Cooperative And The Community (1953)

[Music] when you and I were very young we learned that jobs which seemed impossible to do along were not really so hard when several of us worked together as we grew older we'll learned more about teamwork on the playgrounds of our schools we learned that the team is more powerful than any one of its members but when we pulled together for a common goal we are more effective than if each of us tries it on his own working together voluntarily is one of the earmarks of American democracy our founding fathers worked together to clear the land and build their homes even today farmers continue to work together in crews to harvest their crops and Thresh the grain people in communities work together cooperatively to our public schools are perhaps the most far-reaching cooperative service in America today more than 26 million boys and girls go to school most of them in well-built well staffed schools made possible by public tax support in this high school classroom these boys and girls learn about problems in community life the subject for discussion is the American cooperative in the community and its place in our system of free enterprise let's listen in suppose we start by naming a few of the community services that we maintain cooperatively fire protection police protection public highways our daily mail service public playgrounds and swimming pool public hospitals and health service those are cooperative services to the community supported by the community there are many more but what about another type of cooperative activity say in the realm of business how about the associated grocers they have a voluntary cooperative organization the Clearinghouse is a cooperative service maintained by banks in the community Associated Press as a form of cooperative with facilities for seeing directing reporting the news all over the world and makes available to its member newspapers a news roundup but no single paper could maintain there are some mm mutual insurance companies in the United States many of the biggest companies are cooperatives providing insurance coverage remember patrons it's a voluntary type group Ospital ization a service cooperative just by about one third of the people in the United States these and many more business cooperatives are based on the same idea that brings neighboring farmers together at brushing time three people who voluntarily joined together to do something for themselves that no individual can do alone that is the principle underlying all through cooperative whether they are marketing while purchasing consumer or how does the cooperative as a way of doing business compared with the private corporation the purpose of the private corporation is to make a profit for the stock burner and the profits are distributed in proportion to the amount of stock owned in a cooperative the purpose is service to the members any savings made are returned to the members in proportion to their paper did not in proportion to the amount of stock owned in a corporation there is no limit to profits in a cooperative the dividend on stocks are limited in corporation stockholders boat and maintain control in proportion to the amount of stock they own in a co-operative there is democratic control by the member a visit to the annual meeting of any well-run cooperative chose how this Democratic control works we arrived just in time to enjoy lunch prepared and served by the ladies of the organization after lunch members from the various districts go into session to nominate the directors they want to serve them the directors are then elected in the democratic manner and the elected directors hire a manager to run the business of the cooperative the directors know that the success of their co-op depends on two factors serving members more efficiently than they could serve themselves individually and serving the public interest by passing on to the public the benefits in lower costs better products or better service farm cooperatives such as this were authorized under the capper-volstead law is that the law that permits cooperatives to be exempt from income taxes no the capper-volstead law has nothing to do with taxation it permits agricultural group organization income tax exemptions for cooperatives are permitted only under certain conditions these are substantially all the stock and voting media are to be owned by members to members do over 50% of the business of the coop 3 each member has one vote or dividends on capital in vested in the coop cannot exceed 8% for any savings in the business operations of the coop are returned to the members in proportion to their use of its services or patronage for these conditions the co-operative may be exempt from income tax but the cash refunds to the members are taxable as members income however many of the coops have waived this tax exemption cooperatives vary widely in the type of services performed for their members but they all fall into three general types first and most important from the standpoint of number of members and volume is the farmers marketing cooperative the individual farmer producing food on his family owned farm like any small businessman usually operates his business on a small scale because he is a small operator he is at a disadvantage when he goes to town to sell the produce from his farm to the large and complicated markets as early as 1820 wearied of groups of farmers setting up marketing coops to gain for themselves advantages of marketing which no one farmer could obtain as an individual today this bargaining type of marketing co-op is still important even though it usually has no factory or warehouse it performs a service by bargaining with the strengths of all its members through its elected representatives instead of each member trying to bargain alone another type of marketing co-op besides actually bargaining for the sale of produce performs additional services for its members it collects the produce from the individual farmer brings it to the co-operative France where the members assured of accurate grades and weights built for the farmers own money the plant is equipped to process the farmers milk and distribute it daily as fluid milk if the market does not need all the milk as fresh milk the plant is equipped to manufacture evaporated or condensed milk butter cheese or dried milk to meet the needs of the consumer which is of course the farmers market a good progressive cooperative offers an incentive to members for improving quality and developing new products it arranges educational programs by specialists from the extension departments of State University here's the specialist in action teaching these future farmers how to select and grow better dairy cattle better breeding methods also increase milk production area farmers in one co-operative have set up this artificial insemination farm which makes available to the members some of the highest producing bloodlines in America these sires like royalty to the dairy breeder could be too expensive for most individual farmers to long but through their cooperative they are able to maintain this breeding service increasing production for themselves and promoting efficiency in the dairy industry farmer cooperatives cover many other services and products too by joining together voluntarily farmers built this modern poultry plants this plant brings to the member farmer the advantages of volume processing saving for him a better share of the consumer dollar without costing the consumer anymore thus the well-managed cooperative works in both the members and the Public Interest providing a stable year-round market the same is true of eggs gathered at the height of the LaCie's me now on their way to processing by freezing canning or drying in this cooperative plant the Vander pol the year-round supply makes it a good deal for the consumer as well as the co-op members another type of cooperative serves its members by maintaining marketing facilities in a terminal market here producers sell their livestock through their own commission company the members receive the best price obtainable on the market for the day and at the end of the year any saving is made by cooperative selling is returned to each member as a patronage refund that you remember is one of the chief differences between the corporation and the cooperative members of a cooperative share in the savings in proportion to their patronage not in proportion to the amount of stock owned in addition to the farm marketing cooperatives there are purchasing co-ops where consumers voluntarily joined together to get the goods and services they want then there is the service type of cooperative such as the mutual insurance companies the blue cross credit unions and others that we discussed previously what is the future of the farm marketing cooperative it is a well established American way of doing business and the trend is increasing it covers fruits nuts fresh vegetables wool milk cheese other dairy products cotton tobacco oil gas poultry and many other farm products today about one-third of all American farmers sell their produce through marketing coops and it extends from border to border the farm cooperative brings to the individual farmer a better standard of living for his family when the farm family is able to buy its share of America's abundance the city family knows prosperity too it is through a better understanding of this interdependence that we can build a better a stronger and more abundant America of the future [Music]