METHODS OF ECONOMY.
"It was with profound wisdom that the Romans called by the same name
courage and virtue. There is in fact no virtue, properly so called,
without victory over ourselves; and what cost us nothing, is worth
nothing."--_De Maistre_.
"Almost all the advantages which man possesses above the inferior
animals, arise from his power of acting in combination with his fellows;
and of accomplishing by the united efforts of numbers what could not be
accomplished by the detached efforts of indivduals."--_J.S. Mill_.
"For the future, our main security will be in the wider diffusion of
Property, and in all such measures as will facilitate this result. With
the possession of property will come Conservative instincts, and
disinclination for rash and reckless schemes.... We trust much,
therefore, to the rural population becoming Proprietors, and to the
urban population becoming Capitalists."--_W.R. Greg_.
The methods of practising economy are very simple. Spend less than you
earn. That is the first rule. A portion should always be set apart for
the future. The person who spends more than he earns, is a fool. The
civil law regards the spendthrift as akin to the lunatic, and frequently
takes from him the management of his own affairs.
The next rule is to pay ready money, and never, on any account, to run
into debt. The person who runs into debt is apt to get cheated; and if
he runs into debt to any extent, he will himself be apt to get
dishonest. "Who pays what he owes, enriches himself."
The next is, never to anticipate uncertain profits by expending them
before they are secured. The profits may never come, and in that case
you will have taken upon yourself a load of debt which you may never get
rid of. It will sit upon your shoulders like the old man in Sinbad.
Another method of economy is, to keep a regular account of all that you
earn, and of all that you expend. An orderly man will know beforehand
what he requires, and will be provided with the necessary means for
obtaining it. Thus his domestic budget will be balanced; and his
expenditure kept within his income.
John Wesley regularly adopted this course. Although he possessed a small
income, he always kept his eyes upon the state of his affairs. A year
before his death, he wrote with a trembling hand, in his Journal of
Expenses; "For more than eighty-six years I have kept my accounts
exactly. I do not care to continue to do so any longer, having the
conviction that I economize all that I obtain, and give all that I
can,--that is to say, all that I have."[1]
[Footnote 1: Southey's _Life of Wesley_, vol. ii., p. 560.]
Besides these methods of economy, the eye of the master or the mistress
is always necessary to see that nothing is lost, that everything is put
to its proper use and kept in its proper place, and that all things are
done decently and in order. It does no dishonour to even the highest
individuals to take a personal interest in their own affairs. And with
persons of moderate means, the necessity for the eye of the master
overlooking everything, is absolutely necessary for the proper conduct
of business.
It is difficult to fix the precise limits of economy. Bacon says that if
a man would live well within his income, he ought not to expend more
than one-half, and save the rest. This is perhaps too exacting; and
Bacon himself did not follow his own advice. What proportion of one's
income should be expended on rent? That depends upon circumstances. In
the country about one-tenth; in London about one-sixth. It is at all
events better to save too much, than spend too much. One may remedy the
first defect, but not so easily the latter. Wherever there is a large
family, the more money that is put to one side and saved, the better.
Economy is necessary to the moderately rich, as well as to the
comparatively poor man. Without economy, a man cannot be generous. He
cannot take part in the charitable work of the world. If he spends all
that he earns, he can help nobody. He cannot properly educate his
children, nor put them in the way of starting fairly in the business of
life. Even the example of Bacon shows that the loftiest intelligence
cannot neglect thrift without peril. But thousands of witnesses daily
testify, that men even of the most moderate intelligence, can practise
the virtue with success.
Although Englishmen are a diligent, hard-working, and generally
self-reliant race, trusting to themselves and their own efforts for
their sustenance and advancement in the world, they are yet liable to
overlook and neglect some of the best practical methods of improving
their position, and securing their social well-being. They are not yet
sufficiently educated to be temperate, provident, and foreseeing. They
live for the present, and are too regardless of the coming time. Men who
are husbands and parents, generally think they do their duty if they
provide for the hour that is, neglectful of the hour that is to come.
