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Apostle Of Social Justice
Caldwell
Furniture Co.
MAKERS OF
BED ROOM
FURNITURE
In New York
NEW YORK EIJR.MTUH E
EXCHANGE
Space No. !)() I
I u ( Miienge)
A MEEK'AN I'’ T K M IT R E
MART 111'II.RING
Space No. 104!) .‘10
Ol'TK'K AM) F\( TORY
IN
LENOIR, N. C.
S<mili< k rn Fiirnii lire
I o.
CONOVER. N ( .
Nlr>\< k sl ( .real ions
BOUDOIR CHAIRS
CHAISE LONGUES
CLUB CHAIRS
Also Modern Furniture
lor llie Living Room and Boudoir
Baltimore, Md., Representative S. T. Weinzimmer
Harry T. Krause Letlerts Blvd.
842 56th St. Woodmere, L. I.
Newport News, Va.
(Continued from page lo)
European cooperative credit plans
as means of democratizing finance
and rescuing the small borrower
from banks and usurers. From the
first unit which lit* organized in
Boston the Credit Union has ex
panded lo a point where it num
bers loO.OOO members organized in
.‘5,000 unions which have assets of
more than $7.7,000,000. Filene per
sonally underwrote tin* cost of the
entire organization from the be
ginning to the extent of more than
$*4,000,000. His main thought in
fathering the credit union was to
eliminate usury, thus reducing in
terest costs and releasing increased
buying power. Millions of Ameri
cans have been helped by these
credit unions, w hich are really banks
owned and operate) I by wage-
earners, loans from which are
granted to applicants on no other
security than a reputation for
honesty and sound character.
Filene was not just another mer
chant prince turned philanthropist.
He employed his wealth not so
flinch to help existing charitable
institutions as to projects designed
to make such agencies less and less
necessary by removing the causes
of poverty, unemployment and
social security. To this end he
endowed with several million dollars
lhe Twentielh Century Fund which
has been responsible for many im
portant studies on the improvement
of economic, industrial, civic and
('ducational conditions.
In the good old days of rugged
individualism, when dog-cat-dog
was the mot to of American business
and industry, Filene was regarded
as a radical because of his progres
sive' ideas and practices. When
the clothing workers of Boston
could not find any hall in which to
hold strike meetings he invited
them to meet in the auditorium
ot his store. lie was a pioneer
advocate' of the five-day week, com
pulsory old-age' and unemployment
insurance' and socialized medicine.
He had no patience with the type'
of employer who exploited his
workers. Nor could lie' understand
business men w ho tailed to recognize'
that business and industry must
keep pace with changing conditions.
It was always his idea that wiser
distribution of the nation's wealth
was the' only moans of pre'seTving
capitalism. Filene was for capital
ism but not capitalism of the'
present oreler. lie' beliewe'd it must
adjust itse'lt it it hoped to survive.
Speaking frequently before im
portant gatherings at home and
abroad, he never failed to advocate
his social precepts.
When the' Roosevelt administra
tion came inte> power Filene became
one e>f its leading supporters. His
advice and counsel were frequently
sought by the President. In the
establishment of the NRA he
played an important part anti was
head of the recovery administra
tion in Massachusetts. He saw T
in the New 7 Deal the bulwark against
social revolution and a realization
of the social precepts he had been
advancing for two generations. Al
though big business and finance
were lined up against Roosevelt in
the 1936 election, Filene stood firm
in backing the New Deal. He
argued that without it business
would have been doomed. A year
ago he startled the business fra
ternity by resigning from the United
States (’liamber of (’omineree,
which he had helped establidi
because he regarded its opposition
to the New Dead as harmful to
business and democracy.
Not withstanding freepient charges
that he was turning Socialist, Filene
was nothing of the sort. II e was,
however, a staunch believer in the'
cooperative system. In 1930 he
organized t in* ( On 'inner Distributor
(’orporation with a capital of $1,-
()()(),()()() to serve as a central buying
and service unit for a large chain
of cooperative' department stores
and other types of retail business.
Shortly before In', death lie per
suaded the Federal Resettlement
Administration to turn over Green-
belt, Maryland, planned as a model
community, to this corporation,
which planned to have the* residents
own all the 1 store's they patronize
and share in the profits. lbs un
flagging zeal for social betterment
reached a climax in October, 1930
w he'U lie' announced at the' biennial
congress of the Uooperative' League
of the 1 lilted Stales his repudia
tion of the' existing profit system
and his conclusion that the triumph
of the cooperative syste'in was in
evitable. In the latter system alone
did lie see the solution of the
problem of (list ribution.
Filene didn't fit into t lie chroni
cles of the' self-made man. He
newer offered aphorisms for success.
Once' lie said “'the' world is waiting
for a league of young people* to
suppress stories of successful men."
By the accepted standards Filene
was supremely successful. He* won
a tremendous fortune' from his
badness and then retired to test
out theories which if applied would
make impossible the creation of
fortunes such as his. And that's
what lie' wanted. He understood
that the ieleas and methods in
vogue iu one generation are anti
quated in the next. He earned his
wealth in a generation when the
tycoons of industry were exploiting
the* nation's wealth and human ma
terial. In a generation when the
people were beginning to see the
danger of such exploitation and of
the concentration of the nation's
wealth in a few hands, Filene, a
philosopher of finance and a states
man of business, sought to employ
his wealth for the betterment of
human society.
Under no illusions as to the social
efficiency of our industrial civiliza
tion, Filene believed that the mod
ern business system was at present
more or less lawless. But also be
lieved that we are now 7 in the morn-
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