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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1938)
17 Years of Student Service-Creating a Sound $31,000 ASUO Business CO many misconceptions have been circulated on this campus about tbe University Cooperative store and so many com plaints ara heard which are offan ill-founded and unjust, that it seems worthwhile to review the history and outline the present status and business methods of the Co-op. Before 1010 books ware pm-abased for students and dis pensed to them by 1ha University library. The library undei loolc this function as a service—it had no budget or employee allotment to further the work. As Oregon grew need was felt on the eampiis for a student book store. Librarian M. II. Douglass declared tin* library could no longer extend the service—it had become loo much of an additional task for its staff to bear. In IDUi Ihe associated students voted to establish a book store. It was set up, ns an activity, in what is now the I di versity Pharmacy. AT? years disrupted the student body. The athletic pro 1 T grams were financially very unsuccessful. Coach Hugo Bezdek had an offer of a better position at (lie I diversity of Pennsylvania. Coach Bezdek wauled to leave but 1lio ASIIO owed him $3500 and saw little possibility for paying him off. So the ASIIO sold its first store to private investors, paid off the coach, and agreed not to go into the hook store busi ness for a period of two years. Private ownership was not a success, however, and in 1020 the executive comm if tec of flic ASIIO voted once more to enter the field. The present University store was formed, this time as a separate corporation to prevent its sale to meet athletic or oilier debts. A downtown Eugene hank financed tin* venture without security, granting a “blue sky” loan of $5000. In 1020 Marion F. McClain was graduate manager of the associated students. At llio request of President Prince G. Campbell, Manager McClain also became manager of Hie cooperative slot-. Tin* books owned by Ihe private firm were purchased for $3000 and Ihe ASUO was once more launched in the store business. EMBERSIITPS valued at $1.00 were sold to students 1o obtain capital 1o run the firm. The investors were given a 5 per cent return on their purchases through cash register slips redeemable at the close of the year. Manager r McClain said flip total sum paid out in Ibis manner amounted to more than the tolnl amount gained from memberships hut that the Co-op was able thus to obtain the use of the money for the year. Because it soon became apparent that the business eonbl not be run on a. $'5000 basis, the University Supply company was formed in 1021. In order to raise money, faculty mem bers were solicited and the “supply company” turned $10,000 over to the Co-op to enlarge the working capital. The Student si ore was. until 1023, housed in llie structure at the rear of its present home which is now occupied by a beauty parlor. Manager McClain owned the lot, as he had intended 1o open a store of his own on the loealion when lie was offered Ihe position as manager of an A SCO store. With outside help, he built the structure which is now in use. First rent was $100 per month, sci by President ('amp bell. The property was purchased by I->ean George Rebec, in 1031. th * # # ^^FTER 1hc first “generation” of students had been gradu ated, discontent was manifest with Ihe “disappearing dollar” membership, for despite the fact that the sum re lumed to purchased in the 5 per cent on cash register receipts exceeded the amount, collected, students who did not save receipts or who did not purchase enough at the store to get buck $1 felt they had been gypped. The membership system was also unsatisfactory because it was difficult to determine whether non-members should receive a return for reeepits. Non-members believed that their patronage made profit and returns possible and that they, too, should get Ihe refund. The system under which Ihe Co-op now operates was installed at that time. Price of articles 'were determined before sale to make them available at the lowest possible figure. Taking the purchase price as a base, cost of selling and a sum for the increase of the store’s capital were added and Ihe article was sold at that figure. No profit was taken, except, that some money was used 1o pay off indtebtedness and to increase the capital and stock of the store. During the heyday of prosperity, the turnover once reach ed $85,000. Last year it was closer to $50,000. The “markup” system is still in use. 