The Nature of the
Cooperative in Feketitsch
by David Tauß , secretary of "Farmers'
Aid"
One of the most important
organizations of the Germans in Feketitsch is the "Agricultural Credit and
Economic Cooperative" "Farmers' Aid", a cooperative
registered
with limited liability. "The
purpose of the cooperative is to raise the economy and the employment of their
members through care of a sense of saving, through the acceptance and interest
on a savings investment, through guarantees on loans to their members, through
the organization of the purchase of goods and the sale of products by members of
the cooperative. The chairman of
the committee dealt with the business matters of the cooperative.
The board of directors supervised the business leaders and paid attention
that the regulations of the statutes were complied with.
To support the chairman in his obligations a secretary is employed who
for the right leadership has to bear the worries of the books and dealings with
the written works. By admission
into the cooperative, each member has according to his ability, at least a
business share worth 100 Dinar to draw and vouch for the 25th(fachen) amount of
the drawn business share. The
cooperative was established on the 18th of February 1928 and Jakob Hoffmann was
elected as chairman and held this position for a year.
From 1929-1932 A. Johann Ludmann was chairman and from 1932-1935 Kristian
Gerber was appointed as chairman of the cooperative.
In
1935 Jakob Juhn was elected to be chairman and he still holds this position
today.
Overview of the loan and savings deposits of the
cooperative
YEAR
TOTAL TURNED OVER LOANS
SAVINGS DEPOSITS
As
is apparent from this report the economic crisis which is happening has also not
spared our cooperative. In the
years 1931-1934 the condition of the issued loans was the greatest and on the
other hand the savings deposits were the least.
But we could always maintain the solvency of the cooperative.
The
cooperative had 79 members at the end of the year 1935 with 127 shares.
There were 20,190.- Dinar in reserves.
The total turned over was 3,174,926.11 Dinar.
"Gebarungs" (cash) surplus was 1,333.07 Dinar.
The cooperative worked with very few benefits so they could offer a
greater share to the members.
One of the most important institutions of the cooperative
is that of the Agricultural Central Loan Treasury in Novi Sad which introduced
stocks. The stocks are a saving
system by which the saver is obligated to pay in 5 Dinar a week for the duration
of 5 years into the cooperative. After
the end of this time he is entitled to 1,450 Dinar per stock.
Besides this the savings system is connected to a life insurance which
the saver or his heirs receive the amount paid out, also if the owner of the
stock dies before it is all collected. The
cooperative has accrued over 150,000.- Dinar with its first recorded stocks
since 1933. Money for the stocks were paid out. Each German should really want to draw savings for it at his
German cooperative at the "Farmers' Aid" stock.
The
cooperative can look back today on 8 years of beneficial work and we have hope
that the cooperative will still thrive in the future for the good of its
members.
Balance sheet for the year 1935
(TABLE)
It
is still mentioned that in Feketitsch the "Farmers' Association" has
existed for a decade which also used to have numerous German members.
Several Germans still belong to it today.
Christian Welker Jr. was even chairman for a year and as such he held
numerous lectures with themes taken from agriculture which were extremely
instructive. The colloquial language of the association is Hungarian.
Today
our German farmers are members of Farmers' Aid.
A
financial institution called the "Feketitsch Sparkassa" (Savings Bank)
also existed which was liquidated after the war.
Image
The home of the cooperative
"Farmers' Aid" in Feketitsch
which has had its seat in the home of
David Tauß since 1929.
