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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
L. B. Schwellenbach, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Isador Lubin, Commissioner (on leave)
A. F. Hinrichs, Acting Commissioner
Operations o f Consumers’
Cooperatives in 1944
B ulletin 7S[o. 843
For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office
Washington 25, D. C. - Price 10 cents
Letter of Transm ittal
U N IT E D
STATES D EPA RTM E N T
BUREAU
OP L A B O R ,
OP L A B O R S T A T IS T IC S ,
Washington , D. C., September 14t 1945.
The S e c r e t a r y op L a b o r :
I have the honor to transmit herewith the Bureau's annual report on the
activities of consumers' cooperatives in 1944. It contains general estimates of
membership and business of the various types of associations, local and federated,
and detailed data on operations of the central organizations providing goods and
services to the local associations and carrying on manufactures of numerous
kinds. One section gives comparative figures showing the trend of cooperative
development since 1929.
The report was prepared in the Bureau's Editorial and Research Division by
Florence E. Parker.
A . F . H in r ic h s ,
Acting Commissioner
H o n . L . B . SCHWELLENBACH,
Secretary of Labor
.
Contents
Summary__________________________________________________________
Trend of cooperative development, 1929-44___________________________
Activities of local cooperatives in 1944-----------------------------------------------Activities of central organizations-----------------------------------------------------Wholesale associations.. ----------- ------------------------------------------------Membership of wholesales------------------------- ------- -----------------Distributive and service facilities____________________________
Distributive operations-------------- ----------------------------------------Capital and resources_______________________________________
Service operations of central cooperative organizations_____________
Production by central cooperatives---------------------------------------------Expansion of productive capacity in 1944_____________________
Employment and wages in central cooperatives___________ ________
Appendix.—Detailed data on trend of development of individual types of
associations---------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
.
(ii)
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20
Bulletin l^lo 843 of the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
[Beprinted from the M onthly L abob R eview , September 1945, with additional data]
Operations of Consumers’ Cooperatives in 1944
Summary
CONTINUED expansion in both membership and business was exhib
ited by the consumers’ cooperative movement in 1944. The distributive
and service business of the local associations reached an all-time high
of 568 million dollars and the regional and distrct wholesale associ
ations supplying them had an aggregate business of over 155 million
dollars. Service federations reported a total business of over 7y2
million dollars.
Net earnings reported in 1944 for the whole group of central service,
distributive, and productive federations exceeded S1/^ million dollars,
of which nearly 8 million dollars was declared in patronage refunds
to the member associations. The individuals who are members of
affiliated local cooperatives received the benefit of these refunds, along
with those made by the local associations on their retail business.
Although a certain proportion of the local associations either sustained
a loss or for other reasons paid no patronage refunds, the reporting
store associations which did declare such refunds paid an average rate
of 4.1 percent, the petroleum associations paid 7.7 percent, and the
local service associtions 2.4 percent.1
Large proportions of both retail and wholesale earnings are traceable
not to the distributive operations but to the productive plants operated
by the central federations. Cooperative production has been increas
ing very rapidly in the past few years. In 1944 the value of goods
produced in the cooperative plants reporting amounted to over 65
million dollars—more than twice the value produced in the preceding
year. It is these productive enterprises that have proved to be the
real money savers for cooperators.
Table 1 summarizes the status of consumers’ cooperatives as of the
end of 1944.
1 These percentages are computed on volume of business done, not on investment.
(i)
2
.— Membership and Business of Consumers9 Cooperatives in 1944, by Type of
Association
T a ble 1
Type of association
Local associations
Retail distributive associations..........
Stores and buying clubs................
Petroleum associations..................
Other distributive1.......................
Service associations..............................
Rooms and/or meals......................
Housing................ .........................
Medical and/or hospital care:
On contract..............................
Own facilities..........................
Burial:8
Complete funeral....................
Caskets only..........................
Other*.................... ............. ..........
Electricity associations1......................
Telephone associations7......................
Credit unions •....................................
Insurance associations.........................
Federations10
Wholesales:
Interregional..........
Regional.................
District...................
Service federations.......
Productive federations.
Total number Number of
Amount of
of associations members (esti business (esti
(estimated)
mated)
mated)
4,285
2,810
1,425
50
577
175
59
50
18
36
4
235
850
5,000
9,099
2,000
2
25
10
21
12
1,524,500
690,000
810,000
24,500
318,500
18,000
2,100
95,000
45,000
35,000
1,400
122,000
<1, 149,700
330,000
3,027,694
‘10,510,000
Association
members
26
3,790
152
1,500
150
$557,000,000
280,000,000
270,000,000
7,000,000
11,055,000
2,600,000
:1,575,000
1,300,000
2,100,000
275,000
5,000
3,200,000
60,960,000
5,485,000
212,305,479
190,000,000
«11,775,000
u 140,498,000
113,178,000
7,820,000
14,895,000
i Such as dairies, creameries, bakeries, etc.
* Gross income.
8 Local associations only; does not include associations of federated type (included with service federa
tions) or funeral departments of store associations.
* Such as cold-storage, water-supply, recreation, printing and publishing, etc., associations.
8Almost all of these are REA associations, data for which were supplied by the Rural Electrification
Administration.
* Patrons.
7Data are for 1936; no information on which to base later estimate.
8Actual figures, not an estimate.
6Policyholders.
10 Figures do not agree with those in table 3, because those here given include estimates for nonreporting
associations.
“ Includes wholesale (and retail, where such was reported) business; for own production see table 3.
Trend of Cooperative Development, 1929-44
The trend of development of several of the most important types
of cooperative associations since 1929 is shown in table 2 and charts
1 and 2. Unbroken increases in both membership and business—
although at varying rates—are shown for all except the credit unions.
Until 1942 the credit associations were increasing at a faster rate
than any of the other types; in that year, however, their statistics
began to reflect the wartime conditions (restrictions on installment
credit, diminishing supplies of consumer goods, higher earnings with
consequent lessened need for credit, etc.). Their membership and
business fell off precipitately in that year—a decrease that continued,
though more slowly, through 1943. In 1944, however, the decline
was checked and a slight upturn occurred.
It would appear from the data that one of the fields offering great
chances for cooperative development has been that of service. As
indicated in chart 2, relatively the volume of local service business
has remained almost at a dead level in the past 15 years. The line
in the chart masks a good deal of variation, however, in the business
3
of the different types of service associations. The group includes a
wide variety of associations, such as those furnishing rooms and/or
meals, housing accommodations, medical care, funeral service, water,
cold-storage lockers, recreation, etc.2 Over the whole war period the
housing associations have been at a standstill because of restrictions
on building construction.3 The associations providing rooms and
meals were for several years a rapidly expanding group, as a result
of the growing popularity of cooperative rooming and boarding*
2For detailed data on development of the various types of service and other cooperatives, see Appendix
table A (p. 21).
* This field, however, promises to be an extremely active one in the near future. Numerous groups
throughout the country are now organizing for action.
4
5
houses among students at the various educational institutions. The
draft of young men from the colleges resulted in the closing of many
of these houses, and this group of associations has for the past several
years been barely holding its own. The medical-care associations have
been growing slowly in number, more rapidly in membership; the
same is true of the funeral associations. Undoubtedly the most rapidly
expanding of all the service associations, at present, are the coldstorage organizations. These are springing up all over the country;
in addition, even more associations whose business is primarily in
other lines (such as creameries and stores) have been installing such
facilities, or voting to install them as soon as priorities can be obtained.
T able 2.
— Trend o f Development o f Specified Types of Cooperatives, 1929-44
Number of associations
Year
1929........
1936........
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
Number of members
(in tens of thousands)
Amount of business
(in millions of dollars)
Re
gional
Re
Re
Re
tail Local Elec Credit tail Local Elec Credit tail Local Elec Credit whole
sales
dis serv tric
dis serv tric
dis serv tric
(dis
tribu ice ity unions tribu ice ity unions tribu ice ity unions tribu
tive
tive
tive
tive
only)
1,114 98
3,600 266
354
.....................
