The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-03-06
The Advent Of Cooperation
LECTU AE BY Mr.. L. VI. CHAMsEkLIN IN
COTTON HALL, BOSTON

Mr.. Z NJ. Chamberlin delivered, las
evening, the first of a course Of lectures
in Cotton Hall on topics connected witt
Labor Reform. The speaker, in feS
PREDATORY remarks, stated that this was al
attempt to iuaugurate = series OF lectures
which should pay its way. As was vel
known to the advocates Of the rights OF
labor, nearly all the expense of NEE tings,
printing, etc, had hitherto been borne by
a comparatively few active persons, whom
the newspapers delighted to style deIna-
gogues, agitators, idlers, living upon the
hard earnings of the real toilers, etc. We
shall have made genuine progress i'll our re
form when the body Of workingmen shall
pay the expenses Of the propaganda that
now falls on very limited number. In re
gard othe approach of cooperation, he said
that as general thing our senses are crowd
ed with perceptions of things seen. Facts
Of the living world leave the deepest lmpres-
sions, and in them the greater part of our
ideas are moulded. We defend custom
because it exists Having no knowledge
of better, believe it to be the best. The
present commercial! organization Of labor
is generally looked upon, not as a transl-
tory phase in social development, but as
necessary incident, as the hands are a nee
essary means To- all productive industry.
In agriculture, manufacture, trade and
transportation, nearly all the men and wo-
men who DO the work are hired ny a com
| paratively few persons. who, through some
means or other have become the dictators
Of our lives and fortunes. This depressing
dependence of the many upon the few, re-
sultlng from the wages system of labor, is
the distinguishing Characteristic of our
present civilization, and while it continues
the progress and development Of the hu-
man race are not likely to very much ex-
| ceed their present limits. What the effect
of this system is Is upon literature, art and
invention, IL will he the province of the
1 philosophers II fnture age to inquire,
inquire, but reasoning iron analogy We
may say that as amid ancient systems of
lebor the printing press, the photograph,
the seam engine, and the electric tele-
graph we're impossibihties and had the
anclents received such things from the
skies they would have proved as useless 10
them as ship full Of machinery to the
Terra del Fugans. So the future has in
store for onr successors inventions as won
derful and startling, but until we break
out Of the present industrial bonds the in
tellectual activity of the community will
not lead TO their construction or employ
ment.
The speaker then revie we'd the various
systems of labor that have already disap
peared or are iii their decline. Slavery,
serfdom, the co0lle or contract system,
and finally, the teudsl system, the imne-
IN q
we're sIccessively considered. In l247,
A. D., the feudal system began to de-
cline. Money wages instead Of prIvi-
leges in kind, the chief characteristic of
feudality, began to be paid. We may
date the wages system from 1850, A. D.,
when the free labOrer was first noticed
in English laws. By 1885, A. D., ''vil-
lains were almost unheard Of, and wages
we're four times what they had been in the
preceding century. The feudal system had
supplanted the slave system, and now the
wages system had crowded out the feudsl.
A little better every time, but bad enough
yet The world is watching for the coming
Of a still better kind, that Of cooperation.
The reform movements, riots and strikes
in England, during the last fifty years, the
Csrists revolt, and the movements in Ger
many, Italy, France and Spain were al
luded to. Finally, in 1870, Paris saw the
triumph Of the Commune These are
heavy sledge, hammer blows but We can
hear all the time between them, il we lis
len, the taps Of the small hammers that
round the iron into form and symetry.
The speaker then considered the appear
ance, rise and actual condition Of co-opers-
tive societies, a name which Robert Owen
gave them. The first CO operative congress
was held in Manchester in 1881. Soon
after, the country was divided into district
divisions, in which cooperative councils
were appointed to select lecturers and
collect funds to meet the expense Of the
propaganda. There wen ultimately eight
cen salaried lecturers, with weekly at
tendance of 1900 persons. Several lee
ture halls, at a total cost Of E2O, 900, were
erected 5000 tracts we're distributed by
one society in three months. In thirty
years the societies gathered about 800, 900
members. At the end of 1872 there were
TAG such societies in England and Wales,
with 800, 587 members share capital of
e., 784, ,061 goods sold during the year,
Ell, ,379, 1873; value Of buildings owned,
81, lag, 48l; reserved funds, 279, ,222 /;
paid to members during the year, ETA, :
lag, which represents part of the profit that
would otherwise have gone to the retail
dealers At the end of 1873 these societies
numbered 79O, with membership Of $40, :
$50, share capital Of E3, 334, 104 goods
sold during the year, 2i3, Col, 127 value
Of buildings, II, ,36l, 1877 reserved funds,
E8S, 149; paid to members, &86i ,964.
The entire assets at the close Of 1873 were
"a, 43O, 334, and during the year they had
paid cash for goods G12, 344, ,7S0 Most Of
these societies are for the purchase and dis
tribution of provisions, clothing, furniture,
aui the like, some for production, others
for both purchase and production. There
are cooperative cotton, wooden and silk
mills, worsted, horse-hair and elastic web
bing manufactures cooperative coal
mining Societies, engine and ship builders,
machinists, mssons, painters, printers,
photographers and bookbinders and several
cooperative farms, one Of which, in Assing-
ton, has been in operation thirty-6ve years.
Co operative insurance was undertaken BY
q number of the Societies seven years
ago, and has proved a successful venture.
Cooperative emigration and banking have
been proposed, and the Leeds Industrial
Society has now undertaken the conduct OF
q cooperative summer resort, where it
members may find q place Of temporary
rest and recreation. Cooperation in Francs
and Germany was then considered. 1t was
in 1849, the year after the Revolution, that
they appeared in the latter country
Judge Schnltxes cooperative bank and
building societies were referred to d
length. The movement in this countrJ
was then spoken Of, concluding with al
, account Of the Patrons Of Husbandry anC
Sovereigns OF Industry. The former hav,
, about D, 600 oranges. and !, 200, 600 mem
bers. The Sovereigns have 600 Councils
located in twenty-five States, with q mem
bership al &. 600 persona. Massachusett