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 Cornell University Library 
 
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 Looking forward 
 
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 3 1924 030 082 360 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030082360 
 
Looking Forward 
 
 A Study in Social Justice 
 
 Looking to Co-operation 
 
 as Offering the Solution of Difficulties 
 
 By 
 
 ISAAC ROBERTS 
 
 Author of 
 
 'Wages, Fixed Incomes, and the 
 
 Free Coinage of Silver" 
 
 'Let Us Have Faith that Right makes Might, 
 and in that Faith let us to tlie end 
 Dare to do our Duty as we understand it." 
 
 — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Published by 
 
 ROBERTS & COMPANY 
 
 833 Real Estate Trust Building 
 
 Broad and Chestnut Sts. 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 

 P^iZ7fz 
 
 "Justice is the end of Government; it is the end of civil society." 
 
 — Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 "Regardez en avant; et non pas en arriere; 
 
 Le courant roule a Jehovah" — Lamnrtine. 
 
 (Look forward; and not backvrard : 
 The current sweeps toward God. ) 
 
 "Look up, and not down; look out, and not in: 
 look forward, and not back: and lend a hand." 
 
 — Edward Everett Hale. 
 
 Copyrijht, 1913 
 by Isaac Roberts 
 
To 
 Those Who Labor 
 
 and to 
 
 Those Who Are Heavy Laden, 
 
 being but illy-requited for their toil, 
 
 this Book is Dedicated 
 
 by the author, 
 
 in the Hope and Confidence that 
 
 Through Co-operation 
 
 they will obtain greater Freedom and secure 
 
 a fuller Measure of Justice. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter ^^^^ 
 
 I. The First Conference; Getting Ready i 
 
 II. — Present Conditions and Future Outlook 13 
 
 III. — Another Conference; A New Departure 48 
 
 IV. — The Leading Issue; Equal Suffrage 61 
 
 V. — Conference No. 3 ; Looking Toward Co-operation 90 
 
 VL — Co-operation in Action loi 
 
 VIL — Conference No. 4; The Question — How? 126 
 
 VIIL — Co-operation Through Legislation; How?.... 138 
 IX. — Conference No. 5; Looking to the Schools. . . . 172 
 
 X.^The Public School and the Familistere 179 
 
 XL — Conference No. 6; Counting in Big Figures... 197 
 
 Xn. — A Needless Failure and a Possible Recovery. . 206 
 
 XHL — Conference No. 7; Engaging Home T.-vlent.... 241 
 
 XIV. — An Accident and a Promotion 251 
 
 XV. — A Final Conference; A Record and an Invita- 
 tion 272 
 
 XVI. — Co-operation, — an Expression of Christianity. 282 
 
 Appendix ^09 
 
 (i) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Those who consider industrial conditions, in the hope 
 of finding a just and peaceful solution for the problems 
 which they meet in this study, must have been impressed 
 with the fact that but three leading answers to the prob- 
 lems are at present suggested. First, that the policy of 
 Laissez faire be allowed to continue, in the hope that 
 something will turn up that may provide an easy way to 
 improved conditions. Second, the theories of the Social- 
 ists, whose plans of action are not well defined, and who 
 appear to hope for a grand debacle or revolution, which 
 shall be followed by conditions in which their theories of 
 government may be applied. And third, the principles 
 and methods of Co-operation, which are being more and 
 more applied, with great degrees of success. 
 
 To many the first method suggested, which involves 
 the continuance for an indefinite period of present condi- 
 tions, with ever-recurring strikes, lock-outs, and appeals 
 to force, seems well-nigh intolerable. One aspect of pres- 
 ent conditions, — that presented by Miss Jane Addams in 
 her recent book, "A New Conscience and An Ancient 
 Evil," is to many minds terrible, and, while it exists, is 
 a continual summons and challenge, to all who can ap- 
 prehend its enormity, to co-operate for its abolition. To 
 call attention to the relation of present conditions to this 
 evil, and to aid in the needed co-operation against it, is 
 one of the purposes of this book. 
 
 The second method suggested seems to offer little or 
 nothing in the way of moral improvement over conditions 
 which now exist : and, when the initial step contemplated 
 is considered, appears to be, as a cure, worse than the 
 disease. The formulation of some well-defined plan of 
 
 (ii) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 action upon which they can all unite, and the adoption 
 of moral principles of higher range than those that now 
 obtain, might be recommended for the consideration of 
 modern Socialists. 
 
 The third method suggested, however, offers a peace- 
 ful solution to the problem, based upon simple justice and 
 right, thereby promising permanence, and leading toward 
 higher moral heights than the world has yet known. It 
 has also the great advantage that, where fairly tried, it 
 has always produced good results. More and more are 
 thoughtful persons turning to it as the final solution of the 
 great industrial problem. 
 
 It need scarcely be said that this book has not been 
 written for the scientific mind, but rather in the hope of 
 bringing to the attention of average men and women the 
 advantages offered by this third answer to the difficult 
 problems of the present day. Through Co-operation 
 many of them can be readily solved ; while their solution 
 by any other method seems hopeless. The difficulties be- 
 tween labor and capital, especially, seem susceptible of 
 easy settlement by this method; while no other method 
 thus far tried seems capable of producing the desired 
 results. 
 
 Very much of the present discussion of industrial prob- 
 lems seems utterly futile. Much time is wasted in in- 
 veighing against the tyranny of capital, or the tyranny 
 of labor, as the case may be, which could be much better 
 spent in the effort to find a remedy for the wrongs suf- 
 fered by both. In Co-operation is presented a concrete, 
 well-defined remedy, of proven value in many instances, 
 which seems well worthy of greater and greater accep- 
 tance by the people. As a concrete and possible remedy, 
 is it not worthy the attention of those desiring to see 
 
 (Hi) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 justice done to both parties in all disputes, and as leading 
 toward that higher equity and brotherhood through 
 which alone peace can come to endure ? 
 
 The author's acknowledgments are due to Mrs. Laura 
 E. Richards, author of the story, "The Cooky," and to 
 Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass., publishers of 
 "The Golden Windows," from which the story is taken, 
 for permission to use this excellent story, which presents 
 in such striking form some of the chief features of the 
 strife between capital and labor. i. R. 
 
 SwARTHMORE, Penna., May, 1913. 
 
 (iv) 
 
"THE COOKY." 
 
 From "The Golden Windows," by Mrs. Laura E. 
 Richards. 
 
 A child quarreled with his brother one day about a 
 cooky. 
 
 "It is my cooky," said the child. 
 
 "No; it is mine," said his brother. 
 
 "You shall not have it," said the child. "Give it to me 
 this minute !" And he fell upon his brother and beat him. 
 
 Just then came by an Angel who knew the child. 
 
 "Who is this that you are beating?" asked the Angel. 
 
 "It is my brother," said the child. 
 
 "No; but truly," said the Angel: "who is it?" 
 
 "It is my brother, I tell you," said the child. 
 
 "Oh, no!" said the Angel. "That cannot be, and it 
 seems a pity for you to tell an untruth, because that makes 
 spots upon your soul. If it were your brother, you would 
 not beat him." 
 
 "But he has my cooky!" said the child. 
 
 "Oh !" said the Angel. "Now I see my mistake. You 
 mean that the cooky is your brother; and that seems a 
 pity, too ; for it does not look like a very good cooky, and 
 besides, it is all crumbled to pieces."* 
 
 *The above story, one of the inimitable parables of Mrs. Richards 
 
 contained in the volume mentioned, is reprinted here by the special 
 
 permission of the author, and of her publishers, Messrs. Little, Brown 
 & Co.j Boston, Mass. 
 
 (V) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Conference: Getting Ready. 
 
 "New occasions teach new duties. Time makes ancient good 
 uncouth ; 
 They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast 
 of Truth." 
 
 — Lowell. 
 
 "Truth is eternal, but her effluence, 
 With endless change, is fitted to the hour; 
 Her mirror is turned forward, to reflect 
 The promise of the future, not the past." 
 
 — Lowell. 
 
 "Well, Barr, how far along are we? Have you got 
 the Fall and Winter campaign all mapped out for us?" 
 
 The speaker was John Crandall, Assistant Superin- 
 tendent of the large iron mills in Pleasantville, member 
 of the Town Council from his Ward, President of one 
 of the local Building Associations, Superintendent of the 
 Sunday School of the Methodist Church, of which he was 
 regarded as the chief pillar; a splendid type of the best 
 class of the American workingman — self-educated, self- 
 respecting, and worthy of all respect for his many fine 
 qualities — a fact to which his fellow-workmen, and his 
 fellow-citizens as well, bore witness by offering him all 
 the positions of honor which one man could enjoy in their 
 small community. Tall, straight, with regular features, 
 dark hair and a pair of piercing black eyes, he was a 
 strikingly handsome man, and it was thought by some 
 that his attractive personality had as much to do with his 
 popularity as the higher qualities of mind and spirit, 
 which he also possessed in goodly measure. 
 
 (I) 
 
2 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 The person he addressed was David Barr, a man sev- 
 eral years younger than himself, at present conductor on 
 the Blairsville and Terminal City Railroad, on which 
 Pleasantville was located, and a friend of many years 
 standing. Barr had come up from the ranks, having en- 
 tered the service of the Railroad Company as fireman on 
 the local freight and passing through the various grades 
 of promotion until he had been made conductor — a posi- 
 tion, as he assured his friends, that was only the step- 
 ping stone to something much higher in the service. 
 Short, stout, with blue eyes and light hair, he was in most 
 ways the very opposite of Crandall, who had great per- 
 sonal dignity, of which Barr seemed utterly devoid. Per- 
 haps it was Barr's overflowing abundance of good nature, 
 or the very fact that they were so unlike, that attracted 
 them and made them the best of friends and co-workers 
 in many ways in the activities of the town. They were 
 both members of the Workers' Club of Pleasantville, and 
 had just met at the meeting-place of the Club. To Cran- 
 dall's question Barr replied : 
 
 "Well, no, Jackie; I can't say that I have it all ar- 
 ranged; but I have one or two ideas in my head, and 
 that's what I wanted to see you and Harry about. He 
 hasn't arrived yet, has he?" 
 
 "No ; I met him on the way, but he said he wanted to 
 see Principal Sharpe about the matter you spoke about, 
 and would be here a little later. While we are wait- 
 ing, I might as well report as to seeing Mr. Bruce. 
 I told Harry about it, and that reminded him that he 
 hadn't seen Sharpe yet." 
 
 "Did you see Bruce? What did he say? I hope he 
 will work with us." 
 
 "Well, he said both yes and no. He wanted me to tell 
 you that he appreciated your invitation to be on the Ex- 
 
GETTING READY 3 
 
 ecutive Committee, but that he hardly thought it wise to 
 do so. He thought we could probably do better without 
 him taking a conspicuous part in the work of the Com- 
 mittee; but he said he was interested in what we had in 
 mind and would be glad to co-operate in any way he 
 could, except taking the direct and public work." 
 
 "What makes him think he would hurt us if he were 
 on the Committee? I can't quite understand that." 
 
 "\A'ell, he said that the Cashier of a Bank had better 
 stay off such a Committee on general principles. There 
 were several reasons, but I think the chief was that he fre- 
 quently had to say 'No' in an official way to people, and 
 they very often took it as though he was speaking per- 
 sonally. He said that very often he would like to give 
 a different answer, but was bound by the action of 
 others. In that way he thinks he has incurred the ill- 
 will of quite a number of persons, and says that that 
 might be transferred to the Committee and so interfere 
 with our work. I tried to persuade him that there wasn't 
 anything in it, but I found it was no use and gave it up. 
 Besides, I'm not quite sure that he isn't right to a certain 
 extent, but I guess he overstates it." 
 
 "Well, I don't think there's the slightest foundation 
 for it; but, of course, we'll have to accept his decision. 
 Did he suggest anyone in his place?" 
 
 "No; but he did make a suggestion that I think we 
 might very well act on. He reminded me that both you 
 and I are members of the Board of Directors of the Home 
 Building Association, and so is Harry. Bruce, you know, 
 is Treasurer of the Association, and he suggested that as 
 we thought of having our meetings once a month, we 
 might all spend a half hour after the meeting of the Direc- 
 tors each month and informally talk over the programme 
 of the coming public meeting of the Club, and in that way 
 
4 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 he could co-operate almost as well as by being on the 
 Committee, and no one need know of his connection with 
 the work." 
 
 "Good for him !" exclaimed Barr. "That will answer 
 perfectly. It'll be like getting the cake without spending 
 the penny; so we'll have the cake and penny too; some- 
 thing I've always wanted to accomplish. And here 
 comes Harry. How d'ye do? old man?" he added, 
 extending his hand to the newcomer, who took the offered 
 hand and covered it in a clasp that made Barr wince. 
 
