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the property of the society is declared to be vested in the trustee or treasurer for the time being; the trustee or treasurer may sue or be sued in his own name; fraud committed, with respect to the property of the society, is punishable by justices; county courts may, where the rules so provide, compel transfer of stock; if any officer abscond, or refuse to transfer, application may be made to the Court of Chancery by petition, free from payment of court or counsel's fees; disputes are to be settled by reference to justices or arbitrators, whose orders are to be final, with power to award compensation to any member if unjustly expelled.

Coming into existence at various times and under various circumstances, although all enrolled under the Friendly Societies' Act, these societies differ somewhat in their constitutions and modes of operation. Some of them hold inflexibly, like the Rochdale model, to cash payments, whilst others give credit to members to the extent of one-half, two-thirds, or three-fourths of the paid-up capital of the debtor. They vary also in the amount which constitutes a share, and in the number of shares required or allowed to be held by each member. Some share their profits with non-members who desire to become members, whilst others require a payment on account of shares prior to any participation. In all, candidates for membership have to submit to their chance of election, and in all, the thorough democratic principle of one vote to each member obtains, no matter what the amount of his investment. In none whose rules we have seen are shares transferable, but they all have rules to allow withdrawal of shares. In cases of dispute, the first appeal is universally to the directors, the second is in some cases to arbitration, whilst others give an option of appeal to arbitrators or to justices of the peace. In every case of division of profits, capital takes the first 5 per cent. after allowing for depreciation of stock; then in some cases a proportion is set aside to increase capital, and the remainder is divided according to purchases, whilst in others the whole is divided after the shares are once paid up, and the members are left to increase their shares within the prescribed limit or not, as they please. But in no case which has come under our observation, except in the original one at Rochdale, is there in the constitution of the society any educational provision, and personal inquiry informs us that this is because the Registrar refuses to allow it. We are told that the managers of one of the Manchester stores had no less than four months' correspondence on the subject; and the result of the refusal is the necessity for a quarterly vote for the reading-room, which necessity leads to a false economy, in order to avoid a quarterly quarrel, which, after all, is not always averted. If it be true that the appropriation of a small sum for educational purposes, by the constitution of the society, be contrary to Act of Parliament, it is

quite time for that Act to be amended; and if the Registrar's present reading of the law be wrong, it would be well to force him by a mandamus to register such a provision; for assuredly no institution is likely to be more serviceable in secondary education than the libraries and reading-rooms (to be followed, possibly, by classes) in connection with these co-operative associations.

The practical result of these establishments appears, therefore, to be to enable the members to secure unadulterated food at the prices generally charged for the adulterated, and to give also from 7 to 10 per cent. discount; in other words, they put the poorest man upon a par with the richest, so far as their purchases of food and clothing are concerned: they do for the articles of the workman's daily consumption what Freehold Land and Building Societies have done for land and houses-they sell by retail at wholesale prices; but they do also more than this, by offering 5 per cent. interest on 17. and upwards in the shape of shares, and giving a voice in the management of the concern, they stimulate to prudential investments, and they educate in selfgovernment the most important as well as most numerous class of society.

The following table of the results of co-operative societies is extracted from an Essay by Mr. Malcolm Ross, published in 'The Bradford Review,' Nov. 3rd, 1860.

The economy achieved in the distribution of wealth by these societies seems to have led, gradually and naturally, to attempts to economize its production also. The Rochdale people having secured

the

Profits of the Societies.

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the prosperity of their stores, determined to sell and eat only pure bread, and with this object in view they engaged a corn-mill; for although another society was constituted for the purpose, and other managers appointed, they were practically the same persons in both.

And during the last two years of good trade another step forward has been taken, and co-operative, or rather joint-stock weaving-sheds and spinning-factories have sprung into existence in considerable numbers in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Working men have commenced in earnest to take advantage of the means by which nearly all our great works have been accomplished. Banks, canals, railways, &c., have long found profitable employment for the surplus capital of rich men, whilst the only chance for the prudent working man has been the savings bank, which is not always safe, gives only low interest, and is hedged about with difficulties to prevent withdrawals. Co-operative stores and joint-stock manufactories open up another field, and working men are not slow to take advantage of it. Alex. Redgrave, Inspector of Factories, in his report, 30th April, 1860, referring to cooperative manufacturing concerns, says :

:

Co-operative societies have multiplied greatly since the passing of the Limited Liability Act. They are composed generally of operatives. Each society has a capital of 10,000l. and upwards, divided into shares of 51. and 107. each, with power to borrow in certain proportions to the capital subscribed; and the money borrowed is made up of small loans by operatives and persons of the like class. I have been informed that in Bury alone upwards of 300,000l. will be required to put the co-operative mills there, built and building, into working order. In cotton-spinning mills, the spinners and persons employed are frequently shareholders in the same mill, working for wages, and receiving interest on their shares. In cotton-weaving sheds, of which there are many in my district, the partners frequently hire work-looms. This is attractive to operatives, because no capital is required to start them in their undertaking; they purchase the yarn ready for the loom, weave the cloth, and the factory operation is completed, or else they receive the yarn from some manufacturer who trades with them, and return to him the woven fabric. Here is no complication of buying the raw material, working it up to the best advantage through the various processes, from the first sorting of the raw material to the final spinning of the yarn, finding carders, rovers, drawers, jobbers, spinners, piecers, &c., which must be undertaken in a spinning-factory; but the whole is completed in one process, that of weaving, which requires, moreover, but one class of hands. These men were operatives working for hire, the servants of another; by this co-operative system the servant becomes a master: he works, indeed, himself, as do others of his family, but they work with him, under his control and observation, and thus, notwithstanding the special objections to the factory system, on the ground that it must necessarily discourage the small manufacturer, we see here a return to the old domestic system of manufacture, in which the master, his family, and workpeople constitute one establishment.',

These are called co-operative concerns, but the co-operation extends only to the shareholders, and any workman in these mills who is not a shareholder differs in no respect from a workman employed elsewhere, except in the fact that some of his employers are working at his side, and that the manager is the servant, and Vol. 3.-No. 12.

