The Portland daily press., 1884-01-22

now In their old age upon the savings the
store" has made for them without their ever
having paid in an original penny toward its
capital. They began buying there, and thap
was all! how can greater blessing to Inc
poor than such stors be imagined or ex-
pressed?
Employees OF the Association for one or more
| gears must in all cases agree to be customers
| OF the Association and to become shareholders
TO the full number of Eve shares, q small per
cent. OF their wages being reserved for the
purchase of their shares until they are all paid
for The ultimate working of this rnle in as
sisti- the poor to become capitalists in
small way, and therefore ia bridging the now
ever-widening ehasns between the moneyed
and the working-classes cannot be over-estl-
mated.
Members who desire to leave the Associa-
| ton must find responsible purchaser for their
shares before their resignation can be accepted.
The directors must purchase none but one
grade, i. O., the best, OF everything. They
must buy and sell strictly and only for cash.
Ihey must sell at the current retail rates, and
divide the profits among the members IN pro
portion 10 their purchases. They must pay
their book-keeper, (the book-keeper must be
paid!l and their porter, but at first, no one
else, for the buying for and the clerkage OF
the store must all be voluntary labor on the
part OF the directors and shareholders until the
enterprise is On a sound paying basis. If they
send for orders and deliver goods, they must
make separate charges for these items. The
| cooperative stores in England neUer furnish
| either free.
No officer or director must purchase the
| smallest thing or make any contract for the
stcre whatever upon upon her oxn responsible
| lty. Far less must the directors appoint a
MANAGER to do the buying and conduct the
store The buying must be done after consul
ration IN e1ecuttUe committee, by member or
members OF that committee, aud the executive
committee os WHOLE must be responsible to
Inc shareholders for all expenditures.
have quoted this fully from the advance
sheets before me that I might present some
thing like an adequste idea of Mrs Peirce's
scope and range. Those who take up the book
casually and give 1t cursory glance only will
get the impression that it Is one long scold
from beginning TO end. This was my own first
impression; but as looked at 1t more care
fully found that there was good deal moro
than scolding in the volume, that it was
"worth wbile," If for nothing more than the
definite mistakes pointed out, the How NOT TO
DO IT, and the How TO DO IT. Evidently dis
| gusted with the lack OF cooperation which she
received ia Cambridge while that experiment
was being tried, Mrs. Psirce does not propose
to start forth herself personally and indiyidu
ally again, but she has sent out to the public
his little guide-book as one might call it, to
show the way That it will rouse upfresh inter
est have no doubt. That it will be the little
lifting lever to move cooperative undertakings
afIesh l have little less doubt; that it is veiy
racS reading enc has only to turn to the chap
tiers have named to see. I have been told
that SOME Cambridge people have considered
Mrs. Peirce and her ideas rather impractical
and 'notional". This is not strang, in view of
the failure of their undertaking, bnt there is
nothing impractical or Emotional" in her book.
1t is on the contrary very clear statement and
showing of facts. If here ia any way out OF
the present hard work OF daily living, in Boss
ton at least, this little book points to it direct
IL and clearly: for what with the enormous
high rents both in single houses and apartment
houses, the prodigous price of provisions of ey-
cry kind, living here in its relative values is
emo rmously out of proportion, to that in other
cities. The cry "what shall we do to be sayed''
upon this earth seems to me to find good and
sible answer in Mrs Peircs's little volume.
The book will be out in two or three weeks
when my readers can judge for themselves of
its saving and sensible qualities.
MORAN PERRY.