 Harry Smith, better known to his neighbors and fel- 
 low-workmen as "Hammer Harry," was one of the char- 
 acters of Pleasantville, where he had been born, now 
 nearly sixty years ago. His father had been a workman 
 at the iron mills before him, and Harry might almost be 
 said to have been born and bred in the mills. His parents, 
 it is true, had made other plans for him, but he had grown 
 to love the work in the big mills before he was out of 
 his teens, and after he became of age he settled the mat- 
 ter for himself by entering into a contract to work for 
 the old firm without the knowledge of his father — al- 
 though not much against his will, as it turned out after 
 the step had been taken. 
 
 He had watched the works grow from the single little 
 mill of forty years ago to the many separate mills of the 
 great plant of the present day, and no one had taken a 
 greater interest, and but few a greater part, in that 
 growth than he. He had fitted himself for the position 
 of general utility man and superintendent of repairs about 
 the works, and no change of any importance had been 
 made for years past without his advice being asked for, 
 and usually adopted, by the management. There were 
 those who said that Hammer knew more about the iron 
 business than anyone connected with the works, except 
 
GETTING READY 5 
 
 the "Little Boss" himself; but no one had ever heard 
 Hammer make such a boast himself. His loyalty, as 
 well as his modesty, would have prevented any such 
 thought, to say nothing of any such reckless speech. But, 
 with all his modest self-estimate, there was a great deal 
 of personal dignity about him, and one story that the 
 men in the mills never grew tired of telling was the man- 
 ner in which he met the "Big Boss," on one occasion, 
 when Hammer thought his rights were invaded. It 
 seems that on this occasion he had been suddenly called 
 upon to make certain repairs during a very busy season, 
 and while engaged in superintending a number of work- 
 men engaged in putting in new foundations for heavy 
 machinerjr, he was interrupted by the "Big Boss," who 
 came to the scene of operations and in a rather dictatorial 
 manner wanted to know if "that work couldn't be pushed 
 a little faster." Hammer was "pushing" it all he knew 
 how, and, incensed at the injustice of the act and the 
 imputation of the remark, promptly climbed to the sur- 
 face and began to take off his overalls. Upon the iron- 
 master asking what he meant, he informed him that, if 
 he thought that the work could be done any faster, he 
 was at liberty to do it himself. Of course, the "Big 
 Boss," realizing his mistake, made due amends, and Ham- 
 mer was persuaded to go back to work. But the men 
 always claimed that, after that little episode. Hammer 
 was allowed to "push" repairs to completion without in- 
 terference — no doubt to the advantage of the works and 
 of his own peace of mind. 
 
 Hammer's personality was strongly in contrast with 
 that of his bosom friend, Crandall, for, while as tall as 
 the latter, he was loose-jointed and ungainly in appear- 
 ance, heavily built, with square shoulders, evidently a man 
 of great strength, and yet strangely awkward in move- 
 
6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 ment. and at times slightly hesitating in address. A face 
 of strong features, with a high forehead, surmounted by 
 a heavy thatch of iron-gray hair ; a pair of deep-set black 
 eyes having a very direct and fearless expression; this 
 combination gave an impression of strength and endur- 
 ance, and, as Crandall was wont to say, "inspired confi- 
 dence before he spoke a word." In speech he was usually 
 clear and direct ; and one of Barr's favorite remarks was, 
 that "Hammer seemed to be every way awkward until 
 he opened his mouth, and then his tongue was so straight 
 and clear that no one ever thought of awkwardness." A 
 heavy scar over the left temple showed where an injury 
 received in the mills had left its mark upon him for life. 
 
 "Well, Barr; I see Jackie beat me here," he replied to 
 Barr's greeting. 
 
 "Did you get to see Sharpe, old man? What does he 
 say about helping us?" inquired Barr. 
 
 "Says he's too busy, Barr. Says he has great interest 
 in the idea, and would like to help, but he is doing some 
 special work in the way of studying for a degree, or 
 something like that, and can't give the time." 
 
 "By the way, Barr," interrupted Crandall; "why not 
 put him in the same class with Bruce and call them honor- 
 ary members of the Committee? You know Sharpe is one 
 of the Directors of the Building Association, too, and no 
 doubt he will be glad to adopt the suggestion made by 
 Bruce and help us in the same way. How would that 
 answer ? 
 
 "Great head, Jackie. That will do nicely; and if we 
 should run across one or two more of the men that we 
 would like to have work with us, we can ask them to join 
 the Committee." 
 
 "\A^ell, now that that's settled, let's hear what you had 
 thought of for the Fall and Winter. I know you" have 
 
GETTING READY 7 
 
 some plan in that head of yours, or you wouldn't have 
 said what you did at the last meeting of the Club, when 
 you were made Chairman of this Committee." 
 
 "You're right, Crandall," said Barr. "I have had a 
 plan simmering in my mind ever since last summer ; but 
 I guess I can tell you better about it if you will let me 
 tell you a little story about something that happened to 
 me once, while I was firing for old Sandy McMahon. 
 You remember Sandy, don't you, Harry?" 
 
 "Remember him well ; the queerest old Dick that ever 
 ran an engine, but as square as they grew, too." 
 
 "You're right ; and I guess my story will prove it. It 
 was only a few months after I had gone on the road and 
 he and I were running the mixed freight that used to 
 leave Blairsville about 5 P. M. and pass through here 
 around 5.30. Well, just before we started I happened 
 to ask the old curmudgeon what he thought of Looking 
 Backward. You remember that great book by Bellamy. 
 I had just been reading it, and I thought all the world of 
 it, and I was sure the old man knew all about it, for he 
 was a great reader; always ofif duty, you'd find him with 
 something or other — book or magazine or paper — read- 
 ing every minute. Well, he looked at me in a quizzical 
 sort of way, says, T'll tell you, son, in a few minutes,' 
 and motioned me to jump aboard. Well, nothing more 
 did he say, and I thought it a mighty funny way to an- 
 swer a fair question ; but I didn't say anything, for I 
 knew him better by that time. So I kept busy firing up, 
 and before long we went sailing through here and on 
 down by the river. You both remember Daniel's Rock, 
 don't you ? just this side of Bell's Crossing — rock twenty 
 feet high on the left side of the tracks and the river on 
 the right, and just enough space for the tracks and not 
 much over — and you know the sharp curve to the left 
 
8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 just below there. Well, we were getting pretty well 
 down the river, nearing the rock, and he always used to 
 reverse and whistle for the brakes a mile or so above. 
 But this time he didn't do it, and I looked up to see what 
 was the matter, and there he was, leaning out of the cab, 
 looking back up the river as happy as a clam. There we 
 were, ripping along at any old speed, with a thousand 
 tons of mixed freight back of us, apt to make things in- 
 teresting if there was a mix-up, and that rock and the 
 curve only a short distance ahead, and that old fellow 
 paying no attention, but looking back up the river, with 
 nothing to look at. Well, it got on my nerves, and I 
 shouted, 'Why don't you whistle for the brakes?' and 
 I'm afraid I said something to myself that wasn't polite; 
 but I thought it best not to say it too loud, for the good 
 of my health." 
 
 "And what did Mac say?" interrupted Crandall. 
 
 "Say! He didn't say nothing. He didn't take the 
 trouble to say anything. You might have thought I was 
 a mosquito, and didn't know how to buzz, at that. He 
 just turned his face toward me for a second and gave me 
 a smile, for all the world like he was sitting at home of 
 a Sunday afternoon with a pitcher of lemonade and a 
 plate of his wife's cakes between us. I was considering 
 whether I had better jump and how it would feel to 
 light, going at that gait, when all of a sudden he got 
 busy, whistled for the brakes, reversed and we slid around 
 the curve on one track, I thought; but we got around 
 all right." 
 
 "And didn't he say anything all that time?" inquired 
 Harry. 
 
 "Not a word ; and after we got around all right I was 
 too mad for a while to say anything to him; thought 
 maybe I had better go slow, while the steam was up. But 
 
GETTING READY 9 
 
 after we had run on the siding down at Green Tree, to 
 let the fast express go b)^ Mac got down and came 
 around to my side and said, 'Well, liow did you hke it, 
 sonny?' 'Like what?' said I, still hopping mad. 'Why, 
 like looking backward ; that's what you asked me, wasn't 
 it? Didn't you notice that was what I was doing?' 'Oh, 
 you old sinner,' I said: 'is that the way you take that 
 book? Haven't you got sense enough to know that the 
 writer of it was just using his imagination and sort of 
 projecting himself forward a hundred years and then 
 taking a look backward ?' " 
 
 "And what did Mac have to say to that?" asked 
 Crandall. 
 
 "Well," laughed Barr; "I remember it as well as 
 though it happened yesterday. He said, 'Now, sonny, 
 don't get too free with your compliments, or you'll be 
 sorry. I didn't want to scare you too bad, but I did want 
 to teach you a lesson ; and that is, that you can't go ahead 
 in this world safely or with much satisfaction to your- 
 self if you're forever looking backward. If you're going 
 to make progress and make it safe, especially if you're 
 running a mixed freight, as most of us are, more or less, 
 you'd better keep a good -lookout ahead, for that's the 
 way you're going. Looking forward is good enough for 
 your old uncle,' says he, 'and I thought you might re- 
 member it after I am gone.' And behold, I have remem- 
 bered it ; and that is what I want to propose as the gen- 
 eral subject for our Fall and Winter program." 
 
 "And just how do you intend to work it, lad?" asked 
 Hammer Harry. 
 
 "Well, you see, I would take that for the general sub- 
 ject, and then, if you approve, we will try to get some 
 good speakers to handle various topics that naturally 
 belong to it. Oh, yes ; I remember another thing that old 
 
10 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Mac said about it, that may help us, if we bear it in mind. 
 He said that about all that one generation of men could 
 do was to take one step forward, and they ought to look 
 forward so carefully that they would have no doubt as 
 to their footing, so that those who came after thein might 
 have solid ground to stand on for their next step forward. 
 Now, don't you think there was some sense in that, 
 Crandall?" 
 
 "It certainly sounds sensible, Barr. But now, what is 
 our next step forward ? I mean, of this Committee, right 
 here and now?" 
 
 "Good boy, Jackie; you want to get right down to 
 brass tacks, don't you? Well, I had thought a little far- 
 ther, and wanted to see you to suggest this for our first 
 meeting next week. You know young Strong, don't you? 
 the young lawyer, who is living up on the hill. Well, I 
 happen to know that he's been giving the general in- 
 dustrial situation a good deal of attention, for I have had 
 several talks with him about it now and then. You know 
 he usually takes my train down in the morning. Now, 
 what would you think of inviting him to give us the first 
 address on Tuesday of next week, and suggest that he 
 select his subject, and handle it just as he pleases. I be- 
 lieve he will do it, if we ask him." 
 
 "That seems all right to me, Barr; providing you can 
 induce him to do it," said Crandall. "How does it strike 
 you, Harry?" he added, turning to his friend at his side. 
 
 "I like the idea very well," replied Harry; "especially 
 the general subject, 'Looking Forward.' As old Mac 
 said, that's the only safe way to go ahead. But Barr, are 
 you sure that the people will turn out to hear a talk on 
 such a dry subject as anything connected with industrial 
 questions ? We don't want to invite a speaker, and then 
 have an empty house for him to talk to." 
 
GETTING READY u 
 
 "Oh, you can leave that to me and the reporter of the 
 Herald, Hammer. It can be so announced, I'm sure, that 
 the people will turn out all right. All you've got to do 
 is to say that our winter's course will deal with the cause 
 and the cure of the high cost of living, — and then you'll 
 see the hall packed." 
 
 After arranging some further preliminaries connected 
 with the first meeting, the three friends left the building. 
 As one of the outcomes of this conference, the Daily 
 Herald a day or two later contained the following item : 
 
 "The Fall and IJ^inter Course; Workers' Club." 
 
 "The Herald takes pleasure in announcing that the 
 usual Fall and Winter's Course of addresses will be deliv- 
 ered under the direction of the Workers' Club, at their 
 Clubhouse on the first Tuesday evening of each month, 
 beginning November sth. On this evening the address 
 will be delivered by our well-known fellow-townsman, 
 Henry B. Strong, Esq., who has selected as his topic: 
 'Present Conditions and Future Prospects.' 
 
 "We are informed by our genial neighbor, Mr. David 
 Barr, who has the honor to be the Chairman of the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee of the Club, that this initial address, 
 as well as others of the course, will have to do with gen- 
 eral economic conditions, and that all who are at all in- 
 terested in finding a solution to the present and pressing 
 problem of the high cost of living, as well as securing 
 valuable information in reference to the general industrial 
 questions that are now being everywhere discussed, can- 
 not afford to miss any lecture of this course. 
 