Though industrious, they are improvident; though money-making, they are
spendthrift. They do not exercise forethought enough, and are defective
in the virtue of prudent economy.
Men of all classes are, as yet, too little influenced by these
considerations. They are apt to live beyond their incomes,--at all
events, to live up to them, The upper classes live too much for display;
they must keep up their "position in society;" they must have fine
houses, horses, and carriages; give good dinners, and drink rich wines,
their ladies must wear costly and gay dresses. Thus the march of
improvidence goes on over broken hearts, ruined hopes, and wasted
ambitions.
The vice descends in society,--the middle classes strive to ape the
patrician orders; they flourish crests, liveries, and hammercloths;
their daughters must learn "accomplishments"--see "society"--ride and
drive--frequent operas and theatres. Display is the rage, ambition
rivalling ambition; and thus the vicious folly rolls on like a tide. The
vice again descends. The working classes, too, live up to their
means--much smaller means, it is true; but even when they are able, they
are not sufficiently careful to provide against the evil day; and then
only the poorhouse offers its scanty aid to protect them against want.
To save money for avaricious purposes is altogether different from
saving it for economical purposes. The saving may be accomplished in the
same manner--by wasting nothing, and saving everything. But here the
comparison ends. The miser's only pleasure is in saving. The prudent
economist spends what he can afford for comfort and enjoyment, and saves
a surplus for some future time. The avaricious person makes gold his
idol: it is his molten calf, before which he constantly bows down;
whereas the thrifty person regards it as a useful instrument, and as a
means of promoting his own happiness and the happiness of those who are
dependent upon him. The miser is never satisfied. He amasses wealth that
he can never consume, but leaves it to be squandered by others, probably
by spendthrifts; whereas the economist aims at securing a fair share of
the world's wealth and comfort, without any thought of amassing a
fortune.
It is the duty of all persons to economize their means,--of the young as
well as of the old. The Duke of Sully mentions, in his Memoirs, that
nothing contributed more to his fortune than the prudent economy which
he practised, even in his youth, of always preserving some ready money
in hand for the purpose of meeting circumstances of emergency. Is a man
married? Then the duty of economy is still more binding. His wife and
children plead to him most eloquently. Are they, in the event of his
early death, to be left to buffet with the world unaided? The hand of
charity is cold, the gifts of charity are valueless, compared with the
gains of industry, and the honest savings of frugal labour, which carry
with them blessings and comforts, without inflicting any wound upon the
feelings of the helpless and bereaved. Let every man, therefore, who
can, endeavour to economize and to save; not to hoard, but to nurse his
little savings, for the sake of promoting the welfare and happiness of
himself while here, and of others when he has departed.
There is a dignity in the very effort to save with a worthy purpose,
even though the attempt should not be crowned with eventual success. It
produces a well-regulated mind; it gives prudence a triumph over
extravagance; it gives virtue the mastery over vice; it puts the
passions under control; it drives away care; it secures comfort. Saved
money, however little, will serve to dry up many a tear--will ward off
many sorrows and heartburnings, which otherwise might prey upon us.
Possessed of a little store of capital, a man walks with a lighter
step--his heart beats more cheerily. When interruption of work or
adversity happens, he can meet them; he can recline on his capital,
which will either break his fall, or prevent it altogether. By
prudential economy, we can realize the dignity of man; life will be a
blessing, and old age an honour. We can ultimately, under a kind
Providence, surrender life, conscious that we have been no burden upon
society, but rather, perhaps, an acquisition and ornament to it;
conscious, also, that as we have been independent, our children after
us, by following our example, and availing themselves of the means we
have left behind us, will walk in like manner through the world in
happiness and independence.
