They, nevertheless, ascertained that the workmen as yet knew nothing, and that the routine of the sections in nothing had been changed. The overseers had merely announced the day before, by superior order, that no funds nor instructions had been issued from the Central Block, and that in consequence the works would be suspended the following Saturday, unless contrary orders were received. All this only complicated, instead of throwing any light on the situation. That Herr Schultz had disappeared for nearly a month before, there was no doubt. But what might be the cause and import of this disappearance no one knew. A vague impression that the mysterious personage might at any moment re-appear still prevailed, and seemed to lessen the general uneasiness. For some days all work had gone on as usual. Every one had pursued his task within the limited horizon of his section. The salaries were paid from the strong boxes every Saturday, and the principal coffer had met all local necessities. But centralisation had been brought to too high a pitch of perfection in Stahlstadt; the master had reserved so absolutely to himself the superintendence of everything, that his absence could not fail in a very short time to cause a stoppage in the machinery. Thus, from the 17th of September, the day on which the King of Steel had signed his orders for the last time, up to the 13th of October, when the news of the suspension of payment had burst like a thunder-clap, millions of letters, a large number containing considerable bills, passed through the Stahlstadt Post Office, had been deposited in the box of the Central Block, and no doubt had reached Herr Schultz's study. But he alone had the right to open them, mark them with a red pencil, and transmit them to the principal cashier. Even the highest functionaries in the town never dreamt of doing anything out of their regular department. Invested with almost absolute power over their subordinates, they were each, in connection with Herr Schultz-as they were also with his memory-like so many instruments, without authority, without power of initiating, or a voice in any matter. Each fortified himself within the narrow limits of his commission, and waited, temporised, and watched the course of events. The end came at last. This remarkable state of affairs was prolonged until the principal houses interested, suddenly seized with a panic, telegraphed, begged for an answer, entreated, protested, and finally commenced legal proceedings. This took some time. No one was willing hastily to suspect that prosperity, so firmly believed in, had been resting on an insecure basis. But the fact was now patent: Herr Schultz had fled from his creditors. This was all that the reporters could gather. The famous Meiklejohn himself, famous for having extracted a political avowal from President Grant, the most taciturn man of his time; the indefatigable Blunderbuss, remarkable for being the first, although but a simple correspondent of "The World," to announce to the Czar the news of the capitulation of Plevna; even these great men in the reporting line had not this time been more fortunate than their brethren. They were forced to confess to themselves that "The Tribune" and "The World" could not yet give the latest news of the bankrupt Schultz. That Stahlstadt was indeed in a strange situation will be seen when it is remembered that it was an independent and isolated town, permitting no regular and legal inquiry. Herr Schultz's signature was, it is true, protested at New York, and his creditors had every reason to believe that the stock and manufactory would indemnify them in some degree. But to what court should they apply to obtain an execution or a sequestration? Stahlstadt lay in a territory of its own, where everything belonged to Herr Schultz. If only he had left a representative, an administrative council, or a substitute. But there was nothing of the sort. He himself was king, judge, general-in-chief, notary, lawyer, and the only commercial court in the city. In his person he had realised the ideal of centralisation. Therefore, he being absent, there was absolutely no one in power, and the whole fabric fell like a house of cards. In any other situation, the creditors would have been able to form a syndicate, substituting themselves for Herr Schultz, lay hands on the stock, and take the direction of affairs. To all appearance only a little money and regulating power was needed to set the machine to work. But nothing of this was possible. The proper legal instrument to effect this substitution was wanting. There was a moral barrier round the City of Steel, which was if possible more insurmountable than its walls. The unfortunate creditors could see the securities for their debts, though quite unable to touch them. All they could do was to unite in a general assembly, and agree to address a request to the Congress to ask it to take their case in hand, espouse the interests of its natives, pronounce the annexation of Stahlstadt to American territory, and thus include this monstrous creation in the common laws of civilisation. Several members of the Congress were personally interested in the business, the request was tempting to the American character, and there was reason to believe that it would be crowned with complete success. Unfortunately the Congress was not then in session, so that a long delay was to be feared before