3,700
415
3,700
.....................
.....................
3,960
497
.....................
4,025
526
551
.....................
4,150
.....................
4,285
577
50
275
575
700
800
810
820
850
974
5,440
8,315
9,510
10.425
10,601
10,332
9,099.
18.6
67.8
92.3
98.9
116.9
121.4
135.9
152.5
1.0
9.4
14.0
16.9
21.5
24.2
27.8
31.9
0)8.3
48.5
57.5
100.5
101.0
102.5
115.0
26.5
121.0
242.1
281.7
353.2
313.9
302.3
302.8
49.0
182.7
211.7
228.3
345.2
398.5
466.8
557.0
1.7
4.0
5.3
5.5
8.3
8.5
9.8
11.1
0)
0)
0)
16.7
33.4
45.0
52.6
61.0
54.0
112.1
240.5
302.3
362.8
251.4
208.6
212.3
7.0
41.4
50.5
58.7
76.5
87.2
98.0
140.5
1No data.
Funeral associations.—In the United States, a few associations
providing burial service have been in existence for many years.
The first associations of which the Bureau has record date from the
early twenties. Since that time one or two associations have been
formed each year. This development has thus far been concentrated
in the four States of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin,
but with a single association each in Indiana and Oklahoma.
The early associations usually provided service for members in a
single town and its environs. Later associations covered an entire
county and a few provided service over as many as three counties.
The associations in Iowa and South Dakota are all still of these two
typo*.
In order to expand the membership and utilize existing cooperative
resources, local cooperative associations began to organize joint
burial enterprises of which the associations themselves were the
members. The individual members of these locals were then eligible
for membership in the burial federation upon payment of a member
ship fee. Three such federations have been formed in Minnesota
and 1 in Wisconsin. During the past few years several individual
store associations have each started a funeral department. A Wis
consin association was the first to do this, in 1939; a second associa
tion in that State added its mortuary in 1944. An association in
Montana and two of the three North Dakota associations that have
6
a funeral department provide caskets only, the funerals themselves
being arranged for on contract with local undertakers. The third
North Dakota association purchased a funeral establishment in 1943
and provides complete funeral service. A Minnesota store associa
tion voted in 1941 to establish a mortuary department, but decided
to postpone this step until the end of the war.4
At least two new associations whose sole business is to be the pro
vision of funeral service had been formed by the end of 1944 but
had not yet gone into operation and are therefore not included in
table 1.
Activities of Local Cooperatives in 1944
The accompanying tabulation summarizes the activities of the retail
associations in 1944 in relation to 1943. Examination of these data in
comparison with similar reports for earlier years indicates a larger
rate of increase in membership among the stores and a smaller rate
among the petroleum associations than in 1943 and 1942,5 but a con
siderably larger proportion of both types reporting increases. Possibly
reflecting increased ration allowances, the petroleum associations
showed an average increase in business in 1944 of 22.6 percent over
1943 (corresponding figures for 1943 and 1942 were 19.1 and 13:6
percent). The store associations, however, had an average increase
in business of only 19.6 percent, as compared with increases of 28.8
and 30.8 percent in 1943 and 1942.
Membership:
Percent of increase in total_____
Percent reporting—
Increase in 1944___________
Decrease in 1944__________
Amount of business:
Percent of increase in total_____
Percent reporting—
Increase in 1944___________
Decrease in 1944__________
Net earnings:
Percent which went from—
Gain in 1943 to loss in 1944.
Loss in 1943 to gain in 1944
Percent reporting—
Loss in both years________
Increase in gain in 1944___
Decrease in gain in 1944___
Stores
and
Buying
clubs
25. 6
98. 8
1.2
19. 6
80. 3
19. 7
6.4
4. 2
2.0
62. 3
25. 1
Petroleum
associ
ations
Other
types
14.4
79.9
20. 1
22. 6
89.4
10. 6
23. 1
100.0
.7
.9
.5
74. 5
23.3
14.3
13. 7
100.0
85. 7
In the associations for which the Bureau had reports, net earnings
for store associations which made earnings on the year’s operations
averaged 4.6 percent of sales; losses in the associations which went
“into the red” averaged 1.5 percent of sales. For the petroleum
associations the corresponding percentages were 7.8 and 6.7. Fewer
than 1 percent of the reporting gasoline associations sustained losses,*
4 In order to obtain the entire picture of cooperative provision of burial service, the data should include
the mortuary operations not only of the local burial associations but also of the burial federations and the
mortuary departments of the store associations. In the present report the local associations are shown in
the first section of table 1, and the burial federations are included with the service federations in the second
section of that table. The burial operations of the store associations, however, are included in the figures
given for “stores” and are not separable from those figures.
*See Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletins Nos. 796 and 757,
7
but the losses in these cases were heavy in proportion to sales. As all
of the petroleum associations with losses and nearly all of the store
associations in this class had sales of less than $50,000, possibly one
factor in their difficulty was the small volume which resulted in too
high a rate of overhead in relation to sales.
It should be remembered, in considering earnings of local associa
tions, that for a large number of them a substantial proportion of the
“earnings” was not the result of the retail distributive operations but
consisted of patronage refunds on the goods they had bought from their
wholesale association. Consumers Cooperative Association, in report
ing the earnings of its member associations in The Cooperative Con
sumer (official organ of the wholesale) makes a practice of noting also
what part of these consisted of refunds from the wholesale. Mid
land Cooperative Wholesale frequently does this also.6 In the various
associations the wholesale’s refunds constituted from about a fifth to
as much as half of the amount reported by the local associations as
earnings.
The wholesales are warning their member associations that even if
earnings are high and the association is apparently prospering, this
may be an illusion and may result from war conditions rather than
from efficient management. Managers are being cautioned to keep
down their inventories and outstanding credit. In this connection
one wholesale reported that a trend toward higher accounts receivable,
previously noted by it, was still continuing; it pointed out that falling
prices or reduced consumer income at the end of the war might make
some of these accounts worthless.
Information on patronage refunds is available only for 106 local
associations—72 petroleum associations, 30 organizations running
stores, and 4 service associations. The petroleum associations made
refunds (in cash, shares, members’ equity credits, etc.) amounting to
7.7 percent of sales; for the store associations the percentage was 4.1;
and for the service associations 2.4. The refunds from this group of
106 associations amounted to $990,748.
Insurance associations.—No general survey of insurance coopera
tives was made for 1944, but data from a few organizations for which
reports are available indicate a considerable advance. The three
insurance organizations of the Ohio Farm Bureau group, writing life,
fire, and automobile insurance in 12 States 7and the District of Colum
bia all had substantial gains in business; at the end of 1944, life insur
ance in force amounted to 104% million dollars, a gain of over 23%
million dollars over the preceding year, and premium income in 1944
totaled $2,709,257. Premiums written on automobile coverage totaled
$10,479,883 (21 percent over 1943) and assets increased to $13,764,626;
losses, however, were exceptionally high, amounting to $5,947,329.
In North Dakota, National Union Security Association (the insur
ance organization of the Farmers’ Union cooperatives, operating in
11 States 8) reported total insurance in force amounting to $20,369,536,
as compared with $18,793,038 in 1943; assets increased from $792,930
to $830,823. Death claims, paid on 107 policies, amounted to $91,236,
and sickness and accident benefits to $2,855 (paid to 52 members).
• This practice has the effect of emphasizing the practical benefits accruing from membership in and
patronage of the wholesale.
i Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
8And applications pending in 4 others.
666612°—45-----2
A net gain of $45,727 was realized on the 1944 business. Policy
holders numbered 22,562.
In Nebraska the Farmers’ Union Industries Mutual, which insures
cooperative enterprises against fire, storm, etc., reported insurance
in force amounting to $9,468,400; this was an increase of $318,360 as
compared with the previous year. Assets totaled $44,013. Premium
income totaled $31,708. Losses amounted to $1,428—$1,393 for fire
damage and $35 for wind damage. A net saving of $6,670 was made on
the year’s operations.
