THE STATE GOVERNMENT—ITS INSANE, WEAK-MINDED, BLIND, SICK, AGED AND
INFIRM—THE INDUSTRIAL ARMY—ITS ORGANIZATION AND PRODUCTIVE POWER.
All the labor of the state of Idaho was, as early as 1910, performed
exclusively by the Industrial Army of the Co-opolitan Association. We
had intended at the outset of our career to transfer all our property to
the state government when it should come under our control, but for the
reasons already mentioned that plan was abandoned. Even as late as the
year following the adoption of our Co-operative institution we expected
to pursue that course. But as soon as we began the actual work of
legislation we discovered that the better and simpler method, and one
which rendered it easier to avoid conflict with the Federal
constitution, was to keep the state government within very narrow
limits. As a result the state government delegated all its important
functions which could be delegated to the Co-opolitan Association. Its
Great Council still continued to exercise its legislative and judicial
functions and the executive still continued to act as the chief police
and military officer. But the state government was hardly more than a
bridge connecting the Co-operative state with the Federal Constitution.
The latter could not recognize the former, but the state government
could, and did. The state complied with the constitution of the country
as a political organism. The Co-opolitan Association, as the industrial,
financial, social and commercial organism, did as it pleased.
Notwithstanding all this, the Co-operative state, the state of Idaho and
the Co-opolitan Association were one and the same, and the
last-mentioned, embracing all the people of the state and its
membership, was the living and controlling power in and behind the
whole.
We had expected that the state of Idaho would have an Industrial Army of
its own. Experience, however, convinced us that it would be far better
to do all its work through the Association. Insane, weak-minded, blind,
sick, aged and infirm persons who were members of the Association were
cared for by the Association, so that the state had no duty to perform
toward them. The children of our members inherited membership, losing it
only by violating its laws in some few particulars, so that insane,
weak-minded, sick or infirm children of members were all cared for. To
care for persons who might be afflicted, however, and were not members
of the Association was the state’s concern. To punish criminals was its
duty. The Great Council contracted with the Co-opolitan Association to
care for its afflicted and its criminals, and the sole consideration
which it charged for this burden was that it have the benefit of the
labor of the able-bodied among them.
We soon found that the criminals whom the state consigned to our care,
when given a fair opportunity, were most of them able and willing to
work. This was all the more apparent when we offered a reward,
consisting of wages equal to a Co-opolitan’s dividend, for meritorious
conduct. We rarely ever permitted a convict to become a member of our
Industrial Army, however meritorious his work, but we did not oblige him
to quit our service on the penitential farm or in the penitential
factories when his term of service expired. Yet we did admit Barnstead,
who invented a flying machine; Applegate, the inventor of the electric
plough; Turner, that poet who sang with wonderful power the songs of
Remorse, Injustice and Sorrow, and some thirty others. The state
criminal is now almost a thing of the past, yet fifteen years ago our
penitential farms and factories were important concerns. But we made
them pay. They produced not only enough wealth to support themselves
substantially, but enough to support the state insane, weak-minded,
sick, aged and infirm, whose several asylums adjoined the farms.
Our Industrial Army in that year—1910—contained twenty-four departments,
in which 1,025,525 persons were at that time enlisted. Of these four
hundred and sixty-two thousand one hundred and twenty-one were women. It
was a magnificent body of well-trained, intelligent, earnest,
industrious and faithful men and women. The chief of this body was the
President of the Association. Its movements were directed by the
Legislative Council. Its general laws were enacted by that body, but
each department and subdivision had regulations of its own which did not
conflict with those provided by the Legislative Council. There were then
twenty-five general departments, as follows:
1st. Department of Agriculture. All occupations requiring the
cultivation of the soil, except such as were within the Nursery and
Fruit department, were within its province.
2nd. The Live Stock department had charge of all cattle, horses, sheep,
hogs and other animals, as well as birds.
3rd. The Nursery and Fruit department had charge of all orchards, vines
and plants bearing fruit and all horticultural plants and flowers.
4th. The Irrigation department had charge of all waters and the
distribution of the same.
