The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-12-11
The CO-OPTIMIST
Of the F. u. c.. T. A.
Pain in the Neck

Figures are a pain in the neck tt
most readers, to many columnists ant
to this columnist In particular. The
Arabs, who invented the numerals
used by the civilized world, were
never held in high esteem during oul
school day wrestles with mathematics
If we borrowed our alphabet from the
Romans. why did we have to stray sc
far afield for the digits from l to o.
Look at them-the 3 and the 5 lool
alike and there's the 6 standing or
its head to make 81 They say
Figures never lie" yet on their face
they are shown to be capable of de
ceiving the very elect. Have you ever
mistaken 9 for an O? Then you
know what is meant
We Get a Scoop
The only reason this column bothers
with them this time is that they give
us sort of scoop Our general
manager, M. w. Thatcher, gives his
annual report to the stockholders, as
sembled in st. Paul, Tuesday after.
noon December 10-just about the
time you folk who have stayed at
home will be reading this. While he
has no such antipathy to figures as
this columnist-he's an accountant
and plays with the blamed figures like
David played on the psaltery with ten
strings-he is merciful to us and "lays
Off ho ha
mates and tells the story in an easy,
conversational way that mates the
toughest figures easily absorbed. Be-
sides, as he says, why should we tell
the world the details of our business
when the enemy will use it to our
damage if he can-and that same
enemy makes public no such informa-
ton as to his business nor does he
send it out to his customers. By
keeping things dark and hushed up,
like that, the private grain trade has
been able to mulct the farmer for 70
years.
A Dramatic Success
First of all, Mr. Thatcher gives
credit for what he appropriately calls
the dramatic success" of the Farmers
Union Grain Terminal Association to
a number of sources that might inter-
est you. The experience of the old
Equity, the F. U. Terminal Associa-
ton, the Northwest Grain Association
and the Farmers National Grain Cor
poration all contributed to the building
of backlog from which the fires of
cooperative spirit were re-kindled. To
these he adds the educational work of
the State Unions, teaching the jun
iors how to think straight on econom-
les and the instruction found in dis
cussions at locals and county meets.
He also credits with an assist the Re-
gional Co-operatives, not forgetting
the Central Exchange and the Live
Stock Commission. Then he takes
of directors who have guided our
course so well and for the men and
women employees who have followed
through faithfully and loyalty to carry
forward the work cut out for them.
Behind the 8-Ball
He shows, by plainest inference,
that when folks work together they
do andcan make cooperation a sue
cess. Confound iti-they've done It,
And now here, as the Psalmist says
of the wicked, we "stand in slippery
places" 1t is a matter of figures
We get it that the Farmers Union
Grain Terminal Terminal Association
started off blithely on June 1, 1888,
with 100000 of borrowed money!
To be sure that we were well behind
the Shall, we borrowed $300,000.00
more from the Federal government
We did not even start from scratch
We satrted so far behind it that we
were not even on the race course. But
what did the farmers out there in the |
grass roots do? They poured in the
grain until, by May 81, 194O-we owed |
neither the Federal government nor
any bank dollar!
Right to Usufruct
Mr. Thatcher calls that a dramatic |
success. He knows how to run a
,rain marketing association = and
low!-he knows figures backward and
onward, auditing, accounting, financ-
ng, but he doesn't know a modern
miracle when he sees it! Today, he
eports, that the F. U. G. T. A. has a
let worth of nearly a million dollars
944,871, SD including reserves, which
8 quiet bunch of lettuce In any
mans language. He saw to it that 1t
vas piled up in a safe place, just as
he farmers saw that the grain came
0 their association-and that's all to
he good for cooperative advance. But
he high point and the big thing is
hat the net worth is owned and con-
rolled by the farmers themselves 1t
) theirs-and it is not in the pockets
the private grain trade, which for
lille dreamed that it had a divine
light to the usufruct from every pound
grain sold by the farmers of the
northwest. Those days are gone for
yer and to NJ w. Thatcher goes the
redit of banishing them. &c