Group Health Mutual, a cooperative providing hospital insurance
in Minnesota and Wisconsin, increased its membership from 10,500 to
23,000 (and by the middle of February 1945 to over 25,000). Pre
mium income rose from $82,000 in 1943 to $137,000 in 1944. The sur
plus increased from $18,449 to $28,685. Benefits paid during the
year totaled $70,562.
The five insurance associations participating in the unified insurance
program in Minnesota and Wisconsin all made progress in the fiscal
year 1944-45. They reported a 33-percent gain in assets, to $1,682,797. In the second 6-month period, they had a 28-percent increase
in gross premium income, and net earnings of $112,193. The associ
ations participating in the program are Cooperators Life Association,
Cooperators Life Mutual, American Farmers Mutual, Cooperative
Insurance Mutual, and Central Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
Activities of Central Organizations
The membership and business of the central organizations providing
supplies at wholesale, numerous kinds of service, and manufactures
in increasing variety continued their advance in 1944. Table 3 sum
marizes the various activities, earnings, and patronage returns for
these organizations in that year. A distributive and service business
of over 151 million dollars is shown in the table.
T a ble 3.
— Summary of Activities of Cooperative Distributive , Service, and Productive
Federations in 1944
Type of federation
All types...........................
Wholesales:
Interregional.............
Regional....................
District.....................
Service federations..........
Productive federations__
Amount of business
Num Member
Value of
ber of asso
pro
feder cia Wholesale
Retail own
ations tions distribu Service distribu duction
tive
tive
Net earn
ings from
all de
part
ments
Patron
age re
funds
from all
depart
ments
53 0) $136,031,029 $11,652,806 $3,707,829 $65,255,203 $8,221,690 $7,994,839
1 18 6,577,200
1,538,000 41,517 41,517
22 3,393 126,959,149 3,774,487 3,707,829 51,521,512 7,813,643 7,654,074
9 112 2 2,494,680 157,900 <*>
786,181 137,311 108,811
15 932
7,720,419
98,206 79,932
139
11,409,510 131,013 110,505
i Membership should not be t otaled, as some local associations are members of several federations.
*Includes some retail business. *A small amount of retail business is included in wholesale figure.
As the summary figures in table 3 indicate, the production from
cooperatively owned plants constituted (in value) over 43 percent of
the total business. It cannot be said by any means, however, that
43 percent of all goods sold were made in cooperative factories, for as
yet the manufactures are largely concentrated in a few lines, of which
petroleum products, feed, and fertilizer are by far the most important.
Nearly 8 million dollars was returned in patronage refunds on the
activities of these central federations.
9
WHOLESALE ASSOCIATIONS
Membership of Wholesales
The members of the wholesale associations are the local (retail)
cooperatives. In 1944 a remarkable increase took place in the total
number of local associations which recognized the advantages of
affiliation with the cooperative wholesale of their region or district.
Most of this increase was accounted for by a few of the larger whole
sales.
T a ble 4.
— Membership of Cooperative Wholesale Associations, 1943 and 1944
[Associations marked * are members of National Cooperatives]
Association
Total;
Triterreginnal __ ..
.
Regional , „ „r _ ........
.... _ _
.. Pi strict .......
_
___ _
Interregional
Illinois: National Cooperatives..........................................................................
Regional
California: Associated Cooperatives*................................................................
Illinois:
Central States Cooperatives*.......................................................................
Illinois Farm Supply Co.............................................................................
Indiana: Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association*............................
Iowa:
Iowa Farm Service Co.................................................................................
Cooperative Service Co...............................................................................
Michigan: Farm Bureau Services*....................................................................
Minnesota:
Midland Cooperative Wholesale*.............................. ...............................
Minnesota Farm Bureau Service Co..................... . ................................ .
Farmers Union Central Exchange*............. ..............................................
Missouri: Consumers Cooperative Association*...........................................
Nebraska: Farmers Union State Exchange.................................................... .
New York: Eastern Cooperative Wholesale*..................................................
Ohio:Farm Bureau Cooperative Association*.............-.....................................
Ohio Farmers Gram & Supply Association.............................................
Oregon: Oregon Grange Wholesale................. ..............................................
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Cooperative Association*........
Texas: Consumers Cooperatives Associated*________________________
Utah: Utah Cooperative Association*..............................................................
Washington:
Grange Cooperative Wholesale...................................................................
Pacific Supply Cooperative*......................................................................
Wisconsin: Central Cooperative Wholesale*..................................................
District
Michigan:
Cooperative Services...................................................................................
Northland Cooperative Federation............................................................
Minnesota:
Trico Cooperative Oil Association........................................................
C-A-P Cooperative Oil Association............................... .............. ............
Range Cooperative Federation...................................................................
Wisconsin:
A & B Cooperative Association...................................................................
Iron Cooperative Oil Association................................................................
Cooperative Services............................. ......................................................
Price County Cooperative Oil Association.............................................
i No data.
*1943; not reported for 1944.
Number of affili
Year in ated associations
which
organized
1944
1943
18
3,393
112
16
2,899
97
1933
18
16
1939
1936
1927
1921
1927
1935
1920
1926
1928
1927
1928
1914
1929
1933
1929
1937
1934
1931
1935
1919
1933
1917
31
101
140
86
30
34
139
328
63
400
792
350
166
86
170
14
23
130
12
59
99
140
28
115
140
86
29
33
140
298
49
310
715
323
162
87
<9
15
22
106
10
(9 94
137
1932
1938
1929
1929
1924
1930
1930
1928
1934
12
7
1$
20
29
10
7
6
11
8
18
10
29
5
7
6
«3
3
10
It should be explained, however, that some of the wholesale asso
ciations, which from table 4 appear to be standing still as far as new
members are concerned, operate in one State only and the local
associations are organized on a county basis; the total number of the
wholesale’s affiliates therefore cannot exceed the number of counties
in the State. In such cases the only way in which the member
associations may increase in number is by the organization of a new
retail association to operate in a county where previously none existed.
This is the case in such States as Indiana (vrhere local associations in
86 of the 92 counties are affiliated with the wholesale), Ohio (86 of the
88 counties), and Pennsylvania (23 of the 67 counties).
The apparent loss of members in the case of Central States Co
operatives was due to the clearing of inactive associations, and those
that had not completed membership, from the rolls during the year.
National Cooperatives, the members of which are the regional
wholesales, admitted two new members in 1944. These were the Utah
Cooperative Association, and the Manitoba (Canada) Cooperative
Wholesale. The members of National Cooperatives in the United
States, which are shown in table 4, are indicated by an asterisk.9 Its
report for 1944 indicated that the business of its affiliates in that year
totaled $151,205,317 and that they were serving 3,248 local member
associations with 1,166,650 individual members; of these the United
States wholesales accounted for $124,949,430 business, 2,667 associa
tions, and 1,076,650 members.
In addition to the member associations, 13 regional wholesales
reported a total of 1,796 local associations which although not mem
bers of the wholesales made purchases through them from time to
time; 6 other wholesales reported that they had no unaffiliated patrons.
Among the district wholesales, 4 of the 8 associations reporting on this
point had a total of 35 unaffiliated patrons.
Distributive and Service Facilities
A number of the wholesales added to their facilities during the year,
in addition to enlarging their productive capacity.10 The leaders in
this respect were Midland Cooperative Wholesale and Consumers
Cooperative Association. The former bought a new warehouse with
180,000 square feet of space, and a village in Wisconsin containing
several business properties as well as some houses; the village will be
used as a training center, besides providing additional productive
capacity for the wholesale. Consumers Cooperative Association
bought 2 new repair shops (it already had 2) for the servicing of its
fleet of 60 transport trucks, a 5-story office building for its head
quarters, and a branch building in Des Moines, and began the con
struction of a farm-supply warehouse in Aberdeen, S. Dak.
