Published once a week at Palmer,Alaska, for the Matanuska Valley Farmers’
Cooperating association for the purpose of giving news of the Associa
tions work, problems and accomplishments.
SUBSCRIPTION RATS yl.75 per yearkl.00 for six months 10c? copy.
COOPERATIVES POPULAR 111 PHIUPPII1ES
Unique among cooperative associations in the Philippics is the Social
Welfare Cooperative Storo, a project of the War Relief Office. This
cooperative, instead of distributing patronago, dividends to individual
members, appropriates the surplus to employ indigents and relief workers.
Inaugurated last February 14, 1949, the business makes a daily sale of
P100.00. Items includo sandwiches, refreshments, soft drinks, cigarettes
and grocorios. It distributes around 85 sacks rice monthly from the
N;j?IC to the members who are employees of the Social Welfare Commission.
It omployes 12 persons: 6 waitresses, 2 cooks, 1 clerk and 1 bookkeeper .
with wages ranging from P2.50 to 5*5.00 a day.
A cute building that houses the co-op was constructed at the cost of
P3.000 and PI,000 wont in to the fixtures. This building was constructed
by relief workers and war victims. The 1*4,000 ■ hich was spent in the
construction was loaned to the Co-op by the government from tho funds
of the Charity Sweoptakes assigned to the Social Welfare Commission.
L memorandum written by Dra. Elgna M. Perez, Chief of the War Relief
Office, requesting for the organization of the cooperative enumerated
the follov/ing purposes:
1. To give a chance to employ more people in need of work;
2. To lower tho cost of goods for employees of tho Social Welfare Com
mission.
3. To serve cleaner food and lunch, fruits and other articles^ of food;
4. To servo as recreation center for employees of ’the Social Welfare
Commission.
Those purposes are fully accomplished to tho satisfaction of all, ac
cording to Dr. Elena Perez.
Mrs. Virginia N. Liwag, who is the_social worker in charge of tho cooper
ative when interviewed by the COOPERATIVE FEW'S, said that whatever pro
fits will be realized by the co-op will-be used to employ moro relief
workers as an altruistic and humanitarian purpose in line with tho work
of tho Social Welfare Commission.
This cooperative is one of the model cooperatives in tho city of Manilla
in the Philippines,
LEGAL PHASES By Atty A.T. Panto
Tho Capper-Volstead Act, as U.S. Federal enabling law on Co-ops, definos
a company as a cooperative if it operates for the mutual benefit of its
members, and if each member has one vote regardless of tho number of
stocks ho may own or in lieu thereof, if the dividends on capital stock
or membership capital arc not in excess of 8# per annum;' or not proceeds
of the business must be apportioned among the patrons in proportion to
■frblunc of business transacted with'- the association.
Israel Packel, a leading authority on co-ops, defines a cooperative as
an association which furnishes an economic servico without ontorpenour
or capital profit and which is owned and controlled on substantially
equal basis by those for whom the association is rendering service.
Tho above definitions more or less give tho legal and economic concepts
as well as they convey a concrote idoa of the meaning of cooperative.
For a cooperative to have a healthy growth, it must primarily be associ
ated with fend organized under a statute promulgated for the purpose. A
Cooperative association is given birth with the adoption of a certain
articles of incorporation that serves as a charter to bind mutually the
contracting partios. In the drafting of such contract to form a cooper
:Cont. on up. 5_