The examiner., 1885-06-13
THE COOPERATIVE GUILD.

The Guild is an independent Order. Some persons have supposed that it is branch or sub-organization of the Knights of Labor; but it is not. The mistake arose from the fact that all the originators of the Guild were Knights of Labor. The Chair man of the Board of Directors is Ralph Beaumont, of Addison, N. Y., who has been representative to every General Assembly of the K. of l.. from the first: and for three years was G. W. F. The other Directors, Honorable David Healy of AL bany, Johnson Beers of Elmira, John Howes of Worcester, Mass, s. M. Camp of Meriden, and J. O'Keefe of Providence have all been representatives to the c. A.. and Bro. Healy was Chairman of the Ex- ecutive Board in 1883. The Auditor Gill bert Redwood was for four years Assistant Grand Secretary. Of the Legislative As sembly of the Guild, Bros. Hon. T. B. Barry now member of the State Legislature in Mich, and John Murray, now manager and part owner of coal mine in Ohio, were both on the Executive Board of the K. of L. last year. The Supreme Judge of the Guild, Bro. Hinton, and the Guild Treasurer, H. M. Foltz of Kent, O., are both Knights of Labor. The Speaker of the Guild Legislative Assembly, Bro. J. c. Britton of Hartford is too we'll known to need eulogy here. T; Fulton Can't, lately elected to the Legislative Assembly, is a we'll known K. of l.. in Washington. All these men are we'll known in Labor circles, and because so many of them had held prominent office in the K. of l.. it was SUD- posed, by those who did not know, that the Guild was not an independent Order. Most of those named had been long con- vinced that the outcome of the Labor agita- tion must be a general plan of systematic cooperation; that the workers must con- struct an industrial system to suit them selves, and that the beginning of the work should be no longer delayed. It also be- came evident that the work could be suc-- cessfully accomplished only by a Society which should make it a specially. The Labor movement is directed against great many evils and tyrannies. Labor as body cannot be at once emancipated; but there are many of it's present condi- tions which can and must be ameliorated: The present must be cared for as we'll as the future. The trade-union which guards the present interests of the wage-worker is a necessity. It is the fighting force of Labor. Then there are political wrongs of Labor which can be remedied only by polit- .ical methods. To expect that any one or ganization of Labor shall take into Its hands all the reforms needed by Labor is to expect an impossibility. There must be a division of labor, so to speak, just as there is in the industries; and to each or ganization should be given it's special work. It was to furnish the machinery for the special rwOrk of systematic cooperation that the Guild was formed. Therefore, although it is not part of nor under the auspices of the Knights of Labor as 9 body, that is to say officially, yet the Guild is office rred by we'll known knights and is carrying into practice one of the principle blanks the Order.
 T The Guild is incorporated in New York State under statute os 1875 which is as we'll adapted to the purpose as if it had been specially framed for the Guild. In the next article I will gixe an abstract of the statute showing what legal powers the Guild is possessed of. Organizers are wanted everywhere.
 HENRY E. SHARPE.
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