The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-03-18
Ry RERTRAM R. FOWLER.

UnlIe0 StateSs I
 By BERTRAM B. FOWLER i
 (Copyright, 1886, NEA Service)
 Co . operatives have definitely struck out toward processing and production, after fIlnctioning for several years in the purely retail end of the business and industrial field.
 As they grow and advance, the co-ops naturally will run into new problems and heavier responsibili- ties. The future of the movement will depend on how these problems and responsibilities are met.
 First and foremost is the ques- ton of education. If the co-op movment is to succeed, the great masses of the people to whom 1t makes its appeal must be taught the philosophy of cooperation.
 Most of the big wholesales are already facing this problem. There is in action now a system of edu- cation within the movement. The big coop wholesale houses have not been turning all their profits back to their individual members. In most cases half the profit has been set aside to make up Q fund for expansion and education.
 Indiana Shows Way
 Indiana is an outstanding ex- ample of just how the successful co-op will work in the future. The Indiana Farm Bureau Coop ASso- ciation has set up an educational department, which works in two ways. During the summer, 1t runs a series of one-week courses at camps and colleges rented for that pur- pose. At these courses, classes of about 30 young people are gathered from the various counties and are given an intensive course in CO., operative philosophy and technique. These students return to their counties inbued with the co-op idea, to become local leaders in organization of study clubs to carry on through the winter.
 The summer of 1884 saw 1000 of these students trained in co-op schools. In 1895 this number was jumped to 1,200. Plans for 1e36. call for an even greater number.
 In Noble county, Ind, under di- rection of the Rev. Carl Hutchin- son, the study club idea was linked with a system of cooperative rec reation. Folk games and dances of European countries proved popular with these typical young Americans. As a result, Noble has become a model coop county. MT. Hutchin- son recently went to the Ohio Farm Bureau to set up a statewide edu- cational system based on his Noble county experience.
 Churches Join Movement
 Another important phase of. COG operation has recently appeared. Churches, long in revolt over social and economic conditions, have be- gun to see in the co-oprative move ment a chance for pastors to take @ leading part in formation of a new economic system.
 All over the United States the churches are embracing the move- ment, playing growing part in coop education.
 Coop youth leagues are spring ing up. In universities and colleges all over the country, students are forming societies to feed and house themselves. AS they learn to do this, they absohb the coop tech- nique and begin to think about working into the coop movement when they leave school.
 Need Efficient Managers
 Naturally, as the movement grows, the problem of efficient manage ment becomes increasingly import ant. The co-ops have been fortun- ate in drawing to them shrewd and capable business men. Now, facing the problem as the big, one of the future, they are planning training courses for future co-op leaders.
 In Kansas City the Consumers Cooperative Association is laying the plans for a cooperative college. Here, it is hoped, will come the best of the young co-operators from all over America to be trained for technical and expert positions with in the movement.
 Possibilities in the lnanufactur- ing field have hardly been touched. But in their fertilizer and farm machinery programs, the co-ops have discovered some significant things. They have found that some big manufacturers already in the fields see in the co-op method of distribution 8 step forward.
 These manufacturers, as in the case of the Tennessee Corporation,