Central States Cooperatives opened a depot in Detroit, handling
fresh produce, butter, and eggs, and distributing groceries trucked
from the Chicago headquarters. Illinois Farm Supply Co. bought
new petroleum-storage tanks and added another towboat. Coopera
• In addition it has two Canadian members (besides the Manitoba wholesale) as follows: Saskatchewan
Cooperative Wholesale, and United Farmers Cooperative (Ontario). The Farmers' Cooperative Exchange
(Raleigh, N. C.) is also a member but is not included in the present report because it is not a federation of
local associations and does not handle consumer goods.
10 For expansion of productive plant, see p. 19.
11
tive Service Co. (Iowa) acquired a new plant and warehouse, and
Michigan Farm Bureau Services bought a seed warehouse. Farmers’
Union Central Exchange purchased terminal facilities at Minot,
N. Dak. Consumers Cooperatives Associated (Texas) acquired a
grain elevator.
In the United States many wholesale organizations, which have
begun as distributors handling farm supplies or petroleum products
only, have gradually added consumer goods of various kinds. A
reversal of this procedure has occurred in California where the whole
sale, starting as a supplier for urban groups, has also begun to cater
for farmers in its territory; its newest addition (in 1944) was a line of
farm machinery and milking machines.
Among the other wholesales, Iowa Farm Service Co. added fer
tilizer; Midland added dry goods, insecticides, and lumber; and
Consumers Cooperative Association, salt, family flour, household
drugs, new types of roofing, and liquefied gas (for cooking). Oregon
Grange Wholesale began to handle milking machines; Ohio Farmers
Grain & Supply Association, electric fence supplies; and Consumers
Cooperatives Associated (Texas), salt, plow parts, milking machines,
and water systems.
Among the district associations, Northland Cooperative Federation
added farm implements and Range Cooperative Federation went
into the egg business. Iron Cooperative Oil Association hired its
first full-time educational field worker.
No association reported the voluntary discontinuance of any lines
or services, although market shortages in some cases resulted in
temporary inability to provide some items. Thus, Associated Co
operatives of California had to discontinue the handling of petroleum
products temporarily, because of inability to get supplies.
Among the regional wholesales, of 22 associations reporting, only
6 were operating any retail outlets; these had a total of 30 such
branches (12 being accounted for by one wholesale alone). Only 3 of
the 8 reporting district wholesales had retail branches; these totaled 4.
A total of 65 warehouses was reported by 22 regional wholesales.
Of these associations, 1 had 12 warehouses, 1 had 8, 2 had 6 each, 2
had 4, 4 had 3, 3 had 2, 7 had 1, and 2 did no warehousing business.
The 8 reporting district wholesales had a total of 12 warehouses;
1 had 4, 2 had 2 each, 4 had 1 each, and 1 had none.
Distributive Operations
Without exception the reporting wholesales had a considerable
increase in distributive business in 1944 as compared to 1943 (table 5).
For the regional wholesales the increase averaged nearly 18 percent,
whereas for the district organizations it was nearly 23 percent. Five
of the regional wholesales had a business exceeding 10 million dollars
each in 1944.
National Cooperatives showed an increase in business of slightly
over 60 percent. Appliances, hardware, and farm supplies accounted
for the largest volume of business, followed in order by building ma
terials, groceries, and automotive supplies.
Earnings of the wholesales also showed a remarkable increase. It
should be pointed out, however, that some of the earnings shown in
table 5 were the result not of the distributive business but of service
12
T ab le 5.
— Distributive Business , N et Earnings, and Patronage Refunds of Cooperative
Wholesales* 1943 and 1944
Amount of business1
Association
1944
1943
Net earnings
1944
1943
Patronage refunds23
1944
1943
All associations:
Interregional..................................... $6,577,200 $4,096,872 $36,524 09
$36,524 (8)
Regional:
Wholesale business. ................ 126,959,149 107,680,565 6,098,144 $5,603,990 6,142,330 $4,779,554
Retail business.......................... 3,707,829 3,320,441 109,483 97,936 39,000 28,754
District............................................. 2,494,680 2,035,532 101,146 75,636 94,420 64,868
Interregional
Illinois: National Cooperatives............ 6,577,200 4,096,872 36,524 (810)
36,524 09
Regional
California: Associated Cooperatives4. \f «200,764
3,221
344
2,185
67150,000 } 230,843
Illinois:
Central States Cooperatives.........
494,308 11,858 11,000 11,858 10,000
759,570
Illinois Farm Supply Co— ......... 14,931,151 14,118,070 580,537 71,054,948 468,561
7896,830
Indiana: Farm Bureau Cooperative
Association____________________ 10,766,822 10,571,397 71,014,750 71,323,887 7911,819 7925,424
Iowa:
Iowa Farm Service Co._................ 1,737,155 1,232,292 56,698 47,449 55,000 45,645
Cooperative Service Co..................
95,483 44,923 16,753 43,391 15,077
983,234
84,757,493 s 246,266 «144,161
Michigan: Farm Bureau Services........ /\ 8«6,208,711
2,289,453 • 1,675,238 « 62,593 •54,411 } 8 294,214 8193,638
Minnesota:
Midland Cooperative Wholesale.. 10,176,463 9,004,955 7837,475 7362,996 7790,292 7273,353
Minn. Farm Bureau Service Co.. 1,441,260 1,309,288 91,099 104,690 67,541 104,432
Farmers Union Central Exchange. 12,135,454 10,641,839 978,961 782,562 934,485 528,603
Missouri: Consumers Cooperative
Association................................... — f «15,550,607 *10,019,505 *236,976 } 201,908 71,130,454 7680,774
\ « 305,591 « 479,610 •8,097
Nebraska: Farmers Union State Ex
change--------------- -------- ------------ / 82,452,453 52,409,699 »163,187 8105,109 8100,000 •64,811
\ « 1,112,785 8 1,165,593 •38,793 « 43,525 « 39,000 « 28,754
New York: Eastern Cooperative
Wholesale____________________ 4,091,066 3,210,180 15,096 -22,247 «9,900
Ohio:
Farm Bureau Cooperative Associ
ation__________________ ____ 18,693,398 17,363,046 7547,771 7494,494 7 369,390 7 342,733
Ohio Farmers Grain & Supply
Association____________ ___ 1,521,972
63,635
50,038
(3)
Oregon: Oregon Grange Wholesale__
549,791
291,837 48,553 (8)
31,395 » 48,724 09
20,612
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association___ 8,318,452 7,584,152 351,580 352,633 205,473 187,064
Texas: Consumers Cooperatives Asso
ciated----------------------------------- -- 2,594,227 2,134,206 76,234 63,829 71,795 63,829
Utah: Utah Cooperative Association..
254,109 •11,797 88,079 «U, 208 88,259
255,712
Washington:
Grange Cooperative Wholesale__ 3,282,095 2,761,574 8168,148 (8)
8168,148 09
Pacific Supply Cooperative_____ 4,575,308 3,837,664 7413,332 8353,097 7282,882 8281,278
Wisconsin: Central Cooperative
Wholesale............. ............................... 5,733,484 5,358,625 7136,047 7166,903 7114,972 7137,192
District11
Michigan:
Cooperative Services.......... ...........
121,674
140,568
6,286 (8)
4,344 09
Northland Cooperative Feder
ation______________________
162,790
319,325
1,368
1,136
1,368
Minnesota:
Trico Cooperative Oil Association.
220,321 22,482 16,397 22,482 16,397
233,165
C-A-P Cooperative Oil Associ
123,204
110,074 11,041
ation_______________________
9,654 10,226
9,654
Range Cooperative Federation__ 1,154,334
926,795 23,674 21,972 723,711 722,236
Wisconsin:
A & B Cooperative Association...
117,376 12,259
126,898
6,617 11,879
6,336
189,328
Iron Cooperative Oil Association..
200,408
7,716
6,952
8,163
2,292
149,427 14,124 11,281 13,458
Cooperative Services----------------153,378
7,953
Price County Cooperative Oil
Association.............................. .
