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minority of the shareholders of Rochdale, but which was happily prevented from being carried into execution by the good sense of the majority. The shareholders may at any time object to give labour a share of the profits. A party of the Rochdale shareholders wished to increase their own gains by depriving labour of any share of the profits. But, if this were done, the concern would at once lose the distinctive characteristic of co-operation; it would, in fact, at once be converted from a co-operative into an ordinary joint-stock company. Such a danger Such a danger may with certainty be obviated if the shareholders are the only labourers who are employed in a co-operative trading establishment. This plan is almost invariably followed in France with the greatest possible success, for in France co-operative trading establishments are more numerous than in England. We probably possess a greater number of co-operative stores; but in France the co-operative principle has been applied to many trades which in England have never been carried on by associations of labourers. A small society of co-operative masons was established in the year 1848, in Paris. This society was reproached for holding certain political opinions, and the Government attempted to discourage it by refusing to it any loan of capital. This intended hostility insured its future success; for the societies which were assisted by the Government in almost every instance proved to be failures. The co-operative masons endured many vicissitudes, and in the year 1852 they determined to reorganise their society. It then consisted of only seventeen members, and possessed no capital. They resolved to create a capital by depositing in a common chest one-tenth of their daily earnings. the end of the first year a capital of 147. 10s. was in this manner created. At the end of the year 1854, the capital had increased to 6801.; and, in 1860, the society was composed of 107 members, and the capital possessed by them was 14,500l. The following are some of the important buildings which have been constructed in Paris by this

At

society:-the Hôtel Fould, in the Rue de Berry; the Hôtel Rohes, in the Champs Elysées; the Hôtel Frescati, Rue de Richelieu; the Square d'Orléans, Rue Taitbout, &c. &c. And at the present time these co-operative masons are building an hotel for M. Girardin, on the Boulevard of the King of Rome, an hotel for M.Arsénne Haussage, on the Boulevard Beaujon; an hotel for Mdlle. Allier, on the Boulevard de l'Empereur; and an hotel at Montrouge, for M. Pacotte. As I have before remarked, no labourers, except the shareholders, are employed by this society. The labourers are paid the ordinary wages current in the trade, and the net profits realized are apportioned in the following manner :Two-fifths of these profits form a fund from which the annual dividend on capital is paid; and the remaining threefifths are appropriated to provide an extra bonus on labour. The bonus which each labourer thus receives is proportioned to the amount of labour he has performed throughout the year. No arrangements that could be devised would more powerfully promote the efficiency of labour. This is the secret of the remarkable success achieved by this society. The co-operative masons of Paris have achieved their remarkable success by fairly entering into the great field of commercial competition; they have striven to do their work better and cheaper than others; and it is because they have proved that they can work better and cheaper that they have been employed to build residences for such persons as M. Girardin, and the others we have enumerated.

Co-operative trading establishments must be prepared to meet the reverses and difficulties to which all commercial undertakings are subjected. It is, perhaps, not altogether a fortunate circumstance that a co-operative cotton manufactory should in England be the first instance in which co-operation on a large scale has been applied to trade. The cotton manufacture has always been characterised by great variations in the profits realized. Three or four bad years are succeeded by two or three

good ones, when, as in 1859 and '60, the most enormous profits are made. Such circumstances, of course, must severely try the stability of co-operative societies. When the co-operative cotton mill was commenced at Rochdale, the prosperous condition of the trade encouraged the working classes to subscribe their capital freely; and it is a heavy disappointment that, almost directly their mill is opened, the American crisis arises, and the cotton trade is thrown into a state of the most deplorable stagnation. Time can only show whether the shareholders of the Rochdale manufactory will bear the trial. I learn from Mr. Ashworth, the intelligent manager of the mill, that, at the present time, the mill is working only four days a-week. He also says that, up to the present time, the shareholders have shown great forbearance; that they seem prepared to contend with the difficulty. At any rate, their confidence in the ultimate success of the principle seems unabated, for the erection of the second mill is being vigorously prosecuted. The co-operatives may learn a valuable lesson from the experience which this time of trial. affords; for it should impress them with the importance of forming a large reservefund when trade is good, in order to meet the difficulties of bad times. If the co-operative cotton manufactories can survive the cotton crisis, the future success of the movement may be regarded as guaranteed, for these societies can never have to undergo a more severe trial. If, however, on the other hand, the co-operative manufactories should succumb to these difficulties, it would be most unfair to condemn the co-operative principle. The failure of a co-operative cotton manufactory ought to have no influence in diminishing our confidence in co-operative stores. Such a failure would only prove that the principle of co-operation had been, perhaps, too hastily applied to a branch of trade which is subject to great

