Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1914-01-15

that cooperation Is an economically
safe and efficient method of carry
ing on business enterprise. This was
generally regarded as doubtful pre-
vious to the opening of the little
store in Toads Lane in 1874. The
man who doubts the w0rkability of
cooperation today either does not
know the facts, or has been infected
with the germ OF the classical eco
nomist to a degree which places
him beyond the help of any serum
or antitoxin know to modern science.
cIassicists Show scorn.
The political economist of the clas-
steal school scorned the whole move
ment. ''Laiessez faire, let things go,
he said. Free competition, according
to him, would secure the lowest prlo-
es and goods free from adulteration
or fraud.
But things did not work out in the
cut,and--dried fashion predicted by
the economist. 1t was felt that pric-
IS were outrageously high, while the
merchandise was often unfit for use.
Many were inclined to lament over
the good old days before the industri-
II revolution when the workers OF
England had been scattered over the
Whole country, most of them owning
small holdings of land, and producing
It home almost everything required
o satisfy the simple wants of the
ime. Each knew exactly what he
vas using because he had himself
controlled the process of its making.
But the days of home industry had
,one never to return. With the
change the old axiom, "If you want
| thing done well, do it yourself"
was robbed of much of its signiii-
,ance.
1t remained for the Rochdale move
nent to rehabilitate the old axiom
md give it an application adapted to
he changed conditions of modern in
lustrialism.
Initial Capital $40.
Those early pioneers, % in number
hose combined savings for a year
mounted to the magnificent sum of
$40 as the initial capital for their
enterprise, were certainly ambitious.
heir bylaws showed that they ex-
ected to become their own store
eepers, their own landlords, their
wn manufacturers and their own
otelkeepers. They also outlined
lans for the purchase or rental of
ands for agricultural purposes. In
short, they aimed at nothing less
IAN a complete revolution in the
xisting order of society. To quote
assage from the preamble: That,
5 soon as practicable, this society
hall proceed to arrange the powers
production, distribution, education
nd government"
Considering the number of coop
rative enterprises which had arisen
and gone down to failure within the
previous five or six decades, the
plans of the Rochdale pioneers sound
I'd like the vaporings of extreme
Utopians.
Why was it, then, that Rochdale
succeeded where others had met on
ly failure and bankruptcy? 1t was
not due to difference OF purpose. The
contention of the champions of the
cooperative movement had always
been that the advantages of improv-
ID business and industrial methods
belong to the masses. Their
aim was to secure fairer distribu-
lion of the social income. They were
for business and Industrial
order which would make it impossi-
de for favored few to bask in lux
lry at the expense of the many who
,ined in poverty
Method Essential Difference.
In their general purposes, then, the
eochdale pioneers were identical
With hundreds of other societies /
which had preceded them. The es-
entail difference was one of business
Method.
Looking over the failures of the
asst the little group Of pionsers found
hat the wreckage was heaped about
wo deadly reefs. One doomed up
lear and distinct, and was easily
AIMED the Credit Dealers Cliff. Just
cross the narrow channel ran
w jagged ridge, not so clearly de-
med, but none the less dangerous.