Every man's first duty is, to improve, to educate, and elevate
himself--helping forward his brethren at the same time by all reasonable
methods. Each has within himself the capability of free will and free
action to a large extent; and the fact is proved by the multitude of men
who have successfully battled with and overcome the adverse
circumstances of life in which they have been placed; and who have risen
from the lowest depths of poverty and social debasement, as if to prove
what energetic man, resolute of purpose, can do for his own elevation,
progress, and advancement in the world. Is it not a fact that the
greatness of humanity, the glory of communities, the power of nations,
are the result of trials and difficulties encountered and overcome?
Let a man resolve and determine that he will advance, and the first step
of advancement is already made. The first step is half the battle. In
the very fact of advancing himself, he is in the most effectual possible
way advancing others. He is giving them the most eloquent of all
lessons--that of example; which teaches far more emphatically than words
can teach. He is doing, what others are by imitation incited to do.
Beginning with himself, he is in the most emphatic manner teaching the
duty of self-reform and of self-improvement; and if the majority of men
acted as he did, how much wiser, how much happier, how much more
prosperous as a whole, would society become. For, society being made up
of units, will be happy and prosperous, or the reverse, exactly in the
same degree as the respective individuals who compose it.
Complaints about the inequality of conditions are as old as the world.
In the "Economy" of Xenophon, Socrates asks, "How is it that some men
live in abundance, and have something to spare, whilst others can
scarcely obtain the necessaries of life, and at the same time run into
debt?" "The reason is," replied Isomachus, "because the former occupy
themselves with their business, whilst the latter neglect it."
The difference between men consists for the most part in intelligence,
conduct, and energy. The best character never works by chance, but is
under the influence of virtue, prudence, and forethought.
There are, of course, many failures in the world. The man who looks to
others for help, instead of relying on himself, will fail. The man who
is undergoing the process of perpetual waste, will fail. The miser, the
scrub, the extravagant, the thriftless, will necessarily fail. Indeed,
most people fail because they do not deserve to succeed. They set about
their work in the wrong way, and no amount of experience seems to
improve them. There is not so much in luck as some people profess to
believe. Luck is only another word for good management in practical
affairs. Richelieu used to say that he would not continue to employ an
unlucky man,--in other words, a man wanting in practical qualities, and
unable to profit by experience; for failures in the past are very often
the auguries of failures in the future.
Some of the best and ablest of men are wanting in tact. They will
neither make allowance for circumstances, nor adapt themselves to
circumstances: they will insist on trying to drive their wedge the broad
end foremost. They raise walls only to run their own heads against. They
make such great preparations, and use such great precautions, that they
defeat their own object,--like the Dutchman mentioned by Washington
Irving, who, having to leap a ditch, went so far back to have a good run
at it, that when he came up he was completely winded, and had to sit
down on the wrong side to recover his breath.
In actual life, we want things done, not preparations for doing them;
and we naturally prefer the man who has definite aims and purposes, and
proceeds in the straightest and shortest way to accomplish his object,
to the one who describes the thing to be done, and spins fine phrases
about doing it. Without action, words are mere maundering.
The desire for success in the world, and even for the accumulation of
money, is not without its uses. It has doubtless been implanted in the
human heart for good rather than for evil purposes. Indeed the desire to
accumulate, forms one of the most powerful instruments for the
regeneration of society. It provides the basis for individual energy and
activity. It is the beginning of maritime and commercial enterprise. It
is the foundation of industry, as well as of independence. It impels men
to labour, to invent, and to excel.
No idle nor thriftless man ever became great. It is amongst those who
never lost a moment, that we find the men who have moved and advanced
the world,--by their learning, their science, or their inventions.
Labour of some sort is one of the conditions of existence. The thought
has come down to us from pagan times, that "Labour is the price which
the gods have set upon all that is excellent." The thought is also
worthy of Christian times.
Everything depends, as we shall afterwards find, upon the uses to which
accumulations of wealth are applied. On the tombstone of John Donough,
of New Orleans, the following maxims are engraved as the merchant's
guide to young men on their way through life:--
"Remember always that labour is one of the conditions of our existence.
