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Consumers’ Cooperatives:
Operations in 1947
A Report on Membership,
Business, and Operating Results
Bulletin No. 948
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Consumers’ Cooperatives:
Operations in 1947
Bulletin No. 948
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Maurice J. Tobin, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Ewan Clague,
Commissioner
For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, W ashington 25, D . C. - Price 20 cents
Letter of Transmittal
United States D epartment op L abor*
B ureau op L abor Statistics,
Washington, D. C., December 16, 1948.
The Secretary of Labor:
I have the honor to transmit herewith the Bureau’s annual report on the activities of
consumers’ cooperatives in 1947. The report contains general estimates of membership
and business of the various types of associations, local and federated, and detailed data on
the operations of the central organizations which provide goods and services to the local
associations and carry on manufactures of numerous kinds.
A feature of this report is the information— on relations with labor unions and between
rural and urban cooperatives— obtained in a special study made by the Bureau.
The report was prepared by Florence E. Parker, of the Bureau’s Office of Program
Planning.
E wan C lague, Commissioner.
Hon. M aurice J. T obin ,
Secretary of Labor•
<m )
Contents
Page
Progress in 1947_________________________________________________________________________
Operations of local associations----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leading consumers’ cooperatives in 1947_____________________________________________
Trend of development, 1941-47____________________________________________
Results of study of nonfarm cooperatives____________________________________________
Age of associations______________________________________________________________
Membership____________________________________________________________________
Business and operating results___________________________________________________
Financial status______________________________________________________________
Cooperative production_______________________________________________________
Education and publicity--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Working conditions and wages________________________________________________
Union labor and nonfarm cooperatives____________________________________________
Union assistance in organizing________________________________________________
Labor interest and support______________________________________________________
Unionists in membership and in directorship____________________________________
Rural-urban cooperation____________________________________________________________
Cooperation within cooperatives________________________________________________
Cooperation between cooperatives_______________________________________________
Combined trading and membership_____________________________________________
Central organizations____ _______________________________________________________________
Wholesale associations______________________________________________________________
Membership___ ____________________________________
Distributive facilities___________________________________________________________
Distributive operations_________________________________________________________
Capital and resources___________________________________________________________
Services of central cooperatives______________________________________________________
Expansion of services by wholesales_____________________________________________
Expansion of services by federations____________________________________________
Service business________________________________________________________________
Resources of service federations_________________________________________________
Production by central cooperatives__________________________________________________
Expansion of facilities by wholesales____________________________________________
Expansion of facilities by federations____________________________________________
Goods produced________________________________________________________________
Resources of productive federations_____________________________________________
Employment and earnings in central cooperatives____________________________________
(IV)
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4
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25
Operations o f Consumers’ Cooperatives in 1947
Progress in 1947
and 24 of these wholesales were, in turn, members
of National Cooperatives, Inc.
Among the commercial federations, the regional
and district wholesales had a distributive and
service business of nearly 261 million dollars
(compared with 222 millions in 1946). Earnings
o f the reporting regional wholesales, which
exceeded 15 million dollars, were nearly 30 per
cent above those of 1946; in 1946, however,
earnings had been nearly 88 percent above those
of 1945. Combined earnings for the group were
reduced considerably by the losses of a few associ
ations. As among the retail associations, some of
the wholesales—particularly those which deal
mainly in groceries— found the going hard in 194*7.
Two of the three wholesales dealing in groceries
sustained a loss on the year’s operations and in
two other wholesales the grocery departments
ended the year “ in the red.”
Patronage refunds to the affiliated member
associations totaled nearly 12% million dollars—
or nearly half again as much as in 14)46.
The year 1947 saw another sizable increase in
value of goods produced by the wholesales and
productive federations, reaching nearly 128K
million dollars as compared with 95K millions in
the previous year. Over 60 percent of this product
came from plants operated by the regional whole
sales, and somewhat over a third from those of
the productive federations.
Estimates of membership and business of con
sumers’ cooperatives in 1947 are shown in table 1.
It should be emphasized that this table does not
indicate the volume of cooperative business done
in any particular line, as the table classifies the
associations according to their main line o f busi
ness. Thus, an association running a store, and
also handling petroleum products, is classified as
a “ store association” if the main volume of its
business is done in the store. Likewise, many
associations operate cold-storage or other depart
ments, secondary to other lines of business.
An all-time high in both membership and
business was reached by the consumers’ coopera
tive movement in the United States in 1947,
despite the number of dissolutions either during
the year or after the end of the year’s operations.
On the other hand, many new associations were
formed during 1947. The combined business of
the retail distributive cooperatives exceeded a
billion dollars and that of the local service associa
tions was over 25% millions.
The stores, as a group, showed increases in
volume of business exceeding those of any previous
year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has
records. Operating results, however, were less
satisfactory than in 1946. Among the reporting
store associations, over a fourth (28.5 percent)
sustained a loss on the year’s operations, as com
pared with 9.1 percent in 1946; among those
which were “ in the black,” over haIf had smaller
earnings than in 1946. For the petroleum associa
tions, increases in both membership and business
were smaller than for the stores, but operating
results were better. Less than 3 percent showed
losses on the year’s business and, of those showing
earnings, well over half had earnings greater than
in 1946. For both types of associations, earnings
included patronage refunds on purchases made
from wholesale associations and, for some retail
associations, such refunds were all that kept them
on the earnings side of the ledger. Difficult opera
tions were reflected in an unusually large number
of dissolutions of associations in 1947 and early
1948.
More than 4,200 retail associations were affili
ated with regional wholesales at the end of 1947 1
1 It should be pointed out that this figure includes some duplication (where
local associations are members of more than one regional wholesale). Also,
many of these affiliated retail associations are purely farm-supply associ
ations, not “ consumer” associations (i. e., do not handle consumer goods);
such associations are not covered in table 1.
1
2
1.— Estimated membership and business of con
sumers9 cooperatives in 1947, by type of association
T able
Type of association
Total
number
of asso
ciations
Number of
members
Amount of
business
Local associations
Retail distributive................................
Stores and buying clubs................
Petroleum associations..................
Other i............................................
Service..................................................
Rooms and/or meals......................
Housing..........................................
Medical and/or hospital care:
On contract. ...........................
Own facilities...........................
Burial:8
Complete funeral.....................
Caskets only............................
Burial on contract...................
Cold storage4.................................
Other8............................................
Electric light and power •....................
Telephone (mutual and cooperative)—
Credit unions8.....................................
Insurance associations..........................
3,985
2,500
1,400
85
793
200
125
100,000
65,000
1,800,000
6,000,000
30,000
36
1,000
3
2,000
4
106,750
180
17,000
110
1,029 72,030,655
675,000
33,000
3,339,859
9,040
2,000 •11,200,000
355,000
6,000
41,500
7,000,000
1,200,000
113,704,076
10,000,000
455,833,601
78207,000,000
60
75
Member
associations
Federations11
Wholesales:
Interregional..................................
Regional.........................................
District...........................................
Service...................................................
Productive........................... ...............
2,208,000 $1,050,300,000
1,250,000
715,000,000
925,000
320,000,000
33,000
15,300,000
356,750
25,502,500
25,000
6,100,000
10,000
*3,000,000
1
24
11
18
16
24
4,220
171
1,405
386
10,581,140
“ 255,215,750
» 5,663,841
1,782,062
53,740,713
I Such as consumers’ dairies, creameries, bakeries, fuel yards, lumber
yards, etc.
* Gross income.
* Local associations only; excludes associations of federated type (which
are included with service federations) and funeral departments of store
associations.
4 Excludes cold-storage departments of other types of associations.
4 Such as water supply, cleaning and dyeing, recreation, printing and
publishing, nursery schools, etc.
4 Data furnished by Rural Electrification Administration; figures include
36 refrigeration associations.
7 Number of patrons.
8 Actual figures, not estimates.
* Number of policyholders.
10 Premium income.
II Figures here given do not agree in all cases with those given in table 8,
as they include an allowance for nonreporting associations.
“ Includes wholesale distributive, retail distributive, and service business
The Bureau has recorded only six creameries
owned and operated as consumers' cooperatives.
These are in Colorado (1), Michigan (1), Minne
sota (1), New York (1), and Oregon (2). One of
these, the Franklin Cooperative Creamery Asso
ciation, Minneapolis, was started in 1920 by
striking milk-wagon drivers when they were
locked out. This association recently became a
member of the Cooperative League of the USA.
It is the oldest of the creamery associations, but one
of the Oregon cooperatives dates from 1927, and the
other from 1931. The others mentioned were
formed during or immediately preceding World
War II. Five distributive associations have, in
addition, a dairy department as does also one of
the cooperative federations (Range Cooperative
Federation, Virginia, M inn.).
Several cooperative burial associations have
discontinued operations, and few have been
started since the beginning of the war. A t the end
of 1947, 36 associations were operating their own
facilities, and providing complete funerals; 7
others sold funeral supplies only (mainly caskets)
or provided embalming and interment on contract
with a local undertaker. The funeral associations
are concentrated in the Midwest States of Illinois
(3), Iowa (10), Minnesota (17), South Dakota (7),
and Wisconsin (2), with a single association each
in Indiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
(Another association has been formed in Wis
consin, but has been deterred from starting busi
ness by high building costs.) In addition, funeral
service is provided in some cases through a service
federation, the members of which are retail coop
eratives or other types of local associations; the
service is thus available to the membership of these
associations. Examples in Minnesota are North
land Co-op M ortuary (Cloquet), and Range
Cooperative Federation, the latter being a dis
tributive, service, and productive federation with
a mortuary department which has funeral homes
at Hibbing and Virginia. In Wisconsin, Valley
Cooperative Services (Appleton), is a burial coop
erative of the federated type. In recent years,
some of the retail store associations have opened
funeral departments. Such are found in Minne
sota (3 associations), North Dakota (1 associa
tion), and Wisconsin (3 associations). Three
other retail store associations— one in Montana
and two in North Dakota—handle caskets. It is
probable that the volume of business done by
consumers' cooperatives in burials and in the dis
tribution of funeral supplies totaled about $558,500
in 1947.
A few local distributive associations and one
cooperative wholesale (Central Cooperative
Wholesale, Superior, W is.), each operate a bakery
as one department of the business. O f the inde
pendent associations doing only a bakery business,
however, only three remain of the 20-odd that were
in operation during the decade between 1910 and
1920. One of these survivors dates from 1905, one
from 1916, and one from 1917. M ost of the
defunct associations were started during or shortly
after W orld War I. A t least 14 were of Jewish
membership and devoted themselves to the manu
facture and distribution of Jewish breads. Others
had Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, or Scandinavian
membership. M ost of the associations had a
highly developed social outlook, were closely asso-
3
dated with the organized labor movement, and
gave finandal support whenever local workers were
on strike.
Operations o f Local Associations
Sales o f reporting cooperatives in 1947 averaged
$367,015 per association for the stores and
$252,880 for the petroleum associations. Net
earnings for the stores with earnings averaged
4.1 percent on total business done; losses for
those which could not make ends meet averaged
3.2 percent o f sales. (The corresponding figures
for 1946 were 5.5 and 3.4 percent.) For the oil
associations, earnings averaged 7.9 percent (10.1
percent in 1946) and losses 2.5 percent (5.0 per
cent in 1946).
Changes in N et Earnings
Retail Store Cooperatives
Percent
20
15
10
5
0
Petroleum Cooperatives
5
WA//A v m » I . » V7A
O
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT O f LABOR
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Information on patronage refunds returned bylocal associations to their members is available
for 284 associations (269 distributive associations
and 15 service associations). For the whole group
these totaled $3,885,757. For the store associa
tions the patronage refunds averaged 3.5 percent
on sales, for the petroleum associations 5.5 per
cent, and for the service associations 4.5 percent.
Although many new associations were formed
in 1947, the number o f dissolutions, either during
the year or after the end of the year’s operations,
was larger than in any year since the early 1920’s.
This included a number of associations which,
even though volume of business in 1947 had in
creased over that in 1946, had ended the year with
a loss. Numerous factors—increased operating
expense ratios, losses on inventory, poor manage
ment, losses from uncollectible debts, etc.— were
involved. The nonfarm associations, particu
larly those dealing only in groceries, were hardest
hit. The grocery business, with severe competi
tion and low margins, is becoming increasingly
difficult to operate successfully unless there is a
high operating efficiency and a good volume of
business.
Reports received since the beginning of 1948
indicate that dissolutions are continuing. Other
associations report that their grocery departments
have been closed or that such a step is under
consideration.
The petroleum business has always been one of
wider margins and greater simplicity o f operation,
as compared with the stores. The urban petro
leum associations were hard hit by the drastic
controls during the war, and some went out of
business as a result. However, since the petro
leum associations in this country are mainly of
farmer membership—and thus wers able to
obtain supplies— the whole group of petroleum
associations (as shown in table 3) not only main
tained volume of business, but even increased it
during the war. The year 1947 showed an in
crease in business second only to that of 1945, the
year the war ended. On the whole, 1947 opera
tions for both the petroleum associations and the
stores produced smaller earnings and greater losses
than in 1946.
Leading Consumers’ Cooperatives in 1947
A larger number o f consumers’ cooperative
associations than ever before were in the milliondollar class in 1947. Altogether, 10 associations
o f urban or rural-urban membership had a volume
o f business exceeding a million dollars and 10 had
3,000 members or more. Table 2 shows the
membership and business of these leading con
sumers’ cooperatives.
4
T able 2.— Leading consumers’ cooperatives in 1947
Type and name of association
R e S I llt S O f S t u d y O f N o n f a r m C o o p e r a t i v e s
Mem Amount
ber
of busi
ship ness, 1947
Urban associations
Group Health Association, Washington, D. O................. U,400
Rochdale Cooperative, Washington, D. C.3..................... 3,342
Cooperative Trading, Waukegan, 111................................
Greenbelt Consumers Services, Greenbelt, M d ................ 2,611
United Cooperative Society, Fitchburg, Mass................. 2,640
United Cooperative Society, Maynard, Mass.................. 2,667
Franklin Cooperative Creamery, Minneapolis, Minn___ 3,300
Cooperative Services, St. Paul, Minn............................... 3,600
Consumers Cooperative Services, New York, N. Y ........ 8,291
New Cooperative Co., Dillonvale, Ohio........................... 2,110
University of Oregon Cooperative Association, Eugene,
Oreg.................................................................................. 3,186
Shipbuilders Cooperative, Newport News, Va................ 3,190
University Book Store, Seattle, Wash..............................
