New-York tribune., 1870-11-16
IAROR ITS OHN MASTER.


Of the many kilograms, bearing tidings of
war and peace of diplomacy and of casualty,
from all parts of the world, which were printed
in our last, there was none of graver import
than that which announced that the Massa-
chusetts Grand Lodge of knights OF st.
Crispin had agreed upon these propositions:
FIRST That there shall hereafter be no more StrlKes
| in the Crispin organization.
Second: That rapidly as possible, the organization
| shall be changed into q Cooperative one.
| No wiser sounder more benefcent cOnclu-
| sions than these were ever reached by any
| organization. Strikes may possibly have done
| good in some peculiar case, but their general
| effect has been evil, and that only. He who
| refuses to work for A, and thereupOn stands
idle, confesses pitiable incapacity and help
lessness. He virtually says: If A had not
"employed me, must have starved long ago."
This confession is as false as it is slavish; for
Labor existed before Capital, and found work
and bread while obliged to depcnd-no, to rely
wholly on itself. If Capital we're to be annihi-
| lated tomorrow, Labor would of course suffer
severely, and some laborers might perish, but
the Laboring Glass would survive. and devise
means of self-employment and self-depend-
| ence.
Strikes inevitably conduce sin their general
result to enhance the power of Capital and de-
press the condition of Labor. Let us suppose,
for example, that the Crispins should all strike
and remain absolutely idle for two months.
They would of course consume large share OF
their scanty savings, while many of them would
fall into debt to their landlords, grocers, butch
ers &c. But meantime the shoe "bosses "woulc
sell off their wares in rising, eager market
and buy leather, thread &c, in one over
2 stocked and dropping. Having thus converted
, their boots and shoes into cash and raw ma
= terial. the bosses would be in excellent condi
:. ton to make their own terms alike with Girls
Q pins and customers when the former sh0ulC
conclude to resume work. A few bosses, whC
had unfulflled contracts running to maturity
might lose by the Strike, bat the class woult
largely gain by it.
/, And Cooperation is not only the best system
: under which Boot and ShOe-making can b'
9 prosecuted, but it solves all the problems whicl
n muddle the brain and mar the sleep OF Labor
In Cooperation, men may work eight, ten o.
= twelve hours per day, or come down to SIX /
: they choose, and it will be nobody's business
4 but their own. If dissatisfied with the rul,
+ adopted last week, they may adopt anothe
next week. and still another the week after
As to prices, they fix their own, and advance
or reduce them as interest or necessity may
suggest Said old Red Jacket to one who sale
he had not time for some purpose, "You have
"all the time there is, have MT youW In Co
operation, Labor will receive for its products
exactly what other Labor pays for them. How
could it have more
We deplOre the purpose attributed to the
Crispins of applying to the State for money
wherewith to establish Cooperation. That il
confession of impotence which Labor need
not make, and which undermines its position
Labor can furnish all the capital that is
needed. We cannot doubt that Five Millions
of Dollars the property of Crispins, are this
hour held as deposits by Savings Banks, or In
vested in pubic or corporate securities of some
kind. Why not invest part of this wealth
in Cooperative undertakingsi Are we to un-
derstand that Labor can trust Capital with its
savings, but cannot trust itself7 If it cannot
trust itself, how shall it ask the State to
trust It'll
If the Crispins of Massachusetts were utterly
penniless, they could save enough in one year
by abstaining from Liquors and Tobacco to
start dozen Cooperative manufactures. They
uctu Iol wv tuLo pul, IL tut1 wv hNtNJ NhJ
not do it
The experience of France testifes emphati-
caly that Cooperative enterprises based on
Government loans OF subsidies do not prosper.
The reasons are not far to seek, and we need
not state them. He who does not perceive in
stinctively that 100000 earned and saved by
thousand Crispins will go further as capital
in their hands than $1,OOO,OOO loaned them by
the State, unmixed with any savings of their
own, has not yet mastered the rudiments OF
the industrial problem.
A Cooperative company of CrispiDs ought
c to be able to start on very moderate capital
per man. The requisite buildings ard power
might be leased on fair terms, and its pro-
u uucts should be in the market one week
ai'er IL set to work. Buying and selling rig
orousy Tor cash, it could afford good wares at
! moderate prices. Now let it open its store in
T boston, worcester, Lowell, Lawrence, OF
Q Sprnghcld' and ask workingmen, and the
r friends Of self-dmected Labor, to examine and
| price Its stock before looking elsewhere. II
e two or more Cooperative concerns arc started
{ let them exchange products Oh cash basis 90