"Time is gold; throw not one minute away, but place each one to
account.
"Do unto all men as you would be done by.
"Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day.
"Never bid another do what you can do yourself.
"Never covet what is not your own.
"Never think any matter so trifling as not to deserve notice.
"Never give out what does not come in.
"Do not spend, but produce.
"Let the greatest order regulate the actions of your life.
"Study in your course of life to do the greatest amount of good.
"Deprive yourself of nothing that is necessary to your comfort, but
live in honourable simplicity and frugality.
"Labour then to the last moment of your existence."
Most men have it in their power, by prudent arrangements, to defend
themselves against adversity, and to throw up a barrier against
destitution. They can do this by their own individual efforts, or by
acting on the principle of co-operation, which is capable of an almost
indefinite extension. People of the most humble condition, by combining
their means and associating together, are enabled in many ways to defend
themselves against the pressure of poverty, to promote their physical
well-being, and even to advance the progress of the nation.
A solitary individual may be able to do very little to advance and
improve society; but when he combines with his fellows for the purpose,
he can do a very great deal. Civilization itself is but the effect of
combining. Mr. Mill has said that "almost all the advantages which man
possesses over the inferior animals, arise from his power of acting in
combination with his fellows, and of accomplishing, by the united
efforts of numbers, what could not be accomplished by the detached
efforts of individuals."
The secret of social development is to be found in co-operation; and the
great question of improved economical and social life can only receive a
satisfactory solution through its means. To effect good on a large
scale, men must combine their efforts; and the best social system is
that in which the organization for the common good is rendered the most
complete in all respects.
The middle classes have largely employed the principle of association.
No class has risen so rapidly, or done more by their energy and industry
to advance the power and progress of England. And why? Because the most
active have always been the most ready to associate, to co-operate, and
to combine. They have combined when they were attacked, combined when
they had an abuse to destroy, or a great object to accomplish. They have
associated together to manufacture articles of commerce, to make canals,
to construct railways, to form gas companies, to institute insurance and
banking companies, and to do an immense amount of industrial work. By
combining their small capitals together, they have been able to
accumulate an enormous aggregate capital, and to execute the most
gigantic undertakings.
The middle classes have accomplished more by the principle of
co-operation than the classes who have so much greater need of it. All
the joint stock companies are the result of association. The railways,
the telegraphs, the banks, the mines, the manufactories, have for the
most part been established and are carried on by means of the savings of
the middle classes.
The working classes have only begun to employ the same principle. Yet
how much might they accomplish by its means! They might co-operate in
saving as well as in producing. They might, by putting their saved
earnings together, become, by combination, their own masters. Within a
few years past, many millions sterling have been expended in strikes for
wages. A hundred millions a year are thrown away upon drink and other
unnecessary articles. Here is an enormous capital. Men who expend or
waste such an amount can easily become capitalists. It requires only
will, energy, and self-denial. So much money spent on buildings, plant,
and steam-engines, would enable them to manufacture for themselves,
instead of for the benefit of individual capitalists. The steam-engine
is impartial in its services. It is no respecter of persons; it will
work for the benefit of the labourer as well as for the benefit of the
millionaire. It will work for those who make the best use of it, and who
have the greatest knowledge of its powers.
The greater number of workmen possess little capital save their labour;
and, as we have already seen, many of them uselessly and wastefully
spend most of their earnings, instead of saving them and becoming
capitalists. By combining in large numbers for the purposes of
economical working, they might easily become capitalists, and operate
upon a large scale. As society is now constituted, every man is not only
justified but bound in duty as a citizen, to accumulate his earnings by
all fair and honourable methods, with the view of securing a position of
ultimate competence and independence.
We do not say that men should save and hoard their gains for the mere
sake of saving and hoarding; this would be parsimony and avarice. But we
do say that all men ought to aim at accumulating a sufficiency--enough
to maintain them in comfort during the helpless years that are to
come--to maintain them in times of sickness and of sorrow, and in old
age, which, if it does come, ought to find them with a little store of
capital in hand, sufficient to secure them from dependence upon the
charity of others.
