New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-02-20

msuaged, We 90 not assume. OOnv W
men nav act foolisaly as wsi as oae mao;
though they are less likely to do 50. Kn&ves
may get up companies OF poor men as well
as of rich ones, ostensibly to benefit the
members but really to feather their own
nests. And especially must it be understood
that working mems associations may be
ruined, either by jealous, captious, fac
uous spirit of cabaling and pugnacity on
the part Of the members, or by loose and
easy confidence in one or two managing
officers which leaves them free to do as they
please without check or criticism. Each
member must act well his part in mutual
benefit association as everywhere else.
That there will be some mistakes made,
some rottenness exposed, in the movements
of these associations, as every where else,
we assume as almost inevitable. In such
cases members will lose their money Of
tener through their own fault sometimes
through the fault of others. But though
hard.earned savings will thus 1--WE hope
very: rarely be lost, the habit Of saving
cannot be-and this is by far the better part
of the acquisition. Of two young men of
whom one shall spend his earnings as fast
as they reach him, while the other, having
saved thousand dollars in five years, sees
it all swept from him by fire, flood, a
bankruptcy, or game Of swindling, it Is
quite common to say that the latter Is now
as poor as the fermer yet nothing could
be more mistaken. The faculty, the habits,
the Instinct, of saving still remains and
this is worth infinitely more than the thou
sand dollars would be without it. And thus
we estimate the Intrinsic and imperishable
results of the self-helping efforts Of our time
far above their outward, material products.
Time was when the journeymen mechanics
Of our city, ninety-nine in every hundred Of
them, spent all they earned, whether more
or less, marrying, growing old and dying
with frem nothing to months wages be.
twixt each of them and the Aims House.
All this is now undergoing gradual and sal
utary transformation. Many still squander,
but thousands save; and this latter class
is destined to increase even without the
Maine Law, and still faster whenever the
agis of that glorious statute shall be inter-
posed between them and the maddening
cup. With that law in force, the number
of our mechanics who own lots, and ulti.
mately houses, will be doubled every three
years.
And this is the Radicalism,' 'Agrarian-
ISM and Communism to which The Tri-
5une is Overwhelmingly, that of melting
the LabOring Glasses to become their own
employers, overseers, paymasters and land
lords. In pursuit of this end, we neither
teach them to hate, to envy nor to war on
the Rich and we have no faith in nor SYM
pathy with that negative, destructive Radi.
calism which impels the Poor to regard
Banks and other instrumentalities of Asso-
ciated Capital as their oppressors. What
we understand these to teach the Poor ia
the potency of Cooperation and the certain
ty that they too may enjoy its advantages
if they only will. That the lessons we
have labOred to inculcate have not been
wholly fruitess, the present healthful and
vigorous condition Of cooperative efforts in
our City bears witness.
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