Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-24

that more than one thousand enterprises
OF this character have been started and
that less than per cent have proven sue
cessfuL The reasons assigned for failure
are the same as those mentioned in con-
nection with the Sovereigns of Industry.
Let me give few instances which will
serve as general samples of all the rest:
Some Instances of Failure.
During the great labor upheavals of 1885
there was strike in the carriage industry
at Cortland, N. Y. The workers decided to
start factory of their own. Ground was
donated, funds raised buildings erected
machinery put In, and market readily
found for the entire output Of their fac
tory. The directors were all practical
carriage makers. and they selected as man.
ager one of their own number. For time
all went we'll. Then came a demand that,
as their order was advocate of short
hours, no man in this factory should work
more than eight hours per day. This, not
withstanding their competitors were work
ing ten.
In other factories work was done by the
piece; in this one the men were paid by the
day. After the first six months of opera
ton one could always be sure to find most
OF the employees devoting a large part of
their time to discussion of the questions
of the day, while their work was suffering
from delay. When the manager attempted
to correct the evil he was dismissed, as the
directors who employed him were the very
men who caused the breach of discipline.
And SO what should have been a successful
enterprise, with handsome balance on
the right side of the ledger every month,
became total failure in less than two
years, both investors and workers losing
both time and money. The factory Is now
operated by stock company, and Is one OF
the most successful enterprises of its kind
in the country.
The experience of the carriage workers
at Cortland was repeated by the shoe
workers at Detroit, Mich, with precisely
like results. Bad management and direc-
tors who did not know how to direct
wrecked what might have been, under
other circumstances, one of the finest man.
ufacturing plants in the city of the straits.
Sentiment and Business.
But all this is no argument against CO.
operative effort. Distributive cooperation
is more uniformly successful than pro-
ductive, for the reason that the share
holders are themselves the consumers. But
even in this di. ection want of capital and
bad management must certainly prove
disastrous. The best and cheapest man in
the end may command the highest salary.
A man in need of employment may be
worthy and willing to serve as manager of
an enterprise at So per week, yet it would
probably be far greater economy to en-
ploy an experienced and successful man
at several times the figures named. Send-
ment Is one thing, business is another.
What is needed for the success OF coop
GRAFTON, both productive and distributive,
is more business and less sentiment.
1t is not to any mans discredit that he
has not had the training necessary to fit
him for a special line of duty. And when
a cooperative shoe company finds that the
good-natured smooth-tongued dry goods
salesman, who had taken so much interest
In the meetings of shareholders as to be
unanimously elected
mess manager, comes out at the end of the
year with e large balance on the wrong
side Of the ledger. no complaint should be
made. The dry goods man could tell all
about dress goods, but he could not make
and sell shoes. The practical sailor, how
ever enthusiastic he might be, would make
bad fist of running cooperative print
Ing Office while the disciple of Faust
would probably make equally as poor
showing in handling a ship in storm.
notable success in distributive co-opera-
ton has been achieved by the potters at
Trenton, N. j., who in 1887 started a small
grocery and provision store. They en-
ployed successful grocery dealer to man.
age their enterprise, with the result that
they now have the largest and most inn
portant establishment of its kind in the
state Of New Jersey. Their manager is
said to command a salary Of $1,000 a year,
and he Is worth twice that to his employ
erS.
But there Is another feature of co-opera-
ton which has attracted much attention
of late from those who have a deep-rooted
conviction that something must be done to
bring the employers and their operatives
into closer relations to each other for the
common good. 1t is called profit-sharing
This species Of cooperation certainly has
its advantages. The workers have the
benefit of an extended experience of those
already skilled in the management of bus
mess affairs while the company or indi-
viual adopting the system reaps the har-
vest which comes from close attention
to business and a greater personal inter-
est on the part of every one employed. We
have yet to learn CT the first strike in an
industry conducted upon the profit-sharing
basis.
An employer who is generous enough to
share his profits with those who make his
profits possible will Usually be found fair
enough to submit all differences to arbi-
tration, If necessary, to prevent even
tens orary suspension ana consequent loss
to all parties interested. Notable instances
of the success of this plan may be found
in this country. A. NJ. DEWEY.