Workmen are for the most part disposed to associate; but the association
is not always of a healthy kind. It sometimes takes the form of Unions
against masters; and displays itself in the Strikes that are so common,
and usually so unfortunate. Workmen also strike against men of their own
class, for the purpose of excluding them from their special calling. One
of the principal objects of trades-unions is to keep up wages at the
expense of the lower paid and unassociated working people. They
endeavour to prevent poorer men learning their trade, and thus keep the
supply of labour below the demand.[1] This system may last for a time,
but it becomes ruinous in the end.
[Footnote 1: On the 31st January, 1875, a labourer in the employment of
Messrs. Vickers, Sheffield, who had not served an apprenticeship, was
put on to turn one of the lathes. This being contrary to the rules of
the union, the men in the shop struck work. It is a usual course for men
of the union to "strike" in this manner against persons of their own
condition, and to exercise a force not resting in law or natural right,
but merely on the will of a majority, and directly subversive of the
freedom of the individual.]
It is not the want of money that prevents skilled workmen from becoming
capitalists, and opening the door for the employment of labouring men
who are poorer and less skilled than themselves. The work-people threw
away half a million sterling during the Preston strike, after which they
went back to work at the old terms. The London building trades threw
away over three hundred thousand pounds during their strike; and even
had they obtained the terms for which they struck, it would have taken
six years to recoup them for their loss. The colliers in the Forest of
Dean went back to work at the old terms after eleven weeks' play, at the
loss of fifty thousand pounds. The iron-workers of Northumberland and
Durham, after spending a third of the year in idleness, and losing two
hundred thousand pounds in wages, went back to work at a reduction of
ten per cent. The colliers and iron-workers of South Wales, during the
recent strike or lock-out, were idle for four months, and, according to
Lord Aberdare, lost, in wages alone, not less than three millions
sterling!
Here, then, is abundance of money within the power of
working-men,--money which they might utilize, but do not. Think only of
a solitary million, out of the three millions sterling which they threw
away during the coal strike, being devoted to the starting of
collieries, or iron-mills, or manufactories, to be worked by
co-operative production for the benefit of the operatives themselves.
With frugal habits, says Mr. Greg, the well-conditioned workman might in
ten years easily have five hundred pounds in the bank; and, combining
his savings with twenty other men similarly disposed, they might have
ten thousand pounds for the purpose of starting any manufacture in which
they are adepts.[1]
[Footnote 1: "The annual expenditure of the working classes alone, on
drink and tobacco, is not less than £60,000,000. Every year, therefore,
the working classes have it in their power to become capitalists
(_simply by saving wasteful and pernicious expenditure_) to an extent
which would enable them to start at least 500 cotton mills, or coal
mines, or iron works, _on their own account_, or to purchase at least
500,000 acres, and so set up 50,000 families each with a nice little
estate of their own of ten acres, on fee simple. No one can dispute the
facts. No one can deny the inference."--_Quarterly Review,_ No. 263.]
That this is not an impracticable scheme, is capable of being easily
proved. The practice of co-operation has long been adopted by workpeople
throughout England. A large proportion of the fishery industry has been
conducted on that principle for hundreds of years. Fishermen join in
building, rigging, and manning a boat; the proceeds of the fish they
catch at sea is divided amongst them--so much to the boat, so much to
the fishermen. The company of oyster-dredgers of Whitstable "has existed
time out of mind,"[2] though it was only in 1793 that they were
incorporated by Act of Parliament. The tin-miners of Cornwall have also
acted on the same principle. They have mined, washed, and sold the tin,
dividing the proceeds among themselves in certain proportions,--most
probably from the time that the Phoenicians carried away the produce to
their ports in the Mediterranean.
[Footnote 2: Reports on the Paris Universal Exhibition, 1867, vol. vi.,
p. 252.]