the matter could be submitted to it. Until that time nothing could be done in Stahlstadt, and one by one the furnaces were extinguished. The consternation among the population of ten thousand families who lived by the manufactory was profound. But what were they to do? Continue to work in hopes of wages, which might be six months in coming, or might never come at all? No one was inclined to adopt this opinion. Besides, what work could they do? The source from which orders came was dried up as well as everything else. All Herr Schultz's clients waited the legal solution. The heads of the sections, engineers, and overseers, could do nothing for want of orders. Numberless assemblies, meetings, and debates took place, though no plan could really be fixed on. The enforced stoppage soon brought with it a train of misery, despair, and vice. As the workshops emptied, the public-houses filled. For each chimney which ceased to smoke in the factory, a tavern sprung up in one of the neighbouring villages. The wisest and most prudent among the workmen, those who had foreseen hard times, and had lain by for a rainy day, hastened to escape with bag and baggage; and happy rosy-cheeked children, wild whose poverty nailed them to the soil! There they with delight at the new world revealed to them, remained, hollow-eyed and broken-hearted! Selling peeped through the curtains of the waggons, loaded their poor garments to the flock of birds-of-prey in with their father's tools and furniture, and the human shape, whose instinct attracts them to scenes precious bedding dear to the heart of the housewife. of great disasters, reduced to the last extremities in These all were scattered east, south, and north, soon a few days, deprived of credit as well as of wages, finding other factories, other anvils, other hearth- of hope as well as work, and seeing before them a future of misery as black and dismal as the fast approaching winter! stones. But for one who could thus depart, there were ten SOCIAL PIONEERINGS. BY THE REV. M. KAUFMANN, M.A., AUTHOR OF "SOCIALISM: ITS NATURE, ITS DANGERS, AND ITS REMEDIES CONSIDERED." WE CO-OPERATION ABROAD. JE have done now with Utopian Experiments, | tion, that is, the combination among the working and come next to consider the more practical men themselves to establish a business for which they questions of social co-operation. We have passed in are solely responsible, and becoming thus their own review, not only many impractical schemes of im- employers, combining the character of master and provement, but also many equally impracticable men in their own person. Thus these orders of experiments. co-operative enterprise mark the successive states of transition from capitalistic modes of industry to association labour. Most persons have heard of Boucicaut's enormous general store in Paris, the "Au bon marché," which carries on twenty-four different branches of trade on the same premises, and becomes a sort of general provider for all sorts of customers, and so carrying on business on a large scale, having under its employ no less than 1,500 persons who receive among them a monthly salary on the average of 300,000 francs. This little army of persons employed is provided with board on the spot, and some reside there altogether. There are four dining saloons, in which 250 assistants can take their meals at the same time. They breakfast in turns between nine and eleven o'clock in the It will be asked, what is the cause of failure in these Utopian experiments, from first to last throughout the historical development of European society? And we have no hesitation in replying, the error of trusting too much to immediate changes, and the premature introduction of social constitutions before men's minds were ripe for them. There has been unwarrantable faith in slap-dash revolution instead of cautious and tentative effort in the direction of social reformation. The great truth taught by all history, that human character and human institutions are slowly developed and adapted to existing circumstances in the course of ages, has been disregarded. Constitutions, social as well as political, to be lasting and effectual must be allowed to grow slowly and surely, and cannot be called into existence ready-morning, and dine between six and seven in the evemade at the command of social idealists. The truth of the principle of association which lies at the foundation of all these schemes of social amelioration cannot be denied; in fact, it is as old as humanity itself. The error is to be found in its application as to time, place, and external surroundings. A new system of industrial enterprise is now struggling into existence. The increase of joint-stock companies, and the efforts made, even in high quarters at home and in the metropolis, not only to utilise distributive stores, but also to establish common households by way of co-operative consumption, and numerous attempts of this kind abroad, together with many efforts at co-operative production besides, show that we are nearing another stage in the process of social evolution. The chief value of co-operation may best be seen from examples, and to enumerate a few of them will be the most interesting, as well as the most instructive way of explaining the principle. We may roughly divide the different kinds of cooperation into three classes, viz., 1. Humanitarian co-operation, which proceeds from the heads of firms or other philanthropists, and which is patronising in its main features. 