The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-04-19
Cooperation.


branch of our business cooperation would
be most likely to succeed! Much depends
on circumstances. In a large city we be-
lieve a general jobbing foundry would
prove the most successful on small capt
tai. Our reasons for so believing are, first,
there is not SO much dead capital required
! for patterns and TASKS; and second, there
is no capital required to stock castings;
and last, but most important, the greater
part Of Jobbung Is for cash True, these
must necessarily be small concerns but
| few men can be employed but we must
all creep before we walk, and SO it must be
with a cooperative foundry once conf
dence is secured, its operations could be
extended A machine shop would natur-
ally fall into line F; engine building and
general machinery would follow rs conn
dence and capital increased. Fortunes
must not be expected out Of the concern;
| if, for few years It pays regular wager
and no dividends, but can keep clear Of
debt, 1t is on the road to success. The
credit that other concerns can and do re-
ceive, will not be given to a cooperative
concern until it has demonstrated, beyond
a reasonable doubt, that it will succeed ;
tors must use cash. thus requiring a larger
cash capital than other concerns doing the
same amount Of business. This, Of course,
eats up the profits, or at least prevents
large dividends being declared.
In hut few branches Of business is as
large a capital required. in proportion to
the number Of men employed, as IN the
foundry business and Vet, despite this
draw back, there are more cooperative
foundries in successful operation in the
nited States, than of any other branch
Of industry, and perhaps more than Of all
others This speaks well " the pluck and
perseverance Of their founders, and We
are pleased to know that they are doing
well paying handsome dividends as well
as paying the highest wages, and running
steadily.
To give some idea - the trials that must
be encountered, the determination that
must exist among co-operators, and the
capital required other than brains and
muscle, We will herewith give few stats
ties from the history of the Eureka Co
operative Foundry Company Of this city.
We take it because we can better get at the
data we desire to give our readers.
The strike of 1857 in this city was long
and bitterly contested, and while it was III
progress, eleven strikers conceived the
idea ~ starting a foundry Of their own.
Each contributed s. % to the capital stock
making :. BOO They leased suitable lots.
and erected the necessary buildings and
went t. work The tight for existence was
a desperate one progress WAS slow, and
nothing but pure pluck carried them
through For five months not a dollar
was drawn out by the members for wages
AZ the end az that time they commenced "a
draw half pay, and at the end OF the first
year. they drew two-thirds of their wages
[ p to June, 1863, though all the stock
holders were molders, and each had All
equal share IN the concern, It was not
strictly cooperative. All Of the original
eleven we're favorable tut one; hls share
vas bought out ny the other ten, and the
concern re- organized AS a cooperative as
ISOLATION. having a capital If nearly 80,
ono, which, III shares IT 500 each, was
divided among the ten original st"ckhold-
ers equullv, and new members were then
taken IN on subscribing and paying for not
less than one share At the end Of 1869
the number uf members was twenty seven.
capital stock about S40. 900, and at this
writing the capital Of the ASSOCIATION is
verging on to $50, 900, with property and
a business worth not less than SlW, 900
and every stakeholder is Union molder
The business carried on Is general Job
bng they make stoves and hollow ware
on contract, safe-frames, nantes. CRATES.
hitching posts, lamp-posts, in fact every
INT h.a
have employed as many as fifty molders,
and have thirty to forty employed over
fifty weeks in the year. They have a
credit second to no firm in the city they
are sought after as purchasers on time,
and in less than five years they have dem
onstrated the fact that the weak kneed,
vacillating, or unsteady man mast be kept
out-that pluck and perseverance are as
necessary as capita. and muscle.
No doubt, had We the facts at hand, the
same history would be developed for the
Troy, st. Louis, Rochester, Quincy, and
all the other cooperative foundries that
are nov SO successful. What has been
done by them can he done in any city or
town where johbing can be made spe-
cIalty. The St Louis foundry Is success
lully competing III the southern ana west
ern market, with their own line IF stoves,
with the old established manufacturers, as
is best attested by its reputation, Of be-
ing the steadiest shop in St. Louis. Their
stoves have a growing reputation, and it
has good prospects Of becoming one Of
the largest concerns in the West In ev-
cry city suitable properties for foundry
purposes can be reRnwd, greatly reducing
the cash capital necessary to make start,
reducing the chances Of failure IN that &C
count.