cooperativi
Women's Guild. After four years of pioneering work by Mrs. Maiju Viita, former
Secretary, and the cither members of the Executive Committee in Superior, the first
cf these was accomplished - the establishment of a permanent National Women's Co
"C VERYTHING seems to be unimporoperative Guild. Last October at the Women's Conference during the Congress cf
the Cooperative League an executive committee was appointed from Racine, North ' *~* tant and trivial in Washington at the
Chicago, Waukegan and Chicago, with headquarters in Chicago. Address: National
present timeeverything but war and na
Women's Cooperative Guild, % The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 608 South Dear- tional defense.
President;
Wright,
Ruth
Mrs.
aret
torn Street, Chicago, Illinois. The officers
Mrs. Georgia Allbright, Vice-President; Mrs. Anne Spencer, Secretary; Mrs. Char
Men who have been most active in na
lotte Strattcn, Treasurer.
affairs during the last thirty-five
tional
Co
l
Internationa
the
and
Guild
A friendly feeling exists between the National
observers and earnest students,
future
keen
near
years,
the
in
for
hoped
operative Women's Guild, and affiliation with it is
talk about "the impossibility of knowing
when we become a little stronger numerically and financially. At present, four
Regional Guilds - Kansas City, Northern States, Southern Minnesota and Central
what is going on" and in polite phrases
States - a great number of individual guilds and individual persons throughout thi' which avoid the wofd "revolution" dis
United States and Alaska have joined the National.
change" and tell of
To portray the attitude of women cooperators of other countries, a few excerpts cuss the "remarkable
their concern over the complacency in
from a message by Frau Emmy Freundlich, President, International Cooperative
Congress, the "lack of leadership with a
Women's Guild, are given:
f
"We hope very much that your national organization of Women's Guilds is
definite purpose" and the rising tide of
sufficiently advanced to justify the inauguration of a nationally premilitary authority. Little groups in gov
presentative Guild that could affiliate to the I.C.W.G. We hope that
ernment departments plot and scheme, and
we shall have the great joy of welcoming the U.S.A. to our circle
shortly. Suoh an event would be the greatest possible encouragement
intrigue is more commonplace than it
to those European Guilds which are at present facing tremendous diffir
been in years. In this atmosphere, it is
has
culties, and would give a new impetus to the Guild Movement throughout
to deal with specific matters in
difficult
gradual
the
satisfaction
keenest
the
with
followed
have
We
the world.
and
cooperatives are interested:
the
cooperation
which
consumers'
in
interest
women's
American
of
quickening
now that many of our national Guilds find themselves completely cut
The Coal Situation
off from their colleagues in other countries we need more than ever the
help of women overseas to keep the Cooperative banner aloft and build
Before committees of the House and
for the future by strenuous efforts to rally to cur Movement all those
there is now pending the resolu
Senate,
common
the
where
world
progressive
and
who long to see a peacefu}
would extend the Bituminous
which
tions
freedom".
and
people of all lands will enjoy security
Coal Act for two more years. The Act
We know how great is the task in your vast country, but these who,
through sacrifice and enthusiasm, have built up the European Movement
expires on April 26th. After a long period
in the pest call with confidence upon American women to win the great
of preparation, of internal war in gov
our
when
Then
practice.
American continent for cooperative ideals and
departments, the act actually has
ernment
whole
the
uniting
International Guild is a strong cooperative chain
been effective for only a few months.
world, cooperative women will stand strong and determined to build a
new system of Society and outlaw oppression and poverty throughout
How effective it would have been under
the world."
conditions, no one can say, but
normal
Sw'
spirit.
same
the
The women of the United States are definitely imbued with
demands, coal prices increased
war
with
pro
camps,
eral Regional Guilds are sponsoring youth groups and children's summer
regardless of the law and coal profits have
moting discussion circles and aiding immeasurably in membership drives. One of
the older guilds, that of the Waukegan Trading Company, has adopted a baby in Fin' dissipated much of the economic war
,
land, contributing annual to its support and education over there.
within the industry. Coal producers, who
The Regional Guilds coordinate and disseminate the activities of the local
a year ago organized to fight the Act,
guilds and in like manner the national Guild acts as a clearing house for the re
and now they
gional guilds and for those local guilds-and individuals thet are not affiliated have agreed to an armistice
miners, who
Coal
continued.
Act
the
want
with a regional.
This coming June the National Guild will conduct a Women's Institute at Amee, I also wanted amendments to the Act, are
Iowa, in conjunction with the National Cooperative Recreation School. In unity
now willing to see it extended without
there is strength. Now is the opportune time for women throughout the United
The distributors, wholesale and
change.
the
further
can
we
best
how
determine
and
plan
to
again
States to get together
concerning
information
abandoned their camps of
Further
have
retail,
Movement.
Cooperative
the
ideals and practice of
the Women's Institute may be obtained by writing the Secretary of the National
war. Only the cooperatives and some in
Women's Cooperative Guild.
dustrial consumers and a few coal pro-
56
Consumers' Coopera^ March, 1941

.
John Carson
Washington Representative
The Cooperative League
ducers demand amendments and a hear

ing and for some time, it seemed the
organized forces in Congress might de
feat their effort. As this is written, how
ever, a hearing has been agreed to and
the door has been opened for a fight for
amendments.
Cooperative Housing
In the field of housing, progress in

behalf of consumers is less definite but
some advances have been made. It is well
known that the housing authorities in the
National Council of Defense and who
are now advisers to the Office of Produc
tion Management have not satisfied some
divisional authorities in the national de
fense organization. Likewise, it is recog
nized that with the government putting
millions upon millions of dollars in de
fense housing, a pattern is being estab
lished, or followed, and the word "fol
lowed" is used because the national or
ganizations of real estate dealers, the pro
moters and speculators, have been satis
fied.
A committee, representing that specu
lation group, was in Washington, had
conferences with housing authorities in
the defense set-up and went home satis
fied and this only added to the worry of
those who were interested in the con
sumer and his housing. But quietly, in
the Federal Works Agency and under
the direction of John M. Carmody, a step
towards cooperative housing is being
taken the first constructive step yet
taken by the government. This plan will
provide for cooperative management of
housing projects which will be publicly
owned but leased for a long period to the
cooperative management. This plan can
be modified to provide for cooperative
ownership.
57
^^H
Medicine
A defense organization has been set up

to deal with such questions as hospitalization, medical care and generally the so
cial welfare of persons associated with
defense activityand gradually the de
fense activity is being extended to reach
into practically every home. But as yet,
this entire activity is directed entirely
along the old channels. This is no break
with old traditions and suggestions that
cooperative action might be encouraged
are only "received" as yet.
War Between "Scarcity"
and "Abundance"
In the Department of Agriculture, the

war between the advocates of "scarcity"
and the advocates of "abundance" and
the battle for power continues but with
a trend in favor of abundance. In the
Department of Labor and the defense or-
ganization, efforts to soften the bitterness company kept at home that would otherbetween the rival forces of organized If wise have gone to line the pockets of
bor go on from day to day and the insic-J those who already have too much wealth,
reports are that some progress is madt' Yes, it's a different way of doing business
In the Security and Exchange Commissi"but it is the cooperative way. This money
and from Wall Street there are reports A is not hoarded by any individual. It is put
less activity and less interesta dyirj! right back into circulation in our home
conditionin the fields of stock marie, community to buy food, clothing, presents
' or other articles. By all means study this
speculation.
great movement. If you will, we know
The best scholars diagnose the com you too wiu j oin the great Cooperative
tions and tell you the "proletariat" :L Caravan of Consumers from all parts of
the cities and on the farms have com(t our country that is now on the march
into power, that the old age of capitalisa g0jng piaces _ making economic history
has gone, that a new world has <fc, just as surely as jy our forefathers that
veloped. The problem, they add, is whek( traveled the Oregon Trail 100 years ago."
er the consumers who make up the fni
letariat will organize now to present i Another method to publicize the return
democracy with power in the people, c facts would be to make a giant facsimile
whether they will be organized by guv. of the patronage return check representernment and directed into stateism J' ing the savings of all patrons. One coop
l erative placed such a check in their store
some form.
and it brought home every day the value
|
' of the co-op to all who came in the store.
Such a facsimile might be painted on a
hill board outside the store or on a larger
HERE'S AN IDEA
FOR PAYING PATRONAGE RETURNS
HIS is annual meeting season. Many

co-ops are closing their books and
calling members together to hear reports
on the year's business. If the year has
been a good one the co-op will pay a
patronage return. This may be in the form
of more stock or it may be in actual cash.
It is only right and proper that a co-op
should pay such a return. It is a basic
principle of the movement that the
amount above cost of operation should be
returned to the customer in proportion to
patronage. Some argue that we have over
emphasized the "divvy" and that is per
haps true, but on the other hand we
should not swing the pendulum too far
the other way and ignore it. We need to
give it proper place in the cooperative
system.
The patronage return principle is one
of the unique contributions of the coop
erative movement to economic affairs. One
economist has gone so far as to declare it
58
to be the greatest economic discovery c

the last 200 years. In any case we've got
something here and we ought to brinj
home that fact to members and publi
alike.
sign board if one is maintained by the

Co-op.
Still another plan with a lot of merit
is to pay patronage-returns in silver dol
lars. This idea was used recently in an
eastern co-op and you can imagine the
dramatic situation resulting; both to the
members who received the cartwheels and
to the non-cooperators and business men
who received these dollars in the process
of trade and exchange. It certainly brings
home the fact that the co-op "savings"
stay at home in contrast to the "profits"
in private business which leave the com
munity.
So, cooperators, when your co-op gets
around to paying the returns this year,
dramatize the event. Make everyone con
scious of the advantage of the co-op;
members, non-members, other business
people and the entire community. Bring
out the fact that both the individual and
the community enjoy a better standard of
living because of the presence of a coop
erative.
COOPERATIVE RECREATION NOTES

Ellen Edwards
HE growing interest in recreation in

the cooperative movement has created
a need for well equipped group leaders
and all over the country the cooperatives
are meeting this need by training their
own leaders. In addition to one and two
weeks' schools, such as the National Cooperative Recreation School, numerous
study club technique and a big banquet

with Andrew Jensen, secretary of the
Midland board, as the main speaker,
were the high lights of the conference.
The Northern States Cooperative
Youth League held a successful recrea
tion school the week-end of March 1-3 at
from Trading at the Coop conferences are being held,

erative." In another part of the died
write "Do You Use Co-op Products?'1 District Nine of the Midland CooperaCooperative Refinery Association of Nor'; tive Wholesale held such a week-end conKansas City uses a check similar to this, ference February 21-23 at New London,
Another means of telling the peoplt Wisconsin. Fieldmen Wilbur Leatherman
would be through an ad in the Ice/ and Carl Eck headed the conference which
paper. Here are some excerpts from an a included folk games and dances, instrucby the Kanawha Co-op Oil Company i tion in crafts and discussion circle techIowa. "Two thousand, eight hundrel* ique- A similar conference was held
thirty dollars will be distributed to pi- February 14-16 at the Co-op Hall at Camtrons December 12. This money you bridge, Minnesota. Recreation, crafts,
gan and Wisconsin. Chester Graham, edu

cational director for the Madison Coop
erative Council, and Frank Shilston, edu
cational fieldman for the Midland Coop
erative Wholesale, headed the staff. The
program included instruction in crafts,
dramatics, folk games and dances and
singing.
A Recreation Leadership Conference to
give intensive training to leaders and
prospective leaders in group recreation
Now here are some ideas that w.

might employ in publicizing the priiK
ciple that "a co-op pays you back Itprofits ' "
On checks used to pay returns have this
59
with emphasis on technique as well as

subjects was held March 8-9 at Saddle
River, New Jersey under the sponsorship
of the Play Co-op, New York. The sub
jects offered included metal crafts, weav
ing, paper bag puppets, games, folk danc
ing, dramatics and singing. The function
of each of these in a balanced recreation
'program was discussed. The staff was
drawn from the Leadership Group of the
Play Co-op, most of whom have been
students or on the staff of the National
Cooperative Recreational School.
The value of all of these training con
ferences is- reflected by the enthusiasm
for a recreation program which those at
tending take back to their local coopera
tives and by the demand for longer and
more intensive training.
*
*
*
area will be
Detroit
Cooperators in the
interested in a series of five Folk Gath
erings to be held in that city, March 5,
12, 19 and 26 and April 2. "Singing
America" is the title of the first session to
be conducted by Augustus D. Zanzig of
the National Recreation Association and
a staff member of the National Coopera
tive Recreation School. Lynn Rohrbough, director of Cooperative Recreation
Service, Delaware, Ohio and editor of
the widely used "Handy" will conduct a
session on Traditional Games, March 12.
The meeting on March 19 will be on
"Recreation As An Art" and will be
led by Chester A. Graham, Cooperative
Council, Madison. Elizabeth Burchenal
will lead the group in Country Dances,
March 26 and John Jacob Niles will
have charge of the last session on Moun
tain Ballads. The emphasis of the entire
course is on songs and dances drawn from
various sections of America and is de
signed primarily for community leaders.
*
*
*
Taking their cue from the fact that
"since we are cooperators in theory we
should be cooperators in practice," the
Rural Youth of Lancaster County, Pa.,
are developing a leadership group to take
charge of the games and dances at their
60
monthly meeting and thus spread tb,

leadership. Other activities of this id
youth co-op include dramatics, crafts,
music club, a photography club, publia
tion of a monthly NEWZETTE and stud
and discussion groups. Their treasu
boasts a balance of $171.59!
Cooperators who have found fun at
fellowship in folk dancing will be inta
ested in a feature story in the magazir
section of the Sunday, February 23, Ni
York Times, entitled "Folk Dance B
by John Martin. "Everybody has a
for the expression of emotional energy]
some form, and nothing offers so easyai
cutlet as dancing,' he points out. "Itij
the primary form of play. . . . Wholi
hearted recreational activity is the tra
field of the folk dance."
FLASH
The fifth annual National Cooperate
Recreation School will be held on til
campus of Iowa State College, Am.
Iowa, June 15 to 28. The program of
school is designed to provide intensi
training for recreation leadership. Sti
dents and prospective recreation leadt
are urged to hold those dates open ar
to write to Frank Shilston, director, or?
of Midland Cooperative Wholesale, 1%
Johnson Street, Minneapolis for men,
complete details. The full story of f
Recreation School, its instructors, tin
courses planned for this year, and t
philosophy that has made it an impoit.i
cornerstone of cooperation will be incluA
in the next issue of Consumers Coop&
'
tion.
New Kits
"Games We Like Best," Kit 52, a a.
lection of socialisers, quiet games, ad.'
games, games of skill and games for
dren. Edited by Lynn and Katherine R ;
<
bough. 25c.
"Children's Play," Kit 50, a valua '
collection of recreational activities for ch
dren including singing games, finp
painting, mask making, stunts, gio
games and folk songs. Published by i
Cooperative Recreation Service. 25c
I
Consumers' Cooperatk

ChicagoThe grocery committee of Na
tional Cooperatives meeting here last
month voted to introduce a CO-OP
Green Label, a third grade line, to sup
plement the present Red Label, first, and
Blue Label, second, grade lines. The ad
dition of the Green Label will make it
possible to save from 15 to 20 per cent
on some canned goods thereby speeding
acceptance of the co-ops in lower income
brackets. The Green Label will not be the
lowest grade of commodities available but
will be the cheapest meeting uniform
specifications for wholesome, nutritious
canned goods.
The Green Label line will be intro
duced in August with the new pack of
tomatoes, green beans, peas and a few
other lines.
Maynard, Mass.The first super market
in the this New England community was
opened here February 23rd when the
United Cooperative Society of Maynard
dedicated its new store, rebuilt and
equipped at a cost of $50,000. Dr. James
P. Warbasse, president of The Coopera
tive League, speaking at the dedication
praised the Maynard cooperators for their
modern, streamlined store but warned
them that "streamlining is not enough."
"A cooperative should radiate coopera
tion," he said. "A cooperative should have
something about it that distinguishes it
fiom ordinary private profit business. A
cooperative should merchandise ideas as
well as groceries."
than one hundred radio programs were

devoted to the cooperative movement and
its role in the American economy when
the State of Wisconsin celebrated its
fourth annual Cooperative Week, Febru
ary 17-21. One of the highlights of the
week was a broadcast from WIBA in
Madison by E. R. Bowen, general secre
tary of The Cooperative League and Roy
F. Bergengren, managing director of the
Credit Union National Association, on
"The Mutual Interdependence of Con
sumer, Credit and Sales Cooperatives."
.Professor Henry H. Bakken chaired the
program.
Kansas City, Mo.Two hundred labor
union, farm and cooperative leaders met
here February 7 and 8 to discuss the pos
sibilities of consumer cooperation as a
means of increasing the purchasing power
of America's wage earners. The Institute
on Organized Labor and Consumer Co
operation was jointly sponsored by the
Consumers Cooperative Association and
The Cooperative League.
Among the speakers were Jacob Baker,
former president of the United Federal
Workers; Roy Brewer, president of the
Nebraska State Federation of Labor; M.
R. Miller, secretary of the Missouri Far
mers Union; Dora Maxwell of the Credit
Union National Association; Howard A.
Cowden, president of Consumers Coop
erative Association and E. R. Bowen, gen
eral secretary of The Cooperative League.
Columbus, OhioNearly 200,000 fami

lies in Ohio, both rural and urban, are
Dallas, TexasA new regional consumer served by cooperatives organized under
cooperative was established here early the sponsorship of the Ohio Farm Bureau.
this year to supply cooperatives in this Auto, fire and life insurance, petroleum
aiea with petroleum products and related products, general farm supplies, farm ma
commodities and will later add electrical chinery, home supplies and equipment,
appliances and other commodities for use electrical appliances and low cost loans
on the farm and in the home as the de
are the goods and services handled. One
mand arises. The organization will be hundred and twenty-four retail service
known as Producers and Consumers Co
stores operated by 83 County Farm Bu
operatives.
reau Cooperatives own the Farm- Bureau
Cooperative Association which handled
Madison, WisconsinThe air over Wis
commodities in
consin crackled with Cooperation as more $7,500,000 worth of
March, 1941
61
1 940. The .Farm Bureau Cooperative In

surance Services serve nearly 400,000 pol
icy holder members in nine states and
the District of Columbia.
mantown Cooperative Association aw

Wallace J. Campbell, assistant secretaij
of The Cooperative League, were aL
members of the panel.
1
New YorkAn increased demand for

competent store clerks and managers in
the fast growing food stores, particularly
in the East, has coincided with the heavy
inroads the draft and defense program
are making on the labor market. As a re
sult the co-ops are hanging out the "help
wanted" sign.
Rochdale Institute will offer a three
months training program opening April
7th while the Council for Cooperative
Business Training has announced a
streamlined managers training course for
men and young women to be given in
New York April 7 to May 31 and a sum
mer course of eight weeks which will be
integrated with the Eastern Cooperative
League's summer institute at Amherst,
Mass.
BostonA bill has just been introduc

in the Massachusetts legislature appaiently designed to destroy the cooperativel,
The bill provides for a special tax of \
of 1% of the gross volume of all coop
eratives, but makes no provision for
similar tax on profit business. Tki
special tax would be in addition to ill
the regular taxes which cooperatives pi) LATEST BOOKS AND
on an equal footing with private busirp PAMPHLETS RECEIVED
Philadelphia, Pa.The Progressive Edu

cation Association, meeting here for its
annual convention February 19-22 de
voted one session to a panel discussion of
"Education By and For Economic Coop
eration." H. G. Lull, chairman of the
National Education Association's Com
mittee on Cooperatives, told the dramatic
story of how the co-ops defeated an at
tempt by Standard Oil to cut off their re
finery's source of crude oil. S. R. Logan
of Winnetka, Illinois, Clyde R. Spitzner
of the Coatesville High School, Pennsyl
vania, and Dr. H. Emmet Brown of Lin
coln School, Teachers College, New York,
told how cooperatives were organized in
their schools to give the students a prac
tical demonstration in cooperation. Wil
liam Moore, chairman of the National
Committee on Student Cooperatives and
Gerald Fiedler, organizer of the Central
League of Campus Cooperatives told how
student co-ops are cutting the cost of edu
cation and serving as training grounds
for future cooperative leadership. An
thony Lehner, educational director of the
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative
Association, Barbara Raines of the Ger62
payments toward membership. The total

sales volume for the past year was $101,064. This was an increase of $161,607
over the previous year.
Madison, Wisconsin During 1940 a
total of 1,364 new credit unions were
formed bringing the number of credit
unions in the United States to 9,134. It is
estimated that there are now 2,500,000
members of credit unions with assets of
more than $200,000,000.
St. Paul, Minn.The Group Health h (Available through The Cooperative League)
Law of the Organization and Operation of
sociation at its annual meeting here, Pel The
Cooperatives, b y Israel 1'ackel, Mathew Ben
ruary 15, voted to launch a program of
der and Company. Albany, N. Y.$5.00.
of the Laws Pertaining to Coopera
medical care on a cooperative basis.
^ Abntracts
tion In the V nlted States, its Possessions
New YorkThe Consumers Book Coop
erative completed its fourth year of op
eration with a volume of business total
ling $71,076, a gain of $9,500 over th
previous year.
I
The Book Cooperative, which recendj
moved to 27 Coenties Slip, New Yori
City, serves individuals, cooperatives an!
libraries in all sections of the Uniteu
States and several foreign countries.
Amarillo, Texas Consumers Coopera
tives Associated reported at their annml
meeting here February 18 that six net
local cooperatives have joined the organ
ization in the past year. The regional co
operative opened a' branch warehouse a!
Lubbock, Texas, adopted a five-year planfor expansion and reported a sales volume,
for the year totalling $223,751.
North Kansas CityConsumers Coop
erative Association reports that its busi
ness for the past six months has been
34% ahead of its business for the same|
period in 1940.
Oakland, CaliforniaConsumers Coop-[
erative Stations, operating three service
stations, an automobile repair shop, >
paint and appliance store in the East Baj
area, closed the year with 230 fully paidi
members and 1,500 who have made parl|
and Territories, b y Bernard Ostrolenk and

V. J. Tereshtenko, prepared with the assist
ance of the Cooperative Project. Federal
Works Agency, Works Projects Administra
tion, New York City. Mimeographed 350
pages, published by the W.P.A.Free.
Cooperative Rural Electrification in the linited
States, by Udo Rail, published by the Divi
sion of Agricultural Cooperation, Pan Amer
ican I'nion, Washington, D.C.
The People's Year Book, 1941, a y earbook of
cooperative development throughout the
world, published by the Cooperative Whole
sale Society. Manchester. England.Paper,
C5 cents, cloth. $1.00.
Subscribe to
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
National Magazine of the
Consumers Cooperative
Movement
$1 ... per year

27 months for $2
order thru

New York City
March, 1941
COMING
TWO NEW BOOKS
ON COOPERATIVES
"Introduction to Cooperatives," by Dr.
Andrew J. Kress. A book of readings
on the cooperative movement includ
ing selected excerpts from the im
portant writers and economists of
almost a century.
$2.75
"Democracy's Second Chance Land,
Liberty and Cooperatives," by George
Boyle, editor of The Maritime Cooperator. A brilliant presentatioa of
the need for increased property in the
hands of all the people, drawing from
the cooperative movement practical il
lustrations of the effect of property
and cooperation on the lives of the
people.
Regular edition$2.00
Special cooperative edition$1.00
Order through

New York City
The Battle for Asia, l>y E dgar Snow, including

much material on the Chinese Industrial Co
operatives, Random House. New York.$8.75.
A Fair Deal to Ali Through the Cooperatives,
by John C. Rawe. S..T. (Reprinted from
America, February 15, 1!)41).'A cents.
PM' Reports Fast-Growing. Cost-Cutting U .S.
Co-ops Shun AH Isms (Reprint from PM,
January 5, 1941).2 c ents.
Fundamentals of Consumer Cooperation, b y
V. S . Alanne (Seventh Revised Edition). Co
operative Publishing Association.25 cents.
All Join Hands, b y Edwards, Smith (Revised
Edition), Eastern Cooperative League.15c.
A Consumer's Economy and Its Rivals, b y Hor
ace Kallen (reprint from The Christian Cen
tury), Cooperative Recreation, Inc., Del
aware, Ohio.5 cents.
Dure We Be Christians? b y Walter Rauschenliusch. The Rauschenbusch Fellowship of
Baptists.10 cents.
1940 Year Book, Central Cooperative Wholesale,
Superior, Wisconsin.
Co-ops for the Small Farmer, F arm Security
Administration, Washington, D.C.
Answering y our Questions about the Coopera
tive. Central Cooperative Wholesale.'2c.
Operations of Credit Unions, 1939, I '.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics.Free.
How to Kead Cooperative Financial State
ments, l)y Merlin U. Miller and (ilenu S. Fox.
published by Consumers Cooperative Asso
ciation. North Kansas City.10 cents.
63
H
I
CO-OP LITERATURE

Fresh Furrow: Burrls Jenkins ......................
Ireland ..................................................................
A Doctor for the People, Michael Shadld,
special edition ..................................................
fl
son, Debate Handbook
chapters on consumer cooperatives ..........
British Textbook ..............................................
tive Agency, Orin E. Burley ........................
eratives ................................................................
2.00
1.50
2.75
1.25
.90
1.80
3.00
3.00
3.00
Movement, Claude Shotts .............................. .02
Campus Co-op News Letter ..............................
.25

Cooperatives and Peace, Harold Fey .......... .05
CooperationA Way of Peace, J. P. Warbasse, Co-op Edition ...................................... .50
Consumer Consumed, Josephine
The
Johnson, a Puppet Play ................................ .05
Cooperative Kecreation, Carl Hutchinson,
Cooperative Kecreation Songs, A. M. Calkins .10
let's Play, Frank Shilston .............................. .20
All Join Hands, Edwards and Smith .......... .15
Education Through Recreation, L. P. Jacks 1.50
Co-op Wholesale ................................................ .10
games, available from Cooperative Kecreation
Service, Delaware, Ohio.
Credit Unions
Credit Unions, Frank O'Hara ..........................
Vnions, Anthony Lehner ..............................
well Stewart ......................................................
Cuna Emerges (Credit Unions), Roy BerSengren ................................................................
Credit Union North America. Eoy Bergengren ........................................................................
64
.05
.10
.10
1.00
2.00
How a Consumers Cooperative Dif

fers From Ordinary Business ........
The Burden of Credit ..............................
the Cooperative ......................................
Tichenor ....................................................
A $600,000,000 Business With 2,000,000
Customers, Richard Giles, Printers'
Ink Monthly ............................................
Ink ..............................................................
Brickbats and Boomerangs, E. H.
Bowen ........................................................
CONSUMERS
COOPERATION
Cp0epry
.01
.02
.02
.02 1
.02
.02
.02
.02
.02 1.1
.02
.02 l.(
.03 fl
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way in Sweden, 16 urn

silent, produced by the Harmon Foundatlci
Unit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit II
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit 111
Agricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Rental pel
unit: color. $5; black and wfcite, $3; add.
tional showings, $2.50 color and $1.50, bli '
and white.
"The Lord Helps Those Who Help El
Other," a new 3 reel, 1C mm. film of the
Scotia adult education and cooperative
gram, produced by the Harmon Founds
Excellent photography. $4.50 per day, $2.1
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel, 16
Kodacrome, shows how cooperators on
eastern seaboard are providing themsel'
with tested, quality CO-OP products. $2
day, $C per week.
"A House Without a Landlord," a new !..
reel, 1C mm. silent film on the Amalgamate
"Clasping Hands," 1C mm. silent, two reel
showing how cooperation is taught in tl
schools of France.
"When Mankind Is Willing," a 1C mm. sili
three-reel film, with English titles, of
erative stores, wholesales and factories
France.
A Day With Kagawa, 3 reel, silent, 16
Rental: Each of four above $3 per day, |1.J
for each additional showing or $10 per weel,
'. WARBASSE
MURRAY D,
MAY 3 1941
POSTEBS
Green, 5 for $1 ..................................................
Blue, 5 for $1 ....................................................
Mulberry, 5 for $1 ............................................
Consumer Ownership Of. By and For
the People, 19"x28", Red-White-andBlue, 5 for $1 ....................................................
5 for $1 ................................................................
Marcli On. Democracy, 19"x28"
Red-White-and-Blue, 5 for $1 ....................
iUTES TO THE COOPERA1 IVE LEAGUE'S 25th

fNIVERSARY, Eleanor Roose 'elt, Thurman Arnold,
;e D. Aiken, Ei Stanlpyj^jjnes and others.
YOUR ~MONEY_.CO.QPER .TIVELY Jacob Baker

E. R. Bowen
DEBT AND DISASTER
THE EVOLUTION OF A CAMPUS COOPERATIVE
^^^^
Albert Rees
APRIL. 1941
THE PRICE BOOM IS ON, LOOK OUT

HOW CO-OPS GROW
Consumers' Cooperaticr
*
NATIONAL
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
An Experiment in Cooperative (~* f~\ K I C I I A A d D

\>W IN J U /V\ IZ K
Confidence
COOPERATION
Long have we dreamed of having in the United States the kind of a nation!
magazine worthy of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. Such a magazine
quires a lot of work on the part of the editors. We have not had a special cditoieducational assistant on the national staff who could help to do the job. Now tht OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
1941 preliminary budget looks like such a possibility is ahead in a few months.
We had to get the publicity job under way until Mr. Campbell took over; the recrea
tion job under way until Miss Edwards took over; and the legislative job under waj
until Mr. Carson took over. The big job of the Organization of the Movement]
which has required so much time is on the way to culmination. We have worked
PEACE- PLENTY- DEMOCRACY
Business and Finance matters because of some vitally necessary things bein#
quired until additional staff members could be financed.
Ten Cents
APRIL. 1941
This is no apology. It is a simple summary by way of background to say thil Volume XXVII. No. 4
doublea
of
publication
the
undertaking
are
we
where
point
the
to
now
are
we
sized magazine as an experiment. We say "as an experiment" truthfully. If it is supj CO-OP COMMENTS
ported in three ways it will be continued: first with additional editorial and
Abraham Lincoln once said that "The Lord must have loved the common
tional assistance, second with your contributions of news and views in every
people, he made so many of them." Yet we. venture to suggest that there are some
of cooperative endeavor, third with paid subscriptions.
"uncommon" cooperators whom the Cooperative Movement should love a little
We believe the first two requirements can be met in case the third is done the most. One of them is such a man as William Huuskonen, who mortgaged his
But the Movement must recognize that this is its national journalthat it is nfl
farm on four different occasions to raise money for the Co-op. Of course he lives in
the same but a supplement to the regional newspapers that every cooperatirt
Finland, Minn., U.S.A.
*
*
*
*
leader should read the national journal for the significant articles and ottiei
has only succeeded after years
prices
farm
of
material which they get nowhere else. Specifically the requirement is that ever)!
regulation
"big-stick"
Political
regional see to it that every one of its local cooperative managers and directors n
of effort in getting for American farmers 42 cents of the consumer's dollar in 1940.
well as their regional directors and department heads are subscribers to the natiod
Cooperative "yard-stick" regulation of prices succeeded in getting for Danish
magazine. In no other way can the job be done. The Directors of the Cooperative, farmers 66 cents of the consumer's dollar. Furthermore, political "big-sticks" lead
League and of National Cooperatives at their recent meetings voted unanimouslj
to eventual dictatorship in a nation; while cooperative "yard-sticks" lead to eventual
to this effect. Now let's put the resolutions into practice. One regional insurant
economic as well as political democracy. Will American farmers choose "subsidized
cooperative proposes to subscribe for their 1,700 field representatives. This is ft,
scarcity by political big-stick methods," or "stimulated consumption by cooperative
beginning of a large enough subscription list to do the necessary job of supportin|
yard-stick methods?" Poverty and dictatorship are down one roadplenty and
a worthy national magazine in the U.S.A. if other regionals will also follow throujta democracy are down the other.
*
*
*
*
The March anniversary issue was the first sample of what you can antidpaKf
possible
illustrations
makes
which
offset
in
Printed
issue.
gyping is becoming bigger and
double
of
art
another
This is
Prepare to be gyped more! The gentle
A new front cover with a good illustration. Three or four pages of action-stim' better. Capitalism is digging its grave still deeper. Miss Harriet Elliott, con
lating editorials. At least one leading general article. Departments on genet
sumer representative in Washington, says that the average family is gyped $45 per
Organization and the four corner stones of Recreation, Education, Finance .in
year in overcharging and underweighing. The Wool and Cotton Reporter says that
Business. A Capitol-Letter from Washington. Highlights of National and Intern
"On a great many garments now being offered, the wearing or service value to the
tional News. Reviews of new pamphlets and books. All these are illustrated in tit1 consumer will not be much over half what it was several years ago." Of course you
contents of this issue. Sometimes we will include a 16-page pamphlet as a center SK
also might prepare to prevent being gyped by building cooperatives stronger
tion, for which we have a number of unpublished manuscripts awaiting publicatii
and faster.
And all for the same subscription price of $1. We will venture the statement
any cooperative leader who reads a single one of the twelve monthly issues careful'
and carries the suggestions into action will receive in return far more than the
in voluntary association, purchase and produce for their own use the things they need.
people,
year's subscription. At least that's our goal and we are undertaking the experimi
monthly by The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West 12th St., N. Y. City.
Published
It will win only with your individual support and the support of every regional
operative. Will you do your part ?
Subscribe now. $1 per year. Mail your order to:
M I Ml MfMI

under the Act of March 3, 1S79. Price.$1.00 a year.
Two of the things worth your special watching in the Consumers' Cooperativt Francis. If he ever honors you by calling, treat him like a saint and not like a tramp
Movement today are the active-price policies being followed by Ohio and Indian as he might be assumed to be from his weather beaten face and clothes. He is a
in fertilizer and by Saskatchewan in petroleum. The power of cooperatives to lowei. scholar as well as a saint and has originated a style of writing which will go down
price levels for all the people and bust the trusts is beginning to be demonstrated in history, we predict, as a method of presenting truth in the language of love in
in America.
more readable form. Here is one of his prose-poems. We have taken the liberty of
changing his word "Farming Commune" into the word "Co-op."
CO-OP EDITORS SAY:
3. But if a worker cannot find
1. The C.I.O. and the A. F. of L.
James Cummins, editor of the Cooperative Consumer, says that "After the
a boss to fight, he can always
boss.
the
fight
to
worker
the
help
gas is all burned upthere's still something left in a cooperative tankthe patron
join a Co-op and be his own boss,
2. But the worker must have a boss
sun."
the
under
new
something
is
This
again.
up
it
filling
starts
which
age dividend
if it is a bad thing
And
4.
C.I.O.
the
before
*
*
*
*
to exploit the worker,
L.
of
F.
A.
the
and
George Tichenor, editor of Eastern Cooperator, says that "Co-ops are Goldenit is a good thing for the worker
can be of any help to the worker
Rule Price-Yardsticks."
to exploit himself in a Co-op.
boss.
the
fighting
in
*
*
*
*
James Moore, editor of the Ohio Cooperator, says, "We try to sell Cooperj
tion, and let Cooperation sell Insurance and Commodities."
*
*
*
*
E. R. Bowen, editor of Consumers' Cooperation says, "Talk with your monej 1
for plenty and peace every time you buy or bank."
CO-OP LEADERS SAY:
Monsignor Luigi Ligutti says, "Unless the Cooperative Movement is soundlf

founded on education, we might as well give up the Cooperative Movement. Don'i
ever hold a cooperative meeting without having cooperative books and pamphlets
for sale."
*
*
*
*
Anders Oerne, former Secretary of the K.F. in Sweden, says in the 40th Anni
versary number of Kooperatoren, " Consumers' Cooperation alone regards the to,
man being and his needs as the basis of the whole economic system, its driving fora
and goal. It therefore invests the individual, in his capacity as a consumer, with the
supreme right of decision."
*
*
*
*
Dr. M. M. Coady says, "Throw up the bulwarks of ownership."
Ralph Snyder, president of the Wichita Bank for Cooperatives, said "As I
empty this vial of fuel from the new refinery into the old tank-wagon, let it repre'
sent new ideas, new and better ways, trickling through and permeating and modi
fying the old structure."
*
*
*
*
E. Stanley Jones, world missionary, says, "The guiding principle for the pres
ent should be To make peace by the creation in himself of a new man out of both
parties.' . . . The emergence of that new man would create peace, a lasting peace,
for the new man would be a cooperative man. ... I want a new spiritthat neuj
spirit will be a cooperative spirit. . . . The thing that is struggling to be born is
a cooperative order. . . . All the great answers in the world are going in our direc
tionthe direction of cooperation."
WE SALUTE THE 40th ANNIVERSARY NUMBER OF

"LAND AND FREEDOM"
While we are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Cooperative League and
the 27th Anniversary of Consumers' Cooperation, we also pay tribute to our con
temporary "Land and Freedom" upon it's 40th Anniversary issue. Particular tribute
is paid to the former editor, Joseph Dana Miller, a true prophet who could see so
clearly into the future more than 20 years ago as to write:
"Great God! We are the torch-bearers of an economic world-gospel!
We bring balm for the healing of the nations, a message for the op
pressed, a new Magna Charta of emancipation for mankind. If rejected,
Leagues of Nations, covenants of peoples, are veritable 'scraps of paper'.
Again autocracy will challenge the political democracies that even now are
shaken by internal revolution. Again the Man on Horseback, a pinchbeck
Hohenzollern or a real Napoleon, will over-ride the world. Again on
dying democracies, by power of cannon and shot and shell, a modern
Tamerlane will seek to fatten."
"We venture the prediction that as the Bolshevist experiment de
velops, it will be found that its chief contribution to human progress will
be its exemplification of the policies to be avoided by nations who wish to
improve their social conditions and its complete and triumphal refutation
of the sophistries of Karl Marx and his followers."
ECONOMIC NECESSITYNOT THEORYDEMANDS THAT

COOPERATIVES DO THESE SIX THINGS:
1. Cooperatives must deal with and accept all users of the products they
handle into membership. Cooperatives cannot eventually succeed in competition if
they confine their trade to either rural or urban members when they handle com
modities which both use. Trading with patrons and not permittting them to be
come members is undemocratic and violates the "Open Membership" principle of
cooperatives.
2. Cooperatives must constantly expand into additional lines to offset the re
duction in margins in the older lines. Cooperatives constantly reduce their savings
margins down as they should do. They must
' by acting as yard-sticks and forcing
BE YOUR OWN BOSS
accordingly constantly add on new lines with larger margins both to keep their
From time to time we plan to print more poetry. Here is a prose-poem by
margins of saving up and to serve their members better.
Peter Maurin which appeared in The Catholic Worker. Maurin is a modern St.
3. Cooperatives must not gamble on inventories, as they cannot gamble on
66
Consumers' Cooperate' April
67
shares. They have no right to gamble on Board of Trade fixed prices on com
modities any more than they have to gamble on Stock Exchange fixed prices on
their shares.
4. Cooperatives must constantly improve their financial condition until thej
achieve the goal of never giving nor accepting credit. Profit business lives on debtcooperative business must be debt free.
5. Cooperatives must build capital faster by voting more of their savings to
reserves and shares instead of paying them out in cash. Increasing ownership rathci
than immediate dividends should be the constant purpose of the movement.
6. Cooperatives and cooperators must mobilize their money cooperatively; ai
well as buy together cooperatively. They must pay back to themselves any interest
on capital as well as any profits on purchases, in order to free themselves from
monopoly financial control as well as monopoly industrial control.
A COOPERATIVE DICTIONARY
There is an insistent need of adopting and defining clearly the phraseology
which the Cooperative Movement should use. For the language adopted for rV;
competitive age is not the vital language which will be used in the oncoming co
operative age. Many words may be the same but their meaning will be largely
revised. Many words have been used by the present system as a smoke screen to
disguise the fact that business practices were becoming the opposite of the original
meaning of the terms being used. For example, the demand for the preservation,
.....bj
.
.......
when business .has become .."monopoly-competition"
"free-competition,"
of" "'
forming economic combinations and trade agreements which increasingly destroy
widespread individual initiative and private ownership.
There is great need that Consumers' Cooperation use and define its terras
f.cturately. To that end we will offer, from time to time, suggested definitions foi
consideration and adoption in a cooperative dictionary.
PURCHASING: Consumers' Cooperatives are the purchasing agents of thei
ultimate consumer patron-members. Consumers have found that they need to or
ganize and appoint purchasing agents to buy for them as a whole, just as mud
as industry needs to and does employ purchasing agents. Cooperative employees do
not make "sales talks" but "buying-talks." They advise what, where, when ad
why to buy, or not to buy at all, according to the needs of their employer consumers,
Cooperative employees buy for the consumer-patron-members in front of the
counter who are the owners and employers, rather than selling to them.
DECEPTION WILL NOT BUILD DEMOCRACY
How can we ever build a democracy on a barrage of duplicity by political and
journalistic writers and speakers ? Do we have to be drugged and think that out o(
the seed of deception the flower of truth will grow ? Democracy is dependent upon
whole truth-telling more than upon any other foundation. Yet our writers and
speakers admit that they deceive the people. The only ray of hope is that today they
are admitting it earlier and not after years as a part of the long history of the past.
Consider these examples and tremble for our democracy unless and until we canj
begin whole truth-telling.
President Wilson, in 1919, after a war fought on the slogan: "Make
the World Safe for Democracy""Why, my fellow citizens, is there any
man here, or any womanlet me say is there any child herewho does
not know that the seed of war in the modern world is industrial and
commercial rivalry? The real reason that the war that we have just fin
ished took place was that Germany was afraid her commercial rivals were
68
going to get the better of her, and the reason -why some nations went into
the war against Germany was that they thought Germany would get the
commercial advantage of them. The seed of jealousy, the seed of the deepseated hatred, was hot commercial and industrial rivalry."
Arthur Krock in 1941"The official dispositon (is) to look at the
case squarely, forget the hopes, promises and political deceptions of the
past and provide direct means to meet whatever situation may arise."
William Alien White"The enactment of the lease-lend bill puts
the U.S. economically, morally and officially in the war. . . . We were in
the war as deeply as now when we amended the neutrality law to keep out
of the war in 1939."
Herbert Agarafter quoting a description of the lease-lend bill as
"not a bill to keep America out of war, but a bill to enable the President
to fight an undeclared war against Germany," said, "That is precisely
what it is. ... Our side kept saying in the press and in the Senate that
this lease-lend bill is a bill to keep America out of war. That's bunk!"
Dr. Virgil Jordan"It is the accepted custom and the normal man
ners of modern government to conceal all important facts from the
public or to lie about them."
We should tell the whole truth while we can, that we are in an undeclared
war, trying to revive a dying economy. The majority in a democracy have a perfect
right to go to war if they so desire, after they have determined that war, in their
corisi(lerecl judgment, is the way to solve the world's problems. But it is fatal to
democracy for a people to let their speakers and writers deceive them as to what
they are doing.
GUEST EDITORIAL
We are glad to be able to reproduce the following from the Nebraska Union
Farmer, written by J. H. Bolin, an auditor. Without minimizing in any way the
significance of a cooperative oil station or elevator, it is more than true that a coopera
tive store handling household supplies as well as vocational supplies is the principal
type of a cooperative as it becomes a cooperative community center. We are gradual
ly, but not rapidly enough, learning this fact. We welcome the assistance of auditors
as well as editors and educators and managers in converting cooperators to this fact.
"No other kind of a co-operative serves like a co-operative store, as
a co-operative center and meeting place. You never see whole families
congregate at a co-operative elevator or co-operative oil station. Only a
co-operative store is a meeting place and a visiting place. A co-operative
store, in this way, ties the co-operators of the community together, and
gives them frequent contacts with each other, as no other co-operative
does.
"It has truthfully been said that we need co-operative stores, handling
household supplies, to get the women interested in the co-operative move
ment. We also need co-operative stores to serve as places for the everyday
exchange of information and ideas, and to enable us to keep acquainted
constantly with our neighbors and fellow co-operators.
"I have been around a lot among co-operatives and co-operators in
my 25 years' experience as an auditor, and it is my reasoned conclusion
and firm conviction that no other kind of a co-operative is as effective as a
co-operative store in bringing the people together, creating co-operative
solidarity, and keeping the community keyed up to a good co-operative
pitch."
Consumers' Cooperatioi Apn!> 1941
69
COMMENDATION'S FOR COOPERATIVES ON
world. It has no religious, racial or

A PIONEER COOPERATOR
class barriers. Working men and farm
ers may gain by it, but it is not a trade
The retirement of Dr. James P. Warunion or agrarian movement. It Is
basse this week from the presidency
essentially democratic, in that it givei
of the Cooperative League marks a
each member a vote, regardless Of the
milestone in the progress of one of the
number of shares he owns. Its savings,
world's most peaceful, most construc
except for funds reinvested or used for
tive economic reform movements. It is
education, return at stated intervals.
twenty-five years since the League was
r
to the consumers themselves.
organized in Dr. Warbasse's Brooklyn
It will be a long time before the j
home. Two years later he gave up his
American cooperatives will rival in in
surgical practice to devote his full time
to cooperation and. related fields. His
fluence those of Denmark, Finland and
Sweden in the pre-war days. They ,
vigorous and youthful spirit animated
probably do act as a brake against ex
the organization and put enthusiasm
tremes of doctrine. The Communist!
into all who had contacts with It.
have been able to do little with them,
Dr. Warbasse has always insisted
except to wreck those into which the,
that consumers' cooperation is an im
Red brethren had Intruded themselves.
partial agency in this competitive
From editorial The New York Times, March 21, 1911'
ANNIVERSARY OF THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE

"Cooperation holds within Itself the destinies of
our race. Let us take new courage as we behold
the greatness of our cause, and resolve to serve
It with an ever increased fidelity."
"Rev. John 'iiAynes Holmes

Minister Community Church
"And the prospects for the.second quarter century
period? Giant steps toward a cooperative economy
powerful enough both to checkmate the dreadful
abuses of American Individualistic capitalism and
to forestall the. encroachment of autocratic Euro
pean 'Isms'."
"It seems to me that the cooperatives have a

great field In the future.
Bachrach
. Edgar Schmledeler, OSB

turer in Cooperative School
Social Science,
'athollc unlv. of America
"The cooperative movement Is the ultimate democ

racy and the hope of peace and brotherhood among
men..."
- Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
* /^xJ'^y' Elliier Morgan^fedltor

Journal of the Nat'1 Ed. Assoc.
"If a vigorous cooperative movement and private

business can function successfully side by side,
that fact Is In itself some assurance of a free
competitive system, without which our democracy
cannot hope to survive."
Blank and Stoller
"If your curves of growth continue as steeply up

ward as they have been In recent years the coop
eratives will soon represent America's biggest
business..."
- Alfred Bjfngham, Editor
''- Thurman Arnold

Assistant Attorne
Bachrach
C OmmAn S nSe
"The Cooperative Movement offers a great oppor

tunity to mobilize all the brains of mankind...
When we learn to fight out our battles for brains
"With the millions whom It has helped, I hope not battles for bullets, we shall become masters
for continued growth In the future for the coo of our own destiny. "
General
Blackstoi
eratlve movement."
- Dr.
St. Francis Xavler University
George D. Alken
Bachrach
"The cooperative movement cannot exist If It cannot think.
The
"I look on the Cooperative Movement as the first great step toward fascist and nazl regimes destroy the soul of cooperation because
a full cooperative order. The cooperative order is the thing whlcl they overthrow democracy and abollsh^reedom o thought. "
Is struggling now to be born In the world, economy.
E. Stanli$/Jones
World Missionary
70
Consumers' Cooperate April, 1941
-Boris Skomorowsky, Editor

French edition Review of
national Cooperation.___
71
FINANCE
DEBT AND DISASTER

Watch Credit. Business and Prices !!
BASIC COMMODITIES
(INDEX FIGURES)
THE PRICE BOOM IS ON! LOOK OUT!
Ever since the declaration of war in Europe in September 1939 we have been|
earnestly and insistently endeavoring to help cooperative managers, directors and
members to prepare themselves to face the certain price boom and bust ahead. Prices
of the 28 basic commodities jumped in three weeks during September 1939 mote'
than 25 per cent. We warned first against gambling in inventories. Secondly, we also
strongly urged cooperatives to double price their inventories at the close of that year,
in other words at the prices prevailing on September 1st and on December 31st ad
to-set up the difference in a reserve against future price declines. Prices held tof
about the same index figure from September to December 1939 and then
because of the dragout of the war during the winter and the collapse of Franct
in the summer they gradually fell until they reached only about" 6 per cent above
September in August 1940. Since then they have been gradually rising again to
20 per cent above in the middle of February 1941 and from then on they jumped
rapidly 12 per cent more to 32 per cent in a month's time from the middle of Feb
ruary to the middle of March when this is written. Surplus factories, surplus labor i
and surplus inventories are now being rapidly absorbed and barring the miracle
of a possible but doubtful early peace they will now continue to rise rapidly.
Cooperatives should PREPARE! PREPARE! The kind of preparation wean
talking about should be increasingly clear. PREPARE NOW AGAINST FUTURI,
PRICE DECLINES. They will surely come eventually. When they do, inventories
will fall in value. The way to prepare to meet such declines is to double price your.
inventories and separate your savings resulting from price increases from your sav
ings resulting from normal operations. Transfer the savings resulting from inventor;'
price increases to a special reserve against future declines in inventory prices,
Furthermore when prices eventually decline your receivables (if you have any) will
be difficult to collect. The way to prepare against uncollectible receivables is ncl,
to have anyto go on a cash basislike the Swedes say, "Neither give nor accept
credit."
TAKE HEED! PREPARE NOW AGAINST THE BUST THAT IS SURE
TO EVENTUALLY FOLLOW THE INCREASING BOOM IN PRICES. It's our,
job to be a watchman on the wall. We shout the warning to cooperatives and cooperators. Read also with care the article which follows this editorial under the titlei
I
"DEBT AND DISASTER".
72
Having been in business in 1920

and 1929 through two of the great
est booms and busts in the history
of America, which awakened ray mind
to study into their causes, I should
be happy if I could contribute some
lessons from these first-hand ex
periences to the Cooperative Move
ment in order to protect it from the
bust of Disaster which is sure to
It
follow the present boom in Debt.
is in the hope of doing so that I am
writing this article. The possibil
ity of so doing will be determined
by rcy ability to express these les
sons clearly and by the willingness
of cooperators to learn in part from
others' experiences and not alone
from their own trials and errors.
Commodity Prices boomed during
the war period of 1915 to 1920. The
wholesale price index figure rose
from 100 in the five year period
from 1910-14, to 226 at the begin
ning of 1920. The boom then ended
with a bust. The index figure fell
In the
within one year to 138.
business with which I was connected
the inventory losses were larger
than all the net profits of the
previous five years.
1 woke up enough to open one
But still, since no living
eye.
person had gone through a war boom
and bust, and since we had ended
"a war that was to end all wars",
1 had to go through a second boom
and bust in 1929 to get both eyes
opened wide .
The 1920 boom and bust came at
a time when cooperative purchasing
wholesales were generally only
Many
in their early beginnings.
of them went broke and their exist
One
ence is even forgotten.
which survived had to cut the
Consumers' Cooperatio' April, 1941
E. R. Bowen
value of its shares in half on

account of the drastic decline
in commodity prices.
Commodity wholesales and retails
today are far stronger to meet
the war boom and after the war
bust, but are still in great danger
from possible uncollectible cred
its and declines in inventory
values, since the war boom and bust
may and probably will be even
Ute are
greater than after 1920.
fortunate indeed today that our
cooperative inventories are largely
quick consumption goods, rather
than production goods which turn
over much more slowly and accord
ingly cause far more disastrous
results in a decline in prices.
Let me call your attention to
the fact that Commodity Prices
leveled out at about 146 from
1922 to 1929, or about 50% above
pre-war prices, which fooled the
government statisticians so great
ly that they largely discarded
the 1910-14 index base of 100 and
started a new 1926 base of 100.
This was assumed to be a "permanent
However,
plateau of prosperity".
Dr. George Warren of Cornell
University never accepted the
theory of a permanent higher price
level, and accordingly Cornell
University statistics continue to
be based on 1910-14, which proved
to be sound reasoning.
Note particularly that the 1920
boom was in Commodity Prices - not
Stock Prices did not
Stock Prices.
go up on account of the excess
profits being taxed away, even
though Commodity Prices went way up.
Note also that the 1929 boom
was in Stock Prices - not Commodity
73
Prices. Stock Prices broke through

the ceiling in 1924 and flew out
of sight to 381 in 1929. Then oc
curred a double bust of both Stock
and Commodity Prices. Both hit the
same low in 1932 of about 90.
CREDIT AND BUSINESS

19
Note also carefully in the upper

chart that the booms and busts in
Business correspond to the booms
and busts in Prices. Commodity and
Common Stock Prices are the most
sensitive advance indicators I haveever been able to find as to the
probable booms and busts in Busi
It was as a result of fol
ness.
lowing these lines of Commodity and
Stock Prices that we wrote the edi
torial and published the charts in
CONSUMERS COOPERATION in the
early fall of 1937, predicting a
"Boom and Bust Again" which occurred
shortly thereafter. Both Commodity
and Stock Prices began to boom to
gether (a phenomenon 1 had never
seen before) - whereas in 1920 only
Commodity Prices had boomed and in
1929 only Stock Prices had boomed.
Again we wrote another editorial
with charts in the fall of 1939 in
CONSUMERS COOPERATION entitled,
"Another Bust Ahead - Prepare For
It", and the bust followed as you
can see by the accompanying chart.
I2O
MO
100
70
COMMODITIES
INDEX FIGURES
DOLLAR FIGURES
400
300
200
too
1910
74
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
Consumers' Cooperatic
To indicate that other coun

tries' Cooperative leaders are
alive to the trends of such charts
and statistical warnings, let me
relate an experience when meeting
Mr. Johansson of Sweden in his
Before I
office in Stockholm.
could do more than say "Good
Morning", he asked me thi's pene
trating question, "Is it really
true that in the United States
you have increased your install
ment credit even more than in
My answer was, "I am
1929?"
sorry to say, Mr. Johansson, tbat
we have. I wrote an article warn
ing the Cooperative Movement of
April, 1941
another Boom and Bust, and then

Came to Scandinavia where you have
economic intelligence to learn
more from you." He literally
walked the floor in his disturb
ance over our economic ignorance
and asked, "Haven' t you Americans
learned anything about credit yet?"
However, I have never read of a bus
iness man in America who was dis
turbed over installment credit i n
advance of t he bust which followed
in 1937, although Roger Babson
wrote a book years later, after the
horse was stolen again, entitled
"The Folly of Installment Buying",
which we reviewed in CONSUMERS
COOPERATION, and quoted him as
saying, "Save first. Buy for cash,
and get a good discount. You will
thus avoid the installment surcharge
and have some money left to buy
more of the things so appealingly
placed before you. "
My first reaction, when I
opened both eyes after 1929, was
that I, like other Americans was
"economically illiterate", as Dr.
Warren described us, of in the
"kindergarten stage of economics."
When a bust occurs we simply change
political parties - not economic
organizations as we should and as
is necessary. After the bust of
1920, we changed from Democrat to
Republican; after 1929 we changed
from Republican to Democrat. After
the next bust - but why draw the
moral? As though a change in po
litical' parties would solve any
real economic problems!
My second reaction was to dis
cover that CREDIT was the "key" the very foundation - of both booms
and busts in Business and Prices.
How I learned this can best be told
by a brief story of a small part
of my own personal experiences and
economic awakenings.
75
In the spring of 1931 I was at

tending a tractor and combine show
at Dodge City, Kansas. Wheat was
selling on track there at 45<r, or
about half of the 1922-29 price.
1 was certain that the bottom in
business was going out from under
me a second time and was naturally
Such
desperate to learn why.
desperation may be what is needed
to wake one up economically.
While there 1 talked with two
men who opened ray eyes wider.
First, a large farmer, who, when
1 asked him what he was going to do
with wheat at 45 a bushel, said
that he thought it would at least
be 50 when harvest came and that
he could raise wheat at that
When 1 asked him as to
price.
how he knew he could raise wheat
at 5<H a bushel, he said that
the University was keeping cost
(To make the
records for him.
story complete, it should be added
that 1 saw wheat sell for 19 a
bushel on track in Southeastern
Colorado when harvest actually came
that summer.)
My second conversation was with
a banker, who, when I asked him
as to what his borrowers were
going to do with 45 wheat, told
me this most illuminating story.
In the winter of 1919 when every
thing was boom "rosy" (the bust
clouds however were gathering,
but as small as a man' s hand in
the sky), he and his wife had
gone to California to spend the
About a week after they
winter.
arrived, they were driving along
and saw carloads of oranges being
He
dumped alongside the road.
The
stopped and asked "Why?"
answer he received was this: "The
banks have called the fruit loans
and the prices have dropped. "
That answer caused him to leave
76
for home within another week be

cause of his worry over what might
When he
happen to wheat loans.
returned to Dodge City he bundled
up a few notes and sent them to
the Federal Reserve Bark for dis
In the package of note.s
count.
he put one with wheat as security
The other
to see what happened.
notes were discounted but the
wheat note was returned with a
letter saying that wheat loans
were not being taken any longer.
Immediately he forced his farmer
borrowers to sell their wheat at
the high prices which still pre
vailed and pay off their notes
and thus saved both them and the
bank, in spite of their protests
that wheat was going still higher.
He then went on to tell of the call
ing of other crop and livestock
loans from time to time in the
spring of 1920.
This information was also
confirmed by John Simpson, late
president of the Farmers Union,
in his testimony on the GoldsMr. Simpson told borough Bill.
of a trip to Washington in the
winter of 1920 when he asked the
Comptroller of the Currency as i
to when they wereôing t o c allj
The answer, he testified,
loans.
was given by the Comptroller with
tears in his eyes, that they had
voted to call the loans in the sum
Then the bust came. We had
mer.
built a boom on the sand foundation
of credit - when the credit was
shrunk by calling the loans the
war boom collapsed as it had to
Andrew Mellon, sec
eventually.
retary of the treasury, coldly said
in 1921, "Deflation in America is
proceeding in a calm and orderly
way without strikes or riots of any
kind that usually accompany such a
process. "
As a result of the conversaConsumers' Cooperatii
tions with the farmer and banker

t Dodge City, I went to Manhattan
and started talking with agricul
tural economists including Roy
Green, now President of the Colo
rado State College of Agriculture.
From there I went on and stopped
at Des Moines and spent a half
day with Henry A. Wallace, then
I
editor of Wallace's Farmer.
asked him, "Who knows more about
why wheat has gone down in price
and why millions of men are out
of work than anyone else in Ameri
ca?" His answer was to recommend
my seeing Dr. Nourse in Washington
and Dr. Warren in Ithaca - one,
he said, would probably talk
production and the other price the answer lay somewhere in the
I went
combination of the two.
on to Washington and to Ithaca.
However, much as I did learn
from the trip, I came home still
confused and continued to go into
the various State Universities
I
- ten in all were visited.
learned incidentally, that agri
cultural economists had their
feet on the ground more than
At last I
general economists.
was referred by another profes
sor, who threw his hands up in
answer to my question as to why
wheat had gone down in price and
unemployment had gone up, to Drt
Viva Boothe, of the Department of
Business Statistics of Ohio State
University, who was the first to
help me really solve the problem.
She began to talk of CREDIT as the
primary determining factor of
both Business and Prices, as no
one else had done.
Dr. Boothe drew a Business
line upward from 1921 to 1924 and
asked if I knew why it had gone
up. To my answer saying "No", and
that that was what I was hunting,
she wrote underneath the line the
April, 1941
simple words, "Foreign Credit".

