Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-10-06
HOLIDAYS BY COOPERATION.
How British Working People Can
Have a Good Time.

"A holiday! How can workingmen
and their wives get one? Why, look
at the cost?' Many a nottingham
has said that in despair, writes a cor
respondent, and it undoubtedly is diff
ficult-nay, well-nigh impossible-for
a single workingman to manage it by
himself, but if a number join together
the case is entirely altered.
Cooperation has achieved some
splendid feats in the way of manag-
ing stores, and it is high time it is
adapted to holiday making. AS a mat
ter of fact. it has been so adapted
among the Midlanders and Northern
ers, with wonderful success, success
that says plainly to Londoners, go
thou and do likewise." The Co-opera-
tive Holidays Association. the head
quarters of which is at Heyfeld, on
the Cheshire borders, is only eleven
years old, but last year 5000 holiday
makers availed themselves of It's priv
ileges. One of the guest houses" as
they are called, has actually been
bought by the members, and lovely
house it is, at Ardenconnel, on the
Garelock, Scotland, accommodating
120 guests. Others are leased at
Whitby. Hayfeld, Upper Bangor, Port
rush, North Ireland, Monmouth, and
Galway, while the last-born of the
family is at Richmond. There is &C
commodation altogether for 500 mem
bers. There are also temporary CEN
tiers, fixed according to convenience
during the summer vacation.
How did the movement arise?
Well, it began by Mr.. Leonard, a
Congregational minister at Colne, in
Lancashire. taking out his Young
Mems Guild for annual holidays. The
scheme got wind, it was organized
under Mr.. Leonard's direction by a
few public-spirited men, like DR.. Pa
ton, of Nottingham, and as it caught
on the men themselves who came did
the rest. Voluntary workers are
found to spend fortnight in charge.
The hostesses at each center are vol
untary, even paying their own fares.
The talks and lectures are given free,
and the only paid staff are the man
actresses and domestic helpers. A
curious feature of the movement is
that it has no servants. The helpers
are all holiday makers. and come on
the distinct understanding that they
are treated on an equality with the
guests, and share in the excursions
when there is time, besides receiving
an honorarium of shiilings per week
while there. This plar has simply
annihiliated the servant difficulty. The
manageresses are chosen in the same
way. 1t is amazing to see how com
pletely workers and guests are at
unison in one of these homes.
Nothing could be easier than for
fifty or a hundred London working
men to take a house for six weeks in
the same way, forming small guar
antee fund as preliminary, engage
| manageress, get her to select helpers,
and themselves undertake to become
guests for a week Why should not
our great friendly societies or each of
our clubs and every large firm or
ganize it's own holidays? 1t is not
necessary that the employers should
do this-self-help is the thing, and il
the foremen of our large works would
take the matter up it is not difficult to
foresee the time when great numbers
of our working class will find a holi-
day within their reach. Their sisters
might act as the helpers, and the dig
nifty of their labor be sustained by the
courtesy of their treatment. This is
no mere chimera.-London Chronicle