of your board of directors, to a meeting which will be held in Superior on 30 July 1917. At that meeting all the orders from all the cooperatives will be put together and one will be appointed to be the central office."

Kendall interpreted the above to mean that those who made the call for this meeting did not yet dare to think in terms of a central organization proper but merely a mutual purchasing

agency. There did appear at the meeting 28 persons, representing 19 cooperatives. The Waukegan Association and the Pelto ja Koti were also represented. From Minnesota there were present John Niemi and John Partanen from the Cloquet Stock Mere. Company; Reino Salo from the Knife Falls Coop Association; William Ahola from the Fairbanks Finnish Supply Company; John Koski from the Nashwauk Elanto Coop Company; Hjalmar Kaikkonen and Frank Saari from the Petrell Farmers Store Association. For two days various problems were discussed in committee, but it soon became obvious that if they wanted to make progress a central organization was necessary. It was founded therewith, and John Nummivuori was chosen the first business manager of what was given the name Cooperative Central Exchange. Kendall has pointed out that the word `exchange' in the name was proof that the founders considered their organization primarily a marketing agency for agricultural products and only secondarily as a warehouse and production unit for the cooperatives. In practice, however, it soon became clear that the Central had to be expanded to meet the most critical need : the procurement of goods, and so the subsequent change in the name reflected this development: Central Cooperative Wholesale.

When the hat was passed at the Superior meeting, to raise funds to start the organization, the collection amounted to a mere $15.50. With the exception of one Minnesota cooperative represented, all the delegates signed a pledge binding themselves to future financial support : "We, the undersigned, pledge on behalf of the cooperative we represent to guarantee $10 a month for a period of three months as a basic capital for the Central, which money will be returned to us as soon as the Central begins to

Speakers at the formation of the
Cooperative Central Exchange. In
front are Hjalmar Kaikkonen and
John Partanen. In back are Henry
Koski and John Taipale.

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