THE FIRST CO-OPERATIVE CONVENTION—THOMPSON NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR.
The great hall was thronged with delegates and spectators. There was a
feeling that this convention was to select the next governor and state
officers and people who were not members, but resided in Idaho, were
many of them disposed to be favorable. The railroads, owners of gold
mines, some of the great cattle kings, real estate brokers, money
loaners and saloons were against us, but the masses were friendly. We
calculated that we had ten thousand more votes at our disposal than our
opponents. It was estimated by the leaders of the People’s party that
more than half of the inhabitants of the state outside of the
Association would support the ticket, but Thompson had several times
assured me that while more than half were disposed to support us, most
of them had not the mental strength to do so. Be that as it may the
convention met, organized and went to work. No need to describe all that
was done. Mr. Edmunds, chief of our Department of Education, made a
speech nominating John Thompson for governor. He described the
Co-opolitan Association, presented an historical sketch of its
foundation and development, pictured Co-opolis as it was when our
company reached Hacket’s ranch, told the story of each year’s work, and,
in closing, showed how one master mind conceived and one master spirit
directed every detail of that magnificent undertaking.
“You would hardly credit, if you were acquainted with the facts, the
history of Co-opolis as I have presented it,” said he as he proceeded.
“From the smallest beginnings we have progressed to that magnificent
estate which lies before you. The world may behold if it will, and
accept the model if it choose. In five years all this has been effected.
In the first year we had only the bare land, the running water, a few
cattle and sheep. In the second year we had five thousand cultivated
acres, ten thousand sheep, one thousand cattle and abundant harvests. In
the third year we had a surplus of produce and wool, forty thousand
sheep, twenty thousand cattle and with the help of irrigation abundant
harvest. In the fourth year, in addition to two hundred thousand sheep,
seventy-five thousand cattle and abundant harvests, we have added a
woolen mill, in which we manufacture our own woolen blankets and yarn
and knit our own woolen stockings and shirts. We can sell these in any
market. We are now building another mill and will work our wool product
into cloth. You ask how we have progressed so rapidly? I reply that the
Brotherhood throughout the United States has contributed much to our
enterprise by purchasing our surplus products and disposing of them in
eastern markets. But better than this we have never lost the labor power
of one able-bodied man during all this time. The confidence of the
Brotherhood in us was due to the magnificent generalship of one great
man, and that one great man was and is John Thompson of Co-opolis. (Here
the enthusiasm became unbounded and the audience cheered for several
minutes.)
“But, my friends, let me say to you that John Thompson has not only been
a general. He inherited a large fortune from his father and while he has
not contributed one cent of this to the Commonwealth he has sent men at
his expense to several of the great cities of this country to search out
deserving persons and has advanced to them the funds to come hither and
to pay the one hundred dollars required of each person on admission.
These amounts have been repaid from the wages of the recipient in due
time. I say to you, gentlemen, that this world does not contain a more
thoughtful, able and public-spirited man than John Thompson, whom I now
nominate for governor of Idaho.”
Mr. Edmunds sat down and the great hall fairly shook with the applause
which, as often as it subsided, was repeated again and again. James
Rutherford of Boise City, a delegate who, although a member of the
National Brotherhood, was, as yet, not connected with any colony,
seconded the nomination and moved that President Thompson be declared
the nominee by acclamation. The motion was put and carried without a
dissenting vote amid the wildest enthusiasm. The nominee having been
escorted to the platform by a committee designated for that purpose,
addressed the convention, after the tremendous cheers given in his honor
had subsided.
As he stood facing the great audience waiting an opportunity to begin I
thought I had never seen him look so masterful before. His tall,
powerfully built frame presented the picture of an athlete, and his face
expressed an intelligence which could only belong to a man of great
intellectual force. He was the personification of strength of physique,
mind and will. His face, as usual, was clean shaven, his black hair was
combed straight back from his forehead, his large dark eyes surveyed his
audience with a look which was a strange commingling of love and
command. I do not believe a man, friend or enemy, in the multitude
before him doubted his sincerity, or was conscious, for the moment, of
any other sentiment than that of admiration. He drew all men toward him
and, as many have often related to me since, when they came within his
influence they seemed most naturally to fall in line behind him and
acknowledge him as leader. He began to speak slowly, but his voice could
be heard distinctly throughout the great hall.