(»)
6,000
$443,738
2,761.468
1,726,667
1,024,865
1,390,384
5,978,170
790,670
1,990,445
1,922,482
392,606
(<)
1,715,546
Rural-urban associations
Cloquet Cooperative Society. Cloquet, M inn.—. ............
Consumer-Farmer Milk Cooperative, Long Island
City, N. Y .......................................................................
3,914
1,702,448
6,431
1,863,641
* At the end of 1947, this association was serving 13,692 “ participants” (i. e.,
members and their dependents).
3 Does not include companion association in Arlington, Va., with 728 mem
bers and a business of $377,063 for 9 months.
3 9 months (fiscal year changed in 1947).
* This association did not go into operation until early in 1948.
3 No data.
Trend of Development, 1941-47
Both store and petroleum associations continued
in 1947 the upward trend in membership and
business that has been evidenced since 1941
(table 3), but for the oil cooperatives this was at
a slower rate than for the stores.
The increasingly difficult conditions faced by
the store associations since the end of the war are
reflected in the rising proportions of those with
losses and of those which (although still showing
earnings) had smaller profits than in the preceding
year.
A special study of nonfarm cooperatives made
in 1948 covers the 1947 operations of such associa
tions. About 600 cooperatives of various types,
known to be urban associations (or rural associa
tions in which farmers were a minority) were cir
cularized. Usable reports were received from 347
associations (286 distributive and 61 service).
The reporting associations, which included all
the largest nonfarm cooperatives in the United
States, had nearly 169,000 members, assets exceed
ing 21 million dollars, and a combined business for
1947 amounting to almost 59 million dollars. They
ranged in membership from about 25 to nearly
8,300, and in volume of business from less than
$10,000 per year to almost $6,000,000.
Enterprises of all degrees of success were in
cluded, ranging from those conspicuously success
ful to a few which had encountered such difficulties
that their members voted to liquidate the enter
prise in 1948.
Age of Associations
The oldest of the 233 nonfarm distributive asso
ciations reporting as to age was a 43-year-old store
cooperative formed in 1905. Nine (3.9 percent)
were started before 1910; 23 (9.9 percent) began
their existence between 1911 and 1919; 20 (8.6
percent) between 1920 and 1929; 82 (35.2 percent)
between 1930 and 1939; and 99 (42.5 percent)
between 1940 and 1948. The average o f the
whole reporting group was slightly over 14 years.
T able 3.— Trend of operations of retail store and petroleum cooperatives, 1942-4? 1
Petroleum associations
Store associations
Item
1947
Membership:
Percent of increase over preceding year..................
Percent reportingincrease over preceding year.............................
Decrease from preceding year...........................
Amount of business:
Percent of increase over preceding year..................
Percent reportingincrease over preceding year.............................
Decrease from preceding year...........................
Net earnings:
Percent going from—
Gain to lftss
.
T-insf? to gain __ ________________________
Percent reporting—
Loss in both current and preceding years------Increase in gain over preceding year................
Decrease in gain from preceding year...............
1946
1945
1943
1942
1947
1946
1945
1944
1943
1942
13.4
11.6
15.9
25.6
13.6
8.3
9.6
10.8
11.4
14.4
23.9
9.5
80.9
19.1
72.8
27.2
82.9
17.1
98.8
1.2
77.4
22.7
75.5
24.5
80.2
19.8
77.5
22.5
78.2
21.8
79.9
20.1
74.5
25.5
73.8
26.2
39.9
30.8
It 5
19.6
28.8
30.8
26.3
27.9
10.7
22.6
19.1
13.6
80.8
19.2
90.5
9.5
72.9
27.1
80.3
19.7
84.7
15.3
90.8
9.2
89.7
10.3
94.1
5.9
86.3
13.7
89.4
10.6
71.5
28.5
78.9
21.1
19.4
3.7
5.8
4.2
10.7
6.4
4.2
6.8
5.3
5.4
2.4
1.0
.3
2.0
.9
.7
.4
49
9.1
30.8
37.0
3.3
8.4
49.4
27.2
2.0
62.3
25.1
1.9
51.7
34.3
2.2
.5
60.3
37.5
64.7
31.7
9.1
62.5
19.2
3 Based on identical associations reporting for both current and preceding year.
1944
69.5
17.9
55.3
40.8
88.0
11.1
.9
78.9
20.3
.5
74.5
23.3
L8
L2
.4
5
Membership
A number of the campus cooperative stores serve
only employees and students at the college or uni
versity, and a few of these limit their membership
to the veteran students. In the campus coopera
tive rooming and boarding houses, not only is
membership limited to persons living or eating at
the cooperative, but also the cooperatives usually
provide for discontinuance of membership of those
who prove uncongenial or who do not fit into the
group.
About a sixth of the cooperatives reporting on
membership had fewer than 100 members. M ost
common were those with between 100 and 250
members (26.7 percent) and between 250 and 500
members (24.4 percent). Another sixth had over
500 but fewer than 750 members. Only 13.4 per
cent had 1,000 members or more, and only 3.2
percent 3,000 members or more. The average
was 532 for the stores and 1,137 for the petroleum
associations.
To an inquiry as to main occupational groups in
their membership, many associations replied
either that there were no outstanding groups, that
the cooperative membership was a miscellany of
the entire community, or that they were not in
formed on this point. Table 4 shows the occupa
tions which constituted a significant part of the
membership in the reporting associations. The
figures should not be totaled, as some associations
reported several occupational groups.
W ith very few exceptions, the reporting dis
tributive associations practice the principle of open
membership and admit anyone who can make use
of the services of the cooperative. Among the
store associations, nine go somewhat farther and,
in order to insure that the member shall be an
active patron, admit only persons residing in the
vicinity served by the cooperative. Two associa
tions refuse a vote to members under 21 years of
age, although the age of admission is 18 years.
Three refuse to admit private dealers in businesses
that compete with the cooperative. In two
Italian associations, the applicant must be of
Italian descent, and in one of these, he must be a
descendant of a native of the Lombardy region of
Italy. Two associations have occupational restric
tions; one admits only railroad workers, and the
other only owners of fishing vessels. In one
cooperative, the applicant must be a member of a
“ bona fide labor organization” or, if not, must show
that he is not eligible for membership in such an
organization. Three associations restrict member
ship to residents of the housing project in which
the cooperative is situated. One cooperative
admits only “ persons believing in the democratic
form of government” and another (a coal miners’
association) accepts United States citizens only.
T able 4.— Predominant occupational groups in nonfarm cooperatives, 1947
Occupational group
Automobile workers
Bakery workers _
Building-trades workers:
Carpenters
Other erafts___
Bus and/or truck drivers
Electrical workers _
Employees of single plant or em ployer...
Factory or mill workers:
Clothing factory___________________
Paper mill
Sawmill. _
Shoe factory .
Textile mill.
___ _
_
Wood-products factory-- _ _
Type of plant not specified.................
Earmers
Fishermen and oystermen.........................
824243°—49---- 2
Num
ber of
associa
tions re
porting
2
1
7
4
3
4
3
2
3
3
1
6
1
11
40
3
Num
ber of
associa
tions re
porting
Occupational group
Foundry and machine-shop trades______
Housewives
_
.....
Laborers:
Beet workers.
..............
Farm laborers, general _
Skilled laborers . __
Laborers, not specified
...... __„ _
Longshore workers___
___ ... _ _
Miners:
Coal.
_ ....
_ _____
_.
Copper
_
___
..
Iron __
....
..... ...... .........
Oil-field workers.
Packing-house workers
Professional people:
Chemists _ _
Clergymen
.
_ __
__ ____
_ .
_
Scientists, not specified.......................
4
1
1
1
1
4
1
8
1
6
1
2
1
1
1
Num
ber of
associa
tions re
porting
Occupational group
Professional people—-Continued
University or college personnel ...
Professional, not specified__________
Public employees:
Teachers
Other municipal employees
_
State and Federal Government em
ployees _
_ _ ___
Railroad workers........................................
Shipyard workers
Steel workers______________ _ _________
White-collar workers:
Clerks, retail and other_____________
Office workers..... .
...... __
Other, not specified
Warehouse workers _ _
Woodsmen
____
__ _ _
_______
11
13
6
2
8
15
2
7
3
4
3
1
1
6
Business and Operating Results
T able 6.— Comparison of operations of nonfarm stores with
total group of store associations, 1946 and 1947
Size in terms of business done averaged $217,000
and $254,000 for the stores and for the petroleum
associations respectively. Thirty percent of all
the reporting nonfarm associations had a business
of less than $50,000 in 1947 (i. e., less than $1,000 a
week). Another 30 percent had a volume of be
tween $100,000 and $250,000. Ten percent had
done between $250,000 and $500,000. The busi
ness of 3 percent (9 associations) exceeded a
million dollars in 1947; this group included 6
cooperatives operating stores, 2 operating cream
eries, and 1 operating a chain of 6 cafeterias and
6 food stores.
In comparison with the entire group of reporting
farm and nonfarm consumers’ cooperatives upon
which the Bureau’s annual estimates are based,2
this selected group of nonfarm associations showed
significant variations from the “ norm.” The
urban store associations, for most of which grocer
ies (a low-margin line) constitute the main business,
had operating results considerably below the level
o f the whole group of store associations (see table 5).
Those of the petroleum associations, on the other
hand, were substantially above the total group of
farm and nonfarm petroleum cooperatives.
T able 5.— Operating results of nonfarm cooperatives, 1947,
compared with all farm and nonfarm cooperatives
Item
Amount of business, average:
Stnrfis
Petroleum associations______________
All farm and
nonfarm
$367,015
252,880
Nonfarm only
$217,000
254,000
Net losses on operations, of those with Percent of sales Percent of sales
losses:
3.3
3.2
Stores_________ ______ ___ ____ _____
2.8
2.5
Petroleum associations______________
Net earnings, of those with earnings:
4.1
2.1
Stores_____________________________
10.4
7.9
Petroleum associations______________
Patronage refunds of those returning such:
3.5
1.9
Stores_____________________________
10.2
5.5
Petroleum associations______________
The operating results of 1947 in comparison
with 1946 are shown in table 6 for the entire
group of farm and nonfarm cooperatives and for
the nonfarm associations alone. Here again the
nonfarm associations make a somewhat poorer
showing than the total group.*
* See tables 1 (p. 2) and 3 (p. 4);
Item
All store asso
ciations
Nonfarm only
1947 compared with 19$
Membership:
Percent of increase.................................
Percent reporting—
Increase............................................
Decrease..........................................
No change.......................................
Amount of business:
Percent of increase................................
Percent reportingincrease............................................
Decrease..........................................
Net earnings:
Percent going from—
Gain to loss....................................
Loss to gain.....................................
Percent reporting—
Loss in both years...........................
Increase in gain...............................
Decrease in gain..............................
13.4
40.2
80.9
19.1
73.7
13.2
13.0
39.9
23.6
80.8
19.2
77.1
22.9
19.4
3.7
20.2
5.1
9.1
30.8
37.0
8.1
21.2
45.5
0)
1 Less than 0.05 percent.
Financial Status
It appears, from the figures shown in table 7,
that the nonfarm associations are seriously under
capitalized. Capital per member averaged only
$44 in the stores and $34 in the oil associations.
Even 15 years ago, $25 per member was regarded
by cooperative leaders as the very least amount
of capital for beginning a cooperative enterprise.
The minimum figure for a new association would
be at least double that amount today, and prefer
ably triple; but the reporting associations have
been in existence an average of 14 years. During
their existence some of them have built up, from
earnings, sizable reserves, but others had deficits
at the end of 1947. For the whole group of re
porting stores the average net worth was half
again as large as the capital, and the total assets
more than twice as large. Even so, assets aver
aged only $98 per member for the stores and $92
for the petroleum associations.
It is evident that many associations do not
really own their businesses. Thus, among the re
porting store associations, in 11 percent the net
worth (capital, reserves, and undivided earnings)
constituted less than 25 percent of the total assets,
and in nearly 40 percent, net worth was less than
50 percent of the assets. In nearly 30 percent,
the net worth amounted to over 50 but under 75
percent of the assets and, in nearly a fourth, to
over 75 but under 90 percent. About a sixth of
the associations had a net worth of 90 percent
or more.
7
Fortunately, there is a growing awareness of the
necessity for adequate financing. M any newly
formed associations are postponing the opening of
their enterprise until sufficient funds are obtained
to enable the cooperative to do a good job.
T able 7.— Average capitalization of reporting retail coopera
tives 1947
Item
Average per association:
Share capital _ _ _ _ _
Total assets
_ _ _ __
Net worth
_
_ __ _
Average per member:
Share capital _
Assp.ts
_ _
Store associa
tions
Petroleum
associations
$23,463
63,167
37,908
$33,116
90,233
56,080
44
98
34
92
Cooperative Production
Generally speaking, cooperative production in
the United States is carried on by federations
rather than by retail associations. Only 14 of the
reporting local nonfarm distributive associations3
were doing any manufacturing in 1947. The pro
ductive enterprises reported consisted of bakeries
(6 associations), dairies (6 associations), slaughter
ing or meat-processing plants (6 associations), and
a tailor shop (1 association). Of the grand total
produced by 12 of the associations in 1947—
$7,960,647— bakery goods accounted for $332,699,
dairy products for $6,652,073, ice cream for
$611,534, meat products for $363,591, and tailoring
for $750. One large dairy association accounted
for 75 percent of the above total.
Education and Publicity
A considerable variety of educational media
was reported. The methods most commonly re
ported were meetings (weekly, monthly, quarterly,
semiannual, and annual membership meetings,
public “ rallies,” and meetings of small groups in
members, hom es); regular or occasional publica
tion of a co-op “ house organ” ; personal contacts
with members and nonmembers at the store or at
their homes; recreational events, including “ social
meetings” (2 associations reporting such meetings
operate clubhouses), concerts, summer camps,
showing of co-op and other films; study and dis9Of course, many farmers’ cooperatives operate feed mills in connection with
farm-supply stores, or meat-processing plants in connection with cold-storage
lockers; these, however, were not included in this study of nonfarm coopera
tives, and information on the value of their products is not available.
cussion groups, and speakers. Some associations
depended entirely on the cooperative press (usually
papers published by the regional wholesales) to
educate members in the philosophy and aims
of the cooperative movement; their means for
reaching nonmembers were not reported. About
a fifth of the total associations reporting stated
that they had an active educational committee.
