Montana labor news., 1935-07-11

OF canned meats.
fit and still more profit. And never
has there been within reach of the
wage-earning masses a more effective
solution to the present pressing pro-
blem Of realizing to the full the pur-
chasing power of their earning than
the cooperative movement constitutes.
There is no one thing that would
contribute o potently to the we'll
being of the workers and the common
people generally of these countries
than a united purpose on the part of
all labor organizations to establish the
cooperative movement thruout the I'm
tied States and Canada and to establish
it on as firm and efficient a basis as
that on which it is now operating in
the British Isles and in some of the
continental European countries. The
cooperative movement is the very ess-
ence Of democracy and contributes ire
mendously to independence on the part
Of the masses.
To tell in detail Of the operation OF
the cooperative movement in the coun-
tries where it is completely independent
is out of the question in an article Of
this nature. Suffice it to say that in
Great Britain and ireland, at the close
of 1888, the total membership in con-
sumers' cooperative was 6,917,138. When
allowance is made for the fact that as
a rule each member OF n of the SOC
ieties represents a family, it is found
that approximately one-half the popu-
lation of the British Isles are supply
ing their own needs thru this move
|ment. The Cooperative Wholesale Soc
iety Of England, according to a report
published last fall, owns l39 factories
and other productive plants which turn
out a great variety Of goods. At the
close of 1888 this wholesale had 49,
307 employees.
Industrial production in Sweden was
greater in 1884 than it was in prosper
GUS 1929, the prime reason being the
power Of the consumers cooperative
movement in that country. That move
ment has succeeded in breaking up a
number of private business m%onopolies
and its efforts have indirectly curbed
big business in other fields.
The Consumers Cooperative Move
ment in America did not begin large
scale growth until Immediately after
the War. Constantly expanding front
iers and the American tradition Of
rugged %individualism did not create a
situation favorable to cooperative ac-
tivity. With the beginning of the ag-
ricultural depression, from 1920 on, far
mers were forced to begin to work to-
gether in order to survive. The first
consumers cooperative oil station in
the Northern States area was organic
ed IS years ago. Today 1900 oil CO.
operatives in Is states are supplying
their members with $35,000,000 worth
OF petroleum products a year and saw
ing farm and city consumers more than
So, 100000 annually. Farm supply, in
surance, milk, grocery, general merch-
andise, restaurant, credit and medical
cooperatives have sprung into existence
in every section OF the country. The
onslaught Of the depression forced city
people as we'll as farmers to learn to
cooperate. Today 100000 people do
a cooperative non-profit business Of
$36O,0O0,O00 d year, approximately a
million dollars a day. The movement
is attracting national attention. The
Cooperative League of the U. S. A.,
with headquarters at 167 w. 18th St.,
New York City, lists affiliated organi-
cations in nearly every state in the
union. Consumers c~ooperatives have
already become a powerful factor in
American economic life and expect to
follow the leadership Of European CO..
operatives in obtaining for labor a lar
ger share Of the goods it produces.
If the people of the U. S. and Cana
da understood the cooperative move
ment as it really is, if they had a know
ledge of its tremendous success, of the
amount of money it keeps in the hands
of the consumers which would other
wise go to swell the private fortunes
of monopolists, of the extent to which
it operates to prevent the accumula-
ton of wealth in private hands and
thus lessen the power which the poss-
ession OF such wealth gives to control
legislation and government, il the mass
es of the people OF the U. S. and Can
ada had this understanding of consum-
ers' cooperation, it certainly would not
take long for them to utilize it as a
great emancipating agency to release
them from the burdens of oppression
to which they are subjected by big
business and big money.
John +. McNamee, Editor.