 "Following its usual course, the Workers' Club will 
 make no charge for this series of lectures, but admission 
 will be by ticket. These can be secured by applying at 
 the Stationery store of Johnson & Brother. The other 
 
12 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 members of the Executive Committee are Councilman 
 Crandall and 'Hammer Harry' Smith. The Herald be- 
 speaks for this course of lectures a full attendance by our 
 townsmen." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Present Conditions and the Future Outlook. 
 
 "It is the province of Law to make it as easy as possible 
 for men to do right, and as difficult as possible for them to do 
 wrong." — Gladstone. 
 
 "His statecraft was the golden rule, 
 His right of vote a sacred trust; 
 Clear over threat and ridicule 
 All heard his challenge: 'Is it just?'" 
 
 — Whittier; of Sumner. 
 
 "We are made for co-operation — like feet, like hands, like 
 eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth." — Marcus 
 Aurelius. 
 
 The town of Pleasantville was located on the sharp 
 slope of a hill which formed one side of a valley, through 
 which flowed a small river. In the early days of the 
 settlement, its one street, now known as the Main Street 
 or the "Pike," had been the main artery of travel to and 
 from the mill on the river front at its base. In those far- 
 away days there had been a ford over the river at this 
 point, but this had been lost in the period of river im- 
 provement, when the canal had been built, thus necessi- 
 tating the construction of a bridge on the line of the high- 
 way. For many years the chief use of the road had been 
 the transportation of iron ore, limestone, etc., to the iron 
 furnaces in the valley. As the town had increased in 
 size, other manufacturing plants had been built, a rapidly 
 growing population had gathered about the new streets 
 as these were opened, and a typical American town of 
 several thousand souls, with diversified industries. 
 Churches of the larger denominations, well-equipped 
 
 (13) 
 
14 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 schools, newspapers, banks and all the modern improve- 
 ments had grown up. 
 
 The most important of the industrial plants was the 
 big mill of the Pleasantville Iron Company. Organized 
 before the Civil War, these mills had, like many others, 
 experienced a very rapid growth during that period. The 
 President of the corporation, George Worden, commonly 
 known to his men as the "Little Boss," by way of dis- 
 tinction from his brother, the former President, who had 
 been known, for obvious reasons, as the "Big Boss," was 
 well liked by his men for his sense of justice and fair 
 play, and half feared by many because of his strictness 
 and insistence of a full measure of work for the full 
 measure of pay he always gave. There had been but few 
 strikes at the mills under his control ; and when these had 
 occurred, he had always been willing to meet the repre- 
 sentatives of his men, and such differences were usually 
 settled without difficulty. He had never taken the posi- 
 tion that "there was nothing to arbitrate," always admit- 
 ting that there were two sides to a question, and neither 
 party could always have a monopoly of right. 
 
 The meeting-place of the Workers' Club was in the old 
 School House of Pleasantville. This was located on the 
 Main Street, halfway up the hill, and was itself high 
 above the street, having been placed there in the early 
 days, before the street had been graded to its present 
 level, and when the site selected for the public school was 
 regarded as the most beautiful, as well as the best 
 adapted, for the purpose. When the town had grown so 
 that the old building could no longer accommodate the 
 increasing number of pupils, a new building, with en- 
 tirely new equipment, "fully up to date," as Barr ex- 
 pressed it, had been provided by the School District, and 
 the old building abandoned. When the new grade of the 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 15 
 
 Main Street had been established, the school authorities 
 had found it difficult to sell the property, so that, when 
 the Workers' Club had requested the use of it, with the 
 promise to keep it in repair, they secured it at a merely 
 nominal rental, "just to let folks know," as Crandall put 
 it, "that it still belonged to the District." When, a little 
 later, the new Building Association had been organized, 
 and its Committee came to the Workers' Club with the re- 
 quest that they be permitted to hold their meetings there, 
 the Club agreed to let them have it at a rental which re- 
 lieved itself from all charges and left a little surplus; 
 "A fine arrangement for us," as Barr said, speaking for 
 the Club ; "and it don't hurt them, for they couldn't have 
 got any other place near so cheap; so everybody's sat- 
 isfied." 
 
 The notice in the Herald and the verbal notice by the 
 active members of the Club resulted in bringing out a 
 good attendance at the first meeting. Barr, as Chairman 
 of the Executive Committee, presided, and had arranged 
 that the Glee Club from the Public School, composed of 
 older pupils in the High School, should be present to 
 open the meeting with music. After all had been de- 
 lighted with this feature of the evening's program, he 
 stepped forward to introduce the speaker of the evening. 
 
 "When your Committee," he began, "was considering 
 the subject that should engage our attention this fall and 
 winter, it was of course necessary to consider also who 
 would be the best person to begin the series of lectures, 
 which we would invite you to hear. We did not have 
 much trouble in deciding what the general subject should 
 be; the almost universal interest in the industrial condi- 
 tions existing in our country, and the related question 
 of the high cost of living, almost settled that without dis- 
 cussion. But when it came to the other question, as to 
 
1 6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 who had best be invited to open the course, we found 
 that more difficult. And I take great credit to myself 
 that it was my good fortune to discover just the right 
 person for that duty. I have no doubt that he will jus- 
 tify to your minds the choice our Committee made; but 
 in introducing him, I am tempted to tell a little story. It 
 is said that on a certain occasion two Irishmen were walk- 
 ing through a graveyard and paused before a tall monu- 
 ment, on which was an inscription. 'How does it read, 
 Pat?' inquired one of them. 'Sure,' replied Pat; 'it gives 
 his name, and then it says, "He was a lawyer and an 
 honest man." ' 'Bedad,' replied the other, 'there must 
 have been two of 'em.' " 
 
 After the laugh which this story called forth, Barr 
 added, "I am sure that we can all repeat the inscription 
 that was read and apply it to our friend here. We know 
 that there is only one of him, and that he fulfills both re- 
 quirements. It gives me great pleasure to introduce your 
 old friend and mine, Henry B. Strong, Esq., who will 
 now address us on a subject to be announced by himself." 
 As Strong stepped forward, he was met by a round 
 of applause, for nearly everybody in the audience knew 
 him and liked him. He had grown up in their midst; had 
 attended the Public Schools of the town; and even after 
 graduating at the University in the neighboring City, and 
 becoming a member of the Bar there, had continued to 
 reside in the town, going to and from the City, where 
 his office was located, every day. He was Borough So- 
 licitor, and also the solicitor for the new Building Associa- 
 tion, and in many ways closely affiliated with the inter- 
 ests of the town and its citizens. As he stood before his 
 towns-people, and waited for their applause to cease, he 
 turned and took a long look at Barr, which the latter'ad- 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 17 
 
 mitted afterwards made him feel "mighty queer; just 
 as though something was going to happen." 
 
 Turning again to his hearers, Strong began in a deep, 
 musical voice, which was one of his best equipments for 
 his work, speaking very deliberately, as though carefully 
 selecting his words as he proceeded : 
 
 "When I accepted the invitation of your Committee, my 
 friends, to make the opening address of this course, I did 
 so with some hesitation, as doubting the fitness of one 
 of my profession taking the initial part in the consider- 
 ation of the general topic selected. But after further con- 
 sideration, and at the urgent solicitation of my good 
 friend, who has just introduced me in his usual felicitous 
 manner, I decided to accept, with the intention of stating 
 to you why I thought that a lawyer might perhaps be 
 the right person to begin such a course. It is true that 
 then I did not expect to hear that old chestnut of a story 
 rung off again, but we all know that our friend must have 
 his daily joke, simply as a requisite for the maintenance 
 of health ; so let us freely forgive him, and even thank 
 him for making it easier to give you the reasons for my 
 decision to be the first to address you. 
 
 "There are several reasons why a lawyer makes a fairly 
 good introductory speaker for such a course. In the first 
 place, modern industrial conditions are much more 
 largely the work of his hands than we are apt at first 
 sight to admit. Who has done more to bring about the 
 great aggregations of industries in many lines than the 
 Corporation Lawyer? Who has been the adviser when 
 they have been formed, and frequently the advising 
 Director, as they have pursued their course, if the lawyer 
 has not? If, therefore, he has been thus instrumental in 
 producing present conditions, may not a lawyer very 
 properly consider them with you, and if improvements 
 
i8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 over existing conditions are desirable, should he not be 
 expected to at least suggest them? 
 
 "Another reason why a lawyer may be the proper per- 
 son to suggest the remedy for the undesirable features of 
 present conditions may be found in his respect for prec- 
 edent. A true lawyer is naturally an evolutionist; he 
 believes in development, in growth from the lower form 
 to the higher next — 'from precedent to precedent.' He 
 believes in orderly evolution, not in disorderly revolu- 
 tion; and while he is compelled to admit that in human 
 affairs it looks at times as though progress were made 
 through revolution, still he may well believe that the 
 true progress of the race has been rather by way of the 
 peaceful and more powerful method of evolution. The 
 upward steps of the past may well help us to see our 
 footing in the present, and carefully take safe steps of 
 progress toward the future. 
 
 "And yet another reason why the lawyer may be fit- 
 ted to consider this question is that he frequently views 
 important questions, not merely from the standpoint of 
 Law, but from the standpoint of Equity; not from the 
 thought of the popular mind, as expressed in the laws 
 that the people have made, but rather under the impress 
 of that Higher Law, which we know as absolute Justice. 
 And we must especially try to occupy this viewpoint 
 when we are considering the amendment of present laws, 
 the eradication of present evils, and attempting to build 
 for the future ; for we may rest well assured that nothing 
 will stand the test of time but that which is based upon 
 absolute right and truth and justice. It is from this point 
 of view that I wish to ask you to consider this general 
 topic with me ; for, so far as we can, I wish this to result 
 in the application of the principles of justice to modern 
 conditions, to the end that, if we find that these principles 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 19 
 
 cannot be so applied now, we may set ourselves the task 
 of remedying those conditions and making it possible to 
 secure justice for the future. I have, therefore, thought 
 of calling my address : 'Present Conditions, and the Fu- 
 ture Outlook.' 
 
 "In order that we may the better understand existing 
 conditions, will you permit me to take a glance backward 
 and rapidly note the changes that have taken place since 
 the workingman and the working-woman did their work 
 in their own little cottages before the coming of the 
 machine era ?" 
 
 At this point the speaker proceeded to sketch the devel- 
 opment of modern industrial conditions, from the date of 
 the invention of the steam engine by Watt, about the mid- 
 dle of the eighteenth century, down to the present time. 
 The modern factory system was inaugurated, he said, by 
 the invention of Arkwright's spinning machine in 1769— 
 the same year in which the patent for the invention of 
 the steam engine was issued to Watt — and the erection 
 of the first large mills by Arkwright and his friends 
 shortly after that date, thereby harnessing steam for man- 
 ufacturing purposes. The next century was the great 
 age of invention, and in it the greatest industrial changes 
 took place. Some of these inventions, he claimed, had 
 changed the history of the world and made human prog- 
 ress tenfold more rapid than it had been before. Among 
 these he referred to the steamboat and the locomotive, 
 which had not only changed methods of transportation 
 and brought distant nations and their capitals close 
 together in time, but had also offered new forms of em- 
 ployment at better wages to many thousands ; the cotton 
 gin, which had made slave labor profitable, and thus 
 helped to create the issue that was finally settled only by 
 the great Civil War, resulting in the Emancipation Proc- 
 
20 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 lamation of President Lincoln and the preservation of 
 "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" ; 
 the reaping and mowing machines, which came to the aid 
 of the farmers of the North just before the outbreak of 
 the Civil War, and helped to settle that issue on the side 
 of freedom and continued national existence by re- 
 leasing thousands of young men from farm labor, thus 
 enabling them to hasten to the support of the country and 
 the leader they loved; the magnetic telegraph, followed 
 a few years later by the telephone, enabling peoples 
 and rulers to come still more closely in touch and bring- 
 ing within the range of vision the abolition of war 
 through International Arbitration. 
 
 "The nineteenth century," he continued, "will doubt- 
 less be known in history as the era in which liberty came 
 to be the priceless possession of millions of men and 
 women — peacefully, as in Russia and Brazil; and by the 
 red way of war, as in our own country. But there was 
 a still greater dawn of freedom than that which came 
 to the bodies of men through the abolition of chattel 
 slavery; the minds of men were set free in a more per- 
 fect freedom through the advance of science and the pub- 
 lication of such works as Darwin's 'Origin of Species.' 
 The world has as yet not fully recognized the meaning, 
 in its relation to the development of the race, of the 
 teaching of this great truth of Evolution. To thoughtful 
 men it has made the method of progress by Revolution 
 seem archaic, needless and wicked, and has shown the 
 better way, founded in right reason, to be logically neces- 
 sary, peaceful and just; and therefore, to very many 
 minds, Divinely ordered. 
 