Others depended on occasional volunteer workers.
Only one association reported having a full-time
educational director. Some associations use a va
riety of the above methods, others only one or two.
Of 171 store associations reporting on their
educational work, 10 said that none was done,
1 reported that “ very little” was done, and 1
stated that almost nothing was being carried on in
this line and that the methods used (not specified
in the report) were “ very poor.”
For publicity, 55 percent of the associations
reporting depended upon advertisements in local
papers. A bout 20 percent made use of flyers,
leaflets, window posters, and circular letters (either
alone or in addition to newspaper “ ads” ). One
association makes donations toward recreational
activities in the city parks, with attendant pub
licity for the cooperative. About 3 percent
put on demonstrations of “ co-op label” and other
products carried by the store. Twelve associa
tions did some advertising over local radio. About
5 percent stated that they did no advertising
of any kind, depending for publicity on such factors
as word-of-mouth reporting of payment of patron
age, low prices, quality merchandise, and good
service.
Other reported avenues of information to mem
bers and the public included mailed material, dis
tribution of cooperative literature at the stores
and at meetings, and news bulletins issued at
weekly, quarterly, and irregular intervals. One
association places cooperative literature in school
libraries and one places it in the public library.
Working Conditions and Wages
In 1947, the 257 nonfarm cooperatives reporting
as to employment and pay roll had 3,265 full-time
workers to whom they paid $6,718,218. For
associations reporting both employment and pay
roll, the average per employee per year was
$2,086 (about $40 per week); all types of labor
are included in these figures.
8
Slightly over two-fifths of the associations had
fewer than 5 employees each, about 35 percent had
5 but fewer than 10, about 14 percent had 10 but
fewer than 25, and about 5 percent had 25 but
fewer than 50. Only 2 associations had over 100
employees. Seven associations each had an an
nual pay roll of $100,000 or more.
Only 42 store associations reported that their
employees were organized into unions; in 2 addi
tional associations the butchers were members of
the union; and in another association the workers
were organizing at the time of the report. Of these
cooperatives, 33 had written collective agreements
with the unions to which their employees belonged,
and in another association an agreement was in
process of negotiation. Many of the associations
whose employees were not organized explained
that there was no retail clerks* union in the
vicinity for the workers to join.
In four of the nine reporting “ other distributive”
associations the employees were unionized and
were covered by collective agreement.
Union Labor and Nonfarm Cooperatives
Some of the oldest nonfarm cooperatives in the
United States were started with the assistance
or support o f labor organizations, but a larger
proportion of the new than of the established
cooperatives were thus formed. A study made
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in an endeavor
to learn to what extent organized labor is partici
pating in cooperatives, indicated that, on the
whole, comparatively few associations had the
assistance of unions during the promotion period.
In many instances, however, although unions as
such took no part, their members were leaders in
the project.
M ost o f the interest in cooperatives manifested
during the year 1947 by organized labor was
occasioned by the sharply increasing cost of living
(particularly the price of food). Numerous new
cooperatives have resulted, and some older as
sociations report that unionists have joined or are
patronizing the cooperative in varying numbers.
Other reports indicate, however, that in many
cases the interest died before anything concrete
resulted.
The assistance received from the unions has
taken various forms. These include promoting
cooperatives in talks at union meetings, holding
joint labor-cooperative meetings, endorsing coop
eratives (or individual associations) in union
resolutions, encouraging union members to join
and patronize cooperatives, carrying articles
regularly or occasionally in the union papers,
helping to organize new associations (through
volunteer or hired workers), and even lending or
investing union funds in new or established
cooperatives.
M any labor organizations were mentioned in
the reports from the cooperatives as having pro
vided one or more o f the above types of help.
Of these unions, slightly over 50 percent were AFL,
about 30 percent were CIO, and about 20 percent
were independent. The organizations whose mem
bers or locals were most frequently mentioned
were (in descending order o f frequency) the
following:
International Union o f United Automobile,
Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of
America (CIO)
United Steelworkers of America (CIO)
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
of America (AFL)
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
of America (AFL)
International Association of Machinists (inde
pendent)
International Union o f M ine, M ill & Smelter
Workers (CIO)
American Federation o f State, County & M u
nicipal Employees (AFL)
Textile Workers Union of America (CIO)
Amalgamated Clothing Workers o f America
(CIO)
Many cooperatives are in localities where there
are no labor unions. That would account in part
for the fact that in 21.7 percent of the associations
reporting on membership composition there were
no members of labor organizations. In 27.9 per
cent of the associations, unionists formed a tenth
or less o f the membership. A t the other extreme
were the associations— 31.0 percent of the total—
half or more of the members o f which belonged to
unions. Generally, in associations with any
sizable proportion o f union members, the compo
sition of the board o f directors reflected roughly
the same proportion.
9
Union Assistance in Organizing
Only a small proportion of these cooperatives
had been started with the help of unions. The
proportions were largest among the petroleum
associations (3 o f 13), the “ other distributive” (2
o f 9), the medical-care (2 o f 4), and the burial
associations (2 of 6). Of the 254 stores and buy
ing clubs, only 37 had the support o f labor organi
zations in getting started. None of the associa
tions providing rooms and/or meals, and none of
the housing, cold-storage, or “ other service”
associations had such help. Thus, in only 46 of
the 347 associations of all types had unions been
interested at the start; a large proportion of these
were the younger associations, formed within the
past few years.
In the case o f one new association, Negaunee
(M ich.) Cooperative Services, the idea of forming
the cooperative undoubtedly was bom when the
iron miners who constitute the main body of its
members received financial assistance, during their
strike in the spring o f 1947, from a cooperative in
a neighboring town and from the regional co
operative wholesale. Within a month after the
strike was settled, representatives o f five CIO
locals started a campaign which culminated in the
opening o f a cooperative store 9 months later.
A t the time o f the association’s report to the
Bureau, union interest was being maintained by
reports on the store’s progress, which were a
regular feature at local union meetings.
Three other newly organized associations— two
in Michigan and one in Minnesota—had free
publicity, assistance in organizing, and financial
help from unions, especially from the automobile
workers. In all o f them, CIO and AFL locals
united in promoting the cooperative. The M ichi
gan associations opened outlets o f the warehouse
type in D etroit and Pontiac, respectively, selling
the goods directly from the cases in which they
were shipped. In these cooperatives, unionists
form 70 and 75 percent of the membership.
Another outstanding example o f joint laborcooperative effort is the Peninsula Cooperative
Association in Hampton, Va. In a drive begun
by an independent union, Peninsula Shipbuilders
Association, share subscriptions to the cooperative
were collected (with the consent o f the employing
company) by means o f a voluntary salary check
off. Within 6 months (in January 1948) a com
plete food store, stocked largely with “ co-op
label” goods, was opened. Its first 3 days’ sales
totaled nearly $19,000; its sales for a month
amounted to $64,700. About 90 percent o f the
3,200 members belong to the labor organization
which sponsored the project. The president and
business manager of the union were serving as
president and treasurer, respectively, o f the
cooperative.
In the formation of a Negro association, Cooper
ative Commonwealth, Inc., in Gary, Ind., the steel
workers’ locals (CIO ), to which a large proportion
o f the members belonged, helped with publicity
and some funds. This association profited by the
mistakes o f a previous cooperative (which went
out o f business in 1941), and its formation was
preceded by several years of intensive educational
and promotional work among the prospective
members. Funds were raised, little by little over
a long period, through collectors who made
periodic calls upon subscribers. M uch o f the
construction on the building for the combination
grocery-drugstore-lunchroom enterprise which was
opened at the end o f 1946 was done by the mem
bers.
The Crane (Tex.) Cooperative Association,
organized in 1947, received wide publicity from
eight local unions, which also gave time for coop
erative speakers at their meetings. The president
o f the plumbers’ union became one o f the coop
erative’s directors. A t the time o f its report,
however, “ only a small percentage o f union labor
had actually signed up” for membership.
Some of the oldest associations also were started
by unions or their members. These include two
funeral associations, in Christopher and Gillespie,
HI., the capital for which was provided in the early
1920’s by local unions of the United Mine Workers.
The largest consumers’ cooperative creamery in
the United States, Franklin Cooperative Creamery
Association, Minneapolis, was started by striking
milk-wagon drivers, with the support o f the
unions.
One of the urban petroleum associations, Coop
erative Services, the headquarters of which are now
in St. Paul, M inn., started operations in Minne
apolis in 1933, with the endorsement of the Central
Labor Union of the city, in a station leased from
the Labor Temple Association. Its organizers were
all union men. During its 15-year existence it
has had the support o f the local labor unions
10
generally. The association, which operates four
gasoline stations and a repair garage in the Twin
Cities, is currently receiving publicity and support
from 15 different locals, some of which invested
funds in the cooperative.
Labor Interest and Support
Improved Support. Among the store associations,
only a small number (82 in all) reported any
increase in support from unions or their mem
bers since the formation o f the cooperative. Of
these one noted that the increase was “ very slight,”
and another stated that the interest expressed
itself m ostly in “ talk” and not in patronage of
the store.
In Massachusetts, “ 50 percent o f the union
members in one bakery” joined the greater Boston
Cooperative Society; other unions, the members
o f which also have joined the cooperative in vary
ing proportions, are those o f the teachers and of
State, county, and municipal workers (both AFL).
A t the end of 1947, however, unionists constituted
only about 18 percent of its 575 members. One
Pennsylvania cooperative was witnessing “ the
beginning o f a rather spasmodic support” by indi
vidual unionists, mostly members o f the longshore
men’s union (AFL).
The United Cooperative Society, Maynard,
M ass., which started over 40 years ago, before
the local woolen mill was unionized, reported that
support from unionists (though not from unions
themselves) was increasing. About 50 percent
o f its 2,567 members belonged to the union (CIO)
at the end o f 1947. A cooperative in Michigan,
the membership of which contains large groups of
factory workers, office employees, and teachers,
reported an access of interest by both CIO and
AFL locals, but “ no one union has put any con
certed effort behind cooperatives.” Sixty percent
o f its members are unionists.
The Cloquet (M inn.) Cooperative Society,
one o f the largest in the United States, was
started in 1910, long before labor organizations
appeared in the community. Its employees were
the first in town— and for some years, the only
store employees— to be unionized. Assistance to
striking sawmill and paper-mill workers in 1920
and 1922 won continued union gratitude and good
will. Members o f these unions were conducting
a stock-selling campaign and educational drive
for the cooperative, among factory workers, at the
time of the association’s report to the Bureau.
This association lost its store and goods in a forest
fire in 1918 which destroyed the whole town.
Since that year, however, it has never sustained
an operating loss. It has returned to its members
in refunds on purchases the sum of $1,006,675,
in addition to $100,808 in interest on their share
capital. It is outstanding in the variety o f goods
and services provided. .A t the end o f 1947, about
30 percent of its members were unionists.
The Janesville (W is.) Consumers Cooperative
Association, started just before World W ar II
by CIO and AFL union members who combined
forces for the purpose, had lately noticed more
pronounced labor interest. The AFL Central
Labor Union (with 23 affiliated unions) and the
CIO Automobile Workers had each appointed a
standing committee on cooperatives, and the
latter union had become a fraternal member of
the association. Organized workers formed 60
percent of this association’s membership in 1947.
In Illinois, an association which had had no
support from unions as such found that “ union
members join readily” when approached; mem
bers of organized labor formed 50 percent of the
cooperative membership in 1947. A California
association, started in 1936, states: “ Now, after
12 years, we do have union members but no active
support or sponsorship; however, labor support
is growing. The local newspaper o f the AFL
Central Labor Union gives us bimonthly articles.”
An iron miners’ cooperative in Minnesota,
which began operations in 1926, reported that
recently members of the barbers’ and steel work
ers’ unions (both CIO) and railroad workers
(AFL) had become interested. Another associa
tion in this State reported that the Trades and
Labor Assembly was promoting cooperatives
through a series o f labor-cooperative conferences.
A third Minnesota association, formed just before
the war by members of the longshoremen’s union
(AFL), stated that several union locals, both
AFL and CIO, had recently formed cooperative
committees. Sixty percent o f the cooperative’s
membership belong to labor organizations.
In a Pacific Coast association started by AFL
union shipyard workers, members o f unions still
constituted 90 percent of the membership. After
8 years of operation its membership had reached
only 250, but new members had recently been
11
coming in from the teamsters’ and teachers’ unions
(AFL).
The Bacine (W is.) Consumers Cooperative
Association, also started by unionists, began in
1933 with a single gasoline service station. Mem
bers o f labor organizations form 75 percent of its
2,700 members. The greatest support has come
from CIO automobile workers (automobile manu
facture is the largest single industry in the city),
but AFL unionists are now reported to be partici
pating actively also. The association has 2 food
stores, 4 gasoline stations, a coal yard, and an
insurance agency.
A Pennsylvania association reported that one
local union ran articles on cooperatives in its paper
for a whole year; many union leaders were reported
to be members of this cooperative. In an Ohio
city, an AFL union had been issuing “ certificate
dollars’’ to be spent at the cooperative store.
Investment of union funds in shares of the coop
erative or in loans to the association was reported
from Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and New
Y ork; and an association in New York State, the
members of which are from 28 local unions, had
one local join the cooperative as a member.
Cooperative Services, Indianapolis—a coal coop
erative in the starting of which unions had a
hand—reported increased patronage from unions
buying coal to heat union halls, and considerable
publicity and endorsement at union meetings by
both CIO and AFL locals. A milk-distributing
cooperative in Michigan, although not started by
unionists, has since been aided by a small amount
of union funds, and the CIO locals have encouraged
their members to join ; in 1947, 80 percent of the
members were unionists.
