ing ship-yard workers when the authorities and the private merchants conspired to starve them out.

An older Co-operative Movement is found in California. The Rochdale movement was started there fully twenty years ago. It experienced many vicissitudes. A wholesale was organized but it failed to give substantial help. Then the Pacific Co-operative League was incorporated in 1913 as a propaganda and sustaining organization. This has given decided strength to the movement. During the first four years more than 1100 associate members joined the League. In 1918 a significant move was made; the California Union of Producers and Consumers was created. The three organizations which enter into its composition are the Farmers' Educational and Co-operative Union, the Pacific Co-operative League and the California State Federation of Labor. This union of farmers, co-operative consumers, and organized workers is an indication of the sort of solidarity which should be of help to the people in their movement onward toward civilization.

A group of people who have done more than any other nationality to promote Co-operation in the United States are the Finns. They have the intelligence, the solidarity and the traditions necessary for success. At Superior, Wisconsin, they have a wholesale in the midst of a group of about fifty splendid societies. Their bakeries are as near perfection as possible. In Western Massachusetts is another group of Finns. In New York City they have co-operative apartment houses, restaurants and club houses. Their central bank at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, has a branch in New York. It receives the deposits

of the members and finances their enterprises. They conduct printing houses which publish several daily papers, weeklies, and monthly magazines. From the northern States to New England are chains of these Finnish societies. They have done more in developing the social, educational and recreational aspects of Co-operation than any other people. Their club houses, theatres and amusement parks represent the best America has in these expressions of Co-operation.

Other national and racial groups which have made notable progress are the Russians, Italians, Germans, Poles, Slovaks and Franco-Belgians. Besides these groups there are hundreds of isolated societies in every part of the country.

Fraternal societies which carry on life insurance and other activities have made progress also during the past fifty years.

These organizations are co-operative to a high degree. In 1918 the National Fraternal Congress was held. Societies repre

senting over 6,000,000 members were represented. At that time there were in the United States 550 fraternal beneficiary societies, with over 9,000,000 members and nearly $10,000,000,000 of insurance in force. During 1917 nearly $100,000,000 in benefits were paid. Since 1868, these societies have paid to the families of deceased members nearly $2,500,000,000 of which amount the Ancient Order of United Workmen has paid $250,000,000. Women are prominent in the work of these societies.

One of the most successful forms of Consumers' Co-operation in the United States is seen in farmers' fire insurance. There are about 2,000 of these mutual fire insurance companies. They carry insurance exceeding $5,250,000,000 on property valued at nearly seven billion dollars. This insurance is carried at one half the rate charged by the commercial companies. The insurance is cheaper because the expenses are less and the moral hazard is largely removed.

The National Co-operative Convention at Springfield, Illinois, in 1918, under the auspices of the Co-operative League of America, was a significant event in the development of the American Movement. It brought together delegates from all parts of the country, united the co-operative forces, and set on foot the organization of an American Wholesale.1 During the first six months after this event the League added the names of over 1,000 societies to its list.

The Co-operative Movement in America has undergone a striking revival during the past few years. In 1916 the American Federation of Labor passed strong resolutions indorsing Consumers' Co-operation and provided for the promotion of true Rochdale methods. Since that, the labor publications throughout the country have carried on an effective propaganda. The result has been as follows: The subject is brought up in union locals, a committee is appointed to get information, the committee writes to the League, advice and literature are sent, a society is organized, and a store opened. This is the natural current of events.

The Co-operative Movement in America is developing in close alliance with the Labor Movement. The indications are

1 The Transactions of the Convention and all literature dealing with the movement may be had from the Co-operative League of America, a West 13th Street, New York City.

that this alliance will become stronger. It is desirable for both that it should. The Labor Party has taken a stand in favor of the Co-operative Movement. All of the indications show that these three social forces-Co-operation, organizing the consumers; Labor, organizing the workers at the point of production; and Labor in the political field-are destined to go forward together to victory.

Quietly, like a great river, the current of Co-operation sweeps on. It is difficult to record its facts. The onward movement is so great that what is recorded today is left behind on the shore tomorrow. The mission of American Cooperation should be to play a large part in the drama of social reorganization, and side by side with the united forces of Cooperation of other lands, move on toward the redemption of the world.

