The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1953-02-13

IS0SIN0 use O1 CO-OpSi dtANSos w oil
mark listed independent grocers
hardware dealers, druggists, auto
parts dealers, department stores, re
tail lumber yards, newspapers ant
railroads. The speaker based his in
formation on extensive studies he has
made in recent years of city cooper
atives all over the nation and said
the talk he gave before the Montana
farmers was substantially the same
he gave recently before the Spokane
Advertising Club and more than 90
other civic and commercial groups in
the Inland Empire.
Most of the businessmen co-opera-
tives are non-profit corporations OPP
Grating on the principle of one-vote-
per-member and distribute savings
to member stores on the basis of pat
ronage. That portion of the earnings
the associations distribute to mem
bers is not taxable income to the as
ISOLATION, he emphasized.
Many independent businesses have
been driven to cooperative endeavor,
he explained, by the stiff competition
of the chains and through co-opera-
tive buying and shipping and per-
forming other services they save con-
siderable amounts of money-very
much like the farmers do with their
co-operatives. Businessmen use the
co-ops mainly to improve their buy
ing and merchandising position.
The Spokane banker said many
of the businessmen he had been
able to reach through his talks
were surprised to learn their coop
eratives were set up on much the
same legal and organizational basis
as the farmer co-operatives and
with the same tax status.
He said there are $4,000 stores
in voluntary and cooperative groups
that did business in 1851 of $50
billion or 27 per cent of the total
US. retail business; at wholesale,
Wallmark estimated, this to be about
Sc billion.
eff we had all the figures and add
ed the volume of business done by
other businessmen co-operatives to
that done by grocers, the amount
would very likely equal or exceed
the business done by all farm market
ing and purchasing co-operatives in
the nation" he added.
The speaker quoted Farm Credit
Administration reports showing that
all US. farm co-ops did s8.1 billion
worth of business in 1851.
Among many examples of business
co-operatives he cited the Associated
Grocers Cooperative, Seattle, which
was incorporated under the laws of
the State of Washington in 1884. |
The cooperative is owned and con-
trolled 100 per cent by 513 member
stores and did a volume of business
in 1850 of $30,125, 900. In 1950-51 |
this cooperative distributed patron
age refunds amounting to $445,000 |
to members. Since organization the |
member stores have received $3,0OO,- |
600 in coop savings. The associa-
ton does not pay tax on the re-
funds; the money, however, is tax
dDl6 III IU6 nanQS Ol L0G HISilUtI
stores. This cooperative does pay
a tax on 10 per cent of the savings
retained in the permanent reserve.
Other associations Mr.. Wallmark
explained in his talk as examples of !
businessman co-operatives were Ma
tional Retailer-Owned Grocers, Inc,
Chicago; Pacific Mercantile Co., San
Francisco; Certified Grocers of Calf
ornia, Los Angeles; United Grocers,
Inc, San Francisco; Dealers Reserve
Company of Spokane consisting of |
small dealers in lumber and building
supplies; Spokane Receivers and
Shippers, Inc, Spokane; Pacific
Coast Wholesalers Association, Los
Angeles; Associated Food Stores,
Inc, Salt Lake City and Frederick
Inc, New York.
Banker Wallmark said he could
not see how legislators could con-
levy tax on savings of
patrons at the coop level, and he re-
minded the farmers that the us.
would have to be amend
cd TO make sIIch law hold