One of the recreation cooperatives— a symphony
orchestra—reports that “ union leaders have be
come patron members and have supported and
participated in concerts.” Another association,
which operates a meeting hall equipped with
snack bar, and promotes recreational events, was
started by members of the unions of dining-car
employees and marine cooks and stewards (both
CIO ). The Pullman-car porters and their ladies’
auxiliaries (AFL) had become interested also.
No Improvement in Support. Other cooperatives
reported less encouraging situations. The mana
ger of a new association in the Midwest stated that
unions had not cooperated as they promised while
the store was being started; the local union of
electrical workers (AFL) “ was the only one that
really helped.” An eastern seaboard cooperative
reported “ obstruction” by the AFL local unions.
An Illinois association had held meetings with
certain AFL unions, but had “ no real support.”
In one city in New York, “ membership in the
cooperative has been urged by labor leaders, but
only a few [union members] have joined.” A
Pennsylvania cooperative reported only “ luke
warm” support, and one in Washington State
noted “ some interest but no very active support.”
In a Connecticut town, a local CIO union “ started
to boost it [the cooperative] for a while but it
soon died out.” A Massachusetts cooperative
noted that union members had “ expressed inter
est, but few have joined” ; unionists formed only
10 percent of the total membership at the end of
1947. A similar situation existed in an Ohio city,
where the cooperative had been the object of
interest by the AFL and CIO central labor
organizations, but had only “ negligible” support
in terms of purchases at the store. In a Pennsyl
vania association the only evidence o f union
interest occurred when a “ small group” of CIO
textile workers joined; only 5 percent o f its
members in 1947 were unionists.
Unionists in Membership and in Directorship
Cooperatives do not ordinarily set out deliber
ately to accord labor organizations or their
members representation on the board of directors.
The usual criteria for nomination are membership
in the cooperative and ability to perform the
duties o f the office. The number of unionists on
a cooperative board is usually, therefore, the
result o f chance (or composition of the member
ship) rather than o f design.
It appears, nevertheless, that on the whole,
union representation on the board of directors of
the cooperatives reporting in this study corre
sponds rather closely with the proportion of
unionists in the membership. Members of labor
unions constituted 50 percent or more of the co
operative membership in 31.0 percent o f the
associations reporting, but only 10 percent or less
in 49.6 percent of them. In 51.2 percent of the
associations which had unionists on the board of
directors, half or more of the cooperative’s mem
bers belonged to labor unions; in 23.0 percent,
12
unionists constituted 10 percent or less of the
cooperative membership. On the other hand,
among the associations that had no directors be
longing to labor unions, unionists form 10 percent
or less of the membership in 85.2 percent of the
associations (in this group, 53.3 percent had no
union members at all).
Rural-Urban Cooperation
Farmer-nonfarmer contacts within the cooper
ative movement have been increasing in recent
years. Farmers’ purchasing cooperatives, in grow
ing numbers, have been admitting nonfarm people
to membership, although to do so means forfeiting
eventually their farmers’ exemptions under the
Federal income tax. In numerous places farm
and village or city people have joined in the for
mation of new cooperatives, and in the operations
of existing ones. A recent survey by the United
States Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed numer
ous ways in which farmers and industrial workers
are cooperating.4
Cooperation Within Cooperatives
The membership composition of the reporting
associations indicates in itself collaboration of
farm and nonfarm consumers within the same as
sociation, to supply their families with commod
ities and services. Although there have been
numerous scattered instances previously, such
joint effort has become common only in compara
tively recent years.
Mixed farm and nonfarm membership seems to
be more common among the distributive associa
tions (stores, gasoline stations, etc.) than among
the service associations. However, in Nebraska a
cooperative cold-storage association was organized
by farmers and townspeople acting together, and
now serves both. A new cooperative hospital as
sociation in Texas, the membership of which con
sists mostly of farmers, reports that a number of
carpenters “ have expressed a desire to become
members, and want to earn their membership by
doing construction work on our buildings.” Some
4The Bureau's study was based on returns from 392 associations, which
fell into three classes: (1) Cooperatives predominately nonfarm in member
ship (324 associations); (2) cooperatives the membership of which consists
about equally (within a range of 40-60 percent) of farm and nonfarm people
(40 associations); and (3) cooperatives in which the nonfarm members are a
factor (constituting at least 25 percent) but which are predominately of
farmer membership (28 associations).
of the new hospital associations in the Pacific
Northwest, also, are sponsored by both farm
organizations and labor unions and have individ
uals of both groups as members.
Among the distributive associations, several
Wisconsin cooperatives, predominantly of farmer
membership, report that both union and nonunion
townspeople are beginning to join. In the Tomah
Cooperative Oil Association, AFL railroad workers
form about 5 percent of the membership; in
Cloverbelt Cooperative Services (Wausau), factory
workers constitute 8 to 10 percent. Organized
truck drivers and metalworkers form about 5 per
cent of the membership of the Burlington Con
sumers Cooperative; this association states that
“ the cooperative is frequently used by the unions
during emergencies.”
A store association in Crescent City, Calif., was
assisted in organizing by the field representatives
of two cooperative wholesales (one an urban and
the other a farmer organization). Farmers com
prise about 60 percent of the cooperative’s current
membership; about 10 percent are unionists.
Farmers and members of a local machinists’ union
(in the proportions of 2 to 3) form the membership
of a buying club in Defiance, Ohio. It was re
ported, in the fall of 1947, that in an Oklahoma
oil-field area, a new cooperative had been organized
by farmers and oil-field workers which would ulti
mately also take over for operation an existing
farmers’ petroleum cooperative. In Ogden, Utah,
a farmers’ supply cooperative and a grocery co
operative were reported to have merged. A sub
stantial proportion of the members of a carpenters’
local union in Pasco, Wash., was reported to have
joined a local farmers’ cooperative.
The Fort Bragg Cooperative Mercantile Corp.,
the oldest consumers’ cooperative store association
in California, exemplifies farmer-nonfarmer co
operation within one association over a long period.
Formed in 1923 by a group of Finnish sawmill
workers and woodsmen, it was financially success
ful from the start. B y 1929 it had opened a bakery
(still in operation) as an adjunct to its general
store. In 1947, its business reached an all-time
peak of $648,128. From earnings of $17,450 for
that year, a patronage refund of $10,814 was re
turned. Farmers in increasing numbers have
joined the association. Of its 1947 membership of
461 (the town’s population is only about 3,500),
farmers constituted about half, unionists about a
13
fourth. The association’s continuing labor sym
pathies are shown by the fact that, during the
lumber workers’ strike in the spring of 1946, the
cooperative contributed $100 a month to the
strikers’ relief fund. The association obtains its
produce, etc., directly from farmers’ cooperatives
as much as possible; it is also a local agent for the
Poultry Producers of Central California.
Cooperation Between Cooperatives
The recent attacks upon the cooperative move
ment (particularly the farmers’ cooperatives) by
private business groups have had the effect of
drawing the two branches of the movement closer
together in some cases. Thus, in a number of
places in the Midwest, as well as in at least one
New England State, cooperative councils have
been formed in which both urban and rural co
operatives of all kinds participate. The purpose
of these councils is not only defense, but also the
exchange of experience and ideas and the further
promotion of the cooperative movement.
On the national level, of the 17 regional whole
sales in the United States which are members of
National Cooperatives,5 all but 3 are primarily of
farmer membership. The Cooperative League of
the United States of America, which is the national
educational organ of the cooperative movement,
was until the early 1930’s almost entirely com
posed of urban associations. It recently reported
that 80 percent of its membership is rural and
only 20 percent urban.
Direct Trading with Farmers’ Cooperatives. In the
United States, practically all of the regional whole
sales which handle groceries and produce make it a
practice to obtain their supplies from farmers’
marketing and processing associations. These
products include canned and fresh fruits and vege
tables, butter, etc. Because of the large quantities
involved, it is usually more feasible for such trans
actions to be carried on by the wholesales rather
than the retail cooperatives. Nevertheless, nearly
27 percent of the 370 associations reporting in the
Bureau’s study used farmers’ cooperatives as a
source of supply, obtaining from them such things
as milk, butter, eggs, and produce, and even meat
products. The greater the proportion of farmers in
the membership, the more common was the prac
tice of direct trading. Even among the strictly *
* It also has seven affiliates in Canada.
nonfarm associations, over 21 percent reported
such a policy; many others explained either that
there were no farmers’ cooperatives near enough
to make it practicable or that their farm products
were obtained through the regional wholesale.
In Indianapolis, Ind., Cooperative Services,
Inc., which operates several coal yards, is a mem
ber of the regional cooperative wholesale, Indiana
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, and ob
tains its supplies through that organization. One
of the retail cooperative’s directors is a member of
the Indiana Farm Bureau.
Early in 1948 an organization was formed in
Pontiac, M ich., to facilitate the purchase of prod
uce directly from farmers, for sale in the new
cooperative stores in Pontiac and nearby cities.
The organizing group is reported to have included
representatives of the Michigan Farmers Union,
the Pontiac Consumers Cooperative, the Michigan
CIO Council, and the automobile workers’ union
(UAW -CIO). It is reported, also, that a coopera
tive of small citrus-fruit growers has been formed
in Florida, which will sell directly to ClO-sponsored cooperatives in the North.
The United Cooperative Society, in Maynard,
Mass., is an example of direct trading and coopera
tion with other cooperatives. Formed in 1907, the
association is one of the oldest as well as one of
the five largest nonfarm store cooperatives (as
regards volume of business) in the United States.
Its air-conditioned department store is a coopera
tive “ show place.” In addition, it operates two
branch food stores, a gasoline station, and a coal
and grain department. Its business in 1947
reached a peak of $1,390,384, as compared with
$1,169,273 in 1946. Earnings in these years were
$42,010 and $37,094, respectively, from which
$27,641 and $29,623 were returned in patronage
refunds. In its 40 years of operation, only 1 year
(1920) showed an operating loss. Membership
in 1947 stood at 2,567 (the town’s population is
less than 7,000). About 50 percent of these
members belong to labor unions; about 10 percent
are farmers.
For over 30 years the association has traded
directly with dairy farmers, obtaining its supplies
of milk from them and paying them higher-thancurrent rates. Its feeds, poultry, and eggs are
purchased from a farmers’ cooperative in Fitch
burg, and vegetables in season from nearby
farmers. Although the association has found that
14
the farmers usually join the cooperative only if it
buys their products, on the basis of its long experi
ence the association feels “ that there is no ir
reconcilable conflict of interest between the
farmers and the urban consumers; and that both
of these important social elements can work
together in consumers, cooperatives for a just
and fair solution of their common problems, to
the complete satisfaction of both.”
The Maynard cooperative was a charter mem
ber of the Cooperative League of the USA,
formed in 1915, and also of the regional cooperative
wholesale, now Eastern Cooperatives, Inc., formed
in 1928.
A single association reported having discon
tinued the practice of direct trading because of
unfavorable experiences. Numerous reports from
other associations indicated that such relation
ships were both practicable and satisfactory, when
both parties to the transaction were reasonable in
their expectations and demands.
Combined Trading and Membership
Certain cooperatives have worked out tech
niques combining membership and business re
lationships with farmers and the latters* coopera
tives, and have devised ingenious methods for
sharing the economic savings (resulting from the
elimination of the middleman) between the pro
ducer-suppliers and member-consumers.
Cooperative Trading, Inc., Waukegan, 111., is
the largest nonfarm consumers’ cooperative in the
United States. It was started in 1910 as a buying
club by a group of housewives, in protest against
a 2-cent rise in the price of milk (then selling at
6 cents a quart). The next year the cooperative
bought a small dairy, obtaining its supplies
directly from local farmers— a practice since con
tinued without change. Continuous expansion
has made the cooperative the largest retail milk
distributor in the city. In addition, it operates 8
food stores and meat markets, a gasoline service
station, an electrical-appliance store (which alsoprovides repair service), an ice cream plant, a
bakery, a sausage plant, and a lunchroom. All
these facilities have been financed from earnings.
Its own plants produced, in 1947, commodities
valued at $1,068,480. The total sales in that year
amounted to $2,751,468 ($1,752,750 in 1946) on
which the net savings amounted to $46,551
($64,105 in 1946). In the 36 years of its existence,
the association has sustained operating losses
only in 4 years (1911, 1916, 1917, and 1918).
Altogether, its 6,000 members have received from
the association over half a million dollars in
patronage refunds, besides interest on share capital.
The farmer-suppliers constitute a “ rural dis
trict” of the cooperative and about 2 percent of
its total membership. They have one represent
ative on its board of 12 directors. These farmer
members receive the current rate for their milk,
and, in addition, a “ premium” at one-third of the
rate returned on customers’ purchases from the
association. Thus, if a 3-percent patronage refund
is returned, the premium to the farmer amounts to
1 percent on the value of the total milk marketed
by him through the cooperative.
The Consumer-Farmer M ilk Cooperative, Inc.,
Long Island City, N. Y ., was started in 1938,
without share capital or assets, by a group of urban
welfare workers and religious and labor leaders, as
a joint enterprise with local dairy farmers’ coop
eratives. Its aim, as stated by the president, was
“ to develop an efficient, economical method of
distributing milk, as a means of increasing milk
consumption and giving the farmers a larger share
of the consumers’ milk dollar.” Producers who
supplied milk, and the members of each pro
ducers’ cooperative which entered into a contract
to supply milk, automatically became voting
members of the Consumer-Farmer Cooperative, on
payment of a membership fee equivalent to 25
cents a farmer member. Individual consumers
likewise were admitted, on payment of a 25-cent
membership fee and a promise to buy from the
association at least $5 worth of milk a year. Each
member in both of these classes of membership
was entitled to one vote in the affairs of the
association.
The farmers receive for their products the high
est prevailing price in the area where produced.
Evidence of the patron’s purchase is a coupon
printed on the side of the paraffined container.
These coupons are cut out and sent in for redemp
tion in quantities of 100 or more.
From association earnings, a sum equal to 15
cents per 100 quarts of milk handled is divided
among the farmer-suppliers and the consumerpatrons. One-third of this sum is returned as a
bonus on the milk supplied and two-thirds are
15
returned to patrons on their purchases. The re
mainder of the association’s earnings is used for
expansion.