Then she continued the Business
line upward, after a break down
ward in 1924, and again asked,
"Do you know what pushed business
After
up further after 1924?"
my side head shake, she wrote
underneath the line, "Install
Then she turned
ment Credit".
the line downward sharply after
1929, and asked again, "What
caused Business to fall?" Then
I had the answer in a nutshell.
"EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION OF
CREDIT CAUSE BOOMS AND BUSTS
In
IN BUSINESS AND PRICES".
crease credit suddenly - a boom.
Decrease credit suddenly - a
So simple, and yet so
bust.
many long and troubled years
to find the guilty culprit CREDIT.
In 1915 private foreign credit,
which was later converted into gov
ernment credit, started business up
ward. When it broke, installment
credit pushed business back up until
In 1922 private foreign
1920.
credit started business upward, and
again installment credit expanded
when a break came in 1924 and pushed
business upward until 1929. After
the break ending in 1932, govern
ment domestic credit and install
ment credit were again expanded
and business rose. When it broke
in 1937, government domestic credit
and installment credit started
business up again.
Today CREDIT is expanding at a
Three
speed never before known.
kinds of credit are being expanded
all at once as never before - Gov
ernment Domestic Credit - Private
Installment Credit - Government
Foreign Credit. DISASTER ALWAYS
Production for
FOLLOWS DEBT.
destruction financed by Debt is
the ultimate of unsound economics.
77
The 1929 peak of business was the

highest boom ever reached and was
followed by the greatest bust. Now
a still greater business boom is
It is reasonable to assume
on.
that it will be followed by a
greater bust. The three most dan
gerous days for business in American
history were in 1915 when the first
world war foreign loans were made,
in 1922 when the after-the-war for
eign loans started, and in 1941
when we again began foreign lending.
During the first chapter of
the World War, J. P. Morgan and
Company unloaded their private
foreign loans on the government
and were saved from the disaster
which was predicted by Ambassador
Page unless we declared war and
the government took over the
However after
Morgan loans.
wards, the House of Morgan, after
making 47 million dollars in the
two years from 1927-29, lost all
of it and 1 %'A m illion more in
the next three yea~rs. If an insider
like Morgan cannot win in extending
credit, how can outsiders like
cooperatives ever think they can do
so?
I have told this story after
much hesitation, because I do
not like to discuss personal ex
periences publicly, but have now
been moved to do so for two rea
sons'First, there were large losses
sustained by cooperatives in 1937
and 1940 because leaders did not
follow the advice in the editorials
in CONSUMERS COOPERATION to re
duce inventories and credit and
build up reserves for the bust
ahead.
Second, I am concerned lest
still greater losses be incurred
after the bubble of this present
debt boom busts, as it must
78
1 want to see every '

and will.
local and regional cooperative
prepare f or the boom and bust
ahead.
collapse with its debt-sand founda

tion. Prepare as cooperators and
cooperatives to be financially
strong in order to be able to
build a cooperative world, which
is the true wave of the future.
The ways are simple and yet

they cannot be learned and put
It takes ^
into practice overnight.
BUILD A COOPERATIVE ECONOMY
time to convince people in a dem
ocratic organization like a coop
STRONGER AND FASTER TO PER
erative.
MANENTLY SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS
>
(1) KEEP INVENTORIES AND IN- '
The above is written as a warning
VESTMENTS LOW IN RELA
to cooperators and cooperatives to
TION TO VOLUME. COOPER
protect themselves by getting their
ATIVES CANNOT SPECULATE * houses in order for the bust that
ON THE STOCK MARKET. THEY
is bound to take place while the
SHOULD NOT SPECULATE IN
present monopoly-capitalistic sys
THE COMMODITY MARKET.
tem is still dominant. However, all
COMMODITY PRICES ARENOT
of this uncertainty should induce
YET RISING AS RAPIDLY
people generally to build coopera
GENERALLY AS IN PREVIOUS
tives stronger and faster, while
CREDIT BOOMS BUT THIS IS , there is yet time, to enable them
BECAUSE OF IDLE FACTOR
to take over the control of the
IES AND MEN AND SURPLUS
economic system as rapidly as pos
MATERIALS.
sible. Cooperative "yard-sticks"
4 are far more powerful than govern
(2) GO ON A CASH BASIS AND
ment "big-sticks" in preventing
NEITHER GIVE NOR ACCEPT
profit-piling and thus stabilizing
CREDIT. OWE NO SUPPLIER
business and hanking.
ANYTHING AND LET NO MEM- .'
BER OWE THE COOPERATIVE
A cooperative economy would level
GET OUT OF
ANYTHING.
out the booms and busts in prices
DEBT. COOPERATIVES SHOULD
of commodities and stocks. Now in
NOT BUILD ON CREDIT. THE * creased earnings in private business
RESULT WILL BE DISASTER.
re reflected in increased prices of
In a cooperative,
common stocks.
(3) VOT3 MORE OF THE SAVINGS
however, shares can never be worth
INTO INTEREST FREE RE- '
more than the original par value,
SERVES, INSTEÂD OF PAY
since any increased earnings are not
ING THEM OUT IN SHARES
distributed on the basis of share
OR IN PATRONAGE RETURNS. . holding.
Furthermore commodity
prices would also be stabilized in
The Rochdale Pioneers were right
a cooperative economy to their true
that "DEBT IS THE INVENTION OF
Values on the basis of barter ex
It is the Devil of ^ change and the law of demand and
THE DEVIL".
GET THE COOPERATIVE
Ignorance.
supply would really function.
MOVEMENT OUT OF DEBT-DEVIL BUSI
Secondly, a cooperative economy
Prepare against
NESS METHODS.
the boom and bust ahead. Prepare f would result in the stabilization
of credit and business. Production
for the washout after the war
would be geared to consumption, or
when private-profit business will
Consumers' Cooperation' April, 1941
a known demand, and supply would not

be a speculation for an unknown de
mand as now. Credit would only be
expanded to equal the needs of such
a stabilized production and consump
Today business is
tion economy.
based on the balloon of credit, and
credit is based on the gambling
hysteria of hope of profits and fear
of loss.
Thirdly, a cooperative economy
would result in steadily increasing
abundance for all, rather than
scarcity-poverty for the many and
super-abundant riches for the few.
Were all the purchases and sav
ings of cooperators today pooled
together nationally in cooperative
businesses and banks, they would
exercise a powerful stabilizing in
fluence over both the general com
modity price level, over interest
rates, over production and over
credit. We already have a few il
lustrations of how cooperatives
organized regionally can control
some commodity prices and interest
rates in their territories. Other
illustrations have developed sectionally by regional cooperatives
pooling their purchasing and bor
rowing powers together. The time
is over ripe for all cooperative
purchasing and borrowing to be co
ordinated nationally and thus enable
the Consumers Cooperative Purchasing
Movement to take its rightful and
necessary place as the stabilizer
of the economy of the nation.
While working with one hand
towards this greater ideal of a
national and international coopera
tive economy, with the other hand
we must batten down the hatches and
get our cooperative ships in order
for the storms ahead by reducing
inventories proportionate to vol
ume, by reducing receivables and
payables, and by increasing reserves.
79
INVEST YOUR MONEY COOPERATIVELY IN COOPERATIVE PROPERTIES
by Jacob Baker
Everyday and everywhere, Co-operatives operate in leased or
rented property and add to the value of that property, thus increas
ing their own rentals as their leases are renewed, and actually
building savings for the landlord rather than for the membership. This
is an old problem that all of us in the movement are well acquainted
with. Th'e co-operators in Washington, D.C., have attempted to meet
the problem and as their plan and experience for doing so may be use
ful to the movement as a whole, this brief report of it is presented.
Last year, Konsum. the automobile service co-operative of the
District of Columbia, had to move because of the construction of a
government building which included the site of its service station.
The landlords of the city, having suitable property, all asked rents
that were too high to begin with and the terms of lease were usually
proposed to be on a sliding scale that would result in the landlord
receiving most of the net savings of the members - the greater the
volume of business the higher the rent. In the garage business this
is written into the lease. In other cases the rent changes from time
to time and almost always upward.
To meet this situation some of the co-operators of Washington
organized an enterprise known as Co-Operators' Properties. Its sole
function is to buy land and build buildings for long-term lease for
operating co-operatives.
At the time it was set up, the District of Columbia co-operative
bill was not yet law, so the organization was incorporated as a stock
corporation in Maryland. The organization thus established serves as
an investment agency for social-minded people who would rather put
their funds to work for them than to leave them in the stocks and de
bentures of corporations which may work against them.
Each shareholder in Co-operators' Properties owns one $5 share
of preferred stock which carries the voting right. No one may be a
shareholder unless he has invested $100 or more in 5% bonds of the
organization. The money thus raised on the 5% b onds is used to buy
land and build buildings, taking second mortgage obligations on the
property, for the operating co-operatives.
Over $22,000 was raised from a fairly small group of investors
within a rather short period of time. The investor feels that he has
the protection of equity ownership in the event of the failure of the
operating co-operative.
While 5fo i s a low interest rate for second mortgage, holdings, it
seems to be high enough and the proposition safe enough so that a
sufficient number of people invested to meet the requirement for funds
In fact it would appear that more funds are available if the organi
zation should find occasion to expand by providing quarters for ad
ditional operating co-operatives.
Konsum, in turn, received a 20-year lease under terms which will
amortize the building and will have created an equity for Konsum of
the total amount of the amortization, so that.at the end of the 20
years Konsum will own the building and only be paying a rental upon
80
the land. Additional plants can be provided under similar terms.

Common stock is issued by Co-operators' Properties to the oper
ating co-operative so that in the event of liquidation all values
over and above the face value of the bonds and preferred stock shall
devolve upon the co-operative that produced the increment of value.
The lease also provides that the operating co-operative may purchase
at any time the whole of the property at the exact price paid for it
by Co-operators' Properties; or it may buy up bonds by lot from the
investors, thus reducing interest burden. A provision is included
concerning depreciation and amortization whereby the operating co
operative acquires equity and is protected in all contingencies.
First mortgage money was found, after inquiry and adequate ex
planation, to be easily available. Some of the District of Columbia
investment organizations proved eager for the business. However, to
prove the possibility of total co-operative financing and because its
deal was as good as any local offer, the first mortgage covering about
half the total investment was given to the Farm Bureau Mutual Co
operative Automobile Insurance Company of Columbus, Ohio.
The typical small co-operative, in its early years, cannot spend
the time and energy to raise funds for land and buildings. It needs
about all the money it can raise for working capital, but there are
savings available in the hands of co-operators who want a way to ben
efit the co-operative movement. Many people of moderate circum
stances have from $100.00 to $1,000.00 which they can invest in a
co-operative enterprise if the needed vehicle of investment is cre
ated. Once created such an investment vehicle becomes a social in
stitution of fundamental value to the co-operative movement.
In time the co-operative movement will develop great investment
wings as has been the case in Europe. Regional and national co-op
erative finance organizations will develop. In the meanwhile, the
cethod here outlined can serve a very useful purpose in many places.
Copies of the Articles of Incorporation, By-laws, and Prospectus of
Cooperators' Properties can be had from the District of Columbia Co
operative League, 2621 Virginia Avenue, H.W., Washington, D.C. by
anybody interested in building up a similar organization.
More important than the details, however, is the broad general
idea. It is absurd that people with savings who are vitally inter
ested in social progress and friendly to co-operative enterprise
should continue to place their savings in stocks, bonds, and deben
tures of corporations, over which they have no control and the funda
mental purpose of which they may greatly oppose.
Of course, no co-operative investment organization can take on
the burdens of operation of a merchandising or service co-operative.
It cannot create co-operative success but it can create the condi
tions adequate plant at reasonable cost in which success can
be built.
April, 1941
81
il
ORGAN IZATI ON
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE IN A COOPERATIVE?
There are four major divisions of the people in a cooperative as
sociation - membership, directorate, management and staff. Each of
these four divisions must carry its own share of responsibility.
The two most necessary requirements for each division of a co
operative to succeed are Education and Organization. A successful
cooperative must have an educated and organized membership, direct
orate, management and staff.
Just what does successful education and organi zati on mean in the
case of each of these four divisions?
Membership
Since we, the people, have largely given over the handling of
our economic affairs to a few business men and bankers, we are, and
we should admit freely to ourselves, largely uneducated in the oper
ations of industry and finance. We cannot hope to own and control a
cooperative business or bank successfully unless and until we are
willing to get down to hard study. This means listening to addresses
by competent leaders and participating in discussions with them. It
means extensive reading of both idealistic and practical cooperative
literature. It means organizing ourselves into small study circles
for mutual discussion. It means visiting successful cooperative as
sociations and attending cooperative meetings. It means, finally,
active participation in the work of the cooperative and learning by
doing. By these means we can eventually hope to educate ourselves
sufficiently to successfully operate our own economic institutions, i
The members of a cooperative should organize themselves for ac
tion in two ways. First, into committees for consultation and reccm-'
j
mendation to the membership meetings and to the directorate as to
policies to be adopted. Every cooperative should have at least four
major committees, namely, recreation, -education, finance and business.!
As many subcommittees as are necessary to carry out the functions of
the cooperative can be set up under these four major committees.
Second, the members of a cooperative should organize themselves for
action in districts for electing directors and receiving reports froii
them in order to provide for responsible and active relationships
between the membership and the directors.
Directorate
Granting that a man or woman who is elected a director of a co
operative may be a successful farmer, worker, professional, housewife
or in some other occupation, it does not necessarily follow that
knowledge of that one occupation is sufficient to insure their suc
cess as a director of a community organization such as a cooperative,
Anyone who accepts the responsibility of a directorate should begin
studying all of the operations of the cooperative in detail. This
means the financial statements, purchasing, production and distrib
uting systems, recreational and educational methods. There is no
82
limit to the education which a director of a cooperative needs.

The directors should also organize themselves for efficiency
into four major committees, recreation, education, finance and busi
ness. Each committee should be primarily responsible for following
out the details of its particular-function and for reporting its
conclusions to the entire directorate. The directors should be
elected by districts and thus be responsible to and for the educa
tion and participation of the members of their district.
Management
To be successful, a manager should not only be a social ideal
ist but also a practical realist. He must be able to "get along
with people" the members, the directors and the staff. He must
have initiative and executive ability to organize and carry out
policies. He must have the respect 'of all by reason of his char
acter and ability. He must learn thoroughly the details of every
division of the operations in order to carry out and supervise them
successfully. He must possess the common virtues of honesty, moral
ity, energy and economy.
He must organize his own time for personal efficiency and also
organize the duties of the staff to achieve economical results. He
is likewise responsible for presenting well thought out ideas to the
directors and membership for their decision and for helping them to
organize themselves to carry out their share of the operations.
Staff
The staff of a cooperative should be carefully selected from

cooperatively educated applicants. Advance education is not enough,
but the employees should continue to educate themselves individually
and in groups so long as they are employed.
They should assist in organizing themselves for the efficient
carrying out of their particular occupations and the entire opera
tions of the cooperative.
*****
Only as every one of these four divisions of the people in a
is
membership, directorate, management and staff
cooperative
thoroughly educated and efficiently organized can the cooperative
association achieve its greatest possible social and economic re
sults and the cause of economic democracy be advanced to the highest
degree.
Consumers' Cooperation April, 1941
83
E DUCATIO N
THE EVOLUTION OF A CAMPUS COOPERATIVE
by Albert Rees, Education Chairman,
Oberlin Consumers Cooperative, I nc., Oberl i n, Ohi<
Early in 1938 a few students of Oberlin College began to meet as
study group to learn what they could about the cooperative movement. In
terested first in the history and philosophy of cooperatives, they soon
learned more of the campus cooperatives in which thousands of students
are saving money to help themselves through college. They quickly put
their ideas into practice. They formed a small buying club, and bought
Co-op soap and cosmetics from cases which one of the students kept inn
bedroom. By June the club had 25 members, and had done a business of i
It was a humble beginning, but the group had seen a new idea, and was
determined to go ahead with it.
The next fall, the Co-op began a commission business in laundry, d
cleaning, and flowers. These services attracted many more students,
cal merchants gave the Co-op price reductions which ranged from 15 to I
and these were passed on to the students as immediate discounts, the or
ganization keeping just enough to cover operating expenses.
In the spring of 1939 the Co-op had 125 members. The total businei
for the year had been over $1000. But there were grave drawbacks. The
organization was becoming too large to be run from a dormitory room, ai
this location was very inconvenient for the girl members. Also, the di
count system gave the organization little money with which to expand; i
was not so much a cooperative as a cut-rate agency. The members decide
to adopt the Rochdale principles of selling at market prices and distri
uting the surplus as a patronage dividend, reckoned on the total businp
regardless of the nature of the items. The Co-op's leaders, afraid of
losing business if they did not give large cash savings, guaranteed a
patronage dividend of at least W%.
The Co-op then rented a second story back office in a building in
the business section. The two rooms had not been occupied for years.
Dingy paper was peeling from the walls, the plaster was cracking from
the ceiling, and over everything was a layer of grime. The co-op mem
bers set to work on their office. They divided the big back room into
two with a partition, and tackled the three rooms separately, as funds
and time permitted. Gangs of students worked evenings and holidays,
scraping old paper from the walls, painting and papering walls and cei!
ings, scraping the floors and scrubbing with soap and water. These oc
casions were more like parties than work, but if there was more joki:
flirting and paint dropped on the floor than union standards permit,
result was a clean, cheerful office. Girls made curtains for the win
dows, boys bought and repaired odd pieces of second-hand furniture, ani
built shelves and counters. From time to time new fixtures were added,
including a rebuilt typewriter and a stencil duplicator.
First business in the new office was the furniture exchange. In
June, 1939, departing Seniors brought the furniture they no longer
wanted, and it was sold in the fall to incoming Freshmen. The money
was returned to the owners less 15% for handling.
The furniture exchange has been continued in the back room. In
the middle room the book exchange was opened in December 1939. Here
students bring their used textbooks, set their own prices. The money
84
Consumers' Cooperatii
is returned to them when the book is sold less a 10% handling charge.
T .e book exchange had previously been run by the Y.W.C.A. It did a bus
iness of $250 in September 1939 under the Y.; in September 1940, it did
over $700 under the Co-op.
The front room housed the store. Here a meagre stock of toilet
goods and stationery was sold. Often there was no money to buy stock,
and the articles for which most demand had been created could not be re
placed. Gradually the stock was built up and new items added. All
through the winter of 1939-40 the Co-op had to borrow small amounts from
various members to tide it over when the rent came due or there were
other unexpected expenses.
In December 1939, the first issue of a mimeographed paper, the
Oberlin Cooperator was published. It appeared only twice during the
first winter, but in 1940-41 it has been a monthly, distributed to all
riembers and many non-mejibers. It includes news of the Oberlin Co-op and
of other co-ops, articles and editorials on the cooperative movement.
The first semester in this new location, the Co-op did business of
almost $1000. The promised patronage dividend of 10% was paid.
As book sales mounted at the beginning of the next semester, the
book exchange ran out of many titles. The Co-op decided to enter the
book business. It took orders for used books which it brought from New
York and Chicago, and split the discount it received directly with the
purchaser. Once again, price cutting proved a failure. A big city
book firm gave less discount than it had promised, and the margin bare
ly covered expenses. Many students ordered books and never called for
them; the Co-op was stuck with 50 worth of text books. The only gain from a
rushing business was experience. In the fall of 1940, the Co-op, its
fingers burnt, took no book orders. Gradually a new plan was worked
out. The Co-op again began ordering books, getting cash in advance,
charging full catalog prices, and giving members their usual patronage
dividend. Once more "those 28 weavers" were right.
The Co-op had 260 members in June 1940. Its business for the year
had been over $3000. The By-laws which had been adopted for the little
buying club were entirely outmoded. A new set was drawn up, modeled
after by-laws of other co-ops, and revised by outside cooperators. These
by-laws, adopted by the members in May, provided for a nine-man board
of trustees to run the organization and t-o choose and oversee the busi
ness manager. Other provisions conformed to the needs of a large organ
ization.
For several reasons, the Co-op needed to incorporate. It was lim
ited by its students charter to a student membership. It was chartered
as an "educational institution" and the college questioned its right to
do business. Its activities were large enough to require liability lim
itation. However, there was no money for incorporation if the promised
lOfa patronage dividend were paid. At the May membership meeting, some
one mentioned that any member was liable in full for all debts of the
organization. An aroused member leaped to his feet. "I demand we in
corporate." Others backed him. The officers allowed themselves to be
persuaded. They explained that incorporation would mean cutting the div
idend to 5fo. Overwhelmingly the members voted to cut their dividend and
incorporate. Since this time it has been understood that the dividend
would vary with the business. On June 11, the Oberlin Consumers' Coop
erative, Inc. received its papers under the laws of the State of Ohio.
It is surely one of the most youthful corporations in the state. The
April, 1941
85
present president is 18, and only two of the eight trustees are over 21,
In the fall of 1940, the Co-op took a great step forward when it
began to pay its business manager. Even more important was the first
non-student nember, who joined in December. The fee for permanent mem
bership was set at $5.00, and the students foresee an organization in
which they will work together with town and faculty for mutual good.
During the first few years, education was neglected as the Co-op
struggled to get on its feet. More recently, a greater effort has been
made to have the members know more of the meaning and philosophy of co
operation. Discussion groups, distribution of pamphlets, articles in
the Oberlin Cooperator. and a circulating library of books on coopera
tives have helped. In October 1940, Mr. Wallace Campbell, Assistant i
Secretary of the Cooperative League of the U. S ., s poke in assembly to
the students of the college. Far greater expansion of the educational
program is planned.
In February 1940, the executive secretary of the Northern Ohio Co
operative Association visited Oberlin. From this time on the Oberlin
Co-op began to work actively with other co-ops in the region. It joinel
the Northern Ohio Cooperative Association and soon after joined Central
States Cooperatives. The store began to stock Co-op brand canned goods
for student snacks, and plans to carry staple groceries when permanent
membership is larger. Oberlin's business manager was made recording
secretary of N.O.C.A. and a member of the merchandising committee of
Central States Cooperatives. In November 1940, he left Oberlin fora
better job with a community Co-op in Cleveland. The Oberlin Co-op had
produced its first career nan in Cooperatives.
Luckily, both the Oberlin group and the N.O.C.A. feel that the
place for student cooperatives is not off in federations of their own,
but as active parts of the regional federations of community co-ops.
This philosophy led N.O.C.A. and some Oberlin graduates to help in the
formation of co-op buying clubs at Shauffler College and Ilather College
in Cleveland. Other northern Ohio campuses are being explored for co
op possibilities. A strong federation may soon unite many campus and
community co-ops in the region.
What does the future hold for the Oberlin Co-op? Find a member of
the board in an expansive mood and he will tell you of plans for spread
ing the tvork among the members, for starting cooperative recreation.
may divulge his dreams of a delivery truck, a downstairs store, coope:
tive dormitories. He may tell of the 100 members of the Lorain County
Farm Bureau Cooperative who live nearby, and of a plan for achieving in
Oberlin true cooperation between the farm and town cooperatives, so tl
the Farm Bureau members will be Consumers' Cooperative members also,
you think that all this sounds like pipe dreams, think how little the
original study group foresaw the present organization. That group did
a swell job. Today they have almost all graduated, but they have passei
their ideal and their experience to their successors. Students with
that ideal are hard to stop.
86
BUSINESS
HOW CO-OPS GROW
Consumers Cooperative Association,
North Kansas City, Missouri
This building, about the size of a two-car garage, is

where CCA had its beginning in 1929 as the Union Oil
Company, Cooperative. The name was changed to Consum
ers Cooperative Association February 20, 1935. Straight
back of the building shown here was the warehouse
shown at the back of picture 2.
One room was added to the two-car garage and its face
was lifted to improve its street appearance. Then a
second story was added above the two-car garage and
then it looked as it does in Picture 3. Afterward
the building on the street and the warehouse at the
back were connected with a 2-story structure and base
ment, as shown in Photo 3.
Consumers' Cooperatiw April, 1941
87
' G RUNDTVIGS CHURCH
The home of CCA, or rather Union Oil Company, Cooper

ative, in 1933.
GRUNDTVIG OF DENMARK
The present home of CCA, occupied in September, 1935.

It was built to house an old-line oil company which
passed out during the depression. The building, cost
ing a quarter of a million dollars originally, was
purchased at forced Sale by CCA for about 25 cents on
the dollar cost of building it. IJ was slightly
larger than the wholesale needed at the time, many be
lieved. Today it's too small and the wholesale is
making plans to expand the facilities.
THE 12 YEARS OF CCA'S HISTORY IN STATISTICS
Comparative Yearly Statistics of CCA and Subsidiaries
Local
Co-op
Savings
Volume
Members
Year
1929
19:5u
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
*1937
1938
1939
1940
Totals
* 8 months
88
21
61
90
143
199
259
313
342
363
424
452
486
309 ,890.70
890 ,437.06
981 ,490.96
1,339 ,709.58
1,433 ,040.81
2,018 ,710.87
2,994 ,510.27
3,756 ,295.46
3,090 ,116.40
4,284 ,909.18
4,425 ,177.02
6,211 ,401.63
$31,735 ,689.94
5,221.44
24,977.70
45,899.51
26,102.91
36,978.00
50,678.67
94,411.94
60,347.63
100,789.45
90,814.51
112,035.38
166,621.64
$814,878.78
N few occasions in the world's his

tory a man has become the symbol
of a nation. Such a man was Bishop Frederik Grundtvig of Denmark. He lives to
day and will live alway in the heart of
Denmark. Every conversation we had with
leaders of Denmark, whether cooperative,
labor, farmer, political, educational or re
ligious, always ended with some tribute to
Grundtvig as the inspiration and exempli
fication of the nation. We worshiped on
Sunday in the Grundtvig Memorial
Church and saw a baby baptized, whom
we hope in later years will realize the sig
nificance, as we did, of such a dedication
of one's life.
Now the announcement has reached us
of the dedication of the Grundtvig church
on September 8,1940 which was unfinished
in 1937 when we were there. It was built
by the equal contributions of the people
and the state. On the Sunday previous to
the dedication 740,000 people assembled
to sing the Grundtvig songs. The church is
built to resemble the pipes of a great organ
in order to symbolize Grundtvig's thought
of a people lifting their voices and their
spirits in song to heaven. It required 20
years after Grundtvig conceived the idea
of a folk-school to convert the first leader
to start such a school. For many years of
Consumers' Cooperation April, 1941
his life Grundtvig was almost an outcast

because of his independent thinking in
church and school. He came into his own
before he died and is living'today in the
hearts and minds of the people of Den
mark as never before. No dictatorship can
ever crush the democracy he developed in
the people. As an example, read this by
Judge H. Richter, who is not a refugee
but a resident of Denmark today; advising
how to treat an "uninvited guest":
"If an uninvited guest enters your
home, receive him and look after him;
mere politeness demands that. If his
views are different from yours, listen
to them and speak with him, but do
not alter your own views if they are
right. If he comes to you singing, and
you are in sorrow, ask him to cease his
song; for he is to understand that the
home is yours and not his. If he asks
you if he may help you, say thank you,
if you need help. And you should teach
your children and your household to re
spect the requirements of hospitality
but to understand at the same time that
hospitality and friendship are not the
same."
We pay our tribute to Grundtvig and
his great share in developing the "Dig
nified Danes".
89
REC REATIO N
conducted each evening on "Recreation in

Cooperatives" by Frank Shilston, Midland
Cooperative Wholesale, Carl Hutchinson,
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa
tion, and others. For the third year, Frank
Shilston will be director of the school.
Cooperative techniques are applied in
the conduct of the courses and in the
administration of the school. It is both
self-supporting and democratically gov
ernedthe principle of one member one
vote applying to all "persons alike
whether students or members of the staff.
It is more than a training in recreation as
a social force in group life. It is an experi
ment in cooperative living and action.
The school will open promptly at 7:30
P.M. Saturday, June 14th with group singing led by Mr. Zanzig. The total cost per
student for tuition, room and meals is
$38.50. Any surplus above expenses will
be disposed of by vote of the students.
Complete information about the school
can be secured from Carl Hutchinson,
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa
tion, 246 North High Street, Columbus,
Ohio.
NATIONAL COOPERATIVE
RECREATION SCHOOL
Songs and Singing in Everyday Social

Living and Instrumental Music will be ,
taught by Augustus D. Zanzig, director,
Music Service, National Recreation Asso
ciation. Courses in simple forms of dra-,
matics, such as charades, pantomimes, *
sketches, etc. and fundamentals of acting
and directing will be taught by Ruth
Chorpenning, professional actress, New
York. James Norris, who has had fifteen '
years experience in the professional thea
ter in acting, directing and writing, will
conduct advanced courses in acting .
and directing. Metal and leathercraft will '
be under the direction of Lois Epps and
Gwendolyn Fife. Margaret Gardner, as-1
sisted by Wilmer Vess, will conduct
courses in sketching for beginners, pottery
and puppets. "Play Party Games", tradi
tional American folk dances from Ohio,
Indiana and Kentucky, will be taught by >
Darwin Bryan, Ohio Farm Bureau Co-op
erative Association and Marion Skean, RECREATION NEWS NOTES
Homeplace, Kentucky. A seminar will be TPHE recommendations on Recreation
1 drawn up by approximately one hun
dred representatives of county Farm
Bureau Cooperative Youth Councils in
Ohio apply not only to the rural youth of
Ohio but to all groups interested in recrea
tion. These recommendations include: (1)
That each Youth Council use every pos
sible means to train recreational leaders
from their own group. These means in
clude various county, state and national
schools, camps and conferences. When
delegates return from such meetings they
should be put in positions to use the
knowledge and skills gained. (2) That
recreational programs at meetings be so
planned and conducted as to secure the
participation of all those present. (3)
That the recreational part or the Council
meeting be planned to give a well-bal
anced program. The following are sug
gested as possibilities for broadening and
All Work and No Play Makes A Dull Co-op
varying the recreational program: play
HE Sixth Annual National Coopera

tive Recreation School will be held
on the campus of Iowa State College,
Ames, Iowa, June 14 to 27. The school is
conducted each year by the Cooperative
Society for Recreational Education, which
was organized at the first National Co-op
erative Recreation School held in Colum
bus, 1936, by members of the school who
felt the need of better trained recreational
leadership in the cooperative movement.
From the beginning The Cooperative
League has sponsored the school and has
increasingly emphasized the role of re
creation in cooperative education.
The staff of the school includes recog
nized authorities in the various fields of
recreation. Miss Neva L. Boyd, Depart
ment of Sociology and Division of Group
Work, Northwestern University, will lec
ture on Group Organization and Leader
ship and teach folk dancing. She will be
assisted by Alice Schweibert, graduate in
group work and recreation, Northwestern.
90
April, 1941
I
party and folk games, folk dancing, dra

matics (charades, pantomimes, tableaux,
etc.).
Film Cooperative
A unique experiment in recreation ac
tivities is being tried out in Timmins, On
tarioa Cooperative Film Society, con
sumer owned and controlled. Their first
showing of documentary films was held
April 1st. The Society has one hundred
members who have paid $1.25 member
ship fees which entitles them to see the
April, Miay and September showings and
to vote at the general meeting in Septem
ber. The board of directors for the 194142 season will be elected at the September
meeting and plans for the season discussed
and formulated.
The Timmins Cooperative Film Society
grew out of the need felt by members of
the Timmins Neighborhood Clubs Asso
ciation for a film organization in which
the consumer could have a voice in the
selection of the films he wished to see.
Local theater managers have very little
choice in the type of film booked, due to
blind or block booking. Directors produc
ing for small companies have been un
able to present their films to the public
because the commercial theatres take their
films almost entirely from the distributors
linked up with the large studios. After
two years of study of the problem, it ap
peared that the only way in which the
consumer of films can make his will felt
is through a cooperative society controlled
by himself which exhibits to its members
films that are artistically made and ex
press the constructive social ideals that cooperators believe in.
Present plans of the Timmins Cooper
ative Film Society call for the expansion
of the membership to two hundred and
provide for eight monthly showings of
films during the 1941-42 season. The
program of five sound films shown April
1 included the well known documentaries,
"Shipyard" by Paul Rotha, "The Song
of Ceylon" by Basil Wright and a Cana
dian film, "Rhapsody in Two Languages."
91
j WHAT'S NEWS WITH THE CO-OPS

John Carson
Washington Representatm
ISITORS to the chamber where sits

the House of Representatives invari
ably are amazed at the comparatively few
Congressmen who are present. Now and
then, when speeches are only being made
for the "record" and when there is no
important business to transact, it is simple
to explain aw:iy the absences but when
Congressmen arc absent during debate on
important issues, the danger to true dem
ocratic machinery is so great it is frighten
ing.
An example of how the machinery of
Congress has broken down was given re
cently during consideration of the very
important bill to extend the Guffey Bit
uminous Coal Law for two more years.
Here was the issue of "price fixing" by
Government with all of its implications.
Here also was the demand of the whole
sale consumer cooperative organizations
for equal treatment under the law. But
despite the importance of the subject, a
maximum of only 82 Congressmen were
in the chamber at any time during the
debate and it was obvious that not more
than a score of those were giving any at
tention to the debate.
The debate, it is true, justified little
consideration. Two speeches were made
on the general subject of price fixing
which were worthy of any consideration.
In one of the speeches, a description of
how the coal law operates was given
given for the benefit of a score of Con
gressmen. In the other speech, the issue of
price fixing was raised and very properly,
the question was suggested whether the
coal law theory, if adopted by Congress,
should not also be applied to agriculture.
And already, legislation is being pre
pared to "put a floor under farm prices."
What is the answer to this disintegra
tion of democratic legislation machinery?
The answer must be found in the over
hauling of Congressional machinery,
92
a general understanding as to what the

job of a Congressman is, and an alert con- f
stituency to make certain that Congress
men perform the job they are elected to
do.
%
At present, there is no doubt that a
member of the House or Senate has more
work, if he is conscientious, than any two 1
or three men could do efficiently. But ^
much of this "work" has little relation to
legislative duties. Through political cus
toms and practices which were first in- i
dulged and now have become accepted as
"necessary to re-election", Congressmen
have become representatives before exec
utive departments for their districts and
for their constituents. Jobs, contracts, |
post office sites, claims, pension cases, and!
a host of similar chores take most of the
days of members of the House.
L
Legislation must suffer and does suffer, r
While the Congressmen are busy with f
other matters, the lobbyists and represen
tatives of special interests are watching
the one thing they want and which they f
are paid to get. Sometimes their petitions
are just, more often the appeals are fa
special privilege clothed in some "accept-1
able garments". They succeed most often
because Congressmen have no time for
legislative work, and the public interest
suffersdemocracy breaks down.
j
FIRST ANNUAL TOUR OF
AMERICAN CO-OPS
Starting at Columbus, Ohio, July 7,
visiting cooperatives in Indianapolis,
Chicago, Waukegan, Madison, Racine,
Kenosha, Brule, Superior, Minneapolis,
St. Paul, Granger, Omaha, and Phillipsburg; closing in Kansas City, July 19.
All expenses for 13 days
For complete information write:
J. Henry Carpenter, Tour Director
ChicagoThe Board of Directors of

the Cooperative League, meeting here for
its quarterly meeting March 17 and 18, ac
cepted with regret the resignation of
Dr. James P. Warbasse, who asked to
be permitted to retire from the presidency
on the completion of his full twenty-five
years as president.
Murray D. Lincoln, general manager
of the Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa
tion, Columbus, Ohio, and president of
the Farm Bureau Cooperative Insurance
Services was unanimously elected to suc
ceed him to the office of president. Dr.
Warbasse was elected president emeritus
and will continue as a member of the
Board of Directors and as director of
Rochdale Institute.
Mr. Lincoln said in accepting the presi
dency of The Cooperative League,:
"The opportunity of America
today, even in this hour of uncer
tainty and war, is to set in motion
forces that will help to distribute
the abundance that is present in
this country and abandon the
practice of subsidizing scarcity and
protecting monopoly.
"I know of no movement in
America that offers more hope to a
distressed and bewildered world
than the consumer cooperative
movement."
The Board accepted into membership

the American Farmers Mutual Automobile
Insurance Company of St. Paul, the Paci
fic Coast Student Cooperative League and
Associated Cooperatives of Northern Cali
fornia.
ChicagoThe Committee on Publicity
and Education of The Cooperative League
made up of the educational directors and
editors of the regional cooperatives held
its annual meeting in Chicago, March 1315.
The committee made plans for the June
conference of co-op editors which will be
held in Ames, Iowa, June 26-28.
First steps were made toward the pub
lication of a handbook for local education
and publicity committees.
Plans for a national film depicting the
April, 1941
high-lights of the American cooperative

movement today were approved by the
committee which sent a recommendation
to the Board of Directors for financing the
film. It also delegated to the assistant sec
retary of The League the job of selecting
the producer and supervising the produc
tion. The film proposal was approved by
the Board at the meeting which followed.
The committee also gave serious con
sideration to the possibilities of adding a
full-time educational assistant to The
Cooperative League staff.
Plans for the first national tour of
United States cooperatives were submitted
to the committee by Rev. J. Henry Car
penter, tour director and a final itinerary
approved. The tour will begin in Colum
bus, Ohio, July 7 and end in Kansas City,
July 19.
ChicagoThe annual meeting of Na
tional Cooperatives, Inc. meeting here
March 19 re-elected I. H. Hull, general
manager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Co
operative Association, as president. Other
officers re-elected were J. W. Nolan, vicepresident, A. J. Hayes, chairman of the
board, Howard A. Cowden, secretarytreasurer.
National Cooperatives, which acts as
purchasing agency for its fifteen state and
regional member-cooperative wholesales
reported that the sales volume of its mem
ber associations totaled $58,821,107 last
year.
The delegates approved a request by
The Cooperative League Board to meet at
some future date with their Board and
the Board of United Cooperatives in joint
conference to discuss common problems
and possible coordination of the coopera
tive movement.
Columbus, OhioThe Ohio Farm Bu
reau Cooperative Association has launched
a new paper, The Ohio Cooperator, print
ed in tabloid size which will appear the
15th of each month. The Farm Bureau
will continue publication of the Ohio
Farm Bureau News, which appears the
first of each month.
93
Hackett is the first selection of the book

North Kansas City, Mo.The Con
sumers Cooperative Association has pur
club. Individual members who agree to
chased the printing plant which formerly buy four selections each year will be en- ;
published The Cooperative Farmer. The titled to savings of 30 per cent of tk
regular list price. Group and library mem
printing plant will produce its own print
ed matter as well as handling the work for bers will be entitled to the same discount
its affiliated cooperatives. Cooperative for books purchased with their regulnS
printing plants are also in operation in orders placed through the Consumers Bool
Minneapolis, Superior, and Raleigh, N.C. Cooperative, 27 Coenties Slip, New Yoi
Indianapolis, Ind.The Indiana Farm City.
Bureau Cooperative Association handled
BostonRepresentatives of consumer
$6,510,678 worth of goods and services and marketing cooperatives, the State Fed
in 1940. The state-wide co-op wholesale eration of Womens' Clubs, the Commit |
has recently inaugurated a program to tee on Cooperatives of the Massachusetts
assist its county-wide co-ops in the publica
Council of Churches, The League of Wo
tion of their papers. 32 county papers are men Shoppers, the A. F. of L. and C. 1.0.
being published monthly.
made clear their opposition to the anti-co
op tax bill which has been introduced in
New York"If plans for voluntary co
operative health service do not become an the Massachusetts legislature. Hearings on
the bill were held on March 4 and 1]|
important factor in American medical ser
vice, our only alternative is government with representatives of the Eastern State"
Farmers Exchange and New England &
control," Dr. Hugh Cabot, eminent Bos
ton physician told the medical advisory operative Federation marshalling the op
board and sponsors of the Group Health position to the bill.
Cooperative at a luncheon March 27 at the
Wallingford, Pa.Dr. M. M. CoaJ[>
Hotel Commodore to launch the cooper
of St. Francis Xavier University, described
ative.
the importance of "atomic action" in build
Group Health Cooperative, with head
ing cooperative enterprise at a region)!
quarters at 1790 Broadway, New York, meeting here March 22 and 23 sponsorriprovides medical service for $1.50 per by the Eastern Cooperative League and
month or $4.50 a quarter for members the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Fed
who join through employee, church or eration.
other groups. Subscribers who join in
Harrisburg, Pa. The Pennsylvanu
dividually are charged $2 a month or $6
Farm Bureau Cooperative Associati
quarterly. General medical care, experts'
completed a record year in 1940 accordir
care, operations, maternity care and lab
to general manager H. S. Agster who toll
oratory procedures are included under the several thousand co-op members
gatheiu
plan.
for the annual meeting March 3 thatu
New YorkAt a dinner to launch a state-wide co-op wholesale had a busin
new non-fiction book club, members of increase of 36 per cent last year. The fd ;
the Consumers' Book Cooperative heard lowing figures tell the story of the grow*
Helmuth Moller, first vice consul of Den
of the co-op wholesale since its inaugun
mark, characterize as "ridiculous" the idea tion in 1935.
that Denmark as a nation might disappear.
Volume
Net Worth
He pointed to the work of cooperatives, Date
$274,868.4!
$12,110.62
social service legislation, the nation's lack 1935'
511,887.5
36,615.67
of illiteracy and the fact that there are 1936
940,090.9!
neither rich nor poor as evidence of the 1937
72,739-95
1,279,693.1
108,351.89
fact that Denmark will rebuild rapidly 1938
1,7 11,78MB
200,234.52
1939
as soon as the war is over.
2,337,118.)"
278,617.75
"I Choose Denmark", by Francis 1940
Consumers' Cooperatt,
94
25th Anniversary Celebrations

The Cooperative League of the USA
wound up its first twenty-five years of
organized education with an anniversary
dinner in Chicago with members of
the boards of The Cooperative League
and National Cooperatives as guests; a
coast-to-coast broadcast over the NEC net
work by Dr. James P. Warbasse, president
emeritus of The Cooperative League; and
a 25th anniversary dinner in New York
where two hundred guests crowded the
upper and lower halls of Consumers Co
operative Services to pay tribute to Dr.
and Mrs. Warbasse for their quarter cen
tury of service to the cooperative move
ment.
Greetings by wire and letter congrat
ulating the League on its accomplish
ments in the development of sound, dem
ocratic cooperatives came from Eleanor
Roosevelt, Thurman Arnold, Senator
George D. Aiken, E. Stanley Jones, John
Haynes Holmes, the Rev. Edgar Schmiedler, OSB., Mark Starr, Joy Elmer Morgan,
Alfred Bingham, John Daniels and others.
A host of personal friends and old time
coopeiators also paid their respects.
Dr. M. M. Coady of Antigonish, Nova
Scotia, Boris Skomorowsky, editor of the
French edition of the Review of Interna

tional Cooperation, and Miss Germina
Rabinowitch of the Cooperative Division
of the International Labor Office, brought
greetings from the cooperative movement
throughout the world. Dr. Warbasse made
the major address of the evening declar
ing, "We are confronted by a desperate
situation today, which calls for building
cooperatives on a firm foundation if we
are to save the world."
Other speakers were Mrs. James P.
Warbasse, who served as educational di
rector for the League's first 12 years; Mary
Ellicott Arnold, for 14 years treasurer of
The League; R. N. Benjamin, executive
secretary of The Pennsylvania Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association; Wallace
J. Campbell, assistant secretary of The
Cooperative League; A. E. Kazan, presi
dent, Amalgamated Cooperative Houses;
Mary Coover Long, manager, Consumers
Cooperath e Services; Waldemar Niemela,
a director of The Cooperative League;
Florence Parker of The U. S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics; Werner Regli, director of
the Cooperative League Accounting Bu
reau, and L. E. Woodcock, manager, East
ern Cooperative Wholesale, toastmaster.
Dr. and Mrs. James P. Warbasse at 25th Anniversary Dinner

April, 1941
95
CO-OP LITERATURE

A Doctor for the People, Michael Shndid,
special edition ..................................................
Fresh Furrow: Burris Jenkins ......................
<'o-oi, by rpton Sinclair ..................................
My Story, by Paddy the Cope. Co-ops in
Ireland .....".............................................................
1.25
1.50
2.00
2.50
2.75
chapters on consumer cooperatives .......... 1.80
British Textbook .............................................. 3.00
tive Agency, Orin E. Burley ........................ 3.00

eratives ................................................................ 3.00
Movement. Claude Shotts .............................. .02
Campus Co-op News letter ..............................
.25

Cooperatives and Pence, Harold Fey ..........
CooperationA Way of Peace, J. P. Warbasse. Co-op Edition ......................................
.05
.50
Consumer Consumed, Josephine
The
Cooperative Recreation Songs, A. M. Calkins .10
let's Play, Frank Shilston .............................. .20
All Join Hande, Edwards and Smith .......... .15
Co-op Wholesale ................................................ .10
Credit Unions
Credit Unions, Frank O'Hara
well Stewart ......................................................
Cuna Emerges (Credit Unions), Roy Bergengren ................................................................
Credit Union North America, Roy Bergengren ........................................................................
96
.05
.10
.10
1.00
2.00

the Cooperative ......................................
Tichenor ....................................................
A $000,000,000 Business With 2,000,000
Ink Monthly ............................................
I'M Kel>orts Fast-Growing Co-ops
Shun all Isms ..........................................
Union of Church and Economics IB
Ink ..............................................................
Brickbats and Boomerangs, E. R.
Bowen ........................................................
A Fair Deal to All Through Coopera
tives, John C. Rawe, S.J. ..................
Per
Copy ltd
.02 14
.02 U
.02
.02
.02
CONSUMERS
COOPERATION
.02
.02 U
.02 1.1
.02
.(12 U
.02 U
.03 at
.03
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way In Sweden, 16 nil

silent, produced by the Harinon Foundatloi
T'nit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit 11
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit 111
Agricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Rental ft
unit: color. $5; black and white, $3; add
tional showings, $2.50 color and $1.50, btol
and white.
"The Lord Helps Those Who Help Eut
Other," a new 3 reel, IB mm. film of the Km
Scotia adult education and cooperative pit
gram, produced by the Harmon FounGstlr
Excellent photography. $4.50 per day, $!.:
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel. 16 mi,
Kodacrome, shows how cooperators on tti
eastern seaboard are providing themsehwith tested, quality CO-OP products. $2[
day, $fi per week.
"A House Without a Landlord," a new!
reel, 16 mm. silent film on the Amalgams!
"Clasping Hands," 16 mm. silent, two reel Hi
showing how cooperation is taught in t^
schools of France.
"When Mankind Is Willing," a 16 mm. slltl
three-reel film, with English titles, of cw
erative stores, wholesales and factoriei
France.
A Day With Kagawa, 3 reel, silent, 16 01
Kagawn and his co-ops in Japan.
Rental: Each of four above $3 per dy, II
for each additional showing or $10 pern!
The First Consumer-Owned Oil Refinery in the U. S.
POSTERS

Green, 5 for $1 ...........................................
Blue, 5 for $1 ....................................................
Mulberry, 5 for $1 ............................................
the 1'eople, 19"x28", Red-White-andBlue. 5 for $1 ....................................................
5 for $1 ................................................................
March On, Democracy, 19"x28"
Red-White-and-Blue. 5 for $1 ....................
MAY, 1941
SPECIAL OWNERSHIP ISSUE

HOW SHOULD COOPERATIVE INSURANCE BE
E. R.
ORGANIZED?
HOW FINLAND SOLVED THE FARM TENANCY
J. Hampden Jackson
PROBLEM
Ruth Broan Farnsworth
YOUR WORK IS PRIZED
Janet Coerr
CO-OP DIVISION OF I.L.O. CARRIES ON
RESTORATION OF PROPERTY, A Review
Edward Skillin, Jr.
Consumers' CooperatiA.
NATIONAL
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
CONFIDENCE
REQUIRES ACTION
Consumers' Cooperation has blossomed
out for three issues in a sprightly front
cover, double the usual number of pages
and with more pictures than ever before.
The first was our 25th Anniversary
issue; the second on "Four Corner
stones"; this third, a special "Owner
ship" issue.
But if we are to keep it up, we need
more subscriptions. A thousand new sub
scriptions will assure this 32 page size.
Renew your subscription now; send gift
subscriptions to your friends; have your
co-op subscribe for its board members
and employees.
$1 per year; 27 months for $2
Send your order today to:
167 West 12th Street, N.Y.C.
CALENDAR OF COMING 1
National Cooperative Recreation

Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa,]
14 to 27.
CONSUMERS'
-COOPERATION
National Cooperative Publicity and I

cation Conference, Iowa State
I OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Ames, Iowa, June 26-28.
First All-American Tour of
starts at Columbus, Ohio, July 7,
at North Kansas City, Mo., July 19.
M I M HIM
MAY, 1941
First Cooperative Summer School, Co a Volume XXVII. No. 5
for Cooperative Business Training,
York, July 7 to August 23.
BUILD COOPERATIVES STRONGER AND FASTER

726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D.C
DIVISIONS:
Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C
Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y.C
Name
Address
Publication
Am. Farmers Mutual Auto Ins. Co.
St. Paul, Minn.
7218 S. Hoover, L.A.
New Age Living
Superior, Wisconsin
Cooperative Builder
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
The Producer-Consume:
116 E. 16 St., N. Y.
Consumers Defender
Delaware, Ohio
The Recreation Kit
Columbus, Ohio
Ohio Cooperator
Lansing, Michigan
Michigan Farm News
St. Paul, Minn.
Seattle, Washington
Grange Cooperative Neii
Hoosier Farmer
Minneapolis, Minn.
Midland Cooperator
Chicago, 111.
608 S. Dearborn, Chicago
Pacific Coast Student Co-op League
Berkeley, Calif.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Penn. Co-op Review
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
Ten Cents
The first quarter century of The Cooperative League, which has just ended,
has been truly described as Pioneering. The second quarter century which is now
beginning should be described as Building. The pioneers have largely laid the
foundationsfour strong corner stones to carry the mighty structure of Coopera
tionRecreation, Education, Finance and Business, with the many varied divi
sions. Now we are going on to build high the walls of a cooperative world.
Every local cooperative, every regional, every factory is a stone in the wall. We
shall need many more of them. "Build cooperatives stronger and faster" should
be our slogan on our rainbow banner for the second quarter century. Others
have been called "The Pioneers." We may be called "The Builders." We should
all be like Gustav Saga of Sweden, of whom it was said, "Wherever he went,
things grew after him."
WE STAND FOR OWNERSHIP

We stand on the belief that the world was made for all the people to own
that it was never intended to be the exclusive possession of the few. We believe
that everyone should own his own home and also be the owner of shares in coop
erative businesses and banks of every kind. We believe that cooperatives of con
sumers and producers are one of the most important ways of enabling all the
people to become owners. We are out to win ownership for all the people through
cooperatives. This is a SPECIAL OWNERSHIP ISSUE of CONSUMERS' CO
OPERATION which will tell you why we all should be owners, why we have
lost ownership, and how some are gaining ownership and others can by joining
cooperatives.
THE DECREASE OF OWNERSHIP IN AMERICA

When the first census was taken in 1880, 25% of the farmers were tenants.
Every census has shown an increase until it reached 42% in 1935. Mortgages ate
also much heavier and if added to the figures of tenancy in the State of Iowa,
which the Department of Agriculture calls the greatest agricultural state in the
Union, the percentage of non-ownership by farm operators has reached the stag
gering total of 76%. Farm operators in that State only have 24% equity today
in the land they till, or less than one-fourth. City residents in the United States
are 55% tenants or over half.
Apologists for the present system tell of the number of automobiles, radios
and other forms of personal property which the people own. But an increase in
ownership of personal property does not compensate for the decline in ownership
of productive property. Loss of ownership of productive property results in under
consumption, underemployment, and underproduction.
PERCENTAGE OF THE VALUE OF FARM REAL ESTATE NOT
BELONGING TO THE FARM OPERATOR. 1935
THE INCREASE OF OWNERSHIP IN SCANDINAVIA

In Denmark farm tenancy at one time reached 42%. Today an official report
"Denmark Agriculture" says "there is no longer any farm tenancy in Denmark."
In Finland farm tenancy reached 69%. Today, the latest statistics we have show
that farm tenancy in Finland has declined to 11% and is probably now still
lower. In Norway farm tenancy is only 10%. Sweden has the highest farm ten
ancy, but only 20%. To what is this decline in farm tenancy attributable? We
also have official documents from Denmark and Finland which say specifically
i-iat cooperatives in finance, purchasing and marketing are one of the principal
reasons for the decline of tenancy. That's why we believe in building coopera
tives stronger and faster in this countryto eliminate tenancy and achieve owner
ship. If it can be done in Scandinavia, it can be done here.
OWN YOUR OWN MONEY
You may think you do but you don't. Normally you let the bankers control
your money. That means, as Justice Louis D. Brandeis said years ago in "Other
People's Moneyand How the Bankers Use It," that "The power and the
growth of power of our financial oligarchs comes from wielding the savings and
quick capital of others. . . . The fetters which bind the people are forged from
the people's own gold." It may not be gold any more, but it's still your own
money in some form that you allow others to control and. thereby bind you
to at least the possibility, if not yet the personal actuality, of underconsumption,
underemployment and underproduction.
Yet how easy it is for you to begin breaking the chains which bind you
98
Consumers' Cooperatioi
There are two simple ways. First, spend your money in a cooperative store, oil
station, etc. Second, save your money in a cooperative credit union and in buying
cooperative shares and cooperative insurance. What we need to do today is first,
to pool our purchases cooperatively and second, to mobilize our money coopera
tively.
Rememberyou cannot control what you do not ownyou cannot own
what you do not control. The essence of cooperation is both ownership and control
of both property and of money.
r r
*
*
*
OWN FACTORIES COOPERATIVELY

The evidence seems to prove that we have been all too slow in going from
retail and wholesale ownership to cooperative factory ownership. For a number
of years we have had many more times the amount of distribution necessary to
use the output of several fertilizer plants and refineries. As we look at the tre
mendous figures of results, now that we have begun to build such factories,
we can only conclude that it was a mental resistance that we had to overcome to
break away from private sources and begin to build our own production plants.
Our early beginnings in production have proven the oft repeated statement of the
British that "production is the lifeblood of the cooperative movement" and the
statement of the Swedes that "co-ops are trust busters." Now that we have gotten
over the first humps, it will be easier to get over others in different fields. We
need only to keep always in mind that fertilizer and petroleum are simple prod
ucts, which are sold in large quantities, and with wide margins. These are the
three determinants which the Swedes follow in deciding as to the next manu
facturing step to undertakesimplicity, quantity, margin. Now that we have both
their experience and our own experience to guide us, we should be able to also
duplicate their declaration that they do not make a mistake any more in the next
steps to take because of careful advance investigation based on proven principles
and practices.
r
*
*
*
THE THREE NATURAL FORMS OF PROPERTY
According to John Locke,* whose writings formed the foundation of the
American Constitution, every man has a natural and inalienable right to three
forms of property.
The first is the right to "property in his own person. Locke says, Ihough
the earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a
'property' in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself."
The second is the right to property in "the labor of his body and the work
of his hands." Locke says, "The 'labor' of his body and the 'work' of his hands,
we may say are properly his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state
that Nature has provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labor with it, and
joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property ... 'to
The third is the right to property in "the earth itself." Locke says, "But
the chief matter of property being now not the fruits of the earth and the beasts
that subsist on it, but the earth itself, as that which takes in and carries all the
rest, I think it is plain that property in that too is acquired as the former."
' And how much property does every man have a natural right to own ?
First, all of his person without reservation. Second, whatever fruits of his labor
'Chapter "Of Property" in "Second Treatise of Government."
May, 1941
99
and, work of his hands he can use or consume. Locke says, "If the spontaneous i
products of nature perished in his possession without their due useif the fruits I
rotted or the venison putrefied before he could spend it, he offended against I
the common law of Nature, and was liable to be punished; he invaded his neigh-
bor's share, for he had no right farther than his use called for any of them.
Third, as much of the earth as he can cultivate and use the products of. Locke I
says, "If either the grass of his enclosure rotted on the ground, or the fruit of his*
planting perished without the gathering and laying up, this part of the earth,
notwithstanding his enclosure, was still to be looked upon as waste, and might
be the possession of any other."
What better rules can any one write for the triple natural property rights i
of every man and their limitations than these formulated by John Locke two
hundred and fifty years ago? The question today is how many more years we
need to put them in effect. Only a cooperative economy will do sowhere all I
become owners and ownership is divided according to justice and efficiency into T
the three formsindividual, cooperative and public.
THE THREE FORMS OF OWNERSHIP

There are three natural forms of property, as John Locke declared in the 1
chapter, "Of Property" in "Second Treatise of Government." There are also!
three forms of ownership,private, cooperative and public. Just what should b< >
owned in either one of the three forms is a matter which changes from time to'
time in the world's history.
In general we believe that all of those things which one can use personally
in an efficient manner should be owned privately. "Use" should be the determinent of private ownership. This would include one's home at the minimum.
Those things which are by nature exclusive, where all the people accept
a large degree of uniformity such as water works, electric light, power and heat,
transportation, communication, etc., should be publicly owned. By publicly
owned we do not mean government owned and politically controlled. We mean
by public ownership the ownership by all the consumers in any area, with the
control separate from the political government through a board of directors demo
cratically and directly elected by all the consumers.
The remaining activities of economic life should be at least in part coop
eratively owned. Just how far cooperative ownership should and will supersede
private ownership cannot be answered by any theorizing. Practical results alone
should determine. At least the stranglehold of "the present private economic dieatorship represented in the modern corporation" must be broken by either check
mating or supplanting it. In Finland cooperative ownership has reached 36$
and is increasing at the rate of 1 % per year. This is far the highest percentage '
in any country. Perhaps conditions may make the percentage vary in different
countries. All that cooperatives ask is an open field, with the best method to be
the winner which can render the greatest service to all the people. That alone
should be the determining element.
Individual total action has proven a failure after centuries of trial. Public
total action is in the process of proving a failure today. Cooperative total action
would probably be a failure if adopted. What we should strive for is "An Insti- '
tutional Balance," as advocated by the Committee on Cooperatives of the Na
tional Education Associationa balance between private, cooperative and public
ownership and control of our economy.
100
THE OWNERSHIP OF ONE'S LIFE

In the introduction to "AE's Letters to Minanlaiben" appears this sentence,
"Afternoon tea was his evening meal, which gave him the hours when day re
luctantly and slowly was being conquered by night to wander under the everchanging sky."
Time to wander. How we envy anyone who has it. Whose hours are such
and whose work is such as to relieve them from constant pr^silre botii:.bict>and
off the job. After quoting another Irish poet who calls to us-r^t- u" ":'^ n V1^
"Come away, O human child,
To the woods and waters wild
With a faery hand in hand:
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand"
George Russell adds: "Away! yes, yes; to wander on and on under star-rich
skies, ever getting deeper into the net, the love that will not let us rest, the
peace above the desire for love." Russell's wish was to dwell in the mountain of
his dream where, "between heaven and earth and my brothers, there might come
on me some foretaste of the destiny which the great powers are shaping for us,
the mingling of God and nature and man in a being, one, yet infinite in number."
Peter Maurin arranges five sentences of Thoreau's prose in this form:
3. I trust that I shall never
1. "If my wants
sell my birthright
should be much increased
for a mess of pottage.
the labor required
I wish to suggest
to supply them
that a man
would become a drudgery.
may be very industrious
2. And if I should sell
and yet
both my forenoons
not spend his time well.
and afternoons
There is
to society
no more fatal blunderer
I am sure that for me
than he who consumes
there would be nothing
the greater part of his life
left worth living for.
getting a living."
When will the time come when we will not have to sell both our forenoons
and afternoons and most of our evenings as well in getting plenty and trying to
build a world in which to do so peacefully? We need time to wander and wonder.
It almost seems we never have any time at all to do so. Working, studying,
attending meetings takes almost all the waking hours. Yet, as Russell also says,
"In silence thought begins." We need a world in which we can wander in silence
and think on its wonders.
THE OWNERSHIP OF ONE'S BODY?
For centuries unnumbered it was thought under slavery and serfdom that
one's body was owned by the economic master and political lord.
Today under capitalism the generally accepted idea is that the ownership of
one's body is subservient to the economic system and the state. Together they are
presumed to be able to require of everyone what they must do with their bodies.
Tomorrow, it will be recognized and we will be so organized as to maintain
the inviolate natural right of everyone to the ownership and control of one's
body by each individual person, subject only to one's voluntary acceptance of the
right of a creator.
It is toward that tomorrow that we cooperators strive.
May, 1941
10
HOW SHOULD COOPERATIVE

INSURANCE BE ORGANIZED?
E have reached the point, a quarter

century after the beginnings of na
tional cooperative organization in the
United States, where three of the four
corner stones of the structure of the
Movement have been laid in a national
way and in the following orderEduca
tion, Business and Recreation. The or
ganization of the Cooperative League
laid the corner stone of Education in
1916; the organization of National Co
operatives laid the corner stone of Business in 1933; and the organization of the
Cooperative Society for Recreational Education laid the corner stone of Recrea
tion in 1936. There is still a fourth na
tional corner stone to be laid and that is
Finance in all its various forms. In one
form only has national finance organiza
tion developedthat of Credit Unions
organized nationally in the Credit Union
National Association. At least three other
forms of cooperative finance are yet to be
developed nationallyBanking, Finance
Associations and Insurance. After long
discussions of a joint national committee
of The Cooperative League, Credit Union
National Association and the Consumer
Distribution Corporation it was concluded
that the organization of a National Coop
erative Finance Association should precede
any attempt to organize Cooperative Bank
ing on a national basis and the matter was
voted by the joint committee into the
hands of The Cooperative League Board
of Directors which is working on the
details of such an organization.
We believe that the time is now ripe
to begin the discussion of the National
Organization of Cooperative Insurance
with the view of eventually crystallizing
everyone's opinion and initiating action
on whatever conclusion is reached.
Efficiency and Democracy Basic
It should not be necessary to say in the

beginning that the same basic require ments of cooperative organization inlvery
102
local cooperative in the same terms as
r we
w do in Great Britain. We think of a
local cooperative as an organization to

of
in every
E. R. Bowo serve , the needs
,
^ the
. members
, .
,,
way they desire. Their needs in commodiother field must also be applied to tk ties and services, in education and recreaorganization of cooperative insurant, tion, in banking and insurance. One local
These basic requirements are centralia- cooperative serves them all. As a memtion for economic efficiency and deco- her you study and play, you buy, you
tralization for democratic control.
bank and insure through the same organWe believe strongly in learning eveij- } ization. It serves all of your needs. Then
thing possible from others' experienct when you attend the annual meeting you
and thus saving ourselves from all of tk vote, first, for the Directors you want to
mistakes of the trial and error method, handle the affairs of your local cooperathat we are thus able to do. While the a-f tive and, second, for the delegates you
perience of other European countria want to attend the national Congress to
could be used, we believe from study ani, control your national affairs. When these
investigation 'that the British experiensl delegates meet in the national Congress
-- --->------ lesson
----- from
- which
thf
<'!.
..-*...-* all
.u of
~ your
.,... interests
:..* ,**
is
the clearest
they represent
insurance as well as commodities. They
United States may learn.
In Great Britain cooperative insurant! elect a nation?! Board of Directors which
was first organized separately from com in turn handles the national insurance as
modities on a national basis. The separate well as the national commodity program,"
By uniting insurance with commodities
organization of cooperative insuranct
failed. Then the Cooperative Wholesale j? one Program, they achieved both efinsurance imder to) haency and democracy. We believe this
af commodittl * a great lesson for the Consumers' CoMovement in the United States
succss
continuous. (It might be added that the to Ieam- We belleve li 1S now becoming
same experience took place in Great Brit-'' "raasingly accepted that cooperative inain in the case of Banking as well-4 sunnce ^d commodities should be
was first organized separately and faildl dsely related locally, regionally and naand then organized together with coal tionally in &e United Statf Our develmodities and succeeded.) In other word/ Pmei* he^ was not uniform and not
the centralization of insurance under to, altogether idealistic. If there had been
same Board of Directors which handla " ldea 1 development no doubt the logic
commodities on a national basis ha, of Education first, Finance second, and
proven to be highly economical and ef-> Business third' would have fuollowed.
ficient
However, in some cases there has been
However, until the former presidentofj **> little education as we all well know.
In other cases, finance has been weak,
with him personally, we had

to satisfy ourselves from th)
reading of any literature as to their met {
od of providing for democratic control'
of insurance. When we asked the ques
tion, "How do you get democratic con-.
trol of cooperative insurance?", the an-'
swer was quick and clear. Mr. Dudfcj
said in brief, "As yet you have not
thought generally7n thrUnled'statesl,
started on a shoe string. In some cases

insurance has preceded commodities and
has succeeded in a measure but doubtless
not as great as though more closely al
lied with commodity cooperatives every
where. Now with our trial and error ex
perience and with the example of other
countries to which we -are increasingly
looking, we should be able to coordinate
Financ^ in a11 its forms' with BuS'neSS
1941
in the best possible way locally, region

ally and nationally.
This is the first mental hurdle for the
Consumers Cooperative Movement in
the United States to get overto decide
if a close relation between Commodities
and Insurance is not both necessary and
desirable for both efficiency and de
mocracy.
Three General Types of Organization
If we start by thinking of a local com
munity cooperative association which
will serve all of our needs as members
both efficiently and democratically, then
we can proceed to consider the question
of the Best possible wider organization
of insurance in a country as large as the
United States, which because of its size
has problems of organization which
a smaller country does not have.
We have in the United States illus
trations of insurance organizations which
confine their activities within the boun
daries of a single State. Some even go
so far as to limit their membership to_a
single vocational group such as farmers.
It is difficult to conceive of any major
reason for doing either. Since everyone
is an actual or a potential consumer of
insurance, one's vocation, or one's resi
dence, whether in the country or city,
or one side or the other of a political
boundary, seem insufficient to justify any
group setting limits to the participation
by others in any benefits to be derived
from a larger number becoming policy
holders and thus spreading the costs
and risks more widely. Furthermore, if
large scale operation proves to be more
economical, it will increasingly be diffi
cult to persuade any vocational or politi
cal area group to forego receiving those
benefits themselves.
It was undoubtedly because of the
growing belief in the justice and wisdom
of the "Open Membership" principle of
Consumers' Cooperation and the further
belief in the possibility of economies in
a larger organization, that the insurance
companies which began in the State of
Ohio finally broke over both vocational
and political boundary lines into other
103
States until today they cover nine East

ern States. These insurance companies are
increasingly being sponsored by regional
commodity, cooperatives who act in the
capacity of distributors and claim adjust
ers and who nominate the directors to
be elected from their respective terri
tories. Loans of insurance funds are
made in all of the territories where in
surance is written, thus decentralizing the
reserve funds. On the basis of apparent
results, it would seem that such larger
scale sectional distribution of insurance
has proven to be more efficient than small
area operation and by being related to
democratic regional cooperative associa
tions can be made democratically con
trolled.
We now have in successful operation
in the United States examples of both
state and sectional cooperative insurance
associations. If sectional associations are
proving to be or can be made more suc
cessful than state associations, that fact
should be brought clearly to light by thor
ough statistical comparisons. If sectional as
sociations covering a number of states are
more efficient as well as more truly co
operative in spirit in not limiting their
membership, then the question naturally
follows as to whether national cooperative insurance would not be still more
efficient than sectional insurance. If a
single sectional insurance association covNATIONAL
ering a number of states can serve several I

regional cooperatives, why cannot ontj
national cooperative insurance association
serve all regional cooperatives everywhere? Is not insurance very much dif
ferent from commodities which are or
ganized by trade areas because of differ
ences in the kind and qualities of prod
ucts wanted, transportation costs, etc?
No such territorial differences which ap
ply to commodities prevent national or
ganization of insurance.
Assuming that cooperators are open
minded to consider on its merits eveij
possibility of rendering greater service to
themselves, we suggest that the question
of national cooperative insurance be care
fully studied by the regional cooperatives.
At least it is not difficult to conceive of i
national cooperative insurance association
covering the entire United States which
might equal and far exceed any national
stock or mutual company and which
might be controlled by the regional co
operatives in every trade area, with such
regionals the distributors, the claim ad
justers and the loaning agencies for theit
respective territories.
We believe that it is timely that this
question of the national organization ol
cooperative insurance, as one of the
ments of the corner stone of cooperative
finance, be considered by the regional!
cooperatives.
COOPEBBTIVE INSURANCE ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL 1NSUWNCE CONTRDUEOBND DISTRIBUTED THROUGH REUONBL COOPE8BTWE HKOCIATIONI
104
HOW FINLAND SOLVED THE FARM TENANCY

PROBLEM (From "Finland", by J. Hampden
Jackson. By permission of The Macmillan
Company, publishers.)
(EDITOR'S NOTE: We have secured permission to reprint a
feu- pages fiom the book FINLAND, written by J. Hampden
Jackson and published by Macmillan Company, as it seems to
us that it sums up briefly the steps which finland has taken
during the past 40 years to eliminate farm tenancy, and should
serve as a pattern jor the United States to follow.
It should be remembered that cooperative education started
in 1899 but that Finland did not become politically free until
1917. In other words, cooperative economic organization pre
ceded democratic political organization, which makes the solu
tion of farm tenancy in Finland in so short a time all the more
remarkable.)
It was obvious, that the new Republic must stand

or fall by its ability to satisfy the land-hunger of the masses.
Of the 478,122 families who lived on the land at the time of
the 1910 census, only 24 per cent were owners. About 33 per
cent were tenant farmers and the remaining 43 per cent were
agricultural labourers. Within each of these latter classes
were two clear sub-divisions. Of the 160,000 tenant families,
66,500 were torpparit, that is holders of leases that could be
revoked at the will of the owners. Of the 207,000 farm
labourers, 84,000 held cottages and vegetable plots; the
rest were landless. The problem before the founders of the
Republic was therefore a double one: first to enable farmers
and cottagers to acquire their holdings in full ownership,
secondly to provide new holdings for the landless.
FIRST CREDIT LAW - 1 919
The first part of this task was broached in October 1918
by a law providing state loans for peasants who wished to
buy their land. It was laid down that the price should be
based on the value of the land in 1914. Owners grumbled
that this was too low, land-values having increased since
then, but they had seen something of the temper oftorpparit
and cottagers in the civil war of 1918 and in most cases they
an
were not unwilling to come to terms with their tenants.
Little was done about the second part of the task until
Consumers Cooperation I May, 1941
It
105
1922 when circumstances made it of immediate importance.

