The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-08
COOPERATION.
A sUoCEssFUL ExPERIM BNT IN
a

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tive UNDERTAKINGS In the Unitsd States.
A story Of remarkable experience in indus
trial COOPERATION is told by w. +. Willough-
by in the September Bulletin of the Depart
mont OF Labor, ut Washington, In an account
of the Familist6re Society OF Guise. Franco.
II is remarkable no less for the devotion and
clear Insight that planned II. qualities that
have not always gone together In the man
agement of such enterprises, than for the evil
dence It furnishes OF the practicability OF pro-
ductivo cooperation upon n foundation made
broad enough and firm enough In advance.
Greater even Is the interest that attaches to
the Familistere Society as II successful at
tempt to put into practice some of the essen
tial features of the socialistic theory, while re-
jecting others as false. Its founder was q
Trenchman, who had learned the enthusiasm
OF humanity from tho appeals of st. simon
and Charles Fourier. He was. too, n hard-
headed man OF business, a workman who had
worked at tho bench with his fellows, and who
knew their temper thoroughly. He took no
chances, thrust u 3on them no benetaction TO
which they were not grown, and tempted them
neither with delusive schemes OF an equal divi-
sion of profits, nor with the hope OF getting
something for nothing in an industrial millen-
mum. Knowing exactly what he wanted to do.
he set about educating tho men whom he would
benefit TO AN equal understanding. He count
ed on twenty years of schooling, and when this
twenty years had passed he gave the reins into
the hands he had trained. The result shows
that he was right. His work has gone on since
"a he started II. Its founder is dead, but 1t
has suffered no Interruption. In the fifteen
years that have passed since NJ. Godin made
over his business to his workmen they have
paid for 1t out of its ca, nings and become
the absolute onwors of a plant worth more
than three-quarters Of q million of dollars.
Jean Raptiste Andre Godin was born on Jan.
&c, 1917, at EsQueheries, o small Will ,Ge in the
Department Of Aisne. France. His father was
the village lock smith, and at the age Of IL.
after picking up such education as the village
school Afforded. Jean went TO work at tho
forge to learn his trade. He served an appren-
ticeship of six years, at the end of which he
made q tour OF France. according to the Gus
tom OF those days.. working his way as he
went, and perfectinG himself in his trade. He
returned a young man Of twenty-three. and
set up q small shop Of his own for the manufac-
turc Of stoves in his native place. He had al
ways been a lad of ideas. At IL, in the vii.
laEe school, he had planned to improve tho
method Of instruction there. At the bench he
had pondered much upon ways and means OF
improving the lot of his fellow workers. II
speedily appeared that this had not prevented
his attending TO the business in hand. His
stoves were not rs other stoves. They at
tracted attention from the start, and as he
kept on improving them, they grew shortly so
popular that the village shop had to be en-
larged, and finally abandoned rs Inadequate.
In 1876, six years after he had set up for him
self, he removed the business to the neighbor-
ing village of Guise. At that time his i'm.
provements IN the manufacture of stoves were
covered by more than fifty letters patent. The
huaIDeaa Crayy staajiIy upffl fn-day a. "a N
very important establishment.
NJ. Godin's success as q manufacturer had
in no wise dampened his ardor as a social re-
former. Absorbed in his inventions and in
his growing business, he had yet found time
to follow with rapt attention the development
of the associative ideas of St. Simon and Four
fer. He declared his convictions In his book,
solutions Sociales." published in 1871. and
translated into English by Marie Rowland in
1856. When in 1853 he had lost one-third
of his fortune. loo. 900 francs. In the support
of Victor Considerant's abortfve endeavor to
build up a cooperative society in Texas. he set
about making the attempt himself.
The central idea of his scheme is expressed
in the motto of the Familistere Society, "One
for all, and all for one" The principle or in
Independence, Of absolute mutually. was to be
developed In his colony of workers in every
possible way. Their lives were to be lived
largely in common. and to this end institu-
tions were to be created on the premises. The
children were to be educated in association
schools; a cooperative store would furnish all
their supplies; mutual aid societies and in
surance funds against sickness, old age, and
the accidents Of life were TO develop the spirit
of solidarity; baths and wash houses. restau-
rants and a theatre were to be built for COM
mon use. The keystone of 1t all was to be the
Familistere, a tepement, in fact, on a huge
and commodious scale. which should gather
under Its one roof all the members Of the So
ciety. 1t is a curious commentary upon hui
man imperfection that this should be the
weak point in the structure. II has exposed
his scheme TO many attacks and much con-
demnation. At best 1t has added nothing of
value To it zen II it has not been a positive
Injury. NJ. Pdin might as easily have housed
his colony cottages as in tenenlents. There
was nothin to prevent 1t. Land was cheap
and plentifL at Guise. But he chose the way
which the experience Of to-day condemns. It
can at least be said that he made the most Of
It The FaInilisteres of Guise compare favor
ably as to death rate aud general sanitary con-
dition with the village outside.
However. this was but the beginning. Once
he had his colony in hand, and it was TO be
made a self-owning society. The Members. all
employees in the works. were to own not only
tnelr tenement, out the WORKS as well. Tho
schools. the theatres, the insurance societies.
were all 20 be theirs, and to be run by them
for the common good. Had NJ. Godin at
tempted to put all this into execution at once,
had he called his m IN together and made of
his fortune and his factory a free gift to them
on condition that they should carry out his
views. he would certainly have failed, and
the enterprise would have ended In disaster.
Nothing shows better the extraordinary busi-
ness ability OF the man than tho way he went
about 1t. He knew that su ,cess depended in
the first instance upon the creation OF a stable
body of workmen devoted to the interests of
the establishment. who had been taught TO
understand the principles which he wished
TO test. This no proposed to do by means of,
the community life while he was yet in com plete
control. Not until it was done and the gov
eminent had been running smoothly under
his management long enough to show IL to he in
working order. would he let 90 his own grasp.
To this no allotted u term of twenty years.
FTIA H.aA