Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-02-29
COOPERATIVE ECONOMY.

There is very general and well-fUunded
complaint that the expenses Of living are IN
cleaslng, from year to year, in much great.
| or ratio than the purchasing power OF money
In fact, the purchasing power of money does
not ucIeasv, but decreases, inevitably caus-
ing an opposite tendency in market prices
| AS money declines, prices must rise and the
fact that they increase more rapidly than the
purchasing power of money decreases, is the
cause of the present complaint about the cx-
pcnses of living.
There are those who do not need to look
back so very many years, to recall the time
when more money could be laid up every
year out of salary of $500 than can now be
laid up cut Of. a salary Of $500 The prices
OF all market products used to he not more
than one-thrd of what they ate now For
instance, the best Of butter used to sell ut
SIR cents a pound, and other farm products
proportionately, To be sure, money was not
plenty then, and its value was high but
it was also enough higher, proportl7uately'
than it is now to insure larger yearly saving
than at present Country ministers, small
traders, even teachers and newspaper men,
used to lay up snug little sums, in those days
out of what would barely satisfy the needs
OF laboring man to-day Then to-, if we
add the extra expenses Of the present time
the luXuries which have become convention
al necessities in these days; the fine clothes,
the social expenses, the household service,
and the thousand aud one little things which
an earlier generation managed to get along
without very well-we shall see that the cx-
penses of living must he high, measured by
the incomes of those who belong to what is
known as the great middle class.
This being the state Of affairs, the question
arises, what shall be done for remedy {?
Will these industrial and sociul relations
adjust themselves after while; Is it likely
that the purchasing value Of money will in
crease, or that the prices Of the nCccssarics
of life will decrease while money becomes
more plenty? Certainly, not. The only
hope in this direction lies in an cnorm Us
reduction of the purchasing medium now in
circulation. This great inflated balloon Of
capital must be punctured, and all OF us must
traycl along socially on the ground. We
can't have fanny 'air-voyagers, if the surface
rates are to be brought down TO hard-pan
But such a scheme rs this would be as
impracticable as reforming human nature
The time has come when there must be cap
italists and aggrcgations of capital. Vast
sums of money will be in the market in cx-
change for baubles, aud the presence Of this
great impractcable mass will effect the state
of trade as the presence of iron affects the
needle of the compass. Something else must
be devised, beside decreasing the bulk of the
nations money, to bring the prices of living
down to the resources Of the people.
The scheme which at present seems most
practicable is one which hes been tried
already with considerable success in
some communities viz, that of CO.
operative housekeeping 1t has been
found that there is economy, as well as
strength, IN union Four or five families
can unite in paying the expenses and pro-
viding for the maintenance OF all, much
more cheaply and conveniently than each
family can support itself, Or better even than
that, the expenses of living can be put upon
corporation basis, entrusted to company
OF stockholders, who shall provide for the
expenses of large portions of the community
in return for normal percentage of profit |
For instance, the new Chelsea co.
operative apartment house in New York |
is thus described by a correspondent
The ground floor is divided into four
stores, entrance halls and large restaurant
for the tenants who have no kitchens. Each |
floor above that is divided into ten apart
ments, varying from four to eight rooms