Utah Cooperative Association Wholesale Cooperative by Fred Walk;

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UTAH COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION
WHOLESALE COOPERATIVE
Salt Lake City, Utah
By Fred »alk - U of U Student
13U7 Bryan Avenue
January 19h?
I. HISTORY
The Utah Cooperative Association was incorporated August 17,
1936 under Title 18, Chapter 6, of the non-profit act of the State of Utah.
Most of tha organizational funds were furnished by the State
Self-Help Cooperative Board, a department of the State of Utah, which
operated at that time but lias since been liquidated. The balance of the
fund was raised by 6 local cooperatives who paid a 1100.00 membership fee.
During the first four years of operation, the State Self-Help
Cooperative 3oard maintained four directors out of seven on the Utah
Cooperative Association Board, the member cooperative associations electing
the remaining number. Early operations were not successful for the reason
that not enough local cooperatives were operating in the state to furnish
adequate volume for the new wholesale. The wholesale confined its distribution activities to the field of petroleum products and automotive
supplies, purchasing these goods from private oil refineries and from
another cooperative wholesale—the Consumers Cooperative Association at
Kansas City, Missouri. By the end of 1939, only seven local cooperative
service stations were patronizing the wholesale cooperative. The debts
of the wholesale at that time amounted to more than 121,000.00 and assets
totaled 17,000.00 according to the balance sheet prepared by a public
accountant at that time.
In spite of this obvious condition of bankruptcy, the wholesale
cooperative was able in 19U0 to show the first important signs of earning