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they have hitherto secured the fruits "of their own labour; but that, by "means of co-operation, they will add to "labour the wealth-producing elements "of capital and management." The production of wealth requires the application both of capital and labour. If the labourers supply the capital, then, of course, they have a claim to all the wealth which they produce; but hitherto the labouring classes in our own country have been either too poor or too improvident to save. provident to save. Capital, therefore, has been necessarily supplied by others, and the remuneration which the capitalist receives is termed his profit. Let it not be supposed that, when the wealth produced is shared between profits and wages, the division can be adjusted by any other than the most definite laws. Wages are and must ever be regulated by the ratio which the capital of the country bears to the number of the population. How wrong is it then for men to speak as if there was an antagonism between capital and labour ! Labour is, in fact, supported and fed by capital; and, if the capital of a country increases, the wages paid to the labourer must increase. The extension of cooperation will, no doubt, tend more than any other cause to enrich the labouring class. It offers them an inducement to save, such as they never had before; and, directly they save sufficient to provide themselves with the capital which their labour requires, they will be able to appropriate to themselves those profits which others receive because the working classes have not yet acquired the

GONE!

BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON.

GONE! gone! the bells toll on,
But still the death-news seems to stun:
The sudden loss, the warning brief,
Bids wonder mingle with our grief!
Like fearful heralds sent to know
If life's defeat were true or no,
Our startled thoughts went forth to meet
Dark rumour in the busy street,

And less lamenting, than dismayed,

Our frozen tears were strangely stayed.
What-He, whose busy brain had planned
So much for his adopted land-

He, who had yet scarce turned the page
Dating past youth to middle age,
The counsellor of wisdom proved,
The chosen of a Queen beloved,
In prime of life and princely rank,-
Gone?-gone: fill up the blank!

Gone! Even now, to wintry gales
The foreign ships have spread their sails,
Bringing the beauty and the boast
Of other realms to Britain's coast.
The busy rout of lading past,
The shifting cargoes all made fast,
Freed from the shouting and the din,
The motley treasures rest within.
Tasks toiled at with a loving pain,
The anxious work of hand and brain,
Lie buried in each silent hold:
Rich stuffs, and carcanets of gold,
And cereal things, whose gathered store
Competing greets our fertile shore,
And sculptured statues, soon to rise
Like apparitions on our eyes,
And complicated wheels, which rest.
In muffled coverings, strangely drest,
Till the bright slave of human skill,
Set free to work his master's will,

With whirring hum, and dim low moan,
Some wondrous motive-power makes know

These come-He schemed their meeting here: To Him that rivalry was dear:

His tourney of the arts of peace,

The world's production and increase.

if no other circumstances intervene, we may be certain that exceptionally high profits are sure, in the course of time, to be reduced by the competition of capital-for capitalists will compete against each other to appropriate to themselves as much as possible a profit so unusually high. The years 1859-60 cannot, therefore, be regarded as types of the normal condition of the cotton trade. The working classes, who supplied the capital for the construction of the cotton mills at Rochdale were, no doubt, doomed to disappointment, if they believed that the cotton trade would continue in the same thriving condition, unaffected by any reverses. But now a second question of the greatest possible importance arises-Is a co-operative cotton manufactory likely to succeed as well as a manufactory owned by individual capitalists who, in the ordinary way, employ simply hired labourers? It is often said that a cooperative manufactory is a joint-stock undertaking. It has, no doubt, been proved that a joint-stock trading company can seldom successfully compete with the individual trader; and hence it is concluded that a co-operative manufactory will, for similar reasons, fail to compete with the manufactories which are usually possessed by a few individual capitalists. But there is a fundamental difference between a co-operative company and an ordinary joint-stock company. In some co-operative trading companies the shareholders are alone employed as labourers; almost invariably a great portion of the labour is supplied by the shareholders; and the labourers who are not shareholders participate, as I have remarked in the case of the Rochdale manufactory, in a share of the profits. All the labourers therefore may be regarded as partners in the concern; labour and capital are both recognised as claims to share the profits; and, when a labourer is a shareholder, these claims become united in the same individual.