2. Patriarchal co-partnership, which admits the working men to share the profits of the employers, whilst the latter still retain the chief management of the business, founded on the principle of mutual interests. 3. Fraternal co-opera ning. There is a special refectory for the ladies of the establishment, and another for the remainder of those employed on the premises. There are saloons and billiard-tables for the amusement of the young men in the evening, and lessons in music, languages, and fencing, as well as lectures on history and other subjects by the best professors, are provided by the employer. There is a ladies' saloon where similar advantages for self-improvement in literature and art are offered to the female section of the establishment. All participate, in a measure, in the profits of the business, and the shares rise in proportion to the position attained by those concerned, according to the various grades of their employment. As all are directly interested, there is a general desire to please customers, and so increase the extent and enhance the profits of the business. Every one of the twentyfour "chefs," or heads of departments, are trusted and experienced men, and meet for consultation in urgent cases. The complex organism of so extensive a business requires a whole regiment of trustworthy cashiers, bookkeepers, secretaries, and others, who perform their task conscientiously and to the best of their ability, as their own personal interest is more or less linked to the prosperity of the firm. Here, then, we have an example of a practical as well as humanitarian effort at co-operation. The success of the undertaking is proved by the fact that * M. Boucicaut, who is described as an entirely "self- | wage receivers, the sum of £600 is payable as bonus made" man, left several millions of property on his to the capitalist, and £100 to the management. demise about a year ago. Besides this, M. Godin finds a "social palace" for his employés, which is capable of housing no less than nine hundred people, with a variety of rooms to suit the purse and convenience of the inmates. The building, which is several storeys high, cost £40,000, and small shares are obtainable to induce workmen to become joint owners of the building, and so their own landlords. The rents of rooms yield a return of three per cent. The "Women's Hotel" in New York has proved a failure as such, but the sanguine statement of its first promoters is worth preserving. It covers 200 square feet of ground, and is seven storeys high, containing 502 private apartments tastefully furnished, a dining-room for 600 guests, and a kitchen fitted to provide for 5,000 persons. It was erected from purely humanitarian motives by the well-known millionaire, Stewart, to afford a comfortable abode for about a thousand young women of good character who have no homes of their own in the great city. The hotel combines the solidity, elegance, and comfort of private houses of the best class. It has a suite of handsomely-furnished reception-rooms, a library with 2,500 volumes, and, enclosed by the four blocks of buildings of which the hotel consists, there is an open square paved with mosaic work, decorated with flowers, with a fountain placed in the middle, to render the place attractive during the summer months. A park to be added to the premises was in contemplation. Pianos and valuable paintings and sculpture are placed in every one of the reception-rooms, so as to produce the impression of elegance and taste added to home comfort. And for all these advantages the charges are very moderate, i.e., from four to five dollars a week. The cost of erection was two millions of dollars, which was borne entirely by the original founder. This is a case of co-operative action of a very high order, which admits of imitation elsewhere, raising the standard of life without degrading those benefited to the position of recipients of charity. In the same way, but on a still more practical principle, the attempt has been made by M. Godin, of Guise, to combine the advantages of industrial cooperation with domestic association in his arrangements as to division of profits in his trade, and the erection of the Phamilistère, or common domicile, for his workpeople. According to M. Godin's plan of dividing profits, capital receives fifteen per cent. interest, the workman his usual wages, and a sum is set apart to defray the charges of administration, and to reward mechanical inventions. The remainder over and above these outgoings from the available profits is apportioned one-third to the reserve fund, and the remaining twothirds to capital and labour, in proportion to the fixed amounts payable to each from the earnings before the net profits were ascertained. The practical operation of the system is thus illustrated by Mr. Thomas Brassey, to whose work we are indebted for the details of M. Godin's system.