The organization currently owns two country
milk-receiving and cooling plants, one of which is
equipped also for the manufacture of cheese,
cream, condensed milk, etc. It also has a part
interest in a farmers’ cooperative milk plant. In
addition to supplying the dealer-operated agencies
which distribute its milk at retail, the association
operates a number of “ milk depots” in settlement
houses, housing projects, and churches, where the
milk is sold at several cents below the prevailing
retail price.
A t the end of 1947, this cooperative was serving
about 25,000 consumers, of whom 6,431 were
member-patrons in Greater New York. Its busi
ness in that year totaled $1,863,641, as compared
with $1,601,466 in 1946; net earnings amounted to
$24,435 and $49,366, respectively. In the last 10
years of its operations, besides financing all its new
facilities, the association has returned to the pro
ducer and consumer members in refunds a total of
$141,963. In the year 1947, it paid to producermembers premiums amounting to $74,576, in addi
tion to the bonus noted above.
From the beginning, the cooperative has oper
ated with union labor, and its 45 workers are pro
tected by collective-bargaining agreements.
The bylaws provide for a board of 15 directors,
of whom 6 may be nominated by farm groups.
Actually, at the end of 1947, the cooperative had
3 farmer directors (1 representing each group sup
plying m ilk); 9 directors were consumers.
Consumer-Sponsored Farmers’ Markets. A very
recent development is the sponsoring of farmers’
markets by urban consumers’ cooperatives. The
advantages claimed for these markets are fresher
produce at lower-than-current prices for the pur
chaser and, for the farmer, a channel for disposing
o f his products at more than would be realized
through the usual channels of distribution.8 All
of those which have come to the attention of the
Bureau are in California—in San Jose, Santa
M onica, Oakland, and Los Angeles.
• In some places in the United States (notably in Ohio, Indiana, and New
York) farmers* marketing associations have opened retail outlets for their
products; in such cases the patron may benefit under a profit-sharing arrange
ment but has no vote on policies and never becomes a member. Such enter
prises were not included in the present study.
In 1947 Consumers Cooperative o f San Jose
offered a site to be used for direct selling b y
farmers to consumers. A t that time prices offered
to the growers were below production costs,
whereas the retail prices asked had risen sharply.
An association of farmers was formed, the mem
bers of which voted to assess themselves to finance
the erection o f permanent sheds to house the
market, on the cooperative’s proffered land. The
local labor unions publicized the project among
their members.
The market days began on October 18, being
held first only on Saturday and then on Wednes
day as well. According to a report of the farmers’
association,7some 4,000 customers are served each
market day. Operation of the market has en
abled the farmers to dispose of products that
would otherwise have “ rotted in storage,” and in
many cases has “ meant the difference between
financial embarrassment and realizing a small
profit on the year’s crop.” It has meant fresher
vegetables and fruit, as well as substantial savings
for the housewife. It is claimed, additionally,
that the market has acted as a “ check against
unreasonable prices.” In the first 19 market
days, the farmers made sales totaling about
$40,000, and the purchasers realized savings esti
mated at about $15,000.
Some 60 farmers have been certified as entitled to
use the market; an average of 35 use the facilities
on any one day. Those who contributed for the
construction of the sheds became members of the
sponsoring cooperative. About 10 percent of the
latter’s members are farmers; unionists form the
largest group of members (80 percent).
The market, which is a department of the Con
sumers Cooperative o f San Jose, has received the
endorsement of a number of local CIO and AFL
labor organizations, as well as of the Grange and
the Farm Bureau.
A similar market has been opened by the Con
sumers Cooperative Society of Santa Monica.
Sheds for a farmers’ market were constructed on
the 3-acre site of that association’s new store in
West Los Angeles. The market is open every
Saturday. A feature of the new facilities is a
play area for children of patrons, staffed by
volunteer supervisors.
7 San Jose Fanners Cooperative Market. Report of operations, Odtober
18-December 18,1947.
16
In Oakland, Consumers Cooperative Enter
prises (a petroleum cooperative with a “ food
canteen” ) is reported to have sponsored a farmers’
market on its land adjoining the gasoline station.
The market is under the management o f a com
mittee composed of cooperative, farmer, and labor
representatives.
A farmers’ market was started in Los Angeles
in the fall of 1947, on land owned by the local
machinists’ union (independent). Later, a small
store built by volunteer labor was opened under
the sponsorship of that union, and the unions of
oil and automobile workers (both CIO).
Central Organizations
Summary figures showing membership, busi
ness, earnings, and patronage refunds for the
various types of central business organizations are
shown in table 8. All of these items show sub
stantial progress as compared with 1946.
The 66 central organizations reported a total
membership of 5,661 associations. These should
not be assumed to be 5,661 different associations,
as this figure includes a great deal of duplication.
This duplication is not so great among the regional
wholesales (although in a few cases retail associa
tions are members of more than one regional), but
probably the m ajority of the affiliates of the dis
trict wholesales are also members of the regional
wholesale which serves the territory in which they
are situated. Likewise, the members of the serv
ice and productive federations (especially the
latter) may belong not only to several federations
but also to the regional wholesale.
T a b l e 8. — Summary
Wholesale Associations
Membership
Two additional Canadian regional wholesales
became affiliated with National Cooperatives,
Inc., in 1947. These were Cooperative Federee
(Quebec) and Maritime Cooperative Services
(New Brunswick). N ot being in the United States,
statistics for neither of these organizations are
included here.
National Cooperatives estimated that the 5,529
retail members of its 24 regional affiliates (7 of
which are in Canada) were serving 1,709,000
individual members at the end of 1947. Of the 23
regional wholesales in the United States which
reported to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20
estimated that their 3,847 local member associa
tions had 1,450,700 individual members in 1947;
13 of these (with 3,392 affiliated associations hav
ing an estimated membership of 1,261,600) were
members of National Cooperatives.
Altogether, 4,134 local associations were mem
bers of the 23 regional cooperative wholesales
reporting (table 9), representing (for associations
reporting for both 1947 and 1946) a 9.3-percent
increase.
Distributive Facilities8
Among the regional wholesales, Associated
Cooperatives of California dropped the dealeragent program which had been adopted to accel
erate the organization of cooperatives in farm
areas.9 The reason given was that the arrange8 For information on expansion of service and productive facilities of whole*
sales, see pp. 20 and 22.
•See Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 904, p. 17.
of operations of cooperative wholesales and service and productive federations, 1946
Wholesales
Item
All federations
Interregional
Number of federations reporting...........................................
Number of member associations...........................................
Total business........................................................................
Wholesale distributive....................................................
T^etail distributive
__ ___
____ _____ _____________
Sftrvifift
r
Value of own production........................................... ...........
Net earnings, all departments.......... - ..................................
Patronage refunds, all departments.....................................
Loss.
66
6,661
$326,373,646
312,876,773
6,478,525
6,019,248
128,420,867
18,520,108
14,650,986
1
24
$10,681,140
10,681,140
1,746,382
U6,632
Begional
23
4,134
$263,990,790
243,249,008
6,478,525
4,263,257
78,345,967
15,347,688
12,225,345
District
Service federa
tions
10
166
$5,568,841
5,304,912
16
951
$1,492,062
263,929
1,153,381
246,779
171,795
1,492,062
67,096
40,226
Productive
federations
16
386
$53,740,713
53,740,713
47,175,137
2,875,177
2,213,620
17
ment had become unnecessary because of the rate
at which rural cooperatives, independent of the
dealer program, had developed. In 1947, Central
States Cooperatives (Illinois) decided to open a
branch warehouse in Detroit to supply cooperatives
and unions in that area, when sufficient capital
had been subscribed locally. B y early N o
vember, nine local trade-unions had subscribed
$13,560 toward a goal of $30,000. The marketing
of poultry, eggs, and wool was begun in 1947 by
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association.
Because of the rapid expansion of the propane
(“ liquefied” ) gas department of Farmers Union
Central Exchange (Minnesota), that association
by the end of the year had constructed three bulk
gas plants and had nearly completed a fourth.
Minnesota Farm Bureau Service Co. added bag
unloading facilities, to expedite its work, and
Consumers’ Cooperative Association (Missouri)
purchased a site in Denver for a new warehouse.
The annual meeting of the Farmers Union State
Exchange (Nebraska) held in February, directed
the board to obtain a jobbing agency for lumber.
A new bag conveyor was installed by the Ohio
Farmers Grain & Supply Association, to facilitate
truck and car loading of feed and fertilizer. W ith
its new facilities and expanded lines of merchan
dise, the association expected to be able, shortly,
to “ offer a complete line of feeds for every pur
pose.” Utah Cooperative Association reported
that it had added to its staff a full-time instructor
to train the appliance-service men of the local
associations.
Consumers Cooperatives Asso
ciated (Texas) added a million-gallon gasoline
terminal at Dumas, T ex.; also a warehouse in
Little Rock, Ark., to supply the growing number
of affiliates in that State. A t the end of 1947, the
association was doing business in Arkansas, Colo
rado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New M exico, Okla
homa, and Texas.
Pacific Supply Cooperative (Washington) an
nounced that it would build a branch warehouse
in Spokane to serve associations in Idaho and east
ern Washington. Central Cooperative Whole
sale (Wisconsin) opened a branch warehouse in
Escanaba, M ich., to serve the upper peninsula of
that State; it also obtained a new warehouse in
Superior, Wis., for farm machinery and building
supplies.
In addition to a new warehouse, Wisconsin Co
operative Farm Supply began to carry light hard
ware; it discontinued handling whole grains.
Among the district wholesales, Northland Co
operative Federation (Michigan) announced plans
for a bulk distributing plant in Nadeau, using a
nearby cooperative as retailer; also for a bulk
plant at Chatham as soon as materials and tanks
became available. It discontinued handling farm
machinery and insulation materials, as these are
being sold by the retail associations in its area.
Fox River Valley Cooperative Wholesale (Wis
consin) and Trico Cooperative Oil Association
(Minnesota) each added a new warehouse and the
latter also installed four 17,000-gallon storage
tanks. Cooperative Services, at Maple, Wis.,
began the construction of a new building to house
its office staff and repair shop.
At the end of 1947, only 3 regionals were
running retail branches; these had a total of 20
such establishments. All but 2 wholesales were
doing warehousing, operating altogether 81 ware
houses. One regional had 16, one had 13, one had
11, three had 5 each, one had 4, two had 3, five had
2 each, and the other six had 1 each.
Distributive Operations
W ithout exception, the regional wholesales for
which data are available for both 1946 and 1947,
had substantial increases in volume (table 9),
amounting for the whole group to 37.6 percent in
distributive business and 65.5 percent in service
business. Among the district wholesales the in
creases were 17.0 and 45.5 percent, respectively,
with one of the associations reporting a decrease
in volume.
Total
wholesale
volume
amounted
to
$253,990,790 in 1947. Cooperative wholesale
grocery business was generally carried on at a
loss in 1947. This was indicated in the operating
losses of two wholesales handling groceries only or
mainly and in the grocery-department losses of
three other associations handling other commodi
ties as well. Nevertheless, net earnings of the
regional wholesales (all departments) exceeded
15}£ million dollars, and from this amount patron
age refunds of nearly 12 Yamillion were returned to
members.
18
The report of Midland Cooperative Wholesale
gives evidence of the value of the productive
activities. In addition to earnings from its own
productive plants (making feed, insecticides, re
fined petroleum products, and lubricating oil)
the wholesale received, from the 9 productive fed
erations of which it is a member, patronage re
funds totaling $745,020— constituting over 60 per
cent of its total earnings of $1,178,847. Farmers
Union Central Exchange reported that, in addi
tion to its “ cash net savings” of $2,428,513, patron
age refunds from other cooperatives totaled
$588,744. Seventy-nine percent of the total earn
ings of Consumers Cooperatives Associated (Texas)
were attributable to the operations of its produc
tive plants.
T able 9.— Distributive and service business, net earnings, and patronage refunds of cooperative wholesales, 1946 and 19471
[Associations marked * are members of National Cooperatives2]
Number of
affiliated
associations
Amount of business
1947
1947
1946
$10,581,140
$16,900,000
Association, and location of its headquarters
All associations:
Interregional...................
Regional:
Wholesale business..
Retail business....... .
Service business___
District:
Wholesale business.
Service business___
24
1
[4,134
}
106
1946
22
f 243,249,008
3,816 { 6,478,525
1 4,263,257
f
112 \
5,304,912
263,929
Net earnings
1947
* $16,632
1946
Patronage refunds
1947
0
0
177,354,657 1
5,773,769 >15,347,688 $10,360,099 $12,225,345
2,414,826
3,454,237 }
181,307
246,779
1946
181,504
171,795
$8,121,316
128,695
Interregional
24
Illinois—National Cooperatives (Chicago)...............................
22
* 10,581,140
16,900,000
1,038,894
928,371
110,523
756,229
1,633,392
1,615,418
17,974
518,609
471,538
47,071
335,659
1,203,385
1,180,308
23,077
*16,632
0
0
Regional
California—Associated Cooperatives 8(Oakland) *..................
Distributive business, wholesale........................................
Service business...................................................................
Idaho—Idaho Grange Wholesale8 (Shoshone)........................
Illinois—Central States Cooperatives • (Chicago)*.................
Distributive business, wholesale........................................
Service business...................................................................
Indiana—Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association
(Indianapolis) *............ .................................................. ........
Distributive business, wholesale....... ..............................
Service business.... ..............................................................
Iowa—
Iowa Farm Service Co.1* (Des Moines).............................
Cooperative Service Co.6 (Waterloo).................................
Michigan—Farm Bureau Services12 (Lansing)*.....................
Distributive business, wholesale........................................
Distributive business, retail...............................................
Service business................- ...............................................
M innesotaMidland Cooperative Wholesale (Minneapolis)*..............
Distributive business, wholesale.................................
Service business............................................................
Farmers Union Central Exchange (St. Paul)*.................
Minnesota Farm Bureau Service Co. (St. Paul)..............
Missouri—
Consumers Cooperative Association12 (Kansas City)*.
Distributive business, wholesale................................ .
Service business............................................................
Farm Bureau Service Co. of Missouri12 (Jefferson City)..
Nebraska—Farmers Union State Exchange (Omaha)*......... .
Distributive business, wholesale........................................
Distributive business, retail...............................................
Service business................................................................. .
New York—Eastern Cooperatives, Inc. (New York)*.......... .