The Communist wing of the Social Democratic Party had
broken away from the moderates and under the name of
the Finnish Labour Party (the term Communist was illegal)
had won twenty-seven seats at the 1920 elections. At the
elections of 1922 the Communists retained their twentyseven seats and it seemed likely that unless something was
done to wean the masses from Communism the capitalist
Republic must ultimately be overthrown. Agitators could
point to Russia where the Bolsheviks had allowed the
peasants to seize the land, and contrasted it with Poland
where the new Republican Government preserved the vast
estates intact. Revolutionaries who had no sympathy with
communism could point to the new peasant Republics of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania where the landlords were
being expropriated to make way for hundreds of thousands
of smallholders.
SECOND CREDIT LAW 1927
On the crest of this wave of feeling the Agrarian leader
Kyosti Kallio formed a ministry in September 1922. He
depended on the support of Social Democrats and Pro
gressives as well as that of his own party and was pledged
to find land for the landless. The problem was not so simple
as that which faced the agrarian reformers of Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania where the landowners were Baltic or
Polish barons and could easily be expropriated as antinational aliens. The landowners of Finland were Finns;
there could be no question of robbing them of their estates.
A compromise was found in the bill which became law in
October 1927. The Lex Kallio, as it is called, provided
State aid for the purchase of two types of holding in hitherto
uncultivated land. The first type consisted of small farms
of a maximum of 20 hectares of agricultural land with
another 20 hectares for firewood, the second type consisted
of plots of 2 hectares maximum for cottage-sites and
vegetable allotment. The landlords were to be paid by the
State in Government 7 per cent bonds; the new landowners
106
Consumers' Cooperati.
were to pay the State at the rate of 7 per cent per annum
of the cost price, 4 per cent of which ranked as interest and
3 per cent went to pay off the capital debt; the new cottagers
paid 9 per cent, a burden which being wage-earners as well
as allotment-holders they could be expected to bear.
There was considerable opposition from the right-wing
parties (especially from the Swedes who tried to pass an
amendment forbidding the acquisition of land in Swedishspeaking areas by Finnish-speaking peasants) but it was
overcome by the law's very careful limit on forced sales.
Under the Lex Kallio expropriation became legal only as a
last resort. In the case of estates of 200 hectares and under
there could be no expropriation;- in estates of 500 hectares
the maximum with which landlords could be forced to part
was 25 hectares; only in estates of over 500 hectares could
expropriation reach the legal limit of 50 per cent of the
uncultivated land. In spite of its leniency to landlords and
the fact that it was creating that most conservative of social
groups, a peasant-proprietor class, Kallio's bill was
supported in all its stages by the Social Democrats. The
Communists, on the other hand, were loud in their opposi
tion. In this they were backed by the Third International
and by the Soviet Governmentit must be remembered
that those were the days when Moscow's policy was openly
to ferment revolutions outside Russia. The connection
between the Finnish Communists and the Russian became
so close that during the parliamentary recess in August 1923
Kallio dissolved the "Labour" Party, shut its headquarters
and its newspaper offices and arrested its leaders, including
the twenty-seven members of the Diet. Then and only then,
did the Social Democrats demur. When the Diet reassembled
they insisted that Kallio had infringed the liberty of mem
bers and had rendered the Diet legally incompetent to
legislate. President Stahlberg did not share this opinion, but
he took the view that since the Diet in its mutilated form
was obviously unrepresentative a new election should be
held. Kallio resigned and the Diet was dissolved. The
107
elections of 1924 showed, as might be expected, a loss for

the Communists (who had again changed their name to
escape the penalties of the law). They retained only eighteen
seats. The gainers were the Social Democrats and the
Concentration Party; for the ensuing year the conservative
Lauri Ingman was to be Prime Minister.
In spite of storms in political teacups the agrarian reforms
worked smoothly. The Government used no force: it did
not once have to exercise its right of expropriation, nor on
the other hand did it find any difficulty in finding worthy
candidates for proprietorship. By 1929 over 144,00x3,000
marks had been lent to purchasers of new estates, but never
was a State loan spent to better purpose. The agrarian
reforms were a success in three distinct respects. First the
number of peasant proprietors was increased. By the end
of 1934 some 65,000 leaseholders had become owners of
land and another 53,000 had become cottage-and-allotment
owners. By the same date under the Lex Kallio 31,000 new
estates had been founded on hitherto unworked land, half
of these being productive farms and half cottage-holdings
for labourers. To-day one Finnish family in every three
owns land: there lies the greatest difference between
Finland and the older states of Europe. Secondly the area
under cultivation was increased. In the first twelve years of
its working the Lex Kallio brought over two million
additional acres of land under cultivation. Thirdly the
productivity of the land acre for acre was increased.
Statistics are a poor way of measuring the Finns' growing
skill in working the land, but we know no other. In the
production of hay and animal fodder (Finland's chief
crops) the yield per hectare in the years between 1923 and
1927 was 1-067 food units; in 1934 it was 1-418. In the
years between 1911 and 1913 Finland produced only 41 per
cent of the cereals consumed by her population; for 1934
the figure was 82 per cent. In 1920 the yield of milk was
1,865,000,000 kilograms, in 1935 it was 2,728,ooo,ooo.1
This increased agricultural productivity was the greatest
108
Consumers' Coot
achievement of Finland under the Republic. It is perhaps

encouraging to note that the State played a comparatively
small part in promoting it. Though the Government under
took research work, provided loans and subsidized the
farmers (as we shall see) in time of crisis, responsibility for
the striking progress in agriculture lies not so much with
the State as with the individual farmers who, once freed
from hopeless conditions of lease and labour, proved them
selves one of the most progressive groups of producers in
the world. The key to their success is to be found in their
infinite capacity for taking pains and in their extraordinary
collaboration through the co-operative movement.
1 See Suomen Tilastollinen Vilosikirja, the official year-book of statistics
(Helsinki, 1936).
EARLY COOPERATIVE EFFORTS
It is the peculiarity of the northern peoples that they

combine a passion for peasant proprietorship with a habit
of collaboration. "Since time immemorial common enter
prises have been carried on among the Finnish people in all
spheres of pure economy in kind. Such common enterprises
consisted, for instance, in the sphere of fishing of drag-net
crews that have preserved their old form down to our own
day along the sea-coast and on the shores of the larger lakes.
In the sphere of forestry there were common associations,
hunting teams for the purpose of destroying wolves in
particular, in the sphere of reindeer-breeding grazing crews,
in the sphere of cattle-farming common pastures, in the
sphere of agriculture burn-beating companies. In all these
associations there was, as in present-day co-operative
societies, equal membership and democratic management,
they were voluntary and the surplus they yielded was
divided according to what each member had contributed as
his share in establishing the association."1 When at the end
of the last century the cash and credit system replaced the
old subsistence economy, the country folk were lost; they
fell a prey to the usurer and the dealer and could think of no
1 Pellervo-Seura (editors), Agricultural Co-operation in Finland (Hel
sinki, 1936).
May, 1941
109
way of translating their habit of collaboration into terms of

the new economy.
The solution was first proposed by a Professor Palmen
who gave a lecture in 1866 on the work of the Rochdale
Pioneers. He told how in 1844 twenty-eight Rochdale
workmen had collected a pound apiece for the purchase of
sacks of flour; the flour was retailed at market prices from
the cottage of one of the members in Toad Lane and the
profit was divided among the subscribers in proportion to
the amount of their purchases. From this beginning a
co-operative movement had grown up in England, Germany
and Scandinavia. Could not Finns adopt this method of
self-help to free themselves from the extortions of the
middlemen?
PERMANENT COOPERATIVE FOUNDATIONS
Palmen's lecture fell upon stony ground. It was not

until 1899 when Dr. Hannes Gebhard founded a society
(called Pellervo, after the old Finnish God of Fertility) for
the dissemination of co-operative ideas that the idea really
began to take root among the rural population of Finland.
A law of 1901 gave statutory recognition to co-operative
societies observing the following principles: membership
open to anyone who would pay the minimum subscription
and observe the rules; control exercised by all members on
the basis of a single and equal vote; profit divided among
members in proportion to their purchases. From that
moment the movement grew steadily. In 1903 there were
about 18,000 members of co-operative societies; to-day over
half the adult population of Finland are co-operators.
CREDIT COOPERATIVES
The co-operative principle came to be applied to all
manner of purposes. Perhaps the most urgent was the
provision of credit through Co-operative Credit Banks.
"A bank," wrote the Italian Luigi Luzzati, "is an institution
where the money of the poor is lent out to the rich; a
Co-operative Credit Bank an institution where the money
of the poor is lent out to the poor." The idea was first
^^1
110
worked out by one Raiffeisen in South Germany where

societies of villagers pooled their scanty savings and pledged
their bit of credit to provide loans for the needy. Professor
Gebhard developed the Raiffeisen system in Finland. In
1902 he founded the Central Bank for Co-operative Societies
(O.K.O.). Without the facilities thus provided the peasant
could never have purchased his land, raised his buildings,
purchased his tools or improved his stock. At the end of
1935 there were 1,299 little banking societies with a total
membership of 140,000, and the credits granted to them by
O.K.O. amounted to 1,049,000,000 marks. It is worth
noting that the difference between the interest rates paid
for deposits and the rates charged for loans was on the
average only i- 25 per cent. The difference during the same
year in England on the joint-stock banking system was
nearly 4 per cent.
Besides credit the farmer had two other vital needs. First
he needed help as a producer: he could not hope to own his
own bull, his own threshing-machine, his own butterchum; alone he could not hope to sell his produce in the
best market. Secondly he needed help as a consumer: alone
he could not hope to buy his sugar, coffee and boots at a
fair price; every step he took beyond the old subsistenceeconomy brought him more under the thumb of the
profiteering middleman. Both these needs were met, and
amply met, by co-operation.
PRODUCER COOPERATIVES
On the produce side the most important co-operative

efforts were devoted to dairy-farming, for half the farm
land is under pasture and fodder crops, and half the farmers'
money income comes from milk products. Privately owned
dairies on the great estates had mulcted the tenants unmerci
fully, and the joint-stock dairies which flourished between
1895 and 1902 made profits for every one except the farmer.
In 1903 the first co-operative dairies were established with
the encouragement of Pellervo. They "are owned by their
milk suppliers in common, every member contributing to
M*?> 1 941
111
the costs of erection, maintenance, and business, in precise

proportion as he utilizes the services of the creamery, and
participating in any trading surplus in exact proportion to
his milk supplies."1 By the end of 1934 there were 684
co-operative dairies with 75,000 members in all. Again the
point to note is the low cost of these co-operative services
to the farmer: in 1935 he received 84 per cent of the price
paid for butter by the consumers.
Besides the dairies all manner of agricultural producers'
co-operative societies have grown upbull societies, mosslitter societies, and lately bacon factories and egg-selling
societies. Two great central organizations have been formed,
the first, Hankkija, for supplying farmers' equipment, and
the second, Valio, for marketing dairy produce abroad.
Hankkija supplies co-operative shops and dairies with
fertilizer and cattle-food, seed and grain, machinery and
electric power-heating installations and refrigerators. It
manufactures about 15 per cent of the articles it sells and
has been a pioneer in the manufacture of several types of
agricultural machinery, notably of the famous Esa thresher.
Valio has done equally important work, making itself
responsible for the export of dairy produce, which amounts
to a fifth of the total exports of the country. Its activities
have embraced research and quality control, grading and
the manufacture of new products, such as Dutch types of
cheese, as well as the business of foreign sales. Nearly
94 per cent of the Finnish exports of butter pass through
Valio's hands.
CONSUMER COOPERATIVES
On the consumer side co-operation began among the
industrial workers and it was through their initiative that
the first Finnish Co-operative Wholesale Society (SOK)
was created in 1904. The business of SOK was primarily to
buy and manufacture food, clothing and household utensils
for the member-societies which were rapidly springing up
in country as well as town areas. It was organized on a
democratic basis, each member-society having an equal vote
1 Thorsten Odhe, Finland: A Nation of Co-operators ( 1931).
112
Consumers' Cooperation'
in the affairs of SOK. Here a difficulty arose. The rural

societies were usually very much smaller than those in the
towns and the latter naturally felt it unfair that their vote
should count for no more than that of a parish union with
a handful ,of members and insignificant capital. They were
particularly angry when the rural societies refused to accept
the principle that only Trade Union members should be
employed. A quarrel developed and led to a split in 1916,
when a number of urban societies seceded from SOK and
in the following year founded a wholesale society of their
own (OTK). Henceforward Finnish consumer-co-operation
developed through two separate channels. SOK became
known as the Neutral Society and drew its strength chiefly
from the conservative farming community. OTK was called
the Progressive Movement and drew its strength largely
from the Social Democratic industrial workers. Yet the
distinction was not so clear as might be expected. Both
movements were careful not to affiliate themselves with
any political party. Neither restricted its appeal to any one
class or region. Each retained the same co-operative
principles, keeping the minimum subscription demanded
from individuals as low as possibleten shillings is an
average figureand aiming at low prices and increased
reserves of capital rather than at high dividends (the
dividends in a normal year rarely exceed 2 per cent). Both
joined the Scandinavian Wholesale Society in 1928. A
healthy rivalry developed between them and their competi
tive propaganda brought many more members into the
co-operative movement than would have been likely under
an undivided system. At the same time the division handi
capped the movement in two important respects: it split
the capital resources and made mass production impossible
on the scale which in Sweden was so successful in setting
an example in cheapness and efficiency to profit-making
companies; and it made consumer co-operation an
irritant instead of an emollient in the friction between
Haves and Have-nots.
May, 1941
113
Nevertheless the Finnish consumer-co-operatives have

some remarkable achievements to their credit. They set the
price-level of a great many articles. The SOK settlement at
Vaajakoski and its flour-mills at Viipuri and Oulu are models
for the world, and the same may be said for the restaurants
of some of the societies affiliated to the Progressive Move
ment. Of these Elanto, the Helsinki consumers' society, is
by far the biggest and the most enterprising. In 1934 it had
48,173 members (of whom 80 per cent were wage-earners),
329 shops including 15 restaurants of varying grades, its
turnover amounted to over 288,000,000 marks and its
employees numbered 2,400. Elanto sets the standard for all
Finland in the manufacture of bread and bacon, in shop
and restaurant design and in the treatment of employees.
The reputation made by its Social Democratic managing
director, Vaino Tanner, raised him to the Prime Ministership in December 1926.
Some idea of the part which co-operation plays in
Finland can be gathered from a Swedish writer's1 account
of a journey in Ostrobothnia:
"Still fresh in the author's mind is a visit one frowsy
April day to Lapua, where Finland fought one of her
bloodiest battles against the Russian invaders in 1809, now
a flourishing village in one of the most fertile and bestcultivated parts of Finland. In the middle of the village
stands the stately local authority offices, turreted like a
castle, rough-cast, with cafe and restaurant and other social
amenities. Through the village runs the old main road, now
a broad highway; along both sides lie the business premises,
for the most part co-operative institutions of one kind or
another. The parish boasts a population of 14,000, practically
all co-operators.
"There are in the parish three consumer co-operative
societies, two SOK, one KK, with ten shops amongst them,
seven co-operative creameries, six co-operative Credit
Banks, a score of bull societies, threshing societies, pigbreeding societies, and, in intimate relation to agricultural
114
co-operative undertakings, eight farmers' guilds, young

farmers' clubs, and other mutual improvement associations.
Lapuan Osuuskauppa (Co-operative Retail Society), which,
with its capacious stores, occupies a substantial brick build
ing in the middle of the village, sells grocery and provisions,
drapery and furnishings, boots and shoes, household
utensils, feeding stuffs, manures, agricultural machinery and
requirements, and markets yearly for its members many
thousands of pounds' worth of grain and other produce.
Special show-rooms for agricultural machinery, with large
display windows, have been built, and at the railway
station the society has its own granary with mechanical
conveyors, and cleaning and grading machinery. The
Society has 1,350 members and an annual turnover of
67,200."
COOPERATIVE EDUCATION
When the history of the Finnish co-operative movement

comes to be written, its greatest achievement will no doubt
be found in its work as a medium of education. Each of the
many central organizations has its own periodical Press.
May, 1941
115
1!
'YOUR W)RK IS PRIZED"

Ruth Broan Farnsworth
The chief weekly papers of the Neutral and Progressive

Societies have a circulation of 182,000 and 130,000 copies
respectively among the Finnish-speaking population alone.
(An equivalent circulation in Great Britain, where the
reading public is about fifteen times as big, would be
two-to-three million copies. Which English weekly can
boast that?) Each runs its own lecture courses. Every year
some 1,400 lectures were- delivered to nearly 350,000
listeners under the auspices of KK, the propaganda agency
of the Progressive Movement. KK maintains its own staff
of architects and has set an example in factory and shop
design which older nations might do well to follow. To the
co-operative movement the Finnish housewife owes her
education in domestic science, the farmer in modern
methods of crop- and stock-raising and in book-keeping,
the wage-earner in what Quakers used to call the re-creative
use of leisure, and the public as a whole in democratic
principles and the elements of economics. What the Finnish
people would have become without co-operation can never
be known; perhaps there would have been no alternative
between remaining a poverty-stricken, backward and
exploited peasantry or becoming a regimented and collec
tivized community in the Russian model.
116
Kyman Cohn died on March 18, 1941, the 25th anniversary of the found
ing of the Cooperative League. A quarter of a century before, he met with
the other founders in Dr. Warbasse's Brooklyn home to plan the future of
cooperation. He was our oldest cooperator, here in New York. At times,
in the course of his thirty-odd years in the movement he was our only cooperator. Such facts of his cooperative life you will find in the news
papers.
You will find the man himself, in his active middle years, in Sonniohsen's unpublished article, "The Alien Agitator", the tribute of a
great cooperator to his friend, his companion and his leader. In it Sonnichsen drew Cohn to the life, with the writer's delight in a. p icturesque
hero, and with the zealot's discernment of the prophet behind the sound
and fury of the man.
In his late sixties he came to us, and linked the small beginnings
of the Bronx Co-op with the heroic past of cooperation in New York. On
a September evening in 1937 he walked into our first little store at 1821
Eathgate Avenue. When we knew him better we realized the thrill Hyman
Cohn must have had as he stood there, after the violent successes and
failures of which he had been a driving force, hearing young enthusiasms
express themselves, seeing cooperation at work again, just as it had been
thirty years before, in a similar hole-in-the-wall grocery, right here in
the Bronx, where he had taken a pamphlet on Consumers Cooperation off a
I nail and read, for the first time, the gospel according to Rochdale.
Thst September evening Ned Siner and Harold Wattenberg were tending
store. Cohn began shooting questions. Was it a true cooperative? How
had it begun? Why? When? As the boys explained, his gruffness disap
peared; at the end of his life he had found a new cooperative that need
ed him. He bought his groceries and joined the West Bronx Co-op Club.
When that club joined with five others to incorporate as the Bronx con
sumers Cooperative Society he was elected to the Board of Directors. One
of the last acts of his life was to drag his tired, heavy body up three
flights of stairs to participate in a meeting of that same board.
His was the stocky, picturesque figure that limped into our store
almost daily, in heat and cold, and carried home the groceries for which
he had taken orders from the various branches of his family, a rebuke,
not always silent, to us who were feebly having our orders delivered.
His sleepy eyes, under heavy brows, beamed kindly upon a friend and
blazed blue fires upon an enemy. Anyone expressing an idea contrary to
Rochdale principles or sound business practice, felt the force of his
royal wrath and of his Talmudic magnificence of phrase.
During the hot summer of 1938, he began to complain of his heart.
On one of those days he came into the store our second store on 184th
Street with a grubby typewritten article, and, with unwonted shyness,
asked the manager to read it. The manager was young and apt to be a bit
impatient with the old man and his bulldog grip on his ideas, but she
took the manuscript and read it with deep emotion. It was Albert Sonnichsen's "The Alien Agitator."
Sonnichsen had written the article just before he died and had sent
it to Cohn for comment. Before Cohn could send it back, Sonnichsen was
May, 1941
117
gone. Cohn wanted copies of the article, so we settled down to long

hours of cutting stencils and running off the story. It aroused the en
thusiasm we had always had for the oldest New York cooperator, and re
sulted in our giving him a testimonial dinner in November of 1938. His
family have since told us that that gesture lengthened his life. Mrs.
Swerdlove, his beloved daughter so close to her "Pop" told us some
thing he had said that hot summer: " I d on't want .memorials when I am
gone. I want testimonials while I can hear them." It makes us wish we
had done more of what he really wanted, rather than write words now,
words he can never see.
The testimonial dinner was a success. Delegates from other cooper
atives attended, his fraternal circle and the credit union he had organ
ized were among those present, speeches were delivered, letters and tel
egrams read. Cohn sat at the head of the table dressed in his CO-OP
suit, wearing the "Pine Trees" honored by all before his children and
friends. The next day came the annual ECL meeting at the Amalgamated
Houses. During his speech, Dr. Warbasse told all of us, representing
the cooperative movement in the East, of our debt to an old man sitting
in the auditorium, Hyman Cohn. Necks craned. Ralph Miller and George
Paul hoisted him to his feet and the crowd arose and cheered the stocky
Jew with the bent shoulders. His cup was full. It overflowed when a
priest came to him to grasp his hand, "You should be content. YOUR WCffl
IS PRIZED.
Hyman Cohn is part of our past but he is not dead. He goes with
us, of the Bronx, and of the United States, into the future of Consumers
Cooperation. We know it, we who were with him at that Board meeting
early in March.
We were planning a new store, and he was discussing with us the
need to build substantial capital for it. "We must give," he pulled
himself out of the slump into which he habitually sank between his ex
hausting outbursts. His great voice poured forth in the roar that made
him hard to understand. Perhaps he repeated what he had said in another
crisis in an older cooperative. "The foundation is different for B tenstory building, than for a one-story building. I am not interested in
one-story buildings." Here his voice dropped. "I haven't got much. I
gave it all to the movement years ago. But I'll put in five dollars."
It wasn't an anticlimax. Some of us thought of another Jew whom
Hyman Cohn often quoted between Hillel and Maimonides, a Jew who said
that from penury one might give more than from wealth. All of us feel
that no richer gift oan be made to our future than Hyman Cohn then of
fered and in offering, paid.
On the nineteenth of March we went to a small funeral chapel where
Cohn lay dressed in his CO-OP suit, with his "Pine Trees" in his lapeland his friend, the Rabbi, said good words about him; "generous", "a
lover of mankind". That evening the manager used the ticket Hyman Cohn
had bought to attend the Twenty-fifth anniversary dinner, and now Leslie
Woodcock talked of Hyman Cohn and James Warbasse recalled the old days,
both saying good words, the tributes of old friends. We of the Bronx
Co-op are proud that he was one of us in his last years when he could
know of the size and strength of a movement, could see the practical ap
plication of an ideal, an ideal which had been once, in this great city,
only his. We knew him in the last, the mellow years, and our tribute,
we feel, is the one he would treasure most dearly, for it is the one he
worked for all his life HYMN COHN, CONSUMER COOPERATOR.
118
Consumers' Cooperation f
CO-OP DIVISION OF THE

I.L.O. CARRIES ON
HE International Labor Office, in

cluding its Cooperative Service Di
vision, is now well established and carry
ing on "business as usual" in its new home
at McGill University, Montreal. The
decision to move from Geneva was
reached kst summer when it became
plain that it would no longer be pos
sible for an international organization,
whose staff included nationals of 40 dif
ferent countries and whose work depended
on being in constant communication with
all parts of the world, to function effec
tively there. Switzerland was neutral, but
its geographical situation, hemmed in by
nations at war, made invasion a constant
threat. The entrance of Italy into the war
in June blocked the last avenue of free
communication and effectively isolated the
office at Geneva from the British Empire
and the western hemisphere. To insure
continuance of its work throughout the
war, the main activities of the ILO were
moved to Canada, and only a small force,
acting primarily as a liasion office, re
mained in Geneva.
Since the transfer of headquarters is not
expected to be permanent, only a nucleus
of technicians and specialists from the
Geneva staff have come to Canada, bring
ing with them the documents and equip
ment absolutely essential to their work.
Each member of the staff has taken on
responsibilities and duties formerly shared
by others, with the result that surprisingly
few of the activities of the ILO have had
to be curtailed.
In the Cooperative Service Division
once again periodicals and correspondence
from all parts of the globe pile up as
foreign cooperators learn the new address.
One member of the staff, who speaks
French, German, English and Russian flu
ently, and who reads Spanish, Italian and
the Slavic languages with facility, scans
those incoming publications for items deal
ing with cooperatives. Especially noted are
May, 1941
current figures for the number of co-ops

and their members in a country; their
relative importance in the national econ
omy ; legislation affecting co-ops, and new
forms of co-operation. Correspondence
with cooperative observers throughout the
world, combined with the official reports
and studies coming to the ILO, which
would not be available to a private agency,
round out its sources of information, and
make it possible for the Cooperative Serv
ice to have a comprehensive and up-to-date
picture of the cooperative movement
throughout the world at any time.
The Cooperative Service itself publishes,
besides its Directory of Cooperative Or
ganizations issued every three years, a
bulletin sent free of charge to co-operative
organizations or their papers. Four issues,
printed in Spanish, French or English,
have been sent out since the establishment
of the ILO in Montreal.
In the larger sphere, any member na
tion may call upon the co-op division ex
perts for assistance with a cooperative
problemeither in determining its scope,
devising a solution, or advising on the
effectiveness of existing legislation.
At the present time, special problems
confront the European co-ops in regards
to production, distribution, price-levels,
government regulation, and the like. Re
ports indicate that none the less they have
gone ahead to prove their efficiency in war
time as well as peace-time economy, be
cause of the wide interests they represent
and the services they can render.
For the same reason that the ILO, a
world association of nations aiming at in
ternational cooperation in the advance
ment of social and economic standards has
from its inception considered the coopera
tives an integral part of its study, so it
now considers that the cooperatives will
have an important share in the social and
economic reconstruction taking place after
the war.
119
II
120
ly, 1941
121
RECREATION TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
HE summer of 1941 offers numerous

opportunities for persons interested
in learning recreation leadership. The
longest and most intensive course is the
National Cooperative Recreation School
to be held on the campus of Iowa State
College, Ames, Iowa, June 14 to 27. The
April issue of CONSUMERS' COOPERA
TION carried a complete story about this
school. A flier and detailed information can
be secured from Carl Hutchinson, Ohio
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, 246
North High Street, Columbus, Ohio.
Growing out of the need for regional
recreation schools to supplement the
work of the National Recreation School
and to take care of persons unable to
attend the National School, an Eastern
Cooperative Recreation School is
planned for August 17 to 24. The school,
which is sponsored by the National Co
operative Recreation School, and en
dorsed by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
Cooperative Association and the Eastern
Cooperative League, will be held at the
Hudson Shore Labor School, West Park,
New York. Staff members will include
Ruth Chorpenning and James Norris,
who are on the staff of the National Rec
reation School; Phyllis Randall, former
staff member of the National School and
Meta Schweibert, dean of the Child Edu
cation Foundation, New York. The staff
will be assisted by former National Rec

reation School students who are now ac
tive in recreation work. The one week's
course will include instrumental music,
group singing, dramatics, folk dancing,
craftsmetal, leather, weaving and wood
workgames, and philosophy of group
recreation and leadership. Cooperative
leaders in the East will be drawn in to
lead seminars on cooperation. The cost
for room, board and tuition for the
week is $20. Complete information can
be secured from Jac Smith, Eastern Cooperative League, 135 Kent Avenue,
Brooklyn, New York.
The recreation-vacation camp, Circ^
Pines Center, Hastings, Michigan,
conduct a special recreation i
July 13-26. Chester Graham, recreat;
leader from Madison, Wisconsin,
head the staff which will include Ni
Rawn, folk dancing; Dorothy Sonqui
crafts; and W. W. Kapnick, music.
Plans are under way in the
Cooperative Wholesale territory
or three one-week recreation lead
training institutes. These one-week
tutes have grown out of the ii
aroused by students attending the
tional Cooperative Recreation School
by the week-end recreation conf
which were held last summer and
past winter and spring. Crafts,
music, dramatics and folk dancing will

be on the program. Ruth Chorpenning
ind James Norris are scheduled to handle
dramatics and Murray Lewis will teach
jafts. Midland fieldmen, Wilbur Leathirman and Frank Shilston, and Gwen
Goodrich, who is doing recreation and
Educational work in Midland's District VI,
will be on hand to help with games and
blk dancing. Information concerning
these recreation institutes can be secured
'ran Frank Shilston, Midland Co-op
Wholesale, 739 Johnson St., Minneapolis.
An Education-Recreation-Publicity Insti
tute is planned for May 16-18 and May
29 to June 1 at the DeKoven Foundation,
Racine, Wisconsin. The institute is spon
sored by The Cooperative Union, Chicago,
lind the Midland Cooperative Wholesale,
" 'inneapolis. The purpose of the institute
to give intensive training to leaders and
ipective leaders in cooperative educai, publicity and recreation, with emlasis on procedures and techniques.
Recreation leadership training will infdude European folk dances, square dances
singing games; traditional board
its; informal group singing and inimental music. Vyatautus Beliajus and
icster Graham will head the staff of
:eation leaders.
The combination of training in discusm group leadership, publicity and recreshould make this institute extremely
iluable. For information write Henry
iDyer, 2301 S. Millard Avenue, Chicago.
In addition to these specific recrea
tional leadership conferences, a number
of cooperative conferences will include
recreation as an important part of the
program. Such conferences include the
California Cooperative Institute, Camp
Sierra, July 12-19; Camp Shawnee In
stitute, Lake Shawnee, Penn., July 1219; Cooperative Youth Course, Brule,
Wisconsin, June 15-July 12; Amherst
Institute, Amherst, Mass.. August 3-9.
RECREATION NEWS NOTES
Cooperators in the Philadelphia area
held a recreation week-end "just for
122
May, 1941
fun," May 10-11 at Camp Tinicum,

Pennsylvania. The group of more than
seventy people folk danced, played games,
acted in charades, or pounded out copper
ash trays or pewter bracelets.
* * *
The Cooperative Consumers Society of
Bergen County, Rutherford, New Jer
sey, has instituted a series of Friday eve
ning socials where members and friends
meet at the organization's headquarters
for an hour or two of singing, square
dancing and feasting. A newly acquired
piano helps to bring out the crowd.
* * *
A group of serious minded but lightfooted cooperators have been gathering
Saturday nights in Indianapolis to talk
and play. Folk games from the South,
from Indiana, from Sweden and Den
mark have been the program. "This is a
real amateur's group," according to the
Co-op Reporter, publication of the Indi
anapolis Cooperative Services, "with mem
bers of the group supplying the 'music'
and directions. The group grows, because
once tried, it 'get's a hold on you'."
* * *
Twenty-six former students of the Na
tional Cooperative Recreation School met
at Epharta, Pennsylvania, April 18-20
for a week-end of folk dancing and
discussion. Ohio was represented by one
student, the rest of the students coming
from Pennsylvania and New York. Pub
licity for the National Recreation School
was discussed and plans made for the
Eastern Recreation School.
* * *
The dramatics group of the New York
Play Co-op presented two one-act plays,
"Helena's Husband" by Phillip Moeller
and "The Flattering Word" by George
Kelley at a party given by the Rochdale
Institute and the Council for Cooperative
Business Training, April 24. The plays
were also presented at the weekly meet
ing of the Play Co-op, April 27 and will
be given for the Morningside Coopera
tive recreation group, May 13.
123

Celcimbus, OhioThe big news at the
annual meeting of the Farm Bureau Co
operative Insurance Services here April 3
was the announcement of a new policy
which it is hoped will clean up the abuses
of the industrial insurance racket.
The policy is designed to take the
place of industrial policies where 97%
of the so-called "burial insurance" is sur
rendered or lapsed and thus never ful
fills the purpose for which it was taken
out. The co-op policy will be for $500
face value only, limited to one coverage
per person with no examination required.
The cost at age 35, for example, is $6.22
a year. It is a twenty year term partici
pating policy, eligible for dividends, re
newable to age 65 and convertible. The
premiums may be paid annually, semiannually or quarterly. Murray D. Lin
coln, president of the Farm Bureau
Life Insurance Company and recently
elected president of The Cooperative
League, proposed to the thousand repre
sentatives of 380,000 policy-holder mem
bers gathered at the meeting that the co
operative movement take the lead in
providing an insurance service which will
guarantee the minimum insurance neces
sary for the average family.
Baton Rouge, La.The first cooperative
education conference in Louisiana took
place on the campus of Louisiana State
University April 14 and 15 under the
joint auspices of the Southeastern Co
operative Education Association and the
General Extension Division of Louisiana
State University. Two hundred edu
cators, churchmen, farm, labor and co
operative representatives from Louisiana,
Arkansas and Mississippi met for the
conference to "Educate People to Help
Themselves."
Washington, D. C.The American
Medical Association and the District of
Columbia Medical Society are law vio
lators guilty of breaking the anti-trust
laws. This was a decision of the Federal
District Court here which found them
124
guilty of an attempt to destroy the Group

Health Association, a District of Colum
bia medical cooperative.
The New York Times said in com
menting on the decision:
"It onens the way to wider devel
opments in'the field of group medi
cine. A country with forty-eight
states with wide variations in cli
mate, density of population and
occupation will need more than
one type of medical practice. Ex
perimentation with cooperatives,
groups of physicians who practice
as they would in hospitals, pre
payment of medical care, voluntary
health insurance is clearly called
for before we attempt to legislate
either on a state or national scale."
New York Dr. James P. Warbasse,

president emeritus of The Cooperative
League, told the five million listeners of
America's Town Meeting of the Air,
April 10 that they should organize coop
eratives if they want to prevent effectively
higher living costs.
Dr. Warbasse said an estimated $120,000,000 worth of petroleum products wen
purchased through cooperatives last year
saving members about $10,000,000.
North Kansas City, Mo.The fourth
annual membership drive of Consumers
Cooperative Association brought 3,158
new members to the 94 cooperatives
which participated in the drive com
pleted March 15. This increase was sur
passed only in 1938 when the membership
drive brought in 4,945 new members.
ChicagoThe fifteen regional coopera
tive associations affiliated with National
Cooperatives in the United States and
Canada reported total sales of $58,821,107 in 1940, an increase of slightly ovei
$10,000,000 or 20% over the $48,708,823 sales of 1939- The number of lool
retail co-ops affiliated jumped from
2,050 in 1939 to 2,-328 in 1940, a gain
of 13-7%. The regional cooperatives,
their sales and membership were as fol
lows:
Regional Organization
Total Sales
'Consumers Cooperatives Ass'd, Amarillo, Texas
$ 223,732
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, Brooklyn, N. Y.
1,559,896
Central States Cooperatives, Chicago
204,658
Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n, Columbus, Ohio
7,304,194
Penn. Farm Bureau Cooperative Ass'n, Harrisburg
2,337,116
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative, Indianapolis
6,510,678
Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Minneapolis
4,460,495
Farm Bureau Cooperative Services, Lansing, Michigan
3,114,607
Consumers Cooperative Ass'n,* N. Kansas City, Mo.
6,211,401
Farmers Co-op Exchange, Raleigh, N. C.
2,324,844
Farmers Union Central Exchange, St. Paul, Minn.
6,236,224
Saskatchewan Co-op Wholesale,** Saskatoon, Canada 2,041,933
Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior, Wis.
3,865,984
United Farmers Cooperative,*** Toronto, Canada
9,755,345
Pacific Supply Cooperative, Walla Walla, Wash.
2,670,000
Individual
Members
16,250
21,771
12,000
60,000
11,000
75,000
76,000
25,000
125,000
16,200
80,000
40,000
40,000
*Induding subsidiaries
** Including livestock sales
** Ten months
Superior, Wis.Delegates to the 24th ChicagoNegotiations are under way to
annual convention of Central Cooperative extend cooperative insurance to the mid
Wholesale meeting here April 14 and 15 west states served by Central States Co
approved the expenditure of $100,000 operatives, Inc. These plans were revealed
for building expansion and voted to take at the first annual conference of Central
their earnings on last year's business in States Cooperatives at International
shares instead of cash so the co-op whole
House on the University of Chicago cam
sale will be in a stronger financial posi
pus here April 26 and 27.
tion to meet any emergency which may
The total sales for CSC were up 9%
grow out of a post-war crash.
in 1940 totaling $205,000. Net savings
A. J. Hayes, manager, reported to the jumped to $4,500, an increase of 410%,
annual meeting that sales of the co-op making possible a patronage refund to
wholesale for 1940 were $3,883,841 local societies of 1.7%.
which was 14% greater than the record
year 1939 and that net earnings on Jamestown, North DakotaA new con
sumers' cooperative wholesale to be
wholesale operations were $87,348.
New YorkCooperative Distributors set known as the Northwest Cooperative So
as its goal $100,000 volume in 1941 at ciety was organized here last month. Its
the annual meeting of the membership original membership is made up of seven
here April 28. Olga Hourwich, manager, co-op stores in northwestern Montana,
said that it's necessary for the co-op to and North Dakota. It will act as a broker
build up this volume if it is to operate age buying organization, supplying gro
economically. During the year, sales fell ceries and other commodities to co-op
grocery stores in those states. At the pres
to a total of $86,521 for the year.
Among plans proposed to bring up the ent time it will serve just as a buying
volume were the possibility of opening agency.
a New York miniature cooperative de
The decision to form the new whole
partment store, a drive for new members sale was made after officials had con
and new business, extension of service to ferred with representatives of the Cen
individual cooperators in the southeast
tral Cooperative Wholesale, Superior;
ern states and on the Pacific Coast, and Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Minne
the introduction of CD products to stu
apolis and the Farmers Central Exchange,
dent co-ops on 160 college campuses.
St. Paul.
May, 1941
125
Oakland, CaliforniaThe robust young

consumer cooperative at the migratory
workers' camp at Visalia, California was
host to the state-wide conference of con
sumer cooperative leaders April 8 and 9.
Representatives of the Associated Cooper
atives of Northern and Southern Califor
nia met to thrash out problems of organ
ization, business management, education
and finance in connection with the drive
for further development of California
cooperatives.
Columbus, OhioThe first consumerowned department store in Columbus
opened April 16 and 17 when the Farm
Bureau Consumers' Cooperative, organ
ized by Farm Bureau co-op employees
six years ago, blossomed forth as a full
fledged department store. The co-op shop
occupies the entire first floor of the Farm
Bureau Cooperative building. It has 870
members and operates two parking lots, a
gas station, a tailor shop and half a dozen
contracts in addition to the store.
New YorkThe Textile Workers Union
of America meeting here for its annual
convention April 22-25 voted unani
mously to endorse the consumers' coop
erative movement and instructed the edu
cational director to foster and promote
consumer cooperative study groups. The
convention urged all members of the
union to join consumer cooperatives and
recommended that all locals set up special
committees to work with the educational
director and the Committee on Organ
ized Labor and Cooperatives of The Co
operative League. This was followed by
the adoption of a supplementary resolu
tion recommending that the national of
fice of the union appropriate such funds
as it deemed necessary for teaching about
consumer co-ops in local unions.
New YorkThe spring training course
for careers in consumers' cooperation con
ducted jointly by Rochdale Institute and
the Council for Cooperative Business
Training reported an enrollment of 42
students for the term which opened here
April 7.
126
New YorkRepresentatives of six ra BOOK REVIEWS

tional student organizations will aid in THE RESTORATION OF PROPERTY, by Hilaire
Belloc, New York^ Sheed and Ward, $1.50.
the selection of candidates for the first
(Available through The Cooperative
co-op summer school for college men aA
League)
women, which will be conducted by the His many works in the fields of biography,.
Council for Cooperative Business Train history, religion, belles lettres, have obscured
the fact that Hilaire Belloc has perhaps his
ing July 7 to August 23.
The organizations which will partici most important things to say on the social
His "Servile State" of nearly 30
pate are the National Committee on Stu question.
years ago, for instance, charted with unerring
dent Cooperatives, the National Student accuracy the broad outlines of the course of
Federation of America, International f American capitalism down through the crash
Student Service, National Intercollegiate: of '29 and right up to the present moment.
little book on property, published 5 years
Christian Council, American Friends Ser This
ap>, if less prophetic, is a substantial contribu
vice Committee and the American Stu tion on the subject.
dent Union. Representatives of these or What everyone wonders these days is how,
ganizations together with officers of Con tven for the people of the democracies, free
can ever be reestablished. Here in the
sumer Distribution Corporation, Eastern dom
United States the danger to freedom grows,
Cooperative Wholesale and Rochdale In is a ten-year depression gives way to a war
stitute will select the candidates and tconomy financed only by saddling future gen
award the limited number of scholarships erations with mountains of public debt.
s pri
which are made available by a grant from
able brief study of the relationship between
the Filene Good Will Fund.
economic self-reliance and human freedom.
Washington, D. C.United States Sena
tor George D. Aiken speaking befortj
the Monday Evening Club, April 21, de
clared, "I think cooperation is the al
ternative to monopoly, either on the part
of big business or on the part of the]
government."
In the month of February, he ^
out, Vermont was the only state in ttt
union that had not a single foreclosure.
This he attributed to the strong coopera
tive movement in his state, almost everj
town in Vermont having a coopetativti
of some kind. He praised too, "the sirit,
of tolerance and understanding"
the cooperative movement has engen
dered.
Palo Alto, CaliforniaExactly six yean
after incorporation, the dreams of manf
of the members of the Consumers' G
operative Society of Palo Alto, Califor
nia, came true when the society opened.
its second grocery store, complete with ll

,
, _5>
,i
1 1-71
, '
meat market and located beside the newly.,
built cooperative service station. Tnti
property for the Cooperative Center wif
purchased and improved with loans fraf
He recognizes that there must be limitations

on the individual for the sake of the com
mon goal, and suggests that true freedom ob
tains as long as the family enjoys the power
to react against whatever limits its freedom. It
is obvious that this power is lacking to the pro
letariat, urban or rural, the dispossessed, who
bulk so large under capitalist democracies as
well as political dictatorships.
The author frankly recognizes the difficul
ties of arousing the desire for property among
people who think primarily in terms of higher
wages. The Proprietary State he envisages in
the place of Capitalism or Totalitarianism
would of necessity be imperfect, its ideals in
completely realized, ever in process of develop
ment. Mr. Belloc does not blink at the nearimpossibility of trying to reverse the direction
of the world's economic forces and of the
popular mind. The upheaval caused by the
war and the demobilization of millions of
men would make this less difficult if a pro
gram of decentralization were prepared now
and taken up by the proper authorities once
the long-desired cessation of hostilities has ar
rived. In any case, Mr. Belloc's diagnosis here
is a minor masterpiece.
Part of his remedythe reestablishment of
** small cultivator, and the small craftsman

(to a modest degree) is quite convincing. So,
tv00_ his objectiv?s of distributing in adequate
amount shares in industrial enterprises that are
by nature large-scale. Also, in a sense, the
'"toration of the small distributor. But is
u
U u j
re t e i v I the Belloc proposal of virtually taxing chain
members who had sufficient faith mthd 5toreSj department stores, and other high-profit
organization to loan it $15,355.
' enterprises out of existence the way to do it?
Consumers' Cooperation! May, 1941
Such enterprises are hardly the only villains

in the piece. Mr. Belloc suggests political
means for arriving at an end much better com
passed by consumers cooperation. Somehow
he leads directly toward co-ops without reach
ing them. Consumers Cooperation is logically
the principal instrument for working out his
admirable scheme for restoring and maintain
ing economic independence and genuine free
dom for millions of the dispossessed.
EDWARD SKILLIN, JR.
Editor, The Commonweal
LATEST BOOKS RECEIVED

Introduction to the Cooperative Movement,
Andrew J. Kress, editor, Harper and Broth
ers, New York, 370 pages, $3.00.
Democracfi Second Chance ( Land, Work and
Cooperation), George Boyle, Sheed and
Ward, New York, 177 pages, special co-op
edition, $1.00.
Consumers' Cooperatives in the North Central
States, L. C. Kercher, V. W. Kebker and W.
C. Leland, Jr., edited by R. S. Vaile, Uni
versity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 430
pages, $3.50.
The Consumer Movement, including a section
on cooperatives, Helen Sorenson, Harper
and Brothers, New York, 245 pages, $2.00.
/ Chose Denmark, Francis Hacker, Doubleday,
Doran and Co., New York, 290 pages, $2.50.
Selection of the month, Consumers Book
Cooperative.
Procedure for Incorporating Consumers' Co
operatives, Report of the Institute of Living
Law, 340 Woodward Building, Washington,
D.C., 27 pages and copy of D.C. Cooperaative Law, 25c.
First the Fields, A novel of the tobacco growers'
cooperative in North Carolina, by Charles
Wood, University of North Carolina Press,
Chapel Hill, 308 pages, $2.50.
Sociology, a text, Emory S. Bogardus, contain
ing a brief section on cooperatives, Macmillan,
New York, Revised edition 1941, 567 pages,
$3.00.
We Have a Future, Norman Thomas, two brief
sections on cooperatives, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 236 pages, $2.50.
A Primer of Economics, Stuart Chase, Random
House, New York, 60 pages, $1.00.
Mobilizing for Enlightenment, St. F. X. Uni
versity Goes to the People, by Dr. M. M.
.Coady, Antigonish, 30 pages, 25c.
The Principles of Consumers Cooperation, H.

R. Lamberton, 24 pages, 15c.
Organization and Management of Consumers'

Cooperative Associations and Clubs, with
model Bylaws, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis
tics No. 665, completely revised and en
larged edition, 15c.
127
CO-OP LITERATURE

special edition .................................................. 1.25
The Brave Years: Wm. Heyliger .................. 1.50
Fresh Furrow: Burris Jenkins ...................... 2.00
Co-op, by Upton Sinclair .................................. 2.50

Ireland .................................................................. 2.75
son, Debate Handbook ..................................
.90

Cooperation, Hall and Walking, Official

British Textbook ............................................. 3.00
eratives ................................................................ 3.00
Movement, Claude Shotts ..............................
Co-ops on the Campus, Bertram B. Fowler
Campus Co-ops, William Moore ....................
Campus Co-op News Letter, per year ........
There Are Jobs in Cooperatives, Wallace
J. Campbell, the Intercollegian ................
.02
.03
.05
.25
.02

Cooperatives and Peace, Harold Fey ..........
.05
.50
The Consumer Consumed, Josephine


Cooperative Recreation Songs, A. M. Calkins .10
The Spider Web, 3-act play, EUis Cowling .25
Co-op Wholesale ................................................ .10

Credit Unions and Finance
How to Read Cooperative Balance Sheets,

Fox and Miller, 2 parts
1. Learning the Language ..........................
3. Rending Between the Lines ..................
Other Peoples* Money, E. K. Bowen ..........
well Stewart ......................................................
.10
.10
.10
.05
.10
.10
Cuna Emerges (Credit Unions), Roy Bergengren ................................................................ 1.00

Credit Union North America, Roy Bergengren ........................................................................ 2.00
128

the Cooperative ......................................
.. . ... _ ............... .
Tichenor
A $600,000,000 Business With 2,000,000
Ink Monthly ............................................
I'M Reports Fast-Growing Co-ops
Shun all Isms ..........................................
Ink ..............................................................
Brickbats and Boomerangs, E. K.
Bowen ......._............._._.___..............
.02 U
CONSUMERS
COOPERATION
.02 1!
.02 U||
.02 liDi
.02 LH|
.02 LH
.02 LHj
.03 2.M
.03 2.
Are the Co-ops Getting Anywhere?,

George Tichenor, Iiitercollegian .... .02 1.01
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way in Sweden, 16 mm.

silent, produced by the Harmon Foundation.
Unit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit tt
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit III,
Agricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Rental pM
unit: color. $5; black and white, $3; add
tional showings, $2.50 color and $1.50, blatf
and white.
"The Lord Helps Those Who Help End
Other," a new 3 reel, 16 mm. film of the Noil
Scotia adult education and cooperative pto
gram, produced by the Harmon Foundntn
Excellent photography. $4.50 per day, $2!
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel, 1C mm.
Kodacrome, shows how cooperators on tilt
eastern seaboard are providing themseiva
with tested, quality CO-OP products. $2 pa
day, $6 per week.
"A House Without a Landlord," a new 21,
reel, 16 mm. silent film on the AmalgamatM
"Clasping Hands," 16 mm. silent, two reel Hit
showing how cooperation is taught in tbi
schools of France.
"When Mankind is Willing," a 16 mm. site
three-reel film, with English titles, of coop
erative stores, wholesales and factories U
Prance.
A Day With Kagawa, 3 reel, silent, 16 ma
Rental: Each of three above $3 per day. KM
for each additional showing or $10 per wteL
The first Consumer-Owned Department Store in the U.S.Columbus, Ohio

SPECIAL RECONSTRUCTION ISSUE
COOPERATION AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
from the Review of International Cooperation
THE ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF FREEDOM
Louis de Brouckere
THE PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE COMMON GOOD
Dr. Ruf, Editor, La Cooperation
COOPERATION AND THE STATE
POSTERS

Green. 5 for $1 ..................................................
Cooperative Principles. 19"x28"
Blue. 5 for $1 ...........................................__
Mulberry, 5 for $1 ............................................
the People, 19"x28", Red-White-andBlue, 5 for $1 ............................................._ J0|
Buy Co-op. 18"x2S". Red-White-and-Blue.
5" for $1 .................I..............................................
March On. Democracy, 19"x28"
Red-White-and-Blne, 5 for $1 ................... .|
Consumers' Cooperating
JUNE. 1 941
NATIONAL
from "Kooperatoren"
Articles and Reviews by Frank Harris, Jack McLanahan,
James P. Warbasse and James Drury
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
THE COVER
HALF A LOAF
For the past three months you have re

ceived special issues of Consumers' Co
operationdouble the number of pages
of the present issue and with a picture
cover and many illustrations inside. We
had hoped that subscriptions by the hun
dreds would pour in from enthusiastic
subscribers. The experiment was enthusi
astically received, but it did not bring
action in terms of new subscriptions.
With this issue we are returning to
16 pages, but are continuing the picture
cover and illustrations inside. We can
move forward as subscription income
grows but we need more consumers. If you
liked those special issues and want more
of themsay it with subscriptions!!!
$1 per year27 months for $2
Send your subscriptions to
The photograph on the cover of this

issue is of the first consumer-owned de
partment store in the United States.
Organized by a handful of employees of
the Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperatives in
Columbus in May 1935, the co-op now
has 780 members and owns one of the
smartest looking department stores in the
city. With a green marble front, modern
windows, fluorescent lighting throughout,
the co-op occupies the entire first floor of
the eight-story Farm Bureau Cooperative
Building in downtown Columbus.
Men's furnishings, ladies' wear, sodi
fountain, beauty shop, drug and toilet
goods department, electrical appliance
shop, tires and auto accessories, kitchen
and bathroom fixtures all find a place in
this multiple co-op shop.

DIVISIONS:



Name
Farm Bureau Mutual Auto Insurance Co.
Indiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Coop. Ass'n
Address
Publication
St. Paul, Minn.
New Age Living
Superior, Wisconsin
Cooperative Builder
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
116 E. 16 St., N. Y.
Consumers Defender
Delaware, Ohio
The Recreation Kit
Ohio Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Indianapolis, Ind.
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Berkeley, Calif.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Harrisburg, Penn.
Penn. Co-op Review
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
PEACE-PLENTY-DEMOCRACY
Volume XXVII. No. 6
JUNE. 1941
Ten Cents
CO-OP COMMENTS
"What I think we need more than anything else is a deep spiritual revival,
in which we begin to practice true Christianity," says Murray D. Lincoln, Presi
dent, The Cooperative League.
*
*
*
"Cooperatives enable you to practice on Monday to Saturday what is preached
on Sunday," said Edward A. Filene.
sji
sji
sjj
"The new spirit will be a cooperative spirit; the new man will be a coopera
tive man; the new world will be a cooperative world," says Dr. E. Stanley Jones.
"Impossible, you say? Well, all right, then I shall give myself to the impossible.
For I see that the opposite is not only impossible; it is ruinous."
*
*
*
This lifetime decision was made by Hyman Cohn, one of the organizers of
The Cooperative League, who died on the 25th anniversary of the League, "I
came to the conclusion that the moral force of The Golden Rule and the Sermon
on the Mount can only work through Consumers' Cooperation on the Rochdale
principles, like the force of electricity has to work through a machine." What a
decision to motivate a man's life! No wonder it was said of him, "Your work is
prized."
*
*
*
Preachers arid1 professors cannot be economic neutrals, no matter what the
cost, if they do their jobs. They cannot discuss economic problems in generalities
but must do, as Dr. M. M. Coady says, "PREACH AND TEACH IN SPECIFICS."
Religious and educational leaders do not do their full job of supplying inspiraAn organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the
under the Act of March 3. 1879. Price $1.00 a year.
I
H
tion and information when they take a neutral position. They must become specific
advocates of cooperative economic organization, which is the only thing that will
save freedom of religion and education. High credit should be paid by the Con
sumers' Cooperative Movement to the many preachers and professors who are
both advocates and practitioners of cooperation.
*
*
*
Father John C. Rawe, co-author with Msgr. Luigi G. Ligutti of "Rural Roads
to Freedom," has outlined in a recent article "A Program for Prosperity." He
drew on the Encyclical "Reconstructing the Social Order" which says, "Then only
will the economic and social organism be soundly established and attain its end
when it secures for all and each those goods which (1) the wealth and resources
of nature, (2) technical achievement, and (3) the social organization of eco
nomic affairs can give." What more is needed? Resources, techniques, organiza
tion. We have the first two. Abundant resources were put here by the Creator.
Previous generations of men have developed the techniques of automatic gas
and electric power production to turn these natural resources into finished prod
ucts. Now the job remaining to be done, which challenges this generation, is to
develop the necessary cooperative economic organization of society which will
eliminate the brake of profits on progress arid automatically distribute abundance
to all. The pressures of both plenty and poverty combine to force rapid action
to "Build Cooperatives Stronger and Faster."
"WE WERE THERE!!"
John Partanen of Cloquet, Minnesota, and John Taipale of Iron River, Wiscon
sin, could paraphrase the Apostle Paul and say, "We were not only present, but a part
of the organization of the Central Cooperative Wholesale of Superior." "Yes, Tai
pale and I were there," said Partanen, when they recently retired from the CCW
Directorate. "We dropped our coins in the hat to help make up the collection
of $15.50 which started the wholesale, and now look at the size of the organiza
tion." What satisfaction they must have had during all of the past quarter century
of their lives and will have during their .remaining years to feel that they helped
to start one of the ''outposts of the new social order" in the north central states.
It would be a study in human relations to compare what those who have lived in
the competitive world have missed, with what such cooperators have enjoyed.
*
*
*
"WHAT CAN I DO? ... A CONGRESSMAN GIVES THE ANSWER
"The true spirit of cooperatives," says Congressman Jerry Voorhis, "is ex
pressed by the messages and tidings associated generally with the Christmas
season. The cooperatives not only believe in a better distribution of wealth in
this country; they are acting to bring about better distribution of wealth. The
cooperatives not only believe in helping themselves; they must, to be successful,
believe in helping the other fellow too. The cooperatives, to live and to be suc
cessful, must be unselfish. The true cooperator, for example, who lives in the
city and works in industry, must be interested in the success of the cooperator
who lives on the farm. The true cooperator who lives on the farm must be inter
ested in the welfare of the cooperator in the city."
The above are extracts from-an address given by Congressman Voorhis in
the House of Representatives commemorating the 25th anniversary of The Co
operative League, which he introduced by saying, "I am giving to the House today
a picture of the work of our American cooperatives. I think this is the answer
to the question so often asked by our citizens: 'What can I do to help save my
country's institutions ?' "
130
While Kagawa's present mission to the United States is largely limited to a

discussion of the organization of the United Christian Church of Japan, his visit
to America reminds us all of the great service he rendered the Cooperative Move
ment when he was here in 1937. Two of his staccato statements made at that
time will be repeated' indefinitely: "Cooperatives are the economic foundation of
world peace." "Cooperatives are the love principle applied to industry."
*
*
*
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE CO-OPS, says the famous missionary
to India, Dr. E. Stanley Jones, in discussing:
A Cooperative World at Birth
"All the great answers to the world need are going in one direction the
direction of cooperation. That is the one hopeful thing on the horizon. Fascism
attempts to enlarge the area of cooperation, but stops within the limits of
the state. Within the state they have a cooperative order, a national socialism.
Nazism enlarges the area of co-operation, but stops within the limits of the
race. Within the superior Aryan race there is a national socialism, a coop
erative order. Communism enlarges the area of cooperation, but stops within
the limits of the class, the class of the workers. Within the limits of the
class of workers there is socialism, a cooperative order. It is true that they
say they are going to a classless society, but in the meantime there will be a
dictatorship of the proletariat, the class of workers. Communism stops within
the limits of the class with its cooperative endeavor.
"I repeat that all the great answers are going in one directioncooperation.
If all of these are going in one direction, why is there chaos and confusion
and war? For the simple reason that if you stop within the limits of the state,
you lay the foundation of clash between statesas now. If you stop within
the limits of the race, then other races will combine against youas now. If
you stop within the limits of the class, then other classes will combine against
you and there will be class war. All of these try to found life on a partial
truth and hence they will break down."
He concludes that there must be no limit to the application of the principle
of cooperation. Cooperation must include "the last man of every state, every
race, every class."
COOPERATIVE FELLOWSHIP
Cooperation is a practical movementa bread and butter movement. It has
to do with immediate economic benefits in the form of better quality, lower prices,
higher pay, improved working conditions. It has to do with ultimate economic
results in eliminating poverty, unemployment and tenancy. It 'deals with figures
and factories, with wholesaling and retailing, with gasoline and groceries.
Cooperation is also an idealisic movement. It is a way of organizing people
as well as of producing and distributing things. It is spiritual as well as material.
To endeavor to express an ideal human side of the movement at times is not
to overlook the practical economic side. To speak of cooperative fellowship does
not mean any failure to recognize the need of sound business. Brotherhood and
business are two sides of the same cooperative coin.
Recently within less than a month's time we had the privilege and' pleasure
of attending a number of cooperative meetings where the spirit of cooperative
fellowship was strongly evidentat a small group meeting, at a national com
mittee meeting, at an inter-regional representatives meeting, at an annual regional
meeting.
The Rochdale principles of Open Membership and One Person One Vote
cover the democratic or equal-freedom side of Cooperation. But no Rochdale
principle specifically covers Cooperative Fellowship. The Fellowship you feel
when you meet another member in the cooperative is far different than when you
meet someone in a chain store; the fellowship you feel when you meet
June, 1941
131
another member in a cooperative meeting is far different than when you meet
another stockholder in a corporation meeting; the fellowship you feel when
you are a member of a cooperative housing group is far different from when you
meet an ordinary neighbor.
If the sum of human rights is expressed in Life, Liberty and Ownership,
then Ownership is the economic side of Cooperation, Control is the Liberty side
and Fellowship is the Life side. Cooperative Fellowship may not be specifically
covered by any Rochdale principles, but it is just as real as Cooperative Control
arid Ownership which are definitely provided for.
Cooperative Fellowship is the vital ingredient of the Cooperative Movement.
Without it, no cooperative will be an economic success. With it, a cooperative
will not only succeed economically but will give to its members a supreme degree
of happiness in human relations not otherwise realized.
THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IS GETTING TOGETHER
The 25th Anniversary Congress last October was a great get-together for
the Consumers' Cooperative Movement. It demonstrated both the Unity and
Action of the Movement.
It has been apparent during the months since the Congress that the spirit
of get-together is spreading. Some of the evidences of this fact are the following:
The application for membership in The Cooperative League of additional
regional cooperatives.
A joint meeting of Committees of National Cooperatives arid1 United Coop
eratives.
An invitation by the Directors of The Cooperative League to the Directors
of National Cooperatives and United Cooperatives to hold a joint meeting.
The organization of Cooperative Insurance Services by Midland and Central
Cooperative Wholesales and their local cooperative members to jointly distribute
various kinds of insurance in the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
A half day program during the annual meeting of Farm Bureau Insurance
Services at Columbus, during which the State Secretary of a Labor Organization
and the State Secretary of a Farm Organization spoke on the same platform and
talked the same language.
The first annual meeting of Central States Cooperatives of Chicago, which
is the combined organization of the previous Central States Cooperative League
arid The Cooperative Wholesale, with the best report in the history of the organ
izations.
The settling of the controversy between the Cooperative Oil Association of
Caldwell, Idaho, and the Pacific Supply Cooperative of Walla Walla, Washing
ton, in a cooperative spirit of compromise.
The first meeting of the joint Legislative Committee of The Cooperative
League and National Cooperatives and the adoption of a national legislative
program. This meeting, in a sense, completed the initial job of financing and
staffing the Washington office, organizing a joint Legislative Committee and
adopting a program of action.
It is said that we progress by desire or necessitythat our progress is
measured by our degree of impulsion by desire, rather than compulsion by neces
sity. In all these significant indications of the getting together of the Movement
the action taken has been the result of voluntary desire. The leaders of the various
organizations which have been involved in these and other similar united activi
ties are to be congratulated over their increasing display of true cooperative spirit.
132
Editor's Note:In order that our readers may know what cooperators in Europe are
thinking about, we are reprinting on the next 5 pages extracts from four articles
which have recently appeared in their cooperative publications. Some words which
are used are not common in America, such as the use of the word "Liberalism" for
Capitalism, and the use of the word "Corporative" for Communism and Fascism.
These articles emphasize in particular the increasing need of developing Coopera
tion, and the danger of the temporary and necessary use of the State becoming
permanent.
COOPERATION AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
HE New Order which is to assure

the maintenance of the future Peace
of the World after the war is a subject
of vital importance for humanity, and
many opinions are being expressed as to
the basis upon which it should be estab
lished.
The Malvern Conference
Recommendations
The following proposals which ema

nated from a Conference convened by
the Archbishop of York at Malvern are
of special interest to Cooperators as they
so dearly express a desire for an Order
of society which the application of the
Rochdale Principles is capable of as
suring
1. The industrial world as we know
it offends at many points against the prin
ciples which we have affirmed. To a large
extent production is carried on not to
supply the consumer with goods but to
bring profits to the producer; arid the
producer in turn is often subordinated to
the purely financial ends of those who
own the capital plant or supply the credit
to erect or work it.
2. This method of ordering industry,
which tends to treat human work and
human satisfaction alike as means to a
false endnamely, monetary gainbe
comes a source of unemployment at home
and dangerous competition for markets
abroad. We have seen the unemployment
of Germany cured by an armament pro
gram, whether adopted primarily for this
purpose or not, and have cured our own,
though (even so) not completely, by the
same means. The system under which we
June, 1941
From the Review of