† Assume that the sum payable had been,— The social palace at Guise stands in the midst of extensive and well-kept pleasure-grounds on the banks of the Oise. It has a theatre where dramatic representations and concerts are frequently given by associations, formed for the purpose by the operatives. The internal arrangement is carried on by committees, consisting of persons of both sexes, and the general moral tone of the community is said to be superior to that of people in the same position living in isolated households. The supplies of fuel and food, cooking and attendance, even the early nursing and care of children, are left to efficient persons appointed for that purpose at the charge of the whole community. The women of the committee of management supervise the quality of provisions supplied from the co-operative stores and butchers' shops connected with the social palace. They also attend to the management of children and the general arrangement of the household. Here again we have the advantages of co-operative action in avoiding waste, and whilst securing good quality, combined with domestic economy, spreading comfort, and extending the amount of leisure where work is done systematically and by means of combination, instead of being done slovenly and irregularly with all the attendant waste and discomforts in the isolated household. The Phamilistère surpasses the Phalanstère, on the pattern of which it is founded, in granting full liberty whilst yet maintaining a thorough system of organisation such as Fourier aimed at. But such institutions, excellent as they are, may be considered to be too much in the nature of patronising beneficence on the part of the employer. That mode of combination which assumes more independence on the part of the employed is co-partnership between masters and men, of which there are many interesting cases given in J. S. Mill's treatise on "Political Economy,' "of which we shall extract one by way of typical example. M. Leclaire, a Paris tradesman, who employed on the average 200 workmen, made the following experiment. After paying the usual wages, and assigning for himself a fixed sum for his labour and responsibility as manager, besides a certain percentage of interest on his capital, he divided the net surplus profits at the end of the year among all, himself included, in proportion to their earnings. This he found to be the best way securing good and peaceable workmen, which gave stability in the management of his establishment (house-painting), and so led to pecuniary success. Community of interest thus became the bond of mutual goodwill, whilst the unusual punctuality and activity of those employed, owing to this fact, amply compensated the employer for the sacrifice of profits incurred. Others followed the example of M. Leclaire and with equally signal success. * Book iv, ch. viii. § 5 and ff. p. 461 et seq. (People's Edition). of Mr. Brassey, in the work already referred to, men- | elapsed before any wages could be paid. They lived, tions some co-operative foundries established in New as workmen out of employ do live, sharing the bread York and Massachusetts, the birthplace of so many of their comrades who happen to be at work, pawnunsuccessful Socialistic experiments, on a similar ing such articles as they possess, and so forth. They principle. One of them was started in 1866 with a executed a few orders, and received payment on the capital of £27,000 paid up. The shares were fixed 4th of May. With this they paid their debts, and at £20, and limited in number to 2,000. In the first after dividing the rest into equal portions of five year thirty-two men, in the second seventy-five, and francs on account of wages, agreed to devote the in 1869 eighty five men were employed in the works. rest to a fraternal repast by way of commemorating A dividend of 10 per cent. was made in the first year, this first victory in the co-operative campaign. For and 30 per cent. more was paid on labour. The some time they struggled on against fearful odds second year the dividends on stock and labour with a piece of good luck now and then to encourage amounted to 89 per cent. In 1869 they reached 100 them to go on, until at last, when taking stock at the per cent. The most skilled trades earn, owing to end of 1850, the number of shareholders had intheir steady employment, 35 per cent. more than the creased to thirty-two. Large warehouses and worksame classes of workmen would earn at similar wages shops, at the rental of 2,000 francs, were no longer in a private foundry. The success is due to greater sufficient for the business, and the amount of their economy in the use of materials, and superior disci- capital, after deducting all liabilities, left 32930.02 pline of the men at their work. francs. Later on they separated into two societies, one of which alone, in 1854, possessed a circulating capital of 56,000 francs (£2,240), which had risen to £6,520 in 1863. But we pass on to the highest form of collective enterprise, that in which the men have been entirely emancipated from the tutelage of the masters, and conduct business on their own account, with their own capital, and under the management of persons chosen from among themselves. We know that this was the idea which inspired Louis Blanc, and to embody which he was induced to secure certain governmental loans or grants to the working classes in 1848. We have seen how and why they failedthey really never had a fair chance of success. But there were at the same time, and there have been since, private attempts made in the same direction, which, beginning in a very humble way-often with only a few tools belonging to the founders, and small sums of money collected from their savings, or lent by other working people even poorer than themselves—have issued in fairly prosperous concerns. The struggles of these early pioneers of cooperation were of the most heroic nature, and led to very remarkable results. 