“Mr. President and gentlemen,” said he, “we have now reached a point in
the history of this Commonwealth which marks the beginning of an epoch.
To my mind it is apparent that all the events of Christian civilization
have been a preparation for the higher civilization which we are
privileged to usher in. It has been said that ‘Time’s noblest offspring
is her last,’ and we may hope that such offspring is this day born, and
that it will thrive and continue to grow until time shall be no more. I
have always believed that the old system from which we have sought to
escape is barbaric feudalism, and that, whether in its ancient military
or its modern commercial form, it was distorted by selfishness and
greed.
“The motives of the robber baron of the dark ages and the self-serving
organizer of trusts to-day do not differ, and if in the dark ages the
one, by force of arms, held possession of fertile valleys and exacted
tribute from neighboring peoples, the other by fraud monopolizes an
industry and seeks to crush out all competitors. Death strewed the paths
of both, the one being no less hideous in blood than the other was in
the gaunt and shrunken spectre of starvation. The one, however, spent
itself in its own terrors and disappeared before the awful ravages of
destructive war. So the other has exhausted itself in greed and making
the automaton serve in the stead of man has taught man the lesson of
co-operation.
“I have never been a friend to political socialism as a factor in
building up the Co-operative Commonwealth. My judgment has proposed to
me the development of the co-operative principle in commercial and
industrial lines until it became so strong that it could not be ignored.
In that manner the railroads, telegraphs and other vast interests from
unknown forces, developed into those mighty giants which came to control
the government and now terrorize the people. I have hoped that the
Co-operative Commonwealth developing in like manner, slowly but surely,
might with very different motives and for different purposes, become
strong enough to take the government and wield it for the common good of
all. If I mistake not, the time has come, the Commonwealth is equal to
its purpose, and we may assume our political rights. If we win in the
election now approaching the state of Idaho will become a co-operative
state. Our aim should be to establish our system without encroaching
upon the constitution of the nation. We will violate none of the
provisions of that instrument, but we will carefully observe all its
limitations. This will be no more difficult for us than it is for the
great trusts and monopolies, which have become so powerful that they are
able to obtain an interpretation of the constitution when they wish it,
whereby its limits have been and are constantly extended to suit their
purposes. By presenting a model of one co-operative commonwealth, we
may, and I believe will, sooner or later induce other states to follow
our lead, and the entire sisterhood of states may form one great
co-operative nation. But we should advance to the accomplishment of our
purpose, in this state, with wisdom and caution.
“We must make as few mistakes as possible. Our endeavor must be to
understand and strictly conform to the law. We must respect the opinions
of those who do not agree with us. We must not disturb any citizen in
the enjoyment of his property and it should never be forgotten that the
Commonwealth depends for its growth solely upon volunteers. You have, my
friends, nominated me to be the first governor of Co-operative Idaho. I
have consented to accept this dignity only because I now believe that he
who acts as President of the Co-operative Commonwealth should also be
the governor of the state, until every vestige of the old system is
removed from Idaho and all its people have voluntarily entered the new
system. We must have a dual government, but the Co-operative
Commonwealth must control it.
“Idaho, the name of our state, is said to mean ‘Light on the Mountains.’