In our own time, co-operation has been practised to a considerable
extent. In 1795, the Hull Anti-Mill Industrial Society was founded. The
reasons for its association are explained in the petition addressed to
the Mayor and Aldermen of Hull by the first members of the society. The
petition begins thus: "We, the poor inhabitants of the said town, have
lately experienced much trouble and sorrow in ourselves and families, on
the occasion of the exorbitant price of flour; and though the price is
much reduced at present, yet we judge it needful to take every
precaution to preserve ourselves from the invasions of covetous and
merciless men in future." They accordingly entered into a subscription
to build a mill, in order to supply themselves with flour. The
corporation granted their petition, and supported them by liberal
donations. The mill was built, and exists to this day. It now consists
of more than four thousand members, each holding a share of twenty-five
shillings. The members belong principally to the labouring classes. The
millers endeavoured by action at law to put down the society, but the
attempt was successfully resisted. The society manufactures flour, and
sells it to the members at market price, dividing the profits annually
amongst the shareholders, according to the quantity consumed in each
member's family. The society has proved eminently remunerative.
Many years passed before the example of the "poor inhabitants" of Hull
was followed. It was only in 1847 that the co-operators of Leeds
purchased a flour-mill, and in 1850 that those of Rochdale did the same;
since which time they have manufactured flour for the benefit of their
members. The corn-millers of Leeds attempted to undersell the Leeds
Industrial Society. They soon failed, and the price of flour was
permanently reduced. The Leeds mill does business amounting to more than
a hundred thousand pounds yearly; its capital amounts to twenty-two
thousand pounds; and it paid more than eight thousand pounds of profits
and bonuses to its three thousand six hundred members in 1866, besides
supplying them with flour of the best quality. The Rochdale District
Co-operative Corn-mill Society has also been eminently successful. It
supplies flour to consumers residing within a radius of about fifteen
miles round Rochdale[1]. It also supplies flour to sixty-two
co-operative societies, numbering over twelve thousand members. Its
business in 1866 amounted to two hundred and twenty-four thousand
pounds, and its profits to over eighteen thousand pounds.
[Footnote 1: Its history is given in the Reports above referred to, p.
269.]
The Rochdale Corn-mill grew out of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society, which formed an epoch in the history of industrial co-operative
institutions. The Equitable Pioneers Society was established in the year
1844, at a time when trade was in a very bad condition, and working
people generally were heartless and hopeless as to their future state.
Some twenty-eight or thirty men, mostly flannel weavers, met and formed
themselves into a society for the purpose of economizing their hard-won
earnings. It is pretty well known that working-men generally pay at
least ten per cent. more for the articles they consume, than they need
to do under a sounder system. Professor Fawcett estimates their loss at
nearer twenty per cent. than ten per cent. At all events, these
working-men wished to save this amount of profit, which before went into
the pockets of the distributers of the necessaries,--in other words,
into the pockets of the shopkeepers.
The weekly subscription was twopence each; and when about fifty-two
calls of twopence each had been made, they found that they were able to
buy a sack of oatmeal, which they distributed at cost-price amongst the
members of the society. The number of members grew, and the
subscriptions so increased, that the society was enabled to buy tea,
sugar, and other articles, and distribute them amongst the members at
cost-price. They superseded the shopkeepers, and became their own
tradesmen. They insisted from the first on payments in cash. No credit
was given.
The society grew. It established a store for the sale of food, firing,
clothes, and other necessaries. In a few years the members set on foot
the Co-operative Corn-mill. They increased the capital by the issue of
one-pound shares, and began to make and sell clothes and shoes. They
also sold drapery. But the principal trade consisted in the purchase and
sale of provisions--butchers' meat, groceries, flour, and such-like.
Notwithstanding the great distress during the period of the cotton
famine, the society continued to prosper. From the first, it set apart a
portion of its funds for educational purposes, and established a
news-room, and a library, which now contains over six thousand volumes.
