VALLEY SETTLER
Published once a week in Palmer,
Alaska, for the Matanuskn Valley
Farmers' Co-operating association,
for the purpose of -riving news of
the Association's work, problems
a nd a c c omp1is hmen t s.
Pv... Lucille Le Due
por year
per copy
COOl-1ER Ai IV ES Vv! \i ME W
KOI.E IN WORLD AFFAIRS
CHICAGO—January was a time for
summing up--and for looking ahead.
'"nth the jets still clashing over
Horen and *uns cocked in a dozen
i.r': uble spots, no one could tell
.-.More *52 would lead co-ops or any
of us mortals. But co-ops, small
as they are, edyed into the drama
tic events of '51 here and abroad.
They may even ed~e further this
year.
Governments, as well as peoples,
became more and more aware in '51
of the ''middle way" role of co-ops.
Ay inn; Premier Mossadegh of Iran,
juyyliny the hot potato of nation
alized oil, told leaders of the
oil cooperative, "I like you-you're
not imperialists." Obviously Iran's
Premier trusted neither Biy Oil, in
the shape of the majors, nor Bir*
Government, in the shape of the
British Lion. But he was wi1liny
to listen to a co-op plan for ex
ploiting Iran's oil--a plan that
still may be adopted.
And noth governments ana peoples
in the stirring areas of'Asia, from
Indonesia to Israel, looked to the
West for help 'in getting more co
ops started to raise living stand
ards and get landlords and credit
ors off people's backs. More and
more Asiatic visitors came to Eur
ope and the U.S. to find out what
made co-ops tick. And our own
government} starting to grasp the
strategic role of co-ops as a dem
ocratic force, sent some co-op ex
perts to advise’the East.
In the U.S., profit-taking made
the nation gasp. Pig Business got
bir,"or; clipped off the lion's
share of the defense contracts.
Manufacturing profits, up IpOOf since
19^0, in the second quarter of I95I
stood at the truly amazing figure
of 15.6? even after the higher tax
es of the defense period.
In the face of such profits, net
margins realized by the non-profit
sector of the business economy were
small indeed. fciar ly l i-uros indi
cated that most of the big co-op
wholesales would show volume in
creases and -rcatcr savings than
those of 195^*
But these increases, based on
much lower gross margins than those
of most competitors, wore minor com
pared with the rate at which profit
corporations stopped up their take,
and the rate at which galloping mon
opoly in many fields mowed <own
smaller competitors!
Ac tun 1ly, c o-op s and o ther n on -
profit concerns might be cor *ratu
I la ted not onl,r for holding their
ground in 195^-> but Bor acting as
[effective yardsticks in many lines,
[and especially for beating down all
[efforts to smash them on the tax
jissuc .
Dir- competitors oi co-ops in ivgi
jraised sums vaster titan evor before
in history to try to ot Congress
|to change the tax laws so as to tax
Ipatronage refunds. Far from seck
iing to raise more tax revenue, this
drive was Big Business' gun aimed
at the head of all non-profit com
!pctitors--co-ops, mutuals, credit
lunions, savings, and loan outfits.
Stuna by the vicious smears used
jin this drive, Congress repudiated
lit. Into the tax bill it wrote a
[provision that refunds allocated to
patrons shall not be taxable again
st co-ops. And while doing so,
some members of Congress put the
[finger on the true nature of the or
ganizations backin^ the anti-co-op
drive and their real purpose.
Just resentment by co-ops and
bheir members against this drive ■
was largely responsible for Congress'
action. And in at least two States,
'Montana and Colorado, grass-roots
o rgan i z a t io n by c o - op s and th c i r
friends smashed similar anti-co-op
efforts.
vuiii \ru3s. J.x i remove vno cxcmprx cn
pf farm cooperatives from income
taxes. But it was an exemption that
p. majority of these co-ops already
had waived.
Despite the attacks on it, and the
monopoly pains, non-profit business
Inoved courageously and successfully
into new areas in 19^1.'
Farmers stopped up their product
ion, processing and distribution of
petroleum by new oil wells, new "cat
tracking" refining and handling fa
cilities. Co-ops opened now phos
phate fertilizer beds. And in Miss
issippi, farmers built themselves
an $8 million factory to convert
natural gas,air and water into ni
trogen fertilizer. In Kansas City,
Consumers Cooperative Ass*n. planned
a similar plant twice that size
largost sinale co-op enterprise in
America. In so doin'-;, they hi ;h
liyhtod the tremendous need of our
soil for more and better fertil
izers.