The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-04-25
Tho Nottingham and COOPERATION.
New York World.l

| among tn0 inning population IN the rem
sylvania coal regions has aroused consid
cradle Interest in all industrial circles and
directed attention towards the methods by
| which trades-uDioDs seek to control the
| rate Of wages. Is the end which they
propose to accomplish-that of raising The
rate Of wages in the protected occupations
above the level which in an open labol
market it would attain-in the inter.
ests OF the laboring population at large
The cultivation among the wage. receiving
classes of q sound opinion on this and kind
red subjects will, it 10 to be hoped, before
long lead them to understand that il the
sacrifices they have go courageously made
to sustain trades upions had been made on
behalf of cooperative labor, the results
would have been permanently and psIpabIy
visible in q more elevated condition of the
working mans social position, and an in
crease in his material well-being. What
intelligent organization can accomplish in
this direction Is shown by the great suc-
cess hich has attended the Philadelphia
Building associations. Through the instru-
mentality of these admirable CO. operative
institutions. which likewise act as savings
banks, $50, 600 600 of wages have been
gradually transformed into capital, and
four-fifths of the Philadelphia mechanics
are real.estate holders and capitalists to
the extent of owning the houses they live
in. This state of things adds dignity to
labor, provides the working man's family
with permanent home and creates an in
telligent, order-loving and conservative
class among the iaboring population which
tends to strengthen and preserve our social
order and political Institutions.
The possibilities of amelioration in the
laborer's position, with all the real or
fictitious protection which trades unions
afford, must so long as he remains q mere
laborer be considered as bounded by the
possibilities of an advance in wages. We
see, then, within what very narrow limits
the possibilities of the laborer's lot are
confined 30 long as be depends for his we'll
being on the produce of his days work.
Against theee barriers trades unions must
dash themselves in vain. They are not to
be broken through or eluded by any com
bipations, however universal for they are
the barriers set by Nature herself. We be-
lieve that the condition of any substantial
Improvement of a permanent kind in the
laborer's lot is that the separation of in
dustrial classes int laborers and capital
lists which now prevails shall not be main
tanned that the laborer shall cease to be q
mere laborer in a word that, through the
system of cooperative labor, he shall be-
come participator in the profits which re-
suit from his capital. In all the socialistlc
schemes for the elevation of the working
man the necessity of raising him from the
position of mere laborer is taken for
granted. But the leading idea in most
schemes of socialistic reform il the notion
of raising iaborers from dependence on the
labor market by throwing on society, in
the person of the State, the duty of pro
viding them with capital. Now, by what
ever means it is sought to give effect to
this idea, whether through the mechan-
ism of State bank issuing incoAvertible
legal tender notes, or by special taxation
directed against the rich, or by advances
made to laborers without adequate secur-
ity, or on terms more favorable than can
be obtained in the market, one and all
they are open to the objection of doing
violence to the principle of property. But
this is not all. Such schemes tend in the
most direct way to the decentralization of
the laborer himself by relieving him from
the obligation of sacrifices which in the or
der of nature all must undergo, as the con-
dition of the rewards which attend on in
dustry, and so placing him in position of
privilege in relation TO his fellow men.
If laborers can command capital by
simply asking for it; or if, having failed
in their undertakings, they are to be re-
lieved from the consequences of failure and
to be started anew in fresh enterprises, it ia
idle to expect that they will exhibit the
seif-denlai aud providence through the exer-
else o which capital comes to exist, and in :
dustrlal enterprise to succeed. The prac-
lice OF tnose virtues wonld STILL indeed, be
the condition of obtaining the industrial
results. but the virtues if practiced at all
when the motive of practicing had. been
taken away. would be- practised by one Get
Of people and the results reaped by an
other. Unsatisfactory as may be the
actual state of things, We cannot think that
this would be an Improvement on it. As
matters may now stand the progress of the
laborer is at least connected with the exer-
else of industrial virtues; he only reaps
where he has sown F.; but under a system in
which he would find himself supplied at
will with capital the fruits of otbersi
savings, what would there be to develop
prudence or self restraintP There ia no
royal road to the possession of capital.
Capita! can only be created by saving
and where people have not saved them
selves, can only be honestly obtained by
ofertng to those who have saved an AIDE.
quate lnducement in the form of security
ana interest to prevail on them to part
with it. If, then, the laborer is to emerge
from his present position and become a
sharer IN the gains of capital, he must in
the irst instance learn to save. To make
saving practicable, it is true, there must
be margin of income or wages bevond
what is required for providing the mecca
saries ard decenctee of life. Perhaps we
ANAL hot