The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-03-28
From the Ontario Workman
PRODUCTIVE COOPERATION.
seme striking Instances OF the Beneficial
Results OF the system.

/ ly interested IN the cooperative move
ment, has sent us the following interesting
paper on the subject, and we gladly give it
a place in our columns. Cooperation may
/ not be q sure cure for every i'll I; but we
believe the workingman of this continent
would materially advance their position
did they but determinedly endeSvor to buy,
sell and work on this principle.
Productive cooperation may be divided
into three classes cooperative societies
begun by employers, those commenced by
workingmen, and those started by other
cooperative societies. A good specimen
of the first class is the
BRIGGS COAL COMPANY,
in the north of England. 1t was in 1866,
that the Briggs brothers were induced,
mainly by an article written in 1860 by
Prof. Fawcett, to adopt a cooperative
course. Their employees we're an idle,
drinking, uproarious set, who hated their
masters. The cost of taking care of the
mines, whether worked or not, was nearly
81, 600 day, and as the men were often
on a strike, this sum might be dead loss
for days aud weeks together. This was
the state of affairs when the Briggs broth
ers concluded to try cooperation. They
formed joint stock company, issuing
shares Of $50 each, one third nf which they
sold to the workingmen. The rest they
kept in their own hands. Payments for
these shares were made by the employees
monthly, and as soon as a man had paid
his $50 he began to receive dividends A
10 per cent dividend on stock is the first
bill on the net profits. If anything re-
mains, it is divided into two equal shares.
One goes to the Briggs brothers, the other
is divided among all the workingmen,
shareholders or not in proportion to the
wages they have received during the year.
From that day to this the Briggs Coal
/ Company has continued to earn more than
ever before has been
FREE FROM STRIKES,
an unprecedented case and has made
from 10 to IL per cent yearly. There is a
great saving spirit manifested among the
men, formerly SO careless. The Briggs
brothers and their men have built up
public library and established schools.
Drunkenness is said to be unknown. The
magic Of cooperation has wrought an al
most perfect work This result is the
more remarkable, because it has been
effected with most unpron ising material,
and in what seems, at first sight, an an
promising way.
! The Briggs brothers gave their men no
share whatever in tine management, since
the majority Of the stock remained i'll their
own hands. The plan they adopted made
it impossible that they should lose Their
stock represented the full amount Of capital
they had invested in the mines, and on
this they were to receive 10 per cent before
labor, as such, got any dividend whatever
Their profits had averaged about 6 per Ct !;
but the year after they admitted their men
to partnership, they cleared 10 per cent,
and So, 500 besides. | believe they have
made as much as this, if not more, every
| year since.
This system known in England as that
of Industrial partnerships, is one which
every employer can easily try, and try
with no possible risk Of loss. Ii he does
not wish to issue stock to his employees,
he can say to them At the end Of this
year, | will divide my profits above 10 per
cent on my capital, naming a per centage
somew hat higher than his average rate Of
profit, into two halves, one of which shall
oe divided among all Of you, in proportion
to the wages each has earned during the
year" He would thus
HIRE HIS MEN 5 BBAINS
and good will. 1t would pay them there
after to be diligent, faithful and sober, and
to prefer arbitration to strikes. If the
plan does not work well, it may be dropped
at the end Of the year. But it will work
well and manufacturers will make money
by it from the instant Of it's adoption.
The history of the Ralahine Co-opera-
tive Agricultural Association, county Clare
Ireland, is as inter- sting as any romance
1t was in 1929 that Mr.. Vandtleur, own
ing an estate Of some 700 acres in the coun-
ty, determined, after studying the plan of
Robert Owen, to try
COOPERATIVE FARM
At this period, all Ireland was in a reck-
less, unsettled state, and landowners were
afraid to live at their homes. Mr. Van
deleur's steward was shot and his family
fed in terror from their home. But Mr.
Vandeleur was q brave man. He had
made up his mind to have a cooperative
farm. Leaving his family in England, he
went back to his estate. Although he had
put up some cottages, and made a few
other preparations before, he now called his
people together, and, for the first time,
told them what he was going to do. He
had engaged young Mr.. Craig for his
secretary. He proved TO be as brave as his
employer. He stood his ground in spite
of various gentle hints of the possible
consequences. One Of these pleasant sug-
gestions consisted In a rude sketch of a
coffin with his name scrawled there on.
By degrees Mr. Craig won the peoples at
tention, and talked SO persuasively TO them
of cooperation that they at last agreed to
try the experiment Mr.. Vandeleur let
his 700 acres to them at q rem u s, 900,
and they paid, beside, interest on the
value of all cattle, tools, etc, which
brought the amount up to 1900. The
men elected their own committee of man
agement by ballot, Mr.. Craig himself be-
ing subject to ballot. The concern was an
almost
MIRACULOUS SUCCESS.
Everything that seemed impossible became
a fact Liquor, filth, ignorance, gave way
to temperance, cleanly homes, and good
schools. Not only we're the zoo acres
cultivated, but a tract of waste land fer
tilized and made productive. Among the
evils forbidden by the company's y-laws
was that of gambling Mr.. Vandeleur
unfortunately did not come under this
rule. He lost his all few years later, at
the gaming table. The winner refused to
continue the lease and the tenants were
elected. Some of them emigrated, the
remainder relapsed into the barbarian
from whicn cooperation had temporarily
lifted them.
OF the second clsss of productive Co
operative societies, those started by work
ingmen-the
wOLvERHAMPFON PLATE-LOCK WORKS.
is-a good specimen. Years ago, one Of
the masters Of Wolverhampton cut down
mis- mems wages. They struck. The other
masters hastened to form . lockout, and
expected, by suspending all work, to com
nal tha amnloxeea to snhmik Theaa lat