37,747
43,400
2,196
416 (8)
09
1 Except where otherwise indicated, figures relate to wholesale distributive business.
2 Includes all refunds declared, regardless of form in which paid (cash, shares, members’ equity credits,
etc.).
3 No data.
4 This association, formerly classified as a district wholesale, became a regional wholesale in 1944 when
it began to serve associations throughout the State in addition to a few in other nearby States.
s Wholesale.
• Retail.
7Includes service and productive departments.
8Includes service departments.
• Includes productive departments.
10Includes part of patronage refunds of 1943, returned in 1944. 11 Figures include some retail business.
13
and productive operations, notably the latter. In cases in which the
earnings of the service departments and the productive enterprises
were reported separately, they are included in the data shown in tables
7 and 9. In many cases, however, such figures were not separable
from the distributive business, in which event the entire earnings are
shown in table 5. The same applies to an even greater extent to the
patronage refunds which (as noted in table 5) include in many cases
earnings—often exceeding those made in the distributive business—
made by the factories. An extreme case is that of Consumers Co
operative Association which returned $1,130,454 in patronage refunds,
whereas the distributive operations (both wholesale and retail) had
total net earnings amounting to only about a fifth of this sum; the
rest came from productive earnings.
Data on volume of business done in various broad commodity
divisions were available for 20 of the regional wholesales and 8 of the
district associations. The distribution is shown in table 6.
T able 6.
— Amount and Percent of Business Done by Wholesale Cooperative Associations
in 1944, by Commodity Groups
Regional associations
Num
ber of
associ
ations
han
dling
Commodity group
All commodities.................. ............................
Food products................................................. _ _____
Household supplies
Electrical appliances____________________
Clothing
_ _____________
Hardware
_ _____________________
Coal....................................................................
Petroleum products (including grease).........
Tires, tubes, and accessories...........................
Building materials and paint..........................
Farm supplies (including feed, seed, and fer
tilizer)....................... .............. ......................
Farm machinery and implements.......... ......
fitore and station equipment
Automobiles
_
__
____________
Other (not classified)........................................
Amount
20 $116,188,244
9,668,403
9
139,420
3
1,629,859
8
2
500, 707
1
275,705
2,298, 760
9
18 52,867,819
3,226,377
16
3,865,072
12
16 38,378,174
2,071,625
12
1,015,367
6
450,956
5
Capital and Resources
District associations
Num
ber of
Percent associ
ations Amount Percent
han
dling
100.0
8.2
.1
1.3
.4
.2
2.0
45.5
2.8
3.3
33.0
1.8
.9
.4
8 $2,451,280
2
846,360
100.0
34.5
1
11,575
8 1,068,160
2
3,607
2
29,443
2
125,233
3
31,293
1
2,308
7
333,301
.5
43.6
.1
1.2
5.1
1.3
.1
13.6
Common stock (ownership of which carries the power to vote) is
becoming less important as a source of financing of central cooperative
associations, and preferred stock (carrying no voting privilege, but
entitled to first call on earnings) is taking its place. Of 20 regional
wholesales reporting, all but 8 were making use of preferred stock by
the end of 1944. Common stock for all reporting associations totaled
$5,766,320. For the 12 wholesales which had both preferred and
common, the preferred aggregated $7,379,852 whereas the common
stock totaled only $4,267,974. None of the district wholesales had
issued preferred shares; their common shares totaled $278,778.
The total assets of 21 regional wholesales amounted to $38,020,574,
and those of 8 district associations to $631,020. The ratio of current
assets to total assets varied widely, ranging among the regional organi
zations from 40.8 to 93.4 percent and among the district organizations
14
from 30.1 to 70.5 percent. The averages were 59.4 and 54.4 percent,
respectively. The r^tio of current assets to current liabilities was
equally variable, ranging in the regional associations from 1.3: 1 to
14.7 : 1 and in the district associations from 0.8 : 1 to 13.0: 1. For
the two groups the averages were 2.3 :1 and 2.9 :1. The distribution
of the reporting associations was as follows: Regional
District
1
0.0- 0.9:1____________________________________
1.0- 1.9:1___________________________________ 4
2.0- 2.9:1___________________________________ 8
3.0- 3.9:1___________________________________ 1
4.0- 4.9:1___________________________________ 4
5.0- 5.9:1___________________________________ 1
6.0- 6.9:1____________________________________
9.0- 9.9:1__________________________________ 1
13.0- 13.9:1__________________________________
14.0-14.9:1__________________________________ 1
2
2
i
l
I
For only 8 regional associations was information on net wortn
available. In these associations the member equities (ratio of net
worth to total liabilities) ranged from 34.5 to 78.3 percent, and
averaged 64.0 percent. Similar data were available for 7 district
associations, the net worth ranging in these from 56.7 to 93.4 percent
and averaging 79.5 percent.
SERVICE OPERATIONS OF CENTRAL COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS
Services in increasing variety are being offered not only by tn«
cooperative wholesale associations but also by federations established
for the sole purpose of providing services which the member associa
tions either cannot or do not desire to perform for themselves. As
compared with 1943, the service business of the reporting central
organizations more than doubled, rising from $5,163,060 to
$11,652,806. The business of the service federations, however, in
creased at a faster rate than that of the wholesale service departments.
In 1943 they accounted for only 36 percent of the total, whereas in
1944 they did 66 percent of the total business; most of this advance
occurred in transport and burial service.
The gross income from the various types of service rendered by the
wholesales and service federations in 1944 is shown below:
Wholesale service
departments
Funeral service________________________________ $39, 347
Automobile repair______________________________ 93, 412
Recreation____________________________________
4, 752
Insurance, bonds, etc___________________________ 68, 498
Auditing, accounting, etc----------------------------------- 70, 835
Financing and credit___________________________
45, 446
Management, business advice, planning, etc______
36, 667
Transport service (all kinds)____________________ 3, 027, 041
Other (not specified)----------------------------------------- 546, 389
Serv ice
federations
$86, 948
66, 439
90, 829
16, 559
7, 459, 644
The business done (gross income) in the various lines of service by
each central organization is shown in table 7. The figures there
given, however, are not an accurate representation of earning capacity
in the case of the service departments of the wholesales. For most of
these the earnings (and patronage refunds) were not separable from
those of the distributive business, but are included in the data shown
in' table 5.
15
T a b le 7.
— Service Activities of Central Cooperative Organizations, 1944
Association
Total...................................... ....................
Service departments of wholesales..
Regional. .........................-.........
District..................................... .
Service federations.............................
Service departments of wholesales
Illinois:
Illinois Farm Supply Co_.............
Central States Cooperatives................
Indiana: Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso
ciation.
Michigan:
Farm Bureau Services— ................
Northland Cooperative Federation.
Minnesota:
Midland Cooperative Wholesale—
C-A-P Cooperative Oil Association.
Range Cooperative Federation..........
Missouri: Consumers Cooperative Asso
ciation.
New York: Eastern Cooperative Whole
sale.
Ohio: Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa
tion.
Utah: Utah Cooperative Association..
Washington:
Grange Cooperative Wholesale__
Pacific Supply Cooperative................
Wisconsin: Central Cooperative Whole
sale.
Service federations
Iowa: Business Service Association...........
Maryland: Federated Cooperatives.........
Minnesota:
Federated Cooperatives of East Cen
tral Minnesota.
Northland Cooperative Mortuary___
Cooperative Auditing Service............
Farmers Union Cooperative Credit
Association.
Farmers Cooperative Trucking Asso
ciation.
Montana: Farmers Union Transporters...
Nebraska:
Farmers Union Nonstock Coopera
tive Transport Association.
Farmers Union Nonstock Coopera
tive Transport Association.
Farmers Nonstock Cooperative Trans
port Association.
North Dakota: Farmers Union Transpor
tation Co.
South Dakota: Equity Audit Co..............
Wisconsin:
Valley Cooperative Services........... .....
