AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Consumers' Cooperation is simply the organization of consumers into a group in order to conduct the retailing of needed goods. This group follows a definite line of development which includes the establishment of a retail store, a wholesale association, credit union, a producers' association, and other associations to care for the cooperative fulfillment of various needs. Although various forms of cooperative enterprises have long been advocated, including the actual experiments of Robert Owen and William King, present day cooperatives trace back only to 1844, when the "Equitable Society of Rochdale Pioneers" was established in Rochdale, England as the first modern cooperative, The "Pioneers" who founded this cooperative formulated certain principles that have served as the fundamental economic basis for all "Rochdale Cooperatives" that have developed since 1844. The cooperative movement expanded from Rochdale throughout England and throughout the European continent, achieving its greatest success in the Scandinavian countries. The movement continued to expand throughout the world. In the nineteenth century there were numerous, but sporadic and unsuccessful attempts to establish cooperatives in the United States, The failures were due for the most part to three facts: Cooperatives were usually established only as a secondary interest, for exainple, by labor unions. There was a decided lack of coordination in the movement. The typically American tendency to think only in terms of private enterprises plus the lack of a felt need for such enterprises perpetuated the general ignorance concerning cooperation. Since the early 1900's, because of the striking cooperative successes of the Finlanders, the Swedes, and the Bohemians in America; because of the coordinating functions of American wholesales; and because of the national program of cooperative education carried on by the Cooperative League of the U. S. A., cooperatives have enjoyed greater success than they enjoyed in the 1900's. Nevertheless, cooperative retail trade in 1939 was only 0.5% of the total retail trade of the nation; thus, it may be seen that the movement is still retarded. The lack of a felt need for a program of cooperation, the difficulty of obtaining capable managers for cooperative enterprises, the lack of homogeneity of the American people, general ignorance concerning cooperation, and defects of existing cooperatives and defects in the present movement have all helped to make for the current retardation of the movement. Nevertheless, these factors are constantly being minimized in importance, thus making the future bright for cooperation in America, The first fact to be observed in reference to the economics of consumers' cooperation is that this is a movement for consumers, and in this regard, it is looked upon favorably by economists. For nearly all economists recognize the prime importance of consumption. Since cooperatives must, in order to succeed, observe true cooperative principles, and since in addition, those principles represent…