5th. The Commerce department had charge of all department stores and was
charged, as now, with supplying the needs of the people.
6th. The Manufacturing department had charge of all factories and all
manufactures.
7th. The Transportation department had charge of all highways, methods
of transportation, vehicles and the operation of the same.
8th. The Messenger and Publishing department had charge of the means and
instrumentalities of communication and publication, including
telegraphs, telephones, signals, newspapers and magazines.
9th. The Educational department had charge of the education of the
young.
10th. The Department of Public Amusements had charge of the
entertainment of the people.
11th. The Department of Health had charge of the public health, the
care, treatment and cure of the sick and the burial of the dead. Also
all hospitals, sanitariums, mineral springs, medicines, drugs and
medical practice.
12th. The Legal department had charge of the legal business of the
Association. This department employed about one hundred and fifty
persons in 1910.
13th. The Timber and Forestry department had charge of the timber and
saw mills of the Association. It was also charged with the preservation
of the forest.
14th. The Labor department had charge of the unclassified labor of the
Association. From the Educational department all students passed into
this department, where they were generally required to serve three
years. All persons enlisting who did not possess a trade or evince some
special aptitude were also generally assigned to this department.
Advancement to other departments, or the official positions in this one,
were the rewards of merit. This department was also required to find
constant employment for its forces or to report forthwith to the
Legislative Council its failure to do so. In the latter case the
Legislative Council would cause new enterprises to be undertaken.
15th. The Department of Public Improvements was charged with the
investigation of all plans for new roads, parks, waterways and the
improvements of the methods, conveniences and comforts of the people.
Plans or ideas were received by this department from any person and
whenever a plan or idea was accepted, provided it was new, original and
meritorious, a reward in the form of a vacation was given the
originator.
16th. The Department of Invention was charged with the duty of searching
out, investigating, testing and introducing all labor-saving inventions
to the Association. This proved to be one of the most useful
departments. Manufacturers are not usually able to find time to
experiment and are generally averse to introducing new machinery or
methods. This department did all the work of experimenting and reported
results.
17th. The Department of Art had charge of all decorating, painting,
drawing, sculpture, architecture, designing, etc.
18th. The Engineering department had charge of all engineering work.
19th. The Department of Building not only had charge of all buildings,
and was responsible for their healthfulness and security, but was the
manufacturer of all building material, except lumber, and quarried all
stone employed by it or shipped to another state. The granite, white
calico and lilac mottled marble, the gypsum, sandstone and other
building stone, as well as ornamental onyx stone, produced by our
quarries, were, and still are, handled by this department.
20th. The Department of Mining had charge of all the mining except coal.
21st. The Land department had charge of all the unused lands of the
Association.
22d. The Food department had charge of the preparation and distribution
of all foods at public or private tables, the killing, dressing and
packing or canning of meats, and the preparation, preserving or canning
of fruits, vegetables and other edibles.
23d. The Department of Fuel, Heat and Light had charge of all heating
and lighting plants and all sources of fuel, such as coal mines, gas
wells and oil wells.
24th. The Department of Science had charge of the scientific
investigation, of the geology, mineralogy and natural resources of the
state and their chemical analysis.
25th. The Department of Accounts and Statistics was then, as now, the
Auditory department. In addition to this it received and transmitted all
orders between the departments. For instance, if the flour section of
the department store desired flour the Commerce department must send its
orders to the Department of Accounts and Statistics. Here the order is
recorded and immediately transmitted to the Manufacturing department. If
the Manufacturing department has no flour it transmits an order to this
department for wheat, which is recorded and transmitted to the
Agricultural department. When the order for wheat is filled this
department is notified by the department filling and that receiving, and
so with the flour when delivered. This department also keeps a full
record of all the property and products of the Association.
These several departments were again subdivided by the Legislative
Council into divisions and sections.
Our method of co-operation, through the instrumentality of the
Industrial Army, resulted in our being able to produce more than three
times as much wealth each year as an equal population usually did in the
competitive system.
The population of the state at that time, including men, women and
children, was 3,160,000. Such a population in a competitive state will
contain about five thousand lawyers.
