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    tion should fee members of the society , whether they ever appealed to its future provisions or not . But they should have no more share or right in the property or management than any other member ; all should be upon a perfect equality , *

    excepting so far as superior knowledge and character cany with them superior Influence . The formation of a common capital , for the employment of members , should be the great ' . object aimed at , and the direction of tfcat . capital would be the subject of discussion and management . The richer members of the

    society or congregation might make any donations they pleased to the common capital , which , when once made ., would be irrevocable . Besides this , when the society was consolidated and the members sufficiently acqtiaitfted * wilh the principles and management , Joaus might be lent to the ^ common capital , -either with or without interest . " '

    The employment of the * * capital ' would become an immediate subject of discussion , and here the first step is obviously to have a shop and a room for meeting and instruction . An agent must be appointed to conduct the shop . He must be active and intelligent , well acquainted with the principles , and somewhat accustomed to business . While the

    dealings of the shop are small , some one might be found , of public and Christian spirit enough , to act gratis , and as the dealings increased , their amount would determine the salary and the size of the premises . And here the advantage of the subject being taken up by a congregation would be immediately apparent . They would

    direct their expenses to their own shop , and thus augment rapidly the trade and profits of the society . The . promts might be reckoned at ten per cent ., according to the experience in West Street . But the amount of profit is the least important circumstance—the chief one is the principle of a common capital to employ labour for its own advantage .

    The capital required in a shop is limited to its trade . After a time , therefore , the shop would be supplied with a sufficient capital , and an overplus one would begin to be accumulated . The society would then have to consider how they would employ this surplus . Here would begin the real and visible action of the society . It would employ one of its members to manufacture . The kind

    of manufacture would be a local consideration ; the workmen would be paid the usual wages , and the profits go to the society . The members of the society

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    and congregation would again afford a certain market . The advantage of a country society would here appear in the facility of producing food , the first necessary of life , and of consuming it on the spot , instead of incurring the expense of carriage to market , and various other circuitous

    routes of arriving at the consumer . The modern method of dealing , which reduces all transactions into money , though the effect of high civilization and the accumulation of great individual capital , is perhaps the worst suited to general comfort and happiness . The man who makes a loaf of bread and receives the

    value of his labour in money , goes to a shop and purchases , perhaps , the identical loaf at several times the value which he got for making it . A society able to supply its members with food , could employ all its other members , not producing food , in useful trades , producing necessary conveniences for themselves , and selling the surplus to increase their common capital .

    Should any congregation take up the subject of Co-operation , they would in a few years find that united labour and capital would employ and support all their poorer brethren , and give them ample funds for all religious purposes , instead of compelling them to appeal to other congregations for pecuniary aid . It would also afford them the means of

    supporting their members in sickness and old age , far better than the common Benefit Societies . The minister of the congregation would be supported by the congregation and the society , as before ; and his support would be much more easily procured . Should the time arrive when a congregation should be entirely Co-operative , the support of the minister would be reduced to a mere trifle . At

    present most country labourers have a garden : the society would at least have a common garden . Many a minister finds hi . s quiet garden the best place for exercise , relaxation , and meditation . This portion of his time spent in the common garden would contribute to increase the

    common produce , and afford him a daily opportunity , by quiet personal conversation , of improving the minds of hia flock , aud inculcating practical lessons of the purest benevolence aud piety , united with a zealous activity and a noble public of co-operative spirit .

    In such a society , too , the minister would find a secure asylum for the education and independence of his children . At present the worldly prospects of the families of the ministers of religion are

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    2 Q 6 . ' Miscellaneous Cvrrespondende . r > ' ¦ -

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 206, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/54/