CHAPTER XI. CO-OPERATION. capital in antagonism. Labour and WE have already traced out some of the consequences which must follow when labour and capital are employed as two separate interests in industry. It is inevitable that each will seek to make as advantageous a bargain as possible with the other, and that the easy affluence of the employer, who is always seen in the attitude of an antagonistic rather than a head partner in the common undertaking, will excite the jealousy of the workmen. If I may turn for a moment from the great operations of industry to household affairs, how few there are who could not confirm from their personal experience the remark of Mr. Mill that the relation between master and servant is nearly as unsatisfactory to the payer of wages as to the receiver. The rich regard the poor as by a kind of natural law their servants and dependants; the rich in their turn are regarded as a mere prey and pasture for the poor, the subject of demands and expectations wholly indefinite, increasing in extent with every concession made to them, while the return given in the shape of service is sought to be reduced to the lowest minimum.' Remedy for this condi tion. To remedy the state of things to which Mr. Mill refers is one of the most practical and perplexing problems of social life. The magnitude of the evil increases in proportion as houses are enlarged, and the number of retainers is multiplied. One of the most effectual remedies, therefore, must be to live simply and unostentatiously. E le Romane antiche per lor bere Lo secol primo quant' oro fu bello; E nèttare per sete ogni ruscello.1 Such a remedy would be impossible for the great nobles of the land; but those who bear hereditary honours have usually inherited with their rank and wealth an effective system of control and a faithful body of retainers. The great mass, however, of the people of those, I mean, who are in easy circumstances are not called upon to bear the same social responsibilities. Their happiness would be greatly increased, if they would mutually consent to lay aside the fulsome pomp and circumstance, which burden their existence. in domestic Further, let us ask ourselves whether it be alto- Piece-work gether impracticable to introduce a system of payment service. by the piece for many domestic services. The difficulties must be acknowledged, but the employer would be served with greater diligence, and the servant 1 The passage is thus translated by Longfellow : 'And for their drink the ancient Roman women DANTE, Purgatorio, xxii. 145. Industrial organisa co-opera tive prin ciple. encouraged by seeing a more direct connection between the work done and the payment received. In an abstract, or social and moral, as distinguished tion on the from a commercial, point of view, the co-operative principle offers the most satisfactory type of industrial organisation. Co-operation, according to Mr. Holyoake, is a scheme by which profit can be obtained by concert and divided by consent. If co-operation could be carried out in conformity with its definition, as stated by its most eminent advocate, it would supply the final solution of all the social, and most of the economic, difficulties of productive industry. Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master, or a servant, or a friend, Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.' Sound in theory, co-operation is difficult of application in practice. The representative form of government is better adapted to political than to commercial affairs, and a republic does not always present a model of good government. It is not easy for an officer promoted from the ranks to command the unquestioning obedience of his men; and in the factory, as in the regiment, there must be discipline. Therefore doth Heaven divide Order,' says Mr. Bagehot, tacit obedience, prescription, and governability are the foundation of modern society.' Without their aid, industry cannot be organised on a large scale. In a former paper on co-operation, I insisted at considerable length on the short-sighted jealousy of co-operators in denying to their managers, when entrusted with heavy pecuniary responsibilities, that adequate remuneration, which the frailty of human nature requires as a defence against temptations to peculation and dishonesty. in the way of co-oper ation. The President of the Trades Unions Congress in Difficulties 1878 made some valuable observations on the difficulties of co-operation. The confident belief,' he said, that the difficulties between capital and labour would find their solution in the growth of the system of co-operation, has been but indifferently fulfilled. It is evident that the extension of a system, which would demand from our working men the unswerving attention and intelligent devotion to business required by the fierceness of sudden industrial competition; such economy and self-reliance as would accumulate the necessary capital, and secure a provision for seasons of depressed trade; and such a regard for economic laws, and such an unselfish interest in the welfare of their fellows, as would prevent mutual encroachments, supposes a higher standard of social and intellectual refinement than at present exists among them. Towards the creation of such a standard much has, however, been done, and is still being done, by Trades Unions.' These remarks may be compared with Dean Swift's discourse on the contests and dissensions in Athens R Instances of success. and Rome: The most powerful commonwealth of Greece was utterly destroyed by the rash, jealous, and inconstant humour of the people, which was never satisfied to see a general either victorious or unfortunate such ill judges, as well as rewarders, have popular assemblies been of those who best deserved from them.' Co-operative distribution is an undoubted success, but co-operative production is, as Mr. Denny observes in his essay on The Worth of Wages,' to co-operative distribution, as dynamics to statics, and therefore much more difficult. Instances, however, are not wanting of successful co-operative organisation. The co-operative stores are themselves manufacturers on a considerable scale. But co-operation has worked hitherto most satisfactorily when only the industrial or practical part of the business has been handed over to the workman, the capitalist retaining the general control in his own hands. Professor Cairnes has given an interesting The slate description of such an application of the co-operative principle in the slate quarries of North Wales. The whole quarrying population in North Wales is employed under a system of co operation with their employers. Three or four men form a co-partnery, and contract to produce slates from the section of rock assigned to them, at so much per thousand. The men who take part directly in these contracts form about one-third of the whole number. The remainder are employed by them as labourers. The more expensive plant for the quarry is furnished by the proprietors, the contractor supplying the smaller tools and blasting powder. Wages are paid monthly. quarries of North Wales. |