International Cooperation
have lived has been a predisposing cause
of war, even though those who direct
and profit by it have desired peace.
3. The monetary system should be so
administered that what the community
can produce is made available to the
members of the community, the satisfac
tion of human needs being accepted as
the only true end of production.
4. This status of man as man, inde
pendently of the economic process, must
find expression in the managerial frame
work of industry, the rights of labour
must be recognized as in principle equal
to those of capital in the control of in
dustry, whatever the means by which this
transformation is effected.
5. In international trade, a genuine
interchange of mutually-needed commod
ities must take the place of a struggle for
a so-called favourable balance.
I.C.A. Declaration of Cooperation
In January, 1936, the International Co
operative Alliance published a Declara
tion on the Significance of Cooperative
Economy which sets out in the following
six points how Cooperative Economy dif
fers from Capitalistic Economy
I. It substitutes the service of the com
munity for the profit of the individual,
establishes a genuine interdependence be
tween its members throughout the world
and a means, through international asso
ciation, of achieving equilibrium in the
economic sphere between the needs of
the people and world resources.
II. It dethrones capital from the dic
tatorship of economic life and puts in its
place the Association of Mankind on the
133
2. The preceding principle would be

quite wrongly understood if it were in
terpreted to mean that the producer must
III. It provides in its economic de
be placed in a dependent or subordinate
vice of "Dividend on Purchase" an im
Parallels of Principles and Practice
position in relation to the consumer. Co
mediate financial benefit, and an access
It will be seen that the proposals of
operation does not forget that producers
of independence to the Wage-earning the Malvern Conference are in striking
that is to say, the great majority of men
Consumer.
harmony with the Declaration of the Al
and women in the prime of lifecan
IV. It secures to the Agricultural liance, and that their goal can be achieved
only be separated from consumers by an
Producer, among other benefits, relief by Cooperative Economy. It is not sur
effort of abstraction. Within these two
from exploitation in the purchase of the prising that proposals of this character
categories, which the economist distin
machinery and materials of his industry, should emanate from such a Conference,
guishes for the purpose of his exposition,
and also markets for his produce which for have not some of the greatest leaders
are found the same individuals, and
yield him a reasonable return without of our Movement often emphasized that
whoever has carried out to the full his
the Principles of Rochdale Cooperation
exploiting the consumer.
duty as a producer has, by so doing,
had their birth in the Sermon on the
greatly strengthened his claim to an ef
V. It confers direct benefits upon a Mount; and the basic Cooperative Prin
fective satisfaction of his needs as a con
ir
very large section of the community
ciple, "Each for all, and All for Each,"
sumer.
respective of their social condition.
is it not simply a variation in phrasing
The same fundamental arguments have
VI. It provides a solution of the prob
of the Second Great Commandment > led the cooperative movement to apply
lems of employment, wages and general "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself"?
very similar rules or organization for the
Individuals which it groups as producers
as well as to those which it unites as
THE ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF FREEDOM
consumers. That was also the pre-occuBy Professor Louis de Brouckere,
pation of the Rochdale Pioneers, not
Former Professor of Cooperation at
withstanding the difficulties which the
the University of Brussels
circumstances of their times created. To
(From The Cooperative News)
day it is being achieved by the agricul
T WAS cooperation which first pro
the path which has already led the rural
tural cooperative societies and more fully
vided a full realization of the eco
population of so many countries to such
by those "cooperative chains" in which
nomic organization of freedom. For great success.
the Association of Consumers distributes
nearly a century it has shown the way, Giving Freedom its
the produce of the Agricultural Society,
and the value of its solutions has been Character and Force
produce which has been brought from its
strikingly demonstrated by success. What
raw state to a consumable state by a series
It would, perhaps, be well to recall
cooperation has already achieved in a briefly those of our principles which give
of operations also carried out coopera
wide domain can inspire other successful this freedom its character and its force,
tively.
solutions in different domains.
the extent of which we are sometimes
Foundations of Freedom
Wherever the cooperative movement liable to forget.
3. Cooperation is essentially volun
has achieved its greatest successes, it pre
1. Cooperation has given a moral
It does not aim at compelling men
tary.
of
ex
federation
a
well
as
is
this
reality,
sents itself in
value to production;
and forcing happiness upon them against
households. It creates the mighty "bas
pressed in the habitual formula"protheir will. It only appeals to reason in
ket," around which the baskets of thou
diction for service, not for profit." From
order to obtain voluntary members. Co
sands of housewives unite. It safeguards the cooperative standpoint man is no
operation belongs to the category of free
farms,
small
the
the independence of
longer the means through which wealth
associations which, during the past cen
while assuring to them the advantages is obtainedand for which he is ex
tury, have increased in every sphere of
enjoyed by the biggest enterprises. Coop
ploitedbut the object, and it is because
life, material and spiritual, which now
eration will procure the same advantages labor supplies the needs of man that it
their members in tens of millions,
count
the
and
artisan
for the households of the
has meaning and nobility; every rational
arid1 which give such a new character to
small trader as soon as these sorely tried economic organization must primarily
modern life.
members of the so-called middle classes concern itself with the needs which have
4. Cooperation is absolutely demo
give up seeking their salvation in an im
to be met, and then decide how they can
cratic. All authority emanates from the
possible return to a dead past, and take be satisfied in the best and fullest manner.
basis of mutual and active participation
in the enterprise.
conditions of labour on the highest plane

of advantage to the employees which
economic conditions permit.
134
June, 1941
cooperators, and nothing is done without

their decision and approval.
5. Cooperative democracy is as equalitarian as it is libertarian. The members
participate on equal terms in all decisions
without regard to class or wealth. Each
has but one vote, no matter how many
shares he may hold. If any distinction is
made between members as regards the
distribution of social advantages, it is not
based on the amount of share capital, but
solely on the extent of a member's needs
as shown by his purchases.
6. Cooperative democracy is also an
interdependent democracy; "Each For
All, All For Each." An ever increasing
proportion of its surpluswhich on ac
count of its prosperity, it not needed for
its businessis devoted to works of mu
tual aid. It protects its members against
ignorance by its educational activities and
against the hardships of life by its in
surance institutions. It considers its first
duty to be the strengthening of that basis
which is essential to all real social life
security.
Nothing Succeeds Like Cooperation
Anyone who knew nothing of coopera

tive activities would probably think that
these formulas represent only purely ab
stract ideas born in the mind of some the
orist. He might even smile at their ideal
ismnot to speak of their naivity.
But how amazed he would be to learn
that, throughout the whole world, everincreasing masses of the people are car
rying on many of the transactions neces
sary to their economic life according to
these '"dreams," and that their organiza
tions, far from being found in ruins, have
had remarkable prosperity.
Indeed, our Movement has plainly
demonstrated the immense value of eco
nomic democracy by the sole argument
which is irrefutable; by putting it suc
cessfully into practice. We can under
stand the feeling of pride which led
Charles Gide to say, "Cooperation is the
only social experiment which has suc
ceeded."
135
THE PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE COMMON GOOD
T IS certain that the free play of "na

tural laws," from which liberalism
(capitalism) expected the common good,
has led the world into the worst of chaos,
and through this to a policy of State in
tervention which cannot without injus
tice be made a complaint against the
State. Is it not incumbent upon the State
to restore order? And is not the State
called on to assist, in the last resource?
It is a truism to say that intervention is
born of the need to palliate the deficien
cies of private activity, but it would be
necessary to make it clear that in the ma
jority of cases this deficiency is a synonym
of disorder and abuse. One cannot de
mand more from private initiative than
the pursuit of the profit aims to which it
is devoted, and which, when not checked,
are generally only attained at the expense
of the whole community.
Private Interests the Basis of
the Corporative Order
The imperious necessity for an ulti

mate organisation of economic life will,
indeed, not be denied, and, consequently,
of carrying out a preliminary grouping
of enterprises and professional branches.
But the suggestion will perhaps be per
mitted that, even if these economic cor
porations thus established are capable of
carrying out useful coordinating and ad
visory functions, they will, nevertheless,
in virtue of their nature, preserve their
initial objects, which remain of a private
order. By what sudden grace would these
private and, as a rule, conflicting interests
inconditionally subordinate themselves to
reneral aims ? The professional order, un
fitted by definition to identify itself with
the general interest with which it claims
a connection, cannot do so except through
its subjection to the State. And it is thus
that liberalism, in preparing the way for
Stateism, finally produces a kind of to
talitarian monster.
136
COOPERATION AND THE STATE
By Dr. Ruf, Editor, LA COOPERATION

Published by the Swiss Cooperative Union
From: "KOOPERATOREN"
Published by Kooperativa Forbundet of Sweden
VER large areas of the world, ideological development is in many

places in sharp contrast to those ideas of
democracy which, during the rise and
expansion of the Consumers' Movement,
constituted its proper "living space." As
to the organization of economic life, this,
in conscious or unconscious assimilation
with authoritarian thought, has taken an
increasingly compulsory form with unmistakable features directed precisely
against the creative idea of Cooperation,
Even in the democratic countries, national economy, following the outbreak
of war, was partly clothed in the garb of
compulsory organization in order to withstand the effects of the crisis. There is,
however, a risk that the democracies
themselves will not be able to keep apart
the two sharply distinct forms of state
compulsory organization, the corporative
philosophy of the New Order and the
crisis order imposed by necessity.
Vigorous propaganda of ideas on the
part of the Cooperative Movement is,
therefore, necessary in order to make clear
the difference. On one hand, we have
the economic philosophy which sees in
self-sufficiency a necessary step towards
increasing the power of the State, and
regards its effects upon the standard of
living of the individual as something
quite subsidiary; on the other, the opinion which sees the raising of the standard
of living as the aim of economic life,
that is to say, which consciously endeavours to uproot poverty and backwardness,
and as one of the most important means
The question of knowing to what ex

tent this political system, revolving upon
powerful private organizations, will itself
be in a condition to bring about the tri
umph of the essential principle of public
well-being, and which, for us, is incar
nated in the consumer, remains to be
answered.
CooperationThe New Order
Is this order desirable in the eyes of

cooperators? Let us flatly answer, no.
How far it is from and contrary to our
idea of order as expressed in Coopera
tion, which alone, in our opinion, re
flects the general interest. For it is cre
ated precisely as a result of the need for
true order which aims at ensuring for all,
without restriction or injustice, the satis
faction of legitimate requirements. By
its action it alone provides the concrete
proof that it knows how to harmonize
private with social aims while serving
both.
Starting from needs, the Cooperative
Movement provides a sound division of
work, production and distribution. It is
the Cooperative Order, a positive notion,
which prospers through the free adher
ence of individuals and their active and
fraternal participation in the common
task without waste or antagonism. With
out the Cooperative Movement there
would be no real order but that imposed
by the compulsion of power, in other
words, the eternal jungle, more or less
policed.
to this end envisages collaboration based

on freedom and' free-will between consumers and between the countries, within
the framework of an appropriate international division of labour,
Accordingly it becomes all the more
important that propaganda of cooperative ideas should drive home and make
clear to the members of the Movement
that the present compulsory economic organization is a necessary evil which has
come upon us as a result of the crisis, but
which is totally undesirable. All the sacrifices and privations which war economy
imposes on the individual should give
food for thought, and the obvious possibility that, even in the democratic countries, a large measure of State influence
upon national economy will remain,
There is nothing to be said1 against this
on the part of the Cooperative Movement,
As long as the State is truly democratic
it cannot have any interest in restricting
the Movement's freedom and the right
of all citizens to free economic organizations, strong in action. The real interest
of the Government in democratic countries should, therefore, be to aim at
strengthening all forms of practical collaboration between consumers. But, at the
same time, it must be assumed that in
democratic countries after the war all
unnecessary compulsion over economic
life will be abolished, and that the Cooperative Movement, like other forms of
enterprise, will have much greater possibility than at present to function to the
advantage of the community.
First Annual
R E C I S T E R
ALL AMERICAN TOUR OF COOPERATIVES
kl
law 9PPor*nnity to see America's co-ops at work"
July 7-19
^^ \Af
^ ^^
2600 miles $88
** For information write

THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE. 167 West 12th Street, New York
Consumers' Cooperation f
June, 1941
---1
137
Hostel Hospitality
THE TRAIL TO CO-OP FUN
T LONG last, the cooperative move

ment has recognized and given rec
reation the place it deserves. The social
needs of cooperators can be filled
throughout the nation by well-organized
programs of cooperative recreation. The
principles of recreation for fun and for
the satisfaction to be gained from crea
tive activity have been accepted and put
into practice. As a result, many coopera
tors have been introduced to folk danc
ing, crafts, dramatics, games, group sing
ing, etc. And what fun they've had
playing!
But are all the recreational needs of
our friends filled by these community
groups? No. Everyone deserves, particu
larly during the spring, summer and fall,
to spend his time outdoors in the coun
try. And have we a means at hand by
which we can spend our week-ends and
vacations in the open and also in a co
operative manner? I should say we have.
Hosteling furnishes the answer. For
hosteling, besides being the most eco
nomical mode of traveling and enjoying
the beauties and wonders of nature, is
also a truly cooperative way of living.
Much more so than our daily existence
at home, at work and even at play.
"What's that you say? What is hos
teling and how can it affect me? And
what do you mean when you say it's more
cooperative than my present activities?"
Let's Go Hosteling
Suppose, instead of just answering your
questions, you come with me on the trip
I'm planning for this week-end. I'll bet
we have swell weather, probably we'll
get a swim in, arid certainly we ought to
get a good coat of tan. I'll tell you what
to do, meet me tomorrow night and we'll
decide where to go. You see we do our
own planning. Is that a date? Swell.
Gosh, I thought you weren't going to
show up. But now that you're here, let's
get down to mapping our route. I just
got the 1941 copy of the American Youth
Hostel handbook and boy, oh, boy, it
138
lists lots of new hostels in different sec

tions of the country. And I found some
swell new ones near us. How would you
like to bicycle out to the hostel at Sussex?
It's a dairy farm and the houseparents
are real friendly people. What's that?
Oh, sure. All the hostels are different.
Sometimes they are barns converted into
hostels, or else a building that wasn't
used. But one thing they all have in
common, the houseparents are folks who
love to have us around to talk to and play
with.
It's agreed then ? We'll bicycle out to
Sussexthat's only forty miles, an easy
trip in a day. Of course, if you wish, as
long as its a week-end trip and we're not
going from one hostel to another, we
could go directly to the hostel by car
or train. Ordinarily, if we were going
from one hostel to another, as we do on
our vacation, we'd have to travel under
our own steam. I'm glad you'd rather
bike though. It's fun to see the country
side at a leisurely pace.
Well, I'll drop a card to the hostel
and let them know we're coming. I guess
there'll be a bunch of other hostelers
there. It's quite a popular hostel. By the
way, you'd better wear a minimum of
clothing. I think I'll just wear my shorts
and a pair of sandals, although I'll carry
a shirt to wear going through towns. Be
sides that, all we'll need is a sheet sleep
ing sack and a plate, cup, knife and fork.
That's one advantage of hosteling. We
can travel light because all the heavy
equipment, such as pots and pans and
blankets are already at the hostel, and we
can use them, if we have a pass, for the
nominal fee of 25c. a night and 5c. fuel
charge.
Oh, didn't you get your pass yet?
Send to the AYH, Northfield, Mass.
right away because you'll want it for the
week-end. It will cost you two dollars for
the year, although if you were under 21,
it would only cost you a dollar. And it's
worth it!
And so after an interesting ride on

secondary roads, taking our time and en
joying the sights, and an invigorating
swim in a stream we saw beside the road,
we arrived at the hostel at 5 o'clock
the time most hostelers pull in from their
day's travels.
The houseparents greeted us warmly
and after giving them our passes, (they
sign them before we leave) we prepared
our bunks and then decided to set about
preparing supper. There were three other
fellows and four girls already at the
hostel and we all decided to pool our
food and have a co-op supper together.
The meal passed in hilarious fashion, en
livened by the dry slow humor of the
housefather, who had been invited with
his wife to eat with us. My friend was
truly impressed with the spirit of comaraderie evidenced on such brief acquain
tanceship. After the meal, we all put to,
and had the dishes cleaned up in a jiffy.
Make Your Own Fun
"Now," said my friend, "what will we
do for fun tonight? Is there a movie in
town?" The other hostelers laughed and
said that my friend must be new at hosteling. With that, one took out an old
fiddle and in two shakes of a lamb's
tail, we were running through some
square dances we all knew. After awhile,
we tired and sat around the fire singing
all the folk songs we could remember,
turning in at 10:30 for a good night's
sleep.
Up bright and early the next morning,
we all had breakfast together (the two
meals costing us each 38c.) and then,
two of the hostelers who weren't in a
hurry decided to stay with us awhile
and do some repair work that was needed
on the roof of the hostel. The carpentry
my friend and I had been doing with
the co-op crafts group came in handy.
We had a good time puttering about and
then with our two new friend's, we hiked
back to the city together.
Once back in the city we parted, after
arranging to get together for another
trip soon. Later that evening at Play
Consumers' Cooperation June, 1941
Co-op I overheard a very enthusiastic

voice raving about the benefits and fun of
hosteling to a small circle of interested
listeners. Of course it was my friend.
This is what he was saying:
Group Action for Group Good
"You don't know what you're missing.

All the fun we have here folk dancing,
singing, doing crafts, playing games, etc.
were crowded into one week-end of hos
teling just as naturally as you please. And
what swell friends I made. You know,
when I started, I wasn't sure Frank knew
what he was talking about when he said
that hosteling was more cooperative than
anything else I didbut do you know
we all worked together as a group for
the group's good (and there's no racial
or religious discrimination in hosteling,
either). We pooled our resources and
bought our food together, lowering the
cost of our meals for each of us, and
we all felt that the hostel was our re
sponsibility and we pitched in with vim
to clean it up and a few of us stayed and
did some repair work in the morning.
And gee, each of us contributed to the
evening's entertainment but no one
acted as an individual, it was just the way
we play here."
HERE'S AN IDEA
FOR GETTING YOUR NEWS ACROSS
T HAS been said that one picture is

worth 10,000 words. By whom it was
said and under what circumstances would
make a good question for a quiz pro
gram, but doesn't concern us here. How
ever, it does suggest something for co
op publicity and press that seems to have
been overlooked. It is the use of more
pictures and illustrations.
If there is truth in the above quoted
statement, we cooperators should cancel
out some of the space that we daily fill
with word's and substitute a few pictures.
Of course the answer usually comes
back that pictures cost too much. But if
there is anything like a comparison be
tween one picture and 10,000 words,
maybe the cost isn't as great as we think.
Ten thousand words take up space and
cost a lot to set and make up. One pic
ture couldn't cost as much. Maybe we've
too readily accepted the idea that pic
tures cost so much more than words that
they must be ruled out.
Pictures Not a Luxury
Give it some thought and I believe

you'll find that pictures aren't expensive
luxuries in a publicity program but a
real necessity. How to get them is the
next question.
If yours is a co-op paper you will have
an editor, staff arid contributors. These
may be paid or they may be volunteer
workers. In any case the first thing to do
is to get cameras into their hands. Pro
vide them with cameras, or urge them
to buy one. Maybe the paper can afford
to give cameras as prizes in a picture or
news contest.
Here again people tend to think that
cameras are expensive. That might have
been true in the past but is not so today.
There are a number of inexpensive mod
els on the market that do a good job.
As a low priced camera that will serve
all purposes I'd recommend the Agfa
Shur-Flash "Pioneer" or "Chief" or the
Eastman 620 Flash Brownie. These cam140
Jack McLanahan
eras come with flash attachment syn

chronized with the shutter and can be
used indoors or out with equal ease. Cost
is around five 'dollars.
Five of the Midland fieldmen have
used cameras of this type with excellent
results. The greater portion of the pic
tures used in the Midland Cooperator
since last summer have been taken with
such cameras.
Ready to Shoot
Now that some of the staff or your

members have cameras, you are ready to
snap the 10,000 words. It doesn't take
a lot of skill. Read directions and be will
ing to do a little experimenting. Carry the
camera with you at all times, ready for
indoor or outdoor use. Agfa Super Pan
Press or Eastman Super Double X film
will cover both assignments with satis
factory results. Whenever you see some
thing that has news or interest value,
snap it. You will be surprised how soon
you'll begin to "see a picture" in almost
every situation. Take several pictures of
each subject. If you get one good print
out of every five, you are doing well.
After prints are made, cuts can be run
for newspapers or magazines. In the case
of offset printing, the print is used di
rect and it is not necessary to have a cut.
If the picture has come out at all well,
whether used in the paper or not, send
the negative to the person or persons of
whom the picture has been taken. I've
found that this is appreciated and builds
good will. It's a lot better than just let
ting the negative clutter up your desk.
manner. In many cases results of this

kind will offset the cost of many pictures.
Think about using pictures when de
signing your papers, bulletins, leaflets and
other publicity. Your budget will keep
you from spending a lot, but with some
careful planning you'll be able to afford
John Carson
W7ASHINGTONOut of the NaW tional Nutrition Conference, where

several hundred 'delegates listened to
good scientific speeches and windy politi
cal blather came one important develop
ment. Paul V. McNutt, Federal Security
Administrator, committed himself and
the Roosevelt administration to an allout crusade in support of a program
any program the conference could agree
uponto see that the 40 per cent of our
people who are ill-fed, shall be fed. With
the nation already sold on diets and vita
mins by the profit-motivated industries,
the Nutrition Conference blazed into a
crusade. It started a band wagon moving
so rapidly the Administration leaders
will have to ride it out. The net result is
How to Win Friends
There is another angle to making pic

tures that is frequently overlooked. It is
the effect on the subject. People like to
have their pictures taken and as you go
about with your camera you'll be winning
friends. And if you do finally run their
pictures you have a friend for life. I've
found it a good way to "crack" situations
that can't be approached in any other
more pictures in place of the printed line

than you ever figured was possible be
fore. You'll dress up your publicity, give
it more reader appeal and get people to
look at it. And remember, what people
see makes a far greater impression than
what they read or hear.
Congressman Voorhis
June, 1941
that the advocates of a program of dis

tributing abundance, rather than skinning
off scarcity, are in the saddle. This Con
ference, despite its obvious political
foster-fathering, may do more to change
our economic policies than any one force
recently developed.
*
*
*
The People's' Lobby, an organization
sponsored by the irrepressible Ben
Marsh, staunch Single Tax leader, called
on Congressman Jerry Voorhis and Wal
lace J. Campbell to tell radio listeners
over a national hook-up how and why
consumer cooperatives were the practical
way to help consumers. So enthusiastic
was the audience that Marsh is planning
another radio broadcast.
*
*
*
When the legislative committee of the
Cooperative League of the U.S.A. arid
National Cooperatives agreed to carry
through to a successful conclusion the
fight of the cooperatives for the right to
do business cooperatively in the distribu
tion of bituminous coal, the committee
forced to the surface the broad issue of
a free economic system or a controlled
economic system. The issue exists now
in the handling of coal. Some of the oil
interests are flirting with price fixing by
government, rather than by the oil trust.
Oil regulation and price fixing may not
be debated during this Congress, unless
the defense price-fixers precipitate it. But
it is certain to come when the oil trust
realizes consumers are organizing and de
veloping the strength to gain freedom.
The fight for freedom in handling coal
is being slowly organized. It is probable
141
the hearing before the Coal Division,

where Midland Cooperative Wholesale
sought recognition of its rights, will be
reopened to fill any holes in the official
record. Then if a court case develops, the
issue will be clear and positive. At the

same time, the legislative fight to get a
declaration of cooperative rights from
Congress should soon be under way
again.

Washington, D. C.Consumer cooperatives in the nation's capital doubled' their
volume of business, opened a new gro
cery store and moved into their own
modern service station building during
the past year. Volume of business of all
the co-ops reached the $300,000 mark.
Rochdale Stores' sales jumped from
$117,000 in 1939 to $231,000 in 1940
with membership growing from 613 to
978. Sales for Konsum service station and
repair shop boomed from $19,000 to
$44,000 in the same period. Consumers
Services, Inc., a group of small grocery
buying clubs, and Konsum Credit Union
also reported marked progress.
New YorkThe Amalgamated Coopera
tive Apartments, the world's largest ten
ant-owned housing development in the
United States, has completed plans for
the construction of three new buildings
containing 48 two and three room apart
ments. Half of the new apartments have
been subscribed for and construction is
scheduled to start in June.
DetroitA group of trade unionists
who have been studying cooperative
housing for the past year have purchased
a 120-acre tract 13 miles from Detroit
for their housing project. Capital was
raised through the Cooperative Thrift
Guild in which the members deposited
a small percentage of their wages each
week.
New YorkConsumers Cooperative Ser
vices, New York's chain of eight co-op
cafeterias, will raise $5,000 capital to
expand its baking facilities, according to
a decision reached at the annual meeting
here May 23. CCS is now supplying
bread to many of the cooperative stores
in the area through Eastern Cooperative
Wholesale. The expansion program is
142
necessary to keep ahead of the growing

f -'---/~v'r> L--c~~ '"'^
J J for
The- cafeterias
bread.' *"
CO-OP
demand
made a small net saving on their $401,000 business last year.
Minneapolis Midland Cooperative
Wholesale got off to a good start toward
its goal of five million dollars this year
by rolling up a sales record of $1,093,369
in its petroleum and grocery divisions
for the first quarter. This is more than
20% ahead of volume for the first quar
ter last year.
Superior, WisconsinApril, the Booster
drive month, saw sales volume of Central
Cooperative Wholesale jump forward to
$402,505 bringing the first four months
sales for the co-op wholesale to $1,411,049 an increase of $189,900 over the
same period last year.
Columbus, OhioThe Farm Bureau Co
operative Association pushed its total
business to a new high of $1,870,207 for
the first three months of 1941, marking
a gain of 24% above the first quarter in
1940.
Regina, Saskatchewan An absorption
and stabilization plant is being added to
the new plant of the Consumers Coop
erative Refineries at a cost of $25,000.
This unit will increase the gasoline yield
from crude oil from eight to ten per cent.
The equipment is expected to pay for it
self in less than one year.
Superior, WisconsinOver 150 'delegates
from three states meeting here May 3 and
--. .,.,,
llth
convention of the
annual ,.^.,.
for the
4-
Northern States Cooperative Youth
" '"2000 by
'' ' motto
' ' as their
TLeague accepted
"42" and made plans to boost their mem
bership from 1,500 where it stands today
to 2,000 by the next convention. Sixteen
new locals and 400 new members were

added last year.
North Kansas City, Mo."You ought
to be transferring the permanence of the
cooperative idea into steel and stone,"
Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the world's
foremost architects, said when he visited
the Consumers Cooperative Association
here May 8. Mr. Wright discussed with
Howard Cow'den ideas for a new head
quarters and factory buildings for CCA
and said when he departed, "It's easy to
get me back here. All you need to do is
to start building."
Hampton, Virginia"The best test of
the usefulness of a cooperative is its
ability to act as a pace setting influence
for profit business," W. G. Wysor, gen
eral manager of Southern States Coop
erative, told educators, churchmen, coop
erative and credit union representatives
who met at Hampton Institute here
May 5 and 6 for the third of a series
of conferences sponsored by the South
eastern Cooperative Education Associa
tion.
"Southern States Cooperative does
about 15% of the farm supply business
in the five southern states it serves. But
it sets the pace for both price arid quality
for the other 85% of the industry, there
by saving all farmers in these states sev
eral million dollars a year," Mr. Wysor
said. Organized in 1923, Southern States
Cooperative will purchase about $17,000,000 worth of commodities and ser
vices for its 100,000 members this year.
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES
IN COOPERATIVES
The First Ail-American Tour of Cooperatives
Starting at Columbus, Ohio, July 7 and clos
ing in Kansas City, July 19National Cooperative Recreation School
Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, June 14-27.
National Cooperative Publicity and Education
Conference
Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, June 26-28.
Firtt Summer School on Careers in Consumers'
Cooperation
New York City and Amherst, Mass., July 7
to August 23.
California Cooperative Institute
Camp Sierra, July 12-19.
Camp Shau'nee Institute
The Cooperative Federation of New Jersey,
July 12-19The Eastern Cooperative League Institute
Amherst, Mass., August 3-9.
Camp Newton-Hamilton Institute
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative
Ass'n, Camp Newton-Hamilton, July 22-25.
Eastern Regional Recreation Workshop
Hudson Shore Labor School, August 16-23.
CCA's First Co-op Summer Institute
Estes Park, Colorado, the week of August 4.
Circle Pines Center
A series of institutes on Cooperative Business
Management, Recreation, Housing, Labor, EducationV Youth, Health, Women's Guild and Stu
dent Cooperatives running consecutively from
July 6 through September 6, near Hastings,
Michigan.
REVIEWS
INTRODUCTION To THE COOPERATIVE MOVE
MENT, by Andrew J. Kress, Harper and
Bros., New York, 370 pages, $3.00.
(Available through The Cooperative
League)
This book is a selection of readings as
sembled to supply contrasting viewpoints about
the consumer cooperative movement. Some of
the selections deal with cooperative history,
others appraise various schools of cooperative
thought while still others are descriptive of
the many fields of cooperative action. Included
are selections on cooperative medicine, coop
erative finance, the producers movement, the
marketing of agricultural products and the in-
June, 1941
ternational cooperative movement. There is

also a section on cooperative statistics.
Life today is so complex it is extremely
difficult to see the whole or the inter-play of
the parts within the whole. Most of us are lim
ited in an outlook through specialization. Those
spheres of social activity in which we find our
daily contacts absorb so much of our attention,
we fail to recognize them as but a part of a
much greater whole.
And so it is with cooperation. Many people
know little and care less about it. Others ac
cept it as a complete answer to all our ills or
may go to the other extreme and set themselves
in violent opposition to it. Rare is the indi-
143
vidual with a gift for synthesis, who can select,

weigh, and relate the parts to the whole of
which they are a part.
Professor Kress makes an effort to do this.
His sources range far and wide over the field
of cooperative action. His decision as to what
to include in the way of contrasting viewpoints
is of course open to criticism but such criticism
would also apply to any alternate selection.
The student, however, will find at the end
of each chapter a carefully balanced bibliogra
phy to enable him to delve deeper and explore
more completely the contrasting and sometimes
conflicting points of view found in the author's
selection.
Our concept of democracy is so different from
even that of England or France, it might have
been appropriate for the author to express a
word of caution about interpreting the selec
tions of authors from other countries and at
tempting to note their possible application here.
So frequently, apparent conflicts are due more
to the circumstances in which cooperation is
found than to conflict in the essentkl nature of
cooperation itself.
Educational committees and local discussion
groups should find this book a real stimulus to
pertinent discussion of cooperation. Teachers
should find it especially valuable as collateral
reading in courses in economics, marketing and
sociology. And finally, the cooperative execu
tive, hard pressed for time should find it a
convenient way to make the acquaintance of
authors whose books they have always intended
to read.
JAMES C. DRURY
COOPERATION AT HOME AND ABROAD, VOL. II

1908-1938, by C. R. Fay, M.A., D.Sc,
London: P. S. King & Son, 1939. 540
pages. $5.
The first volume of this work was published
in 15>08. This present volume deals with coop
erative^ progress since that time. It gives also a
resume of the evolution of the cooperative idea
from the time of Owen, the Christian Socialists,
and the early British movement. While Mr.
Fay has not distorted the conception of coopera
tion by mixing it with the state as have the
Webbs, he has always confused agricultural
marketing by classifying it with consumer co
operation. Indeed, agricultural cooperation has
always enjoyed his special attention, and con
sumer cooperation has been discussed by him
under "industrial cooperation" along with work
ers' profit sharing industries.
It is a strange thing that, with the exception
of Charles Gide and a paltry few other economic
teachers, consumer cooperation has been con
fused with a multitude of interests yholly un
like it and philosophically unrelated to it. I
have no hesitation in saying that the consumer
cooperative movement never will be on a sound
basis, will never be in a position to take its
144
CONSUMERS
COOPERATION
place in the changing world and stand out as a

dominant way of life and of business until its
leaders understand its unique quality. Consum
er cooperation is different and unrelated to
any other economic system. And this fact is not
yet grasped by its promoters.
This book on cooperation gives a few pages
to consumer cooperation but it gives chapters to
agricultural marketing and workers' copartner
ship. When we turn to "Cooperation in the
United States," we find the chapter opening
with "Farm Credit." Then comes "Cooperative
Marketing." This is followed by a chapter on
the A.A.A. There are 34 pages dealing with the
McNary-Haugen bill, California Fruit Growers,
California Walnut Growers, Eatmore Cran
berries, Interstate Milk Producers Association,
and other capitalistic profit business. Consumer
cooperation is treated only under the heading
of "Cooperative Purchasing." Under this cap
tion, the reader finally finds about one page
which indicates that there are consumers in the
United States engaged in a more or less unco
ordinated attempt to supply some of their needs.
Here the author speaks of "general store-keep
ing, the grave of old cooperative hopes." What
is called "cooperative purchasing" Mr. Fay
treats as a device which the farmer has added
as a sort of fifth wheel to his market wagon.
"How far and in what districts the range of
supply is being extended to include domestic
goods, is not easy to discover; and here above
all the external student would welcome an aca
demic monograph." The reviewer would sug
gest that the "external student," if he should
turn out to be a student, will find easy access
to the information he needs in the voluminous
literature on American cooperation from the
hands of Cowling, Daniels, Bergengren, Parker,
Failor, Schmalz and a score of others.
This book on cooperation contains no men
tion of the organized cooperative movement in
the United States. Still it is rich with informa
tion on other subjects. European cooperation is
well represented and discussed up to the out
break of the present war. There is much infor
mation about the cooperatives in the totalitarian
countries.
Mr. Fay writes as historian rather than as
economist. He shows that the Rochdale Pioneers
discovered none of the Rochdale Principles but
got them from other societies. The idea of the
"dividend" had been used by the society of
Meltham Mills and others for several years, and
the Lennoxtown Society had employed it thirty
years before. He contrasts Gide with the Webbs,
and says of Gide that "he was not torn between
cooperation and socialism.
This book is useful as a repository of facts
concerning ancillary subjects; and the cooperator may be grateful that cooperation has not
been wholly ignored.
Party Starts on First All-American Co-op Tour

TEACHING COOPERATION AT PINE MOUNTAIN
Gladys Hill and Vera R. Hackman
INSIDE WASHINGTONCapitol Letter

JUNE CONFERENCE REPORTS
J. P. WARBASSE
JULY, 1941
John Carson
AUDITORS MAP PROGRAM TO MEET EMERGENCY

Laurie Lehrin
EDITORS AND EDUCATORS CALL FOR CO-OP
WAR EMERGENCY DRIVE
PLAN FOR ARCHITECTURAL MODERNIZATION
WOMEN'S GUILDS PLAN MORE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL CO-OP RECREATION SCHOOL
A
NATIONAL
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
SEND A SUBSCRIPTION TO
YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
The national magazine of the consum
ers' cooperative movement ought to be
available in every public library in the
country. Already we have hundreds of
college, school and public libraries on
our subscription list. These are only a
small part of the libraries which ought
to be receiving copies. Many a cooperator got his first knowledge of the
American movement through books and
magazines he read in his local library.
You can help! Will you order a sub
scription for your local public or school
library. Send us $1.00 and we will see
that it is sent regularly.
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THE PICTURE ON THE COVER

Forty educators, churchmen, civic and
cooperative leaders start on the First AIIAmerican Tour of Cooperatives.
This picture at the Clinton County Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association, Wilmington, Ohio was taken on the second day of
the tour following visits to the Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association and Farm
Bureau Cooperative Insurance Services
with headquarters in Columbus, Co-op
Department Store, the Columbus Con
sumers' Cooperative's gas station and store
and a banquet at Ohio State University
the opening day;
The Cooperative Tour, greeted by un
precedented publicity, included visits to
all types of cooperatives in nine states on
its 2600 mile intinerary.

167 West 1 2th Street, New York City
DIVISIONS:



Name
Address
Publication
St. Paul, Minn.
New Age Living
7218S. Hoover, L.A.
Superior, Wisconsin
Cooperative Builder
Central States Cooperatives, Inc
N. Kansas City; Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C. Readers ObserverConsumers Book Cooperative
Consumers Defender
116E. l6St.,N.Y.
The Recreation Kit
Delaware, Ohio
Ohio Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier FarmerIndiana Farm Bureau Coop. Association Indianapolis, Ind.
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Berkeley, Calif.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Penn. Co-op Review
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Credit Union National Associatio.i
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION

Volume XXVII. No. 7
JULY, 1941
Ten Cents
A COOPERATIVE CRUSADE GENERATING

There are many signs of a growing response within the Cooperative Movement
to the challenge made at the 25th Anniversary Congress last October for "A
Cooperative Crusade." There is plainly an internal ferment in the Movement
which is beginning to be expressed, although as yet in somewhat of a general
form, but which will doubtless crystallize into definite action. It calls for.-a re
statement of the general as well as the specific objectives of the movement; it
calls for the formulation and adoption of a unified national program to be
participated in by all regional and local cooperatives; it calls for the adoption
of definite methods of appealing widely to the American people.
Those present at the Publicity and Education Conference recently held at
Ames, Iowa started the ball rolling toward a national cooperative drive which
will have been discussed by the national directors at their meeting in July and
further steps taken by the time this issue reaches our readers. Prepare to partici
pate in "A COOPERATIVE CRUSADE." It is under way.
IH
WORTH QUOTING!
"Our forefathers went shadowlike

into beautiful 'd'angerous new valleys
exploring and hoping
And so do we."
Haniel Lang
"Peace will only come the cooperative way."
The Co-op Reporter, Columbus, Ohio
"No speculation in money, land or ideas: no one of them longer regarded as a
speculative commodity but used as the actual necessities of human life like ait
and water; no very rich nor very poor to build for; no idle land except for common
landscape; no holding against society of the ideas by way of which society lives;
this is the true basis for what we could honestly call Democracy."
Frank Lloyd Wright in London News
Chronicle on "How to Rebuild London"
"CONSUMERS' COOPERATION is the monthly magazine of the Cooperative League of
the United States. The issue for May is a special ownership number. Recover
ownership through cooperatives is its main theme. . . . We respectfully suggest
that Members of Parliament and all men in positions of Public Authority in this
country get and read and study CONSUMERS' COOPERATION for May."
Editorial, George Boyle in The Mari
time Cooperator, Antigonish, Nova
Scotia
"The present war is no exception; it is a revolt of the 'have nets' against the
restrictions of the 'haves' . . . World War the Second is a revolt against the
barriers to trade which have impoverished not only the people who starve with
nothing, but also those who surfeit with too much. It is a recurrence of the eternal
struggle among men to erect new empires, a revolt of impoverished consumers
against the piled-up surpluses of essential materials in the countries of excess
production. World War the Second again proves the old adage: 'When goods fail
to move across national boundaries, armies will.' "
Clarence Henry, Educational Director
of The Chicago Board of Trade in
"The Very Rev. John P. J. Sullivan, President of St. Francis College, Loretta,
Pennsylvania, disclosed this week that Charlie Schwab's career ended as it began
by gypping people. A few years ago Father Sullivan said Schwab induced the
College to borrow $25,000 and turn the money over to him. Schwab renigged
on the debt, and the College still owes the money, and $2,000 of interest, which
it is unable to pay." Thus another product of frenzied finance goes the way of the
Insulls, Mitchells, etc.
From a newspaper story
"Our great economic system, huge and impersonal in its operation, toils on in its
competitive drive for profits, without regard for the consequences to human
beings. The rules of the game have survived from the intense competition of the
ages of scarcity. These rules have been destructive to all concerned, to labor, to
the consumer and to business itself in recurring periods of depression. There is
little that individuals can do about it. It is too powerful even for those who run
it. Here, as in Europe, it has in the last 20 years, left large areas of our population
in poverty."
Harriet Elliott
146
"Just going through all the routine things of life is not enough to satisfy all the
things which make up a human being. You have to have something else, and
you get great enjoyment out of creating recreation for yourself."
Neva Boyd, at National Cooperative
Recreation School
"We are trying to develop a cooperative culture to round out the cooperative
program."
Carl Hutchinson, Past-President Coop
erative Society for Recreational Edu
cation
"Vanishing ownership is the major problem in American agriculture today."
Bishop Vincent J. Ryan, President, Na
tional Catholic Rural Life Conference
"It is an easy step, a quick step, from the techno-tyranny of over-centralized
'companies' for which we merely labor, to the techno-tyranny of a Stalin or Hitler
for whom we slave."
Father John C. Rawe, S. J. Institute of
Social Order
"The obvious interpretation of 'Our Father' crashes head on with our accepted
economic system. No man can in sincerity say 'Our Father' and not invite eco
nomic revolution."
Alvin T. Coate
"You cannot be economically free unless you free yourself. The State can not
make you free."
Father Leo R. Ward, Notre Dame Uni
versity
'Both nature and supernature furnish the pattern for the farmers' social and
economic life. He must not stand alone. He must not live his life in isolation
from his neighbors. He must combine with his fellow farmers for purposes of
cooperation. In the field of his material interests these undertakings of coopera
tion are cooperatives. Cooperatives do more than build up the material founda
tion of cooperators. They build men."
Bishop A. J. Muench, Fargo, N. Dakota
"With cooperatives, tricks and meanness seem to go out of business. No special
group is prospering, hence no necessity to make big profits. Everyone is getting
the profitswhy pay high prices to make dividends higher when they go right
back into high prices? Of course, in regular business high prices mean high
dividends, but the few who get the dividends accumulate them at the expense of
the majority who pay the high prices, and the majority have enjoyed nothing
except the struggle to pay the high prices for the favored few to enjoy dividends."
Vaino Tanner, in "Finland Forever"
by Hudson Strode
"James J. Tompkins, a Nova Scotian priest through whose leadership and teaching
an agricultural people learned to become masters of their own economic destiny."
Citation by Harvard University June 19,
1941, when Fr. J. J. Tompkins was given
an honorary degree of Master of Arts
"The late Rann McDonald was one of the first men to join a Study Club in New
Waterford. He played a most active part in the New Waterford Credit Union.
He was the first president of the New Waterford Cooperative Society." He lived
cooperatively.
From the Maritime Cooperator
July, 1941
147
"No fledgling feeds the father bird!

No chicken feeds the hen!
No kitten mouses for the cat
This glory is for men;
Consumers Cannot Depend On

Government Price Controls
We are the Wisest, Strongest race

Loud may our praise be sung!
The only animal alive
That lives upon its young!"
Charlotte Perkins Oilman
CO-OPS FIGHT FOR LIFE

It is no more or less than a life and death struggle for cooperatives if they
can be denied, by any legislative act or administrative ruling, the right to engage
in any activity because of their payment of patronage returns on purchases.
This is the reason the decision of the Director of the Bituminous Coal Division
of the Department of the Interior on the application of Midland Cooperative
Wholesale to be designated as a registered distributor denying that right is of such
great significance to the Movement and has aroused such widespread interest. If a
cooperative can be denied the right to handle any one commodity or supply any
one form of service, then by the same token it can be denied the right to deal in
any other commodity or service.
We want to emphasize that this decision will not be accepted by the Coopera
tive Movement lying down." It will be fought through to a successful conclusion
whatever action may be necessaryby appeal from the decision, by court proce
dure, by Congressional actionas may be determined by the Joint Legislative Com
mittee of the Cooperative League and National Cooperatives. The moves to be
taken and whatever help which will be needed on the part of every cooperative
and cooperator will be announced from time to time. Be prepared to do your part
as action is called for.
PRICE INFLATION ON
The index of basic commodity prices has risen from 100 on September 3,
1939 when war was declared, to 149.5 at the close of June 1941, or nearly 50%.
The index of general commodity prices is now also moving up from week to
week. The index price of basic commodities precedes and is followed by the
index of general commodities, both in inflation and deflation, as proven by the
course of the two index lines during and after the first world war. There is no
good arid sufficient reason to assume that general commodity prices will not follow
basic commodities during the present period of price inflation. Economic forces
are more powerful than political regulation in a democracy. Only under dictator
ship can prices be controlled and then only partially.
Vice-President Henry A. Wallace says today that "prices of all kinds have
gone up faster in recent months than ever before in history." Cabinet Secretary
Jesse Jones says, "we're going twice as high as ever before." All of this should
give point to the recommendations of the National Society of Cooperative Ac
countants as to what cooperatives should do to get their houses in order. (See
their report on another page.) The principal recommendations, which are ap
plicable, war or no war, are to "Get Out of Debt," and to "Build up Cash Re
sources." When you are out of debt and have cash on hand you are in the best
kind of position to take advantage of every turn of events as they may come, and
to protect your cooperative from possible financial difficulties.
148
E take quite a philosophical view

of life as it evolves from compe
tition to cooperation. We recognize the
necessity as well as the desirability of
gradual evolution over sudden revolu
tion as the only real process of pro
gression.
When we say that the original idea of
self-regulation by profit business has
failed, we are only recording a fact. Free
competition has been replaced by monop
oly competition and the little people are
being ground to death between the mill
stones of poverty and warthe farmer,
labor, office and small business folks,
who make up the vast majority of the
people.
When we say further that state-regu
lation of profit business, which we are
now undertaking, will not work in the
permanent interests of people we are
also only recording a fact which cooperators, of all people if they are to be the
salt of a new world should be fully
aware of and not be fooled. Yet we rec
ognize fully that we must go through a
certain amount of state-regulation as a
temporary measure because we have
failed to organize ourselves as con
sumers and producers into self-help non
profit cooperatives and unions to a suf
ficient extent to control the economic
system within itself. So we are using
an external unnatural political agency in
the emergency. The problem is whether
we will not rely upon it to so great an
extent as to end in Fascism or Com
munism.
We are concerned lest cooperators who
are building the new world of plenty
and peace should allow themselves to
be too optimistic and complacent over
the encroachments of the state. We be
lieve they should recognize that today
the consumers' representatives in Wash-
Consumers' Cooperation / July, 1941
ington are largely lambs in a den of lions.

It is not a question of their being fine
and earnest folksit is a matter of their
actual power to control prices in the
interests of the consumers which is the
primary question. The Guffey Coal Act
is said to have cost consumers $100,000,000. Yet, the law provided for a Con
sumer representative. A tariff act original
ly provided for a Consumer Counsel but
the clause was vetoed. However, it would
have made little, if any, difference as
any tariff is intended to raise prices to
domestic consumers and no Consumers'
Counsel could prevent it.
The NRA had a Consumers' Advisory
Board. Did it prevent prices rising under
the NRA days? Certainly not. Some of
the members of the Board did effective
work in their individual capacities but
the Board could not protect the con
sumers against price rises. Nor can the
Consumers' Counsel of the Department
of Agriculture prevent farm prices ris
ing, even if desirable, which it has not
been.
Now we have a new Office of Price Ad
ministration and Civilian Supply under
the defense program. But the horse is al
ready stolen or will be. This time we have
let billions of dollars of contracts on a
cost plus basis, as we did in the last
war, and have also now agreed to an
amortization schedule which will give the
factories to the manufacturers in a few
years. The T.N.E.C. report rightly con
cluded, "Speaking bluntly, the govern
ment and the public are 'over a barrel'
when it comes to dealing with business
in time of war or other crisis. Business
refuses to work except on terms which
it dictates."
One of the most reliable Washington
commentators says that the accomplish
ment of the previous Prices division of
149
the OPM "is hard to determine" but

that one expert in the division summed
up its work in these terms, "Well, at
least we've kept down the prices of pipe
organs." The new Office of Price Ad
ministration also absorbs the previous
Consumers' Division, the results of
which have been described as "a debacle."
In this war world the consumers and
their representatives are today pawns of
the profit economic-state. A single line in
Business Week is far more revealing
than most people recognize, "Bernard M.
Baruch is a fairly regular visitor at the
White House these days." It might be
added for those who do not appreciate the
implications of those few words that he

has been considered the unofficial liaison
contact man between Wall Street and the
White House for at least 25 years under
all political administrations.
Only when consumers and producers
organize themselves into cooperatives
and unions to the extent necessary to
control the economic system, and in addition elect to Congress a majority of
farmers and workers, as in Scandinavia,
will the lambs overcome the lions and
the meek inherit the earth which is
rightfully theirs but which they have
given away through their own selfish
ness and ignorance.
What Makes War?

OOME people thoughtlessly say that
^ war is made by the selfishness or ig
norance of leaders. They do not look
beyond the names of the current leaders
and realize that leaders only act in re
sponse to the desires of the people which
they have expressed in their institutions.
Abraham Lincoln personally en
deavored to avoid war. But the desires of
the people which they had expressed
in the institution of slavery overcame his
resistance. On Feb. 22, 1861, in an ad
dress in Independence Hall, Philadel
phia, he declared, "In my view of the
present aspect of affairs, there is no need
of bloodshed and war. There is no neces
sity for it. I am not in favor of such a
course; and I may say in advance that
there will be no bloodshed unless it is
forced upon the government. The gov
ernment will not use force, unless force
is used against it." Yet in two months
we were in the Civil War.
An editorial in THE FREEMAN dis
cusses this subject. One paragraph reads,
"Naive indeed is the one who believes
that any president can prevent our suf150
fering the scourges of the war in which

we are already engaged. No man makes
war, no man unmakes it. It is a disease
inherent in an economy which makes for
a large class of workers who have little,
and a small class of non-workers who
have much. The germ is ever-present in
our social order; and the so-called lead
ers are as impotent to mitigate its ravages
as are the bewildered mob supplicating
these leaders for relief. It must run its
course."
Yes, it is our economic system which
expresses the current desires of the
people, and not our political and eco
nomic leaders, which is responsible.
Leaders in any period are only the prod
uct of the desires of the people which
they have embodied in the institutions
they have organized. The institutionalized
desires of the people are what make
wars. We must change our desires, then
our institutions, then our leaders, in or
der to prevent war. Our desires and our
institutions and our leaders must all be
cooperativenot competitivein order to
have peace.
Cooperation, the Core and the Method

An Enriched Program for the Tenth Grade
Teaching Cooperation At Pine Mountain

Gladys Hill, Teacher of Cooperation, and
Vera R. Hackman, Teacher of English
Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky
"rÔOPERATIVES belong to democ- the industrial revolution, pupils learn of
racies, don't they?" remarked a the economic necessity which revolution
tenth grade pupil of Pine Mountain Set
ized social conditions and standards of
tlement School in the midst of a discus
living. They follow the economic changes
sion about the dangers threatening Euro
with their accompanying political and
pean cooperatives. Pupils have learned to social adjustments through the second
appreciate the values of cooperation and half of the nineteenth century to the
are becoming intelligent consumer buyers decades of economic planning that grew
as a result of our living, thinking, and out of the World War I. Pupils recog
working together. Coming from the coal nize the fundamental differences in ap
and lumber camps of Harlan County, our proach of imperialistic and socialistic na
pupils' knowledge of buying is limited to tions. As a result of this study the pupils
the offerings of the commissary for their see the cooperative way as one democratic
food and to the advertised stock of the solution for economic and social prob
mail order catalog for their clothing and lems.
furnishings. Pupils from the mountain Creative Activity
hollows know only the limited stock of
Creative activity is often spontaneous.
the local store or the attractive offerings The more daring ventures are suggested
of the "wish book" published by the mail in broad outline by the instructors. Pu
order houses. Emphasis at Pine Moun
pils develop the details and sometimes
tain is upon cooperation as a way of life change the outline. Gratifying examples
and as one solution for the immediate of such activity were the printed price
problem whatever that might be. Thus tags for the store and the posting of
cooperation becomes simultaneously the poems on cooperation as a result of pupil
core and the method.
initiative in using the school print shop
Acting on Ideas
as a resource at their command. The study
Pupils learn to work with ideas as well of new fruits and vegetables resulted in
as with patterns of expression. In keep- an unusual assembly programthe urge
ing with Pine Mountain's philosophy of of a few pupils to share their new found
learning to do by doing, pupils continu
knowledge with the whole school. From
ally act upon the ideas they are learning. pupils with artistic talent came original
To insure progress in a cooperative ven
price lists, posters lettered with an almost
ture, study must precede practice. After professional touch, and stage scenery. The
the Rochdale principles, the local consti
prize possession of many of the thirty
tution, and the method of organization pupils is a well illustrated notebook filled
and administration are understood by the with co-op notes, buying hints, and lists
pupils, they proceed to organize the con
of pamphlets and important addresses.
sumers' cooperative store which they will These will be found in some of the Ken
operate for the school year. Share selling, tucky kitchens of tomorrow.
publicity, clerking, buying, bookkeeping,
Subject barriers disappeared when the
and banking become well established pat
instructors suggested to one group the
terns of continuous expression.
broader outlines for a play and to the
Paralleling this activity is a study of other the outline for a display of the re
"Man and His Needs." Beginning with sources of the various cooperative orJuly, 1941
151
ganizations. Let the pupils speak for

themselves:
"Just think! We're heroes! We wrote
and produced a play! So you see every
thing that is worth doing takes worrying
and studying. But the credit you get after
ward is always worth it." "I have never
enjoyed anything in school as much as
being in the co-op class. I also enjoyed
listening and planning with my teachers
these five weeks we spent on the play.-"
"I would like to help write another play
sometime."
Writing a Play on Co-ops
At first the idea of writing their own

play seemed too ambitious to the pupils.
They were in a dilemma. No suitable
play could be found and they were re
solved to do a play. So it is significant
that every pupil after the production
comments on the feeling of accomplish
ment and of delight in the dramatic ap
proach. This fourteen scene play, "Co
operation Around the World" was a most
satisfying expression of the ideas they
had previously learned. Equally reward
ing was the series of displays which
appeared in the store and in the reading
room of the library. Pupils were alert
to the opportunities for cooperation be
tween groups, with teachers, and with
other pupils. The letter writing, inter
viewing, reporting, poster work, articles
for the school paper, explanations in as
sembly, arrangement of 'displays, and
acting in a play they had written them
selves were for individual pupils very
satisfying expressions of their own crea
tive ability. Their next cooperative ven
ture was the writing of "Experiences in
Consumer Cooperation at Pine Moun
tain." Much careful thinking, exercise in
critical judgment, objectivity, weighing
of values, elimination of irrelevant detail,
and an honest evaluation of their experi
ences went into this pamphlet. Pupils
saw the pamphlet through the printing
processes including linotyping, proof
reading, make-up and press feeding.
Experiences from the pupils' social
environment offered a sharp contrast to
cooperative buying. As the pupils came
152
to us they knew only price as a guide to

quality rather than real intelligent tested
value. They had poor buying habits,
knew nothing of government grades,
never had bought by weight or in quan
tity. Their families had been victims of
installment companies, mail order houses,
and credit associations. In learning to
make the food dollar go farther we have
emphasized the importance of buying
wholesome inexpensive foods, of follow
ing a food budget, and relying upon the
advice of the U.S. government and es
tablished consumer laboratories. The
only local example, other than the school
store, of a cooperative enterprise is the
R.E.A. which will soon serve our school
and community. We studied the guide
books, discussed the problems with the
neighbors, and are watching the progress
of the line across the mountain with great
interest.
for the benefit of the 115 stockholders

becomes a real responsibility. Shopping
intelligently for their store has become
a matter of personal pride and is an
honor. Pupils volunteer for clerking,
bookkeeping, cleaning the store, doing
errands, arranging the stock and displays,
printing stationery, and speaking in as
sembly programs. Said one pupil in evalu
ating her experiences, "I feel I have
accomplished something. ... I feel more
able to go about my work, more willing
to cooperate with the group." Said the
junior partner, "I am learning a lot more
about cooperatives than I would have if
1 had just got down a book and read.
What I learned from the book no one
else would have known about. But in this
way we share with the whole school. Not
one but everyone profits by it." We in-
Learning Intelligent Food Selection
As a result of our study of consume!

buying our pupils have a comprehensive
guide to intelligent food selection. We
have stressed nutritive value and have
introduced a variety of new foods sucli
as tree ripened citrus fruits, frosted foods,
whole wheat breads, green vegetables, and
cheese. This emphasis grew out of a need
for a greater variety in the diets of our
families. Pupils are now beginning to
read labels and to buy by weight which
are the first steps in intelligent buying.
Attention was focused on publications
of cooperative organizations, research
laboratories, government agencies, and
private enterprise when pupils wrote
business letters to procure materials from
these sources. They have taken great pride
in collecting and filing this material.
When the home economics and mechan
ics departments came to borrow some of
our materials one pupil remarked, "Every
department in school finds our pamphlets
useful."
We believe, too, that some definite
contributions have been made to charac
ter building. Pupils accept the privilege
of operating the store as a public trust.
Administering the capital stock of $197
structors are greatly encouraged to see

the strong individualism of these young
Southern Highlanders yield to delight in
cooperative enterprise.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Those who are interested in
reading a printed pamphlet entitled and de
scribing "Experiences in Consumer Cooperation
at Pine Mountain Settlement School," Pine
Mountain, Kentucky, can get a copy by sending
ten cents, plus postage, to the Pine Mountain
Settlement School. The chapters in the booklet
describe cooperation in the store, cooperation
in the classroom, spreading the cooperative
idea, basic materials for cooperative study. We
can not refrain from moralizing to the effect
that every child in every public and private
school in America ought to have the oppor
tunity of engaging in cooperative business ac
tivities as well as of studying, writing and
speaking about cooperation in other school
courses as the children who attend this Settle
ment School are having.)
John Carson
Wash'mgton, D.C. Slowly, the gov

ernment's price-fixing machine is gather
ing momentum.
Ceiling prices for rubber tires have
now been fixed. Aluminum, steel, scrap
iron, paper, bread, automobiles and a
score of other commodities have been
given the price red light. Leon Henderson, administrator of the Office of Price
Administration and Civilian Supply, has
begun to crack down and he has gained
the good-will of Congress. Now his ma
chine is driven by pleas for cooperation
and the subtle threat of a denial to manu
facturers of preferences or priorities in
transportation and the supply of raw ma
terials. To this, he has added the warn
ing to Congress that the President may
shortly ask for complete price-fixing au
thority. The granting of that power is
just around the corner.
Henderson now has a tremendous organ
ization for which he asked appropriations
of $3,760,462. Although he insisted it
was impossible to forecast accurately the
July, 1941
amount of work to be done, he asked for

provision for 1,395 jobs. A new apart
ment building has been requisitioned to
house his organization. During the last
war, Henderson's aides said there were
11,500 government employees in Wash
ington working on price fixing and ra
tioning and about 24,000 more persons
working in field offices. These figures
may indicate the extent of the job when
the government begins to fix prices and
control economy.
Incidentally, Henderson suggested a
warning as to the future. He told Con
gress the government lifted its price con
trol ban too soon after the last World
War. Apparently, the plans will be for
price fixing, not only during the "de
fense emergency" but for some time
thereafter.
Henderson's attack on Chrysler Cor
porationwhich got little publicity in
newspaperswas unrestrained. He said
"the price increase which Chrysler was
requested to forego involves approxi153
mately $4,000,000 out of net sales of

$750,000,000." He added "in terms of
net income to stockholders, the company
was asked to forego $1,500,000 at a time
when it had already earned, after taxes,
about $20,000,000 for the first six
months of this year." Then he said, "in
1940, Chrysler earned more than $37,000,000 or 23 per cent on its invested
capital." He warned that price-ceilings
would be fixed for automobiles because
of Chrysler's refusal "to cooperate."
*
*
*
Coal legislation Senator Burton K.
Wheeler, chairman of the Senate Com
mittee on Interstate Commerce, has ap
pointed Senator Worth Clark of Idaho
to be chairman of a special subcommittee
to hear evidence on the LaFollette-BallCapper resolution which would amend
the Bituminous Coal Act and permit con
sumer wholesale cooperatives to continue
in business as distributors of coal. Hear
ings probably will begin the latter part
of July.
*
*
*
Voorhis-W'dgner resolution The Co
operative League, through its Washing
ton representative, urged the House
Committee on Labor to adopt, promptly,
the Voorhis-Wagner resolution which
would create a post-defense economic
commission on which
three representatives of
consumer cooperatives
would sit, along with
representatives of other
economic groups and
also of church organiza
tions. It now seems
probable Congress will
approve of this pro
posal.
Oil Control Secre
tary of Interior Ickes,
the new oil czar and his
deputy coor'dinator,
Ralph K. Davies, now
have before them nom
inations for membership
154
on the various regional committees which

will participate in the regulation of the
oil industry. The Cooperative League and
National Cooperatives, Inc., were repre
sented at the conferences and they have
nominated men for each of the districts.
*
*
*
Spending and government appropria
tionsMore arid more grumbling, ex
pressions of very marked concern, are
being heard from Senators and Repre
sentatives over the government budget
and financial situation. The concern is
not only over the number of dollars ap
propriated but chiefly over the lack of
any check or control of waste. There is
no opposition to spending for an ade
quate defense program but there is grow
ing fear over evidence of scandals, job
and salary plundering, queer deals with
industry in the taking over of such
things as ships. Individuals in Congress
mutter and moan but leadership has not
developed as yet to organize a fight (or
control of the spending spree. Warnings
were expressed in the House just as an
indication that Congress may assert its
authoritysomething it has almost com
pletely renounced. Meanwhile, Leon
Henderson proclaims daily against infla
tion, an inevitable result of irresponsibe
spending.
Bowen Tells Accountants of "Boom and Boomerang" Ahead
Cooperative Accountants
Recommend Program To Meet Crisis
Laurie L. Lehtin, Secretary
National Society of Cooperative Accountants
N 1936, a small number of accountants

doing auditing work for cooperatives
assembled at Columbus at the time of
the Cooperative League Congress, and
there organized the National Society of
Cooperative Accountants. The purpose of
the Society was to provide a common
meeting ground for those many account
ants scattered about the country who had
similar problems to deal withauditing
and accounting of cooperatives, in the
main, but also questions of taxes, uni
formity of reports and terminology, ac
counting legislation, and the like. This
has been accomplished, and the value of
the organization realized, through meet
ings and the publication of a monthly
bulletin.
Need for More Audits
The membership now numbers sev

enty, and includes the great majority of
the cooperative accountants. However, in
comparison with the number of coopera
tives in the country, this is not a large
membership, for many cooperatives do
not have audits. Cooperative accountants
audit both consumer and producer asso
ciations, which are engaged in scores of
different activities production, process
ing, packaging, 'distribution, service, fi
nancial, etc.
At the sixth annual meeting of the Na
tional Society of Cooperative Accountants,
which was held in Indianapolis on June
19-20, the technical questions discussed
included analyses of the balance sheet and
operating statement, a discussion of in
come tax problems affecting cooperatives,
and some recent accounting develop
ments. The past year's activity, finances
and reports were reviewed, and directors
July, 1941
elected for the coming year. These in

cluded E. F. Selvig, president, F. K.
Wadsworth, vice-president, Laurie L.
Lehtin, secretary-treasurer, W. O. Riddle
and Jules Englander, directors.
A committee on terminology was ap
pointed, to meet with a similar commit
tee of the Publicity and Education Com
mittee, for the purpose of conducting a
survey and selecting the most desirable
accounting terms for use by cooperatives.
A Five-Point Program of Action
Following an address by Mr. E. R.