The society continued to increase until it possessed eleven branches for
the sale of goods and stores in or near Rochdale, besides the original
office in Toad Lane. At the end of 1866, it had 6,246 members, and a
capital of £99,908. Its income for goods sold and cash received during
the year was £249,122; and the gross profit £31,931.
But this was not all. Two and a half per cent. was appropriated from the
net profits to support the news-rooms and library; and there are now
eleven news and reading rooms at different places in or near the town
where the society carries on its business; the sum devoted to this
object amounting to over seven hundred pounds per annum. The members
play at chess and draughts, and use the stereoscopic views, microscopes,
and telescopes placed in the libraries. No special arrangements have
been made to promote temperance; but the news-rooms and library exercise
a powerful and beneficial influence in promoting sobriety. It has been
said that the society has done more to remove drunkenness from Rochdale
than all that the advocates of temperance have been able to effect.
The example of the Rochdale Pioneers has exercised a powerful influence
on working-men throughout the northern counties of England. There is
scarcely a town or village but has a co-operative institution of one
kind or another. These societies have promoted habits of saving, of
thrift, and of temperance. They have given the people an interest in
money matters, and enabled them to lay out their earnings to the best
advantage. They have also given the working people some knowledge of
business; for the whole of their concerns are managed by committees
selected at the general meetings of the members.
One of the most flourishing co-operative societies is that established
at Over Darwen. The society has erected a row of handsome buildings in
the centre of the town. The shops for the sale of provisions, groceries,
clothing, and other necessaries, occupy the lower story. Over the shops
are the library, reading rooms, and class rooms, which are open to the
members and their families. The third story consists of a large public
hall, which is used for lectures, concerts, and dances. There are six
branches of the society established in different parts of the town. A
large amount of business is done, and the profits are very considerable.
These are divided amongst the members, in proportion to the purchases
made by them. The profits are for the most part re-invested in
joint-stock paper-mills, cotton-mills, and collieries, in the
neighbourhood of Darwen. One of the most praiseworthy features of the
society is the provision made for the free education of the members and
their families. Two and a half per cent. of the profits are appropriated
for the purpose. While inspecting the institution a few months ago, we
were informed that the Science classes were so efficiently conducted,
that one of the pupils had just obtained a Government Scholarship of
fifty pounds a year, for three years, including free instruction at the
School of Mines, Jermyn Street, London, with a free use of the
laboratories during that period. There are also two other co-operative
institutions in the same place; and we were informed that the working
people of Darwen are, for the most part, hard-working, sober, and
thrifty.
The example has also spread into Scotland and the south of England. At
Northampton, a co-operative society exists for the purpose of buying and
selling leather, and also for the manufacture of boots and shoes. At
Padiham and other places in Lancashire, co-operative cotton-mills have
been established. The Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-operative
Society "combine the securities and facilities of a bank with the
profits of a trade." But the business by which they mostly thrive, is by
the purchase and sale of food, provisions, groceries, draperies, and
other articles, with the exception of intoxicating liquors.
The sole secret of their success consists in "ready money." They give no
credit. Everything is done for cash; the profit of the trade being
divided amongst the members. Every business man knows that cash payment
is the soundest method of conducting business. The Rochdale Pioneers
having discovered the secret, have spread it amongst their class. In
their "advice to members of this and other societies," they say: "Look
well after money matters. Buy your goods as much as possible in the
first markets; or if you have the produce of your industry to sell,
contrive, if possible, to sell it in the last. Never depart from the
principle of buying and selling for ready money. Beware of long
reckonings." In short, the co-operative societies became tradesmen on a
large scale; and, besides the pureness of the food sold, their profit
consisted in the discount for cash payments, which was divided amongst
the members.
Land and Building Societies constitute another form of co-operation.
These are chiefly supported by the minor middle-class men, but also to a
considerable extent by the skilled and thrifty working-class men. By
their means portions of land are bought, and dwelling-houses are built.