66 Often," says M. Fengueray, in a sketch of the history quoted by Mill, there was no money at all in hand, and no wages could be paid. The goods did not go off, the payments did not come in, bills could not get discounted, the warehouse of materials was empty; they had to submit to privation, to reduce all expenses to a minimum, to live sometimes on bread and water. . . . It is at the price of these hardships and anxieties that men who began with hardly any resource but their goodwill and their hands succeeded in creating customers, in acquiring credit, forming at last a joint capital, and thus founding associations whose futurity now seems to be assured." Here is the example of one of these. It was proposed to establish a pianoforte manufactory, and delegates of several hundred workmen asked the Government, in 1848, for a subvention of 300,000 francs to start it. The commission refused the grant, and the project was abandoned. But what happened? Fourteen workmen, the two foiled delegates among them, set up by themselves with neither cash nor credit to start the association. These fourteen men went to work with their tools, and each member with some difficulty contributes his share of ten francs as circulating capital. With the help of contributions from other working men not concerned but sympathising with the proceedings, the association was formed, their total stock amounting near to 229 francs. This was on March 10, 1849. Two months Other associations with a similar history and boasting of like successes were founded, and survived obloquy and opposition, standing monuments of the cause, determined not only to ensure prosperity for themselves but to promote the general adoption of co-operative principles by means of independent combination among the working people. From reports of H.M.'s consuls in foreign countries, Mr. Brassey quotes several promising cases in favour of co-operative production abroad, notably in Sweden, where, we are told, the men willingly risked their savings for the sake of seizing an opportunity of rising from a dependent position to the freedom of co-operative industry. I conclude this paper with a short account of the system adopted by Schultze Delitzsch, the great advocate of self-help, with a view of encouraging co-operative industry in Germany. We have already alluded to this philanthropist in our paper on Lassalle,* with whom he engaged in an unfortunate controversy not much to the credit of either of the combatants. But in his practical efforts to improve the condition of the German labourer by means of self-help, Schultze Delitzsch deserves the warmest commendation and unqualified respect from all those who take an interest in the subject. It is true that Schultze Delitzsch is too much doctrinaire in his desire to establish the principle of self-help, as his opponent, Lassalle, erred in the opposite direction of state-help, but there can be no doubt as to the practical good done by credit banks and the direct as well as indirect aid afforded to the spread of co-operation among the humbler classes of small shopkeepers and tradesmen, and the working classes generally. Schultze Delitzsch is a man of legal training and habits, and for some time held Government appointments until his liberal tendencies, too freely expressed in the Prussian Parliament, led to obstructions which induced him at last to give up his appointment and devote himself entirely to the promotion of his pet schemes for the amelioration of the labourer's position. He commenced by establishing an association for the purpose of wholesale purchases of raw material and a credit bank, for the joint use of small tradesmen in his own town, * See "Leisure Hour," 1878, pp. 746-47. subscribed within normal limits, and a large reserve fund is put aside yearly to provide for losses and fluctuations of trade. The admission of members is unlimited, and resignation of membership open to all by giving the ordinary notice, as is customary on such occasions. Delitzsch (whence his cognomen, to distinguish him | profits are divided pro rata in proportion to capital from others of the same name sitting in the Prussian Parliament). Later on, the principle of association was extended over a large area, to include not only credit banks and societies for the purpose of purchasing raw material and the acquisition of machinery, but also building societies, co-operative stores, and similar institutions, founded on the principle of combined effort more or less under the direction of a central organisation with Schultze Delitzsch at the head. There exist at the present moment in Germany alone about thirty provincial unions of such associations, each with its own organisation but in close contact with the central power. The results, up to 1873, are given by Schultze Delitzsch in the abstract of a report printed by him in the "Gegenwart" for 1875 as follows. There are It has been said that "the German co-operator sets up credit banks; the English co-operator sets up stores. The Germans lend money, the Englishman makes it." There are more credit banks in Germany because, owing to the peculiar economic condition of that country, small trade and agriculture on a small scale are still struggling on, and have not yet reached the brink of hopeless