The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-03-03

! few years ago it scarcely had an existence
IL is only few years since the first OF
4 American thinkers, Emerson, gave US the
/ most graphic picture ever penned Of the
old type Of farmer life in this country
| the sturdy, self-relisnt, helpful, narrow
/ life the New England farmer used to lead
| on his bleak hillsides. Says Emerson
"When men now alive we're born, the
farm yielded everything that was con-
snmed on it. The farm yielded no money.
and the farmer got on without.
No man could afford to hire labor with
out selling his land. In autumn the farmer
could sell an OK or hog, and get little
money TO pay taxes withal. Now the
farmer buys almost all he consumes-tin-
ware, cloth. sugar, tea, coffee, fish, coal,
railroad tickets and newspapers"
Andnow that the farmer buys almost all
all he consumes, he begins to think how
he may buy most cheaply. Hence, dis
|, ,tributiYe CO operation.
Aud as the farmer begins to find it diff
ficult to produce enough to meet interest,
taxes and living expenses, he bethinks
himself Of how he may produce more
abundantly. Hence, productive co-opera-
tion.
You do not care about productive CO.
operation now. You are landlords. At
least all Of you own either land or an equity
Of redemption in land You think that CO
operation with your neighbors or labOrers
to increase the garnered wealth of the
harvest will be loss to yourself. You
will be king Of your own farm. Nobody
shall advise you. You will pay your
la " n
him the stimulus to brain and sinew which
comes with a share in che profit. And you
shall consequently find that You have bar
gained with the mans need and greed, but
have not bought his good will. He works
under your eye He dawdles under his
own. the spade is sluggishly pushed into
the SO The plough creeps snail-like
around the field The golden grain, with
which nature makes her specie payments
for faithful work, falls of tve, ten bushels
70 the acre. Yol are paying very dear for
this hslf-hearted labor BY your employees,
this scorn Of cooperation in yourself.
A century hence, your sons and grand
sons will know better and do better. By
that time the farmers Of Illinois will be
as a rule, tenants The landowners will
These tenant-farm, rs. each Of them rent
ing and cultivating comparatively small
number of acres, will combine together
and form, practically, farming firm, in
which, by and by, their laborers will have
shares. They Will own their machinery,
their crops, their cattle, their barns, in
common, holding different interests and
receiving different dividends in proportion
to the common stock Such a social con
ditIon will reconcile the two contradictory
facts that are puzzling economists and
statesmen to-day. These facts are,
first, the small farm is the more productive
per acre, and should therefore be prefer
red second, the large farm is the better
adapted for the application of new and
improved methods of cultivation, aud
should therefore be preferred.
do not mean to say that problems
ts-Ss 'tfItsS Ere ~pt!zatirS OtiI ststssIncu.
Our statesmen are apparently ignorant of
their existence, and certainly unaware Of
their solution. To my mind, the future
prosperity of the South depends not sim
ply upon the substitution of peace for
violence, honesty for theft, in the admin
Istration of affairs, bat far more upon
peasant proprietor, holding his few acres
IN security, and laboring on them so
nightly that you shall thereafter trace
the color line. not in politics, but in the
nelds that bear the best cotton, the best
corn, and the hest cane
But this is by the way
believe tina. at the present time the
American farmer can materially increase
his income by taking his laborer INTO a
sort of partnership with himself Ii he
pays higher wages by giving his men a
share in the profits, he will himself make
higher profits. The extra remuneration
the laborer gets under such an arrange
ment will be merely part Of the extra
wealth created by his extra willingness and
fathfuness in work. The rest of his ex
ira wealth is 50 much clear gain to the
farmer
This statement, which doubtless seems
to most Of you the wild assertion Of
theorist, is based on certain facts that are
at once sober and Joyous.
There are three or four nuggets of his
tory that ought to be thrown at the head
and heart Of every disbeliever in the pos
sibility of cooperation between an en-
ployer and his employees. One of these
nuggets is scarcely apropos Of my subject,
strictly speaking, for il concerns work
under the ground instead Of on the
surface. But | choose to tell IT in Illus
tration of the general statement that it is
TO the best advantage of the employer to
give his employe direct interest III
making the joint return Of capital and
labor as large as possible. 1t is q brief
history of a great coal-mining firm in
Yorkshire, England-the Briggs Bros
The Briggs Brothers owned and worked
two collIerles. They were in constant
trouble with their men, a drinking, up
rosrious, careless set The men had a
rough saying, "All coal-owners are devils,
but Briggs is the prince Of devils" This
shows how great the ill-feellng was.
Strikes were frequent. Holidays we're
taken on the slightest pretext. Materials
were wasted, tools were broken, work was
slackly done. The brothers made only
about per cent. on their capital, on an
average. In 1866 they put In operation a
plan proposed by Prof. Fswcett, q states
man and economist, slx years before.
They formed joint stock company, with
$50 shares, and sold part of these to any
of the men who cared to buy them. At
the same time 1t was announced thst the
profits would thereafter be divided in the
following way: First, a dividend Of 10 per
cent. would be paid on all the shares Sec
ond, the remainder of the profits would
be divided into two eqnal parts. One Of
these parts would be used to pay an extra
dividend on the capital stock, and the other
would be divided among all the workmen,
whether shareholders OF not, in proportion
to the wages each had earned during the
year. If A had earned $500 and B 800
during the year, A would get twice as
much as b of this dividend on labor.
The results of this were remarkable.
The men having q promise Of half the
profits over 10 per cent. on the stock, did
all they could to raise the profits above
that figure. They worked steadily. They
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