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

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Just and equitable
distribution Of the
products of labor Is
| still unsolved Men of
| broad minds and brilliant intellects have
| for years applied themselves to this sub
| ject with the result that we have as many
schools of reform as there are reform
ers, all agreeing as to the necessity for
| something in the way of relief, but radi-
cally disagreeing as to the method to be
| employed to secure it, Under modern fac
| tory discipline the worker has become
| mere part Of the machinery, and performs
| his or her allotted task each day in a
| mechanical way, knowing little and caring
| less about the business in which they
| are engaged, so long as the work con-
| tinues with sufficient remuneration to keep
| soul and body together from one year to
| the next. This apathy and carelessness
| only serves to widen the breach between
| employers and their operatives until to-
| day there is an open antagonism between
| capital and labor. where there should be
| the most perfect harmony and community
| Of interests. Neither can hope to succeed
| without the other, and the labor leader or
| discord between them is anything but
friend to the class he is supposed to repre-
sent.
But what can be done to establish more
| cordial relations between the masses whose
only capital Is the labor of their hands
| and that other element in the community
known as capitalists, but more properly
termed the employers of labor? For tho
last twenty-five years the most progressive
Of the many labor organizations In the
United States, the Knights of Labor, has
published as its platform on this subject
the following declaration:
I'VE will endeavor to associate our own
labors to establish cooperative institu-
tons. such as will tend to supersede the
wage system, by the introduction Of a CO.
operative Industrial system"
Cooperation the Solution.
This declaration has brought to that
| order many thoughtful men and women
who honestly believe that in cooperation
| is to be found the solution Of the vexa-
| tious labor problem. That cooperation is
no new thing Is conceded at the outset.
That there are instances Of remarka BILE
| achievements by cooperative effort is we'll
known to every one who has read anything
Of the industrial history Of the world
In our own land. and in recent years, the
most striking Illustration of what can be
gone oy unselnsh united effort, is found
In the career OF the Mormons. Their his
tory as people, stripped Of Its objec-
tlonable polygamous features, shows some
thing OF the possibilities of co-operat tive
effort. Starting with nothing but their
| fanaticism, driven from one stopping place
to another because of their cbjectiona BILE
social and religious customs, they at last
brought up In the businesses of the Rocky
mountains in land pronounced unin-
habitable and sterile by competent United
states engineers, where, in the lifetime
OF one man, by singloness of purpose and
united effort, they established a CITY second
q
reclaimed and fertilized a million acres of
land, causing 1t to become veritable
Gan den of Eden, and built hundreds Of
miles OF railroads and telegraphs, without
the necessity for either poor house or
prison until others came to share their
prosperity with them in after years
Ii was simply the result OF each striving
Tor the common good, and all sharing in
the general prosperity. The Economics of
Harmony, IA, in the lifetime of two gen.
erauons by cooperative effort, amassed
fortune so great that their holdings are
today estimated to be worth three hun
dred millions of dollars. The Oneida COM
munity, in New York state, from small
beginnings has in fifty years accumulated
large a sum OF money. All of these, how
ever, have been held together by some
sort OF religious belief, and therefore have
been looked upon as sects rather than as
cooperative societies. But there have
been other experiments purely Of CO.
operative nature, to some Of which atten-
ton is invited
This article is called forth by the pub
LEGATION in the various trade and other
papers OF notices of the establishment of
several cooperative manufacturing con-
Germs in different sections of the country.
Every great industrial depression with its
accompaniment of reductions in wages
and strikes, brings to the front this Ques-
ton OF cooperation as the logical solution
of the difficulty. The operatives who work
hard for little pay see their employers ap-
he ia of ha In nd
1t is easy to make them believe that IL
they would only become their own en-
ployers they, too might enjoy more of the
good things OF life. The dollars of the
many, when gathered together, make as
formidable an array of capital the
thousands of the few; and why should
not a cooperative enterprise, where the
workers employed themselves with their
own capital, become success? 1t certainly
ought not to fail. And yet 30 per cent Of
all such efforts do fail. Why? Let US
see:
The Rochdnle Society.
Aside from the Rochdale Cooperative
Society OF England, the most formidable
strictly cooperative association ever or
ganized was that of the Sovereigns of In
dustry, which had a precarious existence
in the United States during the years i'm
mediately following the civil war. 1t was
originally started by the Changers. and
afterward extended to the cities and towns
Their object seemed to be the abolition of
the middleman from trade, both in buying
and selling, securing to their members that
margin of profit in selling or of expense in
buying. Stores were established every
where, and while they seemed to flourish
for time, they eventually all went to the
wall. Their weakness was in their discord
They had too many directors, each one Of
whom believed himself to be the one
gifted with powers to direct. Then too
they only aimed to control the distribution
of products. They paid no attention to the
matter Of production. This essential ele-
ment in cooperation was overlooked or
ignored. They antagonized every one en-
gagged in trade, and were bound to fail
from the very beginning They employed
their own members as managers of their
various enterprises. In most instances
these managers were novices al the bust
ness but they were shareholders, and were
thus preferred in employment. They did
not pursue business lines in either buying
or selling. How could they be expected to
succeed?
The Rochdalers have been more success
full than the Sovercigns. They do not an
tagoniZe their competitors in trade by SELL
ing to their members at reduced prices
but maintain the market rates for goods
and give rebate to their shareholders at
the end of the season. They are also con-
spicuous for display of good judgment in
the employment of managers for their en-
IL, H..