EXAMPLES of successful co-operation at Leeds, Glasgow and Rochdale have been already given in this magazine. Even more remarkable instances may be yet examined, but one fact must be noticed in connection with them all. These prosperous societies are nearly all distributive, and the societies that have been abandoned have been mainly productive. So marked is this that the Îine that divides distributive and productive co-operation, is also the dividing line between success and failure, profit and loss. The difference between these two is radical. In one, the members seek to make a profit on the goods which they buy of the general producer, and sell to themselves. This profit they divide among themselves, and thus cheapen the cost of the goods. The ultimate result of this is that the individual member, without increasing his income or wages, increases his savings, and thus makes his life-effort pay. In a productive co-operative society the members unite to create something that may be sold at a profit to the general public. This profit they divide among themselves, giving each man according to the capital and labor he contributes.

A manufacture implies capital; there must be money to buy the raw material, to provide a work-shop where the material may be treated, to procure tools and to pay the wages. If all the people employed in making the goods in any particular manufacture were independently rich, they might do without wages and take all their pay in the form of profits. As workingpeople commonly cannot do this, they must be paid wages, whereby they may live during the time the goods are being made and sold. Moreover, the money spent on raw material and in erecting the manufacturing plant should earn interest. Interest must be paid and wages must be paid, and when this has been done all that is left after the goods have been sold represents the net gain or profit. In ordinary business, when the capitalist supplies all the money and the workers contribute nothing beyond the paid labor of their hands or brains, all this profit very properly goes to the capitalist. Now, the co-operator claims to change all this by bringing the capital himself and thus uniting the capitalist and laborer in one. If he can do this it is fair

and right that he should have all the profits, interest, wages, everything.

Just here arises a new and most peculiar phase of this subject. The distributive cooperator appears and says:

"Gentlemen, I will provide the capital wherewith to buy the raw material and maintain the plant; I will pay you good wages and I will buy all your goods and you may divide the profits with me. If I lend you the money you must pay interest thereon, and as I provide a market, a share of the dividends is rightfully mine."

What has the shirt-maker, the tailor and baker to say to that? Is the productive co-operator willing to share his coupons with his brother the distributive co-operator? The question may be best answered by a brief examination of some of the productive co-operative societies now in operation in England and Scotland. Having done this, we may examine still another phase of this question, see how the throstle spinner and the weaver have combined to erect mills, in which they may work, and have created great joint-stock corporations in which they have a vote and a share in the dividends and liability.

PLATE LOCKS.

WOLVERHAMPTON, Stafford County, gives its mind to manufactures and profits. Among the things it sets its heart and hand upon are locks,-locks and keys. Some of these it calls "plate locks," of iron, with mighty keys and intricate wards, burglarproof and admirable for barn doors. Wolverhampton is apparently indifferent to machinery, and nearly all the labor it expends upon its countless varieties of locks is performed by hand. The result is that the place is populous with workers-locksmiths and others. These have worked for years for such wages as they could get. Whatever these wages may have been it is plain that not all were satisfied with them, and a few years ago seven plate lock makers holding between them just £13 in money, formed a society and began business on their own account. The first result that followed was the combination of the Wolverhampton firms in that line against them. The idea of fair play, of "living and letting live" is not strong in the English manufacturer and for many months a bitter commer

cial quarrel raged between these workmen and their late employers. The history of this affair in the plate lock trade has been often recounted. On the one side a number of wealthy firms, on the other a feeble little society of lock-smiths, a handful of men, striving to make the labor of their hands more fruitful. For many weeks the society sold its goods at a loss, till at last the quality of the locks became known; more of their fellows joined and the ruinous competition came to an end. The little shop on Stafford street has now grown to three; the little company of seven has increased to seventy-five, and in place of a few dozen locks sold at a loss, the society's sales now reach £300 a week, while the capital has grown from 13 to £16,000.

This association is known as the Wolverhampton and Breedwood Industrial and Provident Plate Lock Manufacturing Society, and its three shops, though small, are crowded to inconvenience with workmen. In personal aspect they differ but little from the average British workman, except that they have apparently a greater pride in their work, a greater persistence in endeavor, and more fidelity and enthusiasm.

The society holds its capital in onepound shares, and offers every facility to its members to obtain them, even allowing payments of threepence a week and allowing earnings when divided to be placed to the credit of new shares. All the shares are entitled to such interest as the society can afford to pay, but not exceeding five per cent. per annum. After paying the working expenses, cost of maintaining the plant, wages, interest on share and loan capital and a percentage to the contingent fund, all the surplus the net profits of the business is divided between the capital and labor. In other words, the profits become a bonus on capital and labor, two-thirds being given to capital and one-third to labor, each member receiving in proportion to his shares and wages.