Distributive business, wholesale......... ............................
Service business..................................................................
Ohio—
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association (Columbus)*___
Distributive business, wholesale................................
Service business............................................................
Ohio Farmers Grain and Supply Association (Fostoria).
Distributive business, wholesale................................
Distributive business, retail.......................................
Oregon—Oregon Grange Wholesale (Portland).......................
Pennsylvania—Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative
Association (Harrisburg)*....................................................
Distributive business, wholesale........................................
Service business................................................................. .
Texas—Consumers Cooperative Association (Amarillo)*.......
Distributive business, wholesale................................
Distributive business, retail.......................................
Utah—Utah Cooperative Association (Salt Lake City)*.
See footnotes at end of table.
I 42
|
13
|
112
1
\
I
86
(9
34
1
153
1
\
1
509
1
[
425
74
1
| 1,195
22
300
• 175
89
*
215
(9
•
28
252
14
f
31 <
l
11
f
112 <
l
f 23,986,167
86 <1° 22,944,211
l 1,041,956
1
[
215,958
2 2,053
211,518
67,006
22,589
67,006
22,589
*33,614
9,618
217,343
]
[
5,148
18,961,538 ]
18,478,474 >112,627,947 ii 1,761,742 112,627,947
483,064
4,192,461
132,677
f 15,875,335
1 11,214,919
153 1 4,539,203
l
121,213
2,846,591
0
11,617,848
8,257,822
3,277,324
82,702
102,079
0
377,077
316,094
70,970
* 9,987
u 1,579,914
0
51,896
100,230
0
• 2 277,728
2 334,870
f 23,084,288
440 < 22,896,889
l
187,399
28,517,326
400
3,309,979
73
15,964,436 1
15,793,110 HU,178,847
ii 622,554
ii 822,526
171,326
20,403,330 J*2,428,513 i« 1,976,130 i* 1,891,668
2,216,751
i* 135,193
i* 266,521
i* 266,521
i* 1,269,476
i* 134,973
f 39,202,613
1,015 \ 38,367,736
l
834,877
480,611
6,563,502
4,784,457
338
1,678,947
100.098
6,327,260
168 • 6,317,818
9,442
26,698,547 1
26,069,029 [n3,806,837 ii 1,665,299 112,546,329
629,518
1,916
219,138
4,850,223
289.398
381,878
155,036
3,508,931
289.398
381,878
1,341,292
64,102
0
0
0
6,193,446
W
6,186,100 > *91,176
*13,340
7,346
37,177,490
89 ■ 36,375,996
801,494
2,544,964
2,284,589
198
260,375
14
0
28,097,550
27,598,761 ni,855,203 ii 1,501,276 «1,104,176
498,789
1,872,502
1,646,681 ■ii 114,703
ii 84,544
“ 94,218
225,821
1,012,376
70,478
0
0
71
(9
0
18 73,659
277,727
240,478
69,380
* 32,131
8
1
14,569,072 1
14,402,019 [ 10,789,634
28
167,053
8,444,997
5,616,409
207 < 168,444,997
4,687,077
929,332
0
20
1,014,527
572,533
11408,416
ii 1,328,700
184,003
138,138
45,865
0
«894,777
«66,812
70,237
ii 394,852
i» 272,191
H 220,348
i« 171,607
368,226
»368,226
0
10,898
236,788
i« 191,990
44,798
35,457
368,226
1*368,226
0
10,898
285,555
i* 240,757
44,798
30,138
19
T able 9.— Distributive and service business, net earnings, and patronage refunds o f cooperative wholesales, 1946 and 194?1— Con,
Number of
affiliated
associations
Amount of business
1947
1947
Association, and location of its headquarters
Washington—
Grange Cooperative Wholesale1
*6 (Seattle).........................
3
2
Distributive business, wholesale..................................
57
Service business............................................................
Pacific Supply Cooperative (Walla Walla)*......................
Distributive business, wholesale.................................. * 119
Service business............................................................
Wisconsin—
Wisconsin Cooperative Farmy Supply Co.® (Madison) __
40
Central Cooperative Wholesale (Superior)*...................... 1
Distributive business, wholesale................................. [ 180
Service business............................................................
1946
$5,544,920
5,302,221
242,699
17,525,274
115 • 17,111,538
413,736
55 •
19
f
173 t
l
4,381,546
7,687,265
7,472,473
214,792
Net earnings
Patronage refunds
1947
1946
1947
7 $284,120
7$227,562
7$284,120
7 $227,562
11 915,868
»713,437
11915,868
ii 713,437
2,256,509
91,063
6,840,953 1
6,647,118 [* n309,351
193,835
54,041
75,068
40,784
ii 270,288
H309,351
11240,570
(4)
(4)
1946
$4,085,094
4,042,968
42,126
12,589,329
12,353,357
235,972
1946
District
Iowa—Propane Gas C o-op6 (Eagle Grove).............................
M ich iganCooperative Services (Bruce Crossing)..............................
Northland Cooperative Federation (Rock).......................
Minnesota—
Trico Cooperative Oil Association17 (Cloquet).................
C-A-P Cooperative Oil Association18 (Kettle River).......
Distributive business....................................................
Service business............................................................
Range Cooperative Federation (Virginia).........................
Distributive business................................................... •
Service business............................................................
Wisconsin—
Fox River Valley Cooperative Wholesale19 (Appleton). .
A & B Cooperative Association20 (Ashland)....................
Range Cooperative Services (Hurley)...............................
Distributive business...................................................
Service business............................................................
Cooperative Services8 (Maple)..........................................
Distributive business................................... ...............
Service business............................................................
24
19
6
8
7
8
18
18
19
18
26
25
47
4
(0
6
7
1 Unless otherwise indicated, data are for calendar year.
2 National Cooperatives at the end of 1947 also had seven affiliates in
Canada: Alberta Cooperative Wholesale, British Columbia Cooperative
Wholesale, Manitoba Cooperative Wholesale, United Farmers of Ontario,
Saskatchewan Federated Cooperatives, Cooperative Federee (Quebec)
and Maritime Cooperative Services (New Brunswick). Other affiliates in
the United States, not shown in this table either because not federations or
because not handling consumer goods, are Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange
(North Carolina) and Tennessee Farmers Cooperative.
3 Loss.
* No data.
« 6-month period, ending June 30 (change in fiscal year).
* Fiscal years ending Oct. 31.
7 Including service departments.
* Fiscal years ending Sept. 30.
Capital and Resources
Of the 21 regional wholesales reporting on their
capital structure, 2 are nonstock organizations.
O f the other 19, 16 were using both preferred and
common stock to finance their operations. They
reported a total of $21,031,118 in preferred stock
and $12,592,696 in common. The 3 associations
which had issued no preferred shares had common
stock amounting to $443,525. None o f the
reporting district wholesales had issued preferred
stock. One was a nonstock association; the com
mon stock of the other 6 totaled $371,540.
Assets reported by 22 regionals amounted to
$106,557,433. The ratio of current assets to total
assets among these associations ranged from 38.9
to 94.4 percent (in 1946 the range was from 32.0
5
f
7 \
1
i
6 \
l
70,270
115,100
542,035
375,679
253,887
171,655
82,232
2,097,811
1,923,346
174,465
1,200,258
220,059
431,440. 1
424,957 [>
6,483
262,302
21 261,553
2i 749
(<)
203,462
537,743
(*)
9,463
i®6,850
278,769
28,830
213,560
148,619 • 24,915
64,941
1,746,288
1,634,088 * “ 56,227
112,200
13,958
i« 12,380
7,289
i« 6,850
<*)
(4)
i®12,380
23,827
(4)
10,823
21,163
9,741
1171,435
H34,030
1152,824
23,827
(4)
155,392
66,811
18,213
(4)
12,917
64,206
3,418
(4)
12,917
283,057
11,138
14,120
12,642
(*)
7 24,332
7 22,044
722,197
217,273
213,107 |
4,166
717,006
®Fiscal years ending Mar. 31, 1947 and 1948.
Including goods marketed, to value of $390,531.
11 Including service and productive departments.
Fiscal years ending Aug. 31.
« Including $47,599 in brokerage and commissions.
MIncluding productive departments; does not include $588,744 earned in
stock credits in other cooperatives.
15Including productive departments.
1610-month period ending Oct. 31 (change in fiscal year); including goods
marketed, to value of $413,048.
17 Fiscal years ending June 30.
i* Fiscal years ending Apr. 30,1947 and 1948.
Fiscal years ending July 31.
®° Fiscal years ending May 31.
2i Income from machinery repairs is included with distributive business.
to 96.4), with an average of 53.0 percent (52.3 in
1946). The range among the 7 district associa
tions reporting was from 36.4 to 93.9 percent
(44.2 to 75.1 in 1946), with an average o f 56.4
percent (61.6 in 1946). The ratio of current
assets to current liabilities was equally variable,
ranging among the regional wholesales from 1.1:1
to 24.0:1, and among the district wholesales from
1.2:1 to 15:6:1.
Member equities (i. e. ratio of net worth to total
liabilities) ranged among the 19 reporting regionals
from 10.5 to 96.0 percent, with an average of 59.2
percent; in 1946 the range was from 1.6 to 92.3
percent and the average 51.9. Among the district
wholesales the range was from 38.0 to 95.7 percent
(57.6 to 91.5 in 1946) and the average 59.7 percent
(69.2 in 1946).
20
Services of Central Cooperatives
already operating one in Virginia, M inn.), and its
annual meeting authorized the purchase of land
for a summer camp.
Expansion of Services by W holesales
The annual meeting of Central States Co
operatives (Illinois) authorized its board of direc
tors “ to begin— on an experimental basis— a com
plete management service to be provided by
contract for those member associations which
voluntarily agree to accept it.” This association
was already providing bookkeeping and auditing
service on the same basis. Bulk-station main
tenance and repair were services added during
the year by Midland Cooperative Wholesale.
Consumers’ Cooperatives Associated (Texas) which
had an appliance-service shop in Amarillo, added
another in Dallas. Central Cooperative Whole
sale discontinued its house-insulation service;
lack of sufficient volume and the wide area to be
served made this service impracticable.
Expansion of Services by Federations
Expanding business forced the Cooperative
Publishing Association (Superior, W is.) to buy
additional typesetting and offset equipment.
Federated Co-ops, Inc., of East Central Minne
sota added propane gas and storage tanks to the
lines handled. Range Cooperative Federation
acquired a new mortuary in Hibbing (it was
Service Business
Although the total amount of service business
done has increased steadily since 1945, certain lines
(such as funeral service, insurance and bonds, and
transport) showed a decrease in 1947. On the
other hand, a notable increase occurred in the
amount of finance service; this should rise still
more when the National and California finance
federations get under way.
About three-fourths of the service business is
done by the wholesales (table 10), and one-fourth
by the service federations. About the same in
crease was recorded by wholesales and federations
in 1947 (37.6 and 38.0 percent, respectively).
Resources of Service Federations
M ost of the service federations are in lines
that require little equipment or plant. For the
14 federations furnishing financial data, assets
totaled $1,378,117 or only $99,080 per association.
The finance federations were naturally among
those with the largest financial resources. Net
worth ranged from 8.2 to 99.4 percent of total
assets.
T a b l e 10.— Value o f services performed by cooperative wholesales and federations, 1 9 4 8 -4 7
1946: Total
1947
Total
Type of service
Amount
Per
cent
Depart
ments or
subsidi
Service
aries of federations Amount
whole
sales
Per
cent
1945: Total
Amount
Per
cent
1944: Total
Amount
Per
cent
1943: Total
Amount
All services.................................................... $6,019,248 100.0 $4,527,185 $1,492,062 $5,485,092 100.0 $4,285,898 100.0 $11,652,806 100.0 $5,163,060
236,300
Repairs (autos, machinery, appliances, etc.).
120,385
Funeral service..............................................
Recr^at-imi
__
7,398
167,488
Insurance, bonds, etc...... .............................
292,745
Auditing, accounting, tax service................
Financing and credit------------------ ------------ 1,100,414
Store services (management, planning, ad
429,973
vertising, etc.)............................................
Transport (truck, pipeline, tank car, etc.)— 2,984, 713
4,995
Millwright service ____________________
65,241
Printing (purchase only).—.........................
89,149
House insulation
__________________
19,853
C!nld storagfi
_
____________
500,594
Other (not specified).....................................
i Less than 0.05 percent.
3.9
2.0
.1
2.8
4.9
18.3
236,300
64,518
7,398
167,488
142,893
91,570
7.1
49.6
.1
1.1
1.5
.3
8.3
385,139
2,906,438
4,995
19,853
500,594
55,867
154,870
168,358
2.8
3.1
149,852
1,008,844
350,667
242,832
321,828
6.4
4.4
5.9
217,669
3,977,795
3,139
25,172
22,762
4.0
72.6
.1
.5
.4
44,834
78,275
65,241
89,149
153,183
97,337
4,846
246,083
167,583
130,412
60,585
3,103,882
3,029
16,412
302,546
3.6
2.3
.1
5.8
3.9
3.0
Per
cent
100.0
126,295
93,412
4,752
68,498
137.274
136.275
1.1
.8
(9
.6
1.2
1.2
77,981
104,073
4,864
49,912
154,357
178,884
1.5
2.0
.1
1.0
3.0
3.5
1.4
53,226
72.4 10,486,685
.1
.4
.5
90.0
15,496
3,964,808
.3
76.8
7.1
546,389
333
4.7
612,352
C)
11.9
21
T a b l e 11.—
Service activities o f central cooperative organizations, 1946 and 1947
SERVICE D E PA RTM E N TS OF WHOLESALES
Amount of service business
(gross income)
Amount of service business
State, association, and kind of service
State, association, and kind of service
1947
Total..............................
Regional wholesales.
District wholesales.
California—Associated Cooperatives..................
Auditing and accounting..............................
Insurance (agency)........................................
Trucking........................................................
Illinois—Central States Cooperatives: Account
ing......................................................................
Indiana—Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative
AssociationAuditing..
Insurance ( _
Finance (credit).
Automobile and machinery repair..
Trucking............................................
Other.................................................
Michigan—Farm Bureau Services...........
Management.......................................
Millwright..........................................
Trucking.............................................
M innesotaMidland Cooperative Wholesale.......
