Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1944-10-20
On The
Beam.
By
Clayton W..
Fountain

Students of history may
well look back, in 2044, and
mark Tuesday, October 10,
as day OF great historic sig
nificance.
1t was on this day that
Committee on International
,Cooperatives recommended to
the Congress of the Coopera-
tive League of America that
there be esta blished a Petro-
leum Division of the Interna-
tional Cooperative Alliance.
Howard Cowden, head of
the powerful Consumers Co
operative Association, which
deals extensively in oil prod
ucts in the Southwest, made
the report. He revealed that
plans are already under way
for the cooperativeS in several
parts of the world. to trade in
petroleum products.
Oil fields and refinerieS are
already rather widely owned
by cooperatives in this coun-
try. Some petroleum process
ing facilities are comparatively
owned in Scandinavian coun-
tries.
South American coopera-
tives are planning to acquire
ownership of petroleum re-
sources.
RAINBOW FLAG
1t is planne e d that the
Petroleum Division of the In
ternational Cooperative Ali
ance will purchase tankers
from the u. S. government,
and use them to build up
worldwide cooperative oil
business.
"We will have a fleet of
tankers, flying the rainbow
flag of the International ALI
ance, which stands for the
brotherhood of man." CoWden
said. When this fleet of tank
ers begins operations, CoWden
went on to explain, we shall
have begun to take the imple-
ments of war out of the hands
of the war makers.
The delegates to the Co.
operative Congress cheered
Cowden'S report. And there
were misty eyes among them
a few minutes later when fra
ternal delegates from twelve
other nations rose to speak
brief messages of greeting In
their own languages.
CENTURY OR PROGRESS
In order to understand the
significance of this action by
the Cooperative League, it is
necessary to realize that the
year of 1914 marks the hun
dredth birthday of the CO.
operative movement.
The movement started in
1874 in the little village of
Rochdale, England. Twenty
eight people banded together
to launch this movement
which now numbers its mem
bership in the millions.
From the beginning, the
movement has been dedicated
to the building of the brother
hood of man. II has been
built on the foundation of
human values. 1t has always
aimed at the advancement of
the common welfare. 1t is
living answer to those capital
istic philosophers and sages
who preach that cut-throat
competition offers the only
path to progress.
Without the profit motive,
and without greed, operators
have in one century built a
movement from a beginning
of twenty eight member to a
great institution of nearly
100000, 900 members.
PRODUCTION FOR PEACE
1t is the dream of coopera-
tors that one day all the in
dustrial and technical re-
sources which make modern
war so destructive will be CO.
operatively owned and con-
trolled by the people.
If and when that hapepns,
it will be impossible, for in
stance, for capitalistic cartels
to supply aggressor nations
with implements of war. To
make this point clear, it is
only necessary to remember
that A m eri c an oil firms,
greedy for profits, sold Japan
millions of barrels of oil-oil
that was later used to Kill
American boys.
So, with another century of
growth, the cooperatives may
acquire ownership of enough
productive resources to break
the power of the war makers.
Students may observe, in
2044, that, while politicians
wrangled over the shape of an
international organization de-