Daily Republican., 1883-10-23
TUESDAY, OCTOBER :s, Isss.
Cheaper Living for WSrkiUSmen.
The tightening of the clamps on work


ingrnen by grasping monopolies tina
are not content unless pocketing ten pc
cent. is driving the first to look out TO
some plan by which they can live cheap
e'and as comfortable at least as they
ar now living. In the eifJrt to devise
some plan by which this can be accom-
plished National cooperative work
ingmens union has been formed in New
York. The object of the Union is t,
assist working people to own their owl
homes and to furnish them with al
the neeessaries of life, al wholesale
prices. To accomplish this it is pro
posed to form union of thousan
working men, each member to pay one
hundred dollars in weekly instalmeuts
oftwenty-hve cents. This will raise a
fund OF one Thousand dollars month.
With the .irs1 thousand dollars raised
groceries will be bought and sold to
members Of the union at cost, the week
ly instAiinentS Of the capital payi ug
all running expenses. From this be.
ginning u is designed to establish other
branches of trade in ali parts OF the
city at which members may buy every.
thing they want. Each mem Der is also
70 hunt up house for sale 1T "A reasou-
able price and report the same to the
union, who will send a committee to in
IN ~ .rl to-.
proves, money will be advance FOR its
purchase, a mortgage being taken .n
The property as security. The tenant ie
to ply the union fair rent ami six
per cent. on the money invested, un ii
the payments eqhal the capital,
whom he is to be given IA deed and own
his property free from all incumbranc3.
1t is evident that wOrklnGmen will have
TO resort to some snch association in or
der to SECURE comfortable living. The
prices Of labor have b.-n so reduced
and the prices Of living kept 50 high
that wOrkingmen now receiving what
is called moderate wages can scarcely
make ends meet. The plan proposed in
New York is nothing more than revi-
va. OF the old cooperative principle
that succeeds or fails in proportion to
the industry, honesty aud inte ligence
OF those composing it. There is no good
reason why such corporations should
not be success. They are cpnd uctrd
on the same principles of building and
loan associations, and everybody in
Wilmington knows they have been a
success. w lminyton would be good
city in which to try such plan such as
is outlined by the New York association
for there is no city in III Union wher.
greater proportion Of wOrkingmeu
own The h ouses they live in nor where
there is mure of a desire 10 own their
houses.
1t need nct require a thousand men,
however, &C make the lest, though we
are told that IN union there is strength. |
A hundred or two hundred men, heads |
Of families, would answer the sam4 |
pulpose. Two hundred men attwenty-
i've cents week would pay in SEQ |
month, a small amount, it is |
true, but enough to 20 a considerable
distance in purchasing the nece-saries
Of life at wholesale prices. But there
need be no restriction to twenty-five
cents week, the very chrapnpsS Dt !
the organization might W rk is defeat.
Fifty cents or even dollar wrrh
would Hot he an eXOrbitart Tee for The
SAKE II securing the rrrce-,arirs of .tf.
al ~Ioi"sa. prices.
Corporation ~ uHnaf"lu~.ug would
wcrk u, Nri a> .p,oprrlt'pu ia par
chasing proyi-,uus or il purchasing
homes. There is NJ good reason why two
hundred men should not own n ear
or II coach mauutart4r.
ing estahIishmeft and live on be profits
OF it mutually az well AZ one, two or
thr2e partners. Such l,spctat' ons coud
On'y be milntalned by "A rigid alherencr
to bIsIurs, ru,es. NJ drJneS could, for
a III 1u-Nt, be tolerated. indus ~ and
hOn"s'v IN the members won ii be the
malN rhlrI t"rlrtiC1, A IaHy man or a
cog il . wheel that turns an almost
endless Iahyrlnth Of machinery, that
would first jar and hen break al. with
which it is connected.