operate at a profit." The representatives of four cooperatives were a bit more cautious, pledging to "try to guarantee" this sum from their organizations.

During 1917 several additional cooperatives joined the central organization, so that by the end of the year there were 15 represented. The only property the Central possessed was a used typewriter on a desk made from a packing case and set up in a small rented room. 27 In its first annual report, business manager Nummivuori outlined what goods had been purchased: "a quantity of butter for Negaunee, oats for Hancock. Many have inquired about potatoes. We could have many orders for oats if only we could furnish them at the same prices the wholesalers ask." The potatoes did show up, Kendall notes, but also caused the Central's first loss, for a carload of them froze on the way to market. In 1917 an agreement was also made with a Duluth coffee roaster to furnish a quantity of coffee with the Central's label on the packages, and this became the first article sold with the Finnish-Americans' own cooperative organization's name upon it. In 1918 the Central was able to buy a 3-story building in Superior, and there bookkeeping courses were held. The bakery, for those rusks and the hard tack, was in operation in 1919. In 1920 a special advisory bureau was started, headed by V. S. Alanne until 1925, and then continued by George Halonen. The cooperatives had become so well established that in the depression years which followed World War I only three cooperatives had to close down. Then, with the exception of the early 1930s and the immediate post-World War II period, statistics show a steady development in the strength of the cooperatives. Here follow a few statistics supplied by the Central to indicate the rise at stated intervals:

Nummivuori was succeeded as business manager in 1922 by Eskel Ronn, and it was during Ronn's term in his post that the Central experienced a severe internal crisis. Following the Russian revolution, the Työmies, of Superior, fell into the hands of Finnish

27. Kendall, Erik, And Into the Future: A Brief Story of Central Co-operative Wholesale's 25 Years of Building towards a Better Tomorrow. Superior, Wisconsin, 1944. p. 5

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