Montana labor news., 1936-12-17
RACINE WORKERS
U|LD A COOP
Continued from Page 81

Continued from Page 81
car owners. Many of these, of
course, took advantage of the CO.
operative plan for acquiring a share
through the accumulation of patron
age refunds.
Expanding Cooperative Activity
In July, 1885, a credit union was
set up to provide the members with
their own savings and small loan
facilities on a cooperative basis. This
institution made loans to members
totaling $1,675.00 up to April 80,
1886, and had accumulated a share
of $1,23O.05.
With the success of the gasoline
station apparently assured, the Ra-
Consumers Cooperative in Oc-
other, 1885, tackled the distribution
of coal to its members on a non
profit basis. Leasing a small yard
which was barely earning its over
head, the Coop concentrated the
buying power of its membership and
sold a total of $25, 397.31 worth of
coal by April 30, 1896.
AS the business has grown, edu-
cational work has been rushed in
order that the members might be-
come better acquainted with cooper
alive principles. Prominent outside
speakers such as E. R. Bowen, secre-
tary of the Cooperative League of
the U. S. A., and John Barton, for
merly of the International Peoples
College at Elsinore, Denmark, have
been brought to address member
ship and special educational meet
ings. On n occasion a motion pic
ture of a tour through Sweden's
giant cooperative enterprises aroused
wide interest. During the past Win
ter the more advanced members at
tended a regular weekly class in
cooperation under the WPA work
ers' educational program.
Education and Recreation
Last spring, a Coop softball
league was launched under the city's
free recreational program. This form
of group activity for members, like
the more directly educational work,
is under the direction of the Study
and Planning Division ~ a name
which has seemed to be much more
inviting to those whom it is planned
to serve than the usual educational
committee"
By means of affording the mem
bers the opportunity of playing to-
gether, the Study and Planning Di-
vision hopes to lay the groundwork
for more serious future group ac-
tivity, with the final goal of a we'll
coordinated system of study groups,
now recognized in the movement as
the prime method of cooperative
education. During the summer
months picnics of n~eighborhood
groups are also counted on to pro-
vide for the gradual development of
cooperative discussion.
1t need hardly be pointed out that
the directors of the Racine Con-
sumers' Cooperative look upon a
well-developed education program
as one of the most effective means
of building their organization on a
solid foundation. The Study and
Planning Division was at first al
lotted five per cent of the net earn
ings, but with a realization of the
continuing need of educational ac-
tivity even in periods of adversely,
the board of directors recently de-
cided to apportion educational funds
on a basis of one-half of one per
cent of the gross earnings.
On April is, the Coop moved into
a new cooperative center, complete
with a meeting hall capable of seat
ing 200 persons, facilities for auto re-
pair and tire sales, and store front
age suitable for the contemplated de-
velopment of a coop grocery store.
AT the 'housewarming" for the new
headquarters, on April rs, hundreds
of members thronged into the hall
for a card party, a cooperative one
act play and dancing.
In spite of the recognized diff
Guilty of establishing permanent CO.
operative organizations in American
urban ~centers, the Racine Consum-
ers' Cooperative has found that the
cooperative conquest of the city is
greatly facilitated by recognizing
that the movement is as much a
social development as it is an eco