By means of a building society, a person who desires to possess a house
enters the society as a member, and instead of paying his rent to the
landlord, pays his subscriptions and interest to a committee of his
friends; and in course of time, when his subscriptions are paid up, the
house is purchased, and conveyed to him by the society. The
building-society is thus a savings bank, where money accumulates for a
certain purpose. But even those who do not purchase a house, receive a
dividend and bonus on their shares, which sometimes amounts to a
considerable sum.
The accumulation of property has the effect which it always has upon
thrifty men; it makes them steady, sober, and diligent. It weans them
from revolutionary notions, and makes them conservative. When workmen,
by their industry and frugality, have secured their own independence,
they will cease to regard the sight of others' well-being as a wrong
inflicted on themselves; and it will no longer be possible to make
political capital out of their imaginary woes.
It has been said that Freehold Land Societies, which were established
for political objects, had the effect of weaning men from political
reform. They were first started in Birmingham, for the purpose of
enabling men to buy land, and divide it into forty-shilling freeholds,
so that the owners might become electors and vote against the corn-laws.
The corn-laws have been done away with; but the holders of freehold land
still exist, though many of them have ceased to be politicians. "Mr.
Arthur Ryland informs me," said Mr. Holyoake, in a recent paper on
Building Societies, "that in Birmingham, numbers of persons under the
influence of these societies have forsaken patriotism for profits. And I
know both co-operators and Chartists who were loud-mouthed for social
and political reform, who now care no more for it than a Whig
government; and decline to attend a public meeting on a fine night,
while they would crawl like the serpent in Eden, through a gutter in a
storm, after a good security. They have tasted land, and the gravel has
got into their souls."
"Yet to many others," he adds, "these societies have taught a healthy
frugality they never else would have known; and enabled many an
industrious son to take to his home his poor old father--who expected
and dreaded to die in the workhouse--and set him down to smoke his pipe
in the sunshine in the garden, of which the land and the house belonged
to his child."[1]
[Footnote 1: Paper read at York Meeting of the National Society for
Promoting Social Science, 26th Sept. 1864.]
The Leeds Permanent Building Society, which has furnished healthy
tenements for about two hundred families, sets forth the following
recommendations of the influence which it has exercised amongst the
working classes of that town: "It is truly cheering to hear the members
themselves, at occasional meetings tell how, from small savings hitherto
deemed too little for active application, they began to invest in the
society: then to build or buy; then to advance in life, and come to
competence, from extending their savings in this manner.... The
provident habits and knowledge thus induced are most beneficial to the
members. And the result is, that the careless become thoughtful, and, on
saving, become orderly, respectable, propertied, and in every way better
citizens, neighbours, and more worthy and comfortable. The employment of
money in this useful direction encourages trade, advances prices and
wages, comforts the working classes, and at the same time provides the
means of home enjoyments, without which such advances would be
comparatively useless, and certainly uncertain."[1]
[Footnote 1: Letter of Mr. John Holmes, in Reports of Paris Universal
Exhibition, 1867 vol. vi., p. 240.]
There are also exceptional towns and villages in Lancashire where large
sums of money have been saved by the operatives for buying or building
comfortable cottage dwellings. Last year Padiham saved about fifteen
thousand pounds for this purpose, although its population is only about
8,000. Burnley has also been very successful. The Building Society there
has 6,600 investors, who saved last year £160,000 or an average of
twenty-four pounds for each investor. The members consist principally of
mill operatives, miners, mechanics, engineers, carpenters, stonemasons,
and labourers. They also include women, both married and unmarried. Our
informant states that "great numbers of the working classes have
purchased houses in which to live. They have likewise bought houses as a
means of investment. The building society has assisted in hundreds of
these cases, by advancing money on mortgage,--such mortgages being
repaid by easy instalments."
Building Societies are, on the whole, among the most excellent methods
of illustrating the advantages of Thrift. They induce men to save money
for the purpose of buying their own homes; in which, so long as they
live, they possess the best of all securities.