The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-10-02
Cooperation in Virginia.

For the past six months q cooperative
association of workingmen has been il
successful operation in Fairfax county
Va, seven miles below Mount Vernon
from the windows of which the com
pany's grounds and buildings are in full
sight. The practical manner in wnicl
the association is managed, and the sue
cess attending it, have attracted the at
tention of men possessing both philan
thropy and capital, and it promises tc
assume large proportions. Meeting the
business superintendent, Mr.. Joel g.
Ellis, Washington Post reporter asked
him:
Glow is your association getting on,
Mr.. Ellis ?"
First rate"
Chow much land do you own ?"
"Seven hundred and fifty acres-the
old Mason estate"
"How long have you been there?"
"Six months. We were originally
located at Springfield, Vt, being there
three years, our specially being the
manufacture of toys, such as jointed
dolls, backgammon boards, etc. We
were burned out, but our machinery is
still in Vermont. We have been farming
and gardening here in Virginia, but not
manufacturing as yet"
Glow many members have you ?"
"Twenty persons-ffteen men and
five women-with capital OF $17, 500.
We ought to have one hundred members
and capital of $4,000 to enable ds to
realize from the beginning the full ben
efits of cooperative housekeeping. Our
association gives constant employment
and reasonable wages to it's employees,
and boards them in pleasant home at q
low figure. A workingman can earn say
$400 year. His board will cost $175 ;
he is required to save one-fourth of his
wages, say $l00 per year, and invest it
in the stock OF the association, Oh which
he is guaranteed a six per cent. annual
dividend. He is thus left with 1925 for
clothes and incidental expenses. If o
man twenty years old joins the associa-
ton and invests his annual dividends in
the stock, he will have, at the age Of
thirty, $1,31S; at the age of forty his
savings will be $2,673; and going on at
the same rate, when he is seventy years
old he will have $29, 049. A woman will
earn $3.50 per year her board will be
$125. She is required to give one-ffth
of her wages, or $50, and invest it in the
stock, leaving her $75 for clothing and
incidentals. Starting at twenty years
old, at thirty she would have 1868, and
at seventy years old her savings would
be $14, ,524. In case of marriage between
two members of the association, if there
be no children the couple will have S43,-
573 when they reach three score and ten.
Yet the man has earned only 50 per
week and the woman SIS during their
lifetime. They have lived we'll, in
pleasant home, owed no debts, had no
anxiety or fear of want in their old age,
ran no risk of failure, and accumulated
a fortune of over $40, ,000."
"The conclusion is pleasant to think
of, certainly. What are the require.
ments of membership"
GA capital of $500 is required for
each person employed, to furnish the
dwellings, furniture, farm, workshop,
tools. machinery and stock needed to
employ the members constantly and pro.
titably. If an association with 100
members and $50, 900 capital admitted
new members without money as often
as IL ey added $500 to their capital from
the savings of wages required, they
would grow rapidly, and soon absorb all
working people and capital in the coun.
try. The increase would be quadrupled
every ten years, and you can easily cal
culate it. In ten years they would have
400 members and capital of 5000, 900 {;
in twenty years, 1000 members and
$500, 600; in thirty years, 6,400 men,
bers and 1900, 900 capital, and so on.
This increase, moreover, does not include
interests or dividends simply the saw
ings. You see that the working people
only require constant employment at
reasonable wages, and comfortable
home to live in when they are required
to save that part of their wages not
needed for their legitimate wants, to
become capitalists. That the better
class of workingmen can secure these
advantages is shown by our practical
experiment on the Mason estate"
"How many hours constitute days
work ?"
"Ten, with the chores extra"
"What are your profits ?"
"The bylaws provide for ten per
cent. dividend. The men who advance
money are guaranteed that they shall
not be less than six per cent. on the
amount invested. The surplus, invested
in United States bonds, is kept as a fund
to guarantee dividends. We have GER
tain, pleasant, profitable and successful
enterprise in our association"
"And do You intend to confine your
self to farming ?"
Certainly not !; I am on my way to
Philadelphia now to get the required
capital to move our toy-making machin.
cry from Vermont, and then We will
start to work in earnest"