Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1898-11-12

A few months ago the great felt mills
and other industries OF MIR. Alfred
Dodge at Dolgeville, N. Y, we're shut
down. They have now been reopened
under new management. Mr.. Dodge
operated them on cooperative. profit
sharing. insurance. pension, short-hour
principles He made a failure. The
new management proposes to run ten
hours a day, pay a wage for that work.
and let 1t go at that 1t hopes to be
successful.
Near Leechburg, Pa. a cooperative
coal mining company was recently
formed. II started under favorable
auspices. A few weeks ago the CO.
operative mining company broke. Last
week the coal lands were sold to an in
dividual operator. He expects to sue
cessfully operate the mines.
or the Leeehburg mine it is sufficient
to say that II was simple co-opera-
tive scheme, and consequently shared
the fate OF the great majority OF such
undertakings. The experiments OF Mr..
DOLCE have achieved wide celebrity,
and were quite elaborate. His profit
sharing embraced three theories: !,
insurance; 2, pension; 8, endowment.
The FIRST, insurance. was good while II
lasted. This plan provided that after
five years continuous service the OPP
eratiye should receive an insurance
| policy for 1000; at the end Of another
i've years another 81, 900 policy, and so
on. Mr.. Dodge paid the premiums on
the policy. About rs policies were In
operation at the time OF the failure.
The second plan, pension, provided
that when an operative had become old
and feeble and no longer able to work.
he should be retired on a pension OF
half pay. Only four men were on the
pension roll at the time of the failure.
The third plan embraced the endow-
ment theory. This provided that II any
of the operatives made an Improvement
TO the machinery SO that the cost OF
production should be decreased. the op-
eratiye should have credit for certain
per cent Of the increased profit The
endowment account was payable when
the workman reached the age OF 90
years. or to his heirs on his death.
Many of the old operatives had several
hundred dollars credit on the endow-
ment books. but now the account is
not worth the price of the paper 1t is
written on. The insurance and pension
MAN had tendency to encourage con
tInued service, while the third plan hat
a tendency to encourage harder WORK
Profit sharing has no standing witt
the new owners OF the works. Three
years ago Mr.. Dodge limited the hour
| Of labor in his factory to 9s, giving Il
' hours pay. This is now on.
q The cooperative mine failed. 1t
n easy to see why. in competitive mar
: ket Mr.. Dodge was also bound to fail
t He was paying more for his produc
J, than his competitors. He was load
t ing himself with fixed charges. To SCI
his product he had to meet his compet
q tors And he could not sell at any IKE
4 nrice unless the fact that he Away
It had to meet the price OF the lowest
y them can be taken to have put hxe
It price upon his ware.
It But while experiments such as thos
le of Mr.. Dodge and the general sort
Z cooperative enterprises are doomed
IN d,sappointment and failure in the Ion
run "A long as they are conducted
III opposition to plain hiring and con
er petitive prices, 1t does not follow TIL
" the general principles underlying the
ly NAV not ultimately win secure pla
g. I'm industrial economy. Prince Bi
t. marck successfully did for Germany
In nation about what Mr. Doyle unsu
r. cossfully tried to do for the people
n DolReville. His state insurance syste
so has been 80 successful in German
that II has been initiated In near
OF every European nation. The Sickne
p insurance law of 1888, the Accident
nut surance laws OF 1884 and 1885 and t
ne Old-Age Insurance law Of 1889 are d
,w 10 him. As to the value of the syste
Ia evidence is given by Consul Monagh
la. Of Chemnitz in a report printed by I
sit state department on Aug. 4. The &C
&C sui says:
on, Tire is proving the practical val
en- n, the German workingmen's insurar
sit syetern. II l return to the subj
sed again. It is because ] believe 1t to
es, one deserving great deal OF attenti
APP The social and economic influence OF
In gigantic a system must be very gre
ma The object of the system is to alleyi
the sufrerings OF workmen and tn