Central Finance....................................
Mem
ber
ciations
Service
Amount
of busi Net Patron
earn age
ness
(gross ings refunds
income)
$11,652,806 $465,729 $367,081
3,932,387 367,523 287,699
3,774,487 347,513 281,249
157,900 20.010 6,450
7,720,419 98,206 79,932
932
Transport (by truck and 1,675,256i 347,513 281,249
towboat).
Auditing................ ............
• 0)
0)
___ do_________________
Trucking...........................
Automobile repair______
I 0)
0)
Insurance (agency)_____
Finance (or credit)............
Other...................................
Management_______
>1 0)-151 0)
Livestock marketing.
0)
Trucking...................
il
Pipeline...................
(*)
0)
Tank-car service__
Trucking...................
1 6,450 6,450
___ do____________
: 2,050 ]
Automobile repair—
1 753 0)
Funeral service........
' 9,438
Insurance (agency)..
1,470 J
Recreation................
Auditing...................
0)
Transport................
} ®
Fidelity bonds.........
(2)
Trucking.............................
0)
Planning and specifica
}
tions.
Trucking______________
23,658 0)
0)
Auditing.................
}
«
0)
Trucking.................
-----do......................
Automobile repair..
Auditing..................
102 Auditing, tax service, busi
144
ness analysis.
5 Management supervision..
8,601
23 Insurance (agency), fu
442 (*)
neral service, insulating,
trucking.
21 Funeral service...................
1,766 1,500
432 Auditing, accounting, busi
-257
ness advisory service.
146 Loans to local coopera
79,461 4,459 3,642
tives.
91 Trucking and marketing. _ 7,384,880 67,704 64,045
42 Trucking of petroleum <10,292
568
products.
2
.do..
8,491 1,234
180
4 ..do..
26,376 6,081 6,066
10,855 1,231 (2)
4 ,.do~
18 .do..
18,750 (2)
(2)
35 Auditing and accounting.
26,039 1,765 1,234
5 Funeral service.................
23,181 4,395 3,265
2 Financing sales contracts.
11,368
73
1 Figures not separable from distributive business; see table 5.
2 No data.
37 months’ operations; fiscal year changed.
41 month’s operations; association then sold its business and discontinued operations.
16
A high ratio of member ownersliip was shown by the service federa
tions. Of 11 organizations for which both liabilities and net worth
were reported, in 2 the net worth constituted over 90 percent of the
total liabilities, in 3 from 70 to 89 percent, and in 3 from 50 to 69
percent; in 3 associations net worth was less than 50 percent. For
the whole group the average was 77.6 percent. Total liabilities for
this group amounted to $541,182 and net worth to $420,103. Two
other associations for which net worth was not reported had total
liabilities (and assets) aggregating $425,780.
PRODUCTION BY CENTRAL COOPERATIVES
Cooperative production has shown a remarkable rise during the
past few years, as more and more central cooperative organizations—
wholesales and productive federations—have entered new lines or have
expanded their output, of previous products. As compared with 1943,
the value of manufactures more than doubled, rising from $31,104,255
to $65,255,203. The figures shown in table 8 reflect the great strides
made in the production and refining of petroleum products in the
past few years. Other commodities in which large gains were made
were the production of lumber and of feed, seed, and fertilizer.
T able 8. — Value of Cooperative Production , 1943 and 19449 by Commodities
1943: Total
Commodity
Amount
All products........................................... $31,104,255
Food
products......................................... 1,958,036
nhAmir>fll prndiiftts
Onal
_ _
. _
Crude oil.................................................
Pipeline operations................................
Refined petroleum products.................
Lubricating, oil........................................
Grease___________________________
Printing...................................................
Paint____________________________
Lumber and shingles..............................
Shelving_________________________
Poultry and poultry products.............
Insecticides______________________
Feed, seed, fertilizer...............................
Farm maenmery___
Othar
31,340
1,672,756
6,743,901
1,358,479
223,864
326,959
1,351,782
360,502
5,316
246,247
(2)
16,781,157
43,916
Per
cent
1944
Total
Amount
Depart
ments or Productive
subsidi
Per aries of federations
cent wholesales
100.0 $65,255,203 100.0 $53,845,693 $11,409,510
6.3 2,073,462
3.2 1,768,462
305,000
38,000
.1
38,000
29,274 0)
29,274
.1
721,050
1.1
719,953
1,097
5.4 4,947,745
7.6 4,947,745
21.7 21,165,002 32.4 14,585,328 6,579,674
4.4 4,659,465
7.1 4,659,465
226,374
226,374
.7
.3
192,793
1.1
.3
92,237
100,556
81,689
4.3
.1
81,689
1.2 1,361,866
2.1 1,101,147
260,719
11,574
11,574
0)
369,296 0).6
.8
369,296
98,034
.2
98,034
53.9 27,410,770 42.0 23,617,115 3,793,655
1,868,809
2.8 1,500,000
368,809
.1
1 Less than*half of 1 percent.
2 No data.
The value of the various commodities produced by the individual
wholesales and productive federations is given in table 9. For a num
ber of the wholesales the net earnings from the productive depart
ments were not available separately from those of the distributive
business. For the wholesales reporting on this point net earnings
exceeded l){ million dollars, representing 7.0 percent on their output
of $18,340,211. The earnings of the productive federations—the
operations of most of which are thus far on a considerably smaller
scale than those of the wholesale productive enterprises, and some of
17
which were just getting started in 1944—were considerably less, only
slightly exceeding $130,000, and averaging only 1.2 percent on the
value of goods produced. Total net earnings shown in the table were
greatly reduced by losses sustained by three organizations, amounting
to nearly $60,000.
This table covers the operations of 88 plants—8 petroleum refin
eries, 5 plants making lubricating oil, 1 plant making grease, 2 can
neries, a bakery; 2 coffee-roasting plants, a sausage factory, a softdrink bottling plant, 2 butter and cheese plants, 3 printing plants, 4
sawmills, 2 paint factories, 6 seed-cleaning plants, 13 feed mills, 2
soybean-processing plants, 2 alfalfa-dehydration plants, 6 fertilizer
factories, 19 chick hatcheries, 3 insecticide plants, 2 machinery plants,
a coal mine, a shingle mill, and a chemical works.
T able 9. — Production by Central Cooperative Organizations, 1944
Association
Num
ber oi
member
asso
cia
tions
Total ________________________
Productive departments of whole
sales: i
Interregna!
_____________
Regional
.
District.
Productive federations
Productive departments Of wholesales
139
Goods produced
Value of Net Patron
goods
age
produced earnings refunds
$65,255,203 $1,410,664 $1,314,934
56,999,856 1,279,651 1,204,429
1,538,000
4,993
4,993
51,521,512 1,258,503 1,191,495
786,181 16,155
7,941
11,409,510 131,013 110,505
Chemical products______
38,000
4,993
Milking machines_______ 1,500,000 } 4,993
Indiana: Indiana Farm Bureau Co ...... Refined petroleum products. 2,339,342
Printing_______________
28,162
operative Association.
<9
Fertilizer
2,437,504 (9
Fggs and chicks
. .... .
154,994
Lum ber___
719,236 -15,870
Butter and cheese_______ 266,390
Michigan: Northland Cooperative
8,207
7,941
Federation.
Minnesota:
Refined petroleum prod 2,472,547
Midland Cooperative Wholesale..
ucts.
Lubricating oil_.
331,947 • <9
(9
Fly
spray______________
24,671
Feed and seed
_ __
394,679
Feed and fertilizer.............. 973,536
Minn. Farm Bureau Service Co
58,412
Refined petroleum prod 2,273,110 1 w
Farmers Union Central Exchange
ucts.
(9
Lubricating oil
_
1,926,456 \ (9
Soybean cattle feed
_ _
J
Butter.................................. (9
141,575
Range Cooperative Federation
4,005
Cheese
_
294,344
3,831
Meat products
83,872
112 1 «
Refined
petrole’im
prod
7,228,034
Missouri: Consumers Cooperative
ucts.