'J'TIE 17 years the present store lias been In business Lave enabled it to prow from nothing to a sizeable and prne tieally a debt-free concern. During the period of growth, the University Supply company investors were paid off and a working capital stock was built up. Doing this necessitated selling articles a1 higher figures than would have been neecs sary had the Co-op been an established and well-capitalized business. Today the Cooperative store eonld handle a considerably large volume of business than it does. If and when such vol ume is once more available, the markup figure will he reduced. The greater volume of business the Co-op handles, the lower are prices since it lias now established itself on a permanent sufficiently capitalized basis. MANAGEMENT of the store has been efficient. An investi gation of the books by interested students earlier this year showed an exceedingly elose similarity between the markup figure, volume of business, salaries, and other expenses, and rent. Although they fluctuate greatly with years of pros perity and depression, the curves of all these items—emu piled by certified public accountants annually—are remark ably the same. Complaints of students have usually been without-’back ground of facts, the perusal of the store's oboks earlier this year revealed. They are best explained with illustrations of a few of the store’s policies. # m «• # JJAPKR, notebooks, folders, and the school supplies most generally in use are sold at the lowest possible figure so 1 hat 1 lie Co-op can serve the largest number of students most. This results in low prices on these articles throughout the campus area because commercial firms must meet the Co-op’s price on these popular articles to keep Ihe customers coming in. The biggest loss when textbooks are changed is to lire Co-op, contrary to popular belief. The University book store carries the volumes from year to year. When they are changed the hooks become valueless on this campus. If it is known that, they are to be changed a year ahead of the change, the books are taken in at a lower price at the end of the next to the last year of their service—and sold at a lower figure the following fall. Although their usefulness to the store ends the next, spring, they are bought from the students fit. Ihe fi"iue they can be sold for elsewhre by the Co-op. Changes in books are expensive to the stove because they thus involve great changes in the stock. A survey, made off this campus with figures submitted from the six similar stores on the coast doing a business of mor etlian $50,000 showed Oregon’s operating expenses to he Ihe lowest proportionally. In salaries and every bracket except rent the Co-op was low—and its markup was below that of any of the other six. ■p ENT. it is to he admitted, is the most expensive item, pro ^ portionately. The other five stores had lower rents in percentages hut all of them are either occupying their own buildings or housed in a student union. For this and other reasons Manager McClain has always been more than willing to hack a student union building even to the extent of offering to pay for the building o\er a thirty-year period. Last year on a $50,000 (or more) turnover the Co-op, with markup subtracted, sold its stock for about $.>0 less than il cost to bring it to the students. This year the markup has been slightIv higher, as the ( o-op board is budding up a. reserve fund with which to purchase new furnishings in the event space in a student union becomes available. A LL in all. the students have little kick coming. In 17 years Manager McClain has built a fairly strong business from nothing at all. - And during that time student needs have been served much more efficiently than they could have been by an hide* pendent concern. The Co-op is a student owned corporation. Prices cannot be greatly lower, it is true, than they can be in privately owned stores on the present volume of business. But since the period of building capital stock and repay ing debts has been passed, increased trade will mean de creased markups and lower prices. A careful study of the facts prove the business is sound. And its most efficient years are before it. From where I SIT By CLARK 10 OE THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY i hate thursdays. i always have felt that way. Wednesdays, now, aren’t bad because the week is half over, and be sides lots of things happen on Wednesdays, fridays, of course, are wonder ful. no one could possibly complain about fridays. * • • but look at Thursday, it's too late to get all the things done you had planned for the first of the week, and it's too early to excuse yourself from doing them because you have to get started on the things you had planned for the weekend 4* # *1* and then it always seems to rain on thursdays. it may not rain on any other day of the week, but on thursdays a cold grey, disheartening drizzle is sure to greet you as you climb unhappily out of bed. you’re probably sleepy, too, because you've had to get up for three days, and it's two more till you can sleep in. * * * nothing ever happens on thursdays except committee meetings and assemblies, if you feel like going to a show at night you’re foiled, because it’s bank night and there'll be a mob at the show, besides there’s never anything good on bank night, anyway, on thursdays you feel that you really should study, because you know you won’t get, anything done over the weekend and there isn’t anything else to do anyway. nothing sensational or unprecedented ever happens on thursday, either, because if anyone were going to ilo some thing sensational or unprecedented they certainly wouldn't pick thursday to do it on. there is only one good thing about thursdays. during the assembly hour it is