Bowen, secretary of the Cooperative
League, U.S.A., the accountants discussed
a recommendation on financial and ac
counting policies which cooperatives
should follow in order to safeguard their
financial stability in the event of a price
and market collapse after the war is over.
The committee's report states, "It is the
consensus of the Society that the retail
cooperatives, during the entire present
emergency and war period adopt to as
great a degree as possible, the following
conservative principles:
1. Reduce accounts receivable to a
point where business with patrons
will finally be done on a cash basis.
2. Maintain normal inventories; do
not speculate.
3. Avoid expansion of facilities.
4. Liquidate indebtedness as rapidly
as possible.
5. Conserve cash, by paying no cash
patronage refunds while association
is in debt, and by selling more
share capital.
155
National Cooperative Recreation School

"VV/ORK together, for each other,
VV onward we go!
PD!"
Augustus D. Zanzig, music director,
appropriately chose this for the first song
at the opening session of the National
Cooperative Recreation School held on
the campus of Iowa State College, Ames,
Iowa, June 14 to 27. Over one hundred
students and staff representing eighteen
states, the District of Columbia and Can
ada, joined in. Singing was an important
part of the two-weeks intensive recrea
tional leadership training which the
school offered. Under the direction of
Mr. Zanzig, music director of the Na
tional Recreation Association, students
learned a large variety of songs, rounds,
descants and other vocal music, the es
sentials of music leadership and how to
make and play shepherds pipes as well
as other musical instruments.
The drama courses at the school offered
many different types of dramatic activity
ranging from simple charades, and pan
tomimes through elementary acting to an
advanced course in directing. The ad
vanced acting class presented two one-act
plays and another group presented an orig-
Ellen Edwards
inal play which had been conceived and
"written" by the group. Ruth Chorpenning and James Norris headed the drama
department.
Both string and fist puppets were made
by the students and puppet shows were
numerous and excellent. Margaret Gard
ner and Willmer Vess were in charge of
the puppet work.
Nearly every student spent some time
in the craft shop making pewter or cop
per bowls, bracelets, ash trays, etc. or a
leather billfold, key container, or pocketbook, under the direction of Gwendolyn
Fife and John Stein-Bugler. Students also
explored the fundamentals of design in
a class taught by Mr. Stein-Bugler.
As in past years, a large part of the
time was spent in learning folk dance
and singing games. Darwin Bryan taught
American singing games from Ohio and
Indiana and Marion Skean introduced a
number of southern singing games. Miss
Neva Boyd and Alice Schweibert taught
American and European folk dances. A
course in story telling for children, new
this year, was taught by Miss Boyd and
Anne Hopkins.
Each day's activities started with a lec

ture on group organization and leader
ship by Miss Boyd, Department of So
ciology, Northwestern University, which
included discussion of the function of
recreation and some bases for the evalua
tion of various types of recreation. Semi
nars on subjects of interest, selected by
the students, were held each evening.
These seminars included a talk on Co
operative Recreation and Education by
Carl Hutchinson; Cooperative Work and
Organization in the South by students
from Mississippi and Georgia; and a
panel discussion on the relation of the
various fields of recreation by the staff.
The entire school combined a visit to
the Granger Homesteads at Granger,
Iowa, with a picnic and folk dance at
the school auditorium. A large number
of students attended the semi-annual pic
nic of the Alleman, Iowa, Cooperative
aid helped with the fun by presenting a
puppet show, and leading the singing and
dancing. There were over seven hundred
co-op members present at the picnic.
The school, as Miss Boyd pointed out
in a seminar discussion, does not wish
Women's Guilds Plan Greater Activity

D EPRESENTATIVES of cooperative
J-\-women's guilds in three regional
groups, small in number but representing
twelve states, met on the campus of Iowa
State College, Ames, Iowa, June 26-28 to
consider the question, "What should be
women's place in business when that bus
iness is owned by the consumers ?"
The conclusion was "Women, in gen
eral, are not filling the role we feel they
could fill in the cooperative movement."
To make them aware of this and to
help prepare them for that role the First
National Cooperative Women's Guild In
stitute recommended the formation of
more women's guilds and the study of
the four cornerstones of cooperation
education, recreation, business and finance
as the first step toward greater partici
pation. Specific projects which the Insti-
156
Consumers' Cooperation | July, 1941
to train specialists in any one particular

recreation field. "We believe that every
one has many avenues of expression and
if a person is exposed to many activities
he will become a more versatile person
and better able to get out and help other
people."
Carl Hutchinson, retiring president of
the Cooperative Society for Recreational
Education which conducts the school each
year, declared at the opening session,
"The proper use of leisure time will make
the difference between building up a
cooperative society or a society imposed
upon us. If as cooperators we are inter
ested in re-creating society, we are going
to have to make better use of our leisure
time. We should not look on recreation
as a relief from the tedium of living but
as a definite social value."
The board of directors, elected by the
students at the close of the school, in
clude: Wilbur Leatherman, president;
Gertrude Emerson, Frank Shilston, Neva
Boyd, Ellen Edwards, Carl Hutchinson,
and Merlin Miller. This is the sixth year
The Cooperative League has sponsored
the school.
tute felt could well be undertaken by

women's groups include: (1) to train
women to become efficient, consumerminded family purchasing agents; (2) to
take more active places on committees and
boards of directors in cooperatives; (3)
to sponsor co-op youth work, recreation
and summer camps and (4) to promote
such cooperative services as buying clubs,
credit unions, insurance and medical
co-ops.
Among the speakers at the institute
were Merlin Miller, educational director
of Consumers Cooperative Association;
E. R. Bowen, general secretary of The
Cooperative League; Dean Nelson of the
Home Economics Division of Iowa State
College; Andrew Jensen of Midland Co
operative Wholesale; Charles Wiedner of
Group Health Mutual; Barbara Raines of
157
Cooperative Distributors and Miriam Sanda Shilston, former secretary of the North
ern States Cooperative Youth League.
Mrs. Ruth Wright of Chicago, national

president of the Cooperative Women's
Guilds, presided.
Plans Laid For Architectural Modernization
HE progress in modernizing co-op

food stores achieved in the past year
has been more dramatic than even co-op
leaders themselves had dreamed'.
Representatives of the five consumer
cooperative wholesales handling groceries,
meeting at Iowa State College as a tem
porary committee on architectural modern
ization in advance of the Cooperative Pub
licity and Education Conference, reported
on new store buildings, modernized stores
in rented buildings, redecorated co-ops at
the old stands and re-designing of fronts
and equipment. The organizations repre
sented were Central Co-op Wholesale,
Consumers Cooperative Ass'n, Midland
Co-op Wholesale, Central States Coopera
tives, Eastern Co-op Wholesale, and Con
sumer Distribution Corporation. From
Massachusetts to California and from
North Dakota to Kansas "kitchen clean"
stores have blossomed forth. It is possible
to name only a few of them: Cambridge
and Maynard, Mass.; Schenectady, Hempstead and Rome, N. Y.; Greenbelt, Md.;
Harrisburg, Pa.; Washington, D. C.; Lin

coln, Nebr.; Winfield, Kansas; Racine
and Maple, Wis.; Scranton, N. D.; Co
lumbus, Ohio; Berkeley, Calif.; Trenary
and Bruce's Crossing, Midi.; Menahga,
Brookston, Squaw Lake and Cloquet,
Minnesota.
The committee recommended to the
Board of Directors of The Cooperative
League the formation of a permanent com
mittee on Architectural Modernization;
it also recommended that light cream an j
forest green be adopted as the standatd
ized color scheme for cooperative build
ings; and recommended the centralized
purchasing of fixtures for co-op stores
William Torma of Central States Coop
eratives and E. R. Bowen, general secretary
of The Cooperative League, were asked
to contact outstanding architects to create
a standard design for co-op store fronts to
be used by the regional wholesales and
local cooperatives when opening or re
designing stores.
Co-op Publicity And Educational Directors

Call For "Co-op War Emergency Drive"
N a dramatic last minute wind-up of

their annual conference at Iowa State
College, June 26-28, eighty cooperative
editors, educational directors and recrea
tion leaders recommended to the board of
directors of The Cooperative League that
it sound the keynote of a "Cooperative
War Emergency Drive" this fall to call the
attention of all America to the opportunity
that lies ahead of it to strengthen democ
racy by building on the cornerstone of
voluntary consumer cooperation.
Calling for a cooperative crusade an
swering indirectly a similar appeal made
by The League's general secretary last fall,
the publicity and education men proposed
158
that appropriate steps be taken for a uni

fied national drive to be carried out by
regional and local cooperatives. The drive
would point out the nature of the emer
gency and the significance of the consum
er cooperatives as a solution. Within the
movement the drive would call for
strengthening the financial structure of all
cooperatives to ride out the post-war crash
and to increase membership, capital and
trade of the cooperatives.
Howard A. Cowden, president of Con
sumers Cooperative Assn, spoke to a joint
session of the Publicity and Education Con
ference meeting with the National Coop
erative Recreation School and National Co
operative Women's Guild Institute which

were on the campus at the same time.
In his keynote address Mr. Cowden pro
posed a series of projects which might be
undertaken by the movement to help cre
ate unity of thought nationally. Among
the proposals he made were: a chain of
cooperatively owned radio stations, a na
tional weekly newspaper, a chain of co
operative education institutions operated
by the regional associations with a "cir
cuit riding" faculty if necessary, arid na
tional business undertakings such as manu
facture of electrical appliances, tires or
lumber.
What Appeals Stimulate People?
What appeals stimulate people into act'nn and how these appeals can be used
to speed the growth of cooperatives were
the chief concern of the early sessions of
he conference.
In his opening talk on "What Appeals
Influence People," Dr. Emory S. Bogardus,
head of the Department of Sociology,
University of Southern California, said
"If we get a clear enough idea of what
people are, the matter of which appeals
ire most effective will be comparatively
simple." He stressed the universal desire
for new experience; the interest in being
treated fairly; the importance of recogni
tion and participation; and the importance
of releasing frustrated interests as impor
tant primary drives for action.
George Letts, Vocational Psychologist
of Collingswood, N. J., pointed out the
need for a unified and simply stated philoophy; for personnel imbued with the
p ilosophy; for an appeal to economic
self-preservation; appeal to reason; emo
tional appeals to family and community
pride; and an appeal for unity on a na
tional basis expressing the essence of the
traditional American philosophy of inde
pendence and freedom. Dr. Marvin of the
Iowa State School of Journalism under
lined the importance of using a consumer
approach to the problem of selling the
consumer philosophy.
In a particularly practical session on the
se of these appeals, the conference heard
July, 1941
E. A. Whitney of Central Co-op Whole

sale ; Davis Douthit, editor of the Midland
Co-operator; George Tichenor, editor of
the Eastern Cooperator; and W. B. Peterson of the Illinois Farm Supply Co.,
sketch out methods for their application
through Discussion Groups, Co-op Papers,
Personal Contact and Commodity Mer
chandising. The entire conference then or
ganized itself into small discussion groups
to further discuss use of these appeals.
Boom and Boomerang
In another joint session, E. R. Bowen,
general secretary of The Cooperative
League, warned the conference to prepare
the movement for the economic crisis that
lies ahead. "The cooperative movement
cannot afford to depend upon the govern
ment to cushion successfully the crisis to
save cooperatives and other business," Mr.
Bowen said. "The movement must put its
own house in order," he concluded, "by
cutting inventories, cutting debts arid
plowing savings into capital." Laurie
Lehtin, secretary of the National Society
of Cooperative Accountants, then reported
to the conference the recommendations of
his organization for meeting the crisis.
Two unique sessions of the conference
were an entire morning devoted to use of
recreation as an effective means of devel
oping cooperatives and cooperators and a
final session in which members of local
cooperatives reported on what they had
found in practice changes inactive mem
bers, "joiners," into active cooperators.
Gilman Calkins, assistant editor of the
Ohio Farm Bureau News and Ohio Coop
erator, was chosen chairman of the Pub
licity and Education Committee for the
coming year and E. A. Whitney, educa
tional director of Central Cooperative
Wholesale, secretary.
WE'RE SORRY!
The article, "The Trail to Co-op Fun"

-which appeared in the June issue of
Consumers' Cooperation was written by
Frank Harris, Play Co-op, New York
City. We regret that in the course of
publication his name was dropped and
he was not given credit for the article.
159
'
New Books And Pamphlets Received
The Morale of Democracy, by Congressman

Jerry Voorhis, Greystone Press, New York,
112 pages, $1. Special Co-op Edition avail
able through The Cooperative League, 50c.
Includes two speeches on cooperatives by
Congressman Voorhis on the floor of Con
gress and his talk before the Annual Meet
ing of Eastern Cooperative Wholesale. These
are supplemented with an epilogue by Dr.
James P. Warbasse and an introduction by
Wallace Campbell.
"Case Studies of Consumer Cooperatives," by
Haines Turner, Columbia University Press,
New York, 330 pages, $2.50.
A study of consumer cooperatives started ,by
Finnish groups in the United States.
"A More Cooperative Democracy," by James
D. Barnett, published by Richard R. Smith,
New York, 180 pages, $2.00.
A book for the general reader on the philos
ophy of cooperation particularly as it affects
the consumer. Written by Dr. Barnett, Pro
fessor of Political Science, University of
Oregon.
"The Maynard Weavers," the story of the
United Cooperative Society of Maynard, by
Frank Aaltonen, published by the United
Cooperative Society, Maynard, Mass., 74
pages, 30c.
"Experiences in Consumer Cooperation" at
Pine Mountain Settlement School, published
by the Cooperative Groups at Pine Moun
tain School, Pine Mountain, Harlan County,
Kentucky.
A description of the cooperative store, co
operative study and cooperative promotion
activities of the students at Pine Mountain.
"The Consumer Movement and Business," by
Dr. Grace S. M. Zorbaugh, Ohio State Uni
versity, Columbus, an address at the Con
sumer Conference of Greater Cincinnati,
available from the author, 35c.
"Minnesota Cooperative Oil Associations," by
E. Fred Koller and O. B. Jesness, Agricul
tural Experiment Station, University of Min
nesota, Bulletin 351, April 1941.
An analysis of the extent of cooperative oil
distribution, financial condition, methods of
operation and operating efficiency of coopera
tive oil associations in Minnesota.
"The Farmers Union Triangle," by Gladys Talbott Edwards, published by the Farmers
Union Education Service, Jamestown, North
Dakota, 166 pages, 25c.
A description of the education, legislation
and cooperative program of the Farmers
Union.
"The Church and Cooperatives," by Dr. George
Gleason, published by the author, 19621/i
N. Alexandria Avenue, Los Angeles, Cali
fornia, 40 pages, 5c. plus 2c. postage.
160
A paper prepared for the Protestant Church

Council of Social Work, California Confe
ence of Social Work. Describes the work t
churdimen in development of consumer,
producer and self help 'cooperatives and
brief analysis of various types of coopera
tive enterprise.
CONSUMERS
COOPERATION
"Balanced Abundance," by Rev. Edgar Schmiedeler, O.S.B., published by the Paulist Pr.
401 West 59th Street, New York City, 32
pages, lOc.
A program for rehabilitation with a brief
section on consumer cooperatives.
MARKETING CO-OPERATIVES, by Donald F..

Blankertz, Ronald Press, New York, 480
pages. $4.00.
Marketing Co-operatives is a comprehensive
study of co-operative activityits beginnings, |
its failures and successeswith particular em
phasis on the organizations and activities that
make up the present day American Co-operative
Movement.
"Marketing" as used in the title by Prof.
Blankertz means the moving and handling of
goods from sources of production to consump
tion; and hence consumer co-operatives are
marketers as much as are associations of pro
ducers who form an association to sell their
grain.
A greater portion of the book is devoted to
types of farmers' marketing associations, but
this might be defended on the grounds thai
these represent a larger volume of co-operative
business in the United States than do the pur
chasing or consumer societies; although govern
ment statistics indicate that this might not be
true if present trends continue.
In addition to the study of farmers' marketing
associations, the author has presented a very
good historical background for all types of co
operative activity, and has devoted at least a
third of the book to describing the operation
of farm purchasing and urban consumer co
operative efforts.
An unusual aspect of the book is that Mr.
Blankertz seems to have a keen appreciation of
the social aspects of co-operative effort as well
as the economic basis for their existence; and
while we might disagree with his conclusion as
to the probable limited field of urban consumer
societies, we must appreciate his statement of
the problems that these organizations face. Al
together, it should be a very excellent text book
for college classes in co-operation for which
it is obviously intended.
HERBERT FLEDDERJOHN
ational Figures in Church World Visit Co-ops
/ACT NOW OR REGRET LATER
'CONSUMER CO-OPS GO INTO MARKETING
Editorial
George Halonen
LOCAL CO-OP ORGANIZATION MANAGERS
Carl Hutchinson
MEASURING STICK FOR COOPERATIVE OIL

COMPANIES
Gletm S. Fox
CAPITOL LETTERS
John Carson
REVIEWS: "The Morale of Democracy"
George Tichenor
**Case Studies of Consumers' Cooperatives"
Bertram B. Fowler
ONAL
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
SEND A SUBSCRIPTION TO
YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
The national magazine of the consum
ers' cooperative movement ought to be
available in every public library in the
country. Already we have hundreds of
college, school and public libraries on
our subscription list. These are only a
small part of the libraries which ought
to be receiving copies. Many a cooperator got his first knowledge of the
American movement through books and
magazines he read in his local library.
You can help! Will you order a sub
scription for your local public or school
library. Send us $1.00 and we will see
that it is sent regularly.

THE PICTURES ON THE COVES.

Fifty church leaders from several countries
time off from the important annual confcrena
Association of Council Secretaries of the Federal
cil of Churches meeting at' Lake Geneva, Wis
.
early in July to drive to Elkhorn and Racine, W
sin to study consumer cooperatives in action / m
the church leaders in the delegation were Dr. T
hike Kagawa, famous Japanese Christian, D
Stanley Jones of India, Dr. Chester Miao of Ch
addition to American church leaders.
At Elkhorn and Racine the churchmen vis.,
operative gas and oil service stations, scores
yards and credit unions and discussed both phib
cal and technical questions on cooperatives witl
cooperative officials. The visit to the cooperative
local cooperatives was arranged by Dr. J. Hcnr)
penter and the Rev. James Myers, chairman and
tary of the Committee on the Church and Cooper
of the Federal Council of Churches.
The group picture is a photograph of the >
delegation in front of the modern co-op food
at Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The other picture ifseveral outstanding church leaders. Left to right
Rev. James Myers, industrial secretary of the Fe
Council of Churches ; Dr. J. Henry Carpenter, *
tary of the Brooklyn Church and Missions Fedei
Dr. George Haynes. race relations secretary of
Federal Council of Churches; Dr. Toyohiko Kag
Harry Frank, manager of the Elkhorn Consumer
operative; the Rev. E. Stanley Jones and Dr. Mi
China.

726 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D. C
167 West 1 2th Street, New York City
DIVISIONS:
Rochdale Institute, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C

Name
"Eastern Cooperative League
Address
St. Paul, Minn.
37240th St., Oakland
Superior, Wisconsin
2301 S. Millard, Chicago
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C.
Madison, Wisconsin

Volume XXVII. No. 8
AUGUST. 1941
The Bridge
Ten Cents
CO-OP COMMENT
We present a free ad to the film "Tom, Dick and Harry," starring Ginger
Rogers, for a line which is worth the price of the show, " Why can't we get ahead
without duggin' all the time?"
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The Directors Education Committee of the Cooperative League will meet in
September to formulate suggestions to be presented to the International Coopera
tive Alliance for "A Cooperative Peace Program." It should help the people of
the world to realize that peace will never be won on the battlefields of Europe or
of any other country, but only in the neighborhoods where we live.
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Cooportunity
New Age Living
Cooperative Builder
The Round Table
Readers Observer
Consumers Defender
116 E. 16St.,N.Y.
The Recreation Kit
Delaware, Ohio
Ohio Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Ohio Farm Bureau Ne\v^
Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Grange Cooperative Ne<
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Indianapolis, Ind.
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Berkeley, Calif.
Pacific N.W. Cooperate!
Walla Walla, Wash.
Penn. Co-op Review
Harrisburg, Perm.
Southeastern Cooperato
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Publication
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
John Dewey's message to the New Education Fellowship, recently meeting

at Ann Arbor, Mich., had in it this quotable phrase, "Education in and for and
by fellowship, through cooperation and with a cooperative society as its aim, is an
imperatively required factor in an education that will arise in contrast to the world
now engaged in destroying itself."
45,000,000 Americans are hungry, said Milo Perkins recently. Now Dr. Dean
Clark of the U.S. Public Health Service says that the U.S. is also a sick nation.
Probably less than half of the population enjoys good health. The need of per
fecting democracy in America is quite apparent.
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Minn., said at the recent Catholic
Cloud,
Bishop Joseph F. Busch of St.
Eucharistic Congress, "The modern pattern is based entirely on prices and profits.
This pattern must go within the next few years, and the solution is cooperatives."
An organ to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, -whereby the
GLEANINGS FROM THE COOPERATIVE PRESS

The Maritime Cooperator announces the appointment of Father Michael
O'Reilly as Bishop of St. George's, and says, "Father O'Reilly has aided in his
own community of Lourdes one of the most successful cooperative efforts in the
country. His appointment brings a new pillar of strength into the people's eco
nomic movement." A moral might well be drawn that cooperative ministers
should be chosen Bishops by every church body and that thereby we will eventu
ally cooperatize the church as Kagawa urges.
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Sister Francis Dolores, Librarian of the People's Library, Reserve Mines,
Nova Scotia, where Dr. J. J. Tompkins is located, says, "We do not believe that
in training for work and efficiency, libraries will become less useful in building
character and in developing real culture." Apropos of her statement, Dr. Coady
emphasizes that "Through credit unions, cooperative stores, lobster factories and
sawmills, we are laying the foundation for an appreciation of Shakespeare and
grand opera."
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One of the best cooperative advertisements we have ever seen was a simple
story published by the Sydney Cooperative Society of Nova Scotia in the Maritime
Cooperator which told how in 4^ years and with an initial investment of $3,500
the Society has done a volume of over $900,000, has paid out more than $50,000
in patronage returns, and has more than $75,000 invested in facilities and in
ventories. Then the cracker on the end of the whip calling for action reads
"This u-'as done by ownership."
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"Somehow a tankful of co-op gas seems to carry a car farther and faster.
Someone should tell Mr. Ickes." From Cooperative Notes.
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A veteran cooperator, John Fisher, of Bazaar, Kan., writes to The Coopera
tive Consumer, "Always remember that your economic system is the foundation,
while your political system is the superstructure. The foundation must fit the
superstructure. Therefore 'Build Co-ops in Order to Have Democracy.' "
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The Cooperator of Brooklyn says that John Daniels, author of "Cooperation:

An American Way," urges that we stress three advantages: Cooperation the
answer to profiteering, the way to economic democracy, and the way of peace.
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The Cooperative Consumer of Saskatchewan headlines this sentence from the
address of Dr. J. S. Thomson, president of the University of Saskatchewan, "You
have hold of one of the great words which must dominate the future, and the idea
that finds expression in the word must rule the future of the world."
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Another cooperative productive federation was sold to the consumers' co

operatives when the SCWS took over the Paisley Cooperative Manufacturing
Society. The counsel for a cooperative employee of the Liverpool Society who
pleaded guilty to forgery, defended his client by saying that "not a penny had
gone into his pockets. He merely wanted to show up what he thought were the
shortcomings of the Society's banking system." Vera Lynn, Britain's most popular
radio singer, is the daughter of a member of the London Society's maintenance
staff. So reports The Cooperative News of Great Britain.
162
"If free enterprise is taken as synonymous with competition as the organized

principle of economic life, then the Church rejects it. ... Competition leads,
history clearly proves, to a ruthless competition, first between individuals, then
between groups of individuals and the state political authorities, and finally to
conflict of war between nations themselves."
Bishop Karl Alter of Toledo, Ohio
"Cooperatives are cells of Brotherhood."
Dr. E. Stanley Jones
RESPONSE UNIVERSALLY FAVORABLE

TO COOPERATIVE C RUSADE
As announced in the July issue of CONSUMERS' COOPERATION,
the spirit and idea of an AMERICAN COOPERATIVE CRUSADE which
crystallized at the Publicity and Education Conference at Ames, Iowa, was
presented for consideration to the Directors of the Cooperative League and
National Cooperatives at their quarterly meetings held during the four days
of July 14-18. Both Boards of Directors unanimously approved the Cru
sade in principle, and referred it to a special committee to be composed of
those nominated by the regional members from their Educational and Distribu
tion Departments. Since the Crusade will have to do with Increased Mem
bership, Business and Capital, it was thought that the Distribution Depart
ments of the regionals as well as the Educational Departments should be repre
sented on the National Cooperative Crusade Committee.
Following the favorable approval of the National Directors, a prelim
inary meeting was arranged for by long-distance telephone between Gilman
Calkins, Chairman, and E, A. Whitney, Secretary of the National Publicity
and Education Committee with the General Secretary of the Cooperative
League at the national executive offices in Chicago. A full day was spent in
outlining suggestions for the Crusade, which are being sent to each regional
for their consideration preliminary to the calling of a meeting of the full
committee as soon as a date can be determined upon which will not conflict
with previous engagements. It is hoped that the first Crusade Committee
meeting can be held during the month of August.
The following sentences from the pamphlet "COOPERATIONThe
Dominant Economic Idea of the Future," by Vice-President Henry A. Wallace
are surely most appropriate to reread at this time. The Crusade is an answer
to his challenge:
"Today we need a great many more persons who will become
as deeply motivated by the idea of a cooperative economic so
ciety as the young men of 1776 and 1787 were motivated by
the idea of a democratic political society. The one is the living
stream of thought for the twentieth century as the other was for
the eighteenth. . . . The need is for a body of people in accord
on general aims, as idealistic and as realistic as were the young
Federalists of 1787, to channelize thought and initiate and con
sider proposals which may lead to a cooperative society."
Suggestions will be welcomed from everyone by the Committee. Send
them to the Chicago office of the Cooperative League. Stand by for further
announcements in your cooperative newspaper, and prepare to be ready to
participate in this Crusade to "Build Cooperatives Stronger and Faster."
August, 1941
163
GUEST EDITORIAL from The Cooperative News

SOCIAL ARCHITECTS
"It is announced that Mrs. Beatrice Webb is to retire from the presidency
of the Fabian Society. At 83 years of age, this grand woman ruefully confesses
that 'old age and the difficulty of meeting my friends in London during the war'
make it necessary for her to give up office.
"Beatrice and Sidney Webb make up one of the greatest intellectual partner
ships this country has ever known. Together they have made a gigantic contribu
tion to social progress. Monumental works, scientific yet simply written, are the
outward symbol of the Webbs' achievements. But their influence for the good
goes much deeper.
"In days when reaction had a stranglehold on local government everywhere,
it was the Webbs who supplied the shot and shell in the opening stages of the
battle between reformers and reactionaries.
"It was the Webbs who gave to the trade union movement its first really
detailed history; together they also gave to trade union policy-makers the blue
prints upon which the great union organizations of today have so largely been built.
"Half-a-century ago Mrs. Webb, then Miss Potter, brought her eager student
mind to the service of cooperation. Her book, 'The Cooperative Movement in
Great Britain,' was the first really expert analysis of cooperation as a social and
economic influence in Britain. It was whilst engaged in this work that the future
Mrs. Webb met J. T. W. Mitchell, greatest of all C.W.S. chairmen, to whom she
has paid so many eloquent tributes.
"In her happily long-delayed retirement, Mrs. Webb joins her equally famous
husband. On behalf of the cooperative movement, the 'Cooperative News' extends
good wishes to both these apostles of the new order. In this, the twilight of their
lives, the Webbs will find contentment in the certain knowledge that the great
work they have done is not obscured, even by the conflict now raging. When the
new Britain is being built, the wisdom of the Webbs will still inspire and instruct
those who build."
ACT NOW OR REGRET LATER
HE following four suggestions are

offered, not for philosophical discus
sion, but for action and ACTION NOW
before it is too late.
Pay Day is Coming Prepare!
No individual and no nation ever

piled up a mountain of debt without it
toppling over on them at some future
day. Today we are blowing up three debt
balloons on which we are building pro
ductiondomestic government debt, in
stallment debt and foreign government
debt. Debt balloons will eventually col
lapse, as they always have and always
will. They are sand foundations and will
wash away. The Directors of the Coop164
erative League gave lengthy consideration

to the suggestions of the National So
ciety of Cooperative Accountants as pub
lished in the July issue and revised them,
and recommend them to every local co
operative as follows:
1. Reduce accounts receivable to a
point where business with patrons
will finally be done on a cash basis.
2. Do not gamble on inventories.
3. Avoid expansion of facilities ex
cept where needed for immediate
use.
4. Liquidate indebtedness as rapidly as
possible.
5. Conserve cash by increasing re

serves and by selling more share
capital.
Diversify! Diversify!
"Don't Put All Your Eggs in One
Basket." This old saying needs polishing
up and practicing by cooperatives today.
Dependence upon petroleum products,
upon feed and fertilizer, or upon any
other single line of products is danger
ous. Why set any limits to the coopera
tive products you handle? Why let the
march of progress roll over you as mar
gins go down in the lines you are hand
ling? The purpose of cooperatives is to
lower margins in every line. When you
get one line going well, start into another.
Select the next one with care, but keep
moving ahead into new fields. Today
groceries are looming big on the horizon.
The regional cooperative groups who now
handle groceries are proving that they
can save money and supply better quality,
and that groceries draw the entire fam
ily into participation. Governor A. G.
Black of the Farm Credit Administration
gave this sound advice, "The cooperative
that takes on new services may not make
a saving on all of them, but it may find
that it will have a net saving as a result
of its combined activities. On the other
hand, if it continues on a single track
endeavor, it might find itself out of busi
ness before long."
Produce! Produce!
The advance reports of the results of

the cooperative refineries in Kansas and
Indiana indicate that they will prove
heyond question of a doubt that "Pro
duction is the life blood of the Coopera
tive Movement." Retailing and whole
saling are necessary to build the founda
tions of production but retail and
wholesale savings are small compared
with what is possible from cooperative
production. We predict that you will
be happily surprised when they are pub
lished at the close of the fiscal year and
you see them. Build up big retail and
wholesale volumes on simple wide marAugust, 1941
gin lines and then go into production.

This is the rule the Swedes follow. This
is what the Cooperative Movement in
the U.S.A. did when we started manu
facturing fertilizer and refining petrole
um. We are beginning to hit on all four
cylindersretailing, wholesaling, process
ing and production.
Tell the Truth to the People!
The necessary fundamental of any dis

cussion is an agreement upon basic statis
tical facts. The National City Bank Bul
letin says that "the standard of living of
the American working man has been
higher than anywhere else in the world."
They repeat the same old platitude about
the number of autos, phones, radios, etc.,
in the United States. But the truth is
that Scandinavia has developed a higher
standard of living for workers with even
less natural resources than we have.
Then the Bulletin says, "monopoly in
this country is much more of a political
bugaboo than a reality." The author
should have read "Dividends to Pay,"
which is based on government statistics,
and he might have saved himself from
making such a deceptive statement; for
statistics prove that monopolies are flour
ishing. Finally, the same Bulletin says,
"The hackneyed expression 'the rich are
becoming richer and the poor poorer' is
quite untrue of the United States." How
can one be so blind as not to see with
their own eyes the increasing poverty, un
employment, tenancy, etc., and the in
creasing concentration of ownership in
the hands of a few.
"Half the people hungry""half the
people sick"are the latest reports in
addition to the proof of statistics of so
cially minded government administrators.
Father Virgel Michel once wrote that
"The first step in social reconstruction is
the realization that capitalism as we have
known it is dying and should die." This
fact is tragically supported by statistics
which even the editor of a bank bulletin
should know and accept. Pound home
the truth to peopledon't let them be
deceived by such false figures.
165
CONSUMER CO-OPS GO 5 NTO MARKETING

By George Halonen
Educational Department
URING the past several years there

has been an ever-increasing tenden
cy on the part of marketing cooperatives
to enter into distribution of consumer
goods. Now we have a reverse picture
consumers' cooperatives entering into
large-scale marketing of farm products.
This unique enterprise is the result of
many years of farmer-member demand
and discussion. At the Head-of-the-Lakes
district, around Lake Superior, three dis
trict federations of Central Cooperative
Wholesale member societies decided to
hold an organizing conference about
these plans in Superior, Wisconsin, in
March. Some fifty cooperatives were rep
resented. The conference voted to incor
porate a marketing association controlled
by the cooperatives and not by individual
members. The new undertaking was
named the Cooperative Terminal, Inc.
The initial capital was set at $50,000.
The meeting also devised a practical
financing plan on a quota basis. The plan
provided that all consumers' cooperatives
located in rural communities must sub
scribe and pay for two shares, $100.00
each, and one additional share for every
branch store they may operate; the city
cooperatives to subscribe for one share
and one additional for every branch; pro
ducers' cooperatives (berry growers', po
tato and seed cooperatives, farmers' co-op
creameries, etc.) to subscribe at least for
one share. Federations, central oil co-ops
and the CCW itself were asked to take
20 shares each.
Circular letters were sent out to all
CCW member societies in Northern Wis
consin and Northern Minnesota. Michi
gan co-ops were not included at this time
because of transportation difficulties.
Within a few weeks, all co-ops, with very
few exceptions, responded affirmatively,
pledging to fill their quota. Thus some
fifty co-ops have so far pledged to buy
166
$15,000 worth of capital in this new

venture. Encouraged by the speedy and
affirmative returns, the committee called
a formal organizational meeting, which
was held in Superior on April 22, 1941.
It was well represented by consumers'
co-ops and also some representatives
from marketing co-ops, county agents
from counties in the territory of the pro
posed Cooperative Terminal, and ob
servers from the University and State
marketing sections. The meeting unani
mously decided to go ahead, elected com
mittees to draft Articles and By-Laws, to
find a suitable location in Duluth, Min
nesota, which was selected as the most
suitable center for marketing purposes.
Also a temporary Board of Directors was
elected, consisting of five cooperative
store managers and four experienced
farmers.
Scope of Activities
The Cooperative Terminal, Inc., was

incorporated under the Minnesota Co
operative Law and, approved by the At
torney General, its Articles of Incorpora
tion were filed with the Secretary of State
on May 22, 1941. The Articles set forth
the purpose of this cooperative as
follows:
"The purpose of this association shall be
to conduct a marketing, mercantile, broker
age, and mining enterprise on the coopera
tive plan. The general nature of its opera
tions shall be the marketing and processing
of the farm, forest and marine products
received from its members and patrons, (lie
purchasing and manufacturing of supplies,
equipment, and other necessities, the min
ing and processing of peat and other prod
ucts, and the distributing of such goods and
products to its members, patrons and the
general market. For these purposes it mayenter into any lawful contract, and acquire,
hold or dispose of any property as the said
business may require; issue bonds or other
evidences of indebtedness; join with other
organizations or with other cooperative
marketing, purchasing and service organiza-
tions and hold stock therein; and it shall

also be authorized to do and perform, either
for itself or for its individual members and
patrons, any act or thing necessary and
proper to the conduct of its business or
permitted by the act under which this asso
ciation is incorporated."
Both Common and Preferred

Stock Issued
As, in conformity to the general co

operative practice and the provisions of
the Law, non-member patrons in the co
operatives will not receive patronage divi
dends in cash until they own at least one
share, the question arose, how in our case
farmer patrons could receive patronage
dividends when only cooperatives are
eligible as members ? After trying to find
a practical solution to this problem, the
committee found out that the Minnesota
legislature had recently amended the Co
operative Law so as to eliminate this
dilemma. The amended law provides: "If
the patron is not qualified or eligible for
membership, the refund due him may be
credited to his individual account, and
when such credits shall equal the value of
a share of preferred stock, a share of pre
ferred stock may be issued to him, and
thereafter such patron may participate in
the distribution of income upon the same
basis as a common stockholder or
member."
Thus the capital of $50,000 was di
vided into 300 shares of the par value of
$100 each, amounting to $30,000 to be
known as 'common stock', and 2,000
shares of the par value of $10 each,
amounting to $20,000 to be known as
'preferred stock.' Ownership of shares
of common stock was limited to coopera
tive associations. The voting in the meet
ings of the Terminal will be based on a
proportional franchise, as prescribed by
the by-laws: "In the affairs of this asso
ciation, each affiliated or (common)
;.tock-owning cooperative association shall
have one vote for each share of common
stock of this association that it owns to
every full fifty of its own individual
members or major fraction thereof, pro
vided that each affiliated organization
shall have at least one vote and no assoAugust, 1941
ciation shall have more than 40 votes."

The "ceiling" of 40 votes is calculated
to eliminate the danger of a few big
societies' controlling the meetings of
the Terminal. This same voting method
has been successfully practiced by the
Central Cooperative Wholesale.
The non-voting preferred stock shall
be entitled to the following preferences,
priorities and privileges:
"To receive interest dividends, which
shall be non-cumulative, at the rate of
five per cent (5%) per annum commenc
ing April 1,1942, and payable annually on
the 31st day of December of each year, out
of earnings, before any interest dividends
on the common stock shall be paid; and,
upon dissolution or distribution of assets,
after all of the debts of the association
shall have been paid, the assets, property
and effects shall first be applied to the
payment of said preferred stock at par,
and no more, and before any payment is
made to the holders of the common stock,
and the balance shall be divided among
the holders of the common stock.
To participate and receive patronage rejunds upon distribution of undivided sur
plus on equal terms with the holders of
common stock.
The holders of the preferred stock
shall have no right to vote at any meeting
of the association."
Thus, not only the right of non-members (patron farmers) to participate in
patronage refunds was established, but
at the same time farmers undoubtedly
will have more direct interest in the af
fairs of their marketing association and
will be able to control it through their
individual membership in their own local
cooperatives, by demanding reports, ex
ercising due care in electing delegates to
the meetings of the Terminal and giving
instructions to these delegates.
Building Bought
After all the preliminaries had been

completed and a considerable amount of
pledges collected, the Board of Directors
selected as the headquarters for the Co
operative Terminal a two-story building
167
in Duluth with a full basement and three

modern sizeable coolers. The Board
originally planned to rent this building,
but after negotiating with the owners, de
cided to buy it outright at a reasonable
price on favorable terms. This became
necessary, too, because otherwise the
building would not have been available
for occupancy for a year, and because
other buildings inspected were found to
be less practical or the rent too high.
Now the Board is advertising for a
manager, and making everything ready
for the "grand opening" about August
15, 1941. As this is a new venture and
our cooperatives lack large-scale market

ing experience, the progress naturally will
be slow, a step by step procedure. The co
operative stores will be the main agents
in gathering farm products of all types
and the Terminal, in turn, will market
these products.
One of the additional important tasks
facing the Terminal is educational and
research work in cooperation with the
universities, state departments, schools
and county agents. Own labels or trade
names will be used and "quality guaran
teed" in the same way thitie consumers
own label does.
LOCAL CO-OP ORGANIZATION MANAGERS

AN APPRAISAL
By Carl Hutchinson
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The organization of Coopera
tive Education is rapidly groiving. The staff of
the national Cooperative League is increasing
from time to time. Nearly all of the regional
cooperatives now have educational departments
with a number of employees, whereas only a
jew years ago there was only one regional
which had an employee with the title of Edu
cational Director. Then some regionals began
employing District Educational Eieldmen.
There are now three regionals with such Edu
cational Eieldmen in their Districts who are
co-equal with the Business Eieldmen. The
latest development is the employment of Local
Educational Managers. Ohio has started the
ball rolling on an extended scale, and now has
17 full-time men employed by their local
county organizations. They have the title of
Organization Managers, borrowing the name
used by the Swedes for their Educational pro
gram. Here is a first appraisal of the latter
development in Cooperative Education.)
OR the past two years an increasing

number of county Farm Bureaus and
Cooperatives in Ohio have employed
County Organization Managers to carry
on membership and educational work in
the local county units. Such persons fill
the missing link between local, voluntary
leaders, and the state organization, which
had a staff of five District Organization
Fieldmen and two Educational Men in
the State Office.
To date we have 17 counties with fulltime Organization Managers, and 16 on
168
Education Department
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperatives
part-time. The full-time men give practi

cally their entire attention to organization
and education work. They are equipped
to supply information on the various
commodities handled, but in most cases
they do not carry an order book. Their
work may be divided, seasonally, into
two parts. During December, January and
February, most of their time is devoted
to membership work. Their chief func
tion here is to organize the membership
campaign, train the workers and direct
the campaign. During the other nine
months of the year, their chief responsi
bility is more definitely educational. Dur
ing this period they organize Advisory
Councils, train leaders, promote Farm
Bureau Committee work, organize meet
ings, handle matters of public relations.
Usually, the organization men are re
sponsible for the publication of the coun
ty newsletter, or other printed matter put
out by the local organization. Various
other duties are assigned to them, such
as conducting tours, directing the youth
program, securing delegates for various
Co-op conferences, and so forth.
The financial support of these workers
is usually shared jointly by the County
Farm Bureau and Cooperative AssociaConsumers' Cooperation
tion. In some cases they are directly re

sponsible to the Co-op manager, while
in others they operate in a parallel rela
tionship with the manager. In some cases
they may be responsible to a joint com
mittee set up by the Farm Bureau and
Co-op Boards.
The fact that these men are supported
by income from the Farm Bureau and
Cooperative Association means that only
the counties which have sufficient income
from membership and patronage earnings
are able to employ these workers. The
average Farm Bureau membership of the
34 counties having full-time and parttime Organization Managers is 274 per
county, while the average membership
per county in the 84 organized counties
is 221. The average Co-op volume per
county for the 34 counties with Organ
ization Managers is $188,182, while the
.iverage for the counties without Organ
ization Managers is $149,228.
Counties with full-time Organization
Managers average 14 Advisory Councils
per county. The remaining counties
average 9 per county.
The Men Themselves
The following information about the
Organization Managers themselves might
be interesting. Their average age is 35.6
years, ranging from 24 years to 56. Two
of the 34 men stopped with the 8th
grade; 15 have had one or more years of
high school; 11, one or more years of
college; and 5 are college graduates.
Twenty-eight are married, and six single.
Their previous occupations were as
follows: 9 were farmers, 8 clerical work
ers, 7 Co-op employees, 4 skilled or semi
skilled workers, 3 school teachers, 2 min
isters.
These men have averaged 3.7 years'
service in the Ohio Farm Bureau, and
their average income is $128 per month.
The qualifications of employees of this
type must include considerably more than
formal training. Not only do they need
an understanding and grounding in the
cooperative philosophy, but they require
a capacity to work with people and to
translate these ideals and principles into
August, 1941
practical forms. A grasp of progressive

educational techniques is a great asset,
especially when combined with a sense
of the practical and a capacity to organ
ize and inspire confidence in people's
ability to help themselves.
The experience of these men on the
job is proving to be one of the most val
uable teachers. They come together at
the State Office at stated intervals for con
ference, exchange of ideas, and discus
sion of mutual problems. These events
are among the most stimulating that oc
cur in our organization.
The test of this phase of our educa
tional program, of course, is to be found
in the practical results out in the counties
themselves. While the plan is young, we
find that counties on the whole are wellpleased with results. Cooperative business
has responded favorably, membership
has increased, and Advisory Councils are
growingboth in numbers and effective
nesswhere a trained worker is devoting
full-time or part-time to this task. It is
our hope that within the next few years
the other counties of the state will be
able to strengthen their program with
leaders whose job it is to develop the
capacity of people to work together.
America Needs Strong Cooperatives
169
MEASURING STICK FOR

A COOPERATIVE OIL COMPANY*
By Glenn S. Fox
Finance Department
(EDITOR'S NOTE: There is a great need of
setting up and following operating standards
by cooperatives. This means comparisons of
current operations with three things: the re
sults of the previous year, an estimate for
the current year, and some form of efficiency
standard. Mr. Fox discusses an efficiency
yardstick developed by Consumers Coopera
five Association of North Kansas City, Mo.,
for oil cooperatives.)
OOMEONE has said that the discern

^ ing newspaper reader, particularly in
these times, should learn the art of "read
ing between the lines." And that same
technique might well be applied to read
ing a balance sheet.
One widely accepted method of analy
sis is to weigh the component parts of a
balance sheet or operating statement by
the use of ratios, or comparisons. But it
does not follow that such guides are in
fallible. They must be tempered by com
mon sense, with an eye on all factors of
any given situation. They merely point
out the highway to success. Some associa
tions take short cuts and get there more
quickly, while others get lost trying it.
The measuring stick is a number of
ratios set up in graphic form so the
strong and weak points can readily be
visualized. The one shown includes only
a few of the more important, simpler
ratios. The desirable standard's are not
averages, neither are they goals, nor are
they danger lines. They might be thought
of as a "passing grade." The object is, of
course, to keep all the ratios above the
standard.
The old accepted rule of thumb, 2
to 1 ratio of current assets to current lia
bilities, is important even though gen*For a fuller treatment of the subject, explana
tion of terms and methods of calculation, see
related pamphlets "Learning the Language"
and "Reading Between the Lines" by Miller
and Fox, of Consumers Cooperative Associa
tion, North Kansas City, Missouri.
170
eral. If there are two dollars on hand

with which to pay every dollar of current
debt, there will be fewer tight spots in
the life of the cooperative.
Within the current assets, of course,
certain balances must also be maintained.
For example, research shows that the
ability to make net savings decreases rap
idly when more than 40 per cent of the
current assets is in receivables. Even
though a cash basis of operation is to be
recommended as best, yet if credit is to
be extended, certainly not more than one
sale in five can safely be charged. And
that one sale should be charged for ac
commodation only and should be col
lected in ten days on the average. Thus
two other credit standards are evolved,
namely, per cent of retail sales charged,
20 per cent or less, and ratio of total re
tail sales to charged sales, 36 to 1.
Even at the organization of a coopera
tive, the members should own around 50
per cent of the total assets. This standard
should possibly be set at 60 per cent or
more in these unsettled times.
If the members purchase enough stock
to equal the fixed assets, then additional
reserves, in the members' equity section
of the balance sheet, should be accumu
lated equal to at least 50 per cent of the
depreciated fixed assets.
The ratio of sales to inventory is the
first comparison considered which ties
the balance sheet with the income and
expense statement. Every dollar invested
in any part of the business must be
kept turning and earning more dollars.
The kind of inventory kept in most co
operative oil associations should turn
every 20 days or 18 times a year. Refined
fuels, naturally, should show a much
higher turnover.
Should total sales equal less than eight
times the original cost of fixed assets,
then there is over-investment or low
August, 1941
171
volume. The fixed overhead costs will

tend to drive wider margins or decreased
savings.
Column 7 is an over-all ratio of re
ceivables to turnover. Certainly the annual
retail sales should be 12 times the notes
and accounts receivable. That is a turn
over of notes, plus all accounts, every 30
days.
Standards were established for the op
erating statement by using the operating
experiences of some 300 middle west
cooperatives. They are median figures
representing the upper one-third in the
case of margins and savings and the
lower one-third in the case of expenses.
A desirable gross margin of 23 per
cent on gasoline, 29 per cent on distil
late and kerosene, 30 per cent on oils,
and 25 per cent on tires and accessories
should at least result in a total gross mar
gin of 24 per cent on total sales.
Expenses should be held to 16 per
cent of sales if at all possible. This fig
ure should include commissions. A high
percentage of the total expenses in a re
tail oil cooperative is the payroll. The
amount of the latter required to sell a
dollar's worth of petroleum and related
ASHINGTON, D.C."We must

begin with the realization that if
we give the President broad price fixing
powers, we give him control of our
economy."
About 48 hours after President Roose
velt had asked Congress for price fixing
authority, a Congressman thus expressed
his worried thoughts to a representative
of the Cooperative League. During the
first 24 hours after the message was read,
hardly a ripple of interest or concern over
the proposal was noticed in the House or
Senate cloakrooms. Then, the import of
the message began to sink in and one re172
Skirmishes over this legislation tell

merchandise is higher even than in a
stories of the situation in Congress. One
grocery store.
Dealer who happens
Income, other than from operations, very regular New
the Committee which
of
member
a
be
to
generally averages about one per cent of
bill remarked, with
the
consider
will
be
difference
the
to
sales. That added
"hoped our com
he
that
asperity,
some
tween gross margin and expenses shows
opportunity, at
the
given
be
will
mittee
of
cent
the favorable net results of 9 per
before they try
thing
the
at
look
to
least,
sales.
to make us vote for it." He was express
A member is counted as loyal who does ing the bitterness there is in Congress
most or all possible business with the o\er Executive domination. As he sug
co-op. Probably this, along with the num gested, this bill is being prepared in Ex
ber of members, are among the most im ecutive departments and Congress will be
portant percentages and ratios.
requested to approve it.
After each of these ratios and per
But before the President acted, a seri
centages is calculated, it can be placed on ous insurgent movement had developed in
the columns as the co-op shown on the Congress. Two or three months ago, Leon
measuring stick. The weak points and, Henderson, chief of OPACS, or the Of
to a degree the importance of the weak
fice of Price Administration and Civilian
ness, can be ascertained by the distance i Supplies, could have gotten approval of
the line drops below the standard. Trends I reasonable price control legislation. But
can be viewed by placing more than one Leon stepped on the toes of "cotton Sena
year's analysis on the measuring stick. tors" and then he stepped on the toes of
Far too little time is spent by manage automobile manufacturers and then he
ment watching trends as revealed by per
began to irritate William S. Knudsen,
centages and ratios. They are valuable in chief of OPM, or the Office of Pro'ducmeasuring accomplishments of budgets, tlon Management. Finally Knudsen at
goals and plans. Mix them with common tacked Henderson publicly and sore spots
sense and one gets sound business judg began to break out all over the Adminis
ment.
tration.
It must be remembered that OPM
represents "management" or the boys
who take the profits, even though Sidney
Hillman, labor representative, has suc
John Carson
Washington Representative ceeded in giving some protection to labor.
Henderson's OPACS could become a
forthright representative of consumers, a
suit was the remark of the Congressman zealous, fighting organization if he de
cided upon that course. Henderson is still
here repeated verbatim.
"But will you support the legislation?" a powerful influence at the White House,
but Knudsen and others also are power
the Congressman was asked.
"I do not know. I will not say until I ful and Henderson is not liked very much
see what is proposed but, generally speak by any of the leaders in the OPM group.
Henderson finally had to ask for com
ing, I would like for you or anyone to
price fixing authority. For weeks
plete
tell me how they could justify opposing
the plan in view of the gradual increase he has been trying to get an agreement on
some plan. He had made little progress.
in prices."
I think that sums up the thoughts of In fact, it looked like he might fail. Then
the important members of House and the President stepped into the mess.
The next skirmish is going to involve
Senate and it should indicate that the
price fixing proposal will be approved, if the growing fight over whether executive
authority shall dominate or whether Cona reasonable proposal can be developed.
August, 1941
gress shall continue to exercise its au

thority.
The price fixing legislation has not
been written as this is reported. As Con
gressmen indicated, they do not know
what will be proposed. But at this mo
ment, some powerful individuals are in
sisting that the legislation must provide
for a veto power over any price czar's
rulingsand that veto power must be
vested in an advisory group chosen from
various organizations of citizens. Inci
dentally, these Congressmen also insist on
"pitiless publicity."
"How about controlling wages?"
"We cannot say now, but it is prob
able that will have to result."
"And controlling profits?"
"Yes, we will have to control profits
alsocontrolling prices inevitably means
controlling wages and that calls for con
trolling profits and that means control of
our entire economy."
* * *
TaxesThe new tax bill has run the
gauntlet of the House, but what the
House did, or what form the bill took
in the House, are matters of little
moment. Until the Senate picture de
velops more, discussion of the tax bill
is a waste of time. If the progressive or
liberal group in the Senate organizes to
make a fight, it is possible this time that
real reform legislation can be adopted.
And right now, progressive leaders are
discussing whether a fight could be suc
cessful, if it were begun.
* * *
Voorhis-Wagner resolution The
House Committee on Labor will not
act, finally, on the Voorhis-Wagner reso
lution until evidence recently taken is
printed and available to Congressmen.
The resolution, regarded by many as be
ing the most important legislative pro
posal now before Congress, would cre
ate a commission on unemployment, or
on the "post defense economic" situation.
Congressman Voorhis proposes that rep
resentatives of consumer cooperatives
shall be on the commission, along with
173
representatives of organized agriculture,

of labor, business, finance, and of the
church groups. It now seems that the
House Committee on Labor will approve
the resolution. Then the proposal will
have to go before the House Committee
on Rules, and be approved there, before
it will reach the House for final action.
Cooperators are asked to write to their
Congressmen and Senators and urge that
this "cooperative must" legislation, be
passed.
* * *
Coal price regulationSenator Worth
Clark of Idaho, has been named by Sena
tor Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, as
chairman of a special subcommittee to
hear evidence on the LaFollette-BallCapper resolution to amend the Bitumi
nous Coal Act and thus provide recogni
tion for consumer cooperatives.
The Coal Act now permits coal pro
ducers to pay profit wholesalers and
"farm cooperatives" for the wholesale
'distribution of coal. The Coal Division
decided when Midland Cooperative
Wholesale applied for recognition, that
coal producers could not pay or recog
nize Midland, or any cooperative other
than a "farm cooperative." The legisla
tion now proposed would correct that
situation.
Senator Clark recently submitted to the
Coal Division a request that the Division
offer a substitute for the LaFollette-BallCapper proposal if the Division contin
ued to oppose the legislation. He has not
yet gotten the substitute proposal from
the Division, although he asked for it
several weeks ago. He has been delaying
the hearing of evidence until the Division
decided its coursebut hearings will be
held shortly if the Division continues to
procrastinate. Procrastination serves only
the profit wholesale and retail dealers
who fought the cooperative amendment
and who, incidentally, had the support
of the Coal Division when the fighting
became most severe.
* * *
Coal price fixing --- Attorney Daniel
Rogers, associated ordinarily with Con174
sumers Cooperative Association of North

Kansas City, but acting in this instance
for Midland Cooperative Wholesale of
Minneapolis, has filed in the Circuit
Court of Appeals in St. Louis, notice of
appeal from the decision of the Coal Di
vision in which Midland was denied the
right to register as a "distributor" of coal.
Until Midland is registered with the Coal
Division it can get no pay for its services
in distributing coal, hence its business is
confiscated. The Coal Division denied its
application for registration. Rogers, in
opening the court fight, started legal ac
tion in which cooperative natural rights
may be fully tested. This is the begin
ning of the cooperatives fight to continue
to do cooperative business in all fields.
It is one cooperative step which will be
come historic.
* * *
Oil controlSecretary Harold L. Ickes,
the new oil czar and his deputy oil czar.
Ralph K. Davies are putting together
a considerable organization of lawyers
and clerks and "experts" to direct the
business of regulating the production
and sale of oil and gasoline. These new
government employees are not housed
properly, as yet. They are crowded to
gether until they are working under ex
treme difficulties. Incidentally, they have
not begun to clear up the requests and
demands for information.
The cooperatives got from Ickes and
Davies only one representative on all
of the committees, Howard A. Cowden.
Because the cooperative leaders felt that
Ickes and Davies might not realize that
cooperatives handle more oil and gas than
any group, outside of the "major" or
"trust" group, and therefore might not
have appreciated the lack of considera
tion shown cooperative enterprise, a com
prehensive statement of cooperative oil
and gasoline activities was filed with
Ickes. At that time another request was
made for the appointment of cooperative
representatives to oil committees in the
five regulatory zones Ickes has set up.
No answer has been had as yet from
Ickes to any of the cooperative proposals.
BOOK R EVIEWS
THE MORALE OF DEMOCRACY, by the Hon
orable Jerry Voorhis. The Greystone
Press, New York, 93 pp. $1.00.
This book grew out of demand for reprints
i)f the address by Mr. Voorhis at the 12th
annual meeting of Eastern Cooperative
Wholesale. It had been a meeting that an
outsider would have found remarkable: 300
men and women, not a dozen of whom had
ever depended upon the sale of groceries for
a livelihood discussing with manager, audi
tor and buyer matters of policy and tech
nique and finance of a million-and-a-halfdollar business. Then, after an arduous day
packing a banquet hall to appreciate this
evangelistic message, that "Cooperation is
the translation into economic terms of the basic
principles of Christian faith" . . . the "best
school for democracy that has yet been devel
oped in this world" . . . and "we must have
an economic democracy and that we cannot
have in a society which is controlled by private
monopoly or dominated by the motive of gain."
It is remarkable that a Congressman (though
voted by newsmen "most sincere and earnest"
member of the House) goes all-out for a
movement that is anathema to every legislative
lobby and of no particular concern to his con
stituency in California. But more remarkable
is the amphibious quality of a typical co-op au
dience which can exalt to the appeal of a New
Jerusalem and look to its cash-and-carry foun
dations.
Both characteristics are evident in this book.
Wallace J. Campbell, assistant secretary of
The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., con
tributes a long introduction that is one of the
best condensed reviews we know of the piractioil achievements of more than 70 million
Cooperative families in the world. Abroad,
he describes the extent to which Cooperation
lias been woven into the democratic texture
of every country not yet cut down by the
swastika or sickle. He gives evidence of the
extent Cooperatives are suppressed by both
totalitarian plagues. In this country, he de
scribes the role of Cooperatives as yardsticks
for the price and quality of fertilizer, farm
supplies, insurance, and soon, it is hoped,
for gasoline and groceries.
Dr. James Peter Warbasse, founder and
president emeritus of the League, in the
epilogue expresses a distrust of forms of
'slateism" which would smother the spirit of
free enterprise he holds as essential to de
mocracy as to Cooperation.
In the three speeches of Mr. Voorhis which
make up the body of the book, he repeatedly
posits Cooperation, as the answer to the
greatest single need today: "For one people
somewhere in the world to give to all man
kind a living proof . . . that they can, with
August, 1941
\
out loss of liberty and without resort to gov

ernment compulsion, solve the economic prob
lems of this power age, and poverty in the
midst of plenty and make the machine the
servant of man and not his master."
There is nothing sudsy about Mr. Voorhis'
clear and fine call for an idealistic program
and much challenging evidence that "Coopera
tion opens the door for ourselves without shut
ting it in the face of a neighbor." John Cham
berlain has called Cooperation "an idea with
handles," and someone else has suggested that
its symbol should be a "Golden Slide Rule."
GEORGE H. TICHENOR
CASE STUDIES OF CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVES,
by H. Haines Turner, Ph.D., Columbia
University Press, New York City. $2.50.
It seems unfortunate to this reviewer that
Dr. Turner should have chosen to limit so
strictly a work on consumer cooperatives. For
while he has been meticulously fair in his at
tempt to appraise consumer cooperation as j
method of store keeping, he has limited even
that evaluation by centering his study on the
Finnish Co-ops in the United States.
The first half of the book is devoted to a
general summary, followed by a case report on
the cooperative accomplishments of the Finns
in Maynard, Mass. Dr. Turner does a mag
nificent job of setting forth the several im
pelling motives behind the cooperative or
ganization of the Finnish factory workers in
Maynard. He has caught the underlying spirit
of this group of tough-fibred people, and
he portrays the various phases of their so
cialistic revolt and struggle. Then he shifts
his attention to another Finnish group and
deals studiously and comprehensively with
the aims and objectives behind the develop
ment in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern
Michigan, that territory covered by the Cen
tral Cooperative Wholesale.
The cooperative movement has gone far
beyond the phase where it required precise
statistic proof, such as Dr. Turner presents,
of its efficiency as compared to that of chains
and independents. Its leaders know that re
tail stores and wholesales are but opening
wedges, important only as they lay a founda
tion for the development of a more expansive
organization. Groups other than the Finns,
unfettered by racial prejudices and distrusts,
have progressed rapidly.
In the closing paragraph of his summary,
Dr. Turner says, "The distributive process
remains relatively inefficient. There are still
conspicuous opportunities for improvement
of which cooperative enterprises may take
advantage. Whether or not they will do so
will depend upon the capacity of consumers
for social organization. . . ."
BERTRAM B. FOWLER
175
CO-OP LITERATURE

special edition .................................................. 1.25
The Hrave Years, Wm. Ileyliger .................. 3.50
Fresh Furrow, Burris Jenkins ...................... 2.00
<'o-oi>, TTpton Sinclair ........................................ 2.50
My Story, by Paddy the Cope, Co ops in

Ireland .................................................................. 2.75
Consumers' Cooperatives, Julia E. Johnsou, Debate Handbook ..................................
.80
Wlien You Buy, Trilling, Eberhart and

Xicholas, high school and college, two

Tile Consumers Cooperative as a Distribu
high school text, one chapter on Co-ops 3.00
The Consumer Movement, Helen Sorenson,

two chapters on Co-ops ................................ 2.50
Our Interests as Consumers, Dorothy

Jacobson, section on Co-ops ....................".. 1.4H
Consumer Cooperation in Great Britain,
Carr-Saimders and others ............................ 4.(X)
American Students and tile Cooperative

There Are Jobs in Cooperatives, Wallace
.02
.03
.05
.25
.0^
For Younger Cooperators

The Little Red Hen and Her Cooperative.
nursery rhyme, Kate Bradford Stockton

Facing the Sunrise, Kllis Cowling ..............
Story Without End, Leslie 1'aul ..................
.10
.13
.20

.05
.50
Josephine
Consumed,
Consumer
Tile
Cooperative Recreation, Carl Hutchinson .. .05
Cooperative Recreation Sonss, A. M. Calkins .10
Education Through Recreation, Ij. P. Jacks 1.50
Play Party Games. Kit P. .............................. .:'
Quadrilles, Kit T. ................................................ .25
American Folk Dances, Kit 49 ...................... .25
Credit Unions and Finance

Fox and Miller, 2 parts
1. Learning the Language .......................... .10
2. Reading Between the Lines .................. .10
Other Peoples' Money, E. E. Bowen .......... .!(!
Credit Unions, Frank O'Hara .......................... .05
Unions, Anthony Ijehner .............................. .10
Credit Unions: The People's Hanks, Max
well Stewart ...................................................... .10
Credit Union North America, Koy Bergengrell ........................................................................ 2.00
176

the Cooperative ......................................
Are the Co-ops Getting Anywhere?,
George Tichenor ....................................
Tichenor ....................................................
A $600,000.000 Business With 2,000,000
Ink Monthly ............................................
PM Reports Fast Growing Co ops
Shun all Isms ..........................................
trnion of Church and Economics is
Dramatized as Co-ops Reveal llapicl
Progress, P. H. Erbes, Printers' Ink
North Woods Miracle, American ......
Brickbats and Boomerangs, E. E.
Bowen ........................................................
*y ft
.01
.75
.02
.02
.02
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1.50
1.00
1.511
1.50
.02 1.50
ONSUMERS
COOPER AT fON
.02 l.(n
.02 1.50
02 1.50
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.02 1.JO
.IB l..i
.03 2.00
.03 2.0(1
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way in Sweden, l(i mil

silent, produced by the Harinon Foundation.
Unit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit 11.
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit 111.
Agricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Kental per
unit: color. $5; black and white. ?3; addi
tional showings, $2.50 color and $1.50, blait
and white.
The Lord Helps Those Who Help Kadi
Other, a new 3 reel, IB mm. film of Hie Ku.a
Scotia adult education and cooperative pro
gram, produced by the Harmon Foundation.
Excellent photography. $4.50 per clay, $2.25
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel, 10 ram.
Kodacrome, shows how coopcrators on the
eastern seaboard are providing themselves
with CO-OP products. $2 per day, $<! IKT
week.
A House Without a Landlord, a new 1'
Clasping Hands, 16 mm. silent, two reel film,
showing how cooperation is taught in Hie
schools of France.
When Mankind is Willing, a 1C mru. silent
erative stores, wholesales and factories in
France.
A Day With Kagawa, 3 ree'. silent, 1C mm.
Rental: Each of three above $3 per day, $150
Co-op Caravan Rolls Across Ohio on First U.S. Co-op Tour
Editorial
AMERICA ON FIRE FOR CO-OPS!
Mary MacMillan
WITH THE CO-OP CARAVAN
ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COOPERATOR
Howard A. Cowden
Jack McLanahan
TRAINING LAY LEADERS
EASTERN COOPERATIVE RECREATION SCHOOL
POSTERS
(any selection of 6 ............ $1)

Organize Cooperatives, 19"x28", Green ........
Cooperative Principles, 19"x28", Blue ..........
Cooperative Ownership, 19"x28", Mulberry
the People. 19"28", Eed-White-andBlue ........................................................................
Buy Co-op, 19"x28", Eecl-White-and-Blue
March On. Democracy, 18"x28", Ked-Whitennd-Blue ..............................................................
.20
.20
.20
.20
.20
.20
Ellen Edwards
SEPTEMBER
1941
NATIONAL
John Carson
CAPITOL LETTERS
REVIEWS: "Consumers' Cooperatives in the North
Central States"
"The Law of the Organization and Operation
of Cooperatives"
"Democracy's Second Chance"
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
THE PICTURE ON THE COVER
GET READY FOR

COOPERATIVE CRUSADE
The First All-American Tour of U.S.

