The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-09-04
On "Co-ops
Building Capital
Comparatively
By w. H. OLDENBURG

we would ike to add word oil
emphasis on the Importance of farm
ers building cooperative capital
through their own organizations for
further cooperative enterprises, upon
which you wrote under the above cap
ton in your last issue.
To win independence from the grip
of private capital is to win the free
dom fundamental to all other free
doms. Farmers in this country are
now, at this particular stage of our
economic development, arriving at the
point where more and more of their
activities and indispensable enter
prises will have to be joined in CO.
operative effort in order to achieve
that size and strength necessary to
compete for a rightful and respectful
place in the sun of our national econ
omy. But, to build farmer strength
for farmers, as for any other group,
requires joint enterprise; joint enter
prise requires joint capital; joint CAPT
tai can be secured in only two ways;
either it must be purchased from
those who already possess it in the
form of investment capital, or it must
be built up out of the small savings
of individuals until it becomes a large
enough aggregate to constitute pro-
duction capital for the aggregation of
individuals.
Unfortunately, the market for the
purchase Of investment capital is not
always open to farmers, or it is open
only on prohibitive terms, or the
squeeze is employed to re-collect the
capital and kill the enterprise in one
operation. In the same way and by
the same selfish forces public capital,
that is government capital, may also
be denied to farmers at even the most
critical times Evidence: certain
large and powerful interests and their
abetting politicians in the battle of
the appropriations for certain govern
ment credit agencies in the last con-
gressional session.
But the aggregate little savings
through the cooperation of the hun
dreds of thousands of present coop
orators can mount to millions of dol
lars of potential investment capital,
and that can become a pillar of
strength to the farmers enterprise
that no evil breath of a Hitler or any
other fascist stooge can blow down
or in other evil ways destroy.
You have indicated one way of
building capital. Another fruitful
source as we have already limited is
the savings of the co-operator in the
form of his patronage dividend from
some present cooperative enterprise
This small sum for the most part can
not mean much toward meeting next
years operating expenses, toward lift
ing the mortgage, or toward materi-
ally raising the family's living stand
ard. 1t was provided for once in the
operating budget; it will not be great |
ly missed if it does not return to the
family bank account or the pocket
purse as an dependable coin for some |
present and transitory knicknack. If |
it is so spent it will pass out of CO.
operative channels into private and |
competitive trade where almost in
evitably it will be used to fight the
very cooperative that created it and |
will mock the co-operator who let it
pass from his control.
On the other hand, the aggregate of
savings represented by these small
patronage dividends syphoned off into
1 common investment fund for the
building of new cooperative enter
orises can verify be the foundation of
he kingdom and economy of abun-
lance.