aboslutely justifiable to while away the time one might spend sopping up words of wisdom drinking coffee or playing bridge. but .even that's not so good because the gnawing of consciene, except to those who are absolutely conscienceless, is definitely annoying. * * # oh, well, by the time you read this it will be friday, and i’ll be all right. but i always feel this way on thursday. In the Mail ECONOMICAL CO OP To the Editor: In 1920 the executive commit tee of the ASUO incorporated a student "Co-op" store. The func tion of this “Co-op” store was to furnish a convenient and eco nomical organization for the distribution of text books and other classroom supplies. Although all students have a voice in this cooperative organ ization, which according to Har ney Hall, our student prexy, has an investment of approximately SIXTY THOUSAND DDL LARS, it is certainly impossible for this organization to furnish the students economical distri bution of supplies at present. If this organization is going to continue to pay the illus trious dean of the school of phil osophy the modest rental fee of THIRTY-SIX HUNDRKD DOL LARS a year which, Mr. Frank Drew, the student ’•Co-op" board president, informs me is the ap proximate rental fee paid to Dr. George Rebec, it certainly can not be considered to function on an economical basis. This sum SIDE SHOW By Bill Cummings and Paul Deutclimann National Tn Biblical times when the people became great in power, so the Bible says, they aspired to biuld a tower to heaven. But the gods got together and con fused the people, and the name of the place became Babel, for the people were confounded and understood not one another. Yesterday the small business men, 1000 of them, found them selves in much the same posi tion as the worthy tower-build ers hud some 0000 years ago. * w * However, it was not because they had too much power, nor yet because the political gods derided to confuse them. The confusion in Washington was brought there by the thousand, and merely represented 5000 different ideas on what to do for, about, and wtih the small business man. Only one thing s*ood out in for the period of seventeen years, the life of the “Co-op” store, would amount to aproxi mately SIXTY- THOUSAND DOLLARS, w h i c h certainly would have been enough money to have built a building suitable for the special requirements of the present “Co-op” store. According to Dean Onthank a fund is available for a cen tral student union building amounting to thirty-three thou sand dollars. I trust that the ASUO executive committee to study ways and means to secure a student union building will take into consideration enough building space to include a truly economical “Co-op” book store. Let’s quit playing second-fid dle to the CZAR. IRWIN BUCHWACH, Gamma Hall. (Editor's note: The Univer sity Cooperative Store is a $31. 000 business at present, al though stock turnover exceeds that figure. The Co-op pays rent at the rate of $2400 yearly, not $3000. It has not paid that sum during the 17 years of its existence, rent having been fluctuated more or less with business con ditions. The $2400 figure also includes heating the entire building.) LEROY MATTINGLY, Editor WALTER R. VERNSTROM, Manager LLOYD TUPLING, Managing Editor Associate Editors: Paul Deutschmann. Clare Igor. The Oregon Daily Emerald, official student publication of the University of Oregon, published daily during the college year excej t Sundays, Mondays, holidays and final examination periods. Entered as second-class mail matter at the postffiee, Eugene, Oregon. Editorial Board: Darrel Ellis, Bill Peace, Margaret Ray, Edwin Robbins, A1 Dickhart, Kenneth Kirtley, Bernardine Bowman. Bill Pengra, City Editor Lew Evans, Assistant Managing Editor liomer Graham. Chief Night Editor r i i r. i\ r. w > r*> i .\ r v Martha Stewart, Women's Editor Don Kennedy, Radio Editor Rita Wright. Society Editor JJdl Noicne, Shorts Editor Afyce Rogers, Exchange Editor Hetty Jane Thompson, church evlitor Milton Levy, assistant chief night editor lilt* III' I I HI/,. ness man wanted something, just what, perhaps even he did not know, hut some of them wanted their plans so severely that they had to he thrown out when they became overly vocif erous. * as * Among the manifold pro grams desired by the “thou sand” are the following strange bedfellows: 1. Establishmen of a method to encourage and aid small busi ness in getting loans; curtail ment of federal expenditures and balancing of the budget. 2. Ending “unwarranted and malicious attacks” on business by the administration; clarify ing the anti-trust laws and in creasing the penalties for viola tions. 