New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-09
p OFFICIAL ECONOMY.
BY HORACE GREELEY.
Xxx
COOPERATION.


contemplate, that am impelled to give it further
calculation. / shall not attempt to answer sll con
ceivable objections silence cayil but simply TO
show what Cooperation is and purposes. viii con-
slider it first with reference to Commerce OF Dstribu
| ton.
lhe present century has witnessed vast progress in
almost every department of material production.
To-Day, lar more land is plowed by certain expendi
ture or outlay OF human effort, and powed better
than by our grandfathers; girl of fifteen guiding
span OF horses can NOW faster and better than
five could cut it by hand; our steel pIows cnl,j
vators, reapers, horse-rakes &C.. &c. have combined
to render farm labor less rugged and exactng. while
far more efficient, more productive, than formerly.
To say that an average days work produces twice
the food fiber and thrice the cloth ware that il
did century ago, would be to keep quite within the
truth
But, while Production has thus been increased by
the invention or adoption Of machinery which rem
ders Labor more effective, corresponding improve
ment has been wrought in the usual machinery Of
distribution. Traffic, through all its multiform ram
| lncations is continually sucking the fe-blood of
| INDUSTRY. The machinery whereby Vegetables and
FRUITS lfor exampe) collected from the farms and
gardens OK their producers, and supplied to the
Stunning artisans and laboTers in the adjacent cities
and villages nearly rude and quite rs expensive
as it was in the days of Homer or of the elder Pha
raohs. The fishermen by whose efforts and exposure
NewYork is supplied with the products of the ocean
receive but dimes for their "catch" where the
sumers pay dollars the berries from the Jersey bar
rens for which the pckers receive ten cents or less
per quart retailed to citizens for thirty the
turnips for which the farmer of Westchester County
with difficulty finds purchaser at dollar per barrel
are commonly sold by our hucksters at twenty-five
cents the fpeck at the rate of Sc to a per bar
rel and the apples which bring the farmer 81 per
barrel cost the city mechanic forty miles away many
times that sum. And so throughout the wide range
| of perishable food.
write in the fullness of Peach harvest Of
traordnary abundance. Peaches were never before
at once so plentiful and 80 good. The growers
throughout cOuntry-(and they abound and
flourish everywhere south of lat 400 Atlantic
and 49o on our Pacific coast)-will hardly realize an
average Of twenty-five cents per bushel; while i'm
menss quantities must be fed to animals or left to
rot under the trees that bore them. This City is
great if not the greatest emporium of the Peach
trade and is not far from the great Peach-orchards
of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. whercwith
it is connected by many lines of steamboats,, rail-
roads, &c. Yet, while the growers have been con-
strained by their abundance to sell Peaches at
low figure and often at prices which left them moth
ing after defraying the cost of transportation and
marketing. the consumers have paid for them an
average of not less than two dollars per bushel SO
imperfect is yet the machineryof distribution that,
though the swine Of the producing farmers have
eaten peaches to safety, our Citys Laboring Poor
could rarely afford to let their children eat their fill
of good sound ones 1t would seem that here is room
for Improvement and that the wisdom of the Nine
teenth Century should be equal to effectng it,
| Mr.. Parke Goodwin, an eminent apostle Of Free
in bia inoa Vouth Tins nerti-
nently and forcibly:
Commerce designed TO bring the producer and con-
into relation; that s If it has any object But In
itself it produces nothing it adds nothing to the
modities which 10 crculaes 1t is obviously then. for
interest TO reduce commercial agents 70 the
smallest number and TO carry over the excess 70 some
In societies. precisely the contrary TAKES place
the agents Of Commerce are multiplied beyond measure
designed only TO play subordinate part, they have
ton Of the common dividend out OF all manner OF propor
ton to the services they render they hold the producer
I'm seryie dependence they reduce TO its lowest terms
the OF workmen and they extort from the con-
sinner without mercy. No.
economists has largely contributed 10 the evil Traf
fcker in consequence oft give Themselves up TO reg
rot be beaten they ready expedeni
They e cheat and falsify products they adrlterate
grains, wines, and sugars they would poison the
community. IL they dared. have recently seen in
one or two instances and they spSae ns pn1O snt
rupcy In short they deceive in every way and defand
all yet commerce in our corrupted societies h
certain way of arriving at fortune honor aud
distinction.
"We speak here only of intermediate commerce. by
which we the which consists in buying
from one cell another. The manufacturers
borers. although their functions often complicated
with the character and vices Of commerce. strictly speak
my Eve know very well that Humanity must employ
order 70 bring them within reach OF the consumer But
evident that ought TO devote to this task only the
time or money, hey ond this minimum, being a real loss
| for society"
- The true distinction is here taken: Commerce is
essential since each cannot advantageousy produce
all that is required to satisfy his wants but 1t Is
not necessary nor desirable that Commerce should
appropriate the grist and leave only the toll to Pro-
duction. We must have men employed in exchang-
ing the products of Agriculture for those of Mann
| ufacture; but a regiment would suffice where We
| now employ an army and We must devise the means
of dispensing with the armyor rather of dismissns
it from Trade to Industry and making the regiment
serve in its stead Such is the end contemplated by
| Cooperation in Trade
| An average rural township, of thirty to forty
square miles in area inhabited by some four hundred
families of two to ten persons EACH whereof three
fourths are engaged in Agriculture, Is probably as
free from parasites, or unproductive consumers OF
wealth. as so many people well can be under the sys-
TEN which Cooperation is designed to supplant IL
has fewer iders paupers than 80 many people are
| Obliged 10 support IN Utmost any o'noi e'i@oN
country than OF in any other than an agricni'
tural community. YetHhis township supports from
four to ten stores" partly located within and part
ly outside of its boundaries. and pays profit of ten
to forty per cent on whatever 1t does not produce.
| but buys from abroad. Searching inquiry will
establish that full eighth of the gross product of
that township is paid out mercantile profit on the
| goods il imports for its peoples consumption
| Why need it pay so much' Why should it support
several families on the profits of its trade. whom