In this consists the fundamental difference between a co-operative com

pany. The advocates of co-operation justly maintain that, when the labourer receives a share of the profits, he at once becomes interested in the welfare of the concern, and that the highest efficiency of labour is thus secured. Few, perhaps, have adequately considered the pecuniary loss which is incurred from the listlessness and carelessness of the hired labourer, who has ordinarily no motive. to do his work well. There is no greater defect in our social system than the absence of a mutual pecuniary interest between the employer and the employed. Ill-feeling is thus constantly engendered, which too frequently gathers sufficient strength to convulse by a strike. The managers of a co-operative manufactory can with truth say that, by making the labourers participate in the profits of the concern, the best labour, and the highest and most skilled efforts of that labour, are secured. We believe that an advantage is in this manner obtained which will amply compensate some of the disadvantages to which a co-operative trading company may be liable. We will proceed to notice some of the difficulties with which such a company will have to contend.

It is well known that the success of a large trading concern almost entirely depends upon the energy and ability of the managers. In the case of a joint-stock company these managers are usually paid by fixed salaries; and therefore it is maintained that such a manager will not have the same motive as the individual owner of the business to exert skill and energy. But this difficulty may, no doubt, to a great extent be overcome if a manager is partly paid by a share of the profits, for it will then be directly his interest to do everything in his power to promote the welfare of the concern. There is, however, perhaps a greater danger to be apprehended with regard to a co-operative trading company; for, when the shareholders have secured good managers, they may, perhaps, not place sufficient confidence in them. The success of a co-operative manufactory may at any time be jeopardised

minority of the shareholders of Rochdale, but which was happily prevented from being carried into execution by the good sense of the majority. The shareholders may at any time object to give labour a share of the profits. A party of the Rochdale shareholders wished to increase their own gains by depriving labour of any share of the profits. But, if this were done, the concern would at once lose the distinctive characteristic of co-operation; it would, in fact, at once be converted from a co-operative into an ordinary joint-stock company. Such a danger Such a danger may with certainty be obviated if the shareholders are the only labourers who are employed in a co-operative trading establishment. This plan is almost invariably followed in France with the greatest possible success, for in France co-operative trading establishments are more numerous than in England. We probably possess a greater number of co-operative stores; but in France the co-operative principle has been applied to many trades which in England have never been carried on by associations of labourers. A small society of co-operative masons was established in the year 1848, in Paris. This society was reproached for holding certain political opinions, and the Government attempted to discourage it by refusing to it any loan of capital. This intended hostility insured its future success; for the societies which were assisted by the Government in almost every instance proved to be failures. The co-operative masons endured many vicissitudes, and in the year 1852 they determined to reorganise their society. It then consisted of only seventeen members, and possessed no capital. They resolved to create a capital by depositing in a common chest one-tenth of their daily earnings. the end of the first year a capital of 147. 10s. was in this manner created. At the end of the year 1854, the capital had increased to 6807.; and, in 1860, the society was composed of 107 members, and the capital possessed by them was 14,500l. The following are some of the important buildings which have been constructed in Paris by this

At

society-the Hôtel Fould, in the Rue de Berry; the Hôtel Rohes, in the Champs Elysées; the Hôtel Frescati, Rue de Richelieu; the Square d'Orléans, Rue Taitbout, &c. &c. And at the present time these co-operative masons are building an hotel for M. Girardin, on the Boulevard of the King of Rome, an hotel for M.Arsénne Haussage, on the Boulevard Beaujon; an hotel for Mdlle. Allier, on the Boulevard de l'Empereur; and an hotel at Montrouge, for M. Pacotte. As I have before remarked, no labourers, except the shareholders, are employed by this society. The labourers are paid the ordinary wages current in the trade, and the net profits realized are apportioned in the following manner :Two-fifths of these profits form a fund from which the annual dividend on capital is paid; and the remaining threefifths are appropriated to provide an extra bonus on labour. The bonus which each labourer thus receives is proportioned to the amount of labour he has performed throughout the year. No arrangements that could be devised would more powerfully promote the efficiency of labour. This is the secret of the remarkable success achieved by this society. The co-operative masons of Paris have achieved their remarkable success by fairly entering into the great field of commercial competition; they have striven to do their work better and cheaper than others; and it is because they have proved that they can work better and cheaper that they have been employed to build residences for such persons as M. Girardin, and the others we have enumerated.

Co-operative trading establishments must be prepared to meet the reverses and difficulties to which all commercial undertakings are subjected. It is, perhaps, not altogether a fortunate circumstance that a co-operative cotton manufactory should in England be the first instance in which co-operation on a large scale has been applied to trade. The cotton manufacture has always been characterised by great variations in the profits realized. Three or four bad years are succeeded by two or three

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