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR

Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1917.

To the Executive Council, American Federation of Labor: Your "Committee on Co-operation," appointed by President Samuel Gompers, in accordance with Resolution No. 86, adopted by the Baltimore Convention, November, 1916, present the following as their report:

I.

Reversing the usual order of reports, the committee submits at the outset its recommendations. They are as follows: That a qualified trade unionist co-operator be appointed by the President of the American Federation of Labor to serve one year as lecturer and adviser on the practical work of Rochdale co-operation.

2. That this appointee shall have office room in the American Federation of Labor Building in Washington, which shall be the center of information by correspondence and otherwise on the subject.

3. That he shall visit localities in which co-operative societies are in process of formation or have already been formed, and give practical information to the officers and 'members of such societies, making out routes of travel for this purpose so as to conserve his time and perform the work at a minimum of expense.

4. That it shall be understood that central labor unions and local trade unions as such shall not form co-operative societies, but shall appoint committees from their membership to act in co-operation with other citizens who are in sympathy with the trade union movement in assisting in the upbuilding of a general co-operative movement.

5. That every local trade union under the jurisdiction of the American Federation of Labor be requested to contribute the sum of one dollar ($1.00) in order to establish successfully the Federation bureau for promoting and advancing the cause of true co-operation in the United States and Canada.

Your committee believes the submission of this practical program to be of more value to the trade unionists of the country than an extensive survey of the co-operative movements of the world or any exhaustive dissertation on the principles of cooperation, which might be made the subject matter of a report, except to say that we have found that protests, denunciations, condemnations and investigations are alike without power to influence employers to pay the rate of wages they should pay; provide safe and healthful conditions of employment, or establish the relationship that should obtain between the employers and the workers or the reasonable hours that should constitute a day's work.

The only way we have been able to assure these conditions has been through the establishment of the trade union movement, a powerful organization of workers to enforce labor's just demands.

This is just as true of the merchants and business men as it is of the employers. Protests, denunciations, condemnations and investigations will not enable us to obtain permanently the best articles which we use in every day life for just prices.

There is nothing that will accomplish this purpose except organization, and the co-operative movement is the organization that is designed to protect the workers in their relations with the merchants and the business men in the same sense that the trade union movement protects them from the employers. The two movements are twin remedies.

If we had a thorough co-operative movement throughout America, comprising in its membership the workers thereof, there would be less need for official governmental food control agencies.

And without that kind of organization established perma

nently to deal with this question there is no guarantee to the workers that the cost of living for them and their families will be permanently placed on the basis that should obtain, and it is for that reason that we believe that the American Federation of Labor should assist in establishing, building up and strengthening in every way possible a legitimate organization of bona fide workers in our country and Canada as part of the great world's co-operative movement: so that after the trade union movement has secured for the workers the wages that they are entitled to for the labor they perform, they may be assured in spending those wages that they will get for them their full value.

We hold that it is just as essential that a workingman should get ten dollars' worth of actual value for his wages when he spends them as it is that he should get the ten dollars that he is entitled to for the labor that he performs.

We would also recommend that the United States government be requested by the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor to take up the question of the co-operative movement in connection with its activities relative to the high cost of living, with a view to utilizing as far as possible, the existing co-operative organizations for immediate purposes and encouraging the creation of additional co-operative organizations where they are needed and conditions are suitable.

There has been assembled in the offices of the American Federation of Labor a considerable body of literature on the subject, among which are the standard works, reports from various countries, and lists of recent publications.

Your committee has excluded from its consideration all forms of associated work that do not fall within the strict limits of the Rochdale co-operative system.

The simple principles of this system are:

I. A democratic organization;

2. One vote for each member with equality in share ownership;

3. Cash returns quarterly to members of the difference between the total amount they have paid for their purchases and the lesser total cost of these purchases to the co-operative society; including among the costs depreciation and a reasonable amount for a reserve fund to meet emergencies and extend the business.

4. Rejection of the principle of profit;