The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-08-06
Report OF the Committee On Co
operation 90 Jefferson county
Grange. SuIy 22d. 1SSl. frs

ED IN THE PATNON Vt n
:. Wo,tAy Naste,, Brothers and
Sisters. The undersigned, Chair
man of your Committee on Co-opeT
ration, begs leave to offer, the FOL
lowing as their report, to wit; slu|
Z We will begin by carrying you
back to the old and familiar story
learned in each one of our childhood
days, when an old man having sew
en- sons to whom he wished to learn
an impressive lesson, did SO, by
binding seven. sticks, intoga bundle.l
which he handed to his sons, one
by one, with request to break
them. On. their failure to do SO,
they were ready + to exclaim With
one accord that il was. impossible.
for one man to break them; but.
their father very quickly convinced
them to the contrary by un.ieing
the bundle and breaking the sticks
one after another. .,fs 81 ~.~,s
r. That was perhaps our first lesson,
in cooperation, since then we have
had many and some of them very,
practical and suggestive. Soon at
ter the war one of your committee
traded for atime with commission
house in St. Louis and for a while
he did very well; but by and by,
some merchants protested with this
house, stating that it was injuring
their trade, and then came the
change. He found when he had
footed up the expense Of, the next
invoice Of goods that it had cost him
more than to have purchased in
bNatchess He protested with the
St.Louis man, and was informed
that it was owing to the fluctuations
of the market Another orcer was
sent with a like result; again he
protested, with proof that, he had
been charged above the quotations
and the market price, The St,
| Louis man then informed him that
his orders were too small, that he
| must order. more largely if he ex-
peetsd to get the advantage of
wholesale prices. 183 -sa sf EeeEas.
This circumstance is practical
illustration of cooperation, the
merchants belowsco-eperating with
| those above, had put the price up
on the farmer and consumer, until
they drove him away from the ST.
Louis market, and left him in the
hands of our home merchants. Then
the idea that we must order largely
that we may obtain cheap goods
that being true the advantages are
all in favor of the rieh-therefore
the lesscwe have the more we must
pay for our goods. With this rule
carried out, as it is, in commercial
circles, works about this, way: A
man who has s., 900 to spend has
ten times better chance, or can buy
at 70 per cent.aless on the dollar
than the man no has but stoo. Is
there no help for this, must the
poor snanfrenlain during his natural
life instfis condition. He most as
suredly will, unless he joins in with
some of his neighbors and by put
ting their means together they car
| makeup the sum of 81 900, and by
sending, one of their number to pur
chase supplies, they are placed on an
equal footing with the one thousand
dollar man. This coming together
with their means for mutual aid and
assistance may be called Co opera
ton, and if ten men with $foo eacl
have joined together and saved tc
per cent. on their purchases, each
one has ten dollars worth of good:
more than he would have had, had
each one traded separately, or the
hundred dollars thus saved and IN
the hands of the people of the
lneighborhood, and without co.ope
| ton ii would have been 500 in the
hands of. the merchant. SAgair
while we poor people are opening
our eyes to the advantages of co
operation, to the amount Of our Em
tied ability, these $1,000, $4,000
$4,000, and 100000 men, seeing
| the power Of combination are put
/ ting their money togetherot to coop
i crate on a grand and powerfu
81 scale. The consequence is, tina
| railroads are built and others arr
! bought up and consolidated; line.
Of steamboats, and barge lines tt
| connect with the terminus of these
| reads, the consoiidation of telegraph
lines all into the hands of "a few
men, as managers, who, co1opera
ting together, form great and op
pressive monopolies that control the
price of freights and work into the
hands of bankers and other monop
lists, who make stcorners'1 on pork
Il and in fact nearly everything we
4 eat and wear, is controlled by theil
pass system, and by the purchase o,
the honor and souls of Legislator.
and Congressmen,Hand even grav,
Senators, and new and then iudg,
! on the United States Supreme
Bench. All, all these, and many
more areco4operating together fol
: the enslavesnent of the masses. II
. 1 the course of few decades more
! il will not be impossible or iiupfob
able for dozen men to own !;
county and the inhabitants to b,
their tenants, provided the manhood
. and independence that has Away
! ehracteriEed our race can not b,
aroused to a sense of its pending
/ n - - = 4 !