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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd September 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 6, 8X4 The Saturday Analyst and Leader. [Se...

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      1 ( 1 J < » '. J J Successful Socialism....

      a '¦ p hilandering ... Colonel and a newspaper correspondent taking a capital , and turning the tide of a revolution with a telegram— . a flash of lightning ! Nothing new ? A conqueror entering a , fallen city in a railway train , with his carpet bag in his hand . Nothing strange indeed ; why Austria is framing a constitution , and an English Prince of the Blood is preparing to receive the homage of the people , who hot a hundred years ago sacrificed their best blood to banish the rule of his family from their land . But there are even stranger things occurring in these rejuvenescent times . Doctrines which , even within the last decade , were pronounced dangerous and damnable , are discovering germs of truth , and are beginning to be accepted as not so dangerous , not so damnable , and not so Utopian afte ^ all . There , for example , is the People ' s Charter . How we well-to-do philosophers scouted and pooh-pooh'd that a dozen years ago ! It was a mere absurdity , a fevered and licentious dream , a vnld im-DossibilitY . Yet since then one of the points has been

      established . The Property Qualification of Members ot has been abolished , and the world goes on much as usual . Then there was Socialism . What a many-headed monster was that ! It was sheer madness , and nothing else . St . Sijiox , Robert Owes , Louis Blasc , and Mr . Maueice , were simply fit subjects for a commission of lunacy—ho , not for a commission , for Hahwell , or Colney Hatch , without judge or jury . They could not have more conclusively established their hopeless insanity , if like the Earl of Kingstox , they had denied the right of the Bishops to sit in the House of Lords . # But in these wonderful days even Socialism is beginning to wear a less terrible aspect . The monster has not so many heads as he had j he is not half so repulsive in aspect as we thought him . Like the DeVil ,, he is turning out , on better acquaintance , to be not so black as he was painted . _ " . .

      . , For the prbot let us go to Rochdale . Here we have Socialist principles in actual practice among the working ' men , and what is more , the practice is successful , and . has stood the trial of some years It is not the rampant Socialism of St . Sision or Robert Owin exactly ; nor does it aspire to the universal scope aimed at by M . Lottjs Blanc . It does hot pretend to be the panacea for all the ills of society ; nor does it assume to be potent enough entirely to cure one of them . Nevertheless , it has effected a great improvement in the condition of the poor man , and it both works well and pays . The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers , "which has since been the parent of many similar institutions , both in Rochdale and elsewhere , was founded in 1844 , the object being to enable the working classes to become indet

      pendent of the tyranny of capital . It began by fory working men contributing three pence apiece . In the course of a few weeks their three-pences amounted to £ 28 ; with this small sum the forty pioneers opened a little shop for the sale of groceries , butter , flour , and other provisions of the kind . At first the shop was only opened on Saturday night , and was managed gratuitously by the promoter . It was up-hill work for some years to keep the concern afloat ; but it continued gradually to attract customers , and shortly after the failure of the Rochdale Savings Bank , the capital of the store was trebled in twelve months . At the present moment there are , in Rochdale , three co-operatiye societies , owning among them a capital of no less than £ ' 60 , 000 , the whole of that large amount having been subscribed by men of the working classes . The

      original society has a grocery and provision warehouse , a butcher ' sshop , a drapery and clothing shop , and shops for tailoring and shoeraalring , its capital being upwards of £ 20 , 000 . The plan upon which the business is conducted is as nearly as possible that which is pursued by public companies generally , with the addition of an educational scheme ; ana a certain limitation as to the scale ot profit payable in cash .. Each member is expected to purchase , by degrees , five shares of £ 1 each ; but is not allowed to hold more than one hundred , and upon these he receives five per cent , per annum interest , and no more . The remainder of the profit is devoted to two purposes : the first is the maintenance of a free library , news-rooms , and evening classes for the . members .. The other is a dividend fund , or drawback , which is divided among the

      customers t ) f the store , in proportion to their purchases . This latter dividend is often larger than the first ; since a man who spends £ 25 in the store has a dividend of £ 3 placed to his credit , as a sort of discount upon his purchases . Thus the store is , in fact , the purchasing agent of its members . The members collectively , as shareholders ) obtain goods at wholesale pricey tjejl $ he , m at retail prices , and at the end of the year divide th $ 1 , profits among themselves , in the manner described . The storq is nlao a Savings Bank , and receives deposits from its members up to the amount of £ 100 , paying interest at this rate oi five per cent , for the use of the money . The advantages of this Association axe thus plainly stated by one of its founders : — " We can do with fewer overlookers than a master manufacturer , because

      with us every man is an overlooker , having strong interest in the quality of Ms neighbour ' s work as well as nis o-vpn . We have loss waste , because every man feels with us , that ho has an interest in avoiding it . Wo can always secure % q best wor-kmen , because with us they will have the current rate of wages and profits in addition . Our working :, therefore , will be more eeono ' micaf than that of our competitors ; and ; as every manuiaoturer knows , the profits of the cotton trade depend on sninll economies . " Anothor g'i'oat advantage , in addition to all the ot ' . iors , is that the customers at these cooperative stores nro enabled to purchase unadulterated and genuine gpocls . It should bo mentioned also , that one of the most stiiot rialoa of the Aesooiation is that no mombor shall bo allowed to have gpo'ds on oredit . , jjo may be , u shareholder in tlio concern , or he may boa depositor to the fiiU amount of £ 100 j but ho cannot have