 "But while the world of science and education has 
 made marvellous progress in the past century, in another 
 direction the world seems to have made comparatively 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 21 
 
 little progress over the conditions that existed a century 
 ago. When Arkwright's first spinning machines were 
 installed in big factories near the close of the eighteenth 
 century, and steam power was made available, and the 
 era of invention of labor-saving machinery began, many 
 of the workingmen, without leaders or organization, re- 
 belled at conditions which many of them believed would 
 be disastrous to them, and tried to take quick vengeance 
 by wrecking the machines and driving the inventors 
 away. But the good resulting to society from these 
 inventions was too great to be thus set aside, and it was 
 soon realized that the machines had come to stay. But 
 — and here is the strange thing that happened — the large 
 profits made by the use of the machines were allowed to 
 go, almost exclusively, to the owner of the machine, 
 while the owner of the intelligence and skill that made 
 the machine available was entirely or very largely over- 
 looked in the distribution of such profits. And that con- 
 dition has very largely continued down to the present 
 time. The present may well be called the Age of the 
 Machine : the Machine owned, controlled and directed 
 by the private corporation. 
 
 "It is needless to deny that society has made substan- 
 tial gains through the invention of labor-saving machin- 
 ery; and also, in some ways, from the union of the ma- 
 chine and the corporation. Two of the forms of gain 
 will at once occur to you : through the cheapening of 
 products, many things that were formerly used only by 
 the well-to-do or wealthy have been made available to 
 those of moderate means ; and another advantage is that 
 through the ownership of stock in corporations, a much 
 greater number have been enabled to share in the profits 
 due to the use of machinery. But the other side of this 
 latter equation is also true; if they have shared in the 
 
22 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 profits, they have also shared in the losses, when these 
 have occurred. 
 
 "But while we admit that society has reaped some 
 gains from the invention of labor-saving machinery and 
 its ownership and control by the corporation, we must 
 also admit that there is another side to that question. It 
 is claimed that this union of the machine and th^ cor- 
 poration has resulted in a cheapening not only of prod- 
 ucts, but of men ; that the old spirit of independence, lead- 
 ing men to follow their own sense of right, is largely 
 gone; that the new methods, especially since the great 
 combinations and the big corporations have been formed, 
 have made most workingmen merely the servants of the 
 few; and it is held that such results are disastrous to a 
 free people. Surely such charges are important enough 
 to be worthy our closest consideration. 
 
 "In the old days, before the advent of the big corpora- 
 tion, it is claimed that every manufacturer was a Captain 
 of Industry, even though only in a small way, — still a 
 Captain, an independent owner. If he were the proprie- 
 tor of a small plant, a merchant with a moderate stock 
 of goods, the Captain of a small boat, or the owner of 
 a little farm, he was still an owner, a controller, a Cap- 
 tain; and this fact awakened the spirit of independence 
 and self-reliance and self-help, thus strengthening and en- 
 nobling character. 
 
 "The present conditions, it is claimed, produce exactly 
 the opposite results. To-day most men are servants, with 
 absolutely no voice in the control or direction of the 
 business in which they are engaged. Many are doubtless 
 required to do acts which they cannot entirely approve of, 
 but which they are powerless to avoid, having no voice in 
 the management ; and a refusal to do as ordered would 
 generally result in their dismissal. The resultant injury 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 23 
 
 to character is obvious ; no man can repeatedly do things 
 that his conscience disapproves, without moral deteriora- 
 tion; and it is claimed that that is what is happening to 
 our people. If this is true, no material gain can make it 
 good to us. We have all heard the story of the new boy 
 in the business office, who was one day in the inside 
 office with the President of his Company, when the lat- 
 ter spied an unwelcome visitor approaching. "Do you 
 see that man coming, Jimmie?" "Yes, sir," replied the 
 boy. "Run out and tell him I'm not in; quick." The 
 boy had not been brought up that way. He took one 
 look at his employer, to see if he actually meant it and, 
 seeing that he did, seized his hat and left the office, say- 
 ing to the astonished President as he went, 'Do your own 
 lying.' We admire the spirit of the boy, and possibly 
 admire his act; but we cannot help noticing also that 
 he had the wit to see that his act discharged him; he took 
 his hat. Let us hope that he did not find it difficult to 
 find another place ; but the average middle-aged man, with 
 a family, can hardly afford to be so independent, and he 
 no doubt 'takes his orders' and carries them out to the 
 best of his ability, whether he can always approve of them 
 or not. Only too often the big corporation, like the big 
 machine, is devoid of soul and, therefore, without char- 
 acter or conscience. And the final result on man is dis- 
 astrous. 
 
 "Another danger that attends the present condition is 
 that of industrial revolt. At the present time, large bodies 
 of workingmen are under the direction of a very few 
 men. What may be the effect during a period of great 
 business depression? Under the old condition of inde- 
 pendent industrial plants, employing from 500 to 2,000 
 men, during such periods every effort was made to keep 
 the men together, even if it had to be done at some sac- 
 
24 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 rifice. In a large plant employing 600 men, it used to be 
 said by the proprietors that, if they could keep their men 
 together, with enough work to keep the machinery 
 bright, and clear five per cent, during such periods, they 
 were well satisfied. But will that satisfaction be felt 
 under existing conditions? A big corporation, employ- 
 ing 50,000 or 100,000 men, controlled by a Board of 
 Directors meeting in a distant city, may suddenly receive 
 word to shut down indefinitely, without recourse by the 
 Manager or any of the employes directly interested. And 
 what may happen then? A large body of workingmen, 
 many of them skilled workmen, receiving high wages, sud- 
 denly thrown out of employment; what is then apt to 
 happen? Is not this a distinct disadvantage under which 
 the present system labors, as compared with the old? 
 
 "For fear that you may think that I am trying to paint 
 the picture too black, I wish to invite your attention to 
 the presentment that I will read. I will simply preface 
 it by saying that it was adopted by the great Quadrennial 
 Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in 
 Minneapolis in May, 1912. It reads as follows: 
 
 'We live in an age in which the vast enterprises essential to 
 the progress of the v/orld require the association of men of 
 large means under corporate management. Out of this neces- 
 sity have grown serious wrongs and consequent resistance. 
 
 'Organized capital stands indicted at the bar of public judg- 
 ment for the gravest crimes against the common welfare. 
 Among the counts in that indictment are such as these : 
 
 'i — Conspiring to advance prices on the staple commodities 
 indispensable to the life, well-being and progress of the people. 
 
 '2. — Resorting to the adulteration of foods, fabrics and ma- 
 terials to increase profits already excessive. 
 
 '3. — Destroying the competition in trade through which re- 
 lief might be expected under normal conditions. 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 25 
 
 '4- — Suborning legislation and thus robbing the people of the 
 first orderly recourse of the weak against the strong. 
 
 'These are sins against humanity. If God hates any sin 
 above another, it must be the robbery of the poor and defence- 
 less. Otherwise, his love fails when it is most needed and 
 might find its largest opportunity. There is no betrayal more 
 base than that which uses the hospitality of a house to plunder 
 its inmates, unless it be that form of treason which so per- 
 verts the purpose and machinery of popular government as to 
 turn its power against the people who trust and support it. 
 This is not saying that all corporations deal treacherously with 
 the people. There are honorable exceptions; but enough is 
 known of the heartless greed that fattens off of the hunger- 
 driven millions to warrant the strongest protective associa- 
 tions on the part of the people. 
 
 'We therefore declare our approval of labor organizations 
 and other defensive alliances of all whose interests are threat- 
 ened or invaded. Such united and unified action is their only 
 recourse under present conditions. 
 
 'At the same time we cannot ignore the fact that organized 
 labor also faces public judgment on the charge of lawless riot- 
 ing, violence and even murder, in its efforts to enforce its 
 decrees, and that its rules seem to unfairly affect apprentice- 
 ship and abridge the right of non-union men to learn what 
 trade they will, and to dispose of their own services as they 
 choose. We would admonish our people who are members of 
 labor unions that no circumstances short of personal peril 
 under dangerous assault can justify violent or lawless methods 
 in seeking relief from hard conditions. Nor should any Chris- 
 tian deny to another person the right of individual choice in 
 the disposal of his own services. Principles are greater than 
 present personal exigencies, and no man can afford to vio- 
 late the principle under which he himself claims protection. 
 The same is true of a Church or any other institution. We 
 regard the use of the "Blacklist" and the "Boycott" as of 
 the nature of conspiracy against the rights of individual judg- 
 ment and conscience, and un-American in principle, and ex- 
 tremely dangerous in tendency. 
 
 'The outstanding infamy of the present labor situation is the 
 chaining of little children to the wheels of trade. Dragged 
 from their beds half asleep in the early morning, or denied 
 
26 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the natural hours of sleep with the coming of night, tens of 
 thousands of them are being physically dwarfed and men- 
 tally stupefied and their careers blighted in the bud of their 
 being, amid the whirring machinery of mills, the black tun- 
 nels of coal mines, the noisome air of sweatshops and the 
 all-hour and all-weather demands of messenger service, for 
 which they are often inadequately clad. Neither Milton's or 
 Goethe's devil could have devised a plot against humankind 
 more demoniacal in torture or in destructive consequences than 
 this outrage upon helpless childhood by commercial greed.' 
 
 " 'Strong language, that !' I seem to hear some of you 
 exclaim. But no stronger than it should be, if the facts 
 are as represented. And I beg to call your attention to 
 the fact that that indictment comes from one of the great 
 " conservative Christian bodies of our country. It reminds 
 one of that other pronouncement from the same house- 
 hold of faith against human slavery, uttered over fifty 
 years ago, which had so much to do with bringing the 
 moral sense of the people to the point where it was will- 
 ing to make sacrifices to accomplish the right. Ma}^ we 
 not believe that in the new awakening to justice and 
 right, this declaration has had, and will continue to have, 
 very great effect? 
 
 "But the arraignment, strong as it is, is not strong 
 enough; the picture as painted is not as black as the 
 reality. In order that we may arrive at the solution of 
 the problem, we must know all its factors; if we are 
 to set ourselves to the task of curing this evil, we must 
 know fully what the evil is. So I feel compelled to call 
 your attention, very briefly, to what seems to be the dark- 
 est phase of the whole question of industrial conditions. 
 The charge has been openly made in the public prints, 
 and so far as I know has met with no adequate denial, 
 that in all our large cities, where humanity is most 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 27 
 
 crowded together in the worst conditions, that the in- 
 sufficient pay and low moral conditions in some industrial 
 plants lead directly to social vice, degradation and crime. 
 That the social conditions that exist in the places men- 
 tioned might tend in that direction, we all know. Just 
 how far these conditions are due to industrial relations, 
 we should investigate and determine, if we wish to know 
 the truth, so as to deal effectively with the situation. Ma- 
 chinery and the big corporation make the big factory, the 
 big plant, inevitable ; and thus tend to make large centers 
 of population — large towns and cities — and it has been 
 human experience for generations that certain vices best 
 flourish in such places. But now the charge is made 
 definitely and directly that, because of the low pay in cer- 
 tain industries, because of no proper system of promo- 
 tion to better work and higher pay, because of immoral 
 conditions existing in some of the factories, for these 
 reasons the younger portion of the employes, both boys 
 and girls, are placed in such positions that recourse to 
 vicious living seems almost inevitable. 
 
