members can no longer be present to vote, in which case they elect representatives to the various executive organs. A suitable but limited return is paid on invested capital, but when the most important feature of the business activity is emphasized in the degree to which members utilize the services of the cooperative, it is customary to return any possible accrued profit to the customers on the basis of their share of purchases. A cooperative functions independently of any political factions and is free to accept support from whatever direction it may be forthcoming, but this does not necessarily presuppose neutrality toward an economic situation which may exist, since the aim is to replace a capitalistic system with one on a cooperative basis. The cooperative system believes in both wholesale purchases and retail sales being made on a cash basis, but there has been a retreat from this as far as purchases are concerned. It is customary, also, that a portion of the profits are reserved for furthering the cooperative philosophy through educational and publicity work.

In his history of the Finns in Wisconsin, Professor Kolehmainen has stated that the Finnish-American cooperative movement "was born of estimable parents." Its grandparents were the "old country" and influences inherited there. In America its mother has been economic necessity; its father, socialism. In his study of the birth of Finnish cooperative activity in America, H. Haines Turner came to the conclusion that the `mother' made herself apparent chiefly in the form of the unfair prices demanded by retailers, during periods of unemployment, and finally, through the conflicts between labor and management. In rural areas the movement generally spread without political factors playing a role, but in industrial centers the labor movement did in fact appear to be the `father,' although it was not always eager to acknowledge its offspring. For example, at the October 1904 meeting of Finnish socialists at Cleveland, Ohio, the view was expressed that although the new movement ought to be kept under scrutiny, it was but a temporary, expedient measure to alleviate the problems of the workers, while the Hibbing meeting of 1909 commented on the relationship between the Socialist Party and the cooperative movement in the following terms : "In the programs of the socialist parties of some countries, including Finland, it has been stated that the cooperative movement must be fostered. The program of the Socialist Party of the United States makes no mention of this, probably because here the trend has been exclusively one which opposes all measures which are temporary and which do not lead directly to the main objective,

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