Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1886-06-30

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ID the knights of Labor are wise
they win eoon learn that they hold
IN aeir ofganisasion an instrument
gmofs powerful than The strike, more
powerful than intimidation, more
powerful THAI the boycott. That in
strument Is cooperation. The la
bofers claim that labor makes CAPT.
"a, and that labor should have d
share ii the product Of capital, and
this n truo; but were half the ener-
Nv thAt i now being wasted in idly
waiting the outcome Of strikes devo-
Ted 70 the building up Of co-opera-
tive industries, in which laborcrs
should furnish both labor and CAPT
tai, We would soon hear the last Of
strikes and rumors Of strikes. This
Is no impracticabls chimera, but the
plan has been put to the test Of prac-
tice and successfully developed in
England, where workingmen have
banded together, not only for manu-
featuring purposes, but also for the
purchase Of food, clothing, etc. In
: report to our Department Of State.
4. A. Lathrop states that the Eng
lish cooperative stores, originally
faw md scattered, had combined,
until ID 1858 their sales Of food pro-
ducts alone amounted to over a
thousand millions; they were pre-
pared TO furnish q house with every
requisite; they yer the greatest i'm
porters Of Irish butter in England;
they had q feet OF their own for the
import Of product from Europe and
the United States, and their agency
in New York forwarded them pro-
ducts to the value Of over a million.
They had depots in all the larger
cities Of England; in 1872 they be-
came bankers, and in 1883 their
business in this division was $780,
100000. They underwrite their own
property, and have manufactures Of
crackers, soap, shoes, ETC., one Of
their shoe manufactures having a
capacity Of a million pairs q year.
IF the workman Of England, with his
inferior educational opportunities
and his lower wages, can attain such
results as this, is there anything to
prevent the intelligent American
workman from accomplishing at
least as much?
To illustrate the needless oppres-
sion to which laboring men submit
in this free land Of ours, we will give
some facts which are of local inter.
est. Springfield, Ohio, lies about
one hundred miles from the great
coal region Of southeastern Ohio,
into which it has a direct line Of
railway, built expressly for the trans
portation Of coal. There are also
three competing lines Of railway
which have feeders reaching into the
coal region. Columbus, forty-five
miles east Of Springfield, is practic-
ally that distance nearer the coal
fields. Now, for years the retail
price Of coal in Springfield has been
. dollar a ton higher than in Column
bus, the difference in price being
thus more. than double the differ
enco in cost of hauling, as a cent a
ton per mile is q liberal rate for
freight; and yet the five thousand
mechanics Of Springfield, a large
proportion of whom have families to
support, have patiently submitted
W WIS WAS JOoA uitSA ySdis Willie
coal dealers have grown rapidly rich.
Five thousand families will burn,
during the year, not less than fifty
thousand tons of coal, and for this
coal they have been wrongfully tax
cd more than half a dollar a ton, OF
$4,000 per annum. Yet by unit
ing in the purchase Of their coal the
whole Of this thievish tax might
have been saved for their families.
But this is a small loss compared to
another: Springfield maintains It's
saloons, each Of which supports at
least one family, and many Of them
more. Allowing only $1,000 per an
mum for the profits on each saloon,
which 90 TO the support Of lite bar
tenders and their families, and a like
sum for rent, cost Of liquors, etc, il
will be seen that the expenditure for
liquor III this town Of about $4,000
inhabitants, 10 not less than $4,000
annually, and this enormous sum il
mainly drawn from the pockets OF
n 1870 - - .E -