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* THE VALLEY SETTLER is published every *
* Friday by the Matanuska Valley Farmers*
* Cooperating Association at Falmer, *
* Alaska. *
* '*
* Mng. Editor: Mario Wilson *
*
* Subscription rates: $1.00 a year *
* By Mail: 1.75 a year *
* Mailed anywhere: .10 a copy *
* *
* This paper is issued for the purpose *
* cf giving. information and news of the *
* Matanuska Valley Farmers Cooperating; *
* Association's work, problems, acccrr *
* plishmer.ts, and also, news of local *
* and general interest; and to help *
* faster the cooperative spirit of the *
* '’arners of the Matanuska Valley. *
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TOOLING: THE ESSENCE CF COOPERATION
Webqter defines a pool as the aggregation
of interests cr property made to farther
a joint undertaking or end by subjecting
them to the same control and a common
liability.
That is, you nay notice, the way our
nation was founded. And somehow, in the
scrumble that attended the foundation
of this nation, ever eligible American
was given one vote, regardless of how
much of the country's resources he owned.
These two attributes define what is essen
tially Americanism. They also exactly
define Cooperation.
A pool is formed whenever two or more
individuals loin together in any under
taking, whether it be two men lifting
a leg or ten nillion men fighting a war.
Fooling is man's most effective means cf
accomplishment,
Consumers pool their buying power to
achieve more efficient handling, and,
therefore lower costs of the goods they
must buy. Producers pool their products
to achieve mere efficient handling,
therefore, greater returns from their
products. From the business standpoint,
it is with- these two restricted types
of poolin’ that we here are concerned.
In the Jrading Post, we have a buying '
pool, If we all make use of this pool,
and if we manage it efficiently, it
should be our cheapest sourpe of con
suncr goods, barring none. Admittedly,
capital tied up in a stock on hand will
nake that stock cost slightly more than
if we ordered from the states each time
we wished a can of beans or a pair of
shoes; but that is off-set by the service
'i* rtO'frajj the goods when we wish them.
S«e*iee for service and goods for roods,
this store can be our cheapest source of
the necessities and luxuries of life.
Commodity pools, that is, pools formed
to dispose of the .products of our farms
present a different type of picture.
There is a great tendency to consider
.that the Cooperating Association is an
outsider which buys our products. And
with this feeling, we ask full payment
when we deliver the goods.
Actually, we, the members, are the Asso
ciation. It gets confusing when con
sidered this way - "we asl: us tc pay
ourselves for our own products." Cur
goods are not sold until they have
passed out of the hands of the Associa
tion, and we are'not entitled to pay
ment for them until they are so sold.
Two reasons: first, competition with
outside dealers, and second, immedicate
need of the producers for cash, have
brought about the system of paying
advances- for goods delivered to Coop
eratives. *3ut, under ordinary con
ditions, funds with which advances are
paid must have either been borrowed, or
reserved 'Yon previous payments to the
members. If borrowed, the .interest
ultimately comes out of the producers,
payments.
The system of pooling which is most
efficient and which will yield the
highest returns to the producer is
that in which one single payment in
full is made after the entire pool is
sold. Under this system, and with-'
the facilities available, the M.V.F.C.A.
could operate with practically no funds
whatever so long as the individual
members stand by their Association,