CO-OPERATION OR SPOLIATION

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1425, 1 August 1884, Page 2

CO-OPERATION OR SPOLIATION

The writer of the article cm " Cooperation or Spoliation "^ in the curlent number ot tne Westminister Review, regards cooperation as the mean* of rescuing the labourer alike from the tyr»a'ay of CommuLiißmaiijrof capital. He quotes the Bishop p^^orham. to the effect that " Co-opegstjpo stimulates production and 'promotes thrift. Couunuu!sm paralysed the" v dtve and discourages the other by substituting State help for seif help. . (Cooperation makes self-reliant men; Communism makes spoonfed children the): remarks: — " To carry out ptoductiv co-operation, the first and- most important consideration which every working man should take to heart is not to j pledge the whole value of his labour I for the means of daily sustenance. Let j him once grasp the. feeling of this, and everything else will follow. If the leaders of <,he trades unions would only urge the men to follow his course, they would indeed be acting a useful part. Let them exhort their members to band themselves together, and tt> say, *We will no longer pfcetfge tie whole of the value which oar labour gives to every industrial enterprise ; we will only take paH of otir wages in. money — the rest we wil} have paid us in shares of the undertaking hi which we are employed.' And from the day on which sucto •* movement j begins to spread througKtftlt the country material inequality will begin to" demiuish, and the wealth earners will become wealth takei s, not merely the wealth producers. From that day the working man will cease to feel that at the end of each successive year he i* no better off than he was at the termination of the previous one, and that his capital — which is youth, energy, and strength — is constantly deminishing — while he is unable to replace it by any other equivalent., On the last day of the old year the rich man may console himself by the though*, that though he is a year older he \° also more wealthy and powerful. To the scholar the merry chime of bells which ushers iv the new years brings the soothing reflection that he has accumulated a fresh store in learning during the last 12 months. The statesmen can think with satisfaction over the measures he has parsed which will bring fame to himself and prosperity to his nation for generations to come. The only thought, however, vbibh can recur to the working man is that he is a year nearer to the time when his Capital — the capacity to wo»-l5. — will le exhausted. Is it any wonder^ then, that a deep feeling of discontent^ to be found throughout the industrial population ? How different it would be if he knew that the past year had added a . fresh sum to his capital which would enable him to decrease His manual labour as he advanced in life, and ensure him a comfortable provision for his oldasre."