vious year. This scheme worked with great success for nearly ten years; during a time when disputes between employers and employed in the surrounding district were bitter, when strikes were frequent and heavy losses were being made, the business of the Messrs Briggs was most prosperous, and the relations between them and their men were harmonious and friendly. It has, however, unfortunately happened that the principle of copartnership which weathered the storm of adverse times and slack trade, was not proof against the trial of a very large and sudden increase in the profits and wages in the coal trade. In the years 1871 and 1872, the degree of prosperity in the coal trade was quite unprecedented. Wages and profits were almost doubled. Under these circumstances a dispute arose at Methley on the manner and the proportion in which these greatly increased profits should be distributed between capital and labour; and the dispute resulted in the abandonment of the copartnership principle.

Although the experiment tried at Methley has been abandoned, it should be remembered that the circumstances under which it was given up were very exceptional. Copartnership has been adopted with uninterrupted success in several other departments of industry; for example, by the Messrs Crossley in their large carpet manufactory at Halifax, and by the late Lord George Manners on a farm which he cultivated near Newmarket.

The advantages of co-operation and copartnership may be divided into two classes. In the first place, strikes are avoided, and consequently great pecuniary loss is prevented. In the second place, the efficiency of labour is greatly increased, and consequently more wealth is produced. A workman too often has the feeling. that it makes no difference to him whether he is indus-, trious or idle, careless or careful of his employer's pro

perty. He and his employer look upon each other as natural enemies, one of whom tries to do as little work and get as much wages as possible, and the other tries to give as little wages and to get as much work as possible. In such a condition of things overlookers have to be engaged by the employer, to see that the workmen fulfil their share of the bargain; but however much they are overlooked average men will never work with the best energy they can give, unless they feel that they themselves are directly benefited by their own labour. The stimulus which copartnership gives to labour is too often overlooked. Every capitalist who has given copartnership a fair trial in his own business, is always ready to admit. that it is most profitable in a pecuniary sense. The bonus distributed among the workmen does not represent so much taken away from the employer's profits; it represents part of the pecuniary value of the increased efficiency of labour.

We are constantly assured that strikes have imperilled and still threaten to destroy the commercial greatness of England. Strikes can never be prevented by discouraging trades' unions by adverse legislation. That plan has been tried for half a century, and strikes have become more and more frequent. Strikes are the result of the antagonism between capital and labour. Remove the antagonism, and strikes will die a natural death.

Boards of Arbitration. In some industries, especially in the lace and hosiery trades of Nottingham, the establishment of boards of arbitration has been most successful in preventing strikes. These boards are composed of an equal number of workmen and employers; they meet every month, and all disputes between masters and men are submitted to the arbitration of the boards. Nothing can be more beneficial than the operation of these boards when once a dispute has arisen; and by promoting friendly

intercourse between employers and employed, they may have some influence in preventing disputes; but it must be borne in mind that they deal with the symptom-the strike, and not with its cause-the antagonism of interest. They cannot therefore be regarded as complete and efficient remedies for strikes.

In

Co-operative Stores. Some misapprehension may arise by confusing co-operation with the so-called "co-operative" stores which have lately become so popular in London and other large towns. The real nature of cooperation is an union between capital and labour. such institutions as the Civil Service Store in the Haymarket, there is not necessarily any connection between capital and labour. It is a joint-stock company, the shares of which are owned, for the most part, by those who do not contribute by their labour to the success of the store. The shopmen and superintendents may own shares, but it is not an essential part of the undertaking that they should do so. A co-operative store relies for its success, not on an union of capital and labour, but mainly upon the ready-money principle. The prices of commodities sold in a co-operative store are less than those charged in an ordinary shop, because no bad debts are made, no expensive advertising need be resorted to, no costly shop-fronts need be kept up, and the cost of carriage of goods sold is not borne by the proprietors of the business. There is no reason, except the difficulty of overcoming the prejudice against anything new, why nearly all tradesmen should not conduct their businesses on the same principles as a co-operative store. The oldest and most celebrated of co-operative stores is that of the Rochdale Pioneers. In this society the ready-money principle is strictly adhered to, and the goods are sold at the ordinary retail prices. The accounts are made up quarterly, and the profits are divided in the following

manner; five per cent. per annum is allowed as interest on the shareholders' capital, and the remainder is divided among the purchasers, each customer receiving an amount proportionate to the sum which he has expended in purchasing commodities at the store. The Rochdale Pioneers' Society, which was started by workmen, and began in 1844 with sufficient capital only to buy one chest of tea and a hogshead of sugar, now does a business of £250,000 a year. There can therefore be no doubt that, when skilfully managed, co-operative stores are capable of achieving very striking financial success.

The advantages which co-operative stores afford to their customers are undoubted. It is therefore probable that the principle of ready-money payments, the main cause of the success of co-operative stores, will, in time, become general in many branches of trade.

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV. Trades' Unions, Strikes, and Co-operative Societies.

I. What is a trade's union?

2. What two functions does a trade's union usually fulfil?

3. Why are trades' unions unpopular with the capitalist classes?

4. What is the connection between trades' unions and strikes?

5. What is a strike?

6. Can it be shewn that men have no right to strike? 7. In what respect has the conduct of trades' unionists frequently been blameworthy?

8. Explain some of the rules by means of which trades' unionists have endeavoured to raise the wages given in their own employments.

9. Describe the similarity between the rules of trades' unions and the etiquette of the medical and legal professions.

IO. Give an instance of the combination of employers, and shew that their right to combine for the protection of their interests is as incontestable as that of their employés.

II.

Shew that no good can be done by attacking the right of combination.

12. What is the real cause of strikes and lock-outs? 13. How can this cause be removed?

14. Describe co-operation, and give an example of its successful working.

15. What is copartnership? Give an illustration. 16. Do copartnerships involve any pecuniary sacrifice on the part of the employers?

17. What are the special advantages of copartnership? 18. What is a co-operative store? Upon what principle is it based?

19. Why can lower prices be charged in a co-operative store than in an ordinary shop?

20. Give a brief account of the Rochdale Pioneers' store.

1. Write an exercise describing the advantages which workmen obtain from combination, and point out that in driving a bargain with their employer it is only by means of combination that they can place themselves in a position fully to protect their own interests.

2. If you were a member of a trade's union, and a strike were resolved upon, would you advise that the strike should be commenced when trade was active or when it was dull?

3. Do you think co-operative stores do harm to the interests of the community because they injure the retail grocers and other tradesmen? And if not, why not?