BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS NINETY-FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 2631 TO PROVIDE FOR CONSUMERS A FURTHER MEANS OF MINI- MARCH 16 AND 18, 1976 UNIVERSITY Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs STANFORD DEPARTMENT For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 70-653 O COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS WILLIAM PROXMIRE, Wisconsin, Chairman JOHN SPARKMAN, Alabama JOHN TOWER, Texas EDWARD W. BROOKE, Massachusetts HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey JESSE HELMS, North Carolina ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Illinois WILLIAM R. WEBER, Counsel Frank Sollars, chairman, Bank Task Force, Cooperative League of the Jacob Clayman, secretary-treasurer, Industrial Union Department, Carol Tucker Foreman, executive director, Consumer Federation of David R. M. Friedrichs, president, Consumer Auto, Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich. Seymour W. Klanfer, executive vice president, Federation of Cooperatives, Tom Phillipson, Inner City Cooperative, Milwaukee, Wis-- Joseph L. Hansknecht, Jr., director, community affairs, League Life ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS AND DATA Boston Herald Traveler, article titled "Harlem Tries Green Power". Common Market Cooperative Inc., statement submitted by Loren Hotz-- Congressional Record, remarks of William A. Steiger, Representative in A partial listing of supporters of S. 2631- Cooperative Facts & Figures, 1975 A synopsis of salient provisions of S. 2631. An introduction to the potential need. Projected operations and financial condition of the National Consumer (III) Cooperative Services Inc., Detroit, Mich., capital needs for urban cooper- 151 Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley, 10-year statistics.. 137 233 McEwen, Robert S. J., department of economics, Boston College, letter 221 Merrill, Paul D., vice president, TechniCo-op, Inc., board member, Na- Mid-Eastern Cooperatives Inc., letter and statement received from William 243 235 223 237 Nader, Ralph, reprints of newspaper articles by National Consumers Congress, statement from Aileen Gorman, executive 238 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, statement of Robert D. Newsweek, article on establishment of Harlem cooperative grocery store. New York Times, reprints of articles on new supermarket opening in Opportunities Industrialization Centers, statement of Dr. Leon H. Sulli- 239 Peterson, Esther, consumer adviser to Giant Food, letter received for the 250 United Housing Foundation, letter and statement received from Harold 247 Washington Star, reprints of articles by Ralph Nader- 95 CHARTS AND TABLES Consumer cooperative projections-- Consumer co-op housing in U.S.A.-some projections.. Consumer goods co-ops in U.S.A. projection total: Country by areas.. Country by categories.. 67 67 66 66 Milwaukee area cooperative services, attachments to prepared statement: Article by Betty Aldrich Eisendrath, reprinted from Co-op Cable TV Article by Martin L. Cohnstaedt and Thomas K. Phillipson, from Adult Leadership, titled "The Urban Extension Agent". Article by Tom Davis from the Bugle American, titled "Gordon Projection of demand-Co-op self-help development fund. 73 Twin Pines comparative shopping-Week of January 5, 1976. 173 NATIONAL CONSUMER COOPERATIVE BANK ACT TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1976 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 5302, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Thomas J. McIntyre (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Senator MCINTYRE. The subcommittee will come to order. This morning the subcommittee is pleased to begin hearings on S. 2631, a bill which I introduced with the support of many of my colleagues to establish a National Consumer Cooperative Bank. As I stated on the floor of the Senate at the time I introduced this bill last November, we are witnessing a renaissance of interest in the cooperative approach to private enterprise. The idea of people joining together in business ventures for their mutual benefit is not new. For example, we have seen great successes in the manner in which cooperatives have been instrumental in electrifying rural America with Federal assistance. Also, the highly successful farm credit system deserves much of the credit for the tremendous increases in productivity and development of American agriculture the envy of the world-by providing the sound financing which made it possible. The economic difficulties encountered by many citizens, during the recent periods of runaway inflation and resulting recession have caused thousands of individuals and hundreds of groups around the country to renew their interest in developing their own food cooperatives, their own health cooperatives, their own housing organizations, and many other types of cooperatives. One of the purposes of hearings is to hear from some of these groups and to learn from their experiences. Clearly, capital is one of the key requirements for those trying to organize cooperatives as well as for those in need of enlargement or expansion of existing cooperatives. These organizations, however, across the country, are encountering great difficulty in finding lenders to provide the needed capital. In short, there exists a sizable gap in the availability of existing financing to the cooperative movement. The concept of a National Consumer Cooperative Bank has emerged from a concentrated effort within the existing cooperative |