The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-15
the possibilities of the cooperative move

the possibilities of the cooperative move
ment among the people themselves.
A daily paper; owned and edited and
conducted among themselves, is one Of
the present possessions OF the voorult
The members have their own homes, their
shops, factories, pharmacies, a bank and
their places Of amusement. There are
now 10,00o-all men. making with their
families community of rs, O08-where
twenty years ago there were about TWEEN
ty. Their organization furnishes them
with everything; it assures them the
means of nourishing themselves as cheap
ly as possible. It insures them against
illness in old age, provides instruction
for the young, and. what is not less I'M
portant. amusement for young and old
alike. They have something like 250.OO0
francs in their savings bank alone-a good
" sum for such a community and among
people with whom ordinarily the strug-
gle Of life is really and truly q struggle.
They have a communal capital Of 2,OOO,-
900 francs or 100000 The ends aimed at
are all practical, such as the providing Of
bread at two cents a pound and securing
meat for members at the lowest figures.
the spirit Of social union being cultivated
zealously among the members.
One of the representative members Of
the society, commenting recently on the
aims and the work of the cooperative TN
dertaking, used this language:
cit is our vooruit, remember. that sup
ports the singing societies, our orehestras
of young men and women, our three
gymna Sums, our two dramatic clubs, our
gatherings for political discussion: We
teach thrift, but also we try to bring TO
our boys and girls, our 1vorkh1gmen and
working women, all the thought Of the
day. all the culture they are able to un-
derstand and assimilate. At night our
men come into the cafes with their wives
and babies; they play billiards, smoke.
read the paper, or discuss politics and
books"
All this is wrought out without any
thought whatever of politics. Those who
are engaged in it find that cooperation
is better and cheaper than the prevailing
system, and so they cooperate. They
have no Utopian dreams of any kind
or in any direction. The members of the
society choose their homes where they
please and live as they please. They are
absolutely free Where they buy their
goods matters not to them, and their vot-
ing they do according to individual pref
erence The common bond of advantage
Is the only bond which unites them.
Social conditions are of course radf-
cally different among US from what they
are in such countries as Belgium, and
as it is the extreme stress of need which
drives more surely to such movements
than. any mere social theorizing it mey
be many long time before any such
movement prevails among us. But on
the other hand, when 1t Is remembered
that our working people are now in large
numbers bound together in organizati lions
whose ostensiblei purpose 1t Is to pro-
mote the amelieration of the conditions
attending their lives, 1t is at least worthy
of consideration whether such orgauiza-
tfons would not greatly extend the sphere
Of their influence for good if they were to
1 inaugurate a movement in this general
| direction among their members.