3. Making both employer and employe responsible for abid ing by mutual labor agree ments; repealing or amending the Wagner labor relations act. Also in keeping with the plan to balance the budget, the “small” men decdied that the government ought to take away the capital gains and losses tax, reduce the unemployment tax in stable industries, and base pro perty tax on business on the amount of income. Not to men tion the plea that .congress set up a body to provide loans for the purchase of machinery, equipment and buildings. * # $ It would seem that the little business men might just as well have written in their ideas to FI)K. They would have achieved as much unanimity as they have up to (kite. And in addition they would not have become the laughing stock of their friends by all trying to talk at once. (P C me ralft Reporters Ken Kittley _ Dorothy Meyer Leonard Jermain Eugene Snyder Rill Scott Dorothy Burke Muriel Beckman Patricia Erikson Betty Jane Thompson Catherine Taylor Bill Grant Merrill Moran Dick Litfin Wen Brooks Bill Ralston Parr Aplin Gordon Ridgeway Barbara Stallcup Betty Hamilton Glenn Hassehooth Rita Wright George l.uoma Elizabeth Ann Jones Thursday Night Desk Staff Bill Cummings Corriene Antrim Jitmm Goodwin Marge Finnegan Phil Bladine Thursday Night Staff Chief Night Editor this issue: Bill Kentz Assistant Chief Night Editors: Da\ul Compton Assistant Barbara Stallcup Beulah Johnson Bill Phelps Amey Wilson Rose Bud Bakery (N ods are as Dainty. Fresh and Pure as their name implies. \ud BAKERY Phone 245 02 W. Broadway MYSTERY HISTORY uiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiimmiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinmmiiiniiiiiiiiimininmmi By GLENN HASSELROOTH “The Devil and Daniel Web ster,’’ by Stephen Vincent Ben et, which won the O. Henry memorial award for the best short story of 1937 is now avail able in two collections, “Thir teen O’clock,” which contains 13 of Mr. Benet’s stories, and the O. Henry prize collection, edited by Harry Hausen. Mr. Benet writes poetry as well as fiction, but his stories bear a stamp of honesty and reality that is not hindered by the poetic influence. Frequent ly, when a poet turns from verse to prose, he finds himself unable to escape the metrical flourishes he has developed. Mr. Benet, however, tells his tales like a born story teller. To prove to you that most people will be interested in “The Devil and Daniel Webster” we might tell you that it was the Saturday Evening Post that first published it on October 24, 1936. It still may be out in the woodshed, tucked away in that pile of dusty, rain-soaked mag azines. You never can tell. . . . Alexander Woollcott, who frequently goes “quietly mad” over the books he read's, is turning temporarily to a new field. He will act—yes, act!—a role in a forthcoming Broad way play by S. N. Behrman. Mr. Behrman has written a number of hits, and if the Town Crier turns out to be as good an actor as he is a critic, Mr. Woollcott may not get back to his business of read-and-recom mend as soon as he intends. Prospective writers will find it to their advantage to read two articles published last month in the Saturday Review of Literature. “Those College Writing Courses” by Edith Mir rielees in the January 15 issue discusses trends and effects in the writings of amateurs. This article is not exactly heartening to the novice. Nor is “The Professional Writer” by W. Somerset Maugham in the January 29 number. Miss Mir rielees teaches English at Stan ■ •••••ft • • « t !..».• Have Tour Eyes Examined Here And be assured of safe comfortable, efficient vision for the coming year. J. ^ wj. xj. tj-. i j.. tj.. i.j-v*j-'x1 rm -ir'k'’m'*jc'j 'ftt'i^'j VL \ Established in Eugene 1921 Dr. Royal Qick OPTOmETRlST itT..n™rUri TJi-'Tfro r’1" — Phim. lfiS>) — 1058 Willamette St. CORSAGES for the MILITARY BALL -£ PHONE ti. 3018 Orchids and camellias, Gardenias and roses Or flowers for her hair. Maroon carnations for tux lapels. COLLEGE FLOWER SHOP Across from Sigma Chi • fcJL. wj. wj. wJj >-J. ford, and Mr. Maugham has contributed at least one classic to world literature, so what they have to say can be relied upon. « * Now that the shouting about the “best books of 1937 is al most over, we should like to of fer our choice, not for the best novel, biography, history, or memoirs published last year, but for the “most funniest book of 1937“—“The Education of Hyman Kaplan” by Leonard Q. Ross. Vot an adjucashun! Ve big de pottment, ve gutting voise. You should readink abot Hymie Keplun ven he go to night night school with all kinds antu siasin. Van he go dere he loin ink how to spall, inakink rasita tions, preetice vocapulery in book and goink to blackboard and puttink on, saying ok, liow to oomparink a high-dess man like Shaksbeer mit a Tante vat’s de minnick from “A room is goink arond.” He making som mistakes, hot he ask plenty kvestions. He making fine frans, netcheral! He Writink mit two fontain pans the hardest xreises by dip tinking. Absolutel magnifi cent!!! (And ve puttink three haxclimation points for Hymie.) He desoives dein. Ve don’t vantink tall you too much abot Mr. Kaplan, bot he’s got vot it takes. He knowink lots tings better dan voids, bot he’s pratty foist-class, ufcawss. «• Now dat you have readink de noose-peppers, vy not readink bot Hymie? Hau Kay! YOUR ARROW SHIRT STORE DUDLEY FIELD SHOP On the Campus POMEROY BROTHERS ON YOUR NEXT DATE Wear an Arrow Starched Collar You’ll be amazed to see how muck a detachable white starched collar can do for your appearance. Try Duncan, most favored by young men. 25c each arrow shirts, ties, handkerchiefs s underwear YOUR ARROW SHIRT STORE IN EUGENE ERIC MERRELL’S cARROW COLLARS