Association.
Crude oil
___
719,953 •1,274,373 1,133,083
Lubricating oil
.
2,401,062
Pipeline...
4,947,745
Grease _
226,374
Paint
81,689
Lumber _
_
381,911
Printing_______________
64,075
(9
Canned goods
310,876 * (9
Dehydrated potatoes......... 183,413
Soft drinks..........................
13,077
629,224,
Feed and dehydrated al
falfa.
Feed ___ ____________
94,841
Nebraska: Farmers Union State Ex
(9
Poultry and egg processing- 182,495, f (9
change.
shelving
11,574
New York: Eastern Cooperative
(9
Coflee roasting.................... 136,000 } <*>
Wholesale.
See footnotes at end of table.
TIHnnis* National Cooperatives
18
T a ble 9.
— Production by Central Cooperative Organizations, 1944—Continued
Association
Num
ber of
mem
ber
ciations
Productive departments of wholesales—
Continued
Ohio:
Farm Bureau Cooperative Asso
ciation.
Ohio Farmers Grain & Supply
Association.
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Farm
Bureau Cooperative Association.
Texas: Consumers Cooperatives As
sociated.
Washington: Pacific Supply Cooper
ative.
Wisconsin: Central Cooperative
Wholesale.
Productive federations
British Columbia (Can.): Interna
tional Lumbering Association.
Indiana:
Cooperative Mills...........................
Farm Bureau Milling Co..............
National Farm Machinery Co
operative.
Kansas: National Cooperative Re
finery Association.
Ohio: Farm Bureau Chemical Coop
erative.
Wisconsin: Cooperative Publishing
Association.
Goods produced
Refined petroleum prod
ucts.
Feed and grain...................
Fertilizer.............................
Chicks....................... .........
Feed, seed, fertilizer...........
Feed...................................
Seeds (cleaned)...................
Feed.....................................
Coal.....................................
Feed and seeds____ -___
Insecticides........................
Bakery products................
Coffee................... ...............
Feed_________________
11 Shingles.
Value of Net Patron
goods
age
produced earnings refunds
$272,295
11,308,275 • (2)
1,308,233
31,807
478,063 J (9
1,500 000 } (9
100.000
29,221
29,274
2,236,542
73,363 (,)
204,305
134,610
2,126,997 «
1
1
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
260,719 -$20,934
10
4
15
5
Flour, cereals, feed............. 305,000
2,540
Feed....... .......................... 3,003,776 56,938
Farm machinery.............
•368,809 -22,772
Crude oils...........................
1,097
Refined petroleum prod 6,579,674 } 64,377
ucts.
2 Fertilizer.............................
789,879 50,566
692 Printing: Job work and
298
100,556
periodicals.
$1,874
56,938
4,377
47,316
1Includes commodities produced by wholly owned subsidiaries of a wholesale as well as by productive de
partments within the wholesale.
2 Not separable from distributive business; included in figures given in table 5.
418,900 bushels produced; value not reported.
* Does not include cultivator plant at Bellevue, Ohio, purchased from a private company, which operated
only 7 months of the year under cooperative ownership. For 1943-44 the total sales of that plant amounted
to $1,371,550. A patronage refund of $27,077 was reported to have been made for the 7 months" cooperative
operation; also the Federal Government is reported to have received a refund of about $45,000 on its pur
chases of war materials from the plant.
• And 172 associations partly paid up.
1%
Over
million dollars was declared in patronage refunds to the
members of both types of enterprise. An indication of the increas
ingly important part played by production in the earnings of whole
sales is indicated in the report of Midland Cooperative Wholesale;
only
percent of its net earnings in
came from the distributive
operations, while the remainder came from its own productive plants
or those in which it is part owner with other cooperative wholesales.
Its
report pointed out, also: “ We have now learned from ex
perience that ownership of productive facilities * * * means
safety of supply and assurance of quality.”
13.7
1944
1944
Consumers Cooperative Association estimates that from 25 to 40
percent of the patronage refunds which it returns to its member
associations are the earnings from cooperative productive facilities.
Each new plant acquired has helped to accelerate the rate of member
ship increase. The wholesale’s annual report for 1944 stated that all
of the refined fuels and all of the grease needed by the member associa
19
tions are being manufactured in its plants or those of the National
Cooperative Refinery Association. Over three-fourths of all the
goods it supplied to its member associations in 1944 came from co
operatively owned factories.
In the case of the Farmers Union State Exchange (Nebraska),
$63,653 of its 1944 net earnings of $163,187 consisted of the patronage
refund on its business with the National Cooperative Refinery Asso
ciation, of which it is a member.
Expansion o f Productive Capacity in 1944
Notwithstanding wartime restrictions, numerous wholesales were
able to add to their productive facilities either through purchase of
existing plant or construction of new establishments. Minnesota
Farm Bureau Service Co. started construction on a new fertilizer
plant and enlarged its feed mill. Early in 1945 Midland Cooperative
Wholesale, Farmers Union Central Exchange, and Central Co
operative Wholesale formed a new federation, Northwest Cooperative
Mills, which will carry on various productive enterprises for these
wholesales; its first activity will be the operation of a soybean-pro
cessing plant which was built by Farmers Union Central Exchange.
Consumers Cooperative Association acquired a feed mill, another
petroleum refinery,11 and an alfalfa-dehydrating plant, and became
part owner (with several farmers’ cooperatives) of a cotton-oil mill.
Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association purchased a soybean-processing plant, a rendering plant, and a fertilizer factory.12 Con
sumers Cooperatives Associated (Texas) bought a grain elevator.
Pacific Supply Cooperative not only acquired a feed plant and a
seed-cleaning and processing plant, but leased a coal mine in Utah
with option to buy if this seems desirable.
National Cooperatives, which operates a milking-machine factory
and a chemical-products department manufacturing cosmetics and
household chemicals, late in 1944 decided to go into the manufacture
of electric water heaters for home use. It leased factory space for
this purpose in Albert Lea, Minn., and began operation early in 1945.
The International Lumbering Association was formed originally as a
subsidiary of National Cooperatives but was later incorporated as an
independent organization, the owners of which are 11 regional whole
sales (7 in the United States and 4 in Canada). The association
operates a shingle mill and owns a tract of timber (largely cedar)
estimated to contain 100 million feet of timber. The mill was pro
ducing for the cooperative movement throughout the year.
Early in 1944 the National Farm Machinery Cooperative purchased
from a private company a factory making various items of farm
machinery that the association had not previously handled.
The National Cooperative Refinery Association added to its
facilities a new Butane-Butylene plant. In addition to its refinery the
association at the end of 1944 owned an interest in 8 oil wells; another
investment early in 1945 brought the number to 46.
u In January 1945 the association purchased 68 more producing oil wells (bringing its total to 362) and
leased 4,375 acres of oil-bearing land.
12 Early in 1945 this association also purchased a part interest in a privately owned refinery, pipeline, and
river fleet.
20
Altogether, by March 1945, the consumers’ cooperative movement
in the United States (through the central wholesale and productive
federations) owned 9 petroleum refineries and a part interest in
another, nearly 1,400 miles of pipeline, and 420 producing oil wells.
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN CENTRAL COOPERATIVES
Continuing the trend of the war years, annual earnings of employees
in the wholesales and other business federations in 1944 showed a
small imcrease from 1943 (table 10). These organizations employed
an average of 4,758 persons in 1944.
T able
10.—Employment and Earnings in Central Cooperative Organizations in 1943
and 1944
Type of organization
All central federations__________________________
Wholesales:
Interregional______________________________
Regional__________________________________
District__________________________________
S#»rvir»p.
