and in 1928 the present building was erected at a cost of about $20,000. A few years later an addition had to be built and in 1935, another new wing. More space permitted more diversified activity, and in 1944 the annual turnover had gone over the half-million dollar mark. In one of its announcements the cooperative stated that in the years 1933-1939 it had distributed among its customers more than $60,000 as bonus.

On the other hand, a leftist Workers' Society had also been established in Sebeka in 1909, but it never received much support. With 14 members at the beginning, the number rose in 1912 to 26, of whom 18 were men. In the first year of its existence, 22 business meetings were held, as well as 12 entertainment evenings and 3 socials; one party speaker visited the community. Although the group owned its own hall, when one considers that there were about 800 Finns in the community the support the organization received seems relatively insignificant. The reasons which were valid for New York Mills also explain the situation here: there were no mines or similar enterprises in the community, and the Finns here earned their living chiefly by independent farming. This also explains why the IWW movement, which was the main workers' organization among the Finnish settlements in St. Louis County after the schism of 1914, never received much support in the New York Mills or Cokato areas, both chiefly agricultural settlements. Later a small organization supporting the Työmies (Worker) paper was active for a time, but it soon collapsed due to a lack of support; the number of subscribers to the Työmies, however, has remained fairly constant, being 10 in 1911 and remaining the same in 1945. In the latter year, 9 copies of the Naisten Viiri, the leftist women's paper, were posted regularly into the community.

Under the auspices of the Workers' Society a dramatics group was also active, under the direction of amateur directors. A lending library was also present, sponsored chiefly by Benjamin Pantsari, and for decades it managed to satisfy the demand for books among the Finns.

The first Finnish temperance society in Red Eye Township functioned for some time in close cooperation with the local Socialist organization. It had been established years earlier, however, for its constitution was adopted in 1902. A look at that document and at the minutes of the society's meetings reveal it to have been a temperance society pure and simple, and reprimands to members who had broken their vows of abstinence played a significant role at meetings. One of the

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