extinction, as is the case in this country; and it is the small tradesman and small farmer whom Schultze Delitzsch thought in the first instance to benefit, and in doing so brought the labourer also within the circle of capital enterprise. its great originator in Germany is able to report Upon the whole, as to the results of co-operation, progress along the whole line. Not least among the harbingers of signal success he mentions the fact that several of the distributive associations set apart out of their proceeds a fund for educational and mental improvement purposes, the erection of educational establishments, such as technical schools and others to continue the training received in schools, and the creation of popular libraries. Among their objects are the acquisition of landed property and buildings for the production on their own premises of many articles of consumption required by working men. Co-operation is thus made a lever in raising those connected with it to a higher level, and enabling them to participate more freely not only in the material resources, but also in the intellectual wealth of the community. Darieties. As, however, some of the newly-formed societies are not comprehended under this head, Schultze Delitzsch estimates the whole number of associations at 4,000, with a total of 1,300,000 members, possessing property of their own to the amount of about seven million pounds sterling, and additional working capital of from sixteen to seventeen millions entrusted to the associations by outside creditors as investments. It is surmised, however, that some of the members belong to a better class than those for whom the association was intended, and that that partly accounts for the large amount of capital subscribed. Be this as it may, the main credit arises from the fact that all the members are depositors to some extent, and that all subscribers are jointly and severally responsible for the liabilities of the associations. It is remarkable that the knowledge of this solidarity of interest has considerably augmented the credit of these associations, which has been good throughout, and has remained even unshaken in those years when a commercial crisis threatened the existence and security of the most trusted joint-stock companies in Germany. As to the proportion of labourers to other members belonging to those co-operative establishments, Schultze Delitzsch reckons 32,287 to 691 credit RIVALRY OF AMERICAN STATES.-Each State, from rugged associations (which comprised only one-fourth of the Maine to sunny Florida, and from imperial New York to golden whole number, the others not having made a tabular citizens of each speak as if they had been placed by a kind California, considers that no other one rivals or excels it. return as to qualifications of members), whereas Providence on the most favoured spot of the whole earth, and 32,730 persons of the same description are connected they regard the stranger who doubts whether their good fortune with 140 co-operative store associations, i.e., they be wholly exceptional as a person who is utterly ignorant and constitute about half the number of members belong-himself the most easily with the citizens of a particular State if inexcusably prejudiced. Indeed, a new-comer will ingratiate ing to them. Upon the whole, Delitzsch calculates he can look upon all others, for the time being, through their that from 280,000 to 300,000 of labouring people spectacles. I once said something to a Pennsylvanian, alike in one form or another share thus in the benefits of laudatory and merited, with regard to his State. He accepted co-operation.* the compliment as a matter of course, and replied, "That's so ; shortly after the late total eclipse of the sun, I remarked, in the Pennsylvania is best in everything." Travelling in Colorado presence of several citizens, it was fortunate that the weather had been so favourable there for the purposes of observation. One of them told me in reply, "Sir, Colorado can beat the world in eclipses as in everything else." There is an organ which represents the interests of association in the press, and there exists a public Association Bank, with a subscribed capital of a million sterling, in the capital of Germany, with branches elsewhere, to maintain intercourse with the business world outside. But all transactions between members and the association are carried on on the ordinary principles of trade and reciprocity, self-help, not benevolence, being the rule throughout. The The same system has been also adopted in Russia, and in spite of difliculties raised by Government, is making progress among the people. PARIS EXHIBITION LAWNS.-The statement in our article on "The Trees of Paris," as to the largest of the lawns at the late Exhibition and their ever brilliant verdure, ascribed the sowing to the wrong firm. The gold medal for grass was obtained by Messrs. James Carter and Co., of Holborn, who were alone in the first rank in this department of horticulture. - " The A WILDFOWLER'S PARADISE. In his recent work on Monghyr, in the Presidency of Bengal, Mr. Lockwood says that the waters swarm with wild fowl, and states that on one lake near Sakarpoor he computes that he saw no less than-wild geese, 5,000; red-crested pochards, 20,000; pin-tailed duck, 20,000; pochards, 50,000; teal, 20,000; garganey, 20,000; gadwall, 10,000; shoveller and ferruginous duck, 10,000; |