National Republican., 1884-09-13
WELL woRrH READING.
A Remarkable Ring of workIngmen
in London, and the Way IL Works.

London Times
A self-made capitalist, who is too we'll
known in his own country to require to
water his famous patronymic with ono
of the high-sounding prefxes the great
family of Smith is given to annex in
England, has founded vast circle OF con-
nected yet Independent cooperative as
sociations in Stockholm. Thoy number
at present twenty-four, each ring, as it
calls itself, containing q thousand NOM
bers. Sweden is a kingdom of vast extent,
thinly pooplod, and with very short
agricultural working season. The coun-
try depends on q supply of labor during
few months from the capital. Formerly
artisans and farmers lost much of tho
small stock of valuable time by the wan
dorings Of the former In ignorance which
| Of the latter needed them. Since the in-
stitution of the labor exchanges of the
rings masters and men meet one another
without difficulty. The provision Of cheap
food at no more than fair profit, which
is itself ultimately divided, is another
and the most remarkable of tho benefits
ring offers to its members. Tho ring
comm issariat has reduced the charge for q
workman's board by third, and has sub
stantially improved the quality. Pre-
viously Swedish workman appears to
have had, or to have persuaded himself
he had, no alternative but visit to q
brandy shop for his meals. Nowhere is
drunkenness more prevalent than in
| Sweden, aud the resort of men to brandy
shops for their dinners mas encouraged
the mischief. At the Ring restaurant
brandy Is not sold, though beer may bo
had. The result is allowed to bo more In
favor of temperance than Gothenburg
law. Mr.. Smith was apparently impellcd
to his enterprise by the hope of dealing
this blow at tho pernicious habit by
which tho national character has boon
demoralizcd. But tho virtue OF any in
sttution with vitality in it is that it
grows in many directions. A Swedish
ring in its proper condition offers tho
advantages of q registry Office, model
lodging house or building society, q cheap
restaurant aud Kitchen, n general store,
and q penny bank. Probably these are
only specimens of the purposes it answers.
The basis is broad enough to satisfy as
many fresh objects as tho associates in a
ring concur in desiring.
Tho distinction of the Stockholm rings
is their mprehensiveness All work.
men seem to be eligible, and they embrace
all tho requirements of material life.
Rochdalo co.operators confine their use-
fulness to single town. The Rochdale
storos have not, so far as we arc aware,
opened kitchen for the supply of board.
Certainly they are not labor exchange
for the kingdom. English trades unions
which as clubs suggest comparisons with
Mr.. Smiths rings are confined TO single
industries. They bear, too, an adverse re-
lation to capital which is wholly absent
from the Stockholm associations. Mr..
Smith, of Stockholm, is entitled to the
praise Of having endowed Sweden with q
society most Literally inspired and we'll
adapted to Swedish needs. Doubtless
neither he nor his countrymen suppose he
has discovered q principal. Englishmen
have not now to learn tho merits OF CO.
operation. Some features Of the Swedish
application of cooperation arc ex-
cluded by tho circumstances of this
country from introduction here
Others arc not free from objection
in themselves. A general labor exchange
for the United Kingdom would be i'm
practically unwieldy. The scale of
British industrial labor is both too large
and too complex for any united co-opora.
tive organization to embrace the entire
mass benefcially or safely As refuge
from the greater evil of temptations to
intoxication the common kitchens the
rings keep up may work advantageously
They are too excessive an encroachment
on the, usages of the English domestic
life to be desirable on their own actount
Carried to its natural conclusion the sys.
tenn would end by boarding the industrial
community at public tables and domicil-
ing it in common lodging houses. No
| fno1lxy x.ynn1H ha Iaft 70 D..
family existence. For mere cheapnesi
the arrangement might succeed, though
warehouses and prisons are not always
managed eheaply. 1t cannot be recon-
mended on other and higher grounds
But this Is an extension of cooperation
which has no necessary connection
with the cooperative principle. Co-opera
tion in its dstributive character does mo-
interfere with tho ordinary regulation Of
life. All that it undertakes Is to elm.
mate superiluous expenditure by fuller
mutual understanding on the part of the
spenders. 1t is means of extracting the
utmost worth out of money by securing
that the buyer shall not have any pay fo
what he does not receive. Theory and
performance are still divided by wide
. interval. Abundance of room remains fo
the legitimate efforts of cooperative ad
ministration to diminish loss to the pur
chaser on the transit of his purchases t
him from their producer. Cooperation
has no right demand of its disciples tina
they should prove their faith by dismiss
ing their cooks or ejecting their wives
from the kitchen and boarding at a publ
restaurant
The workingman ought to have hi
meals from his own home, and not from
q public kitchen. That they are no
properly cooked for him by his wife il
reason for instructing the cook, and no
for doing without her. Public dininj
rooms on the footing of M. Duvals. u
Paris, or those established at Glasgow, an,
admirable resources for unmarried arti.
sans or men working at distance from
home. 1t would be u pity should the,
become substitutes for domestic cookery
instead of supplements. In this countr,
it is not very likely that they ever will
Retail tradesmen may be excused fo
more fear for their future as they reat
the loud and louder threats of the advo
Gates of cooperation all over the worlt
against "the middleman." Retail trad
is suffering from q reaction after tri
umphant progress for centuries. 1t 1
denounced now as if it were common
} nuisance. When it first arose and begai
to flourish it was regarded as tho faires
blossom of civilization. An age whicl
prides itself on the discovery of co-opera
} tion cannot understand the miseres o
the younger world, in which every maj
had to be his own baker and grocer an,
tailor and shoemaker.
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OUR western people are liable to be laid loy
by malarial fever, when breaking up ne,