East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1865-05-03
NUMBER 800.

Q "what custom in the work of distribu-
s ton does for the realisation Of profit.
r ia6or does in the work of production.
: We are working-men, trying an ,ex-
pertinent in our own interest as such,
!, and what we desire is, not the last
) farthing we can screw as profit out of
, what we are doing, but rather the
= permanent establishment Of an equit-
5 able principle by which in the present
) and the future the largest number will
be bencfited.' 4hey, therefore, in
the factory as in the store, fixed the
} interest that should be paid to capital,
provided for a large reserve-fund to
meet adaptations and unforeseen
contingencies, and the overplus of
profit after these things were done,
they divided between the shareholders
4 and non-shareholding- workers, giving
it to the former as additional interest
on capital, to tho latter as bonus ON
l wages. ,sssri .vl.iii.e Il, .,,.'-,-f y. !.
BY this plan the nero worker was
not only lifted above the condition of
a receiver of wages, and possessed OF
an interest in the successful working
of the establishment, but he was fur
nished with the means, if prudent
man, of entering into the copartnery
as a shareholder This arrangement
however, has been recently upset, the
shareholders, many of whom, care
only for the profit Of cooperation,
having clamoured against it. SO those
who We're trying the new principle,
have had to give way, and leave their
model factory in the hands of those,
who look solely to money profit, al
though it is said that the defeated
men have determined to build another
factory, which, sink or swim, shall be-.
devoted to the vindication of their
new idea, including, as they declare
the idea does, not only what we have
stated, but also complete reconcile
ment of tho interests of labor and
capital, and, as a consequences, the
lmpossibility OF Iurure striLcs and
lock-outs I,.,..
When the American war broke o~t
a large number Of cooperative facto-,
ries we're either in the course of erec-
ton, or companies were raising capital
for tho purpose Of erecting Them
since then, however, the work as a
matter of course, has dragged. But
should their wonted prosperity return.
again to the manufacturing districts.
there can be no doubt that the E.an,
cashire operatives will enter more ac-
lively than ever into the work we have
here attempted to sketch. s4a -.
In addition to stores and factories
there are several very large co-opera-
tive flour mills throughout Lancashire
and Yorkshire; one at Rochdale doing
a business of about I6O,0OU. a yeagj
one at Leeds dow y = o'"
e,s m laboringl in the same di-
rection, such ms Tailors and Hatters
in Manchester, Builders in Edinburgh
Caryers and Gildors, and
Packing-case makers in London, some
of which have been engaged for years
in the work Of self-employment with
very excellent results.
There are several points Of interest
connected with these associations and
their progress. Looking at the stores
it will he seen that by their constitu-
ton and the character of their trade,
cheapening admixtures, or adultera-
tions cannot be permitted as by such
practices the members, who are the
proprietors, would only succeed IN
cheating and injuring themselves; nor
can light weights or short measures
be called into requisitionlior the same
reason. g,gl aaIh l3Ea -.tR
Then again it may be stated that
the system of ready money payments,
which is in these stores almost uni
versal, has the best possible effect on
the domestic habits Of the working
people, Before these stores were in
troduced, the working people of the
manufacturing districts We're D always
in a state of Indebtedness to the. shop
keepers. A gentleman who had given
much thought to the matter, and who
was in constant intercourse with large
numbers of working people as an
employer assured the writer of THIS
article that the wages of the working
peoples, as a rule, were smortgaged'a
fortnight in advance Now, blythe
simple operation Of the ready money
system, combined with tho distribu-
ton of profits. not only have above
100, 900 families escaped. from this
miserable slough of Indebtedness, but
large numbers of them have, accumu-
lated savings which are lying at.their
credit i'm the funds of theso stDreS.
The friendly intercourse of the
members with each other has also its
value as an agent in the Improvements
of their characters, especially where
such intercourse implies trust, and tho
practice of honest dealing a practice
which cannot be pursued in any one
particular without exercising heno-
iicial influence over the whole, range
Iof human dutsess oq ~ 81 s9roi aI'