The Saint Paul globe., 1900-03-18
TO BATTLE WITH TRUSTS
UNIQUE COOPERATIVE CONCERN
FORMED IN MINNESOTA.

The American Cooperative associa
ton" with offices in Temple Court, is the
name of an industrial movement just in
corporated at Minneapolis Its plan is
certainly unique, and, if successful, will
become an important factor in the indus
trial world.
The theory of its founders is that pres
ent competitive methods constitute a SIS
tenn of warfare in which the strong
overpower and destroy the weak, giving
no quarter; that in warfare organization
is strength, and the want of it is weak
ness, inviting certain defeat; that in this
industrial war the trusts succeed because
they are organized, and the people are
defeated because they are not. They also
believe that organization can only be mei
by organization, and therefore, that the
great need of the hour is Organization
organization "of the people, by the pep
pie and for the peCple'-not IN religion
or in politics, but in industry, for the rea-
son that the trusts, having chosen their
battle ground. there and there only can
they be met and routed.
They allege that the trust magnate5
long ago discovered that competition Is
ruinous" and does not pay" that they
therefore ceased cutting eacn others
throats" and began 10 cooperate, and by
so doing have waxed exceeding fat. The
people, they alege, must organize and d.
likewise or go down in utter ruin.
The purpose of the company IS to est o.
iish IS rapidly as funds are available all
kinds of cooperative industries, to the
end that the people may themselves pro
duce by their own labor all things need-
ed to supply their wants
A circular just issued says:
This p an not only provides permai enC
protection for the family, including elu-
cation for the children ard all the nee
essaries Of life, but the member need not
himself die TO win He may enjoy the
benefits while he lives, and pass the de-
clining years of life in peace and secur-
ity.
THE dues received from members are
used to purchase land tools, machin Ey,
equip factories and workshops. and this
supply employment and homes to those
of our members that need them
The industries of the company are con-
Quoted comparatively. ard the wealth cre-
ated in excess of the common needs Of
the community is distribute among the
full service members on the basis of the
days employed by them in it's production.
AS rapidly as the resources of the COM
pany will supply the necessary tools Of
production, nonresident members who Ace
suited to the service required and desire
employment will be called in to usa
them
One Of the novel features of the plln,
as applied to cooperative industry, Is
that they have adopted the same general
plan Of organization so uccessful in 9TH
er fraternal orders, the difference b5ing
that the revenues. instead of being used
TO pay death losses are put into active
industry, and the protection to members
is supplied in the form of a permanent
home and employment to those needing
hem.
In selecting the fist industries to be
undertaken the purpose will be t. Ch 50,
so far as possible those that will enable
the association to convert the labor of
its members into cash as quickly as pos
siDle, and be able TO maintain the resi-
dent members of the product Of their
own labor from the beginning. This, ii is
claimed, has been one of the weak points
in most cooperative movements in this
country. 1t takes from one to three years
TO get out of the soil enough to sustain
the workers where agricul ure is the first
industry.
The association will, therefore. estab-
lish its first industries in Minneapolis.
Among the first will be the printing busi-
ness, the restaurant business, with hotel
rooms attached, and the bakery business
To these the laundry business wall prob
ably be added at an early day Farm
land will be secured and a settlement es-
tablished thereon, but while that is un-
productive it is proposed to secure an i'm
mediate cash return for labor in the man
ner indicated,
There are some well-known men on the
board of directors. Among these are r.
j. Hall formerly president of the Farm
ers' Alliance Of Minnesota; Fred g. Gibbs,
Of Waterville; A. J.. Graves and E. S.
Morton, of ST. Paul, and J. e. Osborne
ard James S. Ingalls,, Of Minneapolis. Mr..
ingalls, is president of the company and
the moving spirit. He assisted in organ
iZing a similar movement, now IN opera
ton at Bmley, Wash, in the fall of 1893.