Y

possibly

possibly a co-proprietor with such workmen, and therefore likely to be more considerate in his conduct than if he had only ordinary workmen to deal with.

But the Rochdale workmen have adopted the true co-operative principle in their manufactory as in their stores. They are erecting a mill which, together with its machinery, will cost 50,000Z. The whole of the capital is subscribed, and one wing of the building is probably fitted up and at work before this time. Here is the article of association' which regulates the distribution of profits :

'After paying 5 per cent. upon the paid-up capital, making allowance for depreciation of fixed stock, &c., "The declared capital of the society, and the total amount of wages paid during the previous half-year shall be added together, and the balance of profit shall be equally divided on both capital and wages at so much in the pound, as such sum will make, and such interest and poundage as may be accorded to the capital of the society shall be placed to the credit of the shareholders respectively in proportion to the capital standing to each shareholder's account; and such interest and poundage shall be applicable to the purchase of new shares, either whole or in part, or shall be withdrawn on application; and such poundage as may, in the aforesaid manner, be accorded to the wages earned, shall be carried to the account of all persons being members of this society, or willing to become members, in proportion to the amount of wages earned by them respectively during that time; and the said poundage shall be applicable for the creation of new shares, either in whole or in part, or shall be withdrawn on application to the treasurer or secretary, provided, always, that before any person whosoever shall be entitled to withdraw any interest or profit which may have been placed to his account, such person shall have at least two paid-up shares in the society, in accordance with Rule 7; and if such two shares be not paid up, then the before-named interests and profits shall remain to such person's credit towards the completion of such two shares, except such person is ceasing to be a shareholder in the society, in which case he shall be entitled to withdraw any capital he may have invested therein, together with all the interests and profits due to him, according to the law for regulating withdrawals."

This is true co-operation, for it requires the best energies of all the parties concerned, and when it has paid the capitalist for his risk, and the workman the market price for his labour, it shares the advantages of good trade amongst the operatives as well as amongst the shareholders. We have known instances where greedy employers have tampered with the clock in order to gain a few minutes morning and night from each of a thousand workpeople. We have known, and still know, others who have washing apparatus and mirrors fitted up in their mills, and boxes in which to deposit the clothes of the workpeople. In these latter places the engine is stopped five minutes before the legal time, to allow the hands to wash and dress before leaving the mill. Which class of employers, does the reader suppose, gains more by their arrangements? The employers who give the time assure us that they make even a pecuniary gain by the gift; but this gain is small in the estimation of the good man compared with the devotion and gratitude which is sure to flow therefrom. A few years ago we were present at the anniversary at such a mill; we witnessed the examination of the

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best of factory schools, and learned with great pleasure that the educational progress of the half-timers was very nearly as great as of those who were all day at school; we joined in the tea-party of the workpeople, and felt that we should have been as proud to be their employer as an emperor could be of his crown. And if such devotion to the interests of the employer be the result of these small matters, as with our faith in human nature we fully believe it to be, what must be the case when the workman is made a partaker in profits? Dr. Watts, speaking of the above rule, remarks as follows:

'Here is a plan by which a workman, who has never been able to save a penny out of his wages, may yet become his own employer; nay, there is even a gentle coercion to make him a partaker of profits, and to invest such profits for him, so that by the time he is unable to work, the interest and profits of a capital, which has cost him no effort beyond what would have been necessary elsewhere to earn average wages, may support him in old age. For, assuming the society to divide 15 per cent. on capital and 10 per cent. on wages per annum, then a man might commence work at age 20, getting and spending his 20s. per week of wages as at another establishment, and simply allowing his share of profits to accumulate, and he would, at the end of twenty years, find himself credited with 5364., which, if left in the concern at 15 per cent., would enable a workman to retire at age 40 on 801. per annum. If this be thought an extravagant picture, let sceptics double the term necessary for its accomplishment, and still each workman will become independent between the ages of fifty and sixty years. If such a prospect does not secure intelligent and moral workmen, there is little hope of the race. there is no fear of the result. A gentleman who has watched the progress of the Rochdale societies from the commencement, says :-"The alteration produced in the habits of the members is wonderful: men who were formerly of dissipated habits, women who were extravagant and troublesome to their husbands, have all been wonderfully improved; drunkenness is greatly diminished, and plenty and cheerfulness now reign in many houses where want and degradation were common."

But

The first calculation is probably somewhat overcharged; but since some of these limited liability companies have divided as much as 40 per cent. during the past year, it ought not to be considered an extravagant estimate to expect from 15 to 20 per cent., and 15 per cent. average profit would fulfil the second estimate. What an incentive to sobriety, industry, and general good conduct! Surely no workman with any degree of moral sense will think of devoting his proportion of profit to any other purpose than the purchase of shares; and if this course of conduct be adopted, and this movement spread, as we think it must needs do, we can see our way to the rapid declension of drunkenness, pauperism, and crime, and to a rapid increase of comfort and intelligence in the homes of working men.

The movement has commenced in the cotton trade; but it is equally applicable to all trades where machinery is employed and men work in masses. We shall expect to see it speedily adopted in the woollen and linen districts of Yorkshire, and in the production of plain silk fabrics in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Warwickshire; and if a few intelligent leaders can be found amongst the 1