New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-09

As one main Object-indeed the chief end of a true
Political Economyis in my view, the extensive con-
version or tTansmutaton OF superluous eAchahgeis
of products into actual producers OF wealth. so that
in place of sixty producers and forty exchangeTs ana
parasites Of species or another, theIe sha DC AT
least ninety producers in every hundred persons who
gain or seek Livelihood by their own exertens sue
cessfnl COOPERATION conmends ltseh as the natural
complement of Protection. Each Ill distinct sphere
| co-vorks with the other TO achieve sienal ana
| general good. Protection dispenses WIN long anu
peril6rs voyages and the costly movement OF pnlA.
Taw materials across and continents 70 recon-
psrse and subsst artisans engaged in the production
of Metals. Wares and Fabrics, for the of the pro-
ducerS OF those raw materials securing larger re-
campense, more generous subsistence, to either
class by relieving them of the useless expense OF
maintaining the army of spectators, torwarders'
boatmen, shippers, railway operators, &c. &c. 1or-
merly interposed between them, and bringing them
into direct and economic relationship as members OF
the same community; Cooperation renders Ike
good service in dispensing with nlne-tenths OF the
present locust horde of hucksters retailers ana
middlemen, and bringing the farmers ana
artisans of the same, country, State. county,
yicinape into a relation equally direct and
bepe6cent Protection tends to plant the artisan by
the side of the farmer and thus enable them to ex
change their respective products at 1.-THE OF the cost
involved in their interchange between the inhabi-
tants of widely separated communities; while Co
oneration performs like good Office for the producers
of the same country egborhood enabling them to
enjoy the fruits of each others labor without paying
exorbitanty for their transfer from to the other
The end contemplated in either is vast enhance
ment of productive power, through an increase OF
the number or proportion of producers the elmlna-
ton of needless Intermediates, and consequent
enlargement of the substantial recOmpense of all
descriptions of creative industry.
OF the various attempts to organize Labor on
basis of Cooperation, / shall speak more briefly.
Many have failed, was TO be expected the failures
have been general or at least more conspicuous,
among those which, soon after the revolution of s4S
were subsidized by the government of republican
France. than elsewhere. sum of 100000 was ap.
propriated and dsbursed in aid of experiments in
Industrial Association, most of which collapsed;
while several then started by workmen who declined
the proffered subventon. still exist and flourish.
Most of these hire and pay jOurDeymen, who receive
wages but no profits these are divided among the as
socates who have very generally discarded the prln-
cple of uniformity in recompense, finding 1t un-
favorable to efficiency excellence and now pay
each associate the value Of his product-ln other
words. prefer piece-work to day-work The associa-
ton of Pianomakers, which commenced operations
twenty wears ago on capital of less than $50 has
now capital of S35 00 and does business OF nearly
$4,000 annually. The association of Masons has but
eighty-odd members of whom two-thirds work daily
with trowel and hOd the residue foremen, mana
gers or simply stockholders; while from 200 to 700
more are usually employed by 1t as Journeymen'
Lyons has several associations of workmen. one OF
which has 500 members ST. Etienne has OF 200
III. ,;.o1n e 400 nt,o mad
in Vienna eighteen years ago. for the manufacture of
cloth but which now has its fOur-mill, bakery,
grocery. coa-yard and farm does business of $780,
900 per annum Apart from these, several great
manufacturing establishments, beside paying their
workmen the current wages accord them moderate
share-usuay ten per cent-of the profits realized
on each years business and find their reward IN the
community of interest thus created most workmen
seeking by efficiency and thrift, to increase the
profits wherein each TO share. pro rata scale OF
distribution is usually adopted-each workman re-
ceiving dividend proportional TO his earnings dur
ing the year. that if has been paid out as
wages during the year. and 500 realized profits,
there are $4,000 of these TO be apportioned among
the workers each of whom receives therefrom two
per cent of his annual wages: he who has earned
$500 $10 he who has earned $780, Sc, and so on The
dividend is not apt to be large but, since it is
much over and above the usual wages it proves quite
acceptable.
In this country there have been several attempts
10 realize complete Industrial Association most of
which have failed and disappeared those of the
religious communists known as Shakers, RappiteS
ZOarites Perfectionsts &c. forming the only con
spcuOus exceptions. There have been failures
among these; but quite number have succeeded ;
and as several of these societies more than sixty
years old. and now rich in worldly goods, they
| can no longer be regarded probation. OF
associations for the prosecution of special trade or
| business those of the Iron-MoldeTs of Troy have
| now been some three years in operation, and
| seemed, when / was last definitely advised TO be
enjoying a substantial prosperity. They had accu-
INFLATED capital; they were earning more than
journeymen's wages and they had abundant work,
and were said to do it decidedly well. Should this
success endure, it WILL of course, incite others to
study their organization and history, with intent to
copy the former and emulate the latter
Yet with regard to Industrial az well as CONNER
cia Cooperation ours is of the last countries in
which it is likely to become widely popular. AS a
people we may be viewed as Oh the march from East
TO West; the active, aspiring mechanic, who was
born in Maine or New Hampshire, migrates to New
York OF some other Middle State after attain
ing his majority; reaches Illinois Missouri two or
three years later and will often be found traversing
Montana or California before he is thirty and, hav
ing no fixed abidingplace, he is unlikely to trouble
himself with aught TO which stability is essential
as it is to Cooperation. His wages, when he has
work, are usually ample that he would scOrn to
knot his brain with problems that seem to him 50
petty and paltry those which taxed the assembled
wisdom of the humble weayers of Toad-lane. What
ever the thoughtful few may do it is not probable
that the great majority of our workers for wages will
soon give time effort to the realization Of Co0pera-
4o Idnrtrr nnless ita trnmnh in other lands ahall