COOPERATION in some form has been found in the Pacific States for 75 years or more. During the depression of the 1930's, California and Washington were leading States as regards the self-help cooperatives formed among the unemployed. All these associations-except one or two in each State which became consumers' cooperatives-went out of existence as employment opportunities opened up for the members; while in operation, however, they were of great benefit to the workers who participated in them. Communal colonies, of which California and Washington also have had rather an unusual number, were one of the earliest forms of cooperative effort. One such association dated back to 1854. None had a very long life except one, formed in California, which later moved to Louisiana, where it maintained existence from 1914 to 1938.

All three States shared in the cooperative efforts of the early Granges (lodges of the Patrons of Husbandry) which were the chief pioneers of consumers' cooperation in this country. The consumers' cooperative movement of Oregon has continued to be mainly that of farmers (largely Grangers) and has its own wholesale association.

In California, the latter-day consumers' cooperatives have been largely those of the nonfarm groups; many have been appendages of, or offshoots from, other economic, social, or political movements, and have gone into eclipse when the latter declined. The present distributive cooperatives are rather small and mainly of urban or town origin, but there is a growing interest among farmers in consumers' cooperatives. The urban associations have a cooperative wholesale which is extending its services to the farmers' cooperatives.

The growth of urban cooperatives in Washington has been hampered by a history of previous failure, especially in the early 1920's. The present retail distributive movement is small, but may be accelerated by the formation recently of a new cooperative wholesale. The farmers' consumers' cooperatives in this State are still predominantly those of the Grange, and have their own wholesale association. NonGrange cooperatives are served by a cooperative wholesale whose trading territory covers Idaho and Oregon also. This association and the California wholesale are members of the nation-wide wholesale, National Cooperatives, Inc.

The Pacific States have an active student cooperative movementmainly associations which provide low-cost board and rooms for their members. Several of the student cooperatives are large organizations operating a number of dwellings. Campus cooperatives of all three

1 Prepared by Florence E. Parker, of the Bureau's Labor Economics Staff.

States are affiliated with the Pacific Coast Student Cooperative League, an educational federation formed in 1939. Of the other types of service associations, housing cooperatives have had little development, but California and Oregon together account for over a third of the consumers' water-supply cooperatives in the United States. In Oregon and Washington the cooperative provision of medical and hospital care is being actively promoted, and of seven associations at least four were negotiating for or had acquired-hospital buildings, by the end of 1946; in California the associations were generally providing care on a contract basis with established agencies or were paying sickness benefits.

In sum, these three States, with 7.4 percent of the population of the United States, account for about 5 percent of the retail distributive associations, 4 percent of the electric-power and telephone associations, 12 percent of the service associations, and nearly 8 percent of the credit unions. The 693 credit unions in existence in these States at the end of 1945 (7.8 percent of the total) had 7.7 percent of the total creditunion membership in the United States and 7.7 percent of the assets.

The membership of the credit unions, students' cooperatives, and medical-care associations is drawn very largely from urban industrial workers, as is also the greater part of the consumers' distributive membership in California. In Oregon and Washington the distributive cooperatives are predominantly farmer and rural in character, although in the latter State consumers' cooperation is expanding in urban areas also.

Only recently has organized labor taken any active interest in the consumers' cooperative movement. Now, however, both AFL and CIO leaders are stressing the fact that union organization and cooperative organization are twin safeguards for the working man, and in a considerable number of places on the Pacific Coast, unionists are sponsoring new associations or giving their support to established cooperatives.

California

California has an interesting cooperative history, but one recording a rather unusual amount of failure. The chart of cooperative development shows rapidly rising and as abruptly falling lines, the peaks being separated by considerable periods of relative quiescence. With some exceptions, consumers' cooperative development in California has been generally among nonfarm people and characterized by small, weak associations that were insecurely rooted, with the result that their average existence has been short. The present movement see.ns to offer more promise than was true of its predecessors.

Local associations.-There were about 50 active nonfarm retail cooperatives in the State at the end of 1946, of which about 30 were

store associations and the rest buying clubs. Several new associations were in process of organization. There were also in operation about 20 farmers' cooperatives purchasing consumer goods as well as farm supplies.2 The Bureau of Labor Statistics has records of some 25 other associations whose present existence is doubtful, including buying clubs at 4 Farm Security Administration migratory labor camps.

Of 72 existing cooperatives of various types for which the year of formation is known, 46 were less than 10 years old, 19 were between 10 and 20 years old, and 7 had been in operation over 20 years. Their average period of existence was 9.7 years. Although this indicates a gradually lengthening cooperative life, it takes no account of the many small ephemeral associations (mainly buying clubs) which have come and gone, dying practically in their infancy.

Records for 12 of the larger nonfarm store associations for 19453 show an average membership of 403 and an average annual business of $119,032. Of these, 1 association dates from 1923 and 1 from 1927; 6 were formed in the period 1935-40, and the others since 1940. For 4 farmers' purchasing associations handling consumer goods, the average membership was 1,072 and the average business $1,295,805. Of the other types of consumers' cooperatives, nearly a score were students' cooperatives running rooming and boarding houses. One of these, on the University of California campus in Berkeley, was operating 7 such houses, one of which (a large residential hotel accommodating 150 women) it bought in 1946. On the University of California campus in West Los Angeles, a similar organization operated several houses. In addition there were a dozen or more students' bookstores, most of which were only semicooperative in character.