 "In order to know whether the statements published in 
 the press, and unchallenged so far as I know, could be 
 true, and in order to present the facts to you, I have called 
 on one of the Superintendents of a Church Settlement 
 in one of our large cities, and made inquiry as to the 
 facts. Through settlement work for years in more than 
 one large city, the woman I saw was well qualified to ex- 
 press an opinion as to ruling conditions, as well as to 
 suggest remedies for them. She confirmed fully what I 
 have already intimated are the conditions; and about the 
 time I made the visit to the Settlement, expressed her 
 opinions in a published interview in one of the city's 
 papers, a portion of which I wish to read to you. Speak- 
 ing of the younger work people in her district, she said : 
 
28 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 'The average boys and girls who leave school at the age of 
 14 are absolutely uneducated and unfit to take their places in 
 life. They have no aim and no idea of a future. All they 
 can do is to go into a factory for $4.00 or $5.00 a week. Their 
 heads are of no use to them; they have to depend upon their 
 untrained hands. They may increase their wages to a certain 
 point — say, until they are 16 or 17 — by getting up speed and 
 increasing their mechanical efficiency; what happens then? 
 A younger generation comes along and takes their places at the 
 looms or folding boxes. The first set is cast into the streets, 
 without any chance of a new position. They congregate on 
 the street corners; they look for work; they cannot find it, be- 
 cause they are not able to do anything that requires brains or 
 skill. The sequence is inevitable.' And a little later, in 
 the course of the same interview, referring to the cause for 
 their going wrong, she said: 'They would not have been vicious 
 if they could have got on.' And again, referring to the re- 
 sponsibility of respectable men for such conditions, she said: 
 
 ' "The decent men of the community should not fight shy of 
 this problem any longer. It is their business to consider it 
 wisely and well, and if they do, I think they will soon realize 
 that they, as heads of families and of establishments, are 
 more or less responsible for the fearful disregard for morality. 
 It is the business of every man at the head of a firm to de- 
 mand decent morals from his employes. ... I had recently 
 a case of a girl who was refused employment in one place of 
 business because the manager said 'she was too good.' He had 
 the decency left to send her away before she was brought into 
 contact with the men and women of his establishment. What 
 sort of a commentary is this upon our business morals and 
 the respectability of our manhood?"'* 
 
 "Not satisfied with one interview, I made it my duty 
 
 ♦"Negative work here will never accomplish the end desired. The 
 slums are breathing holes of hell and should be swept from the earth, 
 and if Christian people would go earnestly to work and stop listening 
 to the devil as he preaches laissez faire, let alone, non-interference, they 
 could be swept from the earth. — "The Labor Movement " by Richard 
 T. Ely, page 386. 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 29 
 
 to inquire of another Settlement worker, a woman of 
 many years' experience, and she confirmed fully what 
 I had been told before, and endorsed what I have just 
 read to you. Surely if this charge against modern indus- 
 trial conditions is true, and who can doubt that it is true 
 to a large extent ? is it not time that we got busy in the 
 effort to remedy those conditions? Is it not awful to 
 think of this waste of life as one of the inevitable re- 
 sults of our industrial arrangements ? At one end of the 
 line we have untold millions of wealth piled up in the 
 arms of those who are burdened with it, who do not 
 know how to use it, whose children it often destroys, 
 and at the other end we see untold misery and suffering 
 and crime visited upon many thousands of human beings, 
 'more sinned against than sinning.' Then somehow we 
 persuade ourselves to label this Civilization, and to pre- 
 tend to be proud of it. Is it strange that sometimes we 
 wonder v^^hy? 
 
 "And now, for fear that you may think that I am 
 drawing too black a picture, let us take a look at the 
 other side; at some of the remedial measures that have 
 been adopted and are being pursued by some of these big 
 corporations; for it is true that a number of them have 
 adopted remedial methods that will do much to improve 
 conditions. For instance, one of the largest has in the 
 course of the past year spent as much as five and a half 
 millions in such work, including various forms of insur- 
 ance and pensions and general welfare work ; many other 
 corporations have also spent large sums in similar work, 
 and there seems to be an undoubted awakening to the 
 value of this work. While it is true that this may, in 
 part, be due to a selfish desire to reduce the cost of acci- 
 dents that might otherwise have to be met, we can still 
 recognize the value of this work from the humanitarian 
 
30 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 standpoint, and therefore welcome it as a great step for- 
 ward, and rejoice in it. 
 
 "We must also acknowledge the advance steps in leg- 
 islation, both here and abroad, in the direction of the 
 protection and care of workingmen and working-women, 
 as shown in the Employers' Liability Acts; Compulsory 
 Insurance, as in Germany, and the Minimum Wage and 
 Old Age Pension Acts in England. Indeed, it is not muc!i 
 to the credit of our own legislative bodies that our Eng- 
 lish and German cousins are so far ahead of us in this 
 kind of protection to labor. Let us hope that we may 
 soon be abreast of the foremost thought of the world in 
 this matter. 
 
 "That much of this progress has been due to the efforts 
 of organized labor cannot be doubted. If nothing else 
 had been accomplished through the means of this agency, 
 this would be ample justification for the existence of 
 many Of the forms of organizations that labor has made. 
 While there are acts in the history of organized labor 
 that cannot be approved, there can be no doubt that the 
 good far outweighs the evil; and with the elimination of 
 force from their methods of work, it cannot be questioned 
 that they still have a great work to do for the elevation 
 ■of labor and general social uplift. It is too late to at- 
 tempt to discuss the right of labor to organize; its right 
 to do so is as fully established as is the right of capital 
 to form corporations. But there is one further step that 
 labor should take, when it forms its Unions and other 
 associations ; it should put itself under the law by incor- 
 porating, just as capital does when it organizes, thereby 
 demanding all the rights and privileges possible from the 
 law and at the same time assuming all the responsibilities 
 for its actions that other incorporated bodies do. By thus 
 courageously facing its legal accountability, labor will 
 
PRESEi\T CONDITIONS 31 
 
 show the courage that it otherwise lacks, and would win 
 many friends who now withhold their support. 
 
 "But, after acknowledging every step of progress that 
 has made the life of the workers safer, easier and better 
 worth living, we must admit that, as regards the most 
 important question, a fair division of the profits due 
 largely to labor, which is, after all, the crucial question, 
 the past century has shown comparatively little progress. 
 In spite of some efforts toward profit-sharing, and in 
 some instances the payment of dividends to shareholders, 
 the general attitude of capital toward labor is what it was 
 a century ago ; the chief rewards for the union of labor's 
 intelligence and skill with the machine, owned by capital, 
 have unquestionably gone to capital. And not only have 
 the original relations between labor and capital, as re- 
 gards the division of profits, persisted in a very large 
 degree down to the present day, but in the recent past 
 a new movement has been inaugurated, through com- 
 binations and the formation of very large corporations in 
 the past two decades, by which the profits largely due to 
 labor — a part of which, at least, justly belong to labor- 
 are anticipated in one form or other of stock issue, all 
 of which have been absorbed by capital. To one not 
 directly interested and who views the subject impartially, 
 it seems impossible to justify this, and one is forced to 
 conclude that, in this respect at least, labor is worse off 
 than it was a century ago ; for surely the pre-emption of 
 future profits, to which labor might later have presented 
 a claim, admitted to be just, puts labor in a worse posi- 
 tion that it has ever before occupied. 
 
 "It is here that we find the fundamental reason for the 
 unending dispute between labor and capital ; a dispute 
 that has existed from the beginning of the use of labor- 
 saving machinery, and probably antedates that era; a 
 
^2 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 dispute that begins at the root of the widespread and 
 deep-seated sense of injury and injustice which labor en- 
 tertains toward capital; a dispute that will never be set- 
 tled until it is settled right, with the full conviction on 
 both sides that the settlement is just. No remedial meas- 
 ures, such as Employers' Liability Acts, Insurance Funds, 
 the Minimum Wage and Old Age Pensions, will satisfy 
 labor, any more than fine Reading Rooms, Gymnasiums, 
 Baths and other Welfare items. What labor asks is not 
 charity, but justice; not welfare work, but a just share 
 of the profits. Let us try to determine whether labor's 
 demands are founded in justice and right. If so, we may 
 rest assured that they must be granted and that they will 
 be granted. 
 
 "The settlement of this question must take place in 
 the court of the individual conscience; each man and 
 woman must there meet the issue and determine the re- 
 sult. Everyone of us has a sense of right and justice 
 which we consider infallible in all questions that pertain 
 to ourselves. Let us try to present this great social 
 question, the settlement of which will afifect so many mil- 
 lions of human beings, in this highest of all earthly courts. 
 To do this, it will be necessary to put ourselves in the 
 place of the workers — in imagination, if in no other way. 
 Let us try to do this honestly, and then ask ourselves the 
 question as to right relations. 
 
 "Suppose we were the operatives working in the big 
 cotton or woolen mill,— toiling from morning till night at 
 a high-speed machine, until it seemed that we had in 
 reality become a part of it ; or, suppose that we were work- 
 men in one of the big iron mills, — working in the midst 
 of heat that at times was well-nigh beyond endurance; 
 working amid deafening noises, and amid dust and grime, 
 with dangers on the right hand and on the left ; and, worst 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 33 
 
 of all, with the consciousness that, after all our toil, there 
 was in it for most of us and for our families, but a bare 
 subsistence, or but little more; that many of us were in 
 fact working on 'the dead level of a closed case' ;* or, 
 suppose that ours was the experience described by the 
 Yiddish poet, of finally losing our personal identity in 
 the machine, so that, with him we could say; 
 
 'The roaring of the wheels has filled my ears, 
 The clashing and the clamor shut me in; 
 
 Myself, my soul, in chaos disappears, 
 I cannot think or feel amid the din.'** 
 
 "Is it not possible that after that experience we might 
 ask ourselves whether the nerve-force, the intelligence, 
 the skill, brought by the worker to the machine, making it 
 available and profitable, should not be placed upon a more 
 equal footing with capital, when the results of that labor 
 came to be divided? Might we not then decide that 
 justice required that labor should receive at least an equal 
 share in the division of the profits ? May we not be very 
 sure that we would decide that capital certainly owed the 
 utmost good faith and fair dealing in the treatment of 
 labor, and that nothing would take the place with us of 
 a just consideration? Is it not true that, to so arrange 
 industry by design, or to permit it to so remain, when 
 once arranged by accident, that all such profit beyond the 
 market-place wages should legally be attached only to 
 capital, — only to the ownership of the machine, is not this 
 at once an insult to intelligence and a travesty of justice? 
 
 ♦From an address by Henry W. Wilbur in Swarthmore (Pa.) Friends' 
 Meeting. Perhaps no other expression more fully describes the hope- 
 less condition of many workers than these seven words : "the dead 
 level of a closed case." 
 
 **From "The Sweatshop," by Morris Rosenfeld, the "Yiddish Poet." 
 
34 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "In arriving at this conclusion, let us not ignore the 
 fact that in many instances the skilled workman is well 
 paid, is able to live in comfort, provide for the education 
 of his children, and also save part of his income. The 
 impressive figures presented in the reports of our Savings 
 Banks and Building Associations abundantly prove this. 
 And it is also true that in many cases the way for ad- 
 vancement is open, and that many employers desire to 
 keep it open ; so that the unskilled workman may become 
 a skilled workman, and so be entitled to receive better 
 pay, which he can usually secure when his efficiency has 
 been shown. But, admitting this, it still remains true that 
 for very many the wages received do not constitute a 
 living wage, — that for the unskilled male worker the 
 pay is often far from adequate to support himself and 
 family, — while for the female worker in very many cases 
 the pay is shamefully inadequate. 
 
 "To the honor of womanhood be it said that for the 
 very great majority the hardest conditions are not allowed 
 to affect purity of life : but for the minority, weak and 
 foolish, rather than vicious or corrupt, — continual eco- 
 nomic hardship and pressure, often at the period when the 
 appeal of the joy of living is the strongest, must make 
 life extremely difficult, and be a leading cause of sur- 
 render to the temptations that abound in large centers of 
 population ; a fact that is fully proven by the reports of 
 social workers in our large cities.* 
 
 "In this connection it is of interest to note that the 
 Chicago Vice Commission, in its Report, makes the fol- 
 lowing statement : 
 
 *"Of 34 inmates of a rescue home, 22 gave economic pressure as the 
 cause of their being led into evil ways of living." — Jane Addams, "A 
 New Conscience and An Ancient Evil," page 61. 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 35 
 
 'It has been established, after exhaustive study, that it is 
 quite impossible for a working girl in a large city to live on 
 less than $8.00 per week. The average weekly wage actually 
 earned by each one of the millions of women in industry 
 is $7.00; three-fifths of them receiving less than $6.50.' 
 
 "In making this decision we are brought face to face 
 with our highest duty in the present and toward the 
 future. If the charges against the existing conditions are 
 true, surely we must seek to change them for our own 
 sakes and for the sake of our children, and our children's 
 children. And I seem to hear the question raised by some 
 of you; what changes shall we make, what policy shall 
 we adopt, that will make the relations of these two giants 
 peaceful and just? It is a fair question and deserves an 
 attempt at an answer. I trust that those who shall follow 
 me in this course of lectures will be able to find the right 
 answer to that question, for upon our finding it and 
 applying it, the peace of the future depends. My own 
 thought is that the solution of all the difficulties that re- 
 sult from present unjust relations between labor and 
 capital may be found in some plan of co-operation that 
 will commend itself as just to both parties. In fact the 
 great problem of the present is to change the word 'Cor- 
 poration' into the higher word 'Co-operation,' or to so 
 define the private corporation in law that it shall always 
 mean, and always result in, co-operation ; in other words, 
 we need to put the new spirit of brotherhood into the old 
 body of the private corporation. There can be no doubt 
 that at present labor believes that it is entitled to a share 
 in the profits, — not in a share in them as a gift from capi- 
 tal, but a share in them as a shareholder or part owner, 
 on equal terms with capital. Not only does labor gener- 
 ally hold this view, but a larger and larger body of 
 thoughtful people is coming to hold it. That it is fast 
 
36 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 crystallizing into that strongest force in the world, — 
 Public Opinion, — cannot be doubted. 
 
