COOPERATIVES: The Farmer Takes a Town

The 12,000 farmers who own the Fruit Growers Supply Co. of Los Angeles celebrated the 100th anniversary of the cooperative movement this week* by buying an entire town. For $10 million the cooperative got not only the jail, the city hall and the utilities of the company town of Westwood, Calif, (pop.: 3.500), but also a sawmill, a veneer plant, a box factory and the railroads—including locomotives and a 20-mile stretch of electrified line. But the Supply Co.'s most important reason for buying the town from the Red River Lumber Co. was...