The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-01-26

II 49,. y nc EOs0p9RAstS A414Da0dls
lsay spcndans ,xpects great goos
sptngt 10 folI1HE IfUf6 tE6 sstesf sUfsxe
operation instituted hy ahe g1snges. Gerald
Massey also, lfi recent speech in Dos
lon. at .tho franklin ceieh rat ion, syowed hit
continued faith. I'm eo1peratio Ion as The snln.
capital. go q 5 e e 9.a W.
Its strange what q hold this delusios has
had upon clever ana Imaginative people, in
the lace Of the astonishing ilIssuccesss of All
the xarions ,co6peratiYe movements which
have been attempted H fkhIn the last forty
years. In this country cooperation has JIM
yartabty proved iunsyrc cessfni. II has failed
in France almost as universally. It has only
succeeded In England ii q modified form
the distribution ofsgo5ds. 0f the number.
less associations which have been started by
tailors, shoemakers, and other artisans, not
one has been successful. One of the most.
pathetic passages of Tom Hughesis lecture
at Cooper Institute is that wherein he ex-l
pressed bis pain at the certainty Of the utter
failure of all such enterprises until working
men have had a very different trimming from
that which they get at present.
Yet Notwithstanding the ill.success which
hasattended all these cooperative enterprises
we lind that writers about the labor 4ues-
ton regard cooperation as the one paDacea
which is TO cure all the Ills of industrial life.
u Is undeniable, however, that the great
masses Of the workingmen as well as of
capitalists are not deluded by any of these
creams. The fact is that cooperation is sim.
ply an attempted turning back of the hands
OF tlme. The capitalist, the laborer, the
middleman, the jobber, the endless 1nodifica.
tons OF employment in modern times. are
natural and legitimate fruits of orr whole
past; and any attempted obliteration of the
distinctions between the various classes
would be step backward in Industrial de.
velopment. The specialization. of Industries
manifestS itself in industrial life il the mum.
Der CT agencies it creates for the transaction
of business.
In any ordinary trade it takes one set of
agents to produce, another to transport to
the place of consumption, still another to
lob, and finally comes the retailer. Even
these general classes are often specialized
for tie better transaction Of business. But
cooperation means getting rid Of this neces.
sary differentiation; and the 1esut.in every
case is necessarily disastrous.
The partial success Of the cooperative
stores III England has been real misfor-
tune to those friends Of labor who have been
making efforts to realize these absurd dreams
instead of accepting the facts Of society as al
ready accomplished in the industrial world
Ne,o York Graphic.
That is to say, society, as Herbert Spencer
shows, is constantly becoming more and
more heterogeneous. The higher the clyill-
zation, the greater. the division of labor.
Cooperative associations can never be sue
cessful whilst men remain as they now are.
TO suppose that one capable man cannot
better manage large printing Office, or iron
foundry, or tobacco factory, than hundred
men, half of them perhaps lazy OF. incapable,
is 10 suppose that men are not men.