      goods without paying for them over the counter . He may withdraw a portion of the money he has invested ; but that process must be duly gone through , and the transaction squared at once . It is well observed by a writer in " Frazer ' s Magazine , ' who seems to' have been convinced almost against his will , by what he saw at Rochdale—that " no better education , practical , intellectual , and moral , could have been given to the working classes of that town than that which their store , and mills , and factory—for the store has been the parent of both these latter -have given and are giving them . They are learning self-respect , self-command , and selfknowledge . They have learnt , most of them , to regard the rights and goodwill of capitalists , employers , and wealthy neighbours ; to comprehend something of economical laws , and to understand the suicidal folly of strikes and riots . " Here , then , we have several notable examples of the successful working of trade societies conducted according to the principles of communion . It must be observed , however , that the communism

      practised by the Rochdale pioneers is divested of the impracticable crotchets which have defeated all former efforts in the same direction . The rights of private property are fully recognised , and the constitution of the Society is especially designed to foster and promote energy , self-reliance , and prudence . The store helps no one who does not help himself ; and the advantages which it affords are meted out in proportion to the value of the co-operation of its members . These co-operative stores are , in fact , nothing more nor less than a modification of Joint-Stock Companies . And why should not working men subscribe capital , form boards of directors , and carry on business by combination , as well as their betters ? We have more than , enough of wild speculations , conducted without capital , by boards of direction composed of penniless adventurers , utterly without either money , honesty , or capacity . The obiect of many of these is simply to put money into the pockets

      of directors and officials , at the expense of a credulous and . tooconfiding public . The working-man ' s co-operative store is an institution of quite another kind . Its whole and sole object is mutual advantage ; and while each shareholder and member of the Society is entitled to a voice in the election of its directors and managers , there is a permanent guarantee that the capital of the Company can never be diverted from its legitimate purpose . We hope to see the example so worthily set by the pioneers of Rochdale followed by all the great towns in the kingdom ; for we cannot doubt that all efforts of the kind ,, if energetically and

      carefully conducted and kept within proper limits , must prove commercially successful , and greatly redound to the advantage of the working classes . .

      8x4 The Saturday Analyst And Leader. [Se...

      8 X 4 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Sept . 22 , 1860

      The Helmshcxre Mass Acre. The Curtain Ha...

      THE HELMSHCXRE MASS ACRE . THE curtain has fallen on the Hehnshore tragedy . The inquest has been holden and verdict given , but we very much question the satisfaction that verdict will give to the public in general and the relatives of the sufferers in particular . The latter * however , will have their remedy at law against the East Lancashire Company . Let us now proceed to analyse the evidence , and see how far the jury have fulfilled or disappointed our expectations oi a more satisfactory verdict than that returned after the Round Oak accident . One of the first witnesses called swore , my name is Thomas DuckTwokth , I live in Ingle-street , Haslingdon , and am a cordwainer . I left Manchester hi the second excursion tram about half-past eleven that night . Iwas in that portion of the train which did not break loose . We stopped at one station between where

      Manchester and Bury , again at Bury , then at Ramsbottom , I got out and fetched a gill of rum to oblige a friend who was with me , and then returned and got into the train . The public-house is close to the station . The rum was drank amongst us . Onoo the party asked the guard of the train to drink , and he replied , ^ 1 H be with you altogether directly . " The train was just then moving off , and in a minute or two he came into our carnage with his lamp , and drank and smoked a pipe with us till wo nearly reached Helmshore station , He believed John Chippenualk to be the guard who drank the rum . Samujsl Guindkod , spuullemarker , of Broniley , another witness , swore ho was a passenger by the train in question , and was in , a first-class carnage , the- one on which the couplings broke . They left Salford at five minutes to eleven . There wore eight of us in the same contpartmont , althougn it was only built to carry six . "When wo got on the Helmshore side of Ramsbottom station , a porter came to the door , and said it " was time for a small collection for having brought us so safely on our way . " He did not get anything from any of us . One man , Manonestor

      however , said , •« I think I gave you mine at . * " »" Asiiwokth , another witness , swore , I was in the tram , and wn « asleep till we got to Ramsbottom , when % and the othors wore awoke up as we were leaving Ramsbottom by a porter , who came in and Haid , " You ' re looking snug , chaps ; you have managed 11 sweetly ; are you going to stand ought ? " I gave him throehalfpence , and throe others gave him something . Wo wore bkoi us travelling in a first-class carriage with third-class tickets , uvb man then left us , and soon after we came to the ttelmshoro station Just as the carnages pulled up they re-bounded , the- snap oow" ^' and they "bo ^ an to go back .. I do not thinlc any broak was put on when we stopped ; If there had boon a bvenk on I do not tnmk the ro-ibound couut have been 10 jji'Oivt . " . Now , the evidenoo which we horo quote , wo think most in pintant to the inquiry , and yet very little notice appears to «»™ JJ £ " taken of it by the Jury orCaovernmont Inspector ^ Jtraisos « a ™» tjon in our mini whether the breaks wore over put on at aU , whon . Ifto train was stopping at Helroshore , by these two precious attendants on

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 22, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22091860/page/6/