We had one hundred and fifty lawyers and four thousand eight hundred and
fifty strong men in our producing ranks. The wives of these men were
also in our Industrial Army.
Such a population in competition usually supports six thousand saloon
men and bartenders. Liquors were sold in the various department stores
of the Association at that time and in the restaurants and hotels, but
there were no bars and no saloons. They were handled incidentally with
drugs, medicines or foods. In the competitive system the liquor dealers
and bartenders form a special force. The liquors in Idaho were dispensed
by the clerks and waiters who handled other goods. We could safely count
six thousand workers in our Industrial Army aiding in the production of
wealth instead of six thousand saloon men and bartenders.
Instead of eight thousand claim, commission, real estate and insurance
agents and collectors we had an equal number of men at work in our
factories, on our farms, or in the distributing departments.
The restaurant and hotel keepers, brokers, commercial travelers,
hucksters and peddlers and merchants in such a population in a
competitive state would number sixty thousand. All these, instead of
preying upon us and consuming the fruits of our labor without giving any
return for it, were now at work with us.
Body and personal servants who wait upon the rich in a state of three
million inhabitants will number in the neighborhood of ninety thousand,
and all these were in our Industrial Army helping to increase the annual
wealth of the state.
We had no gamblers, professional capitalists, speculators or leisure
classes in 1910, but we had an equal number of honest workers.
We were not compelled to waste time in searching for employment, hunting
for customers or waiting for trade.
We were not distressed by the pressure of a few overburdened and a large
number who could get neither the burden nor the reward for carrying it.
There were no overdone trades and no overstocked markets.
Wherever we found power, whether human, natural or mechanical, we sought
to employ it.
Two incentives were furnished by the Association to honest and diligent
effort on the part of the worker. The first was promotion to a higher
grade. The second was a reward in the nature of a leave of absence.
These incentives were powerful, especially as Idaho, being one of the
most beautiful and picturesque states in the Union and abounding in
game, offered an inviting field for recreation. But another force was
also at work among the men and women of the Army. Each felt that he was
a partner in this great enterprise. Each regarded the idler who “stole
time” as his foe. Each was determined that the other should do his duty,
and the laggard and loafer was regarded with such contempt by his
associates that no one cared to incur the odium of that reputation. This
had a very pronounced effect both as to the quality and quantity of the
work done.
At and before that time I had noticed that a large number of those who
entered the Army from other states were actuated by a desire to earn the
large dividends paid to members for several years, cash their checks or
orders and withdraw. In a few instances only have I noticed that these
intentions were carried out.
Such persons found that in our system they were able to obtain all the
best fruits of competition without the worry, distress and mockery of
that system. Their labor was better rewarded, their hours of toil were
shorter, they were never confronted by want, they were called upon to
divide with neither poverty nor distress; they were equal to the best as
far as material things were concerned and they were not superior to any
one in those respects. I remember that a few were, or affected to be,
distressed because they could not own any real estate. But in a few
months they realized that they would never be disturbed in the
possession of the house they occupied as long as it satisfied them, and
that, should sickness or death come, their families were safe.
When a workman was injured or fell sick his dividend was paid as fully
as if he were at work. If injured by accident or negligence he had no
remedy, although the person responsible for his injury might suffer
punishment. His assurance of receiving his membership dividends was
sufficient comfort.
If the worker urged that he should have a vested right in the
Association property, above the share of its annual earnings, it was
only necessary to remind him that in the competitive system he would
never think of demanding of his employer a similar share, and was
generally compelled to be satisfied with a pittance for wages. In the
co-operative system he received his dividend, which represented, in
1910, twelve hundred dollars per annum, purchased everything he needed
cheaper than competition ever made it for him, was insured against
accident or sickness, had his family protected against his death, was
furnished educational facilities and positions for his children, and was
more certainly a part of the governing power than he could be under any
constitution. Instead of being the hunted victim of a hundred ingenious
robbers who flattered him with the promise that he would strengthen his
individuality by permitting them to chase and starve him and his family,
he discovered that his individuality improved with prosperity and his
confidence and courage rose in an equal and healthy contest.