Cooperatives gets under way! The pic
ture shows' the tour starting from Colum
bus, Ohio. In the lead is the Ohio StatePolice car followed by Carl Hutchinson
tour leader, and following that is the
Ohio Farm Bureau sound tmck, which
was used in the Ohio area for outside
talks and also for giving directions to the
drivers of the cars. The thirteen cars 'in
the tour party all bear placards "The First
Annual Tour of U. S. Cooperatives."
Your national magazine, Consumers'

Cooperation will bring you news, tools
and techniques to use in the forthcom
ing Co-op Crusade.
Renew your subscription now so you
won't miss an issue. Send subscriptions
to others who should take part in this
first nation wide co-op drive. One dollar
will bring you the magazine for oneyear; two dollars for twenty-seven
months.


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Michigan Farm News
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Penn. Co-op Review
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The Bridge
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNALOFTHE CONSUMERS' COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT

Volume XXVII. No. 9
SEPTEMBER, 1941
Ten Cents
AMERICA ON FIRE FOR CO-OPS!

This is the purpose of the national Cooperative Crusade that is starting.
There never has been a more favorable time.
Within recent months, Consumers Cooperative Association and Indiana Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association have demonstrated what cooperatives can do in
making savings in petroleum production, as before we had demonstrated what we
could do in retailing and wholesaling. When the figures of savings are published
at the dose of the fiscal year, they will astonish everyone. We now have evidence
of the great savings possible when cooperatives go all the way from retailing to
production.
Ohio and Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Associations have also now
demonstrated what cooperatives can do in lowering price levels by cooperative
fertilizer production, as before we had demonstrated what we could do in re
tailing and wholesaling.
No longer do we have to use European examples to prove what cooperatives
can do in making savings and in lowering prices. We have demonstrations right
here in the United States.
We have said that cooperatives were the answer to high prices. Now we have
the proof. Cooperatives can make tremendous savings in the cost of distribution
and production, and thus lower prices indirectly by patronage dividends on pur
chases. Cooperatives can also lower price levels directly and prevent monopoly
price fixing. This is the job of Consumers' Cooperativesto lower prices to users.
They have now proven that they can do so both indirectly and 'directly against
monopoly competition in the United States.
The pamphlet "Income and Economic Progress," which summarizes the Brookings Institution studies, concludes that lower prices to consumers is the most
important way to distribute purchasing power as compared with higher pay and
taxation. Cooperatives can do this job of lowering prices. They serve as Golden
Rule yardsticks for business.
Not only have we now this statistical proof of the power of the cooperatives
to lower prices, but we also have now an unusual opportunity. The field is ripe
for a cooperative harvest.
Prices to consumers are rising faster than pay to producers. The economic
pressure is increasing. People are becoming aroused and hunting for a solution.
We also have now the third thing necessarythe crusading spirit. Cooperators are stirred as never before. All plus the fact that the condition of the regional
associations was never better and the unity in the movement was never greater.
We have the proofthe field is fertilewe have the spirit. These are the
ingredients required to generate a Cooperative Crusade such as America has never
hada national Membership, Trade and Capital Drive that can do wonders. It
might even protect America from dictatorship, as it rolls up momentum, by per
fecting democracy in this country. Eventually, it might even save the world from
dictatorship by the contagion of a cooperative example.
Congressman Jerry Voorhis challenges us that the most important single need
of the world today is this: "For one people somewhere in the world to give to all
mankind a living proof and demonstration that they can, without loss of liberty
and without resort to governmental compulsion, solve the economic problems of
this power age, end poverty in the midst of plenty and make the machine the
servant of man and not his master." The Scandinavian countries have been such
laboratories on a small scale. What is needed is a living demonstration by a large
nation. A merica should be that nation.
A reviewer of Voorhis' book The Morale of Democracy, says: "If, as the
Congressman from California believes, the spirit of cooperation is the morale of
democracy, then every one of the more than two million persons in America who
are identified with the co-ops is not only an embattled buyer; he is also a trooper
enlisted in the service of a great ideal."
So we are. Not only are we consumer-buyers out to lower prices; but also co
operative crusaders out to build cooperatives stronger and faster. "Cooperatives,"
says The New York Times, "are one of the world's most peaceful, most construc
tive economic reform movements."
We have the proof of the power of cooperatives; the field is ripe for a co
operative harvest; let's set America on fire for CO-OPS!
OUR RIGHTS WE MAINTAIN
We need a cooperative birth of freedom. We need, as cooperators, to declare
that "Our liberties we cherish, our rights we maintain." There are four coopera
tive rights which are challenged:
First: The right to engage in any business and pay patronage returns on
purchases. Midland Cooperative Wholesale has been denied that right by the Ad
ministrator of the Bituminous Coal Act. If this right, which is fundamental to the
whole cooperative movement, can be destroyed in the case of one commodity, it
can likewise be destroyed in,the case of others. (Write your Congressmen and
Senators in support of the LaFollette Amendment S 1315.)
Second: The right to equal access to credit. Consumers' Cooperatives which
"limit their membership largely to agricultural producers are now enabled to get
Joans from the Banks for Cooperatives, while -Consumers' Cooperatives with both
farm and urban memberships cannot.
178
Third: The right to equal exemption from income taxation. Consumers' Co

operatives made up of producers are completely exempt from income taxes, while
Consumers' Cooperatives which have open membership are not exempt from taxa
tion on that portion of their savings which they transfer to general surplus.
Fourth: The right to equal representation on all public bodies. Such bodies
now are quite generally made up of political and producer representatives. Or
ganized consumers are generally ignored. (Write your Congressmen and Senators
in support of the Voorhis-Wagner Bill, H.R. 59.)
We are not blaming the government. We are not blaming producers. We are
only stating a fact. We, consumers,- are the ones at fault. We have not spoken for
ourselves in the past. Now we have a Washington office, and are beginning to do
so. But one representative of Consumers' Cooperatives in Washington can only
open the doors to get a hearing for consumers. Every cooperator has his or her
part to play. When you are asked to write your Congressmen and Senators in sup
port of legislation, ACT ON THE REQUEST WITHOUT DELAY. Do your
part to help maintain the rights of cooperatives to freedom and equality.
LET'S MOBILIZE OUR MONEY COOPERATIVELY
It has been more than 25 years since Justice Brandeis warned Americans that
they were being controlled by their own money. It's high time we did more about
it. There are two ways to do something about it which everyone can do right now:
invest in cooperative shares; invest in cooperative savings.
I, ]ohn Doe, Owe My Co-op Association $..............................?
We think backwards generally about our Co-ops. We think of dividends first
and investments second. We have been fooled by reading the stories of Britain
where one can join a co-op by paying a shilling down. That's all right when the
movement has plenty of money. But here in America, our co-ops are badly under
capitalized. A Bulletin of the University of Minnesota says that of 92 oil associa
tions, 41 owe more than they own. They have been bled white by dividends. No one
should be allowed to join a co-op without understanding that he is expected to
pay in as soon as possible his equal minimum share of the capital needed for
facilities and inventories. That might be $25, it might be $50, or it might be $100.
But whatever average minimum amount is needed should be considered as owed
by each member to his co-op until paid. It's all right to be allowed to join and to
become a voting member by paying in full for one share. But to be a full-fledged
member, each one should be expected to invest whatever average amount is neces
sary. We need to think in terms of o wnership rather than dividends.
I, ]ohn Doe, Invest My Savings Cooperatively
The most practical as well as the most patriotic thing every cooperator can do
is also to invest his or her savings cooperatively. By so doing, excessive interest
rates will be reduced and inflation also in part prevented. Credit Unions are the
simplest form of Cooperative Savings Banks, Cooperative Preferred Stocks are
another possible form of investment of surplus savings. Cooperative Investment
Certificates are another. Consumers Cooperative Refineries of Saskatchewan are
now offering Cooperative Savings Bonds, which cooperatives in the United States
might well do.
Before war, during war, or after war, we all need to learn to bank coopera
tively, as well as buy cooperatively. Put your money at work working for you and
your country in cooperative shares or savings.
September, 1941
179
GEORGE RUSSELL SAYS

THREE NECESSARY STEPS IN ECONOMIC PROGRESS
George Russell described the three necessary steps in economic progress clearly
25 years ago in Cooperation and Nationality. We should all learn them and take
them.
The FIRST Step is to reject the competitive-monopoly system, because of its
fruits of poverty, unemployment, tenancy, disease, crime and war. "It is anarchic
and inhuman, and the world is hurrying from it in disgust," said Russell. The
present system has become a third type of slavery: the first the master-slave type;
the second the lord-serf type; and the third and present the owner-worker type.
The SECOND Step, according to Russell, is to resist the tendency to turn to
"the State to do for us what we should and could do far better ourselves," lest a
fourth bureaucratic-ward type of economic slavery overcome us. "When a man
becomes imbecile his friends place him in an asylum. When a people grow
decadent and imbecile they place themselves in the hands of the State." The use
of a political government to control an economic system is unnatural and exterior,
and accordingly becomes dictatorial. A democratic economy must be self-con
trolled from within itself and must provide income, employment and ownership
for all. It must make possible the realization of both self-interest and socialresponsibility, of both freedom and security.
The THIRD Step is to build a consumer-producer cooperative economy,
through which, for the first time, we will be free indeed. Cooperative Common
wealth alone allows freedom and solidarity. . . . The Divine Event to which we
are moving is a state in which there will be essential freedom combined with an
organic unity." This would include private, cooperative and public ownership and
organization as parts of an institutional balanced system. Broadly interpreted, co
operative organizations would, in turn, include such economic associations as con
sumers cooperatives, credit unions, marketing cooperatives and labor unions, all
of which are in structure democratically controlled and non-profit.
AMERICA'S FOUR SURPLUS-REMOVAL PROJECTS
Each of the past four decades, including the present, has witnessed a gigantic
attempt on the part of the United States to solve our economic problems by de
veloping a huge surplus-removal project. At the turn of the twentieth century, we
entered into a new power ageautomatic gas and electric power. Each new power
production age requires the development of a new corresponding system of dis
tribution. Hand power brought slavery. Animal power brought serfdom. Steam
power brought competition. We are trying to develop a new automatic mass dis
tribution system which will correspond to automatic gas and electric power produc
tion. Thus far, we are largely blindly fumbling at the job.
Gas and electric power keep on piling up surpluses which we cannot dis
tribute among ourselves. So, to prevent our automatic machines being snowed
under with their own output we have devised a new surplus-removal project in each
of the past and present four decades.
In the 1910 decade we shipped our surpluses to Europe and took in exchange
lOU's payable to the government, over 99 per cent of which are in default and
will never be paid.
lOU's payable to private bondholders, most of which are in default and will never
be paid.
180
lOU's payable in gold, which we now have stored underground and which is
largely worthless except for metal.
In the 1940 decade now opening, we are shipping our surpluses to Europe
and taking in exchange lOU's payable in the form of rentals, which cannot be paid.
These are economic facts which the American people should understand.
Whether it was and is wise or not is not the question we are discussing. At
least, the economic processes of what we have done and are doing should be under
stood. It might help us to eventually learn how to really solve our economic prob
lems by cooperative distribution of our power production.
THE FOUR ECONOMIC SLAVERIES
The first organized economic system was labeled slavery. It was admitted to
be such. Then the few were masters and the many were slaves, chained to the
masters' households.
The second economic system was serfdom. The few were lords and the many
were serfs, chained to the lords' lands.
The third economic system was competitive-monopoly. The few are the
owners and the many are the workers, chained to the owners' factories.
What's ahead? Freedom, or another form of slavery?
William Morris once said that always before when mankind had thrown off
its chains it thought it would be free, only to find itself in a new but larger prison
house. But this time he said, "We will be free indeed!" The indications are not
too favorable. The world generally is adopting another form of economic slavery.
The fourth economic system of slavery is State-bureaucracy. The few are the
dictators and the many are the wards, chained to the dictators' decrees. It has been
described by Francis Neilsen as "one of the most damnable systems of slavery
which can be perpetuated, which makes the wealth-producer a toiler for a
bureaucracy." "The Eden of the bureaucrat is the Hell of the governed," said
George Russell.
But we, in America, do not have to drift into State-bureaucracy. If we are will
ing to cooperate and work hard enough at the job of building cooperatives, we can
forestall the danger of dictatorship by neither turning to the left toward Com
munism nor the right toward Fascism, but advancing straight ahead down the
Middle-Way to Cooperation.
Abraham Lincoln once said: "There has only been one question in all of
civilization and that is how to prevent a few men saying to many men 'You work
and earn bread and we will eat it.' " At long last we cooperators have the final
answer to this age-old question.
If we but WILL. If we but WORK. We may be FREE.
Germany has suppressed cooperatives.
Russia has suppressed cooperatives.
The president of the International Cooperative Alliance is a citizen of a coun
try allied with Germany.
The vice-president of the International Cooperative Alliance is a citizen of a
country allied with Russia.
There are increasing reasons for the neutral policy of the Consumers' Coopera
tive Movement in the United States, as adopted by the delegates to the last Congress.
*****
"Cooperatives are places where peace principles may find expression."
September, 1941
181
OME DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COOPERATOR

(EDITOR'S NOTE: At a meeting of the board of
directors of The Cooperative League in March
the directors discussed informally ivhat part
co-op products played in their lives. Mr. Coirden's article grew out .of that discussion.)
N arising each morning I brush my

teeth with CO-OP tooth paste and
then I shave with the aid of CO-OP
Brushless shave cream and a CO-OP razor
blade. After that I sit down to a break
fast of CO-OP grape fruit juice, CO-OP
corn flakes, CO-OP butter on bread toast
ed in a CO-OP toaster and spread with
CO-OP jelly. Topping if off are two cups
of good CO-OP coffee. During breakfast,
a CO-OP radio brings me a CO-OP spon
sored newscast that keeps me abreast of
world developments.
On the way to the office I light a CO
OP cigar, and life immediately becomes
richer, more satisfying. Even the car seems
to run better, equipped as it is with
CO-OP tires, tubes, battery and spark
plugs, with an ample supply of CO-OP
compounded oil in the crank case, CO-OP
manufactured grease in the chassis, and a
tankful of gas from the first cooperative
refinery in the United States.
On reaching the office I find a CO-OP
newspaper on my desk. It's The Coopera
tive Consumer, official paper of Consum
ers Cooperative Association, which will
be much improved when additional equip
ment has been added to the CO-OP print-
Howard A. Cowden
182
WITH THE CO-OP CARAVAN

Mary MacMillan
Howard A. Cowden, President

ing plant acquired by CCA March 1,

1941, enabling us to print a CO-OP
paper in a CO-OP plant. I switch on the
lights in my officelights generated co
operatively at a cost of 1.6 cents per
kilowatt hour as against the commercial
rate of nearly 6 cents per kilowatt hour.
On my desk are letters from cooperators,
and a group of CO-OP members are wait
ing in the lobby for a conference.
Noon comes and the conference is ad
journed for lunch which is served in the
CO-OP cafeteria in the basement of CCA,
where nearly every item on the menu is
a CO-OP label product. The annual pat
ronage dividend from the CO-OP store
and cafeteria more than pays the cost of
my membership in a CO-OP Health As
sociation of which I am a member. When
prepaid medical, surgical arid dental care
are added under the plan, interest on my
shares in a retail oil and gas cooperative,
in a credit union, in the Cooperative Oil
Producing Association, in the Cooperative
Pipe Line Association and the Co-op Re
finery Association should enable me to
pay in advance for the added health care.
After a day at the office I drive home.
It is spring time, and time for painting.
On reaching home I find that Mrs. Cow
den has engaged a painter to brighten
up the home. What kind of paint is it?
CO-OP, of course, made in a CCA fac
tory owned by 125,000 consumers.
In my favorite chair, next to a CO-OP
bridge lamp, I turn to a volume entitled
"Cooperativesa Way to Peace." It is an
antidote to the headlines that scream of
war and human conflict. On laying it
down I have a feeling that those who
labor in the cooperative field are rewarded
daily far beyond the amount of their re
spective pay checksrewarded with the
satisfactions that come from living and
carrying forward the cooperative way of
doing business.
CORTY travel-weary tourists lingered

1 in the lobby of the Phillips Hotel in
Kansas City, reluctant to break up after
a 2600 mile tour of cooperatives through
nine states of the middle west. The tour
group, representing thirteen states and
three provinces of Canada, were shown
every type of cooperative imaginable from
a hog serum plant to a cooperative mor
tuary. The group expressed amazement at
the size and scope of the cooperative
movement in the United States.
Everywhere the visitors were royally re
ceived. Police escorts in the various states
facilitated an otherwise heavy itinerary.
The touring party presented an impressive
picture as the thirteen automobiles bearing
placards "The First Annual Tour of U.S.
Cooperatives" sped along the highways
or were escorted through the cities to the
sound of police sirens. Local reporters
were on hand at every point and the tour
ing party, besides being photographed
from every possible angle, answered al
most as many questions as they themselves
asked. Well informed guides were pro
vided by the cooperatives at every stop
to show the visitors around and to answer
the thousands of questions thrown at
them by the members of the touring party.
Special programs were prepared by the
local societies and at one point in St. Paul
the Farmers Union Central Exchange
band came out to greet the visitors.
Neatly arranged kits containing descrip
tive material and financial statements were
presented to the group at several points.
Several members of the party were invited
to take part in radio programs. Banquets
were given by local cooperative societies
in honor of the tourists and here they had
an opportunity of mingling with the
members of cooperative societies as well
as with the cooperative employees. This
gave the group a chance to hear from the
people themselves just how and to what
extent they benefited by being members
September, 1941
of a cooperative organization. In short,

everything possible was done to assure the
visitors a welcome and to make their visit
informative and enjoyable. The coopera
tors in the middle west will long be re
membered by the touring party, not only
as people who are doing a remarkable job
in correcting the ills in our economic
system, but also as very gracious hosts
and hostesses.
The group was fortunate in having as
their leader Carl Hutchinson, educational
director of the Ohio Farm Bureau Coop
erative Association and former president
of the National Cooperative Recreation
School. Believing that "all work and no
play makes Jack a dull boy," Mr. Hutchin
son interspersed statistics with a bit of co
operative recreation and it was interesting
to see some of the group who looked
rather askance at the folk dances and
games in the beginning, become the most
enthusiastic participants as time went on.
Here, also, local cooperators joined the
visitors in fun and merriment and as they
CO-
Carl Hutchinson and Agnes McPhail
183
Visiting a Co-op Store at Virginia, Minn.
went along, the touring party learned new

songs, dances and games and discovered
new friends.
When asked what impressed them most
on the trip, the tour members all indicated
that they were especially impressed by the
high quality of leadership in the move
ment. "Most important is the quality of
the people who call themselves cooperators," said Agnes MacPhail. "There was
a warmth, a reality, and a brotherly love
in thema real reaching out in universal
fellowship, no matter whether they were
service station employees or the heads of
big associations." The group was also im
pressed by constant stress on the necessity
of education. Eugene Bussiere of Quebec
declared: "I'm awfully glad that I came
on this tour and I'll certainly bring home
a great experience. I was most impressed
by your educational movement. I found
that yours is not only a business move
mentbut also a social movement." Paul
Greer, state editor of the St. Louis PostDispatch, giving his impressions stated:
"In a cooperative you're not sitting in the
grandstand watching nine men play.
You're in the game, a part of it, in fact.
You learn by actual participation. And
that develops people, makes them selfreliant." Everywhere the group found a
very active educational program aiming at
an informed membership within the co
operative societies and continuous devel
opment of leaders.
At Brule, Wisconsin members of the
184
touring party were guests of the youth

groups at the recreation camp owned by
Central Cooperative Wholesale of Superi
or. Here, the youth from a very early age
learn the principles of cooperation and
here they come each summer to participate
in a cooperative program. The group ar
rived in time to witness the closing ex
ercises of the 17 to 24 age group, As
this group left a younger group be
tween the ages of 8 to 14 came in. The
camp is used all summer for such activ
ities and it was not surprising to find a
healthy growth in the cooperative move
ment in this area.
One of the unique features of the tour
was a visit to the Winnebago Handcraft
Cooperative at Black River Falls, Wis
consin. This cooperative is owned and
operated by the Indians in this territory.
Here the visitors were entertained with
several songs by a. very pretty Indian girl.
Another interesting stop was made at
Granger, Iowa, where under the direction
of Msgr. L. G. Ligutti a homesteading
project was founded in a run-down min
ing district. The group was shown the
homes from which the miners had moved
as a contrast to their present neat and
well-kept homes. A description of the
tour would not be complete without a
word about the Liars' Club in Burlington,
Indiana. Here the group diverted for a
moment from cooperatives and for a half
hour or so were entertained by the presi
dent and founder of the Liars' club with
some of the tallest tales and most fantastic
stories ever told in the middle west.
Co-op Fertilizer Factory, Indianapolis

A very fine spirit of fellowship and

friendliness grew up within the touring
group itself and those in charge of the
tour expressed their appreciation of the
wholehearted cooperation which they re
ceived from the members. The party was
made up of aft unusual combination of
people of varied interests and professions.
Agnes MacPhail, for eighteen years a
member of the Canadian Parliament and
now reporter for the Toronto Globe and
Mail was one of the outstanding mem
bers. Her quick wit and all around cam
araderie made her a favorite "with her
fellow tourists. Another newspaper repre
sentative was Paul Greer of the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch and from Quebec, Canada
came Eugene Bussiere, editor of Ensemble
the cooperative newspaper for the prov
ince of Quebec. About half of the group
were southerners. Guy Sales of Asheville,
North Carolina represented the Farmers
Federation along with two other represen
tatives from the same organization. Two
representatives of the Farm Security Ad
ministration came from Florida and South
Carolina. Charles MaGill Smith repre
sented the Southeastern Cooperative Edu
cation Association of Carrollton, Georgia.
In the group were four Negroes from the
Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural
School of St. Helena Island, South Car
olina. From Washington came Maurice
Colombain representing the International
Labour Office and from Arkansas came
three rice farmers. The group included
also a representative of the Board of Edu
cation of Michigan; a minister from
Portland, Oregon; several cooperative em
ployees from Pennsylvania, Ohio and
New York. New York was also repre
sented by Oscar Freeman, on duty for
one of the big utility companies. Another
Canadian was John Friesen, a representa
tive of the Manitoba Federation of Agri
culture.
The tour members were privileged in
deed to have an opportunity to hear such
outstanding leaders as Murray D. Lincoln,
president of the Cooperative League of the
U.S.A. and manager of the Ohio Farm
Bureau Cooperatives; I. H. Hull, manSeptember, 1941
Storage Tank at Co-op Refinery
ager of the Indiana Farm Bureau Cooper

ative Ass'n; E. R. Bowen, general secre
tary of the Cooperative League of the
U.S.A. and Howard A. Cowden, pres
ident of Consumers Cooperative Associa
tion of North Kansas City, Mo. These
leaders in very stirring speeches explained
the philosophy and told of the growth of
the cooperative movement in the United
States.
At various points in the tour the group
was shown dramatic steps consumers co
operatives have made into production
feed mills, hatcheries, fertilizer factories,
paint and grease factories, bakeries and
printing plants. The oil refinery at Phillipsburg and the oil wells at Laton, Kan
sas were, in a way, the climax of the tour,
proving to the group that it is possible
for the consumers to go all the way into
production.
The touring group also had an oppor
tunity to visit headquarters of the Credit
Union National Association at Madison,
Wisconsin. Roy F. Bergengren, managing
director gave a summary of the Credit
Union movement in the United States and
showed the plans for the proposed Filene
House to be erected in Madison as a trib
ute to Edward A. Filene, the father of the
Credit Union movement in this country.
The members of the touring party voted
the tour a complete success and returned
to their various communities imbued with
the spirit of cooperation and with a re
newed faith in Democracy.
185
HERE'S AN IDEA
FOR TRAINING LAY LEADERS
LOGAN of the cooperative move

ment today is "build stronger and
faster." The problem is to find managers,
employees, board members, educational
leaders and members who can do the job.
It is a serious problem. Those within the
movement and those who critically ob
serve it from without are agreed. Coop
eratives will succeed only to the extent
that they can attract and develop com
petent leadership.
Cooperators have become conscious of
this problem as never before. They are
beginning to do something about it.
Schools are being organized to train em
ployees and managers; circuit schools, in
stitutes and camps are being held to train
board members and educational leaders.
However, not enough is being done to de
velop leadership among lay members.
Some suggestions of ways by which such
training might be accomplished are, per
haps, in order.
Organize Week-End Institutes
Most effective method now being used

to train lay leadership is the week-end
institute. Ohio cooperators were among
the first to develop this idea on a wide
spread scale, and it has had a lot to do
with the rapid growth and success of their
advisory council program. Farmers Union
people in the Dakotas, Montana and Ne
braska have held training institutes for a
number of years. Almost every regional
is now adapting and adopting the tech
nique.
There are many variations of the insti
tute idea, but the discussion here will be
limited to one type, the "week-ender."
Like the others, it has as its purpose the
deepening of understanding and the de
velopment of skills among cooperative
members so they can go back to their own
communities and take a more effective
part in building the local movement. I
want especially to deal with the week-end
186
Jack McLanahan
type because of the ease with which it

can be set up and its adaptability to al
most any situation.
First Steps in Planning
Select some place out in the country or

in a small community where the group
can be pretty much to itself and undis
turbed by other activities. Facilities need
not be fancy, but should include one
room large enough for assembly meetings
and such group activities as folk dancing;
several smaller rooms for discussion ses
sions, seminars and special activities; and
dining and sleeping accommodations. The
committee should keep costs as low as
possible, not overlooking the fact that
most cooperators are in the modest in
come brackets.
Once the place has been chosen, pub
licity can be planned. This should be
simple and direct, stating clearly the pur
pose of the week-end, outlining the na
ture of the program and not forgetting to
point out that it means having a good
time. Avoid reference to "education,"
"classes," and "teachers." However, do
not "water down" the program by describ
ing it as a "super-duper" outing. Don't
aim the publicity at getting everyone to
come, but at attracting the serious-minded
member who has potential leadership
qualities. Institutes of this kind are not
for general membership educational pur
poses.
Making Up the Program
The program will, of course, vary with

each group. However, it is well to keep
several things in mind. It should be a bal
anced program. Wilbur Leathennan, of
the Midland educational department, re
cently directed an institute in eastern Wis
consin built around a 3 point program:
"What is the cooperative movement?"
taking in history, principles and devel
opment; "How can it be applied?" tak
ing in organization, operation, study cirConsumers' Cooperation
cles and publicity; and finally, "How

can it be made lively and attractive?"
taking in recreation, folk dancing, dra
matics and crafts.
There should be plenty of time to al
low for individuals to follow their own
particular intereststime for spontaneous
group discussion. I am personally in favor
of leaving the entire afternoon open for
this purpose. And be sure to stock the in
stitute with a lot of good books and
stimulating leaders. The leaders need not
be there all the time nor do they need to
appear formally on the program. Associa
tion with people of this kind will mean
a lot to those attending. Keep the insti
tute informal, full of gaiety and good fun,
but always moving toward the goal of
training people so they can lead others in
the ways of cooperation.
Up and Down the Land
Hold week-end institutes as often as

possible. Bring in a new group each time.
Drop the idea that they are costly and
require a lot of heavy planning. It is the
advantage of the week-end approach. And

for goodness sake, don't figure that you
must have at least 100 to have a success
ful institute. And don't think the week
end institute is only for summer use. It
is a year-round method and several days
around a fire in midwinter at some quiet
place in the country may do more good
than the same period under a blazing sun.
If every regional cooperative will take
hold of the institute idea and use it this
fall and winter tens and dozens of
week-end gatherings to train leaders in
every corner of their territorywe will
have begun to do one of the things that
must be done if we are to build coopera
tives "stronger and faster." We will be
getting the lay leadership that we need,
and with it the onward march of the
movement cannot be stopped.
There is an old Chinese proverb which
says: "If you would plan for the present
build a house, if you would plan for to
morrow plant a tree, if you would plan
for the future, develop a man."
EASTERN COOPERATIVE RECREATION SCHOOL

Ellen Edwards
RGANIZED by former students and

staff of the National Cooperative
Recreation School to help meet the in
creasing need for recreation leadership
training in the East, the first Eastern Co
operative Recreation School was held at
the Hudson Shore Labor School, West
Park, New York, August 17 to 24.
Thirty-five students and staff from six
states and the District of Columbia at
tended.
Students not only learned a large vari
ety of American and European folk
dances and games but had an opportunity
to practice teaching them as the party each
evening was turned over to them to plan
and carry out. The craft shop where in
struction in leather and, metal work, weav
ing and construction of board games was
given was busy all day. Students explored
the possibilities of such simple forms of
dramatics as charades, pantomimes and
September, 1941
tableaux and learned the fundamentals of

acting and directing. A small group pre
sented an original play which was created
and rehearsed before breakfast each morn
ing. Informal group singing was an im
portant part of the week's activities and
students learned a number of folk songs
from many countries. An hour's session in
the morning and afternoon was devoted
to a discussion of the philosophy of group
recreation and leadership and techniques
of group organization.
Special speakers during the week in
cluded Dr. Leroy Bowman, specialist in
discussion group methods; Robert L.
Smith, assistant secretary of the Eastern
Cooperative League; and Mrs. Charlotte
Chorpenning,
sociology
department,
Northwestern University and head of the
Children's Theatre, Goodman Theatre,
Chicago. Dr. Bowman, speaking to the
group Monday evening, pointed out that
187
John Carson
Folk Dancing at Eastern Recreation School
"Recreation that involves action, feeling,

artistry, should be part and parcel of all
cooperative business and organization
meetings. Without combinations of this
sort the cooperative movement will never
reach the high goal it, of all modern
movements, should achieve. It is the
goal of bringing together the thin seg
ments that individuals now fall into
business life, social life, ethical life and
cultural expressioninto integrated and
dynamic powers of a new order."
The New York newspaper, PM, sent a
photographer and a feature writer up to
the school one day to get pictures and a
story of the activities.
At a special meeting at the close of
the session the students decided the school
was so valuable a similar one should be
held next year and elected a committee
of six to make plans. This year's school
was sponsored by the National Society for
Recreation Education and endorsed by
the Eastern Cooperative League and the
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative
Association.
*
*
*
*
ESTES PARK CO-OP CAMP
"The idea of combining a summer va
cation with cooperative education is ex
cellent!" commented one of the 150 per188
sons from six states who attended the Co

op Camp and Institute, August 3 to 10 at
Association Camp, Estes Park, Colorado
conducted by Consumers Cooperative As
sociation.
The daily program allowed ample time
in the afternoons and evenings for hiking
and mountain climbing, personal conver
sations and relaxation, with speakers and
discussion groups in the morning and
evenings. Singing and folk games and
dances were a part of each day's activities.
Miss Ruth Kurtz, public school musk
teacher of Detroit, lead the group singing
and Guy Williams, Assistant Camp Direc
tor, assisted by Mrs. Marion Olson, Yuma,
Colorado, lead the games and dances as
well as an action-group discussion each
morning on "Cooperative Recreation."
Both Mrs. Olson and Guy Williams at
tended the National Cooperative Recrea
tion School at Ames in June.
*
*
*
*
"Singin v America," compiled, arranged
and edited by Augustus D. Zanzig, Na
tional Recreation Association, available
through The Cooperative League, 25c.
Here in 120 songs and choruses is a
comprehensive variety of fresh, lasting
lovable music for informal singing in
homes, schools, meetings and dubs.
WASHINGTON, B.C.Cooperative
W organizations, their supplies of raw
materials already pinched, are going to
have more serious supply problems.
"Hopelessly inadequate supplies to
meet an abnormal demand," explained
one of the able and sincere officials at
the Office of Price Administration and
Civilian Supplies.
The more serious problem is not only
going to be supplies of raw materials
it is going to be the inevitable tendency
of war regimentation to freeze existing
business developments and thus hamper
cooperative growth, and the cooperative
growth which might save democracy.
As an example, supplies of crude rub
ber, for tire manufacture, were ordered
reduced 20 per cent. But cooperative tire
purchases through National Cooperatives,
Inc., have increased so steadily and so
rapidly, a 20 per cent cut as compared
with the business of last year would mean
a 60 per cent cut in National Coopera
tives' present business. But OPACS in
sists it cannot consider the co-op com
plaint because OPACS deals only with
manufacturers, and adds that regardless
of that, the 20 per cent reduction order
must be followed.
"Which means cooperative develop
ment will be stifled and business will be
more or less frozen in the hands of those
who happened to have had it," the Co
operative League representative suggested.
"Yes, more or less that's true, but what
can be done about it," was the answer.
And that tells the story and presents
the problem to cooperative organizations.
The next year or so may see the laying of
business cement and in that cooperatives
could not expand.
* * *
TaxesObviously, the tax program an
nounced by Congress last Spring has been
abandoned. This legislation was to be
September, 1941
rushed through as a measure to get rev

enue. It was to be followed "in Septem
ber" by work on a real revenue revision
measure through which some of the out
rageous injustices of the administration
sections of the bill would be cured. In
cidentally, the tragic fact is that it has
been utterly impossible to get from either
the House Ways and Means Committee
or the Senate Committee on Finance, or
any member of these committees, interest
in organizing an effort to pass a real rev
enue bill. The apathy in Congress is
marked. Leadership is absent. Only Con
gressman Jerry Voorhis of California
made an effort to get a real bill passed
and his one-man fight got nowhere. The
bill is going to soak the poor.
* * *
Cooperative Coal legislationThe Sen
ate Committee on Interstate Commerce is
trying to force the Bituminous Coal Di
vision to either favor proposed legislation
to permit wholesale cooperatives to dis
tribute coalfrom which they are now
debarred by Coal Division lawor offer
substitute legislative proposals which
would protect cooperative natural rights.
The Coal Division still scurries and
evades the issue. But the Senate Commit
tee has promised the League that the Coal
Division will be made to meet the issue.
One of the present rumors is that the
Coal Division will try to get around the
difficulties it established for itself by issu
ing a confiscatory ruling against coopera
tives, and thus a ruling in favor of profit
wholesales, by proposing legislation to
amend the Guffey Act in many particu
lars. Such a bill would take months and
months of consideration. The Coopera
tive League will protest emphatically any
such effort to delay necessary amend
ments of the Act and thus prolong the
protection the Division has already given
the profit wholesales from efficient con
sumer distribution of coal.
189
BOOK REVIEWS
CONSUMER'S COOPERATIVES IN THE NORTH
CENTRAL STATES, by L. C. Kercher, V.
W. Kebker, and W. C. Leland, Jr. Edited
by R. S. Vaile, University of Minnesota
Press, Minneapolis, 430 pages. $3.50
(available through The Cooperative
League).
This book is a "happy blending" of three
independent research studies. It includes some
deductive analysis of the place of Cooperation
in the economic and general scheme of things;
an account of the peculiarities and cultural
heritage of the immigrant Finns; much prac
tical advice on conducting cooperatives; and
case studies of numerous cooperatives, includ
ing the Wholesales in the North Central States.
The book is a well-balanced but sympathetic
treatment of the cooperative movement. It is
objective, scholarly and well-documented. Based
upon the study of institutions in the field and
at close range it is authoritative. It seeks the
causes of social phenomena in the social and
cultural backkground of the people involved.
The book is rich in details but space pre
cludes much elaboration. The authors find that
cooperatives have decided competitive advan
tages over the independent country store; their
relation to the chain store in this respect is
not established but there are many cases where
cooperatives are at least holding their own
against such competition. The dominant and
typical financial problem of cooperatives is
clearly that of inadequate capital. This prob
lem arises in large part from excessive dis
tribution of earnings and excessive extension
of credit.
How well the authors grasp the philosophy
of Cooperation is illustrated by the following
excellent passage:
Consumers' Cooperation is regarded as
a revolutionizing principle of human rela
tionships as well as a practical economic
method. Its immediate purpose is to pro
vide the consumer with quality goods
more economically, but its ultimate and
more important aim is to create a new
economic and social order with the con
sumer interest predominant. It is an in
dependent social movement with a justi
fication of its own. The motive for sup
porting it arises out of social idealism as
well as out of practical consumer inter
ests. Its success is measured as much by
the quality of human relationships that it
promotes as by its business efficiency.
HAROLD M. GROVES
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin
190
THE LAW OF THE ORGANIZATION AND OEM

TION OF COOPERATIVES, by Israel Packel
307 pages. Albany, N. Y., Mathew Ben
der and Co., Inc., $5.00 (available throug!
The Cooperative League).
This short book, the fifth to deal with o
operative law, is the first to cover those phast
that have to do particularly with consumers
cooperation. The previous volumes related al
most exclusively to problems of marketiq
groups, their special statutes, marketing agret
merits, etc. Most of this one is directly relevat
to consumer cooperative organizations but in
cludes, of course, the general law of assocu
tioris and corporations. Furthermore, some o
the legal precedents cited deal with markerin
rather than with purchasing cooperatives. Thi-,
too, is to be expected because the farmer'5 or
ganizations were first to be set up on a larjn
scale and so the first to come before the courts
Because their internal organization is so sim
ilar to that of consumer cooperatives, the sarn
principles will often govern both cases in
volving them and those affecting the consume
side of the movement.
The author tries not only to explain the la
of cooperation but also to explain the prin
ciples of cooperation to lawyers. The forme
task is the one mo-t needed to be done so
matters very little that the book contains son*
rather obvious non-legal errors.
Mr. Packel has done a necessary and highl
creditable job of assembling and stating tht
essential principles that will eventually develo
into a more rounded system of law. While hn
thoroughness and accuracy can be tested onl
by daily desk use of his text, it is apparent trfl
his work possesses these qualities in a ven
high degree. He carries the cooperative throuf1
its life story of promotion, organization, finan
cing, and management to the alternative happi
or unhappy endings of successful operation cc
the one hand or insolvency and liquidati
on the other. He describes the promotional pn
cedure; the selection of a proper incorporaticn
law (without, however, mentioning the newel
"model" laws recently passed for that pur
pose) ; the drafting of organization papers; tht
nature, acquisition, transfer, and loss of coop
erative membership; and the legal relations
members, directors, officers, committees,
agers, and employees to each other and to
cooperative itself.
He has an adequate chapter on financing hi
his treatment of other operating problems
rather sketchy. This may be caused by the'
that after organization is completed, the
problems incidental to the actual operation
a cooperative business are not very dissimil
to those of private business in the same lii
of goods or services.
This book contains very valuable informa

tion and also points the way to the cooperative
development of cooperative law. There are
many lawyers throughout the country who are
interested in it either because they represent
cooperatives as private clients or because they
see in them an opportunity to make the law
serve democracy. But they are quite isolated
from each other. The development of legal
theory would be facilitated by the establishment
of a formal or informal cooperative bar asso
ciation by means of which the lawyers could
coordinate their work somewhat as the auditors
have done. Some barriers exist between these
men because their respective clients or asso
ciates have different cooperative philosophies;
there is a slight unspoken jealousy that is in
herent in the profession; but, mostly, their
isolation is a matter of inertia and that can be
overcome merely by wanting to do so. Then by
legal research, education and writing, by ex
change of work, briefs, and ideas, by litigation
and legislative promotion, these lawyers can
build up a structure of legal theories and
precedents that will foster rather than retard
the cooperative movement. Of course such a
relationship among lawyers would enhance the
ability of each to serve his cooperative Clients.
JAMES CURRY
Washington, D.C.
DEMOCRACY'S SECOND CHANCE: LAND, LIB
ERTY, AND COOPERATION, by George
Boyle, New York. Sheed and Ward, order
from The Cooperative League of the
U.S.A., 167 W. 12th St., New York.
Special Co-op Edition, $1.
Do you think and act in a seller's culture?
Do you think and act as a mechanist? Do you
think and act as a collectivist ? Are you the
slave of techno-tyranny ? Has your work be
come "labor" and has your life become de
vitalized ?
It is made abundantly clear in the grand
new book by George Boyle, editor of the
Maritime Cooperator, that you will have to
answer all these questions in the affirmative,
if you live in apartments, if you live in overcentralized cities, if each week or each month
you run your wage through Over-Centralized
Services, Inc.
You are a slave of techno-tyranny, a prole
tarian, if you own no productive property,
or if you are not a share-holder in businesses
that operate under the Rochdale cooperative
principles. As a mere "laborer" in work and
a mere consumer in the matter of property, as
a mere BIG-CITY inhabitant, you put your
labor on the market as a commodity and as a
buyer you never progress any further-than the
buying of consumer goods; goods that do not
produce, goods that are used up at the end of
the day, the week, the month or the year. In
such a life your culture is definitely lowered.
Consumers' Cooperation* September, 1941
Your personality with its talents and initiatives

is damned up. Your personality cannot express
itself. It cannot grow in responsibility, in skill,
in quality, in freedom, security and independ
ence, and the practice of social justice and
social charity.
Democracy is weak because you in your
helpless proletarian state are weak in the
things that build democratic people. It is not
enough for you to labor and buy. You must
be an owner, one who has effective control
and responsibility for some sort of productive
property in addition to your job. As a mere
"job holder" you do not have the effective
ownership and control of anything along with
the cooperative ownership and the cooperative
control of essential economic functions on the
part of your job-holding neighbors. You are
a very lonely individual. You do not cooperate
with anyone in anything important. You do
not cooperate in anything with your neighbor.
"Companies," i.e., over-centralized capital
groups, run the economic "show" at a profit.
Editor Boyle's book, "Democracy's Second
Chance," crammed with the rich vital thought
out of which democracy is made and preserved,
makes it succinctly clear that to have a democ
racy the people must be in the economic
"show." The people must be in the economic
"show" out on the land, in the rural com
munity, in the city. There is but one way to
get in this "show." The way is through owner
ship, individual and cooperative, with personal
responsibility and control.
And if the people do not get in the eco
nomic "show" in a cooperative business way,
in a rura] way, in a local community way, then
Democracy will go down. Talents, skills, ini
tiatives, freedom, security, independence are
wrested from the people. The totalitarian dic
tator walks over the wreckage. It is an easystep, a quick step, from the techno-tyranny of
over-centralized "companies" for which we
merely labor, to the techno-tyranny of a Stalin
or Hitler for whom we slave.
The confused men and women in the places
of leadership and education who prattle about
democracy, dictatorship and the necessity of
war had better take time out and sit down and
read the many good recent books on rural life
and cooperative businesses. "Democracy's Sec
ond Chance" integrates for you home-use pro
duction on the land, rural life, and cooperative
business in communities that can remain sound.
giving you a human philosophy with a sane
economic and social life.
// American people were more interested
in the real battle for democracythe battle oj
brains with intelligent thinking and living
and les-s. interested in the battle oj bullets and
dividends and blind mechanical death, then,
.this book would soon be the best seller in
America.
JOHN C. RAWE, S. J.
191
CO-OP LITERATURE

special edition .................................................. 1.25
The Brave Years, Wm. Heyliger ..................

Fresh Furrow, Burris Jenkins ......................
Co-op, Upton Sinclair ........................................
Ireland ..................................................................
1.50
2.00
2.50
2.75
Consumers* Cooperatives, Julia E. John
Nicholas, high school and college, two

tive Agency, O rin E. Burley ........................ 3.00

high school text, one chapter on Co-ops 3.00
The Consumer Movement, Helen Sorenson,
two chapters on Co-ops ................................ 2.50
Our Interests as Consumers, Dorothy
Jacobson, section on Co-ops ...................... 1.48
Consumer Cooperation in Great Britain,

Cnrr-Saunders and others ............................ 4.00

.02
.03
.05
.25
.02
There Are Jobs In Cooperatives, Wallace
For Younger Cooperators

The Little Bed Hen and Her Cooperative,
nursery rhyme, Kate Bradford Stockton .10

Facing the Sunrise, Ellis Cowling .............. .15
Story Without End, Leslie Paul .................. .20

.05
.50
it
Josephine
Consumed,
Consumer
The
Johnson, a Puppet Play ................................
Cooperative Recreation, Carl Hutchinson ..
Cooperative Recreation Songs, A. M. Calkins
Two One Act Plays, Ellis Cowling ..............
.05
.05
.10
.15

Let's Play, Frank Shllstou .............................. .20

Play Party Games, Kit P. .............................. ."">
Quadrilles, Kit T. ................................................
American Folk Dances, Kit 49 ......................
.25
.25
Credit Unions and finance

E'ox and Miller, 2 parts
.10
.10
.10

.10
Credit
well
Credit
pren
192
.01
.02
.02
.02
.02
1.9'
1.00
\.'<i
UJ
.02 1.50
COOPERATION
.02 l.-i
.02 1.50
.02 L5
.02 1.50
.02 1.50
.02 1.50
.IB 1J
.03 2.0"
.03 2.W1
FILMS
Traveling the Middle Way In Sweden, 1(1 mm.

silent, produced by the Harinon Foundation.
Unit I, Land of Sweden, 2 reels. Unit II.
Consumer Cooperation, 2 reels. Unit 111.
Agricultural Cooperatives, 2 reels. Kental per
unit: color. $5; black and white. $X; adilltional showings, $2.50 color and $1.50, blurt
and white.
The Lord Helps Those Who Help Kuril
Other, a new 3 reel, 16 mm. film of the Ni'.'a
Scotia adult education and cooperative pro
gram. produced by the Harmon Foundation.
Excellent photography. $4.50 per day, $2.3
Consumers Serve Themselves, 1 reel, 1(1 mm..
Kodacrome, shows how cooperators on me
eastern seaboard are providing themselves
with CO-OP products. $2 per day, $<i i>..
week.
A House Without a Landlord, a new 1
Clasping Hands, 16 mm. silent, two reel film.
showing how cooperation is taught In tw
schools of France.
When Mankind is Willing, a 1C inm. silen'.
erative stores, wholesales and factories in
France.
A Day With Kagawa, 3 reel, silent, 16 ran.
Rental: Each of three above $3 per day, $1.5
Mapping Plans (or Nationwide Co-op Drive at Kansas Gty Meeting
NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE ISSUE

Special articles by:
Murray D. Lincoln
POSTERS
1. Learning the Language ..........................

2. Reading Between the Lines ..................
Other Peoples' Money, E. E. Bowen ..........

the Cooperative ......................................
Are the Co-ops Getting Anywhere?.
George Tichenor ....................................
Tichenor ....................................................
A $600,000,000 Business With 2,000,000
Ink Monthly ............................................
PM Reports Fast-Growing Co-ops
Shun all Isms ..........................................
Progress, P. H. Erbes, Printers' Ink
North Woods Miracle, American ......
Brickbats and Boomerangs, E. K.
Bowen ........................................................
.05
Unions: The People's Banks, Max

Stewart ...................................................... .10
Union North America, Koy Bergen........................................................................ 2.00
(any selection of 6 ............ $1)

Organize Cooperatives, 19"x28", Green ..
Cooperative Principles, 19"x28", Blue ..........
Cooperative Ownership, 19"x28", Mulberry
the People. 19"28", Red-White-and
Blue ........................................................................
Buy Co-op, 19"x28", Red-White-and-Blue
March On. Democracy, 19"x28", Red-Whiteand-Blue ..............................................................
3
.20
.M
3
OCTOBER
1941
Robert L. Smith
E. F. Selvig
Howard A. Cowden
L. J. Bennett
A. E. Whitney
William Torma
Gilman Calkins
Ellen Edwards
John Carson
Anthony Lehner
THE CONSUMERS CAUSE IS THE PUBLIC WELFARE

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONWIDE
CO-OP DRIVE
.20
NATIONAL
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
The Picture on the Cover
COMMITTEE OF CO-OP LEADERS PLANS

FIRST NATION-WIDE CO-OP DRIVE
Representatives of regional cooperative associations
of Trie Cooperative League of the USA met at Kan
sas City, September 11 and 1 2 to map out plans for a
nationwide Cooperative Drive to run from October,
1941 to October, 1942. The Drive will rally cooperators around the slogan, "Build For a Saner World."
Committee members left to eight (outside the Ushaped table) are: John Carson, Washington repre
sentative of The Cooperative League of the USA; Iver
Lind, assoc. editor, The Midland Cooperator, Minne
apolis ; Leonard Cowden, manager, Consumers Coop
eratives Associated, Amarillo, Texas; Merlin Miller,
educational director, Consumers Cooperative Associa
tion, North Kansas City, Mo. ; Guy Williams, as
sistant educational director. Consumers Cooperative
Association, N. Kansas City; Carl Hutchinson, edu
cation department, Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative
Association, Columbus; Gilman Calkins, assistant edi
tor, Ohio Farm Bureau 'News and Ohio Cooperator;
L. J. Bennett, head of the Organization-Education
Department" of -the Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperatives;
Horfl. r fjV'oung, Consumers Cooperative Associarion ;
Robert L. Smith, "education director of The Eastern
Cooperative Wholesale, New York; Wallace J. Camp
bell, assistant secretary of The Cooperative League
of the USA, New York; Herbert Evans, vice president
of Consumer Distribution Corporation, New Y k

Howard A. Cowden, president of Consumers GT
, erative Association; Arnold Ronn, assistant maiwu
Central Cooperative Wholesale, Superior; R. N. Ben
jamin, executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Fan
Bureau Cooperative Association; E. A. Whitoey. edu
carional director, Central Cooperative Wholesale
Superior.
Left to right (inside U-table) are: William Torn
educational field man, Central States Cooperati
(Good Will Fund staff) ; E. R. Bowen, general t,
retary, The Cooperative League of the USA, Chic .
Anthony Lehner, educational director, Pennsyh nu
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Harrisburg; A.
Howalt, sales manager, Consumers Cooperative Asso
ciation; H. W. Gulp, Farmers Union Central Ex
change, St. Paul, Minnesota; Bruce Bowman, Con
sumers Cooperative Association; James Cummins, edi
tor. The Cooperative Consumer, N. Kansas City: '.
Jensen, advertising manager, Consumers Cooperac
Association. Committee members unable to attend '.
meeting were: Glenn Thompson, Midland Cooper n.
Wholesale, Herbert Fledderjohn, Indiana Farm Bu.
Cooperative Associarion; Hugh Bogardus, Cent .
States Cooperatives; and R. V. Meacham, Consume
Cooperatives Associated.

DIVISIONS:

Publication
Address
Nan-.e
St. Paul, Minn.
3724()th St., Oakland Cooportunity
New Age Living
7218S. Hoover, L.A.
Cooperative Builder
Superior, Wisconsin
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
Consumers Defender
J16E. l6St.,N.Y.
The Recreation Kit
Delaware, Ohio
Ohio Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Grange Cooperative Ne\\.s
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Midland Cooperamr
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
608 S. Dearborn, Chicagc
Berkeley, Calif.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Penn. Co-op Review
Southeastern Coopenilor
Carrollton, Georgia
Southeastern Coop. Education Ass'o
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION

Volume XXVII. No. 10
OCTOBER. 1941
Ten Cents
THE CONSUMERS' CAUSE IS THE PUBLIC WELFARE

The managing editor of Fortune Magazine, Russell W. Davenport, in a
notable article, "This Would Be Victory," declares that "we are in a revolution."
This revolution, he says, "must be to our time what the American Declaration of
Independence was to the eighteenth centurya breaking up of the past, an open
ing of a new world so vast and so little explored as to frighten off the imagina
tion." The nature of this revolution is "a revolution against scarcity."
Interpreted more specifically and positively, it is a revolution of consumers
for plenty.
We are all consumers as well as producers. Yet we have allowed our pro
ducers interests to dominate. Competition between producers for profits has
resulted in scarcity. Over a century ago, Adam Smith wrote: "Consumption is the
sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to
be attended to only as far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the con
sumer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident that it would be absurd to attempt
to prove it ... the.interest of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that
of the producer; arid it (the system) seems to consider production, and not con
sumption, as the ultimate end and object of all industry and commerce." Our
present economic chaos results from our having failed to build an economy based
on the fundamental principle of the priority of our consumer to our producer
interests.
A producer-organized economy is built upon special interestsnot general
interest. Public iveljare in economics is represented by the consumer. Only as
consumers are organized in Consumers' Cooperatives, which become the common
denominator of all producer interests, will the public welfare be served.
Everyone needs to be converted to Consumers' Cooperation. Cooperators

need to feel that we are men with a mission. We need to have the spirit of a
cause. Vice-President Henry A. Wallace has challenged us that: "Today we need
a great many more persons who will become as deeply motivated by the idea of a
cooperative economic society as the young men of 1776 and 1787 were motivated
by the idea of a democratic political society. . . . The need is for a body of people
in accord on general aims, as idealistic and as realistic as were the young Federal
ists of 1787, to channelize thought and initiate and consider proposals which
may lead to a cooperative society."
The revolution against scarcity, and for plenty, requires the organization of
consumers in cooperatives. The Nationwide Co-op Drive is a consumers' crusade.
The consumer is the foundation of today's American economic revolution. The
public well-being is incarnated in the consumer. The consumers' cause is the
public welfare.
NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE TIMELY
The Nationwide Co-op Drive is now on. All three words in the name were
well-chosen by the Drive Committee, which is made up of representatives of The
Cooperative League, National Cooperatives and the regional cooperative associa
tions. This committee included editors, educators, advertising managers, sales
managers, and general managers, all of whom have had active experience in
regional drives.
It is the first "NATIONWIDE" Co-op Drive. This is an important fact to
note. The national drive of the decade of the '20's was principally a rural drive.
The national drive of the decade of the '30's was principally an urban drive. The
national drive of the decade of the '40's, now starting, is the first NATION
WIDE Co-op Drive covering both rural and urban residents, and extending from
the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf.
It is a Nationwide "CO-OP" Drive. The name "CO-OP" has now become
widely and favorably known. It is a seal of consumer ownership, of democratic
control, of graded quality, and of lower price. It stands for the Rochdale Pioneers'
purpose of building a better system of distribution and production, and of de
veloping a better method of education and government by members. CO-OP is
both the name of our Movement, and the trademark of our products. It means,
as the French say, "A plow guided by a star." It is the idealistic star which leads
us on, and the practical plow which turns out retail, wholesale arid manufacturing
institutions.
It is a Nationwide Co-op "DRIVE." It calls for intense activity on the part
of everyone in keeping with the great need today. The need is so great that it is
impossible to fully conceive it. The present system is failing fast. We are also
fast turning toward a system of state bureaucracy. What we need is a DRIVE
toward A Cooperative Economy which will replace the present monopoly system
and prevent the coming of state dictatorship. Cooperative economic crusaders are
needed today as badly as were democratic political crusaders a century and a half
ago. No one will save America from destruction by private monopoly or public
bureaucracy but ourselves; nothing else will save us except by building coopera
tives stronger and faster.
A Nationwide Co-op Drive is "TIMELY" today. There are times -when an
oncoming movement must push against the general current of thinking, and little
progress can be made. There are other times when the current of thinking helps
a movement on. All inflation-deflation periods are times which speed up the
growth of Co-ops.
194
The inflation-deflation period in the beginning of the decade of the twenties

brought the farm consumers cooperative purchasing movement into being in a
widespread way in America. The inflation-deflation period in the beginning of
the decade of the thirties brought the urban consumers cooperative purchasing
movement into being in a widespread way in America. The inflation period now
on in the beginning of the decade of the forties, which will be followed by a
deflation period, makes a Nationwide Co-op Drive TIMELY today.
The Consumers Cooperative Movement is taking advantage of the opportunity
of riding the crest of the stream of time to speed up the coming of the day of
plenty for all and peace on earth.
THE CALL FOR A COOPERATIVE CRUSADE IS ANSWERED
The Nationwide Co-op Drive has thus far covered five particular phases:
First, a call in the General Secretary's Report to the 25th Silver Anniversary
Congress for "the inauguration of a corps of Cooperative Crusaders by every
regional association, which will result in the organization of a nucleus group of
Cooperative Crusaders in every locality."
Second, the dynamic expression of a feeling of the need of a Nationwide
Drive at the national Publicity and Education Conference at Ames, in June. .
Third, the unanimous approval of such a Drive by the Directors of both
The Cooperative League and National Cooperatives at their quarterly meet
ings in July, and the authorization of the appointment of a Drive Committee to
be made up of members of the Education and Distribution Departments of each
regional association.
Fourth, a full day's meeting of the Chairman and Secretary of the national
Publicity and Education Committee with the General Secretary of the League
on July 30th for the preparation of a detailed agenda, which was submitted to
the members of the Drive Committee in advance of their meeting.
Fifth, a two-day meeting of the Drive Committee at Kansas City on Sep
tember llth and 12th, at which time the initial plans for the Nationwide Co-op
Drive were made.
THE NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE GETS UNDER WAY!!!!
As we go to press:
Seventy-five communities in the Eastern Cooperative Wholesale territory were
mobilrzing for an intensive campaign for more members, more business and more
investment in cooperatives as part of the drive to "Build a Saner World."
From Superior, Wisconsin came word that more than 180 communities in
Northern Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and Minnesota are beginning their
part of the Nationwide drive with a determined effort to carry the cooperative
message to every home in those communities.
From Chicago came word that basement buying clubs are moving to street
level, side-street stores are growing into main street food markets and old estab
lished cooperatives are streamlining their stores and modernizing their equipment
as one phase of the drive to make co-op stores in beauty their co-op ideals.
From Kansas City, moving in concentric circles, 61 circuit councils were
scheduled to draw co-op leaders from nine states together to carry the co-op drive
to the grass roots.
In New York the National Radio Committee met to draw up proposals to
present to The Cooperative League for a Nationwide radio program financed by
50,000 one-dollar-a-year men. THE NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE IS
UNDERWAY.
October, 1941
195
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE

NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVi
WO things are required to make any

Drive successful: enthusiasm and or
ganization.
Enthusiasm comes from enlistment in a
great cause. Our cause is great. It is the
cause of the consumerthe public wel
fare.
Organization is a matter of careful
planning. In the following, we are sum
marizing the suggestions and recommen
dations of the Nationwide Co-op Drive
Committee, which cover national, region
al and local organization and action. They
are successfully proven methods which
every cooperative association will do well
to study and adopt.
1. Name
Lengthy discussion by the committee
boiled down into the question of whether
to use the words Nationwide or Nation
al; the abbreviation Co-op or Coopera
tive; the name Drive, Crusade or Cam
paign. A unanimous decision finally
crystallized on the name NATIONWIDE
CO-OP DRIVE. We believe there will
be general agreement that the name is a
good one to rally around, and one into
which every regional and local drive can
be integrated. It should be emphasized,
in connection with regional and local
drives, that they are part of a Nationwide
Co-op Drive, which will strengthen their
appeal.
2. Purpose
There could be but two possible pur

poses, in general, in putting on any Co
op Drive. They were expressed in the
Revieiv of International Cooperation as:
first, to strengthen the Cooperative Move
ment internally; second, to give the Co
operative Movement the radiance it de
serves. The Committee phrased these two
purposes of the Nationwide Co-op Drive
in these words:
To develop and strengthen the Con
sumers' Cooperative Movement.
ill
196
To atvaken America to the advantages

of Consumers' Cooperation.
Both purposes need to be achieved to a
far greater degree. While the Consumers'
Cooperative Movement is growing strong
er all the time in building its financial,
business, educational and recreational pro
grams, it is vitally necessary that all these
be speeded up to meet the dangers con
fronting democratic institutions. It is also
vital that all of America be awakened to
realize the facts of the success of Con
sumers' Cooperation and its possibilities
in helping to bring about plenty and
peace, both internally arid internationally.
A sub-committee consisting of Messrs.
Campbell and Tichenor was appointed
to draft a more extended statement as to
why America Needs Cooperatives which,
after approval by the Drive Committee
and The Cooperative League Board, will
be recommended for adoption by each
local and regional cooperative and for
publicity in the press.
3. Slogans
The Consumers' Cooperative Move
ment has already developed a number of
slogans which make a strong appeal. Oth
ers were suggested by the Committee
Among them are these, from which you
can make selections for handbills, leaf
lets, posters, banners, etc.:
Build Cooperatives Stronger and
Faster
Build Democracy Through Co
operatives
Build For a Saner World
Join a Co-op. Buy in Co-ops.
Invest in Co-ops.
Cooperation The Answer of
Free Men
CooperationThe Program For
Free Men
CooperationAmerica's Train
ing Ground For Democracy
Cooperation The Plan For
Tomorrow That Works Today
America's RoadCooperation!
America Needs Cooperatives
America Needs A New Idea
It's Co-ops!
Cooperatives Are The Ameri
can Way
America! Build Cooperatives!!
4. Goals
The three major goals to be achieved
by the Nationwide Co-op Drive are: In
creased Membership, More Business,
Larger Investment. These were expressed
in challenging language as: Join a Co-op.
Buy in Co-ops. Invest in Co-ops. A spe
cial leaflet is planned for general dis
tribution briefly discussing these three
challenges.
It was not thought possible by the
Committee to set up national goals as to
number of members, volume of business
or amount of investment to be achieved
during any particular period, on account
of the difficulties of computation and
comparison. However, it was recom
mended that each regional and local co
operative set up for themselves definite
figures to be achieved covering all three
goals. These should be large enough to
call for real effort, and yet not too large
to be reasonably possible of achievement.
5. Publicity Program
There are five principal proven ways
to reach prospects in order to get them to
"Join A Co-op." They can be named
Personal, Platforms, Publications, Pictori
al, Printed Matter.
The first, or Personal, is the key to an
effective Drive. The other four methods
are for the purpose of arousing interest
in order to reach people generally and
make them receptive to personal solicita
tion.
Every cooperative should select a Drive
Committee. This committee should orOctober, 1941
ganize the present membership for ac

tion. Names of possible prospects should
be asked for from each member. Canvass
ing can be done individually or by teams.
Members should invite in their neighbors
and friends to spend an afternoon or
evening. Application blanks should be
provided for canvassers. Regional coop
eratives should provide all of their local
associations with instructions on "How
To Put On A Co-op Drive," and with
materials applicable to their general pro
gram.
Under Platforms are included various
types of open meetings as well as radio
programs, which are intended to broad
cast the idea of Cooperation to everyone
who can be reached by public addresses.
Regional cooperatives can well arrange
for a circuit of prominent speakers from
religious, educational, labor, farm, co
operative and other fields. Local coopera
tives can hold special meetings with
similar speakers. Both regional and local
cooperatives should always be on the
job to get consumers' cooperative speak
ers on programs of other organizations
where possible.
Co-op dramas put on by members have
a wide appeal. Some drama groups make
a circuit of a number of cooperatives.
Local cooperatives should organize their
members into drama groups, recreation
groups, choruses, bands, etc., all of which
make possible greater participation by
members and also makes a strong pub
licity appeal to others.
A special Radio Sub-Committee was
also appointed by the Nationwide Co-op
Drive Committee, consisting of Messrs.
Campbell, Smith, Tichenor, Carson,
Evans and Benjamin to consider thor
oughly the possibilities of raising a Na
tionwide Radio Fund in order to arrange
for national broadcasts. Local and re
gional radio stations should be used by
cooperative associationseither as free
time or paid programs.
The third type of publicity is that of
Publications. These include both regional
and local cooperative papers, as well as
general newspapers and magazines.
197
Today the regional cooperatives pub

lish splendid newspapers which reach
practically the entire membership of the
locals. Every local cooperative which does
not now do so should subscribe to the
regional co-op paper for all their mem
bers as a part of the Nationwide Co-op
Drive. The Cooperative League supplies
a News Service every week to all regional
cooperative papers, as well as to a large
additional list of newspapers, magazines
and writers. As a part of the Nationwide
Co-op Drive, the League is inaugurating,
with the assistance of the regional edi
tors, a special pictorial series of success
stories of local cooperatives.
No local cooperative should be with
out a Bulletin of some kind which is sent
regularly to its members. Such a Bulletin
helps to keep the membership active both
in buying and in educational activities.
Such Bulletins should help to gear each
local cooperative in with the Nationwide
Co-op Drive.
The national Cooperative League is
constantly on the job with writers and
publishers to get articles on Consumers'
Cooperation in national magazines. News
papers are supplied regularly with the
national News Service, and many of them
publish cooperative stories from time to
time. Only recently there have been pub
lished full pages of cooperative pictures
by some newspapers, together with
stories and statistics. Both regional and
local cooperatives should be on the alert
to get co-op stories in their newspapers.
Interviews and statistics make the great
est appeal.
It was not thought by the Drive Com
mittee that the time has yet arrived for
a national cooperative advertising cam
paign, either institutional or commodity.
However, local co-ops can use newspaper
advertising effectively.
Pictorial publicity is the fourth type.
It is also the fastest growing method
because it visualizes the story of Coop
eration, which has an even greater appeal
than either the spoken or printed word.
Under Pictorial publicity, we include
198
three principal forms: Movies, Posters

and Tours.
The Cooperative League has been able
in the past to supply the Movement with
two silent films through the cour
tesy of the Harmon Foundation. These
are "The Lord Helps Those," which tells
the story of Nova Scotia, and "Traveling
the Middle Way in Sweden." As a part
of the Nationwide Co-op Drive, the
League has again been able to secure,
through the Harmon Foundation, a film
of the first American Co-op Tour con
ducted in the summer of 1941. This film
entitled "The Co-ops Are Comin' " will
be available shortly. Furthermore, through
the cooperation of a number of the
regional members of the League, it has
now been possible to take a national
co-op film, which will be available at
least by the first of the year. Regional co
operatives are also providing their locals
with films, film strips and slides in an
increasing number.
We are also happy to be able to an
nounce that, by the cooperation of the
regional associations, it has now been
possible to arrange for a series of colored
posters as a part of the Nationwide Co
op Drive. The first of these will be is
sued in October, and others will follow
monthly. They will stress that Co-ops
follow American pioneering traditions,
that they extend American democratic
principles, that they apply ethical prin
ciples to business, as well as featuring
Co-op principles and practices.
It has been proven, over the course
of the past several years, by The Coop
erative League, that Co-op Tours are one
of the most effective means of interesting
people in the Consumers' Cooperative
Movement. Several tours have been ar
ranged to Nova Scotia and Europe; last
summer an American Co-op Tour was
taken throughout the Middle West. Re
gional cooperatives are also finding that
tours through their territories are highly
effective. Plans are being laid for a 1942
American Co-op Tour by The Coopera
tive League, and the Drive Committee
urges that regional and local cooperatives

make use of this method of publicity to
a greater degree. It has proven to be
more than true that "Seeing is believing."
The fifth and last principal method of
publicity is that of Printed Matter.
New Cooperative books and pamphlets,
either published or stimulated by The
Cooperative League, are pouring from
the presses constantly. Ten new pamphlets
are already scheduled as a part of the
Nationwide Co-op Drive, which will be
issued from time to time.
6. Recreational Programs
It is necessary to tell people about

