I want to say a few words here about a food store. However, I wish to announce in advance that I will speak only about a co-operative food store.

Local grocers and butchers are attempting to convince the people that the proposed Cicero Lithuanian co-operative food store desires only to hurt private business. That is not true; we have no such motive. We only want to know what kind of food we are eating and how much that food is worth. Naturally, private businessmen will not and cannot give us that information. We will know these things only when we ourselves become the owners of a co-operative, that is, when we have a store of our own.

No human being and no other living creature wants to live at the "mercy" of another; everyone knows from experience how "pleasant" such dependence can be. Then why should food, upon which our very existence depends, be placed in the 2care of others? We often hear charges that food unfit to eat is being sold here and there by grocers and butchers. This is being done by private businessmen because they make a greater profit by so doing. And the present capitalist society is based on nothing else but profit. This is the reason why the Lithuanians of Cicero have awakened and are now organizing a co-operative food store.

Many people say that a co-operative store cannot hold out, and that after a short existence such stores go bankrupt, etc. But the time is long past when such things were true; the "smart alecs" who used to control co-operative stores and who played hard and fast with the money of ignorant and unsuspecting people are unable to do so any longer. Today there is more enlightenment and understanding among the people. The people no longer place the management of their affairs into the hands of unreliable people. Cicero Lithuanians are taking full advantage of the experience of others. They will know how to handle their own affairs. For that reason they do not intend to become frightened by the babble of private businessmen.

People of Cicero, let us all become members of the aforesaid organization--the Cicero Lithuanian Co-operative Store!

A meeting of the Cicero Lithuanian Co-operative Society will take place on Monday, April 17, in the Tamaliunas-Kaupas Hall, corner of 15th Street and 49th Avenue. The meeting will start at 8 P.M. A final reading of the constitution will be made, and a final vote on its acceptance will be held. Therefore, all members and all those who would like to become members are invited to attend this meeting. The initiation fee is only one dollar. A committee to obtain a charter for the Society will be elected at this meeting. A committee will also be elected to find a printer for the bylaws and constitution of the Society.