 "If the reasoning presented is well founded; if the 
 relations of labor and capital are as I have tried to outhne 
 them; and if Public Opinion is rapidly forming the judg- 
 ment suggested, is not the most important question before 
 us this : what is the next step forward that we should take 
 to make these conditions more nearly conform to our 
 sense of right and justice? Can the relations between 
 labor and capital be so harmonized that both will be satis- 
 fied; that peace, based upon justice, will be the rule; and 
 that the best interests of the Party of the Third Estate, — 
 the Common People, — will be preserved or advanced? 
 Surely these questions can be answered in the affirma- 
 tive. 
 
 "You will ask; How? And my reply must be, in a 
 general way, by the application of Conscience to Legis- 
 lation. Our laws must be made to express our high- 
 est sense of justice. If it is true, as has often been stated, 
 that our corporations have gone away ahead of the laws, 
 then we must bring our laws abreast of our corporations, 
 and they must be applied without fear or favor. It has 
 been said that the cure for the ills of democracy is 'more 
 democracy.' So I believe that the cure for the present 
 condition of little or no justice will be found in a greater 
 degree of justice, secured by the fearless application of 
 just laws. 
 
 "If we can by law change that word 'Corporation' into 
 'Co-operation,' and, while still retaining all the great 
 powers of the private corporation, make those powers 
 available for the common good, — thus transforming sel- 
 fishness into altruism, greed into generosity, brute force 
 into brotherhood, and fraud based on force into fellow- 
 ship and co-operation ; if this can be done by the applica- 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 2>7 
 
 tion of conscience to legislation, and through law made 
 operative on present conditions ; if this can be done peace- 
 fully; will it not be the greatest forward step in the evo- 
 lution of the race that the world has yet seen? Is it not 
 a work worthy of the strongest efforts of the greatest 
 minds and the best hearts among us? Is it not a work 
 that should be undertaken at once because of the dire need 
 of so many? If you are deceiving yourselves by thinking 
 the need is not as great as represented, then may I not 
 ask you to do as I have done; go and consult those 
 who work in the midst of the worst conditions, and thus 
 get close to the facts ? 
 
 "It may be urged that such an effort as this is not the 
 proper work of government ; that the aid of the law should 
 not be invoked for such purposes. Let us look at this 
 argument for a moment. What is the purpose of govern- 
 ment? You will agree with me that, as regards this 
 country, we cannot find a better expression of this pur- 
 pose than in the Constitution ; let us consult that greatest 
 of all the efforts of men, looking toward human uplift, 
 and see what we find there. In the very first words it 
 contains, — in the Preamble, — we find the purposes of our 
 government clearly expressed. They are said to be, to 
 "form a more perfect Union; to establish Justice; to in- 
 sure domestic Tranquillity; to promote the general 
 Welfare; and to secure the blessings of liberty to our- 
 selves and to our Posterity." There is not one of these 
 purposes that will not be greatly advanced by the adop- 
 tion of the policy that I have outlined. Surely, to make 
 our laws conform to our highest sense of justice will be 
 to more firmly 'establish Justice,' and "promote the gen- 
 eral Welfare.' 
 
 "But let us look further for the definition of the pur- 
 poses of government; let us see what some of the great 
 
38 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 leaders of thought have said. The saying of Hamilton, 
 that 'Justice is the end of government ; it is the end of civil 
 society,' is too well-known, and too generally accepted, to 
 need more than the repetition to secure our assent. So 
 too, is the statement of the great English leader of the last 
 century, Gladstone, in which he defined the province of 
 law; 'to make it as easy as possible for men to do right, 
 and as difficult as possible for them to do \\rong.' 
 
 "But there is a greater statement of the purposes 
 of free government, — especially of our own, — to which 
 I wish to call your attention ; and I do this the more 
 willingly because, while it is one of the greatest ever made, 
 it seems to be to a very large extent unknown. It comes 
 from our great leader, Abraham Lincoln, and is contained 
 in one of the greatest State papers he ever wrote. You 
 may remember that shortly after he was inaugurated, it 
 became urgently necessary that he should call an extra 
 session of Congress. The civil war had begun, and it 
 was necessary that the representatives of the people be 
 called together to provide ways and means to uphold the 
 National Government. He called the extra session to 
 meet on July 4th, 1861. The day, with its great associa- 
 tions ; the occasion, — the consideration of the steps neces- 
 sary to preserve the integrity of the Nation, — all con- 
 spired to make the message of the President to Congress 
 one of the most important in our history. What more 
 natural than that he should re-state the purposes of this 
 government ; and do so in his most forcible and convincing 
 way ? He did it in these words : 
 
 'This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the 
 Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form 
 and substance of Government whose leading object is to ele- 
 vate the condition of men, to lift artificial weights from all 
 shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 39 
 
 afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of 
 life. This is the leading object of the Government for whose 
 existence we contend. I am most happy to believe that the 
 plain people understand and appreciate this.' 
 
 "There you have Lincoln's idea of the purposes of 
 this Government. We might well ask, who was better able 
 to state it than he? and whose words will carry deeper 
 conviction of their truth to the plain people than these 
 of our great-hearted Leader? We may well place beside 
 this expression, that other which he made on the occasion 
 of the flag-raising at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, 
 on the 22nd of February, 1861, when on his way to 
 Washington. You will remember that he said then; T 
 would rather be assassinated on this spot, than that the 
 principles of this Declaration and the Constitution should 
 perish.' With these expressions, giving the purposes of 
 our Government, I would also leave with you this last 
 from another of our country's great leaders, — -Wendell 
 Phillips, — in which he referred to our country as 'this 
 great, free, model State, the hope of the nations, and 
 their polar star, this experiment of self-government, this 
 normal school of God for the education of the masses."* 
 
 "With these definitions of the rightful purposes of 
 government, especially of a free government like our own, 
 in mind, we need have no fear to adopt policies or to 
 make laws that have for their purpose, to use Lincoln's 
 words, — 'to elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial 
 weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable 
 pursuits for all, to afford all an unfettered start and a 
 fair chance in the race of life.' Surely, when we glance 
 at present conditions, with labor and capital occupying 
 
 *From "Speeches, Lectures and Letters of Wendell Phillips," page 
 542, published by James Redpath : Boston, 1863. 
 
40 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 hostile camps, not knowing when some new strike will be 
 inaugurated or some new appeal to force be made ; when 
 we see that the utmost that is being done to bring about 
 better conditions is the adoption of certain remedial meas- 
 ures, which, while good in themselves and deserving all 
 encouragement, do not go to the root of the trouble ; shall 
 we not welcome any policy or any plan that has the 
 promise of bringing labor and capital into friendly, if 
 not brotherly, relations; that will advance the general 
 welfare, make life safer and better worth living for all, 
 and in many cases rescue those who now seem doomed 
 to vicious living? 
 
 "Some will ask; how do you know that the plan of co- 
 operation that you propose will produce such results? My 
 answer to this is : because it has already produced them in 
 good measure wherever it has been fairly tried. I need 
 only refer to the great work accomplished by the Co-oper- 
 ative Societies in England, and to some noteworthy suc- 
 cesses that have been accomplished on the continent. The 
 figures showing the growth of the English Societies are 
 astounding. I understand that your attention will be 
 called to them in a later address ; so I will only say now 
 that according to the reports there were at the end of 
 1909, in England and Scotland 1430 of these Societies, 
 engaged in distributive co-operation, with a total capital 
 employed of $180,000,000, and now so rich that they 
 are investing millions of their surplus funds in the Public 
 \A^orks of their great cities. But their work is not con- 
 fined to merely distributing profits ; they consider the 
 educational work they do of as great importance as the 
 financial gains they make. The President of the Inter- 
 national Co-operative Alliance, William Maxwell, of 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 41 
 
 Rothesay, Scotland, said recently in a public address : 
 
 'For educational work $500,000 has been expended in read- 
 ing rooms, lectures and entertainments. In Edinburgh, where 
 half the population belongs to co-operative retail societies, 
 and there are fifty-six of our stores, university professors are 
 engaged to lecture. Scientific and bookkeeping classes are 
 maintained. Our regular meetings are also educational in a 
 business way. Making men by giving them a chance to de- 
 velop, we deem more important than helping them financially.' 
 
 "But these co-operative societies have done better than 
 educational work. I have referred to what some of our 
 social workers in our big cities have said as to the con- 
 nection between insufficient wages and possible vicious 
 living. Listen to these words from the address I have 
 just referred to, by Mr. Maxwell; 
 
 'In 1880 we found women working seventeen hours a day 
 making shirts at 20 cents a day. We started them working in 
 good surroundings only forty-eight hours a week, at a living 
 wage, with a share in the profits, and still made it pay us.' And 
 again he said : 'We pay women wages on which they can live 
 respectably. Men get Union wages, with a share of the 
 profits.' 
 
 "If Co-operation produces results like that, is it not 
 well worth trying here? And should we hesitate to take 
 any needed steps that will make it easy for our working 
 people to attempt the same kind of co-operative associa- 
 tion ? As to the exact type of Co-operation to be encour- 
 aged by law, I care but little; but it would certainly be 
 wise to try those systems that have been tried elsewhere, 
 and have proved successful. We have now the great ad- 
 
42 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 vantage of the experience of those who have gone for- 
 ward in this line of work. But whether we adopt Four- 
 ier's plan of the division of the rewards due to labor be- 
 tween labor, capital and ability; or that of the English 
 Societies of making the division between labor, capital 
 and patronage ; or some other plan that seems to us more 
 promising; matters but little. The main objective is the 
 introduction of the spirit of brotherhood and fellowship 
 into the corporation, in place of the spirit of greed which 
 so largely obtains. And this great change can be made 
 if our people will to make it; the laws of our country 
 are still the best expression of the will of the people, and 
 what they make up their minds to do, will be done. The 
 question now before us is : Is this work worth the effort 
 required ? 
 
 "And let us waste no time in fear of the outcome. If 
 the aim is good, the purpose true, we need give no place 
 to fear. If our aim is a greater measure of justice to all, 
 and especially to those who are now over-burdened; if our 
 watchwords are 'Brotherhood, Fellowship, Co-operation' ; 
 if we strive to serve the common good, to achieve social 
 and moral uplift,— we may well be satisfied with our pur- 
 pose, have full faith in our enterprise, and go forward 
 to accomplish it. 
 
 "Let us not deceive ourselves by the thought that any 
 policy we may adopt, or any plan of action we may ad- 
 vocate, will eradicate all evil, and at once bring the mil- 
 lenium. That mistake has been made before, and always 
 with the result that it retards progress, rather than aids 
 it. Let us take for our aim Industrial Democracy, to be 
 achieved through Co-operation, assured that such a step 
 will be in the right direction, and bring the world well 
 forward on its way toward that perfect justice which is 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 43 
 
 the end of human government* With that step once 
 taken, and the resuhant good in our possession, we may 
 well leave future steps to those who shall come after us, 
 in full confidence that the needed wisdom and vision will 
 be granted them. Let us believe that our duty is a pres- 
 ent duty, — to see clearly and take resolutely the step in 
 advance that is immediately before us. Thus, and only 
 thus, — not by indulging dreams of a perfect state of 
 society in the future, however brightly we may paint 
 them, — can we aid in the march of progress which we all 
 desire to see accomplished. Let us believe, as one of our 
 great poets has said: 
 
 'The world advances, and in time outgrows 
 The laws that in our fathers' time were best; 
 And doubtless, after us, some purer scheme 
 Will be shaped out by wiser men than we. 
 Made wiser by the steady growth of truth.'** 
 
 As Strong concluded he was greeted by hearty ap- 
 plause ; and the Chairman then announced that, following 
 their usual custom, questions could be asked, which 
 would be answered by the lecturer. He had hardly made 
 this announcement when a small man started up near the 
 middle of the audience and in a rather excited manner 
 exclaimed ; "Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the 
 speaker whether he does not think that all that he has in 
 mind could be as well accomplished, and much sooner, 
 too, by adopting the Single Tax idea, and thus abolishing 
 
 ♦"Industrial Democracy means self-rule, self-control, the self-direc- 
 tion of the masses in their effort to gain a livelihood. Industrial 
 Democracy is industrial self-government, and this is found in pure 
 co-operation." From "Outlines of Economics," by Richard T. Ely, 
 page 396. 
 
