Year: 1874

Cooperation in Great Britain.


The number of cooperative trading So


cieties in England and Wales, according to


recent Parliamentary return, is 746, with


a membership exceeding three hundred


thousand, and share capital of nearly


fifteen millions of dollars. The annual


business of the societies amounts in pay


ment to upwards of fifty million dollars


in gold, and in receipts to nearly fifty


seven and half millions, the net profit


from all sources being in round numbers


four million dollars in gold.


In long discussion of the principles


and prospects of cooperation, published


in the Contemporary Rerie,0, Mr.. Thomas


Brassey, NJ. p. mentions these enormous


sums as convincing proof that the principle
| Is convenient and practicable in its appli-
cation to the distribution of commodities
and, what is more important, the working
of the system is the source of considerable
profit.


On the other hand. the fact that the an
nual Withdrawals from the societies are
| half as many as the additions would seem
to prove that the management of CO.
operative stores is not without serious
difficulties, which will have to be removed
before the plan can be pronounced perfect
| ly successful.


Still more difficult are the problems to
be solved in the matter of cooperative
production, the societies of this sort being
few, and the failures more numerous than
the successes. Among the successful are
the Paisley Manufacturing Society, the


IIebden Bridge Fustian Society, the Eccles
Gull. Manufacturing Society, and the Lur-
gan Damask Manufacturing Society, all
small establishments whose success is
probably due in great measure to the wis
dom of the promoters in not attempting
their operations on too ambitious scale
Still, the flOurishing condition of the Man
chester Printing Society shows that large
undertaking can be successfully conducted
on the democratic system, certainly where
the range of production is limited, and in
dividual exertion on the part of the work
men is of more account than great eX-
ecutive skill at the head. The Co-opera-
tive Printing Society, recently established
in London, however, has not turned out
so well.


The most important experiment in CO.
operative production thus far attempted in


England is that of the Ouseburn Engine
Works. Its experience has not been
| favorable to the system when applied to
varied and complicated undertakings.
Great difficulty has been experienced
in dealing with the different classes
of workmen, and in the adjustment
of rates of wages. Men brought up
to one trade naturally find it
hard to estimate the dues of those practiS-
ing an entirely different trade; and when
they are required to assign higher wages
than they can hope to receive, to men
whose superiority they are unable to ap-
preciate, the difficulty becomes all but in
surmountable. The practical result in the
Ouseburn Works has been a strike for
higher wages in one of the departments
one of the evils which cooperation was
specially expected TO prevent. The society
also suffered severe losses through mis-
management, the taking of orders at too
low price, and other errors due to lack
of technical and practical knowledge on
the part of their chief adviser, who was
more of a philanthropist than a man of
business.


AS in other countries, so in England,
success in cooperation seems to be limited
to moderate undertakings. When the
business is of a kind that cannot be carried
out advantageously on a modest footing,
the cooperative principle is best applied
to the execution of parts Of the work; in
this way the system can be made available
in the largest undertakings, after they
have been suitably subdivided, the general
administration remaining in the hands OF
of an individual owner or company.


As Mr.. Brassey observes: Where no
special personal Influence is needed for
the purpose of securing clients and custO-
mers, and where the internal economy of
the establishment can be conducted by a
regular routine, there will be no diSadvan-
tage in the management of board or
council. But when no transaction can be
completed without long and difficult ne
gotiations when an undertaking is of a
kind that cannot be conducted in accord
dance with fixed rules, and the emergen-
cies which must, from the nature of the
case, arise, are always unforeseen, and must
be met on the spot by an administration
upon whose skill and conduct all will de-
pend; in such a case the cooperative sys-
tenn pure and simple becomes impossible,
and the attention of masters and wOrkmen
wishing to work together in friendly
alliance should rather be employed to
devise schemes whereby the equable dis
tribution of profits among the work.
men may be combined with the necessary
concentration of authority in their en-
ployer.


Perhaps the most noteworthy alliance of
this sort is that in connection with the col
lieries of Messrs. Briggs. To avoid, if
possible, the delays and losses incident to
strikes, this firm voluntarily took their
miners into partnership some years ago,
dividing the profits above a certain amount
annually among the wOrkmen, in proper
ton to their several earnings. Last year
nearly seventy-five thousand dollars in
gold were so distributed as the wOrkmen's
| share of the profits, several receiving as


much as thirty pounds (Sl50) each. About
half of this sum has been returned to the
company in premiums on shares applied
| for by the miners. Inasmuch as the own
ers receive as high rate of interest on


their investment as they had ever made in
| their best years before the workmen were


given an interest in the profits, while the
risks and annOyances formerly arising
| from strikes and labor quarrels are entirely
avoided, it is clear that the alliance is mu-


tually beneficial to all concerned.


The experience of Messrs. Fox, Head &
| Co., who adopted similar plan eight


wears ago, has been quite as favorable to
| this mixed system. Their plan secures to


every person employed pecuniary inter


est in the success of the business, as far as


possible in proportion to his services.
| Every one engaged, whether as Elborer.


clerk, foreman, manager or partner, is paid


at the rate customary in the district for his


particular work. The capital employed is


remunerated by specified rate of interest.


Provision is made out of the profits OF


manufacture for keeping the works in re-


pair, and to cover renewals and deprecia-


ton, and fund is maintained as prOvl-


sion against losses by bad debts. This


done, the surplus profit is annually divided


into two parts one to be paid to the capi-


talist. the other to be divided among those


employed, in proportion to their earnings


The sums already divided among the work.


men amount to between thirty thousand


and thirty-five thousand dollars. A SUI


perior class of workmen are secured, anC


they stay longer at the works than ordf


narily.-Scientitic american. -