Published once a week in Palmer, Alaska for the Mat
anuska Valley Farmers' Co-operating Association for
the purpose of giving news of the Association's work,
problems and accomplishments.
4cur co-op mo how in itirke it work
Too many Co-op members think of their organization as something
apart from themselves. They come to town and do business with a lot of
people who are employed by the Co-op, and it seems that it seldom occurs
to them that these are their employee's. The employees do not own the
Co-op--they just work for the people who do own it. So when you con
sider the fact that the Co-op doesn't have any absentee owners like
many of the bir corporations do, but that it is owned and run by the
people who use it, you must admit that it is a different set-up.
Sometimes as soon as the member realizes that he i s the co-ov/ner
and has a right to select its officers and formulate its policies, he
immediately starts planning how to run it. The main thing that he for
gets is that he is just one of the hundred stockholders and that the
other members have the same right to plan that he does; and in order to
put any definate plan into action he, and those who think like he does,
has to get a majority of the members to vote on it.
This is where the trouble starts. Nearly everyone differs in some
respects, and in a great many cases they just don’t agree on any great
number of ideas at all. This is where the politician wins out. He may
not have practical ideas and his plans often don’t work out at all, but
he can frequently put his ideas over since he is'a bettor organizer and
t aIke r .
When this occurs, too often the average member .acts discouraged and
just sits the mooting out, saying nothing and feeling that it would be
useless to talk. This is not only true in Co-operative organizations,
but is common in all political organizations and often in fraternal
orders.
It is too bad that this thing is so common to democratic procecdurcs.
In a dictatorship this can not occur. The dictator tolls the people whai
to do and, regardless as to whether it is right or wrong, it must be done
or else. With all of its faults, the people in a democracy are usually
happier than in a dictatorship, because they realize that they have the
power to direct their own destinies even if they are not able to do so
because of timidity or lack of the knowhow that would make it possible.
Now, what we are trying to toll the members of this Co-op is that
they ha vo the right to run it, and if they fail or refuse to exercise
this pov/cr the blame must rest on thorn. On August 15th the Annual Meet
ing will be hold. After the reports on the past years’ operations are
road and explained, it will be the privilege of the members to make mo
tions to change anything that they feel needs changing. We feel sure
that the Board of Directors will try to make those changes if they can.
It would be well for the members to remember that the Directors and
the Management arc usually pretty well acquainted with t he shortcomings
of their policies, and that nearly every time they arc trying to make
improvements to make things bettor. Very fow directors or managers want
to have things in a state that might be subject to severe criticism.
And in an organization as large as our Co-op It is seldom possible to
make every department as much of a success as we desire. There arc many
elements working against us, preventing us from realizing the things we
want in the Co-op--just the same as in individual lives.
If the Co-op has a useful place in your life, and you w ant to see
it prosper, then it is your duty to come to the membership meetings and
take part in the proceedings, hem ember that even if you can't make a
speech or influence many other members, your vote counts just as much
as the loudest speaker in the hall. Don't feel bad if you can't get
all of the things done that you want; but keep coming and working, and
if you arc rir’ht you will finally win out.