The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-05-10
NUMBER "a.

Fuuirements Of productive cooperation.
They also urge that is better t. employ
small portion Of labor that none. ! ac-
quiesce in this dictum, but then u be Just
and honest the advocates Of this theory
should acknowledge that their aim Is not
the elevation Of labor that 1t is simply 10
become the employer and reap the profit
produced by the labor Of few working
men. Let them cease % assume the right
to legislate on this great question, leaving
to another better and more powerful
systematic true solution Of tins
great problem. And well may they
do 50 At this moment a merely
local labor conflict is being fought out,
which in ten weeks has cost working men
a sum equal TO the entire profit realized by
the store system of this country for the
last year The remaining and what be-
lieve to be the true system of organization
for developing cooperative production
commensurate with the requirements u
labor now claims our notice. A federation
catholic and wise enough to enlist lndlvid-
ul and associated enterprise; intelligent
and far enough u understand that wealth,
from whatever source derived can be made
useful and beneficial a. the cause of labor;
resting its future hope, its future success,
not on the stomach, but on the BRAN; not
on the consumption, but on the the pro
duction Of laboring humanity fedora
tion So constituted possesses ia a marked
degree the elements Of concentration, eX-
tension and endurance; and must, in the
nature of the association (If understood as
an opposing power to antagonism) super
sede the feeble efforts of distributive co.
In thu ltra.fi.u tnIaad
perience amply confirms this assertion.
Those associations which have had the in
teligence and energy to dispense with the
bostering up of a limited consumptlve de-
mand, boldly challenging the open market
Of the world, have proved that labor under
productive operation j. able u hold its own
against all comers. The WolverhAmpton
Locksmiths, the Glasgow Cooper Compa-
ny, and the Ouseburn Engine Works, are
noble illustrations Of the principles here
enunciate; and there Is nothing "a prevent
these trades or any other from opening
branches here and there as required, until
network of branches l. spread over the
length and brea lth II the land, thereby
creating a system of organized labor. based
on rules elastic enough to admit the form
of federation existing among working men
C1IlScTNdIlN enough tb tNuNtTl dtCIhlli-
profits into share capital and by this ma
chinery developing an association power
ful enough to secure the entire profits NJ
production to the producer. Let rs never
forget nor overlook these all-important
facts that production Is the source Of all
wealth; that profit Is simply the excess of
production over consumption; that II pro-
duction was only equal to consumption,
the accumulation Of wealth would cease,
OF, IN other words, there would be no profit
To divide Therefore IL must be obvious
to every candid inquirer, to every dispas
siOnate thinker, that the sole, the only
possible devIser for the successful develop
ment NJ organized labor IL production
that l. tu say work done A bonus on
consumption by cooperative production y
merely competition under another name,
which Is the opposite ~ cooperation. Prn-
duCtIun ard consumption once equallzed.
the recognition VT tho claims Of cunsump-
tion would only w useless complica-
tipn, deluslvc appropriation failing to se-
cure any tangible benefit even to the con
sumeT.