 **Lowell. 
 
44 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 all poverty by one stroke of justice?" As he took his 
 seat, Hammer Harry, who was sitting near Crandall, 
 leaned toward him and said in a deep whisper, which 
 could, however, be heard all over the room ; "Didn't I tell 
 you so ?" The questioner was a workingman by the name 
 of Singleton, so deeply interested in the writings of Henry 
 George, that he never allowed an opportunity for the 
 furtherance of his views to pass by without bringing them 
 into prominence. Barr was in the habit of saying that 
 "he was committed to the Single Tax idea simply on ac- 
 count of his name, and he thought he ought to live up to 
 it." Strong came forward again and said : 
 
 "Surely if I thought as our friend indicates, I would 
 not have taken up your time, my friends, by presenting 
 something very different. No, I do not think that all 
 poverty will be abolished by the Single Tax idea, nor by 
 any other single idea, nor by any other scheme of tax- 
 ation. We may be able to work ourselves into better 
 conditions ; but I do not believe that we will ever be able 
 'to tax ourselves into them. And yet I believe that the 
 work that Henry George did was a great work; not 
 because he accomplished the abolition of poverty, or could 
 possibly accomplish it by the means he proposed, but 
 because his books set men to thinking, called attention to 
 great evils, and helped to begin the work of eradicating 
 them. Even the Single Tax idea, in which I do not at 
 all believe as he did, has done much in the way of correct- 
 ing great inequalities in taxation, especially in our large 
 cities. But I confess that I have not been able to see the 
 justice in selecting only one form of property and placing 
 all the burden of taxation upon that. On the contrary, 
 it seems to me much more just to try to compel all forms 
 of property to bear a fair share of this burden. And when 
 the form selected to bear this whole burden is land, — the 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 45 
 
 very form which in some states bears as sHght a part of 
 the load as possible, — when this is done, then I must 
 admit, my sense of justice receives such a shock that I 
 find little to admire and nothing to support in the propo- 
 sition." 
 
 Singleton was on his feet again in a moment, as the 
 speaker paused. "I presume," he began, "that the lec- 
 turer never took the trouble to read Henry George's 
 'Progress and Poverty.' Usually those Vk'ho hold the 
 views that he has just presented, have not taken the time 
 to read what they are so ready to criticise." 
 
 "On the contrary, quite the reverse," quietly replied 
 Strong. "It is rather presumptuous for the gentleman 
 who has asked the question to assume that because one 
 has read what Mr. George wrote, one must inevitably 
 adopt his views. It is because I have read a good part of 
 what he wrote that I do not agree with him. When I 
 came across the statement in 'Progress and Poverty,' in 
 which he sums up his doctrine of Single Land Taxation 
 in the words : 'My proposition, therefore, is that we 
 appropriate rent by taxation,'* it seemed to me one of 
 the most extreme expressions of an unjust purpose that I 
 ever read, and I have seen no reason since to change my 
 mind. I think a man has as much right, morally speaking, 
 to demand rent for a house or for land that he owns, as 
 for any other form of property that may belong to him; 
 and I say that as one who for years paid rent. If I 
 received value for my money in a good house, I never 
 thought that the owner should not have it; in fact, I 
 
 *The passage referred to is as follows ; "What I, therefore, propose 
 as the simple yet sovereign remedy, which will raise wages, increase 
 the earnings of capital, extirpate pauperism, abolish poverty, etc., etc., 
 is to appropriate rent by taxation." Henry George, "Progress and 
 Poverty," Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition, 1908, pp. 403, 404. 
 
46 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 would prefer to pay rent for a good house than spend it 
 in a dozen more foolish and less justifiable ways." 
 
 "Air. Chairman," exclaimed Hammer Harry, who saw 
 that Singleton was about to rise again, and who did not 
 want the meeting turned into a Single Tax discussion; 
 "I would like to ask the lecturer if it is not true that in 
 the early days of the Trades Unions, they favored the very 
 plan that he has presented to us, as a cure for the evils 
 that beset the relations of labor and capital?" 
 
 "I am indebted to Mr. Smith for asking that question," 
 replied Strong. "That was a matter I intended to touch 
 upon, but feared that I would not have time. It is greatly 
 to the credit of Union Labor organizations that in very 
 many cases they spoke out strongly in favor of Co-opera- 
 tion. And they did more than this, too; for several of 
 the largest Labor organizations encouraged their mem- 
 bers to start co-operative enterprises. So that it is fair 
 to say that co-operation has been one of the objective 
 points at which united labor has aimed. That that aim 
 has not been more fully attained is due to reasons which 
 I understand will be explained by one who shall follow 
 me in this course of lectures." 
 
 The attention of Chairman Barr was here attracted to 
 a little old woman, who had been sitting well back in the 
 meeting, who had risen to her feet, and was trying to 
 gain his notice. He recognized her as Mrs. Gordon, a 
 woman very active in all good work in the town, a former 
 school-teacher, who did not fear to express her opinion 
 when she had anything of public interest to say. He 
 introduced her by name, saying that she no doubt had 
 something for them that would be of interest for all. 
 
 "My purpose, Mr. Chairman," she began, "was to 
 merely call your attention to the fact that, like some 
 others, I came here this evening in the hope of hearing 
 
PRESENT CONDITIONS 47 
 
 something that would help me solve the question of the 
 high cost of living. That issue which looms so big before 
 the average American family, has been touched upon, it is 
 true, — but only touched upon, and I had hoped that we 
 would hear much more on this very important question." 
 
 At this Strong again came forward, and said: "I 
 regret that I am not better qualified to deal with that 
 question; but I am informed that it will be more thor- 
 oughly presented at one of our future meetings. You 
 will permit me to say, however, that a great movement 
 in the direction of co-operation in distribution has been 
 going on in our own country in the past three or four 
 years and with great success up to this time. The work 
 is in the middle West, with headquarters in Minneapolis, 
 and follows very closely the lines of the very successful 
 English co-operative societies. This work has been 
 studied by a gentleman in our town, who will present the 
 results of his investigations at a future meeting. As 
 showing its close relation to the question which my good 
 friend, Mrs. Gordon, has raised, I may say that the 
 average reduction in the cost of food supplies, groceries 
 and provisions, that they have been able to accomplish 
 thus far, has been about ten per cent. To the average 
 family, that would seem, no doubt, a decided help in 
 solving the problem of the high cost of living. Further 
 details will be presented later." 
 
 As there seemed to be no further questions forth- 
 coming. Chairman Barr then declared that the meeting 
 stood adjourned. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 Another Conference: A New Departure. 
 
 Agitation, — "the marshalling of the conscience of a Nation 
 to mould its laws." — Sir Robert Peel. 
 
 "The ideas of justice and humanity have been fighting 
 their way, like a thunder storm, against the organized selfish- 
 ness of human nature." — Wendell Phillips. 
 
 "One language held his heart and life, 
 Straight onward to his goal he trod, 
 And proved the highest statesmanship 
 Obedience to the voice of God." 
 
 Whittier; of Sumner. 
 
 The regular monthly meetings of the Home Building 
 and Loan Association were held on the first Thursday 
 evening in each month, thus bringing the meetings shortly 
 after the public meetings of the Workers' Club. These 
 meetings were held in one of the smaller rooms of the 
 old School House, and were usually well attended by the 
 members, who called to pay their monthly dues, and 
 some of whom frequently remained to hear what occurred 
 at the Directors' meeting, held immediately after the dues 
 had been paid in. On this Board of Directors, as has 
 been stated, were Crandall, an ex-officio member by virtue 
 of his position as President of the Association; Smith, 
 who was the Vice-President; Strong, the Solicitor; Bruce, 
 the Treasurer ; Barr, who acted as Secretary ; and Sharpe, 
 and five others, most of them being workmen in the big 
 iron mills of the town. 
 
 The members of the Board usually arrived about a half 
 hour after the receipt of the monthly dues had begun. 
 When that was concluded, generally in an hour after their 
 arrival, they at once proceeded with their special business, 
 
 (48) 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE 49 
 
 which was to pass upon the applications for loans, appoint 
 committees of inspection, and consider other items of 
 business that might be presented. Usually this was com- 
 pleted by 9.00 or 9.30 o'clock, and they then had a half 
 hour to devote to any topic of general interest that might 
 come up for discussion. It was to this opportunity for a 
 short conference that Crandall and Barr had referred 
 when the presence of the School Principal and the Bank 
 Cashier on the Executive Committee had been discussed, 
 and the arrangement made by which they practically 
 became members of this Committee. 
 
 At the meeting of the Building Association after the 
 first public meeting of the Workers' Club, the members 
 of the Board were all present, with the exception of the 
 Solicitor, who had sent word that an engagement out of 
 town would prevent his attendance. "And that just suits 
 all round," added Barr, when he made this announcement 
 to the other members of the Board, "for I suppose we all 
 want to express our opinions on his lecture the other 
 evening. But first let us get through with our Associa- 
 tion business," which they at once proceeded to do. This 
 was chiefly routine business, and was soon disposed of; 
 and the motion to adjourn had hardly been adopted, when 
 Barr turned to Crandall, and exclaimed : "Now, Jackie, 
 tell us what you thought of the young man's speech the 
 other night. Great, wasn't it?" 
 
 "It certainly pleased me," replied Crandall. "When 
 you have watched a young fellow like Strong grow up, 
 you can't help feeling an interest, and I was mighty well 
 pleased that he did so well. One thing that I like espe- 
 cially was that I was able to understand every word of it. 
 That is more than I can say for some speakers I have had 
 to listen to." 
 
 "What did you like best about it, Mr. Crandall?" in- 
 
50 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 quired Sharpe, who always enjoyed trying to get at the 
 point of view of the other person, and hked especially in 
 this way to draw out impressions of men like Crandall, 
 Barr and Smith. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Sharpe," replied Crandall, "that isn't so 
 easy to tell, for I enjoyed all of it. But, perhaps I might 
 single out as the best thing that I recall what he said 
 about a just and fair consideration to labor, and the 
 statement that what labor was asking for is not charity, 
 but justice. And I guess that struck me especially because 
 of a little story I had heard along that line." 
 
 "What was that, Crandall?" inquired Hammer Harry. 
 "By all means let us have the story; anything to liven 
 us up, you know." 
 
 "Well, it wasn't that kind of a story, Hammer," replied 
 Crandall, "it wasn't humor; it was real, sound sense. It 
 was a little statement that was made at a meeting of 
 Christian workers at a summer meeting held last year, 
 and I thought it was one of the best things I ever heard. 
 The general industrial question was being discussed, when 
 a woman who has been greatly interested in all social 
 reform matters arose and spoke about as follows : I 
 give the substance of what she said, — some of my words 
 may be a little different, but the meaning, I'm sure, is 
 the same. 'Some years ago,' she said, 'most of our 
 illustrated papers and magazines showed us most beauti- 
 ful home conditions, and beautiful surroundings, and 
 schools and playgrounds and so on, that were provided 
 by one of the large corporations of the country. We were 
 led to believe that this company was having a most satis- 
 factory condition in regard to the men and women who 
 were employed by it. The first thing we knew, the whole 
 country was startled by a strike among these very em- 
 ployees. It was a very great grief to me, who had felt 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE 51 
 
 that that company had been doing exactly the right thing 
 with its employees; and when I had an opportunity to 
 )ask a person who knew, about why the strike had 
 occurred, he explained to me, with a laugh : "Why, do 
 you think people want those things done for them?" The 
 employers had done beautiful things for the men, but 
 the men and women of this country don't want things 
 done for them ; they want to be so paid, they want to be 
 so treated, that they may be in a condition to do things 
 for themselves. That is our American feeling. We 
 cannot get away from it; and it is growing over the 
 world.' 
 
 "And she wound up what she had to say, by using 
 almost the same words that Strong used the other eve- 
 ning, as I recall them : 'No system of benevolent treat- 
 ment of employees is going to take the place of a just 
 consideration.' " 
 
 "I remember something like that," said the School 
 Principal. "It seems strange that the woman you quote 
 and Mr. Strong should use the same expression. I 
 wonder if he could have heard of it, or read the same 
 report of it that you did. It may be a case of 'uncon- 
 scious mental absorption,' as it is called, and this is 
 always interesting to the student of Psychology. And 
 what did you think the best point he made, Mr. Secre- 
 tary?" he added, turning to Barr. 
 
 "That's an easy one for me," replied Barr. "I'm not 
 very strong on science, but the point I liked best was what 
 he said about Evolution. I suppose it was because I've 
 always wanted to get a grip on that, and what he said 
 about it, I thought I could understand. So it made me 
 feel g'ood." 
 
 "And do you recall just what the expression was that 
 pleased you?" 
 
