The union times., 1944-06-03
Many Untruths
 Demonstrated

commentator and cOlumnist, i'm a recent column, made an unprOvOked attack on the Co. operative movement, The Co., operative League of the LISA declared today. Lewis accused cooperative leaders of using unlimited expense accounts, he cOntended that the co-ops are evading payment of taxes, declared that the cooperatives are subsidized by the govern ment through low cost of credit and that the cOOpera- tives have become the kind of big business the antitrust di- vision of the Department of Justice is trying to destroy. All these charges are untrue, The Cooperative League of the U.S.A. declared.
 "Mr. Lewis opened his column by pointing out that he is a mem Der of two cooperatives, one to supply electric light and power and handling farm supplies, yet he made grievous errors in fact which could easily have been checked through sources open to any coop member or to any re- porter or to the public at large, The League declared. Apparently no attempt was made to check these facts for MT. Lewis did not consult any of the three offices of The Cooperative League, na- tional federation of cooperatives, with offices in Washington, New York and Chicago, nor did he check obviously incorrect mate rial with the office of the Con- sumers Cooperative Association or Mir. Cowden, its President, who was personally maligned in the syndicated column.
 Mir. Lewis declared in his col umn that s'the salary of coop off, cials must not be more than $7.5OO a year, which is too bad, because Mr. COwden, for instance, un- doubtedly is worth several times that salary. However, there's no limitation on expense accounts" Both of these statements, are false, The Cooperative League contends. There are no provisions limiting salaries to a specific figure. Salaries are fixed by boards of directors elected by members of cooperatives and expense accounts are audited by independent auditors and are subject to review by both the di- rectors and members of the coop erative.
 Lewis declared that cooperatives can sell only to stockholder members, which is untrue. Anyone may buy in coop and any one may join.
 He continued to say that There are ways around it. Speaking of this non-existent provision) He goes on to say that the co-ops are sup posed to take your name and address. and when you have bought a certain amount, you get your share of stock" That again IS untrue Consumers must make application for membership and make an initial payment to become members of cooperatives.
 Lewis charges that the govern ment extends subsidized loans to coOperatives. Actually some coop eratives may borrow from the Bank for COOperatives at the customary rate of 21a% which is neither char ity or subsidy. In fact the govern ment has considerable revenue from these loans. Other types of business have access to loans from the REC and other sources not available for cooperatives.
 Most puzzling of MT. Lewis inac- curacies, The Cooperative League points out is the fact that he has de- nounced the co-ops because of their differences in operation from ordinary business and then turns around to say there is no discernable difference be- tween the private company and the cooperative"