Some half dozen housing associations have been organized, none of which had reached the stage of actual construction by the end of 1946. At least 2 had acquired land and 1 had added so many new members that it had to obtain an additional tract of 60 acres to accommodate them. Other consumers' cooperatives included a yearround recreation camp, and perhaps 10 associations supplying medical care on a prepayment, contract basis. During the war, the war relocation camps at Manzanar and Tulelake also had large cooperatives, which dissolved when the camps were closed. The camps for conscientious objectors also had buying clubs.

At the end of 1945, California had 444 credit unions with a combined membership of 171,391 and assets amounting to $26,986,463. Other cooperatives include a few rural electricity associations, a single burial-benefit association, and 2 cooperatives supplying water

The many such associations handling producer goods only are not here considered; California, of course, leads the Nation in farmers' large-scale cooperative marketing associations.

No later data are as yet available.

for their members' households. The self-help productive associations, formed during the depression by the unemployed, have all gone out of business with the exception of 2 that have become partnerships and 1 or 2 that were transformed into consumers' cooperatives. Of the distributive associations, 2 of the oldest in the State are largely of Italian membership, 1 is Finnish, and 1 is Negro; in 2 (recently formed) the members are returned Japanese-Americans who were evacuated to war relocation camps at the beginning of the

war.

Although as early as 1918 the California State Federation of Labor joined with cooperative groups to form the California Producers' and Consumers' Union, organized labor has not generally been so active in the formation of cooperatives in California as in some other States. Several of the San Francisco Bay region cooperatives were formed in the late 1930's by unionists of various trades, and one was started by longshore workers. Recently there has been a renewal of interest which may have concrete results. In Los Angeles, unions of automobile and steel workers are reported to be organizing consumers' cooperatives.

Cooperative wholesale.-Under young and energetic leadership, the Associated Cooperatives of Northern California, started in 1939, has gradually expanded. In 1943 it removed the last three words from its name, an action which symbolized the extension of service to the lower half of the State. By the end of 1946 it was also serving several associations in Nevada. In the year ending October 31, 1946, its business totaled $519,100, on which its net earnings amounted to $15,958.

Although in volume the California wholesale is still one of the smallest of the regional wholesales, it is a rapidly growing one, as indicated by the 95-percent increase in its business in 1945-46 as compared with the previous year. At the end of January 1947 it had 36 local associations in membership. Recently, the wholesale has obtained the patronage of several farmers' associations and the affiliation of at least one. Primarily urban in membership, it is nevertheless actively promoting the extension of cooperation in rural areas which have no cooperatives, by the sale of "co-op label" goods (including cooperatively made farm machinery) through private dealers acting as agents for the wholesale. This association is steadily expanding its services. Those added in 1945 and 1946 include insurance (agency) and accounting service for member associations.

The wholesale is a member of the Cooperative League of the USA and of National Cooperatives, Inc.

Oregon

In Oregon even the consumers' cooperatives have been, with very few exceptions, organizations in which the membership consisted almost entirely of farmers.

All the early cooperatives were formed by members of the Grange (popular name of Patrons of Husbandry). Since 1900, however, other farm organizations have been sponsoring cooperatives. The present movement includes several connected with either the Farmers' Union or the Farm Bureau, but the Grange stores are still the most numerous. Of 23 present associations for which sponsorship is known, 15 are those of the Grange, 6 those of the Farmers' Union, and 2 those of the Farm Bureau.

In the city of Portland, consumers' cooperatives have been formed from time to time among industrial workers but, with one possible exception, all are now out of business. As far as is known, none was sponsored, or participated in, by organized labor. However, a new association in which unionists were active was being organized in that city at the end of 1946. The employees of the sawmill at Swisshome, Oreg., owned by Consumers Cooperative Association (Kansas City, Mo.), have recently formed a consumers' cooperative, the membership of which is also open to the farmers in the surrounding country.

Of the 50-odd store cooperatives handling consumers' goods now in existence, for which the year of formation is reported, none dates back farther than 1920, and all but 5 have been formed since 1930. The average age is 12.4 years.

The Grange stores have their own cooperative wholesale, Oregon Grange Wholesale, in Portland, started in 1937. At the end of 1945, it had in affiliation 13 associations, with a combined membership of some 6,000 persons; 17 unaffiliated associations were also purchasing through it. The wholesale's business in 1945 totaled $659,034. It handles petroleum products and various farm supplies.

Many of the non-Grange stores are affiliated with and served by Pacific Supply Cooperative, a wholesale association with headquarters in Walla Walla, Wash. (see p. 695).

In addition to the store associations, the Oregon consumers' cooperative movement includes 9 students' associations providing rooms and/or meals, and at least 2 (semicooperative) operating bookstores; 2 of the very few consumers' cooperative creamery associations in the United States; 5 associations supplying water for their members' household needs; 1 association in a migratory labor camp; and 1 funeral cooperative. Three Civilian Public Service camps also had buying clubs. As a result of the medical-care meetings held throughout the Pacific Northwest in 1945 and 1946, 1 hospital association