Appliance repair. ........................
Bulk-station repair......................
Trucking......................................
Pipe-line and tank-car service . . .
Range Cooperative Federation.........
Automobile repair and service...
Mortuary.....................................
Cold-storage locker service..........
Recreation. ..................................
C -A -P Cooperative Oil Association.
Automobile repair.......................
Trucking......................................
1947
1946
$4,627,186
4,263,257
263,929
$2,596,133
2,414,826
181,307
110,623
5,627
104,894
102
47,071
302
46,622
147
17,974
23,077
1,041,966
22,824
63,805
91,570
24,818
402,561
446,378
121,214
7,377
4,995
108,842
483,064
19,715
60,500
95,446
25,125
282,278
187,399
8,514
2,955
34,831
141,099
174,465
82,696
64,518
19,853
7,398
82,232
59,883
22,349
....... 82,"702
7,868
3,139
71,695
171,326
3,889
....... 28,''975
138,462
112,200
59,752
46,249
.........6,*199
64,941
44,590
20,351
1946
$834,877
53,979
9,704
53,010
718,184
Missouri—Consumers Cooperative Association .
Auditing..................................................
Management-..........................................
News— ....................................................
Trucking..................................................
Nebraska—Farmers Union State Exchange:
Trucking............................................................
New York—Eastern Cooperatives......................
Insurance (agency) and bonds...............
Bookeeping..............................................
Housing information and advice............
Ohio—Farm Bureau Cooperative AssociationTrucking_______________________________
Store plans and specifications..___________
Pennsylvania—Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
Cooperative Association: Trucking.................
WashingtonOrange Cooperative Wholesale.....................
Auditing..................................................
Trucking..................................................
Other................ .....................................
Pacific Supply Cooperative..........................
Automobile repair...................................
Trucking..................................................
W isconsinCooperative Services.....................................
Insurance (agency)..................................
Machinery repair............. ......................
Central Cooperative Wholesale....................
Auditing..................................................
Trucking..................................................
Appliance repair....................................
House insulation.....................................
Advertising....................................
Range Cooperative Services: Trucking.
$629,518
36,717
592,801
o
100,098
9
8
7,346
801,494
453,456
348,038
498,789
303,627
195,162
167,053
242,699
1,243
241,138
318
413,736
50,957
362,779
42,126
1,491
40,635
235,972
30,836
205,136
749
749
4,166
214,792
40,832
147,463
6,477
33,392
123,042
(2)
J.VO, OOil
22,762
14,639
20,020
6,483
<*)
SERVICE FEDERATIONS
Member associa
tions
Amount of business
(gross income)
State, association, and kind of service
1947
Total...............................................................................................................
Illinois—Coop. Federation of Chicago: Supervisory and planning service.
Iowa—Business Service Assn.3 (Des Moines): Auditing, bookkeeping,
tax service, and business analysis__________________________________
Maryland—Federated Cooperatives of Maryland (Frederick): Financ
ing, collections, statistics, management....................................................
M innesotaCooperative Auditing Service4 (Minneapolis): Auditing, accounting,
tax service, business advice.................................................................
Midland Credit Corp. (Minneapolis): Loans to cooperatives............
Farmers Union Coop. Credit Assn. (St. Paul): Loans to cooperatives.
Federated Co-ops, Inc.7 (Cambridge): Insurance, insulation, pro
pane gas, trucking................................................................................
Northland Co-op M ortuary8 (Cloquet): Funeral service___________
Cooperative Press® (Minneapolis): Collective purchase of office
supplies and printing...........................................................................
Montana—Farmers Union Carriers3 (Froid): Trucking_______________
Nebraska—
Fanners Union Non-Stock Coop. Transport Assn.3 (Dodge): Truck
ing.........................................................................................................
Farmers Nonstock Transport Assn.12 (Milford): Trucking.................
Farmers Union Coop. Transport Assn. (Ravenna): Trucking............
South Dakota—Equity Audit Co.® (Aberdeen): Auditing, accounting,
and tax service............................................................................................
Wisconsin—
Valley Cooperative Services14 (Appleton): Burial service...................
Central Finance, Inc. (Superior): Financing sales contracts...............
1No data.
* Included with machinery sales (table 9),
* Fiscal years ending Sept. 30.
4 Fiscal years ending Nov. 30.
* Amount of loans made.
* Dividends paid on share capital.
7 Fiscal years ending June 30.
1946
951
1947
890 $1,492,062
9~
Net earnings
1946
1947
$67,096
$514,948
"
7,679
liT
Patronage refunds
1946
1947
$36,619
$40,226
1946
$21,264
—
================~ ~ “—
164
130
20,167
16,607
31
111
4
4
37,155
33,077
14,552
10,800
14,552
10,800
439
90,321
33 8739,268
163 «232,559
77,278
0)
165,171
2,178
3,018
7,598
3,101
2,185
5,013
1,960
8 850
8 6,804
2,791
8 725
444
31
169
23
21
22
21
89,149
27,605
74,570
14,525
4,954
5,135
4,435
346
4,025
3,800
14
16
11
15
65,241
1110,244
1825,172
9,094
3,227
114,368
18 1,212
5,298
2,862
4,368
181,057
2
4
11,129
13,609
43,293
9,784
11,570
0)
652
1,653
12,705
1,056
710
652
18800
(0
1,056
(0
(0
2
4
4
(0
(9
39
39
39,364
34,253
2,077
1,173
721
435
5
2
5
2
28,262
« 37,017
19,526
5 24,321
4,473
291
953
226
2,632
600
8 Fiscal years ending Mar. 31,1947 and 1948.
®Fiscal years ending Oct. 31.
1010 months.
11 Second half of year.
12 Fiscal years ending Aug. 31.
13Approximate.
14 Fiscal years ending July 31.
22
Production by Central Cooperatives
Expansion of Facilities by W holesales
National Cooperatives took over the operation
of Cooperative M ills (formerly owned jointly by
several cooperative wholesales), the mill becoming
a productive department of National.
Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association
constructed an acidulating plant, with an annual
capacity of 50,000 tons of superphosphate. This
association distributes over 20 percent of the
fertilizer used on Indiana farms, and about 50
percent of the high-analysis fertilizer. Oil pro
perty with 80 wells producing an estimated
1,700 barrels daily, owned by the wholesale,
was sold to a private company to “ get capital for
further oil exploration.” These “ explorations”
resulted in five new wells in Indiana toward the
end of the year. The wholesale will have the
right to all of the output of these wells as long as
they produce. It will also have additional output
from the same company, amounting to nearly 25
percent of the previous supply. The wholesale
purchased, in December, 44 producing oil wells
and leases on undeveloped oil property in southern
Illinois, raising the association's oil capacity by
nearly 1,100 barrels daily. The association's feed
mill at Lafayette, Ind., was discontinued. Its
sawmill at Pine Bluff, Ark., was also sold, with
some timber tracts; the reason was the declining
availability o f good pine timber in the area.
Having become part owner (with Midland and
Ohio Farm Bureau wholesale) o f coal-mining
property in Kentucky, this wholesale likewise
disposed of its part interest in another mine in the
same State.
The chief concern o f Midland Cooperative
Wholesale in 1947 was to obtain sufficient crude
oil to keep its refineries operating at capacity.
Drilling on its leased oil land in Oklahoma netted
the association 10 producing oil wells, bringing the
total to 35 by the end of November 1947. The
association also had 7 natural-gas wells. M id
land announced its intention of selling its property
in Burkhardt, Wis., purchased in 1944, as the
expansion o f Northwest Cooperative M ills' feed
facilities had made the Burkhardt mill “ unneces
sary and obsolete.”
Farmers Union Central Exchange reported that
42 percent of the “ light ends” handled by the
cooperative in 1947 came from its petroleum
refinery at Laurel, M ont. The association was
looking forward to the possibility of manufactur
ing propane gas in the refinery, and to the manu
facture of tractors. The Exchange joined with
National Cooperative Refinery Association in
“ wildcat” drilling on the 7,000 acres jointly leased
by them in northern Montana. Farm Bureau
Services (M ich.) began the construction of a
fertilizer-mixing and acidulating plant at Saginaw,
and completed it in April 1948.
Consumers' Cooperative Association (Missouri)
bought the aviation-gasoline refinery it had
operated for the Federal Government at Coffeyville, Kans., making it the first cooperative to
produce high-octane fuel and bringing to four
the number of petroleum refineries owned by the
association. Several months later it completed
the construction o f a furfural unit adjacent to the
new plant. As a result of the purchase of a private
oil corporation (including 151 oil wells and leases
on 15,398 acres of land in Kansas), Consumers'
Cooperative Association owned, by November
1947, 955 oil wells and controlled more than 140,000 acres o f oil land. Its wells were reported
to be producing about 50 percent of the crude oil
needed by its refineries. N ot including the octane
plant, in 1947 its petroleum plants were producing
at the rate of 225 million gallons of refined fuels
annually. A contract for a lK-million dollar
dewaxing unit to be built at the association's
Coffeyville, Kans., refinery was signed early
in December. A plant to produce protein for
feed was nearing completion at Eagle Grove,
Iowa, at the end of 1947, and construction on a
commercial-fertilizer plant was started in De
cember. A shortage of boxcars forced a 2-week
shut-down of its lumber mill in Oregon. Although
some 70 percent of the goods distributed to mem
bers was produced either in CCA's own plants
or in those in which it is a part owner, the asso
ciation reported that it was planning not only to
increase its production of crude oil but also to
enter additional lines of manufacture.
The Farmers Union State Exchange, in Ne
braska, bought a privately owned oil-compounding
plant which had been its source of supply for
lubricating oil for years. Ohio Farm Bureau
Cooperative Association acquired a new chick
hatchery in Jackson Center. In the same State,
Ohio Farmers Grain and Supply Association
23
added new equipment for its feed and fertilizer
plants, as well as a new pellet mill and hammermill.
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative bought
a farm near Harrisburg, to be used for poultry
improvement. A new branch warehouse at
Greensburg was completed during 1947 and one
was purchased at Florin. The Utah Cooperative
Association, which had not previously been a
producer, made plans to enter petroleum produc
tion.
Difficulties in transporting crude oil from its
28 producing wells were solved by Consumers’
Cooperatives Associated (Texas) by laying a
pipeline into the field, allowing the wells to be
operated nearly at capacity. During the year,
three additional wells were brought in. The
association (which also manufactures feed) is
exploring the possibilities of further production.
Range Cooperative Federation bought a pri
vately owned milk-bottling plant containing 500
cold-storage lockers and space for the construction
of as many more.
Two new productive federations went into
operation in 1947— the Central Farmers Fertilizer
Co. and the Millers Creek Coal Cooperative. The
former is owned by 15 regional associations, the
latter by the Indiana and Ohio Farm Bureau Co
operative Associations and Midland Cooperative
Wholesale. Late in 1947, the Central Farmers
Fertilizer Co. purchased over 2,000 acres of land
containing phosphate deposits, in southeastern
Idaho. North Iowa Cooperative Processing As
sociation constructed a new warehouse; Coopera
tive Fertilizer Service opened a branch plant at
Culpeper, V a.; and Cooperative M ills (Glendale,
Ohio) installed new storage bins and a corn dryer.
Expansion of Facilities by Federations
National Farm Machinery Cooperative, owned
by 12 regional wholesales, built a large addition
to its cultivator plant at Bellevue, Ohio, and
authorized the erection of a foundry building.
The National Cooperative Refinery Association,
owned by 5 regional wholesales, purchased control
in a company from which it had previously been
buying some of its crude oil. The addition of
the more than 200 wells thus acquired, plus a
number of new wells brought in later, raised the
association’s total to about 300 by October 1947.
It expected to add thereafter two to four new
wells a month.101
* B y mid-1947 it was reported to
own or control 60 percent of its crude-oil sources.11
Its refinery was handling about 20,000 barrels of
crude oil a day. A desulphurization unit was
added late in 1947, to make possible a greater
production of high-octane gasoline.
The Millers Creek Coal Cooperative, organized
by three wholesales in 1946, was, by fall of 1947,
producing 1,000 tons a day at one mine and was
starting production at another.
10Nebraska Cooperator (Omaha), Oct. 1,1947.
11 Cooperative Builder (Superior, Wis.), Aug. 14,1947.
T able 12.— Value o f manufactures of cooperative wholesales and federations, 1943-47
1946: Total
1947
Total
Commodity group
Amount
Per
cent
Depart
ments or
subsidi
aries of
whole
sales
Produc
tive feder
ations
Amount
Per
cent
1945: Total
Amount
Per
cent
1944: Total
Amount
Per
cent
1943: Total
Amount
All products...................................... $128,420,867 100.0 $81,245,730 $47,175,137 $95,583,814 100.0 $60,577,789 100.0 $48,999,183 100.0 $29,431,499
2,712,314
Food products...................................
Crude oil............................................ 4,323,115
Refined petroleum products............. 47,481,861
Lubricating oil................................... 6,284,424
323,716
Grease................................................
272,345
Paint..................................................
Lumber and shingles......................... 1,973,207
443,692
Printing and printing products........
109,570
Coal
Chemical products
(cosmetics,
452,591
household supplies, insecticides)..
486,486
Poultry and poultry products..........
Feed, seed, fertilizer.......................... 57,557,781
Farm machinery................................ 4,760,897
Other.................................................. 1,238,868
* No data.
* Less than 0.05 percent.
2.1
3.4
37.0
4.8
.3
.2
1.5
.3
.1
2,712,314
3,866,717
37,676,000
6,284,424
323,716
272,345
802,907
148,948
.4
.4
44.8
3.7
1.0
452,591
486,486
26,922,940
989,433
306,909
456,398
9,805,861
1,170,300
294,744
109,570
30,634,841
3,771,464
931,959
4,285,504
2,693,007
36,392,061
4,891,432
191,210
119,074
309,059
321,491
4.5
2.8
38.1
5.1
.2
.1
.3
.3
2,120,517
1,438,027
25,852,711
4,369,325
183,023
71,380
693,598
249,239
59,610
3.5
2.4
42.7
7.2
.3
.1
1.1
.4
.1
2,073,462
721,050
21,165,002
4,659,465
226,374
81,689
1,361,866
192,793
29,274
4.2
1.5
43.2
9.5
.5
.2
2.8
.4
.1
1,958,036
31,340
6,743,901
1,358,479
223,864
1,351,782
360,502
326,959
930,742
298,749
42,673,541
2,353,630
124,314
1.0
.3
44.7
2.5
.1
182,714
321,306
22,503,054
2,473,036
60,249
.3
.5
37.1
4.1
.1
136,034
369,296
16,102,495
1,868,809
11,574
.3
.8
32.9
3.8
(’ )
0)
246,247
16,781,157
49,232
Per
cent
100.0
6.6
.1
22.9
4.6
.8
4.6
1.3
1.1
0)
.8
57.1
.2
24
Northwest Cooperative M ills (owned by four
cooperatives) opened two new productive units
during 1947— a feed mill and research laboratory
in St. Paul and a fertilizer plant at Winona, Minn.