. _ _ _ _ _
Productive___________________________________
Num
ber of
asso
ciations
report
ing
Total
num
wages
ber of Total
em paid, 1944
ployees
Average annual
earnings per
employee1 in-—
1944
45 4,758
$6,064,597
$2,064
1 220
20 4,029
98
8
9
70
541
7
239,492
4,534,409
177,154
139,765
1,173,777
1,975
2,037
1,808
1,997
2,259
1943
$1,434
2,024
1,502
1,893
(3)
1 Based upon associations that reported both employees and amount paid in wages.
2 Includes some part-time workers.
3No data.
APPENDIX.— DETAILED DATA ON TREND OF DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL
TYPES OF ASSOCIATIONS
The accompanying table shows, for each of the various types of local associations
and federations, the estimated number, membership, and business done in specified
years since 1929.
21
T a b le A
.— Estimates of Number of Cooperative Associations, Membership, and Business ,
1929-44, by Type of Association 1
Type of association
Local associations
Retail distributive.............. 1,114
Stores and buying clubs. 900
Petroleum....................... 198
Other 3............................
16
98
Service...................................
32
Rooms and/or meals___
Housing.........................
45
Medical care:
On contract.............
Own facilities..........
6
Burial:3
Complete funeral..
Caskets only............
Other4............................ } 10*
50
Electricity associations •___
Telephone associations........ 4,500
Credit unions....................... 974
Insurance associations......... (8)
Federations
Wholesales:
Interregional...................
Regional...___ _____
8
District...........................
Service federations...............
1
Productive federations____
Noncommercial federations.
6
1936
1940
1939
1941
1942
1943
Number of associations
3,950
2,550
1,350
50
497
200
59
24
11
10
20
30
30
40
36
1
116
135 { 162
145
275
575
700
800
5,000 • 5,000 •5,000 • 5,000
5,355 8,326 9,479 10,456
1,800 1,900 1,900 2,000
4,025
2,600
1,375
50
526
190
59
35
11
35
6
190
810
• 5,000
10,602
2.000
4,150
2,700
1,400
50
551
175
59
50
18
35
4
210
820
• 5,000
10,373
2,000
4,285
2,810
1,425
50
577
175
59
50
18
36
4
235
850
•5,000
9,099
2,000
2
26
13
17
7
13
2
25
11
19
9
15
2
23
11
22
11
16
2
25
10
21
12
18
3,600
2,400
1,150
50
266
60
50
2
21
9
6
4
8
3,700
2,450
1,200
50
354
100
53
2
23
13
7
5
9
3,700
2,400
1,250
50
415
150
60
2
24
13
9
7
11
Number of members
Local associations
Retail distributive----------- 186,000 677,750 923,000 988,500 1,169,000 1,214,000 1,359,000 1,524,500
Stores and buying clubs. 123,000 330,500 450,000 485.000 500.000 540.000 600,000 690,000
Petroleum....................... 56,000 325,000 450,000 480.000 645.000 650.000 735,000 810,000
Other2............................ 7,000 22,250 23,000 23,500 24,000 24,000 24,000 24,500
169,000 215,100 241,600 278,400 318,500
Service................................... 9,800 94,150 ‘ 140,450
Rooms and/or meals___ 6,000 19,150 22,000 25,000 26,000 23,000 20,000 18,000
2,100
2,100
2,100
Housing.......................... 2,400 3,500 4,200 3,750 2,100
Medical care: •
f 40,000 50.000 65,000 95,000
On contract______
35,750
}
20,000
\ 15,000 25.000 40,000 45,000
6,500
Own facilities_____ («)
Burial:3
Complete funeral— } 800 20,000 21,250 24,500 / 24,500 25,000 30,000 35,000
\ 2,500
2,500
1,300
1,400
Caskets only...........
Other4............................ 600 45,000 73,000 80,000 105,000 114,000 120,000 122,000
82,500 485,000 575,000 1.005.000 1,010,000 1,025,000 1,149,700
Electricity associations •._— (8)
330,000 •330,000 •330,000 •330,000 «330,000 •330,000 •330,000
Telephone associations........ 300,000
Credit unions........................ 265,000 1,170,000 2,305,000 2,815,600 3.529.000 3,145,000 3,023,600 3,027,700
6,800,000 7,000,000 7,200,000 9,000,000 10,000,000 10,500,000 10.510,000
Insurance associations 10___
Federations11
Wholesales:
Interregional
24
23
22
24
21
26
18
3,094
3,356
3,790
Regional........................ 377 1,824 2,163 2,730 2,991
182
165
152
150
District
171
160
81
1,570
1,460
1,500
1,335
Service federations.............. (8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
23
31
140
18
Productive federations........
(8)
(8)
(8)
See footnotes at end of table.
22
T able
A .— Estimates of Number
1929-44 , by
Type of association
1929
Local associations
Retail distributive.—........... 49,000
Stores and buying clubs. 37,700
Petroleum....................... 10,800
Other 2............................
500
Service___________ ______ 1,728
Rooms and/or meals___ 1,640
Housing 12— ................
Medical care:
On contract.............
Own facilities..........
Burial:3
Complete funeral... } 53
Caskets only_____
35
Other4_______ ______
Electricity associations5*___ <8*
)
Telephone associations........ 5,000
Credit unions i3. . ................ 54,048
Insurance associations14___ <8)
Federations11
Wholesales:
Interregional:
Wholesale business
Own production-..
Regional:
Wholesale business.
Service business... 7.023
Retail business__
Own production i®.
District:
Wholesale business .
Serviceproduction
business. i®
_..
Own
Service federations______
Productive federations.......
of Cooperative Associations, Membership , and Business ,
Type of Association 12— Continued
1936
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
Amount of business (in thousands of dollars)
182,685 211,653 228,325 345,150
107,250 120,053 129,650 160,000
69,985 86,000 92,875 179,000
5,450 5,600 5,800 6,150
3,950 5,280 5.530 8,345
1,250 1,500 3,325
1,000
2,525 2,750 2.530 1,575
925
600 \f 1,125
500
50
200 /l 255
160
190
io
215
700 1,130
590
16,650 33,400
)
(8)5,485 «(85,485
«5,485 « 5,485
100,200 230,430 306,092 362,291
103,375 115,000 125,000 170,000
(815)468 (8)
50,4
3
41,370
(8) 1,9
(8)
1,8
(8(8))
(8)
8
398,500
195.000
197.000
6,500
8,495
3,000
1,575
1,000
1,150
260
10
1,500
45,000
«5,485
250.000
180.000
466,750 557.000
235.000 280.000
225.000 270,000
6,750
7,000
9.775 11,055
2.775
2,600
1,575
1,575
1,150
1,300
2,000
2,100
275
270
5
5
2,000
3,200
52,610 60,960
\ « 5,485 «5,485
208,808 212,305
185,000 190,000
9,280 11,775
w 7,760 1*4,204 » 4,500
15159 (8)
i®2,149
3,688
(8)
58,742 76,474 87,164 98,004 131,210
585 1,695
1,607
3,192
3,780
1,252 1,339 11,542 16,611
5,508
6,582 7,960 11,705 23,396 55,476
1,986 2,352
2,625
2,809
3,020
231
99
158
106
158
259
261
555
798
786
1,174
1,977
1,500
7,820
(8)
5,988
5,810
5,630 14,895
0)
1 Some revisions in data previously published, on basis of later information.
2 Such as consumers’ dairies, creameries, bakeries, fuel yards, etc.
3 Local associations only; does not include associations of federated type (which are included with service
federations) or funeral departments of store associations.
4 Such as cold storage, water supply, recreation, printing and publishing, etc.
®Except for the year 1929, almost all of these are REA associations, data for which were supplied by the
Rural Electrification Administration.
• Data are for 1936; no information on which to base later estimates.
3No data.
• Membership figures do not include dependents who are entitled to treatment.
i®Policyholders.
ii Figures do not agree with those in table 3 because (except as otherwise noted) those here given include
estimates for nonreporting associations. No data are available for noncommercial federations (mainly
educational).
i* Gross income.
i* Amount of loans made.
i®Premium income.
i®1 organization only.
i« Data relate only to reporting associations.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1945
@FedFRASER