River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1920-07-08
A Reply to Mr.. Larson

passed by the County Equity Conven-
ton at their recent meeting. He even
Goes SO far with his remarks as to
isasinuate that the members present at
the convention were so prejudiced as
TO absolutely refuse to consider the
facts. 1t seems to me that the tenor
Of Mr.. Larson's criticisms show them
to have been hasty and unfair, and
perhaps prompted By some personal
feeling on his part against some Of
the members in attendance at the con-
ysntion.
/ have been acquainted with the
membership of the Pierce County
Equity Society ever since it's organic
afion, and / am certain that on the
whole the society is composed OF
true Equity who are willing to
consider any deserving question and
decide upon its merits.
Less than year ago Mr.. Larson
was member of the Committee on
RESOLUTIONS at the Ellsworth local
meeting. At that time he was OPP
posed to Tittemore's administration
and helped to pass resolution con-
demning its acts. In his present arti-
Gle Mr.. Larson seems to have changed
his stand completely, for he seeks to
give Tittemore credit for great
growth of the Society in the past few
years. He quotes some rather fanci-
FL figures to the effect that when Tit
tcrnore was elected the membership OF
The society numbered approximately
1000, while now it numbers 10000,
an increase of $4,000. This is quite a
showing if Mr.. Larson's figures are
correct, but let us take look at the
official reports of the Society before
re commit ourselves.
The official report for 1917 gives
the total membership as 1920, and
the official report for 1919 places it at
35,047. Better still let us count only
fully paid up memberships in good
standing. The 1917 report shows 12,-
316, and the 1919 report shows 28,905.
CT a gain of 5000 in two years. ]
don't see how Mr.. Larson can juggle
the official figures so as to result in
showing a net gain in membership of
2s 900. =
Now Brother Larson, if you will
bear with me, should like to go back
few years in the history sof the
Equity Society of Wisconsin. In the
early days of the Society the cooper
alive movement was not as popular
as it is today and the pioneers in the
movement had to do great deal OF
work and give a great deal Of their
time without receiving any pay or
even their expenses. Certainly you
5cn't find leaders of the Society doing
mat. don't like to throw mud my
self or have any one else resort to
'.rlud singing" tactics, but / consider
TIE attack which has been made on
the pioneers of the Equity Society by
some of the present members as un
called for and otally without justi-
I.ation.
In the early days of the Society our
treasury was very lean and we could
not afford to hire good men to go out
over the state and talk cooperation
for us. By careful management, how
ever, the amount in our treasury has
been steadily increased until when
Iittemore took Office the Treasurers
report showed assets of $12.239.37 and
Liabilities of S1,326.46, or present
,rorth of $1O,91291.
When Tittemore came to office the
entire state was ripe for cooperative
organization, and the Society had net
assets of over $4,000 with which to
work. Is there any wonder that the
Society has made large gains in the
past two years The increase is very
easy to understand, and the only sur
o-ising feature of the whole thing to
ne is that the increase was not much
larger than the official figures show it
10 have actually been.
At this point allow me to quote
;last few more figures from the Off
cial reports of 1917 and 1919, showing
the expenses of the President of the
Society. The expense account for
1917 shows, Expenses & per Diem of
Pres. S454.34; while the same account
for 1919 shows, Expenses & per
Diem of Pres. s3,177.53, showing that
the former president had practiced
economy and accumulated money in
the treasury, while the present leader
81 the society has gone ahead with a
full treasury to back him up and
spent money freely.
Let US be fair and give credit where
credit is due. / believe that great
deal of credit is due the old pioneers
in the society who first put it on its