DIVIDING THE SURPLUS.

AMONG the larger and more successful productive co-operative societies in England, the Rochdale Co-operative Manufacturing Society and the Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing Co-operative Society, illustrate the best methods employed. The first society has two large cotton-spinning mills at Rochdale, near the "Equitable Pioneers." The fifty-third quarterly report of this society, dated June 24th, 1876, states

that it has a share capital of £66,430, held in £5 shares, and a loan capital of £67,321. Its sales for the quarter amounted to £37,592 8s. 5d., and enabled it, after paying interest on its loan capital, to divide £2,657 as a dividend on its paid-up shares.

The society was formed by a number of working-people who hoped to find work and wages in the mills, and to save for themselves the interest and profits that commonly went to the capitalist. Their plan was to pay interest on the capital and then to divide all the surplus between the shareholders and workers. This plan was finally abandoned and the profits are now divided among the share-holders only. When the society shared its profits with its spinners and other workers, it had a very superior class of work-people in its mills. When it refused to share its earning with its workers, it is reported that the character of its labor fell from first-class to fourth-class. That this step should have been taken, that its share-holders, being working men and women themselves, should try to get all the profits, shows that they were both selfish and prosperous. They had saved enough to call themselves capitalists in a small way and they began to look at things from that stand-point.

The Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing Co-operative Society at Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, pursues quite a different plan. Its half-yearly report dated January 11th, 1876, states that its business for the six months amounted to £9,814 8s. 21⁄2d. and that it had a disposable balance of £508 25. 11⁄2d. This it divides as follows: dividend on shares, at 72 per cent. per annum, £324 18s. 3d.; dividend on members' purchases at the rate of 6d. in the pound, £129 4s. ; dividend on non-members' purchases at the rate of 3d. in the pound, £24 4s. 9d.; dividend on labor at the rate of 6d. in the pound, £39 18s. 6d.; balance to reserve fund, £61 16s. 71⁄2d.

This society is one of the most prosperous productive societies in England, and has assets, in the form of land, buildings, machinery, stock in trade and shares in other societies, to the value of over £16,000. The most striking feature of the society is its peculiar method of dividing its earnings. It first pays interest on its loans, then it contributes to the depreciation of the plant (22 per cent. on buildings and 72 per cent. on boilers, engine, gearing and machinery), and the balance it divides between its share-holders, its members who may pur

PAISLEY SHAWLS.

PLAIDS and tartans, shawls and shirtings, have made the region round the ancient town of Paisley famous. The mere name, Paisley shawl, is comforting, as the real fabric is warm in color and material and attractive in design,-a very good thing to have and to wear. Moreover, it has another charm it is hand-made,-on a loom, of course; not, however, in a dusty mill, but in some quiet Scottish home where all the day long its shuttle flies from hand to hand weaving a true and honest web,-literally made by hand. The weavers of Paisley conduct their business upon a peculiar system. The dealer, or capitalist, supplies the raw material and the weaver takes it home and produces the fabric on his loom. When the goods are finished he takes them to the dealer and gets the pay for the work. The dealer then sells the finished goods for what he can get, and contents himself with such profits as the market will afford. It is easy to see that in such a system as this it is quite possible for the weavers to compete with each other in their efforts to get the work. It cannot be said that the Paisley weavers have done this to any ruinous extent; but it is plain that they have not been wholly satisfied with the position of their labor market. Were it otherwise, they would not have founded and brought to a secure and prosperous position such a complicated experiment in co-operation as the "Paisley Co-operative Manufacturing Society."

This society is designed to take the place of the master or dealer who gives out the work. It seeks to unite the worker, the dealer and the purchaser, and to divide the results of their transactions equally among all three. The society's office and warerooms, located

This society, like many another, had its day of small things. In 1862 it had two members, and between them they contrived to make and sell one web of woolen cloth. To-day, the society has a business of £6,000 a year, and employs from 35 to 60 workers, according to the season. The system on which the society is conducted is very simple. It buys the yarns, dyed in colors to suit its needs, and gives to its weavers the weft and warp and the pattern of the shawls, shirtings, scarfs or other goods it hopes to sell. When the fabrics are finished, the working member brings them to the society and gets his pay in cash. An account is kept of all the work done, that in the final settlement next dividend-day, the worker may have a share in the profits in the form of a bonus on his wages. The goods are sold by the society as in any distributive co-operative association, and the resulting dividends are shared by the purchaser, society and worker.