Consumers' Cooperation by using the five
methods of publicity previously described,
but there is also another way to interest
them, and that is by inviting them to
attend and take part in some form of
cooperative recreational and cultural ac
tivity. The Cooperative Movement is
learning that the primary desire of people
for group activity is to play together. For
that reason, every regional and local co
operative should promote programs of
folk dancing, singing, instrumental mu
sic, crafts, arts, games, etc., for its mem
bership and invite prospective members
to attend.
7. Educational Programs
Democratic Movements, such as Con

sumers' Cooperation, require that people
not only "Join a Co-op," but also that
they study how to help themselves suc
cessfully. Educational programs should
be organized by every cooperative for all
five of the following groups: Juniors,
Youths, Employees and Directors, Mem
bers, and Prospective Members. These
should consist of study groups, institutes,
summer camps, etc.
8. Business Programs
As a part of the Nationwide Co-op

Drive, every cooperative should plan care
fully its program of getting present as
well as prospective members to "Buy
in Co-ops." There are five principal meth
ods of advertising and selling, all of
October, 1941
which should be used. They are: first,

Demonstration of the products them
selves; second, Mailing Lists for litera
ture; third, Broadcast Advertising in
newspapers and over the radio; fourth,
Visual Advertising by films, posters,
signs, etc.; fifth, Souvenirs, such as cal
endars, auto stickers and plates, table
souvenirs, etc.
9. Finance Program
The final part of the Nationwide Co-op

Drive is to persuade people to "Invest
in Co-ops." We need to mobilize our
money cooperatively just as much as we
need to buy cooperatively. Old and new
members should be urged to invest in
more than just one share of stock; they
should have presented to them the idea
of investing at least a minimum amount
sufficient to provide themselves with the
inventory as well as the facilities needed
in both the local and wholesale coopera
tive. Beyond that, they should then be
urged to invest their surplus savings in
co-op loan capital, bonds, preferred stock,
savings certificates, credit unions, etc.,
to make it possible to build factories for
production, as well as to finance any time
payment purchases which are necessary
and advisable by cooperative members.
10. Summary
Every cooperator should experience a

great thrill over the starting of the First
Nationwide Co-op Drive. It should not
only "Build Cooperatives Stronger and
Faster," but should also give each one
an increased faith in and respect for the
Consumers' Cooperative Movement as one
of the principal agencies for perfecting
arid protecting democracy in America.
Every shoulder to the Co-op wheel to
roll the Cause of the Consumer the
Public Welfarealong faster!
The first period of the Nationwide
Co-op Drive starts with October 1941,
and culminates at the October 1942 Con
gress of The Cooperative League, when
we will celebrate our victories in In
creased Membership, More Business and
Larger Investments.
199
THE CO-OP CALL TO PEACE AND PLENTY

M. D. Lincoln, President
N these days of aggression and war,

when governments all over the world
are calling their citizens to arms, the co
operative movement calls all people to
the pursuit of peaceful aims in attaining
that abundance for all which it is now
possible to achieve for the first time in all
recorded history.
The present situation is the inevitable
and logical sequence to the restrictive,
monopolistic, selfish group producer in
terests that have dominated our thinking
and action. Individual and group bene
fits and interests have supplanted a pol
icy of good for all. This must be changed
and cooperation for "all men's good"
substituted since it is the fundamental
basis of life itself.
People everywhere are groping for a
peaceful way of getting the standard of
living that is now possible. Economic
cooperation has demonstrated its effective
ness in lowering purchaser's price and
increasing producer's pay. It has demon
strated its effectiveness in building people,

and the material benefits have followed.
Political democracy issues through the
political franchise, the right to vote. But
political democracy is not total democ
racyit is only a half measure. To have
total democracy, we must undergird po
litical democracy with economic democ
racy, which I define as "participation in
making economic policies and practices
by all people contributing to or depend
ent upon the economic system." An eco
nomic franchise must be granted all
people which will parallel the political
franchise.
Now it is up to us to tell the world
of our past accomplishment and our
vast possibilities for the future. We should
use every device at our disposal to en
list new people in the movement,
strengthen present cooperatives, raise
adequate capital, extend our services and
thereby demonstrate that people can solve
their own problems in the democratic
way. It can be done.
JOIN A CO-OP BECOME A LOYAL MEMBER

L. J. Bennett, Sales Manager
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association
HE first important goal of the Nation

wide Co-op Drive is a marked in
crease in Co-op membership. In fact, the
measure of our success in this joint effort
will be indicated, to a large extent, by the
increase of new members brought into
the movement.
But, in my opinion, the first arid most
urgent step to be taken toward member
ship growth is to increase the patronage
and participation of existing members.
How can we convince non-members of
the benefits of cooperative action when
our own members frequently show such
gross indifference both in purchase of
goods and in ownership of shares? Most
of our Co-ops could easily increase their
200
present volume of business 25% without

adding a single non-member. Many pres
ent members purchase only one or two
items cooperatively. Why? Many present
members invest in only one or two shares.
Why ? First, let us drive for a fuller par
ticipation of these partial members, and
when we have done that their actions will
support their words as they present to
others the benefits of cooperative pur
chasing and investment.
Our first job in this Drive is to build
morale within our own ranks. Increased
patronage from present members is the
most convincing evidence of this morale.
Obviously, we are not going to get this
added support from sheer ballyhoo. This
Nationwide Co-op Drive is a direct chal

lenge to every Co-op manager in the
United States to bring his Co-op up to a
new level of efficiency. Can it be said
that any Co-op is really in the Drive
whose quarters are not sparkling clean,
brightly lighted, with merchandise appealingly displayed and effectively
handled? On top of this, let the personal
appearance, courtesy and efficiency of
every employee remind member and nonmember alike that the Drive is on!
Let's all put our shoulder to the wheel.
More members, more patronage, more in
vestment, for each and every local Co

operative.
BUY IN CO-OPS: THE WAY TO OWNERSHIP

Howard A. Cowden, President
T was Tolstoy who pointed out that,

if manna were to fall from heaven,
the people would still go hungry. The
teason? Because the land on which it
would fall belonged to the few, not
to the many. The eminent Russian au
thor recognized in his day, as we are rec
ognizing it even more acutely in our
own, that widespread ownership is posi
tively essential in winning a degree of
security and the maximum of freedom.
Cooperators would attack the disease
of centralized wealth control that is
gnawing at the vitals of our system by
pacific but effective means. They would
simply turn the flow of their patronage
away from the trusts, the combines and
the monopolies and direct it through their
own cooperative organizations. No trust,
no matter how pow
erful, or how well
financed, or how
ruthless and knavish
it may be, can with
stand medicine so
powerful as that.
Even a giant weakens
and falls when you
quit feeding it. That,
according to the
__
_ Jr=~ Swedes, who have had
October, 1941
much experience in "trust-busting," is

the answer to the policy of scarcity and
high prices which the cartels try to en
force. The people build their own fac
tories, support them loyally, charge
themselves reasonable prices for the
goods, and monopoly prices come tum
bling down.
That formula is so simple, so easily
understood, that the wonder is that people
generally have not seen it and caught
hold of it. While we have made only a
beginning, the experience of Consumers
Cooperative Association should convince
anyone who studies it that the formula
does work, is working. The success of
cooperative wholesales in other parts of
the United States should demonstrate
just as conclusively that the co-ops have
something that should have the support
of all the people.
In the forthcoming Nationwide Co-op
Drive, which aims to develop and
strengthen the consumer cooperative
movement and arouse America to its ad
vantages, I hope the theme of widespread
ownership and its high importance will
be carried to millions of consumers who
at this moment know little about it. Con
sumers have patronage, and they have
as much ability as others to hire technical
201
men where technical men are needed.

And they have advantages, inherent in
the co-op way of doing business, that
competitive business would give millions
to possess. We have a real story to tell

America's underprivileged millions, and
we should make the most of our gi
opportunity.
"GIVE COOPERATION THE RADIANCE IT DESERVES"

Oilman Calkins, Chairman, National
Publicity and Education Committee
and Nationwide Co-op Drive Committee
E have a mighty job to do! The

first Nationwide Co-op Drive i s
under wayto awaken America to Con
sumers' Cooperation. The initial step in
that mighty Drive is publicitynational,
regional, localto tell people everywhere
about Cooperation.
How?
To tell the whole community: Mass
meetings, forums, festivals, co-op dramas,
pageants, commodity exhibits and demon
strations, movie shows. Don't stop with
one. Two new national co-op movies are
in production. Present them with pomp
and splendor to audiences new to the
movement.
Radio, newspaper advertising and
stories, signs, posters, ministers, farm and
labor leaders, teachers, clubs, libraries,
fairs these are all available channels of
introduction.
To tell prospective members: There is
202
no definite line of demarcation here, but

more intensive methods should, for ef
ficiency, be confined to smaller areas, at
any one time, than with those above.
Personal door-to-door canvassing (with
co-op merchandise samples), direct mail.
guest events, bulletin boards, attractive
modern stores, emblems, leaflets, touts,
souvenirs.
To tell the members: Publicity hasn't
stopped, of course, when a person joins,
although it has done the bigger half of
its job. We all tend to slow up or "skip
a cog" now and thendoing even the
things that are good for usunless we're
urged nicely into loyalty. In a co-op, this
involves two publicity approaches: sug
gestions or reminders about the services
and commodities, and information to de
velop participation and the sense of re
sponsibility that begets loyalty. This calk
for regular bulletins, regular meetings,
parties, picnics, frequent reports to mem
bers, consumer courses, well-groomed
mailing lists, exhibits, and more posters.
The Co-op publicity job is never done,
never stops. No time ever demanded
more publicity than this period of the
first Nationwide Co-op Drive. The mood,
the tempo, should be that of Red Cross
workers at a great catastrophe, that of
the doctor's attendants at a major opera
tion, that of firemen at a mammoth fire,
that of all hands at their posts as a great
ship casts off anchor, that of a great sym
phony orchestra in action. With that ap
proach by every co-op and co-operator in
the land, we WILL set America "on fire
for co-ops!" But we must tell our neigh
bors first!
INVEST IN CO-OPS: BUILD FOR A SANER WORLD
Robert L. Smith, A ssistant Secretary

U DUILD for a Saner WorldInvest

JLJ in Co-ops" puts the Drive empha
sis where wide margins and large savings
in the past have kept it from being put.
A speaker at a Co-op meeting in the East
summed up two mistaken notions when
he said: 'Many Cooperators expect to
own a new social order on Boy Scout
dues." First, small change is not a sound
financial foundation for the cooperative
movement; and second, Co-op shares are
not an expense like dues. A Co-op share
pays dividends not only in cash but in
better facilities, better service, more ef
ficient operations and regained ownership.
Many members do not yet see beyond
the shelves of their store or the pumps
of their gas station. Dramatizing the im
portance of providing capital for a ware
house inventory, and a coffee roaster for
a blending plant, and a refinery, in ad
dition to the amount needed for local
operations is one of the jobs of this
year's drive. A Co-op is not a club which
costs $5.00 to join. It's a machine which
A consumer can own and expand to do
any job he wants doneif he'll put up
the money, use it and control it.
If American Cooperatives are to meet
the challenge of the times, we must make
them strong by making these minimum
investments per member: for a grocery
store and wholesale, at least $25; for a

farm supply store and wholesale, and for a
gas station and wholesale, larger amounts.
We must also invest our other savings in
loan capital in local co-ops or in bonds
or preferred stocks of regional wholesales
and factories regularly and continuously.
Factories are free only to Cooperators
who have put up the cash to build a
foundation of sound retail and whole
sale distribution facilities, and the first
factory or two.
Ours to choose the way we use the
power in our pursenot only in day-to
day purchases, but also in month-to-month
investments!
_ _
-=^ .-.
EDUCATE FOR DEMOCRATIC ECONOMIC ACTION
E. A. Whitney, Educational Director

HE Nationwide Co-op Drive is under

way! It is a challenge to over a
million member-patrons of The Coopera
tive League to go out and co-operatize
America. It says in effect: "Go out into
your community and boost your Co-op.
Ask your neighbors to come in!"
But more than joining a Co-op is
needed. We must thoroughly educate
every member and functionary for demo
cratic economic action.
October, 1941
It is not enough to have an adult pro

gram. Our own youth organizations are
needed to bring continued vitality and
life to our efforts. Thus permanency is
assured. The youth programs of Ohio,
the Ohio Farm Bureau Co-ops, Central
Co-op Wholesale and the Farmers Union
are examples. Why not launch cooperative
youth organizations within the other re
gional wholesale areas throughout the
country during this drive, to culminate
203
in an impressive Youth Rally in connec

tion with the Congress in '42?
In the CCW area, Juniors are also
studying co-operation in a very practical
way. These youngsters, 8 to 12 years of
age, are guided by trained Junior leaders,
usually mothers of cooperative families
who have shown special interest in child
welfare. Many of these Junior groups
have their own Gum Drop Co-ops with
honest-to-goodness shares, patronage re
turns, boards of directors, membership
meetings, etc. We need more Junior
groups as a definite part of our education

al program throughout the land.
There is now growing rapidly in
America a far-reaching program of adult
member education. The study circle tech
nique is being used as the basis for co
operative membership education by many
of the members of the League. These
discussion groups improve membership
participation and increase cooperative
trading. Why should not hundreds of ad
ditional groups be organized by the time
of the '42 Congress ?
Women's Guilds and Mixed Clubs arcdoing excellent cultural work among the
well-established older membership, form
ing an invaluable part of a broad pro
gram.
Then we must train cooperative func
tionaries betteremployees, directors, ed
ucational committees, discussion leaders.
Such a broad educational program by
each cooperative wholesale in the coun
try should be a part of the Nationwide
Co-op Drive.
TRAIN EMPLOYES TO BE PRACTICAL IDEALISTS
Anthony Lehner, Educational Director

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association
ECAUSE of restrictions certain to be

imposed in an ever-increasing man
ner upon cooperatives as well as any
other business concern attempting to sat
isfy consumer demands, the next few
years might well be utilized in strengthen
ing the structure of consumer coopera
tives from within.
One of the problems affecting the
movement as a whole is the problem of
proper training of employes. The employe
of a cooperative is more than just a worker
in a business enterprise, he is also the
spokesman for an idea and an ideal
that of Cooperation. According to J. D.
Jones of the Farm Credit Administration
"the spirit of cooperatives will largely be
interpreted by the patrons in accordance
with their opinion of these employes;
they will judge its efficiency almost en
tirely in terms of their efficiency." There
204
can be no adequate means of educating

the patron to the meaning of cooperation
unless the employes have first availed
themselves of every opportunity to learn
about the cooperative movement.
Quite logically, the training of em
ployes moves in two directions.
1. Training in the theory of coopera
tion. It is imperative that the employe
should know a good deal about the
origin, the history and the aims and pur
poses of the cooperative movement.
2. He must receive technical training
which leads to a full understanding and
intimate knowledge of the commodities
for whose distribution he is responsible.
Perhaps the regional cooperatives are
the best agencies within the movement
to offer this training. They should and
possibly can provide the personnel and
the facilities for periodic, intensive, let
us say, one week or longer training

courses, which can be developed around
the two points outlined above. They
should meet the needs of employes in
accord with their function and respon
sibility in their local cooperative. Train

ing courses should be offered to groups
of from 20 to 25 employes. It is quite
obvious that there should be separate
courses for managers, for oil truck serv
ice men, for warehouse men, for store
employes, for bookkeepers and, yes, for
members of the various boards of di
rectors.
While point No. 1 is equally applicable
to all these various groups, the problems
affecting the specific groups according
to their function and responsibility could
be incorporated in point No. 2 dealing
with the technical training.
Such a program should be inaugurated
by all the cooperatives so that they will
be able to take their rightful place in the
period of economic readjustment follow
ing the present and still more severe
coming dislocations, when production and
distribution of consumer goods receive
the "go" sign.
RECREATION A VITAL PART

OF THE NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE
Ellen Edwards, Executive Secretary

National Society for Recreational Education
D ECREATION might be classed as a

J-> cultural product which people crave
and consume to the tune of ten billion
dollars a year. The Nationwide Co-op
Drive would riot be complete unless it
included an effort to encourage people to
obtain this cultural commodity on a co
operative basis.
Cooperators should be as interested in
the quality of the play goods they con
sume as they are in the material commodi
ties. Those forms of recreation which
awaken in the participants a sense of
mutuality, a greater readiness to work
together, such as group singing, folk
dancing, dramatics, handicrafts, puppetry
and games, to name a few, should be
stressed. .
Since the quality of recreational goods
depends so much upon the capacity, in
sight and interpretation of leaders, the
Drive should stress the importance of
October, 1941
leadership training. We need to develop

leaders who are sensitive to social values
and who understand something of human
needs if our recreation is to result in so
cial growth. Week-end and full week
training schools should be sponsored by
local and regional cooperative organiza
tions to an even greater extent than is
now being done.
205
The Drive should make new friends

for the cooperative movement. One of
the best ways to make friends is through
playhaving fun together. A generous
allowance of time for recreational fea
tures should be part of all Drive meet
ings. Group singing, a puppet play, or a
few games or dances will help to give
the cooperatives the "radiance they de
serve." A period of social activity should
be part of every study club meeting. A
program for youth should naturally be
built around recreational activities. Festi
vals in which the entire community par
ticipates would help to develop the co
operative neighborliness which we so

need today.
The climax of all these recreational
activities might be a colorful Fun Festi
val in which cooperatives from all over
the country participate at the time of the
Cooperative League Congress in October,
1942.
Totalitarian statesmen have found time
to employ recreation as a means of regi
menting their subjects. Are the leaders
of our democracies sufficiently alert and
wise to conduct recreational activities in
keeping with our democratic ideals? Let
us, as cooperators, prove that we are!
CONSUMERS INCARNATE THE PUBLIC WELFARE
HE days of revelation were at

hand.
These days came to Washington, and
particularly to the
Congress of the
United States, about
a year ago when
The Cooperative
League of the
U.S.A. unfurled its
banner in Wash
ington, a banner on
which was a strange
device.
"Consumer cooperatives are asking no
special favors, no special privileges, no
subsidies," the inscription reads. "Con
sumer cooperatives insist only that the
rights of consumers shall be recognized
and preserved."
"Your League is not a pressure group ?"
inquired an incredulous Congressman;
and when told the consumer cooperatives
only insisted on serving the public .inter
est and could never be a "pressure group"
in support of a selfish interest, the Con
gressman shook his head.
"You've been around here long
enough to know you've got to be a pres
sure group to get anywhere," he said.
"What you are talking about sounds just
too idealistic."
206
John Carson, Washington Representative

Some few years before, when "con

sumer" representation was first estab
lished in government agencies in Wash
ington, it was asserted that a "consumer"
interest existed and that it had to be
recognized as being something entirely
distinct from the "public" interest. These
very conscientious speakers and writers
insisted that a "consumer" interest must
be recognized as having a status in eco
nomic affairs somewhat similar to the
"labor" interest and the "capital" inter
est. They were thinking of classes and
class war, of interests identified with a
government of and by the force of po
lice power, and that is where their rea
soning went awry. The true consumer
philosophy is a philosophy of good will
and of government from within the in
dividual, rather than of government by
force.
As the Swiss writers say: "The public
well-being is incarnated in the consumer."
The true consumer philosophy recognizes
that everyone is a consumer, that the con
sumer is the public, that the consumer
interest is the public interest, that the
consumer interest cannot be a class in
terest and, therefore, that the consumer
movement can never be a selfish move
ment.
Little by little, the drive is going on
to make an official government and its

members realize that practical idealism
can exist.
Cooperators must seize upon every op
portunity to let their government repre
sentatives know that an idealistic, nonpressure public interest group, known as
consumer cooperatives, demands only
that consumer rights shall be recognized,
that the public interest shall be served.
Cooperators can vote every day and

any day as one part of the Nationwide
Co-op Drive. They can vote by writing
to their Congressmen and Senators today
demanding fair treatment in the admin
istration of the coal and oil regulatory
acts, asking fair treatment for the public
in matters of taxation, insisting that in a
democracy price control by cooperative
competitive yardsticks must be promoted.
LET'S DRIVE FOR MODERN CO-OPS
William J. Torma, Chairman

National Architectural Committee
E could do the finest publicity and

educational job in the nation by
telling America's millions of consumers
about cooperatives and their advantages,
but, if we cannot measure up to this pub
licity and education with inviting, clean
and efficient merchandising units our
drives will not accomplish what is in
tended of them.
The Architectural Committee's job is to
urge every cooperative in the country to
adopt a unified program that will make
that "welcome" sign on the doormat of
every cooperative a lasting invitation to
each new consumer who enters. Here are
a few basic improvements the Commit
tee is seeking to accomplish in its work
and through your cooperation.
1) A truly American design for our
buildings in which our democratic char
acter will find expression. Simplicity,
beauty, efficiency, and economy should be
the elements of a design that will pre
sent a friendly cooperative appeal to
every consumer.
2) To provide standards of design
and color for fixtures and interiors of our
cooperatives. To work out drawings, il
lustrated booklets, film strips, and movies
to assist local cooperatives in building, re
modeling or choosing business sites
which are a credit to the fine principles
which guide our cooperative progress.
3) To pool the purchases of refriger
ated and mechanical fixtures used in our
stores, service stations and warehouses
en a national scale to enable us to eco
,1 October 1941
nomically carry out this program at the

lowest possible cost.
4) By carrying out this uniformity in
exterior design, efficiency and service on
a national scale, one cooperative is help
ing the other in obtaining increased
trade. 'Publicity on a national scale be
comes simplified because certain charac
teristics of design typical only of cooper
atives can be referred to by radio, or by
the press.
Already steps have been taken by the
committee in: 1) Agreement on uniform
color scheme of Ivory and Forest Green
Trim; 2) Purchase of cash registers and
refrigeration equipment on a national
.scale; 3) Obtaining similar arrangements
on other nationally known and tested
mechanical equipment; 4) Working on a
film strip to help stress the importance of
modernization, cleanliness and efficienc.
of layout in cooperative stores; 5) Work
ing on a possible national competition
among architects for design of a coopera
tive store and service station; 6) Work
ing with the design service in develop
ing a uniform educational and commer
cial poster service for cooperatives.
207
A CHALLENGE TO COOPERATIVE ACCOUNTANTS

E. F. Selvig, President
National Society of Cooperative Accountants
HE Nationwide Co-op Drive is a

challenge to cooperative accountants,
as well as to every other employee, mem
ber and officer. The success and stability
of our cooperatives is dependent to a
great extent upon good accounting. Ac
counting maps out the course of our finan
cial development and provides the means
of painting a vivid picture of our suc
cesses and failures, so we can correct our
mistakes and perpetuate the movement
through better planned operations. Co
operative accountants must
1. Not only continue to make good
audits, but must constantly strive to make
better audits.
2. Strive to educate their clients that
cheap audits are many times very expen
sive, keeping in mind, of course, that
expensive audits are not always good
audits.
3- Give good advice. This will re
quire constant study on the part of the
accountants to keep up with current in
formation relating to tax problems, gov
ernment regulations, etc., of which there
are many today.
4. Coordinate their own thinking to
the general purpose and objective of the
Cooperative Movement. This, too, will
icquire considerable study and the read
ing of books and periodicals.
5. Feel themselves a part of the Coop
erative Movement. By this they must
Axel Gjores, Minister of Food and Supply and Per Albin Hansson, Prime Minister
see "A Swedish Cooperator in the Government," page 212
FRIENDS OF ROCHDALE INSTITUTE
N organization known as "The

Friends of Rochdale Institute" is
being created to help build up and finance
the national training school in consumers'
cooperation established under the auspices
of The Cooperative League four years
ago. Sixty-six graduates of Rochdale In
stitute are now employed in full-time jobs
in the cooperative movement. The demand
for trained graduates is greater than the
208
COOPERATION
not only talk cooperation, but must act

cooperatively. They should be members
and patrons of cooperatives.
The National Society of Cooperative
Accountants, which is a nation-wide fra
ternal organization of persons rendering
accounting service to cooperatives, has as
one of its objectives the rendering of the
very best possible service to the coopera
tives. The thing that will need to be
done before this can be fully accom
plished is uniformity of reports and ac
counting terminology on a national bask
While accountants cannot bring this about
alone, and will need the support and as
sistance of cooperative leaders every
where, they can point out the need, to the
end that eventually we may have compar
able reports and statistics.
A DECLARATION OF COOPERATION
A SWEDISH COOPERATOR IN THE GOVERNMENT
supply, but the training program is ex

pensive.
Dr. James P. Warbasse, director of the
Institute, invites cooperators everywhere
to join "The Friends" and make a mem
bership contribution of $1.00 per year.
Contributions should be sent to Rochdale
Institute, 167 West 12th Street, NCT
York City.
Anders Hedberg
THE DOWN AND UP OF THE EMPORIA

COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION
H. G. Lull, Gladden Haskell, J. W. Cummins
NOVEMBER
1941
A
NATIONAL
JUSTICE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS, "COUNSEL FOR

THE CONSUMER"
John Carson
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE CO-OPS
IN THE CRISIS?
MAGAZINE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
AN IMPORTANT GOAL in the

NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE
During the course of the Nationwide
Co-op Drive at least a thousand co-op
managers, editors, directors and other
leaders should be added to the present
subscribers of CONSUMERS' COOP
ERATION.
A hundred new subscriptions in your
region. Ten new subs in your local
co-op would put your national magazine
over this immediate goal. Subscribe in
dividually, or have your co-op send sub
scriptions to each member of its board
and staff. It's a good investment. The
price is reasonable, the goal is very
modest. Help put it over.
$1 per year; 27 months for $2
"THE CO-OPS ARE COMIN'"

The new colored movie, "The Co-ops
Are Comin' " is now available for distri
bution everywhere. Use it in your co-op
meetings, in schools, colleges, churches,
farm and labor groups in your community.
Filmed in connection with the first AilAmerican Co-op Tour last summer, it
shows all types of co-ops visited during
the 2,600-mile trip.
More than a travelog, the movie por
trays the strength and power of the move
ment, recording the accomplishments in a
dozen fields. It is a 21^-reel, silent film
produced by the Harmon Foundation in
cooperation with The Cooperative League.
For information about rental and life
time lease write:

DIVISIONS:
Rochdale Institute, 167.West 12 St., N. Y. C.

Name

Publication
Address
St. Paul, Minn.
New Age Living
7218S. Hoover, L.ACooperative Builder
Superior, Wisconsin
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
116 E. 16 St., N. Y.
Consumers Defender
Delaware, Ohio
The Recreation Kit
Ohio Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Indianapolis, Ind.
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Berkeley, Calif.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Penn. Co-op Review
Harrisburg, Penn.
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
PEACE-PLENTY-DEMOCRACY
Volume XXVII. No. I I
NOVEMBER. 1941
Ten Cents
MAKE AMERICA CONSUMER COOPERATIVE CONSCIOUS!!!

Americans need badly to learn two things. First, that they have power as
Consumers. Second, that they should organize Cooperatively.
It was over a hundred years ago when Dr. King challenged a group of poor
people in England: "You are poor. You think you have no power. Organize your
purchasing power." In those days, Adam Smith also warned that "the interest
of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the producer." Yet far
too slowly have the people of the world, and in particular of America, learned to
think of themselves as consumers as well as producers. We have now a com
petitive system of producers organizations struggling for profit. The methods used
are those of internal and external force. The results are widespread poverty, un
employment and tenancy. Yet by also organizing as consumers, we could have a
consumer-producer cooperative system based on service to all rather than profits
to a few. The methods used would be persuasion and not force. The results would
be a widespread distribution of incomes, jobs and ownership.
The primary purpose of the NATIONWIDE CO-OP DRIVE is to arouse
Americans to the fact that they are consumers and should organize themselves into
consumers cooperatives. The specific things everyone should do are three: Join
Co-ops; Buy in Co-ops; Invest in Co-ops.
Make America Consumer and Cooperative Conscious!
A DECLARATION OF COOPERATION
Adopted by the Board of Directors of The Cooperative League of the USA at its
quarterly meeting in Indianapolis, October 21, 1941. This Declaration should be
read and adopted at every regional and local cooperative meeting.
Today America needs new pioneers. . . .
Men and women who will prove that the self-reliance of our pioneer tradition
still endures. . . .
Men and women who will apply the spirit of 1776 and the wisdom of 1787
to the problems of 1942. . . .
Men and women who will grasp the significance of the democratic principles
of liberty and equality of opportunity and extend them from the political into the
economic field.
Today we are faced with the problems of war and chaos, class and race
hatreds, scarcity amidst potential abundance, dictatorship, high cost of living,
unemployment and insecurity and the concentration of wealth and power. These
are the results of the prevalent economy of scarcity.
Yet, there is at hand, and at work, a program which' substitutes peace for
violence, construction for destruction, evolution for revolution. Today, millions
of families throughout the world are developing this program for abundance
through Consumer Cooperation.
Our problems are all man made and can be solved by men who are willing
to take practical, peaceful steps toward building a world of justice and peace.
PEACE AND ORDER
Cooperatives serving millions of families throughout the world
are building gradually a system of free trade between peoples with
out profit, force, or exploitation. Permanent peace will only come
when the resources of the world are available to all mankind.
CLASS AND RACE FRIENDSHIPS
Cooperative membership is open to all, eliminating discrimination
which sets race against race, class against class, and peoples against
peoples.
^
PLENTY IN THE PLACE OF WANT
Cooperatives are organizations of consumers set up to distribute
justly and without profit the abundance our power age is able to
produce.
DEMOCRACY
Cooperatives, in which each member has one vote, apply the
principles of democracy to the day-to-day job of supplying the neces
sities of life. Cooperative democracy is the exact opposite of political
dictatorship.
LOWER COST OF LIVING
Cooperatives offset the high cost of living by increasing buying
power, reducing the costs of production and distribution and eliminat210
ing the incentive for profiteering. Because savings are distributed to

the consumer owners on the basis of their patronage, cooperatives
cannot profiteer.
EMPLOYMENT
Cooperative stores and service stations, factories, mines, mills and
refineries are creating new income and new employment. Savings,
passed on to the consumer owners, expand their buying power and
create in turn more wealth and more employment.
WEALTH AND POWER IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE
Cooperative ownership strengthens the moral fibre of the people
and gives everyone a stake in America, bringing to the people eco
nomic power to help themselves and to check both big business and
big government. We want neither private monopoly nor public
bureaucracy.
Our present world is governed by ruthless competition for profit rather than
constructive cooperation for service, a world of hate instead of friendliness. We
believe that the democracy and neighborliness of cooperatives extended through
out the world would eliminate the economics of force which causes war and that
cooperatives will establish a permanent basis for world peace.
We believe that ideas can march where armies cannot penetrate and that the
time has come when men of good will, working together in economic coopera
tion, can create a saner world.
The methods of cooperation have proved successful in every kind of enter
prise from oil and farm supplies to groceries, from insurance and housing to
recreation. And each step further, from retail, to wholesale, to production, taps
new and wider benefits for self-reliant people. Good will cannot fail.
The Consumer Cooperative Movement has been endorsed by the major
religious faiths, by national education associations, by all political parties, by farm
organizations and by the labor movement.
Cooperatives are not institutions set up by philanthropists to help the people.
They are businesses created by the need, intelligence, vision, good will, hard work
and capital of people who believe in themselves.
Conscious of our opportunity and responsibility we pledge ourselves:
To study thoroughly the job ahead of us.
To join and help form cooperatives and accept the responsibilities of
membership.
To buy everything possible through our cooperatives.
To invest in cooperatives.
To tell our neighbors and our neighbors' neighbors about cooperatives.
These are the opportunities and responsibilities of America's new pioneers.
Men of good will, using the tools of the new age, can build a saner world.
AMERICA NEEDS COOPERATIVES
November, 1941
211
A SWEDISH COOPERATOR IN THE GOVERNMENT

Anders Hedberg, International Secretary
Kooperativa Forbundet, Sweden
A MERICA'S contact with the few

i*- peaceful countries that are left on
the Continent of Europe is quite naturally
very limited nowadays. It is difficult to
keep pace with all that is happening on
the fringes of the vast area of conflict and
outside it, but the cooperators in the
United States are undoubtedly aware that
Sweden and Swedish cooperation are free
and are steering the same course as they
always did. In Sweden political neutral
ity is a sound and necessary principle
not merely for the cooperative movement.
The Swedish economy finds itself in
a more difficult position than ever before,
owing to the country's being almost en
tirely cut off from the supply of vital
necessaries and other goods from abroad.
We have had to adopt rationing, pricecontrol regulations and other Govern
ment measures. However, the Swedish
consumers are suffering from no scarcity,
not even in the autumn of 1941, although
one sighs in vain for a cup of really good
coffee.
Co-ops Stabilize the National Economy
One of the reasons why the Swedish

economy has managed to fare pretty well
is undoubtedly the fact that the country
has had a very strong cooperative system.
When a third of the population has com
bined to form strong and sound con
sumers' organizations, the consumers are
able to make their voices heard in an
authoritative and expert manner even
within the State Administration. The best
evidence of this is perhaps the fact that
Axel Gjores is the Minister of Food and
Supply in the Swedish Coalition Govern
ment, which comprises all the political
parties with the exception of the few
Communists in the Riksdag arid the Nazi
212
Party, which is conspicuous by its entire

absence.
Axel Gjores has, so to speak, grown
up within the sphere of consumers' co
operation and spent most of his work
ing years in it. He is a self-made man
who has worked his way up the ladder
in an almost American fashion. At the
age of 14, he began to earn his living as
a worker in a foundry. Having gone
through a course in perhaps the most fa
mous of all famous people's high schools.
he became a shop assistant in a consum
ers' society and was quickly appointed
to the Cooperative Wholesale Society
(K.F.), the central organization of the
Swedish consumers. He there rapidly
found those contacts and connections in
England which have proved to be of
such vital importance both for his own
personal development and for the rela
tions between Swedish and British co
operation.
Become Nation's Foremost Publishers
After spending some time at the Co

operative College in Manchester, by 1918
his training and experience justified his
being appointed editor of the most
widely circulated organ of Swedish co
operation, which under his management
developed into the biggest popular jour
nal in the country. Its present circulation,
just over 600,000 copies a week, if reck
oned per inhabitant, would correspond
to an American edition of about twelve
million copies. In 1926, he became i
member of the Board of the Wholesale
Cooperative Society and head of one of
the principal departments in the Society.
Among other sections, there came under
his supervision at that time the bookpublishing department, which rapidly
grew to be Sweden's leading enterprise

dealing in economic literature. Another
of the fields of enterprise in which he
showed a keen interest was the great
permanent Cooperative School.
In his cooperative days, Axel Gjores
also found time for a considerable
amount of writing. Among other books,
he has published in English a work that
is no doubt known also in America, en
titled Cooperation in Sweden.
As a member of the Board of the In
ternational Cooperative Alliance, he
kept in close touch with cooperation in
foreign countries and especially kept up
his lively contact with the problems of
Great Britain and derived many impulses
from that country. His book on Robert
Owen and the Birth of Cooperation is a
work possessing scientific qualifications.
Moreover, his interest in history has
found expression in a paper on the Chris
tian Socialists in England.
A Cooperator Heads
the Board of Trade
In 1938, sincere regret and disappoint

ment were felt within wide circles in
cooperative Sweden when Axel Gjores
resigned from active service within the
cooperative organization. The reason was
that he was then appointed head of the
Board of Trade, a Government Depart
ment whose duty it is to supervise and
control a number of functions within the
economic life of Sweden. The appoint
ment of a hard-bitten cooperator to this
central post in the Civil Service first
caused surprise and gave rise to com
plaints in private industrial arid commer
cial circles, but in a very short time all
opposition was silenced. It was quickly
realized that the Board of Trade had ac
quired a chief who not only was a cooperator, but was also capable of carry
ing out his important official duties for
the benefit of the entire community. Even
the retail grocers said he was a "jolly
good fellow in spite of being a coop
erator."
November, 1941
When the European war broke out in

the autumn of 1939, the State economic
bodies found themselves faced with new
and serious difficulties. The huge burden
of work that rested on the shoulders
of Axel Gjores became heavier still, and
his general reputation as an extremely
efficient administrator was still further
enhanced. Everyone admitted that he per
formed his very arduous duties as pricecontrol authority with unimpeachable im
partiality and with far-sighted attention
to the urgent needs of the Swedish
economy.
Called to the Cabinet
When, therefore, the post of Minister

of Food and Supply became vacant in
1940, it seemed only natural that Axel
Gjores should enter the Cabinet. This
time the appointment met with no op
position from any quarter. He carries his
heavy burden of responsibility with
calm strength, good humor and personal
modesty.
Naturally, we Swedes haven't merely
the Government arid the Administration
to thank for the fact that our economic
life can go on as it does and that we have
not had to tighten our belts more than
we are doing today; but without this
strength and self-confidence displayed by
the State Administration our position
would have been far worse than it is.
Sweden's cooperators are highly gratified
at having one of their own men at the
economic helm and hope that the trend
of high policy will soon be such as to
lighten his burden and restore full eco
nomic liberty to the economic life of the
country.
The life of Axel Gjores affords an il
lustration of how rapidly social progress
in Sweden has developed. As a twentyyear old iron-worker and trade union
ist, he was blacklisted after an un
successful strike and lost his job. Now he
is a member of the Cabinet as Minister of
Food and Supply, highly respected by
workers, farmers and industrial magnates.
213
JUSTICE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS.

"COUNSEL FOR THE CONSUMER'
TUST a few days ago, friends buried
J the flesh and bone of Louis Dembitz Brandeis, retired Justice of the
United States Supreme Court who died
at his home in Washington on Sunday,
October 5th.
But that which was Brandeis is not
dead. The spirit of Brandeisand he
was all spirit and soulgoes marching
on. A Supreme Court which once treated
him and his beloved associate, Oliver
Wendell Holmes, with derision and con
tempt now walks in the paths those two
great jurists cut from legalistic under
brush planted by highly paid corporation
lawyers. In Massachusetts and in New
York, Brandeis' prized and most cher
ished accomplishment, his "Savings Bank
Insurance" system is joined with coop
erative insurance to make insurance a
public service rather than a money trust
to exploit mankind. But Brandeis lives
more in the hearts and minds of thou
sands of young apostles he inspired and
taught and sent forth to do battle. They
were his jewels. In them he found great
er reward, he said, than any man should
expect.
See him on a Sunday afternoon at
"tea" in his apartment. He and his be
loved wife greet each visitor but by a
natural force, Brandeis gathers close to
him the young men, his disciples, and one
by one and sometimes in larger num
bers they talk. The men of lesser im
portance, high officials, members of Con
gress, rich merchants, quickly gravitate
to the outer circle. See him when he had
one of his young men in for a personal
conference and when a particular work
was to be done. In his rather bare study,
he would sit for long periods listening
and counselling. There he lived.
More than 40 years ago, Brandeis,
214
the effort to free man so man could as

sume responsibility.
John Carson
then a young and able lawyer but one

who was yet to win national fame, arose
before the august House Committee on
Ways and Means and introduced himself
as a "counsel for the consumer." The
Committee, then one of great prestige,
was considering the notorious Dingley
tariff bill. Some of the newspaper men
wrote that Brandeis was treated with
patronizing smiles as he began his first
intensive struggle against the legalized
racket, extortionate tariff rates. He lost
that fight. He lost many fights. But he
won the wars.
From that day on, Brandeis was a
"counsel for the consumer." I think he
came nearer to fitting the word "tribune"
than did any man of his day. He was not
elected by the plebians to see that justice
was done them, but he volunteered for
that work and was at it until the days of
his last illness.
Unfortunately, he, who had urged and
advocated the development of consumer
cooperatives, did not realize what tremen
dous strides the cooperative movement
had made. Only a year ago, he invited
me to one of his delightful personal con
ferences and for almost two hours he
plied me with questions and urged me on
and on as his wonderful eyes lighted by
the story of cooperative development.
"The great developer is responsibility,"

he wrote. "Hence no remedy can be hope
ful which does not devolve upon the
workers participation in responsibility for
the conduct of business, and their aim
should be the eventual assumption of full
responsibilityas in cooperative enter
prises. This participation in and eventual
control of industry is likewise an essen
tial of obtaining justice in the distribu
tion of the fruits of industry.
Democracy is a Serious Undertaking
"But democracy in any sphere is a seri
ous undertaking. It substitutes selfrestraint for external restraint. It is more
difficult to maintain than to achieve. It
demands continuous sacrifice by the indi
vidual and more exigent obedience to the
moral law than any other form of gov
ernment. Success in any democratic un
dertaking must proceed from the individ
ual. It is possible only where the process
of perfecting the individual is pursued.
His development is attained mainly in
the processes of common living. Hence
the industrial struggle is essentially an
affair of the Church and is its imperative
task."
Once I asked him why he and another
very able and very wealthy man, another
Jew who made large contributions to
public causes, had parted company. He
hastened to tell me they were still per
sonal friends and then added:
To Free Men to Assume

Responsibility
"He was interested only in building

institutions, I am interested in building
men."
The consumer cooperatives expressed

in action the philosophy for which
Brandeis fought, a plan of life and living
which permitted and encouraged the in
dividual man to grow and develop those
spiritual forces which build for selfreliance and which cry out for freedom
and independence and tolerance and
goodwill. His whole life was spent in
Brandeis was born in Kentucky. His

father had ample means and Brandeis
wanted for nothing. He died a very
wealthy man, but one whose wealth was
not as much of him as were his clothes.
He had no personal experience with the
tragedies of poverty, but as he grew more
and more to resemble in face and form
the great Lincoln, he also walked from
November, 1941
an early day with Lincoln in the war to

end the troubles of the oppressed.
In 1910, he became counsel for a
young government clerk, Louis R. Glavis,
who dared to expose a Secretary of the
Interiorone Ballinger. Brandeis lived
with that case day and night until finally
he and Glavis uncovered the facts which
aroused public opinion to drive Ballinger
and eventually Taftfrom public of
fice. As that fight had as much to do with
the election of Woodrow Wilson in
1912 as did any other incident, Wilson
wanted to name Brandeis as Attorney
General. Wilson permitted political ad
visors to dissuade him, a decision he al
ways regretted, but in 1916 he made
amends by naming Brandeis to be a Jus
tice of the United States Supreme Court.
Then began a fight in the United States
Senate where a blot of shame was written
into the records in the attacks on Bran
deis. Privilege and its robber bands as
sailed him but far worse were the attacks
of the ignorant and intolerant who op
posed him because he was a Jew.
Victory by Dissent
Brandeis never lowered himself to in

dulge in personal attacks on others or to
recognize that some made personal at
tacks on him. He really loved his fellow
man. When Taft, who never forgot the
Ballinger fight, joined in the disgraceful
attacks made on Brandeis' confirmation
to be a Justice, Brandeis kept his counsel
and his kindly mien. When Taft, years
later and then in trying circumstances
himself, sought to apologize, Brandeis,
quietly and with great forbearance ig
nored the original attack and the apology.
Throughout the years when Brandeis was
just a "dissenting Justice" of the Supreme
Court, one who had to be tolerated, he
never complained. He had no time for
his personal affairs or personal fortunes.
He had the great task of reforming the
legal philosophy of the Supreme Court
and he was ever at it.
There was a man. There is his light
undimmed.
215
THE DOWN AND UP OF THE

EMPORIA COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION
Dr. H. G. Lull, former chairman,

N.E.A. Committee on Cooperatives,
with the collaboration of Miss
Gladden Haskell and J. W. Cummins
OW the people laughed! For here

was a co-op engaged in huckstering.
Even some of its members wouldn't allow
the truck on or near their premises!
That was five years ago last April,
when the store of the Emporia, Kansas,
Cooperative Association began rolling
around the streets in a wheezing, second
hand truck. Its inventory consisted of a
small quantity of a small variety of stable
groceries.
Before the truck started rolling, the
cooperative had been a buying club. But
a young idealist came to town, looking
for a world to conquer. He persuaded the
members to organize a cooperative gro
cery store under the Cooperative Law of
Kansas. So a series of meetings were held,
by-laws drafted, officers elected, the ideal
istic young man appointed manager, and
a charter secured.
Fewer than fifty persons signed up as
charter members, each promising to buy
$20.00* worth of stock and to pay a
$1.00 application fee as provided in the
by-laws. Only a few, however, paid the
full $21.00. Some paid $15.00; others
paid $10.00; and still others $5.00. Then
followed the effort to get more members.
Like the truck which afterwards housed
the store, this was slow and difficult. But
the Board decided to start the business
when about sixty members had signed up
and paid a small amount of their con
tracted stock purchase.
The following fall the store settled
down in an old brick house two blocks
from the business district. Some enter
prising members cleaned it up, pulling off
the old paper, scrubbing walls and floor,
painting, making shelving, and peforming various other odd jobs.
*The new by-laws require the purchase of
$5.00 worth of stock for full membership.
216
Sad Days
The manager persuaded the Board to

stock electrical equipment with an out
lay of about $1,700. For the purchase of
this equipment, loan capital was provided
by the manager's father. This ill-con
ceived venture left the Cooperative with
about $1,200 debt and with practically
no electrical goods on hand. To make
matters worse, the manager had employed
inefficient and even dishonest help.
It was a very good thing for the future
of the Cooperative that the by-laws re
quired all loan capital to come from the
members. A few of us had made size
able loans to keep the store afloat. When
the financial condition became so bad
that the membership stock was worth less
than nothing, it goes without saying that
the member creditors began to think and
act realistically.
Wholesale Administers First Aid
After the directors of the Emporia Co

operative Association voted to relocate
the store on the main business street, they
called on Consumers Cooperative Asso
ciation of North Kansas City, Missouri,
to help set up the store. While this was
going on, the one director who was op
posed to releasing the inefficient manager
influenced two other directors to vote
with him in reinstating him. Whereupon
CCA withdrew its support and the three
directors and the manager resigned.
After an emergency meeting was
called and three new directors elected, the
reorganization proceeded successfully. It
should be added that the three resigning
directors have remained loyal and effec
tive members of the co-op.
Glad Times
Only a cooperative business could

withstand such a blitz of mobilized igConsumers' Cooperation
norance and mistakes and still succeed.

But, with this reorganization, the Coop
erative immediately began to climb. New
members came in, transient trade in
creased, a meat market and good refriger
ation facilities were added.
Five years after the beginning and
three years after its wobbly, uncertain,
discouraging period of existence, the Em
poria Cooperative Association paid its
first patronage savings to members4%
on sales amounting to $11,000 in the
quarter ending in July, 1941. It is prac
tically out of debt, the stock has par
value or better, the membership has in
creased to 175 active members, and they
are rapidly becoming one hundred per
cent patrons. Transient trade is increas
ing. Three men, including the manager,
and one woman, are employed full-time.
A delivery service is maintained. The in
ventory is adequate in groceries, meats,
milk, cream, butter, eggs, cheese, fresh
vegetables and fruits, etc., and is turned
over on the average of five times in three
months. CO-OP label goods are becom
ing more popular with both member and
non-member patrons. The store equip
ment, formerly rented, was purchased and
new modern shelving and lighting were
installed. Walls were re-decorated and
floors painted. A modern service counter
was built, and self-service carts and bas
kets were provided. All of these improve
ments, which took place in April, 1941,
were paid for out of current earnings.
Credit Union Helps
The Credit Union, which is located in

a rear room of the store, has proved to
be a very strong factor in the success of
the Cooperative. It enables members arid
those who wish to become members,
when they are behind in their expenses,
to pay cash for their groceries. It also
serves as a profitable institution for the
savings accumulated by the members.
Membership in the Emporia Cooperative
Assodation or in the Lyon County Coop
erative Association (gas and oil) is nec
essary to qualify for membership in the
Credit Union. Many members follow the
practice of depositing money in the EmNovember, 1941
poria Cooperative Association and then

buying against that deposit until another
one is needed. This is good for both the
Cooperative and the consumer-member.
Evaluation
After the modernization of the store,

rising trade and increasing membership
were immediate. But, while the Associa
tion has made use of all the multitudi
nous services provided by CCA, its
members have neglected some of the ad
vantages offered by the Educational De
partment. In a community like this,
where so many potential cooperative
leaders belong to two or more clubs or
societies, it is difficult for all except the
most devoted cooperators to sluff off
those groups of lesser importance to do
the work of the more important. There
is, however, an increasing number of
aggressive, active members in the Associ
ation. CCA has been very helpful in the
membership drive. Here again, however,
only a few can or will go out to get new
members to sign on the dotted line.
The membership of the Emporia Co
operative Association is distributed
among people of different interests and
occupations. It is composed of farmers,
railroad workers, building mechanics, au
tomobile mechanics and electrical work
ers, public school teachers, at least one
preacher, a chemist, two doctors, arid un
classified laborersa fairly good cross
section of the town. Racially, there are
the preponderant mongrel variety of
Americans, like the writer, several Mexi
can families, and a few families of Welsh
and German extraction. We have been
hoping that negro families would come
in, but as yet they stand aloof. The mem
bership is, at any rate, very cosmopolitan
in this respect, as well as in terms of
politics and religion.
At the present, the Board of Directors
is composed of two young college pro
fessors, one of whom is president, a pro
gressive farmer, a lady homemaker, and
a railroad foreman, who is secretary. It is
an intelligent, forward-looking board.
Very much of the success of the Coopera217
tive is due to the young manager, Roy

Chelf. He has selected three capable as
sistants. The manager and the assistants
receive fairly good wages, which will be
increased as the business warrants. For a
cooperative should never be miserly with
its employees. It should have at all times
even better management and services than
competing private businesses.
We are on our democratic-cooperative
way. We hope a bright future is ahead of
us, but we must study, think, and work
together. We need more stock room, more
display space, more refrigeration units,
more office room and equipment, a rest
room for patrons, and a good, small audi
ence and committee room, which could
be used also for food demonstrations and
informal conversation. We need more
parking space. Sometime we should own
our store building.
Looking still farther into the future,

we shall need a large assembly and rec
reation building for the use of the entire
membership, and the membership of
other cooperatives. This is looking ahead
to the time when a number of coopera
tives in this section of the country will
see fit to federate as they do in Wiscon
sin and in the Northern Peninsula of
Michigan.
There are many problems of expansion
and service ahead. We should dream, it is
true; but we should never overlook the
very real present. To participate consis
tently and effectively in a consumer co
operative in the face of the hydra-headed
opposition stimulates the exercise of in
telligence and the mobilizing of social
virtues. One must forego many former
privileges and learn to enjoy unpopu
/
larity.
'THE CO-OPS ARE COMIN 1

A Review
"The Co-ops Are Comin' ", is a new

film produced by the Harmon Founda
tion with the cooperation of The Coop
erative League, and was photographed in
connection with the first Ail-American
Co-op Tour that took place this past
summer.
Here for the first time is a thrilling
story of the development of American
cooperatives in the middle west.
Forty educators, churchmen, journalists
and cooperative leaders from all parts of
the United States and Canada gathered in
Columbus, Ohio in July, and traveled
2,600 miles through nine midwestern
states, visiting cooperatives of every de
scription.
With these forty people you visit co
operative mills and factories, wholesale
houses, a cooperatively owned department
store, streamlined grocery stores, co-op
gas stations, credit unions, rural electric
cooperatives, insurance companies, and
the first cooperatively owned oil refinery
and oil wells in the United States.
You see, with this group, first hand,
real cooperative achievement, and meet
218
Esther Covey
the men and women whose vision and
work made all this possible.
The film shows the tour party as guests
of the youth groups at the recreation camp
owned by Central Cooperative Whole
sale of Superior, Wisconsin.
You see the homesteading project at
Granger, Iowa, where, under the direc
tion of Father Ligutti, a run down min
ing district was turned into a community
of well kept homes.
"The Co-ops Are Coming' " is a visual
record of cooperative achievement, and
all these scenes and many more make for
a dramatic portrayal of American cooper
atives in action.
It is a delightful movie, photographed
in color and we guarantee an entertain
ing and instructive thirty minutes to all
those who are fortunate enough to see it.
The film, is a 16mm. silent, 2 1/2 " reels
in length and may be obtained in color
or in black and white. It is available for
rent or purchase through The Coopera
tive League, 167 West 12th Street,
New York.
CIRCLE PINES CENTER

"TF you can build a better mousetrap,"
1- said one philosopher, "the world
will beat a pathway to your door." And
watching people come from every part
of America each year, bringing new faces
with them, one cannot help but feel that
Circle Pines Center, cooperative camp in
lower Michigan, is filling a need great
in the lives of American people.
Conceived as a year-around vacation
and cultural center for cooperative educa
tion and recreation, Circle Pines Center
has stressed throughout the four seasons
of its operation the value of wholesome,
creative and inexpensive leisure time ac
tivities that bring the cooperative attitude
to the party, the picnic ground and the
fireside as well as to the educational lec
ture and the committee room.
One of the cooperative schools that are
a part of Circle Pines Center's summer
program each year, is the Recreation Insti
tute which aims to train leaders so that
they can go back to their societies and
communities to carry on constructive and
non-competitive leisure activities. The
1941 Recreation Institute was directed by
Chester A. Graham, Educational Director
of the Madison Cooperative Council and
formerly of Ashland Folk School. Ably
assisting him were
Naomi Rawn, folk
dancing; Waldo
Kapnick, music;
Gwen Fife, Marjorie
Johnson arid Dor
othy Sonquist, crafts;
and Robert Stockdale, shop.
"The genius of
Circle Pines Center,"
says David E. Son
quist, its director
and educational di
rector of the Eastern
Michigan Associa
tion of Consumer
Cooperatives, "lies
November, 1941
Viola Jo Kreiner
in the fact that together we are

. . . building with our own hands some
thing that is putting more meaning into
our lives and more self-reliance into our
spirits."
And when Dr. Sonquist speaks of
building, he is speaking of it in no aca
demic sense for the members of Circle
Pines Center have looked farther to the
future than one might suspect. They are
not depending each year upon the rental
of the National Park Service Camp to meet
their needs but have purchased a large farm
and are developing it for their yeararound center. A work camp of the
American Friends Service Committee, a
Cooperative Youth Work camp, a Chil
dren's Camp, and week-end work bees of
various member societies have made the
new farm site a bee-hive of activity all
summer while the educational and recre
ation institutes were being carried on in
the government camp eight miles distant.
Beach and waterfront and roads have seen
improvements, buildings are being con
structed and friendships have been ce
mented across the native fieldstone walls
that have grown high with the labor of
many people.
Clearing Ground for a Co-op Cabin
219
Helen Topping, English Secretary to Dr. Kagawa, leading a discussion at Circle Pines
"Circle Pines Center," said a young

woman from Montana, "is all that it was
pictured to me and more." It is indeed
building, but more than a mousetrap,
more even than a camp. It is building
men and women who have experienced

some of the fullness of living the creative
and cooperative way, and who under
stand that only alert and awakened minds
will be the bulwarks of our democracy.
WHAT IS HAPPENING
TO THE CO-OPS IN THE CRISIS
RE the co-ops being snowed under

in the 'defense crisis ?
Have the people become so prosperous
they don't need cooperatives any more?
Has the situation abroad made America
overlook the co-ops?
Are the co-ops getting anywhere?
Let's look at the record.
New Refinery
Early in November, the Consumers Co
operative Association and its associated
cooperatives purchased a 1500 barrel-aday oil refinery at Scottsbluff, Nebraska,
a dozen large oil transports, ten service
stations in western Nebraska and 71 acres
of ground, an administrative building,
warehouse and buildings housing a ser
vice station, cafe, laundry, hatchery, bot
tling works, grocery store and creamery
at Scottsbluff.
The refinery will supplement the out
put of the co-op refinery at Phillipsburg,
Kansas which is now turning out 3400
220
barrels a day of refined products and which

reported earnings of almost a quarter of
a million dollars in the last fiscal year.
New Buildings
The co-ops are building, literally, from
Amarillo to the Atlantic coast.
At Amarillo, Texas, Consumers Coop
eratives Associated will have a business
volume of one million dollars in 1941,
five times what it was last year. To meet
expanding volume, CCA is building a
modern brick and concrete headquarters
and oil compounding plant scheduled for
completion December 6.
At Superior, Wisconsin, the Central Co
operative Wholesale has just broken
ground for a new elevator attached to the
CCW feed mill, to cost $27,000 arid the
management committee of the wholesale
has authorized immediate construction of
a warehouse addition to the co-op bakery.
In North Kansas City, the Consumers
Cooperative Association has just authorConsumers' Cooperation
Ized immediate construction of an addi

tion to the paint and grease factory plants
at its headquarters. During the past fiscal
year CCA manufactured 3 million gallons
of co-op grease and more than 48,000
gallons of co-op paint.
Farm Bureau Cooperatives in Ohio and
Pennsylvania have joined hands with the
Southern States Cooperatives to construct
a $400,000 continuous-mix feed mill at
Reading, Ohio, which will have a capacity
of 20 carloads of feed a day.
The Saskatchewan Co-op Wholesale an
nounced the purchase of the four-story
Fairbanks-Morse Building in Saskatoon
as its new home. Work began in Regina
on a 225,000 barrel storage tank to en
large the facilities of Consumers Coop
erative Refineries.
Erection of additional plant capacity
for the co-op refinery in Indiana is being
held up temporarily pending priority
approval.
In New York City, Amalgamated Co
operative Houses held ceremonies No
vember 15 at which Congressman Voorhis
dedicated three new units providing for
48 more families in America's largest
housing cooperative.
In Brooklyn, New York, Eastern Co
operative Wholesale, with a year yet to
run on its four-year lease, found its facil
ities overcrowded and the wholesale board
approved steps to secure larger quarters.
Moving Into Groceries
Cooperatives in Saskatchewan took a
step last month which was hailed as the
most significant since the establishment of
the Saskatchewan Cooperative Wholesale
Society in 1929 and the opening of Con
sumers Cooperative Refineries in 1935.
The action was approval of extending the
services of the co-op wholesale into the
distribution of groceries to 35 grocery
co-ops in the province and at the same
time to open the way for co-op grocery
distribution to all cooperators in the state
eventually.
In Columbus, Ohio, November 7, 8,
and 9 representatives of both farm and
city cooperatives met to consider possible
November, 1941
steps to extend co-op grocery wholesale

service in the state. Already a number of
study clubs in rural areas have started
case-lot distribution of groceries as a first
step in that direction for rural Ohio.
National Coordination
At Indianapolis in October, National
Cooperatives selected T. A. Tenhune,
chief buyer for Central Cooperative
Wholesale, as its general manager, a step
which should make possible greatly in
creased joint purchasing by the regional
cooperatives. Associated Cooperatives of
Northern California, serving thirty con
sumer co-ops with 15,000 members in that
area was admitted to membership.
The board of directors of The Coopera
tive League, meeting the following day,
approved a Cooperative Program for
World Peace and issued a Declaration of
Cooperation as a feature of the Nation
wide Co-op Drive. The board also ok'd a
proposal to set up a National Co-op
Radio Fund to which individual co-op
members may contribute directly to the
cost of general co-op publicity via radio.
The boards of The League, National
Cooperatives and United Cooperatives
toured the mills and factories of the Indi
ana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association
and met informally together at luncheon
in Shelbyville.
New Members, New Business,
New Capital
It is too early yet to measure in any
way the effect of the current Nationwide
Co-op Drive in bringing in new members,
new business and new capital. But the
drive is already attracting a great deal of
attention and both regional and local co
operatives in all sections of the country
are contacting individuals and organiza
tions that have never been tapped before.
Here are some of the regional drives
that are part of the coordinated campaign:
Seventy-five communities in the Eastern
Cooperative Wholesale territory are mo
bilizing for an intensive campaign for
more members, more business and more
investment in cooperatives as part of the
221
drive to "Build a Saner World."