We will strive to give it a still broader signification and, God
willing, it shall be a light to all the people.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth was conceived by men who believed the
human race capable of advancing to the highest ideal of civilization. It
never depended, for its success, upon those philosophers who chose to
believe that because they themselves did not feel the pinch of want
therefore none others need feel it, nor of those philanthropists who
were always going about giving that sort of temporary relief which only
served to make the source of poverty all the more prolific and the cause
all the more obscure. They did not ask advice of learned students of
history, who by that dim light discovered only the passions and sins of
great sinners, and being diverted by the monsters whose careers filled
the world with their unhallowed fame, failed to observe the patient,
law-abiding, industrious and sober millions who toiled unobserved in the
background.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth is founded upon the theory that all men
can as well habituate themselves to conform to higher as to lower
standards. The individualist, the theoretical democrat, urges that our
system will tend to destroy self-reliance and to weaken the individual
man. The same proposition carried to its logical conclusion would
abolish all co-operative effort, and as society, even in its lowest
forms, rests upon co-operation, all society is, if judged by that
standard, but weakening in its effects. But whether co-operation makes
men weak depends upon its purpose. If it is organized for theft, murder
or lewdness, then it certainly tends to make men morally weak. If it is
organized for luxury, riot or intemperance, then it tends to make them
physically weak. If its purpose is blasphemy, gross materialism and the
prevention of the free investigation of religious truth, it cannot fail
to make men spiritually weak. The Co-operative Commonwealth is organized
for none of these. Its aim is to produce a better and stronger man
mentally, physically, morally and spiritually. It gives the fullest
education to all and endeavors to make the minds of its pupils
independent and self-reliant. It offers the largest opportunity for
physical culture, and in all moral and spiritual spheres presents the
highest and best standards, without limiting freedom of thought or
criticism.
“In brief, the consummation of our programme is, the complete
elimination of speculation, gambling and unjust advantage from the
social state, and to guarantee our members the rewards of their own
efforts. We do not permit the rich to rob the poor, the strong to prey
upon the weak, nor the keen to sharpen their faculties at the material
expense of those who may be dull. To say that this is injurious to the
development of what is best in man, is to assert that life has no
purpose except physical gain, and that the main purpose of life is to
provide clothing, shelter and food. We hold that these are only the
means of life and that the purpose of life is the highest development of
manhood and womanhood for the acquisition and appreciation of truth.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth is a great insurance association, and as
such guarantees to its member the enjoyment of his or her earnings. It
goes one step further, and assures him that if accident or sickness
shall deprive him of physical or mental ability, or death shall remove
him from a dependent family, all physical and mental needs shall be
provided for him or them. All such advantages were and are regarded as
lending strength to any form of society and surely they cannot be other
than meritorious features of our system.
“With a firm belief in the righteousness of our great cause, and
assuring you that my life is devoted to your service, I again express my
willingness to accept this nomination. I need give you but one pledge
and giving that you can feel perfectly secure that your will is to
govern the future. It is my purpose to use my utmost endeavors to have a
constitutional convention called as speedily as possible, if I shall be
elected, and through that convention you, my brothers, will establish
the Co-operative Commonwealth forever.”
Again the convention went wild with enthusiasm and the delegates and
visitors crowded around the nominee. I have attended many state
conventions, but never before saw one which resembled so closely in its
magnitude and tumultuous enthusiasm those assemblages in which the
national parties are wont to designate their choice for chief magistrate
of the great republic. The reason, however, was apparent. All understood
that this convention was to initiate a peaceful revolution whose
influence would ultimately be world-wide in extent.
After the enthusiasm attending the nomination had subsided the
convention nominated the remainder of the ticket. All the candidates
were co-operators, but selected from different localities.
For Secretary of State, Addison Wellman of Boise City; State Treasurer,
Benjamin D. Corwin of Alpha, then a flourishing colony, now a great
city, on the Snake river, about sixty miles from Co-opolis. For
Lieutenant-Governor, Edward J. Murphy of Banford, in the northern part
of the state. This ticket, be it said, did not fully conform to our plan
to have the officers of the state and the association identical, but it
was considered best to unite all our colonies under one brotherhood
government within the state and then to carry our plan of official
identity of state and brotherhood into effect. The platform adopted was
very brief. It pledged the Co-operative Commonwealth to respect all
vested rights and to conform to the constitution of the United States,
but asserted that the sources and machinery of material production
should be owned in common. It also declared for a constitutional
convention to be called at an early date.