[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 6, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL COOPERATIVE MONTH

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                             HON. RON KIND

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 6, 1999

  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the important 
contribution of cooperatives to the economic health of the nation. 
October, after all, is National Cooperative Month. Cooperatives 
represent economic opportunity for nearly 40% of Americans who are 
members of a cooperative. Cooperatives come in many forms--rural 
electric, agriculture, telephone, credit unions, consumer co-ops and 
more.
  This year commemorates the 155th anniversary of the cooperatives as 
we know them today. In 1844, the Rochdale Society of Pioneers in 
England formalized cooperative activity by writing down their 
principles and practices. These principles and practices are the basis 
of today's cooperative enterprises, which serve more than 600 million 
people in every country in the world.
  In the United States, about 30 percent of farmers' products and farm 
supplies in the United States are marketed through cooperatives. Rural 
electric cooperatives operate more than half of the electric 
distribution lines in the United States and provide electricity for 
more than 25 million people. Consumer-owned and controlled cooperatives 
pioneered prepaid, group-practice health care. Today cooperative 
health-maintenance organizations (HMOs) provide health-care services to 
more than one million Americans. Moreover, credit unions have more than 
63 million members and assets in excess of $100 billion.
  In my home state of Wisconsin, 2.9 million citizens depend on more 
than 800 cooperatives to market and supply agriculture products, as 
well as to provide credit, electricity, telephone service, health care, 
housing, insurance, and numerous other products and services. 
Cooperative businesses employ approximately 20,000 Wisconsin residents. 
Cooperatives provide hundreds of millions of dollars in annual economic 
activity in Wisconsin and pay millions of dollars annually in taxes.
  Cooperatives have a rich history in my home state, with Wisconsin 
being one of the first states in the nation to enact a law authorizing 
cooperatives in 1887. A young woman--Anne Pickett--started Wisconsin's 
first dairy cooperative in 1841, pooling milk from neighborhood farms, 
processing it into our state's world class cheese and shipping it to 
the ``big city'' of Milwaukee for sale.
  In addition, the nation's cooperative marketing of livestock had its 
beginnings in Wisconsin during the 1920s, when local livestock shipping 
associations organized at rail points to ship livestock to a terminal 
market.
  Mr. Speaker, cooperatives are owned by their members who come 
together to meet their common economic, social, and cultural 
aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled 
enterprise. Member-owned cooperatives elect a board of directors who 
determine its management structure and direction. Cooperatives are 
everywhere, helping people meet their common needs through group 
effort.
  Like everything else in today's world, cooperatives are changing to 
meet today's challenges. During this Month, let us pay tribute to the 
important role that cooperatives have played in the tremendous economic 
success of our nation.

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