More than 180 communities in North
ern Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin
are beginning their part of the Nation
wide Drive with a determined effort to
carry the cooperative message to every
home in those communities.
In the Chicago area basement buying
clubs are moving to street level, side-street
stores are growing into main street food
markets and old established cooperatives
are streamlining their stores and modern
izing their equipment as one phase of the
drive to make co-op stores equal in beauty
their co-op ideals.
Sixty-one circuit councils in CCA land
are scheduled to draw co-op leaders from
nine states togther to carry the co-op drive
to the grass roots. And the manager and
field staff of Eastern Co-op Wholesale are
meeting with managers and board mem
bers of local co-ops from Maine to Mary
land.
New Tools
Today the cooperative movement is at

work "making the tools of the new age
expedite the vision of the old."
A colored motion picture, "THE CO
OPS ARE COMIN'," photographed in
connection with the first Ail-American
Co-op Tour last summer was completed
and released the first of October and it
has already been shown to many thou
sands of consumers. The film was pro
duced by the Harmon Foundation in co
operation with The Cooperative League.
The national movie, "HERE IS TO
MORROW," is in the final stages of pro
duction. It is a sound picture, beautifully
photographed portraying the American
co-ops in action and driving home drama
tically the philosophy of cooperation.
"HERE IS TOMORROW" will be avail
able for showings in all parts of the coun
try the first of the year.
The first two of a regular series of
posters have been distributed arid six
more are in preparation. In two thousand
co-ops from coast to coast blaze the slo
gans "Neighbors Built AmericaNeigh222
bors Are Building Co-ops," and "Protect

and Build Democracy thru a Co-op."
The National Co-op Radio Committee,
appointed by the committee which drew
up plans for the Nationwide Co-op Drive,
is making plans for a drive during the
months of January, February and March
to find Fifty-Thousand-One-Dollar-AYear-Men who will finance a series of
nationwide broadcasts to tell the story of
cooperation from the housetops by radio.
On November 29, Senator George D.
Aiken, Congressman Jerry Voorhis and
Murray D. Lincoln, president of The
Cooperative League will take to the ait
from 10:15 to 10:30 p.m. eastern stand
ard time over the Columbia network to
tell America about the cooperatives. The
title of the broadcast will be "Building
a Saner World."
Conferences on Religion,
An outstanding series of conferences

under the direction of the Rev. James
Myers is focussing the attention of church
men and labor on consumer cooperatives
as a way of cutting the costs of living and
living a fuller life. Representatives of the
Federal Council of Churches, National
Catholic Rural Life Conference and Cen
tral Conference of American Rabbis have
taken part in these conferences while rep
resentatives of both the A.F. of L. and
C.I.O. have spoken at a Labor-Co-op
conference in New Haven, Conn., and
plans are under way for a similar confer
ence at Schenectady, N. Y.
The National Catholic Rural Life Con
ference meeting at Jefferson City, Miss
ouri, repeatedly turned to cooperatives
as the economic manifestation of Christi
anity at its sessions October 4-8. The Most
Reverend Vincent J. Ryan, Bishop of
Bismarck, described promotion of credit
unions and cooperatives as "the instru
ments of liberation for the farmer. . . .
Cooperatives are the means of cultural
and spiritual regeneration. . . . The co
operative way is the Christian way." The
Most Reverend Aloisius J. Muench, Bis
hop of Fargo described cooperatives as
"closely intertwined in the development

of Christian philosophy." Other Catholic
leaders also went on record as endorsing
and encouraging cooperatives.
Labor Shows a Growing Interest
Senator Norris and Congressman Voorhis sent a joint telegram to the American
Federation of Labor, Congress of Indus
trial Organizations and the American Rail
road Brotherhoods urging that labor take
a more active part in the promotion of
consumer cooperatives saying: "higher
wages alone won't solve the problems of
working men"and inviting organized
labor to consider immediate practical steps
in the cooperative field.
William Green, president of the Amer-
ican Federation of Labor, said in a tele

gram of response, "a full measure of sup
port will be accorded the organization
and extension of cooperative buying or
ganizations in cities and towns throughout
the nation."
Early in November, twenty great Rail
road organizations expressed "deep inter
est in cooperative buying organizations"
and invited Murray D. Lincoln, president
of The Cooperative League to appear at
the next meeting of their executive asso
ciation to tell them how to express their
interest by action.
The C.I.O. hasn't yet taken a definite
step in response to the Norris-Voorhis
telegram.
BOOK REVIEWS
COOPERATION: A CHRISTIAN MODE OF INDUS
TRY, by Rev. Edgar J. Schmiedeler, O.S.B.,
Catholic Literary Guild, 218 pages, $1.50.
Order through The Cooperative League.
Rev. Edgar J. Schmiedeler, a follower of
Benedict, has written for the Catholic Literary
Guild Press, "Cooperation: A Christian Mode
of Industry." Father Schmiedeler teaches the
economics of cooperation at Catholic University
in Washington. He also directs the educational
work in the cooperative field for the National
Catholic Welfare Conference. As Father
Schmiedeler is a teacher, it is natural that his
book takes on the aspects of a text book. Into
it he has crammed the history of cooperation
in this country, as well as in foreign countries,
the philosophy of cooperation and of great im
portance the part the Catholic Church and its
followers have played in the development of
ihe cooperative movement.
This book will be of great value to anyone
interested in a concise, but very complete, hislory of the cooperative movement. Particularly
will it be of value to students. And as profes
sors in Catholic schools and Catholic colleges
turn their attention to cooperation, the book
should be a leading one on all cooperative bib
liographies.
Thus through the printed page, Father
Schmiedeler is following in the paths laid
down for him by those who went before him
in the Benedictine Order. He is teaching and
preaching the cooperative way of life, the good
way of life. He is turning on the light of co
operation and good will against the darkness
of a materialistic philosophy which is the in
evitable part of an individualistic profit order.
JOHN CARSON,
Washington Representative,
November, 1941
CREDIT UNION NORTH AMERICA, by Roy F.

Bergengren, 390 pages, Southern Publish
ers, Kingsport, Tennessee. $2.00 (avail
able through The Cooperative League).
Into "Credit Union North America," his
fifth book, Roy F. Bergengren has crammed all
the information anybody could get into 390
pages.
Mr. Bergengren has two major purposes in
writing. One is to create a handbook for people
who want to organize and operate credit
unions. The other is to affirm his faith in the
future.
As a handbook of policies and methods, the
book is eminently successful. Chapters devoted
to definition, functions, organization, admin
istration and accounting manage these subjects
with a clarity that can only be surpassed by
the clarification of experience. The facts are
presented with scrupulous lucidity, and a question-and-answer recapitulation at the end of
each section is so well handled that every point
is made twice but without monotony.
The writer chooses to emphasize certain
things not always foremost in the mind of the
average credit union officer. "We shall discuss
education," he says at one point, "most impor
tant credit union function of all. As I have
elsewhere pointed out in this book, the great
est contribution of Nova Scotia to the credit
union movement is the adult study club tech
nique. Knowledge is power. We live in an age
when propaganda is power. . . . Truth about
economics will help us to correct those abuses
which so many times make our economics work
efficiently against democracy. Credit union
members must understand what the credit
union is, what it can do for them, what they
must do for it."
The conviction that the credit union is
223
nothing if it is merely a machine for borrowing

and saving rises through Mr. Bergengren's
book like a river, which through two chapters
on history and three on achievements keeps
lifting its voice, and at last in the concluding
chapter reaches flood level. "Who will say that
we in the credit unions have no responsibility?
We have found in cooperative credit a factor
of tremendous potential worth. We must per
fect it; we must make it do for the people all
the things it can do. Because we know the
credit union and have faith in it, we have the
sole responsibility to use it as one great agency
for perfecting a better economic life for all the
people."
The book's momentum ends with the phrase
"one great agency." To consumers purchasing
commodities cooperatively, or to workers or
ganized to improve their bargaining power, the
phrase cries out for expansion. What about
them? Is each constructive social force to work
in a room by itself, or can we knock down the?
partitions and bring them all together? An
integrated program of self-help still awaits
formulation.
RICHARD GILES
Associate Editor
The Bridge
NEW BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS

Cooperation: A Christian Mode of Industry,

by Rev. Edgar Schmiedeler, O.S.B., Catholic
Literary Guild, 218 pages, $1.50
Cooperative Plenty, by Rev. J. Elliott Ross, B.
Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 200 pages,
$2.00
Cooperative Education, abstracts of 600 books
and articles on cooperative education, edited
by V. J. Tereshtenko, Cooperative Project.
Works Progress Administration, 363 pages,
limited edition free on request.
A Survey of Consumers' Cooperatives in the
United States, by L. G. Bryngelsson, Col
lege of the City of New York, a doctor's
dissertation, published by the author, 448
pages, $2.00
I Chose Denmark, by Francis Hackett, Doubleday, Doran & Co., 290 pages, $2.50
Oar Interests as Consumers, by Dorothy Hous
ton Jacobson, a high school text with 80
pages on cooperatives, Harper and Brothers
338 pages, $1.50
\Vhat Can the CO-OP Mean to You? a beauti
fully illustrated pamphlet, published by the
224
Cooperative Union of Chicago, 16 yu

lOc.
A Short Introduction to Consumers Coopit:-\
tion, by Ellis Cowling, published by The I
Cooperative League, ninth printing, ci r. I
pletely revised, 32 pages, 15c.
The Important Fact about a Cooperative,-^
four-page leaflet, Eastern Cooperative |
League, Ic.
NSUMER
COOPERATION
Statement of the Ownership, Management, Circulation,

Etc., Required by the Acts of Congress o]
August 24, 1912, and March 3, 193), o]
Puolished monthly at New York, N. Y. for Ocolc.
1, 1941.
State of New York, County of New Yotk, ss.
Before me, a Notary Public in and for the Stair
and county aforesaid, personally appeared Mary MaiMillan, who, having been duly swotn according
to law, deposes and says that she is the Business
Manager of the CONSUMERS' COOPERATION and
that the following is, to the best of her knowledge
and belief, -a true statement of the ownership, manage
ment, etc., of trie aforesaid publication for the dare
shown in the above caption, required by the Act of
August 24, 1912, as amended by the Act of March }.
1933, embodied in Section 537, Postal Laws and
Regulations, printed on the teverse of this fotm, to wit:
1. That the names and addresses of the publisher,
editot, managing editot, and business managers are:
PublisherThe Cooperative League of the U.S.A..
167 West 12th Street, New York, N. Y.
EditorE. R. Bowen, 608 South Deatborn Street.
Chicago, 111. Associate EditorWallace J. Camphell.
167 West 12th Street, New York, N. Y.
Business ManagerMary MacMillan, 167 West 12ih
Street, New York, N. Y.
2. That the owner is:
The Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 167 West
12th Street, New York, N. Y.
3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and
other security holders owning or holding 1 per tent
or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or
other secutities are: None.
4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the
names of the owners, stockholders, and security hold
ers, if any, contain not only the list of stockholder!
and security holders as the_y appear upon the books
of the company but also, in cases where rhe stock
holder or security holder appears upon the books of
the company as ttustee or in any othet fiduciary re
lation, the name of the person or corporation for
whom such ttustee is acting, is given; also that the
said two paragraphs contain statement's embracing
afftanr's full knowledge and belief as to the circum
stances and conditions under which stockholders and
security holders who do not appear upon the books of
the company as trustees, hold stock and secutities in
a capacity other t'han that of a bona fide owner; and
this affiant has no reason to believe that any other
person, association, or corporation has any interest
direcr -or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or othet
securities than as so srated by her.
THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE OF THE U.S.A.
By MARY MACMILLAN, Business Manaser.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 26th day
of September, 1941.
[Seal]
ALFRED L. LAURENTS, Notary Public.
New York County, New York, County Clerk's

No. 55, Reg. No. 3-L-172. (My commission expires
March 30, 1943.)
Gtr.CRAL UBRARY
JAN 7 1942
THE STAR LEADS ON
UNIVERSITY OF
FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZATION
BALANCE PRICES AND INCOME
Louis J. Taber
E. R. Bowen
OHIO OFFERS COMPLETE'COOPERATIVE

E. K. Augustus
INVESTMENT PROGRAM
DECEMBER
1941
NATIONAL
CAPITOL LETTERS
MAGAZINE
FOR
John Carson
COOPERATIVE
LEADERS
"HERE IS TOMORROW"
"HERE IS TOMORROW," the first sound movie of the American consumer cooperatives
ever produced, is completed and will be available for distribution in all parts of the country
January first.
The movie is a dramatized documentary portraying vividly the accomplishments anJ
scope of the cooperatives throughout the country. It was produced by Documentary Film
Productions, Inc. under the direction of Herbert Kerkow and Willard Van Dyke, with
Roger Barlow as cameraman and Irving Lerner as film editor. Kerkow and Barlow travelled
6,000 miles this summer and fall photographing co-ops from Brooklyn, New York to
Phillipsburg, Kansas and north as far as Superior, Wisconsin. Philip Brown of "I Wanted
Wings" and "H.M. Pulham, Esquire" and Jabez Gray, well-known actor, play the drama
tized scenes and commentary.
"Here is Tomorrow" shows how men and women working together as neighbors have
built a "peoples' business" owning streamlined grocery stores and warehouses, feed and
seed mills, hatcheries and fertilizer factories, insurance businesses, service stations, refineries,
pipelines and oil wells. The picture is not a travelog but a moving testament to the ability
of people to help themselvesa sample of the future.
"Here is Tomorrow" is a 27-minute movie; prints are available for rental or purchase
on life-time lease in either 16mm. or 35mm. editions. Complete information may be secured
from The Cooperative League, 167 West 12th Street, New York City.

DIVISIONS:

Name
Southeastern Cooperative League
Publication
Address
St. Paul, Minn.
New Age Living
Cooperative Builder
Superior, Wisconsin
N. Kansas City, Mo.
Amarillo, Texas
27 Coenties Slip, N.Y.C ~ Readers ObserverConsumers Defender
116 E. 16 St., N. Y.
The Recreation Kit
Delaware, Ohio
Ohio Cooperator
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Michigan Farm News
Lansing, Michigan
St. Paul, Minn.
Grange Cooperative New.s
Seattle, Washington
Hoosier Farmer
Indianapolis, Ind.
Midland Cooperator
Minneapolis, Minn.
Chicago, 111.
Berkeley, Calif.
Walla Walla, Wash.
Pacific N.W. Cooperatoi
Penn. Co-op Review
Harrisburg, Penn.
Carrollton, Georgia
Indianapolis, Ind.
227 E. 84th St., N. Y.
FRATERNAL MEMBERS
Madison, Wisconsin
The Bridge
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
OFFICIAL NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CONSUMERS1 COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT

Volume XXVII. No. 12
DECEMBER, 1941
Ten Cents
THE STAR LEADS ON

The Biblical story of the three wise men who were led by a star ends their
journey with the star coming to rest over Bethlehem.
But the star has never rested long. Through centuries, it has led men on in
their search for the kinds of social organization which would put the principles
of brotherhood into practice. It led on to England, where the first Consumers'
Cooperative Society was organized on December 21st, 1844, ninety-seven years
ago. It led on to Germany, where the first Cooperative Credit Union was organ
ized in 1850. It led on to Denmark, where farmers organized the first cooperative
creamery in 1882, from which grew the Farmers Cooperative Marketing Move
ment. It led on to England, where the Tolpuddle Martyrs organized the first
Labor Union.
Happy, indeed, should be every neighborhood in America where the star has
led the people to organize a Cooperative Society. It may be small today; it may
be dim as yet compared with its large and brilliant competitors; but it glows
with the light of love and faith for those who have vision and understanding of
the potentialities of Cooperation.
Saturday night, December 20th, should be celebrated as Rochdale Eve. On
that night, there should be cooperative dramas with acts picturing the Rochdale
Pioneers at work filling the shelves of their small store on Toad Lane in prepara
tion for the momentous event of the morrow, and other acts showing their pre
ceding efforts in raising capital and the subsequent worldwide success of the idea
of a Brotherhood of Consumers, which they put into practice. Appropriate songs
should be sung by all, such as "Follow the Gleam" and "That Cause can Neither
An oigan to spread the knowledge of the Consumers' Cooperative Movement, whereby the
E. R. Bowen, Editor, Wallace J. Campbell. Associate Editor. Contributing Editors: Editors of
be Lost nor Stayed"; young and old should make merry in folk dancing; CO-OP
brand coffee and cakes should be served.
Let's celebrate the Birthday of Brotherhood in Business! The ninety-seventh
Birthday of Consumers Cooperation"The Plow Guided by a Star."
Guest Editorial
THE FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZATION
Louis J. Taber
Retiring Master,
National Grange
(We are happy to reproduce herewith as a guest editorial the section on

Cooperation in the address of Louis J. Taber, retiring master of the National
Grange, delivered before their Diamond Jubilee Session on November 12, 1941.
In this statement, Mr. Taber emphasized two of the most important reasons for
the development of a cooperative economy: first, that civilization rests upon selfkelp rather than state help; and second, that organized farmers can deal directly
with organized labor and arrive at a meeting of minds as cannot be done when
corporations deal u'ith labor.)
ill
eam work and self-help are the foundation of civilization. It has not been
what governments have done for, or given to, their citizens, that has been oj
lasting value. It is what the people have done for themselves that counts.
Cooperation is but giving to those who use it, the same advantages and machinery
that corporations give to stockholders. Cooperation, however, adds to direct per
sonal ownership and control and can be to business what democracy is to govern
ment. It can take out the arbitrary, cold, and materialistic, and can bring the
warmth of human personality into business and into life.
Cooperation should become our yardstick in measuring the cost and quality
of goods and service. It can help prevent mass production and chain distribution
from stamping out little business. This is one agency that can prevent the danger
of monopolistic practices by Business as well as Labor. Organized farmers, man
aging their own affairs, can deal with organized Labor in an entirely different
manner than can the corporation stockholders, through hired management. Here,
organization meets organization. Here the farmer who works with his own hands,
can meet organized Labor that performs essential service. This meeting of minds
leads to understanding fairness and justice in the end. If possible, a still
greater challenge for service faces the cooperative movement. There is danger
that Big Government may, like Big Business or Big Labor, exert undue influence.
A - corporation is more helpless than a cooperative. Here, individual fighting
farmers can prevent bureaucracy, unfair legislation, unwise business practice, or
Labor from exerting undue pressure.
Almost half of our farm population hold membership in marketing, pur
chasing agencies, or mutual insurance activities. The total volume of this business
runs well into the billions of dollars. Cooperation, if honest and efficient, will
injure no group and will help all. It is not a panacea. No one would want to live
in a cooperative state where all private enterprise was stifled; where everyone
had to be a cooperator. But all should be happy to live in a nation where coopera
tion becomes a new David saying to the Goliath of mechanized, modernized
America, "We have come to the turn in the road. Small business, family-sized
agriculture, and home owners of this Nation will preserve their stake in the
blessings of American life!"
226
GO INTO GROCERIES FASTER!
N an interview with the late Sir Wil

are made in lower prices on highly ad
liam Dudley, former President of the vertised commoditiesbesides the assur
ance of known quality under government
Cooperative Wholesale Society of Eng
land, he asked this question: "Why do and cooperative grading.
The interest of the entire family can
you, in America, feed cows' stomachs co
only be built around a commodity like
operatively and tractors' stomachs coopera
tively, and not feed your own stomachs groceries, which everyone personally con
cooperatively?" Our answer was that feed sumes. When everyone in the family
and fertilizer and petroleum products father, mother and children get into
were simple and bulky commodities and the habit of going into a cooperative gro
cery store and buying regularly, they all
had a wide margin, and that we were us
ing them as stepping stones to build a naturally become interested in the larger
meaning of Cooperation and in the edufoundation for going into co-op gro
ceries. "I see," he said. "You are on the "cational and recreational activities which
right track. But when are you going into are developed among the membership.
The great danger in a democracy today
groceries faster ?"
It was seven years ago when he asked is the misunderstandings which have
that question. Today we could answer grown up between organized farmer and
question "When?" byy saving
his
y * worker groups. Unless farmers arid work
"NOW."
ers can be brought together on common
For the American Cooperative Move ground, there is reason to fear for the
preservation of democracy. When men
ment is becoming grocery conscious.
who work on the farm or in the factory
Why Go Into Groceries
have no common economic relationship,
they can be divided and conquered by
There are, at least, four principal rea
sons for going into groceries faster: the dictatorship. The one common economic
savings to be made, the enlisting of the ground on which they can unite is their
entire family, the uniting of farmers and interest as consumers. That is why Con
workers, the fact that groceries are the sumers' Cooperatives are the common de
primary key to building a cooperative nominator of producer groups. The prin
ciple of open membership and the
world.
Cooperatives have now proven, from handling of commodities like groceries
the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, that which everyone uses, makes of a coopera
they can save 5% or more by retailing tive a common meeting place of farmers
and workers and will unite them to pre
and wholesaling groceries. We have be
fore us a list of patrons of an established serve and extend democracy.
cooperative grocery store. Their patronage
The reason why groceries are the pri
dividends for the past five years averaged mary key to the building of a cooperative
over $100 each, or more than $20 per is because the volume of grocery pur
year. What family would not like to chases far overshadows the purchase of
receive a $5 bill each quarter, or a $10 any other commodity. CO-OP labeled
bill every six months, or a $20 bill every cans of food products are the primary
year as a return on their purchases ? While means by which a cooperative world can
these amounts may be larger than can be built.
be expected in the early stages of start
ing a cooperative, they are an example How Go Into Groceries
of what is being done now by older co
We have not only learned why we
operatives. But patronage returns are not should go into groceries, but how to do
the only savings that are made by buying it in the best way. There are four steps
groceries in a cooperativeother savings which are usually taken, and which if
December, 1941
227
followed through wisely insure success.

They are: first, the organization of a study
circle; next, a buying club; then, a Co-op
store; and, finally, a Co-op Food Market.
It takes more than emotion arid en
thusiasm to build a cooperative grocery
store. In the past, the people have de
faulted on their responsibility of owning
and operating their own businesses. It
takes hard study to learn to do so suc
cessfully. The best way to start learning
is to organize a small study circle of
friends and neighbors, and then from the
first to organize others. Cooperative litera
ture is now available in abundance. Study
outlines are issued regularly.
From learning by study, the next step
is learning by doing. The simplest way
to start business operations is by evolv
ing the study circle into a buying club.
Packaged goods can be bought in case
lots from co-op arid private wholesales.
Distribution is usually made from a mem
ber's home or garage, or some other con
venient meeting place. Since much of the
work is done voluntarily, the savings are
often large in percentage. However, only
small patronage dividends should be
paid, if any, and the balance credited to
each patron toward the purchase of
shares.
In time the co-op membership will
grow larger, the inconvenience of han
dling purchases without convenient fa
cilities will become greater, until at
length the group will incorporate and
take the third step by opening a Co-op
store. This will usually be in a low-rent
location, and the store may be open only
part-time in the beginning. However, the
building chosen should be such as to
make possible the installation of selfservice equipment in the beginning, in
order not to be handicapped by an ex
cessive payroll. Generally, because of the
scattered membership, it is necessary to
provide for delivery service. Again the
membership will grow, the store will be
found too small, and the fourth step
will be reached.
In the end, to meet competition and to
serve the membership the most economi228
cally, the time will arrive to develop into

a self-service, cash and carry Co-op Food
Market. Then, in time, other neighbor
hood Co-ops will start as branches or
separately, if the town is large enough
to require more than one location.
handles a volume of over $2,000,000

yearly is the outstanding proof of what
can be done in the handling of groceries
cooperatively.
There are also now many indications
that the membership of other cooperative
wholesales are becoming actively inter
ested in going into groceries, and pro
gress ahead in this field of cooperation
is likely to be rapid. We have learned
These steps are no longer theoretical

in the United States, but proven out by
experience.
Progress of Co-op Groceries
Central Cooperative Wholesale of Su

perior, Wisconsin, first demonstrated that
the handling of groceries cooperatively
can be made a success. They are now pre
paring to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
However, the fact that the membership
in the beginning was largely of one ra
cial group apparently led others to hesi
tate in going into the handling of more
complicated products like groceries, and
to begin with more simple products like
feed and fertilizer and petroleum prod
ucts.
Eventually, however, after developing
strongly in petroleum products, Consum
ers Cooperative Association of North
Kansas City, Missouri, and Midland Co
operative Wholesale of Minneapolis,
Minnesota, opened grocery departments.
The membership of these three whole
sales consists principally of farmers. City
residents began to think of themselves
as consumers and of cooperative organ
ization in the early depression years of
the thirties. A few racial groups had
proven in the cities that cooperative gro
cery stores could be made a success if
people would stick together; but the
ordinary American-born citizen had been
too individualistic. Poverty and unem
ployment on a vast scale finally woke him
up. During the past few years, probably
500 cooperative clubs have been started,
many of which have evolved into stores
and some into food markets. Two whole
sales have developed to serve them
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale of Brook
lyn and Central States Cooperatives of
Chicago. The phenomenal growth of
Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, until it
that there are no insurmountable diffi

culties in handling groceriesplus the
fact that they are the commodity around
which people naturally group themselves
first.
Lastly, prorations are quite certain in
most commodities except groceries which
makes it all the more advisable to build
a grocery volume to replace reductions
in other lines.
The Possibilities in Co-op Groceries Illustrated By

Eastern Cooperative Wholesale, Brooklyn, N. Y.
VOLUME
Increases average
around 40% per year
</1941$2,000,000
Est.
^s^
1940$1,559,000
1939$1,071,000
8$717,000
7$533,000
$300,000 at beginning and end of 7
years (1929-36) as brokerage wholesale
December, 1941
229
HOW BALANCE PRICES AND INCOME

TO PREVENT INFLATION AND DEFLATION
E. R. Bowen
HE most important immediate eco

nomic problems which America faces
as a nation have to do with preventing
inflation and deflation. This can only be
done by balancing prices and income.
A simple statement of the situation is
this: There are two factors tending to
ward inflation: first, the increase in in
come and second, a decrease in the goods
that can be purchased. More money and
less goods mean higher prices. There are
two factors which tend toward deflation:
first, taxation and second, savings. Both
reduce the amount of income that can be
spent, and thus prevent higher prices or
lower them. Every cooperator should think
his way through to a clear understanding
of these problems and to a decision as to
what action should be taken.
Repeated booms and busts, such as oc
curred in 1920 and 1929, will if con
tinued inevitably lead to revolution and
dictatorship. Another inflation period is
already under way which, if not stopped,
may result in both economic and political
disaster for America when the time for
deflation arrives. No American should be
blind to the certainty of deflation follow
ing inflationwe have had two violent
examples during the last twenty years
and should learn from such experiences.
TOTAL INCOME
TOTAL PRICE
230
Furthermore, logical thinking can reach

no other conclusionwe are in for an
other bust if we do not prevent a price
boom.
Three Keys to our Troubles
The University of Chicago has just
celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with
the assembling of a "learned" Congress.
The internationally known economic au
thorities who spoke at this Congress were
specific in making these three declara
tions:
First, that economic freedom and po
litical democracy have disappeared in
some countries because of their failure
to solve the problem of unemployment.
Second, that their failure to solve the
problem of unemployment was because
those who owned goods refused to sell
them at prices which those who could
consume them could pay.
Third, that economic stability cannot
be achieved until a system is worked out
where income will equalize outgo, or
price.
Unfortunately, the economists left the
problem unsolved after making this
analysis, without answering the question
of how to do it. We Americans must
work out a system which will answer the
problems of unemployment, poverty and
tenancy lest we also lose democracy in
Price of Defense
Goods
Must
Equal
Price of Civilian
Goods which
can be bought
Must
Equal
Taxation
Corporation Taxes
Payroll Taxes
Sales Taxes
Personal Income Taxes
Borrowing
Personal Savings
Restricted Credit to
Consumers
Cash Income of Consumers
America. Naturally, there will need to be

two answers: the first, emergency relief
measures; and the second, permanent
remedies.
third, the profit on both. This profit is

included in the price, but should be
considered separately it is in reality
profit on price.
Emergency Relief Measures
Less of the income of the people will

have to be "soaked up" by the govern
ment if prices can be controlled by gov
ernment regulation. However, we do not
have too much faith in the government be
ing able to effectively control prices direct
ly. The four powerful producer economic
groupsfinance, industry, agriculture and
laborwho continually battle among
themselves in a producer-bound econ
omy over the distribution of scarcity,
cannot be effectively controlled by a
democratic political government. Each
producer group insists that the others be
controlled, but not themselves. Further
more, democracy presupposes independ
ence of the government and the economic
system to a large degree. Effective govern
ment control of prices can only be done
by domination.
The charts on the previous page show

the economic factors involved and will
help to explain in general what will have
to be done if temporary economic stabil
ity is achieved and the extremes of in
flation and deflation are prevented.
The problem we face is this: // infla
tion and deflation are to be prevented,
then the net cash income of consumers
fins credit to consumers must be no
greater than the normal price of the
(iinlian goods that are available. This
means that an amount equal to the price
of defense goods, must be taken by Uncle
Sam in some manner and used to pay for
defense goods. It cannot be left in the
hands of the people to spend. For if net
cash income and credit to consumers rise,
then the price of civilian products will
also rise in proportion to absorb the in
creased income.
Emergency relief requires some meas
ure of control of both prices and incomes
by the government, since the present sys
tem is not self-controlling to prevent
inflation and deflation but, instead, ag
gravates it. Even in normal times, the
competitive-profit system is unable to bal
ance total price and income because of the
accumulation of excess savings in the
hands of a few. These normal difficul
ties, which themselves bring on periodic
depressions, are greatly exaggerated in
converting a large part of civilian produc
tion over to defense production and reduc
ing the amount of civilian goods available,
while paying out huge sums to workers
for the production of defense goods which
they themselves do not purchase with the
income they receive.
The Control of Prices
The total price is made up of three

factors: first, the price of civilian goods;
second, the price of defense goods; and
December, 1941
The Control of Income
The most direct way to prevent price

inflation is for consumers not to have any
more cash and credit to spend than the
normal price of the civilian goods avail
able. Any additional income which they
receive will have to be taken from them
by the government in one or both of
two ways: either taxed away or bor
rowed away.
There are at least four kinds of taxa
tion which can be adopted by the gov
ernment:
The first is corporation income taxes.
This has been proposed by Secretary of
the Treasury Morgenthau, and has im
mediately brought violent opposition
from finance and industry. When such
taxation is adopted, it serves to prevent
so much income going into the hands of
stockholders individually for them to
consume or save. Since in this way the
small shareholder is taxed at equally the
same rate as the large shareholder, there
would be a greater measure of justice in
231
distributing the profits from the corpora

tion to the shareholders, and then taxing
them individually in proportion to their
ability to pay. However, taxes are as
sessed on corporation profits before be
ing 'distributed, for convenience in col
lection and as a practical political matter.
The second kind of taxation is that of
payroll taxes. These taxes, like those on
corporation incomes, take income away
from the people before they get it. The
great difference between the two is that
corporation shareholders are usually
wealthy, while employees of corporations
are usually poor. Payroll taxes are or
dinarily assessed in order to take from
those who have employment and dis
tribute to those who have not, through
unemployment insurance, old age pen
sions, etc. However, the proposal now is
to use payroll taxes as a means of taking
away more than is needed for such social
insurances, or in other words, to use this
form of taxation as a means of forced
savings and thereby reduce the total net
income available for immediate spending.
The third type of taxation which gov
ernments resort to in order to reduce to
tal net income is that of sales taxes. These
taxes take income away from the people
after they receive it, but immediately
when they begin spending it. Such taxes
bear jar more heavily on the poor than
on the rich in proportion to their in
comes and are, accordingly, inequitable.
However, they are easily collectible and
are assessed because of that reason and
also because governments generally are
controlled by the wealthy and not by the
poor.
The fourth type of taxation is that of
personal income taxes. These are, un
questionably, the most equitable of all.
The tendency, however, is to lower the
tax exemption and thus penalize the
small income receiver. The true basis of
taxation ought to be the amount of in
come left over after taxes are paid. Such
taxes should be heavily graduated up
ward, while those who receive minimum
subsistence incomes should be exempted.
232
We have indicated the four major types

of taxation which a government can
adopt to reduce the net incomes of the
people to whatever level is necessary to
equal the normal price of the civilian
products available for consumption, and
their comparative degree of equity.
However, it is a habit of governments
to postpone the evil day of collecting suf
ficient taxes to pay as they go and to bor
row a part of the income of the people
away from them instead. Such savings
are accumulated by patriotic appeals, and
by resort to methods of public disfavor
for those who do not voluntarily pur
chase savings stamps or bonds.
When a government does not tax
away or borrow away a sufficient amount
of the income of the people to pay for
its expenses and for its war purchases,
then it must resort to borrowing from
the banks, and thereby directly encour
ages the process of inflation. For bank
borrowings increase the amount of money
available to spend, rather than reduce it.
// we were wiser, we would be willing
to be taxed to whatever degree is neces
sary to pay as we go. In the end, we must
pay anyhow. In fact, we can only consume
whatever civilian goods we produce dur
ing a year, and it would be far better to
only have to pay normal prices for them
rather than to pay inflated prices, because
of the fact that we have more money to
spend. If taxation is assessed on a just
basis, it would be far better to pay what
ever excess incomes we receive to the
government, rather than to pay them out
in increased prices for goods. When we
pay as we go, there's no hangover of
deflation to face afterwards.
The Control of Credit
Credit is also a form of income, and

must be controlled as well if total price
and income are to balance. This is the
reason for the government attempting to
take action to reduce the amount of
consumer credit by requiring a larger
down payment and shorter terms. ConConsumers' Cooperation
sumer credit has already boomed, until it

is the highest in America's history, hav
ing reached a total of nine billion, one
hundred million dollars. While a certain
amount of credit is required in order to
spread payments for homes and other
producer goods over a number of months
and years, a large amount of the credit
now extended for consumer goods is due
to the inability of the competitive-profit
system to distribute to all consumers an
equitable share of the total national
income.
Emergency measures to relieve the re
sults of the disparities between price arid
income caused by the competitive-profit
system, however, should not overshadow
the necessity of building a cooperative
economy to permanently remedy the
causes.
The Permanent Remedy
The further development of the Con

sumers' Cooperative Movement is the
permanent remedy for the lack of bal
ance between total income and total
pricefor the prevention of inflation and
deflation. Investments in cooperative
shares and savings are the most effective
way to prevent inflation and defla
tion. The regulation of an economic
system should not be a function of a
political government. An economic sys
tem should be self-regulating. It should
provide for a constant increase in the pro
duction of civilian goods and for their
equitable distribution to all consumers.
This will be done when the Consumers'
Cooperative Movement expands sufficient
ly to become the common denominator
for all producer groups; when we build
a consumer-producer-cooperative economy
in place of our present competitive-profit
economy; when consumers cooperatives
expand sufficiently in America to become
the yardstick of private-profit business.
First of all, the Consumers' Coopera
tive Movement will eliminate profit on
price. There will be no excess savings
flowing into the hands of a few and
becoming stagnant, which dams up the
stream of purchasing and production and
December, 1941
causes periodic depressions even in nor

mal times. Any amount charged in excess
of actual cost of production and distribu
tion will be returned to consumers in pro
portion to their purchases and thus lower
the price to actual cost.
In the second place, Consumers' Co
operatives follow the policy of cash trad
ing. They automatically restrict credit
to its legitimate uses for the purchase of
producer goods and for emergency re
quirements. Accordingly, there is no ex
cess expansion of credit which induces a
boom and no sudden contraction of credit
which produces a bust.
Thirdly, in the long run, the develop
ment of the Consumers' Cooperative
Movement will remove the economic
causes of war inherent in the competitiveprofit system, and thus eliminate the
necessity of the government taking in
come from the people to pay for war
goods, as none will be needed. Trade
will be free between all countries, as no
one will attempt to profit from another.
Each nation will produce what its natural
resources and the skills which the people
have developed make most economical,
and trade such products freely without
profit for goods produced in other coun
tries.
Consumers' Cooperation is the perma
nent remedy for balancing price and in
comefor a nation as a whole and for
each individual. Consumers' Cooperation
is the permanent remedy for inflation and
deflation. We should turn to this perma
nent remedy and build cooperatives
stronger and faster in America.
As Congressman Voorhis declared in a
recent radio address:
"The only reason we must use this remedy
is because the people have not organized to
protect themselves. If even 25 per cent of
our American people were tonight organized
into cooperatives, as more than a million of
our families are now organized, we would
not need Government control of prices. Con
sumer cooperatives could do a better job of
it as they have proven in other nations and
in some cases in our own. And I pray God
some day they will be strong enough to do
this job without the necessity of govern
mental action."
233
What Stand Should the Consumers'

Cooperative Movement Take on
Emergency Control Legislation?
The Directors of The Cooperative

League and National Cooperatives,
through their joint legislative committee,
are faced with the problem of what
stand the Consumers' Cooperative Move
ment should take, if any, on the ques
tions of the attempts by the national
government to control price and income
as an emergency measure, in the various
ways outlined briefly in the foregoing.
Have we arrived at the place where the
organized Consumers' Cooperative Move
ment should speak up for consumers in
general? Granted that our numbers are
less than a majority, do we not have an
obligation to speak for all consumers,

since we are the only effective economic
organization of consumers ? As a minority,
are we or are we not strong enough to
speak up for consumers in general on
national legislation affecting all consum
ers, and if so, what should be our atti
tude on the various emergency measures
now being attempted arid under consid
eration ?
We are sure that the national Directors
individually will appreciate your discuss
ing these matters with them in advance of
their next quarterly meeting, when they
will again be considered, and we will
also present to them any communications
we may receive on this most important
subject.
OHIO OFFERS COMPLETE

COOPERATIVE INVESTMENT PROGRAM
E. K. Augustus, Manager
Farm Bureau Agricultural Credit Corporation
HE Ohio Farm Bureau has recently

made available a short-term "Invest
ment Certificate," which bears both a
definite maturity date and a stated inter
est income. These certificates are issued
by the Farm Bureau Agricultural Credit
Corporation. This ad'ded investment serv
ice provides a complete investment pro
gram for Ohio cooperators whereby all
of their savings may now be invested
in an acceptable and practical manner in
their own cooperative projects and thus
be kept constantly working to their own
interests and benefits.
Three Ways to Save Cooperatively
There are three principal methods

whereby an individual accumulates and
invests savings. They may be accumu
lated and left on deposit or invested in
the usual savings account; they may be
used for the purchase of the stocks and
bonds of commercial and business or234
ganizations; or they may be accumulated

to the individual's credit in the financial
reserves of insurance companies. The
plan, or plans, followed by any particular
individual varies with the interest rate
or dividend income received, the amount
available for investment, the apparent
safety of the investment, and the avail
ability of the money when needed if for
any unforeseen reason it is needed
quickly. Many individuals having com
paratively large amounts available for in
vestment use all three methods in order
to diversify their risk. Those with smaller
amounts available usually keep their sav
ings invested in such a manner that they
can be quickly "cashed in" if and when
necessary. It is for these reasons that a
complete investment program is both
desirable and advantageous.
The Ohio Farm Bureau has its own
insurance companiesauto, fire and life
and it has for several years been posConsumers' Cooperation
sible for the Ohio cooperator to accumu

late his savings in these, his own mutual
insurance companies. Likewise, it has
been possible for him to invest both
in the common and preferred stock of his
own business organizations, namely, the
Farm Bureau Corporation, the Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association and the
local County Cooperative Associations.
It has not before been possible, how
ever, for him to invest any portion of his
vings in short-term, quickly maturing
cooperative investments. Few Coopera
tives to date have provided any such plan
or service whereby either the investor of
large or small amounts can invest it so
that it will be available on a short-term
basis and at an established future date.
The "Investment Certificates" of the
Farm Bureau Agricultural Credit Cor
poration now provide this opportunity to
Ohio cooperators, and thus makes avail
able a complete investment program.
Building Toward Financial
Independence
Such a complete program is required
of cooperatives if they are to build to
ward financial independence, and if the
individual cooperators are to be able to
so invest all of their savings that they
can maintain the control of their money,
and thus keep it working to their own
advantage. Savings carried on deposit in
financial institutions over which the invester has no control are used and re
invested at the will and desire of the
controlling interest of the financial or
ganizations, and the individual relin
quishes control immediately upon making
the deposit.
Savings invested in the stocks and
bonds of independently owned business
organizations and corporations are con
trolled by the holders of the common
stock, and the majority vote of this stock
is usually retained by a comparatively
small group and not by all of the in
vestors on a cooperative "one man, one
vote" basis. The control of the use of
December, 1941
money so invested is relinquished when

the stocks are purchased. Savings accumu
lated in the financial reserves of insur
ance companies are reinvested at the will
and desire of the controlling interest of
the company. This control is retained
when you have your own organization
insurance companies, but relinquished
when you insure with those companies
in which you can not and do not have
any contact or control.
The Long View on Short
Term Investments
The "Investment Certificates" being
issued by the Farm Bureau Agricultural
Credit Corporation bear maturity dates
of one year or more, and are available
in amounts of $50 or multiples thereof.
The interest or dividend paid varies both
with the amount and the maturity period
of the certificate. The Credit Corporation
is in a position to use these short-term
investments, since it makes loans to far
mers for current operating expenses and
to assist insurance policyholders in fi
nancing new car purchases. These are
short-term loans with maturity dates simi-
A Ray of Hope
235
lar to those of the Investment Certificates.

The money obtained through the sale of
certificates will be used to replace money
now being borrowed from outside finan
cial institutions at an interest rate com
parable to that of the certificates. There
is nothing new about the procedure, ex
cept that the cooperator may now invest
his money not previously available for
investment in cooperative projects in these
short-term certificates on a basis which
is acceptable and profitable, and the in-
terest now being paid to outside financial

organizations will be paid to the cooperators making the investment.
The announcement of this service and
a complete investment program of the
Ohio Farm Bureau is of significant im
portance. It completes a desirable finan
cial and investment set-up, and makes it
possible for the Ohio Farm Bureau and
its affiliated organizations to become
more financially independent. A worth
while goal of any cooperative.
John Carson
ASHINGTON, D. C"Little by
little and much by much," to quote
a Jeffersonian phrase, the advance of
stateism is recorded day by day. In it
sweeps. In flows the tide as the forces of
selfish individual profit capitalism, the
economy of force, creates the economic
pulse of the world.
This week, the tide turned to trans
portation. Perhaps it was not this week.
In fact, it was not this yearit was of
the long, long ago when some very sin
cere leaders of thought contended it was
possible for a political agency of gov
ernment to "regulate" the railroads.
Owners of more than 5,000,000 trucks
and buses are now being asked to re
spond to a questionnaire from the gov
ernment's defense group. When this
questionnaire is completed, the govern
ment will have, or this government agen
cy hopes to have, information concern
ing the location of every truck and bus
in the country, the capacity, and the avail
ability of the vehicle for government use.
Then it is proposed to classify these ve
hicles, to group them, and to place them
under the protecting wing of "regional
transportation clearing houses."
Then, the dangerous implications begin
liiii
236
to creep into the programand for the

purpose of this report the question of
the need or the advisability of this effort
is not presented. Even the most confirmed
opponents of stateism will admit there
may be reasonin a war situationto
provide for such regimentation.
It is now discussed and offered as a
plan to have these regional clearing agen
cies become something of a central au
thority "for shippers" and the word
"for" is emphasized. It is undoubtedly
true that most of the government officials
involved in this effort are not friendly to
stateism, or fascism. They think in terms
of doing things "for" someone. These
central authorities would attempt to make
for "efficient use" of the vehicles, for
"efficient routing" of traffic, for the elim
ination of empty hauls. It is awe-inspiring
to think through on this program, par
ticularly on "the elimination of empty
hauls."
In the Transportation Act of 1940,
Congress created a temporary "transpor
tation agency" which was to study the
transportation problem and report on the
services the various agencies of transpor
tationrailroads, water carriers, motor
carriers, air carriersshould render and
be permitted to render. This agency is at

work. It has an impossible task. One of
the ablest men in the country refused to
be considered for a place on this agency
because he said he "could not assume to
do a job which was impossible of accom
plishment within any reasonable time
limit," and that best describes the atti
tude of the most conscientious men to
wards this work.
The problem is so tremendous, it
would seem insoluble. Just a brief horse
back discussion was inspired by the ques
tion one authority presented in a little
forum recently when he said, "All right,
we may agree that regulation by govern
ment has failed as all attempts to create a
profit motive arid then regulate out a
profit motive must fail. But suppose we
provide for public ownership of the rail
roads. Then should we provide also for
public ownership of the water carriers?
And if you say we should, I ask then if
we should provide for public ownership
of the motor truck lines ? And if you say
we should, I ask if we should provide for
public ownership of all trucks, even the
little trucks the farmer owns and uses?
And if you say we should not, then I ask
what we should do about a group of
farmers who combine to use one or two
or more trucks ?"
The forum developed into a bedlam
with talk about regulation only of "pub
lic carriers," and then argument about
competition of cooperatively owned car
riers with publicly owned carriers, and
so on, ad infinitum.
Meanwhile, undoubtedly with good
reason, and perhaps entirely under the
compulsion of an existing condition, gov
ernment agencies move on, little by little
and much by much, to get control of the
agencies of transportation.
in this instance stateism closely wedded

to private socialism or monopoly in own
ership of oil natural resourcesmoves on.
The Connolly "hot oil" law is born
in hypocrisy, although Connolly may
have no realization of wherein its hypo
critical aspects lie. The law provides that
any oil which is produced in violation
of a state oil production control law can
not be shipped across a state line without
violating the federal "hot oil" law. "Hot
oil" is oil produced in violation of some
law, "bootleg oil," and just about as diffi
cult to handle as was bootleg liquor. If
an oil producer in Oklahoma should be
told by the state that he could produce
only 1,000 barrels of oil a day and he
produced 1,100, the extra 100 barrels
would become potential "hot oil."
The hypocrisy in this lawas well as
in the state production control laws
is the affirmation, solemnly made by leg
islators and state and national officials,
that the laws must not be used to affect
prices of oil. State and federal officials
like to refer to these laws as "conserva
tion" laws. The obvious fact is that these
laws can have and must have one effect,
if not purpose, and that is to regulate
price. If there is any reasoning to justify
a contrary opinion, it has not yet been
disclosed in Washington. Through these
laws, the states and the federal govern
ment attempt to control as effectively as
possible the law of supply and demand,
to provide for enough scarcity so as to
maintain a price.
Connolly wants to make this law perma
nent law, and Secretary of the Interior
Harold L. Ickes agrees with him. State
ism marches on.
"1
We wish you a
VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
Senator Tom Connolly of Texas,

whose name is attached to the Connolly
"hot-oil" law, proposes to make this law
permanent. The march of stateismand
December, 1941
and n
COOPERATIVE NEW YEAR
237
RECREATION
Ellen Edwards
"CORMER students of the National Co*- operative Recreation School and the
Eastern Cooperative Recreation School
held a reunion at Camp Arcola, Norristown, Pennsylvania, the week-end of No
vember 8-9. Forty-five students and
friends attended the get-together and
spent the two days singing, playing
games and folk dancing with occasional
"time out" for discussion and exchange of
experiences.
*
*
*
kitchen and a cloak room. General recrea

tion programs of singing, dramatics,
games, crafts, and folk dancing are held
twice a week, from 8 to 11; a leadership
training class meets once a week; and
an advanced folk dance group twice a
month. The members have built benches
and are now in the process of decorating
their "home." It is hoped that the studio
will become a full time recreation center,
with activities every night. Expenses are
shared by those participating in the pro
gram. Membership is 50c. a year.
The November-December issue of

Sociology and Social Research contains
an article on "Social Values in Coopera
tive Recreation" by David Crosby, gradu
ate student, University of Southern Cali
fornia. Mr. Crosby states, "The values
concomitant to cooperative recreation are
found in the promotion of (1) group
awareness, group thinking, and group
action; (2) creativeness; (3) organized
personality and (4) interesting youth in
cooperation." He develops each of these
points and draws the conclusion: "Recrea
tion is essentially a part of cooperative
education, and as such it offers definite
values to both individual cooperative
members and to society at large. Coop
eratives are successfully adopting recrea
tion as a program for its own sake, but
its role is primarily educational. And this
seems to be cooperative recreation's ma
jor contribution, for education through
recreation is compatible with social laws,
and produces personalities that function
in behalf of such values as mutual aid,
social justice, and peaceful evolution of
society."
*
*
*
To help persons interested in selecting

folk dance records. The Cooperative
League, with the cooperation of Frank
Harris of the Play Co-op, has prepared a
list of suitable records. These records in
clude polkas, schottisches, waltzes, sing
ing games, quadrilles and square dance
music. Groups often find records useful
when a piano or pianist is not available.
The list may be secured without charge
by writing to The Cooperative League,
167 W. 12th Street, New York.
After two years of meeting in various

schools and settlement houses, the New
York Play Co-op has taken a two-year
lease on a studio of its own. There is
dancing space for eight squares (sixtyfour people) although ten or more
squares are often on the floor at once, a
The Cooperative Recreation Service,

Delaware, Ohio, is now binding in a
flexible binder which opens flat for piano,
several of the popular kits containing
songs and dances. The "Handy Country
Dance Book," contains four Kits-
238
Plans are now under way for a week

end educational and recreational confer
ence to be held at Fond du Lac, Wiscon
sin, January 16 and 17. The program of
discussions, folk games and dances, crafts
and dramatics will be similar to the one
recently conducted at Antigo, Wiscon
sin. Nearly all of the forty-six persons
attending the Antigo conference are ac
tive in local educational and recreational
leadership.
*
*
*
"Quadrilles," ''Mountain Dances,"

'American Folk Dances" and "Mid
western Dances." "Handy Play Party
Book" contains "Play Party Games,"
Treasurers from Abroad," "Southern
Singing Games" and "Joyful Singing."
These collections are $1 each and are
available from The Cooperative League.
FAVORITE SQUARE DANCESA collec
tion of Mid-western square dances as called
by William A. Foster, Delaware, Ohio.
For the past twelve years Billy Foster has

called the figures for the annual Farmers
Week Recreation Hour and with his
orchestra is in constant demand all over
Ohio. Forty-two calls for favorite square
dances are givensome with music and
descriptions. If you're a beginner or an
"old time" square dancer you will fine1
this collection extremely useful. It is
published by Cooperative Recreation Serv
ice, Delaware, Ohio, and available through
The Cooperative League for 25 cents.
BOOK REVIEWS
COOPERATIVE PLENTY, by Rev. J. Elliot Ross,
B. Herder Book Co., 204 pages, $2.00.
(Available from The Cooperative League)
Most writers on consumers cooperatives have
been so busy pounding home the fundamental
principles and methods and recording the hislory of its progress throughout the world, that
they have had little time in their books to phi
losophize, analyze and discuss. "Cooperative
Plenty," by Father J. Elliot Ross, supplies just
lhat sound, philosophical approach to the
whole subject that few authors have attempted.
Father Ross wisely begins where others have
left off. Knowing well that there is ample liter
ature teaching and explaining the Rochdale
principles and telling the story of their success
ful application in Europe and the United States,
he prefers to examine these principles and their
achievements in the light of sound philosophy,
economy, sociology and religion.
The Cooperative Movement is fortunate to
have its principles and achievements analyzed
by one so ably equipped to do them justice.
In addition to his scholarly education as a
member of the Paulists, he has had a wide and
varied career as a writer and lecturer in social
ethics and as a member of the faculty of the
Catholic University of America, Teachers Col
lege Columbia University, and lecturer in re
ligion at the Universities of Iowa and Illinois.
He is well know for such essays as "Consumer
and Wage Earners," "The Right To Work,"
"Christian Ethics," "Sanctity and Social Ser
vice" and numerous other authoritative writ
ings. But best of all, his career has spanned
the period of the greatest development of co
operatives in Europe and the United States.
Now retired, he writes this volume as a re
sult of reflections and observations on the so
cial and economic problems of the period in
which he has lived.
In his preface, Father Ross gives credit to
Mr. F. P. Kenkel, K.S.G., for inspiring this
December, 1941
book. "Indeed," he says, "the book would

never have been written if Mr. Kenkel's chron
icling of the accomplishments of cooperatives
had not led me to consider what cooperatives
might accomplish if they ever became dom
inant."
With this as its theme, Father Ross' conclu
sions will give heart to all those who are
struggling by peaceful and evolutionary means
instead of sudden, violent, and destructive
revolutionary methods to cure the widespread
evils of our present economic system.
In the author's opinion the chief evil of the
present system is that it is an economy predi
cated on scarcity which has failed to balance
production and consumption, eliminate unem
ployment, and abolish the social causes of pov
erty. The author reviews the failure of legisla
tion to cure these economic ills inherent in the
present system; he convincingly points out
the failure of totalitarian, socialistic or com
munistic attempts at the solution of the prob
lem. He finds the real solution in an economy
such as cooperatives, based on plenty. He
points out that the Rochdale principles are
fully competent to correct the most flagrant
abuses of the profit system, and while making
the best use of the good elements of capital
ismsuch as its power machinery, mass pro
duction, and provision fot scientific research
bring about a distribution of commodities and
services that will give enough to each one.
In the opinion of this reviewer, Father Ross
has written most brilliantly on the relation of
the Consumer Cooperative Movement to de
mocracy, the state and religion. Of all con
temporaneous writers on cooperatives, he has
most fearlessly stressed the role of the con
sumer in the economy of the future and has not
been afraid to picture what would be the effect
on our civilization if cooperatives were dom
inant. The book will be welcomed particularly
by all who realize that cooperatives are more
239
than a mere economic system; by those, in other

words, who know that cooperatives have a soul
as well as a body.
G. A. MACDoNALD, S. J.
AE's LETTERS TO MINANLABAIN, The MacMillan Co. 1937. 102 pp. $2. Order from
the Cooperative League.
We have always had the feeling that no re
viewer of a book, who attempts to use his own
words, can do as good a job of interpretation as
to quote extracts from what the author him
self said. Accordingly we are reviewing AE'S
(the late George W. Russell) latest book in
his own words and giving the page numbers
from which the quotations are taken for your
convenience. We also express our appreciation
and indebtedness to a valiant cooperator, DeWitt Wyckoff, for having presented the Co
operative League Library with this book and
calling it to our attention.
From the introduction. At Janie's, afternoon
tea was his evening meal, which gave him the
hours when day reluctantly and slowly was be
ing conquered by night to wander under the
ever-changing sky. Page 10.
A description of A.E. There was a tall man
with a sweeping brown beard whose heavy
overcoat looked as though it had been put on
with a shovel. 14.
"I do not subscribe to a press agency. I
think it would only increase egomania. Either
praise or blame does it, so the less one hears
about oneself the better. 32
"I have always written to please myself. I
only wish I was more pleased with myself over
it. 36
"There is something in the air or stones or
earth which kindles the imagination. 39
"But as the writing depends on intuition and
imagination more than industry the industrious
writer has to wait while the idle psyche, or
a psyche otherwise engaged, thinks first to do its
part in the work. 40
"I could almost imagine eternal justice had
decreed that the civilians of the countries in
the Great War who approved of it were to be
visited with suffering equal to that endured
by the men in the armies. 45
"There is no news here except that our
politicians grow more insane in their eco
nomics. At present they are taxing us to give
bounties on exports to England. We live badly
to enable our eternal enemies to live cheaply
and get our bacon, eggs, butter, meat, etc.
cheaper than we can get them ourselves. And
while we heap these benefits on them we cry
out against them, and then tax imports from
England so that everything here may be dearer
and we may come more quickly to wear the
hairshirt of the self torturing ascetics. 60
"I don't think Roosevelt will make any dif
ference. I doubt if the victory of Hoover would
have made any difference. I have long got past
the idea that the heads of states except once in
240
a thousand years are really the shepherds of

millions. They are swept along by the rest
That they seem to mark in the first rank is
nothing. They have to go on or they would be
crushed so they keep in step. 62.
"I wonder why your American friends are
optimistic about its economics. I cannot see at
present any reason why things should get better
there than why they should get better in
England. In no country do the producers dis
tribute enough in wages, salaries and profits to
enable those who get them to buy back what
is produced and in every country the mechaniza
tion of industry enables fewer people to pro
duce the goods and food required by the rest,
so that unemployment becomes inevitable un
der our present economic system. 66
"When we create, says Simon Magus, we are
closest to the high gods whose attribute is to
create. Simon says we have all the powers of
the high gods in latency and by creating we
grow like them and into their being. I am ex
perimenting in his philosophy. A little too
late in life perhaps. But better luck next
life! 77
"Do you really think Ramsay MacDonald 01
Baldwin or Simon or Chamberlain have more
brains than Roosevelt or Hoover? They are all
really forceful mediocrities, i.e. people who are
intelligible and who don't say things the people
can't understand. 81
"Let the motive for action be in the action
itself and not in the event". 94
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Introductory
.' I'rimer on Consumer Co-ops. Marc Koseiiblum .................................................................. .03

' operative Economic Democracy, E. IS.
liuweii .................................................................. .05
iiy of Toad Lane, Stuart Chase ................ .03
'.i hat Is Consumers Cooperation, J. P.
Warlmsse .................................................................03
Inswers to Accusations Against Coopera
tives ........................................................................ .05
I'be Cooperative Promise of Peace and
I'lenty. B. It. Howen ...................................... .1"
[''srovery of the Consumer, Webb .............. .10
operation Between Producers and Con
sumers. Lincoln and Bowen ........................ .10
I'rimer for Consumers, Benson Y. Landis .10
Consumers Cooperation, La idler and
O'lirpbell (1940 edition) ................................ .15
'nrt Introduction to Consumers Coopera'ion. Ellis Cowling .......................................... .15
reers in Consumers Cooperation, Clar
ence 1'nilor, Coop. Edition .......................... .2i>
'imperatives, It. A. Goslin. Headline Hook .25
"lier Peoples' Money, Louis Brandeis ...... .25
' Education
''imperative Education, J. P. Warbasse ....

'îiiile for Discussion Circles, Carl Hutchirisoii ............._.........._......._.__..._._......
'.' lestious Pacing the Consumer, Benson Y.
Landis ..................................................................
ft'orkbook on Consumer Cooperatives, for
Vomlary schools. Carlton J. Siegler ......
V. lint Every Cooperator Ought to Know,
Antliony Lehner ................................................
i'n? or Collaborator. Herman Stolpe ..........
I'uurse of Study, Consumers Cooperation.
Minn. State Dept. of Education ..................
I scussion Guide on Consumers' Cooperalion. Harry Frank ..........................................
Fuiiil.imeutals of Consumer Cooperation,
V. S. Alanne (Revised. 1941) ...........'...........
''eking a New World Through Coopera
tion. Carl Hutchinson ....................................
' nsunier Cooperatives, Report of the
\EA Committee on Cooperatives ..............
ôperative Primer, E. A. Powers ..............
.10
-10
.10
.10
.10
.15
.25
.25
.25
.25
.25
.50
Organization and Management
I w to Organize a Buying Club, ECW ....

'"ganizatiou and Management of Coopera
tive Gasoline and Oil Associations with
Mmlel by-laws, U.S. Dept. of Labor ......
ilrjianization and Management of Con
sumers Cooperative Associations and
Hubs with Model by-laws, U.S. Dept.
of Labor, Revised 1941 ..................................
i -op Burial Associations ................................
Next Steps in Cooperative Organization,
Hark! Sonquist ................................................
I'rimer of Bookkeeping for'Coops, W. E.
Regli ......................................................................
Mannnl for Cooperative Directors, V. S.
Alanne ..................................................................
Manager's Manual for Co-op Food Stores
.05
.05
.la
.10
.15
-25
1-00
1.25
Medicine
I :imer of Cooperative MetHcine ....................

| 'Operative Medicine. J. P. Warbasse ........
.New nans for Medical Service ......................
Cooperative Health Associations ..................
Principles of Cooperative Medicine. Dr.
Sliadid ............................................................:-.....
.10
.15
.15
.25
-50
Doctor for The People. Dr. Sliailid, Co

op Edition (Paper) ......................................... 125
The Doctor and The Public, J. P. War
basse ...................................................................... 5.00
The Church and The Cooperatives
Cooperation and Religion, Dr. M. M. Coady
In Kusihess For Service, James Myers ....
Kagawa nd Cooperatives, Marriot ............
Consumers Cooperatives. Nat'1 CatholicWelfare Conf., Rev. Edgar Sclimeidler ..
Manual on the Church and Cooperatives,
Heusoii Landis ..................................................
Creative Pioneers, Sherwood Eddy ..............
lirntlicrlioocl Economies. Kafrawa ..................
.05
.05
.05
.05
.10
.50
1.50
Rural Il<mds to Security, Msgr. Ligutti

and Rev. Rawe .................................................. 3.00

A. F. of L. Resolution ............................
Idea Worth Hundreds of Dollars,
A. F. of L. ................................................
Organized Labor Organize as Con

sumers ...........................................
Trade Union Plus Credit Union

A. F. of L. ................................................
..........
Organized Labor and Consumer Co
operation, James Myers ......................
The Worker as a Consumer, Starr
and Norton. ILGWU ..........................
Do You Know Labor, James Myers
Per Per
Copy 100
.02 1.00
.03 2.40
0*^
1.00
.03
2.00
.15
.25
.50
Cooperative Housing
Cooperative Housing in the U.S., A. E.
Kazan ....................................................................
Organization and Management of Consum
ers Cooperative Housing Assn. with
Model By-Laws, U.S. Dept. of Labor ....
Cooperative Housing in Sweden. IHln Aim
New Homes for Old, Reed and Ogg ............
Tlie Story of Tompkinsville. Mary E.
Arnold (Cloth $1.00), Paper ..............'..........
Housing in Scandinavia, John Graham ......
.05
.10
.15
.25
.65
2.50
Legal Aspects
D. of C. Co-op Law (model state law) ........Free
LegaJ Phases of Cooperation, WPA ............Free
Abstracts of the Laws Pertaining to Co
operation. WPA ................................................Free
Consumer Cooperative Statutes and De
cisions. U.S. Dept. of Labor ........................ .20
The Law of Organization and Operation
of Cooperatives, Israel Packel .................... 5.00
Magazines
Consumers' Cooperation. Subscription, per
year (foreign and Canada $1.25) .............. 1.00
Consumers' Cooperation. Bound Volumes,
1020 to 194(1 inclusive, each year ................ 2.00
Review of International Cooperation ........ 1.75
Miscellaneous
Cooperative SticKersfor letters, 1%" x
l%" in., 50 assorted ....................................
.10
Window Signs,, ' Pine Tree Emblem,
3 in. x 3% in. ('decalconiaiiia) .....
.10
Lapel Pins (League Emblem). %" diam
eter. gold and green ........................................ .25
Buttons (League emblem). % inch diam
eter. each .05 per 100 ...................................... 2.00
Order from THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE. 167 West 12th Street, New York City
H^^M
CONSUMERS'
COOPERATION
OFFICIAL ORGAN
Of The
WE NEED FIFTY THOUSAND

ONE DOLLAR A YEAR MEN
Consumers' Cooperative Movement

in the U. S. A,
BOVE is an illustration of the stamps to be used in the Co-op Radio Fund

Drive. The first million stamps have been printed and are now available.
The stamps, postage size, green and white, are printed one hundred to a sheet
and sell for a dollar per sheet.
Each person contributing a dollar will receive a hundred stamps in return,
and it is urged that the stamps be used on all correspondence during the coming
months to tell America about cooperatives.
BUY CO-OP RADIO FUND STAMPS AND HELP PUT THE CO-OPS
ON THE "AIR."
VOLUME XXVIII
JanuaryDecember
1942
Organize a radio committee in your local co-op. See that every one has an
opportunity to tell his neighbors about cooperatives by contributing to the
radio fund.
Stamps and posters, 19" x 28", using the same design as the stamps, may be
obtained from:
NATIONAL CO-OP RADIO FUND

New York City
181
Published by The Cooperative League of U. S. A.

181

Cooperation 1941

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Cooperation 1941

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CONSUMERS'

Consumers' Cooperative Movement

Published by The Cooperative League of U. S. A.

Consumers Book Cooperative .........................................................................................................

Calkins, Gilman ..............................................................................................................................

Eastern Cooperative Recreation School ........................................................................

Farnsworth, Ruth Broan ............................................................................................................

Getting Your News AcrossHere's an Idea for ........................................................................

MacMillan, Mary ................................................................................................................................................

Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association ............................................................... 94,

Nationwide Co-op Drive ..............................................................................................................................

'"'Her' in College Co-op ................................................................................................................................... 8 5

One Day in the Life of a Cooperator ................................................................................................... 182

Rawe, Rev. John C. .............................................................................................................................. 130,

Schmiedeler, Rev. Edgar J. ..........................................................................,.............:..................... 71,

Southeastern Cooperative Education Association ......................................................... 124,

Teaching Cooperation at Pine Mountain ..........................................................................................

Voorhis, Congressman Jerry ........................................................................................................................ 130

Wallace, Henry A. .............................................................................................................................................

Youth Councils, Farm Bureau .................................................................................................................. 91

Build Cooperatives Stronger and Faster

Here's An Idea on Publicity

Circle Pines Center

Cooperative Highlights of 1940

Dorothy Kenyan and T. Warren Metzger

"THE CONGRESS ISSUE IS A MASTERPIECE

So said a prominent educator after reading the November-December Special

Mail your order to:

THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE

Medical Bureau, 1790 Broadway, N. Y. C.

Auditing Bureau, 167 West 12 St., N. Y. C.

Volume XXVII. No. I

BUILD COOPERATIVES STRONGER AND FASTER

FOLLOW THESE SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES!

Consumers' Cooperatioi January, 1941

F ever cooperative leaders received a

"You Can Lead a Horse to Water"

Learn from Others Experience

Davis Douthit, News Editor

mine whether consumer cooperation ma

A similar weakness, it is now being re

A most significant cooperative wartime

sterile controversies about local parochial

"This country," he said, "is passing

The conventions, reported the Coop

- American cooperatives have succeeded

generated on a wide scale where margins

ought to drown their professional jeal

Most People Still Remain Folks

It might help, too, to point out that if

The Sales Management survey, which

Warns Against Wreck of Whole Train

tion, do not in themselves, of course, spell

gional and national unity in these unpre

HERE'S AN IDEAON PUBLICITY

WICE within the week I've heard

does the same thing, not as a regular ser

of way with the local paper not open to an

send in articles of your activities as often

CIRCLE PINES CENTER

COOPERATIVE HIGHLIGHTS OF 1940

URING the past year the pine trees

distribution and production without profit.

Consumers' Cooperatic January, 1941