This society is composed of individuals and other societies, including, in all, fortytwo English and Scotch associations. These societies and people hold between them 4,448 paid-up transferable shares, valued at one pound each. Besides this, they hold the society's bonds for loans to the extent of £2,791, and this, with one private loan of £1,235, makes the capital of the society. Each member, whether a society or an individual, worker or purchaser, has one vote, and one vote only, in the election of the committee that governs the association. The twenty-seventh half-yearly report and balance-sheet, dated December 22, 1875, is an interesting document., Beginning:

"GENTLEMEN, We beg to lay before you the results of your business for the half year ending 22d December, 1875. The sales for that period amount

to £4,672. The balance profit, £326 19s. 10d., will allow of the usual interest on share and loan capital, and a bonus of 6d. per £on share capital, purchases and wages."

The report goes on to speak of the purchase of the Causeyside property, and congratulates the society on its ability to make The prompt payment on the investment. twenty-eighth half-yearly report is not quite so flattering, as the trade had fallen off and some of the capital had been withdrawn; but new members had joined, and doubtless by this time the twenty-ninth report has been issued and shows the society as prosperous

as ever.

Now, has this society benefited the Paisley weaver? Does he get any better return for his labor? Is the supply of work better? The society undoubtedly gives all the work it can to its own people, and though it may not pay better wages, it gives a bonus on the earnings. The direct benefit comes from the bonus; the indirect benefit is the interest on the shares and loans, the ease with which the worker may gain shares and the bonus on capital. On the other hand, the purchaser, the distributive co-operative at Batley, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Leeds, and many another English city and Scottish village, gets his plaids and shirtings at cheaper rates. Some English woman or Scottish lassie wants a Paisley shawl. She may buy one at any drapery store, but she remembers her society and makes her purchase where she owns interest-earning shares, and where she can get a bonus on the transaction. Her society, being a member of the Paisley society, gets a bonus on its purchase, and interest, and another bonus on its shares. Thus it happens that the weaver and buyer ultimately share the profits between them.

These associations of working-people, these lock-smiths at Wolverhampton, the Rochdale spinners, and the weavers of Hebden Bridge and Paisley, illustrate the aims of the more advanced co-operators. But they do more,-they show how unwilling some of the people interested in this movement are to conform to these views. Both Hebden Bridge and Rochdale have given up, or propose to give up, the idea of paying a bonus on wages. The co-operator says this is not right, and he points to Wolverhampton and Paisley as evidence that his ideas are not visionary. To understand this matter more fully, we must take a wider view of the subject.

The co-operative societies of Great Britain are obliged to make, at stated times, a

return to the registrars of friendly societies, of all their affairs. The last of these returns that has been printed is for the year 1874, and this report states that there were at that time 748 co-operative societies in England, 216 in Scotland, 26 in Wales, and 5 in Ireland, that made full returns, and 200 more that failed to send in reports. Of the 748 societies in England only 146 can be called productive, and even of these the larger part are really distributive societies that also carry on some kind of manufacture. Of these 146 societies, 54 make boots, shoes, clogs and pattens, 30 call themselves tailors, 15 have flour-mills, 26 are bakers, and 2 attend to millinery. The remaining societies give their attention to cotton spinning, elastic web weaving, farming, chair-making, brewing, gun-making, furniture, cigars, boat-building, nail-making, fustian-cutting, stone-quarrying, mason work and fabrics, and each represents the only society in that line of business in the county. The shoe and tailoring shops, bakeries and flour-mills, appear to be all more or less connected with distributive societies ;-in other words they are owned by the purchasers of the goods, and it is fair to suppose they are managed in their interest. If there are dividends, it is more than likely that the purchasing members demand the lion's share. It is impossible to say absolutely what each society does; but it is certain that some of the richest and most prosperous societies do not allow their working members a bonus on their wages. They will pay interest and dividends on his shares if he happens to own any; but this is the limit of their liberality. The Manchester and Salford Equitable-a society that has. 15 stores, and an income of over £230,000 a year-generously pays a bonus on its wage account. Its sixty-seventh quarterly report, dated March 27th, 1876, declares that it will divide £64 19s. as a bonus on wages, £152 17s. 11d. as a bonus to non-members (who contribute nothing except their trade), £64 19s. to educational purposes, and £2,034 35. 4d. as a bonus on its members' purchases, a dividend of one shilling and eightpence in the pound. On the other hand the Co-operative Wholesale Society in the same city divided in the quarter ending April 8, 1876, £5,655 19s. 6d. among its purchasers, and refused to give a penny to its employés.

In all these societies each member has one vote, without regard to the number of his shares, the amount of his purchases, or