Goods Produced
Refined petroleum products and feed, seed, and
fertilizer continued to account for over four-fifths
(in value) of the total output of the cooperative
plants. The dollar volume of both foods and
chemical products declined as compared with
1946 (table 12); for all the other groups, a sizable
increase was shown.
T able
A 46.4-percent increase in the output of pro
ductive federations was shown, as compared with
28.3 percent for the productive departments of
the wholesales. The latter, however, still ac
counted for 63.2 percent of the total output in
1947.
Whereas in 1946 one federation had an operat
ing loss of over $100,000, the year of 1947 was one
of uniformly profitable operation (table 13).
From net earnings of $2,875,177 (5.3 percent on
total business), $2,213,620 was paid to member
associations on their patronage. The earnings
of the wholesales’ productive departments are
included in the total shown in table 9.
13.— Productive activities o f central cooperative organizations, 1946 and 1947
PRODU CTIVE DE PA RTM E N TS OF WHOLESALES
Value of goods produced
State, association, and goods produced
1947
Total....................................
Interregional wholesale.
Regional wholesales___
District wholesales-----California—Associated Cooperatives: Mime
ographing.....................................................
Illinois—National Cooperatives....................
Flour.........................................................
Chemicals................................................
Milking machines and coolers................
Hot-water heaters....................................
Indiana—Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative
Crude oil....... ..........................................
Refined petroleum products.......... ........
Printing. .................................................
Chicks and eggs.......................................
Feed..........................................................
Fertilizer...................................................
Michigan—Northland Cooperative Federa
tion..............................................................
Butter.......................................................
M innesotaMidland Cooperative Wholesale............
Crude oil...........................................
Refined petroleum products............
Lubricating oil..................................
Fly spray...........................................
Feed...... ............................................
Farmers Union Central Exchange.........
Crude oil............................................
Refined petroleum products............
Lubricating oil..................................
Minnesota Farm Bureau Service Co—
Feed...................................................
Fertilizer-..........................................
Range Cooperative Federation
Meat products....................
Butter.................................
Cheese.................................
Milk (bottling).
1946
$81,245,730
1,746,382
78,345,967
1,153,381
$62,191,304
516,304
60,682,594
992,406
4D0
1,746,382
447,984
15,546
989,433
293,419
335
1516.304
1516.304
10,214,793
308,003
6,261,318
41,081
215,931
332,201
3,056,259
8
(2)
8,188,597
735,975
4,140,378
44,372
217,912
412,133
2,637,827
424,093 1
44,276 l
379,817 |
455,129
4,624,247
329,041
3,192,051
641,328
5,482
456,345
7,455,714
192,106
6,338,304
925,304
2,195,078
798,081
1,396,997
729,288
71,371
200,580
432,744
24,593 .
4.218.228
286,189
2.756.229
555,192
12,308
608,310
5,128,959
97,798
3,914,078
1,117,083
1,502,771
610,545
892,226
537,277
125,867
104,980
306,430
i Goods produced b y Cooperative Mills (productive federation taken over
as department of National Cooperatives in 1947).
Value of goods produced
State, association, and goods produced
1947
Missouri—Consumers Cooperative Associ
ation............................................................
Canned goods..........................................
Soft drinks...............................................
Crude oil..................................................
Refined petroleum products...................
Lubricating oil.........................................
Grease..... .................................................
Lumber....................................................
Paint—.....................................................
Printing...................................................
Feed........................................................
Nebraska—Farmers Union State Exchange
Feed and seed..........................................
Poultry and eggs.....................................
New York—Eastern Cooperatives, Inc___
Coffee (roasted).....................................
Duplicating and offset printing..............
Ohio—
Farm Bureau Cooperative Association.
Refined petroleum products............
Chicks.......................................... .
Fertilizer.........................................
Ohio Farmers Grain and Supply Asso
ciation..................................................
Feed...................................................
Fertilizer............................................
Pennsylvania—Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
Cooperative Association.............................
Feed and seed.........................................
Insecticides and fungicides.....................
Chicks.. ..................................................
Texas—Consumers Cooperatives AssociatedCrude oil..................................................
Refined petroleum products...................
Feed.........................................................
Washington—Pacific Supply Cooperative . .
Fertilizer-................................................
Insecticides..............................................
Wisconsin—Central Cooperative WholesaleBakery products.....................................
Coffee (roasted).......................................
Feed.........................................................
2 No data,
3 Including dehydrated potatoes.
$22,432,741
320,469
13,490
2,655,806
11,376,242
4,717,792
323,716
802,907
272,345
92,763
1,857,211
335,947 I
220,104 >
115,843 |
238,747
224,043
14,704
1946
$19,832,477
3 828,853
13,444
1,493,531
10,718,280
3,219,157
191,210
309,059
119,074
69,810
2,870,059
(2)
172,326
164,196
8,130
8,562,774
4,616,226
89,315
3,857,233
7,303,709
3,989,000
80,837
3,233,872
519,435
345,993
173,442
479,457
375,765
103,692
3,887,379
3,784,628
37,354
65,397 ..
6,517,300
381,761
5,891,859
243,680 ..
7,837,093
6,940,473
502,411 ..
394,209
3,524,319
305,182
261,255
2,957,882
3,269,853
3,233,443
36,410
2,609,761
79,514
2,530,247
5,947,656
5,243,941
703,715
2,028,465
261,939
166,644
1,599,882
25
T able 13.— Productive activities o f central cooperative organizations, 1946 and 1947— Continued
PRODU CTIVE FEDERATIONS
1947
386
Total......................................................................
11
1946
1947
11
1,170,300
4
4
31
1,219,788
f 1,950,521
30 i 1,018,562
l 931,959
5
5
1,170,300
491,200
1,104,209
Patronage
refunds
Net earnings
1947
$2,875,177
20,612
1946
1947
1946
$1,031,796 $2,213,620 $926,123
25,464
59,578
13,746
48,078
1,219,788
1,104,209
53,515
50,543
53,515
50,543
1,287,411 1
795,563 } 1,950,521
491,848 1
1,287,411
248,565
124,105
200,136
102,591
8,343,849
767,355
7129,184
697,802
8,343,849
8,343,849
109,570
1
110, 908,680
109,570
7,458
3
3
4,352,946
3,261,358
5,806,508
3,719,567
494,013
246,157
433,148
213,708
3
3
1,781,068
1,644,525
1,781,068
1,644,525
70,158
17,377
70,158
17,377
937,194
4
2,429,002
436,158
724,823
1,268,021
■2,753,434
937,194
28,398
2,065
28,398
2,065
1
4
125
45,000
(2)
535,748
401,446
(2)
45,000
(2)
4,500
(2)
( 2)
( 2)
13
4
13
4
3,771,464
13,450,140
2,353,630
11,066,384
7,388,738
13,973,828
3,001,252
11,066,384
501,349
524,055
86,330
569,247
231,525
370,593
491,340
2
2
820,917
757,041
820,917
791,002
3,513
23,437
263
20,187
46
f 1,496,081
472,687
46 iJ 781,533
l 241,861
740,382
278,387
337,681
124,314
•1,496,280
740,382
82,182
8,512
70,442
7,159
13
12
70,194
81,479
128,650
59,086 • 168,265
52,462
17,102
70,194
6,498
7,407
6,498
7,407
128,650
3,428
336
3,064
104
f
102 J
1
l
81,479
168,265
79,917
66,276
22,072
* Fiscal year ending Mar. 31,1948.
* Fiscal year ending June 30.
8 Fiscal year ending Aug. 31.
7 Loss.
Resources of Productive Federations
All of the 16 productive federations furnished
financial data. Assets totaled $32,191,922, or an
average of $2,011,995 per association. Net worth
totaled $11,298,012 and ranged from 9.4 to 94.2
percent of total assets, with an average o f 37.2
percent.
Employment and Earnings
in Central Cooperatives
Some 7,600 workers were employed by the 66
central cooperatives which reported on this point
(table 14). The annual pay roll totaled $18,314,581. For those reporting both employment and
1946
4,066,337
flO, 262,259
3
J
1947
486,957
( 9,805,861
00
CO
1
1
1
1946
4,066,337
15
\
1
Total amount of
business
239 $47,175,137 $32,181,784 $53,740,713 $33,325,819
vi
Canada—International Lumbering Associa
tion (Vancouver, B. C.): Shingles and logs...
Illinois—Central Farmers Fertilizer Co.* (Chi
cago): Fertilizer............................................ .....
Indiana—Coop. Plant Foods® (Schererville):
Fertilizer............................................................
Iowa—North Iowa Cooperative Processing
Association6 (Manley).....................................
Feed...............................................................
Crude soybean oil..........................................
Kansas—Nat’l Coop. Refinery Assn.® (M c
Pherson)............................................................
Crude oil........................................................
Refined petroleum products..........................
Kentucky—Millers Creek Coop. (Paintsville):
Coal_____ ________________________ _______
Maryland—
Coop. Fertilizer Service® (Baltimore):
Fertilizer.....................................................
Fertilizer Mfg. Coop.® (Baltimore): Fer
tilizer...........................................................
M innesotaNorthwest Coop. Mills ®(St. Paul).............
Fertilizer..................................................
Seeds........................................................
Soybean meal and oil..............................
Coop. Printing Association8(Minneapolis):
Printing.......................................................
Ohio—
Nat’l Farm M chy. Coop.® (Bellevue):
Farm machinery.........................................
Cooperative Mills * (Cincinnati): Feed.......
Farm Bur. Chemical Coop. (Glendale):
Fertilizer.....................................................
Oklahoma—Producers Cooperative Oil Mill*
(Oklahoma City)..............................................
Feed................................................................
Cottonseed oil................................................
Cotton linters.................................................
Washington—Grange Coop. Printing Assn.*®
(Seattle): Printing..........................................
Wisconsin—Coop. Publishing Assn. (Superior).
Printing..........................................................
Publications............... ..................................
Books, office forms, etc.................................
Value of own
production
Member
associations
State, association, and product
8 Fiscal years ending Apr. 30,1947 and 1948.
9 Fiscal year ending July 1.
10 Fiscal year ending Oct. 31.
pay rolls, average annual earnings per employee
were $2,466 or about 9.5 percent above the 1946
average. It should be pointed out that these
figures cover a wide range of occupations, from
office clerks to executives and include productive
as well as distributive jobs. As in 1946, the
highest average earnings reported were in the
service federations; National Cooperatives showed
the lowest average.
The widest range in employment was shown in
the regional wholesales. Three associations had
fewer than 10 employees. At the other end of
the scale were the large organizations which had
gone into production and employed large numbers
in both productive plants and distributive ware
26
houses. Four associations had over 400 em
ployees each; of these, one had over 500 and one
nearly 2,000.
N o correlation appeared to exist between earn
ings and either the size or the geographical loca
tion of the business, in the case of the wholesales
and service federations.
Per capita annual earnings of employees of the
productive federations averaged $2,341, or slightly
over those in 1946. There seemed to be little or
no occupational or geographical pattern. For
example, in the fertilizer industry in which annual
earnings ranged from $1,204 to $2,894, with an
average of $2,055, the average annual payment
per wage earner o f two plants in the same State
varied by over $1,100. Average earnings were
lowest in coal mining and highest in feed manu
facture. In the printing industry, earnings ranged
from $1,809 to $4,073 (a Pacific Coast plant) and
averaged $2,316.
T a b l e 14.— Employment and earnings in central cooperative organizations, 1943-4-7
Number of
associations
reporting
Type of organization
All reporting federations......................
Wholesales:
Interregional
_
____
Regional..........................................
District...........................................
Service federations................................
Productive federations..........................
Total em
Total payroll,
ployees, 1947
1947
Average earnings per employee in—
1947
1946
1945
1944
66
7,603
$18,314,581
$2,466
$2,252
$2,160
$2,064
1
22
7
10
16
231
5,429
137
61
1,745
438,001
13,345,381
261,625
184,832
4,084,742
1,900
2,508
2,422
3,123
2,341
2,478
2,294
2,049
2,710
2,313
2,124
1,963
2,459
2,364
2,037
1,808
1,997
2,259
1943
$2,024
1,502
1,893
Bureau of Labor Statistics Publications on Consumers’ Cooperatives1
Bulletin 665. Organization and management of consumers1
cooperatives and buying clubs. 25 cents.
Bulletin 821. Developments in consumers' cooperative
movement in 1944. 10 cents.
Bulletin 843. Operations of consumers' cooperatives in
1944. 10 cents.
Bulletin 850. Activities of credit unions in 1944. 10 cents.
Bulletin 858. Organization and management of coopera
tive and mutual housing associations. 20 cents.
Bulletin 859. Developments in consumers' cooperative
movement in 1945. 10 cents.
Bulletin 890. Operations of consumers' cooperatives in
1945. 10 cents.
Bulletin 894. Activities of credit unions in 1945. 5 cents.
Bulletin 896. Nonprofit housing projects in the United
States. 25 cents.
Bulletin 904. Developments in the consumers' cooperative
movement in 1946.
Bulletin 922. Consumers' Cooperatives and credit unions:
Operations in 1946. 15 cents.
Bulletin 932. Developments in the consumers' cooperative
movement in 1947. 15 cents.
Bulletin 942. Cooperatives in postwar Europe: Survey of
developments in Scandinavian countries and eastern,
central and western Europe. 15 cents.
Serial No. R. 1942. Operations of credit unions in 1947,
(Free on request, from U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
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