52 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "Why, it was where he was speaking about Evolution, 
 and said it was 'from a lower form to the higher next.' If 
 that is what it means, why then I can understand it and I 
 know it's true. It's just like growth ; or going up a 
 flight of steps ; one step at a time ; from the lower to the 
 higher next one above. Any one can understand that." 
 
 "Thank you, Barr," replied the Principal, much pleased 
 with the simplicity of Barr's conception of the great scien- 
 tific theory that had revolutionized the world's thinking. 
 "It is certainly most interesting to have your impression 
 of Mr. Strong's address. But as to his definition of 
 Evolution, I think I may have with me a little surprise 
 for you. I ran across something on it in my reading, and 
 I was so much interested in it, I copied a part of it ; and 
 think I have it with me. I have been studying that gen- 
 eral subject with particular reference to its relation to 
 industry, and I ran across Herbert Spencer's definition 
 of Evolution in its broadest sense. Would you like to 
 hear it?" 
 
 "I would be delighted, sure," replied Barr. "I don't 
 remember that I ever met Mr. Spencer, and I don't 
 believe that we have very much in common. — ^but I guess 
 I can stand that, if you have it about you. Listen now, 
 gentlemen," he added, as Sharpe drew a memorandum 
 book from his pocket, and read as follows, the whole 
 group listening intently : 
 
 'Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissi- 
 pation of motion; during which the matter passes from an inde- 
 finite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogene- 
 ity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel 
 transformation.'* 
 
 *"First Principles of a New System of Philosophy," second edition, 
 page 396. 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE 53 
 
 "Now, look here, Mr. Sharpe," exclaimed Barr, "you're 
 making game of us. Surely that isn't English, is it? 
 For if it is, you've got to translate it for us; I don't 
 believe the rest understood it any better than I did. 
 Honest, now Jackie; didn't it go clear over your head, 
 too?" 
 
 "Sure thing, Davie. Mr. Sharpe, is that a real defini- 
 tion, or is it only one of those queer things, gotten up to 
 show us how fearfully the English language is made? 
 If it's real, then, like Barr, I've got to find an interpreter." 
 
 "It's the real thing, Mr. Crandall," began Sharpe, who 
 was much interested in the effect of his experiment, for 
 he had wanted to see what impression Spencer's well- 
 known definition would make, — when Hammer Harry 
 interrupted with : 
 
 "Would you mind reading that again, Mr. Sharpe? 
 It isn't often that the English languag>e runs away with 
 me ; but I confess, that does seem a little too rapid. 
 Maybe I could get it, if you would go slow." 
 
 So Sharpe read it again, this time quite deliberately. 
 As soon as he had finished, Barr exclaimed : 
 
 "No use, Mr. Sharpe, it never fazed me; clean over 
 my head, and I see by the way that Hammer and Jackie 
 look, it didn't hit them, either. My, but that's fine. To 
 think that anybody that wants to, is allowed to talk like 
 that; while if I stub my toe right hard, and say things 
 that ain't in the spelling-book, I can be arrested for it. 
 The laws don't seem to be just fair, do they ?" 
 
 "It isn't the laws that need to be changed, Barr," quietly 
 remarked Crandall; "it's your brain power. Well, I can 
 admire a man who can talk or write like that, Mr. Sharpe, 
 but I confess it's beyond me to comprehend it. And I 
 guess I'm too old to learn the trick, too." 
 
 "Well, I can't say that I agree with you, Crandall," 
 
54 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 remarked Hammer Harry. "I think language was given 
 us for the clear expression of thought, and when a man 
 talks or writes in a language that I can't understand, and 
 calls it English, it always riles me. That's just the dif- 
 ference between Lincoln, as I understand him, and a good 
 many educated men ; he could put the greatest thoughts 
 in the simplest words, so that any ordinary man could 
 comprehend them ; and the others becloud the commonest 
 thoughts with words beyond our comprehension; and 
 then seem to think they are very learned. Well, I beg to 
 differ. I hold that a real leader is one like Lincoln; one 
 who can see the truth himself, and then present it so 
 simply and clearly that the other fellow has no trouble in 
 seeing it, too ; almost has to see it, in fact, because it is 
 made SQ clear to him." 
 
 "You have given us a very good definition of a teacher, 
 also, Mr. Smith," replied the School Principal, who found 
 that he was gaining instruction where he had only looked 
 for a little fun. "But I think that you are, no doubt with- 
 out intention, rather hard on scientific writers like 
 Spencer. You see they are writing for the scientist, and 
 they naturally use scientific terminology. You are un- 
 doubtedly right when we are talking about making such 
 ideas clear to the general mass of the people. When they 
 are to be influenced, as was the case in Lincoln's day, the 
 use of the clearest language is recjuired ; and the real 
 leader and the real teacher understand this, and will 
 always present their message in that way. Not what a 
 man knows himself, but his ability to let the other person 
 see it, proves whether a man is a teacher or not. And 
 there can be no higher test." 
 
 "No doubt you are right, ^Ir. Sharpe," replied Ham- 
 mer Harry ; "but it seems to me that even in the expres- 
 sion of scientific thought, it ought to be possible to use 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE 55 
 
 language that is easily understood by all. I am convinced 
 that that is one of the great needs of the day. Nearly 
 every workingman is interested in the great questions of 
 political economy, as you call it, — and some few are able 
 to read and comprehend the books that are written on 
 that subject, — but it is also true that the great majority, 
 although they have such a vital interest in the subjects 
 that are treated by the writers, do not; and the chief 
 reason for it is, I believe, the language in which they are 
 written. The great need to-day is for some one like 
 Lincoln to put the subjects that are considered in political 
 economy in such language that the average workingman 
 and working woman can easily understand them. I 
 believe that this will be done, and I hope that our present 
 course of lectures will help to do it. I'm sure the people 
 were interested the other evening in that address by 
 young Strong." 
 
 "They certainly appeared to be. Barr has told us what 
 .he liked in it; suppose you let us know what seemed to 
 be the best point he made, Mr. Smith." 
 
 "Well, that isn't hard to do, and Barr will say, I sup- 
 pose, that it is a natural consequence, coming from my 
 admiration for Lincoln. But, whether that is the reason 
 or not, I liked best the definition of the purpose of this 
 government, which he said he got from one of Lincoln's 
 State papers. If we could only get that fixed in the 
 people's minds, and then start them marching that way, 
 I believe there would be progress ahead. We can't 
 accomplish all that at once ; but we could set it before us 
 as a possible goal, and by trying to reach it, we are going 
 to get nearer to it than by doing nothing at all." 
 
 "Right again. Hammer," exclaimed Crandall. "But the 
 present question before the house is : W^hat are we going 
 
56 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 to have for the subject of our next meeting? Barr, the 
 Court awaits the verdict. What shall it be?" 
 
 "Better say the report of the Committee; for I've been 
 a sort of a committee of one, looking up matters while 
 the rest of you've been resting," said Barr. "Now, don't 
 be excited or get scared, when I ask you a simple ques- 
 tion. What would you think of selecting 'Woman Suf- 
 frage' as the subject for the next meeting?" 
 
 There was a pause of half a minute, and then Crandall 
 exclaimed : "For the love of Heaven, Davie, what's this 
 you're handing us? What has that got to do with the 
 industrial question, or the relation of labor and capital? 
 Haven't you somehow lost your bearings ?" 
 
 "The weather isn't very hot just now," added Harry, 
 "or I would be apt to think it was affecting the poor 
 boy's head." 
 
 "That's just the way I said you'd take it," retorted 
 Barr, with an injured air. "You don't seem to have any 
 more sense at times than a blind mule. Instead of going 
 off that way, why can't you wait till a man has a chance 
 to explain what he means?" 
 
 "All right, Davie," replied Crandall; "we'll do better 
 next time. But, perhaps, it would be just as well if 
 sometimes you would do a little explaining first, and then 
 spring your surprises. But go ahead with your apologies." 
 
 "Apologies, nothin' ! I'll just tell you how the propo- 
 sition came to me, and then you can turn it down, if you 
 want to ; but I guess, maybe, you won't. Yesterday, on 
 the 9.30 A. M. down train, I was collecting fares, when 
 I came across the wife of the 'little boss' sitting with a 
 friend on the river side. I had collected their tickets, 
 when she said in her nicest way : 'Mr. Barr, this is my 
 friend. Miss Channing; we thought we would like to have 
 a few words with you when you are at liberty. I see you 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE 57 
 
 are quite busy now; could we see you when the train 
 reaches the City ?' Of course I said I'd be dehghted, and 
 arranged to see them in the waiting room after we got 
 in. So I did, and we had a little talk there, and they 
 nearly took my breath away by asking what our Club 
 would think of considering the subject I just gave you, 
 at the next meeting. I guess they saw by the way I 
 looked that it was a new one to me, and then they began 
 talking, — at least Miss Channing did, and she made the 
 thing look all right in just about two minutes ; so I said 
 I would present it to you and let her know your decision." 
 
 "Well, that does put a rather different face on it," 
 began Crandall, when Barr interrupted with : 
 
 "Oh, it does, does it? Just so; just so. I thought 
 maybe you'd begin to see a little better Jackie, when you 
 heard who the proposition came from. That is almost as 
 good as an operation for poor sight, isn't it, Harry ?" 
 
 "Now, Barr, you'll have to be good for once and excuse 
 us. Let us know what the remarkable Miss Channing 
 said that changed your own opinion so quick; maybe it 
 will have the same effect with us." 
 
 "All right," said Barr, "I'll behave, even if you don't 
 know how. One of the best things she said was that in 
 these days, when women had entered almost all lines of 
 industry, and really occupied some to the exclusion of 
 men, it was almost impossible to consider the industrial 
 question without considering their welfare. She said 
 that, in what was perhaps the most important work done 
 to-day, — the teaching of the coming generation, — women 
 did 80 per cent., while in the home, she did about 95 per 
 cent, of the training of the young. She asked if I didn't 
 think that was important ; and what could I say to that 
 but; 'of course I did.' Then she said that women could 
 help solve some, if not all, the great questions that 
 
58 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 affected the workers; that she was, in effect, trying to 
 help now, as all her social work showed, but that very 
 many women were convinced that they could help a great 
 deal better if they had the right to vote ; and they would 
 like to have the opportunity to present their arguments 
 before our Club, especially as it was a Club of the work- 
 ers. That is about all I can remember of it ; but I tell you 
 that woman has a way about her that almost convinces 
 you as soon as she looks at you. Now, what do you say, 
 gentlemen? Mr. Sharpe, let us have your opinion, won't 
 you? for I'm really afraid that Crandall and Harry will 
 be too easily convinced by the fact that the 'little boss' ' 
 wife made the request." 
 
 "That's hardly fair to your friends, Mr. Barr," replied 
 Sharpe; "but I suppose you meant it "sarcastic' I believe 
 in having an open mind on these new questions ; and 
 while mine is pretty well made up on the subject you 
 mention, I know that a great many have not yet made up 
 theirs. As it is a live subject, of present interest, why 
 not let the ladies have a chance, and put the meeting in 
 their hands ? That will relieve the Club of responsibility, 
 except for the first step, — that of saying "'yes' to a polite 
 request. And besides, it will be something of a novelty 
 here in town, and you will probably have a full house." 
 
 "Oh, I'll guarantee that," said Barr, "and it may be a 
 rough house, too for some of the 3'ounger element have 
 always regarded that question as something to make 
 sport of; so, I don't know about it." 
 
 "If that's your only trouble, Barr," interrupted Cran- 
 dall, "I guess you can leave that to Hammer and me. 
 We'll see that the house is orderly, and that the ladies 
 have fair play and a quiet hearing. Isn't that right, 
 Hammer?" 
 
 "Sure thing; that is if you take that for a subject. It 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE 59 
 
 would remind me of the good old times, if I had to throw 
 two or three of the boys out, just to keep things quiet. 
 But I don't believe you'll have to read the riot act, Barr." 
 
 "Well, of all trimming and veering to get a favorable 
 wind, commend me to you two," exclaimed Barr, who 
 had expected a much harder siege to persuade his Com- 
 mittee to admit the innovation. "The power of the hon- 
 ied words of persuasion from a woman's lips, even if 
 only quoted, is something remarkable. Well, it proves 
 what the women often say, that men are all alike ; I acted 
 just that way myself, so I don't blame you. What do you 
 say to it, Mr. Bruce?" he added, as Bruce, who had 
 finished counting the cash receipts for the evening, came 
 up and joined the party. 
 
 "Weh, what I say," replied Bruce, "is this — that I 
 couldn't help overhearing part of what you said, and 
 can't see why you shouldn't let the women have a chance, 
 just on the score of being industrial workers, if for no 
 other reason. Pretty nearly one-half the world's work 
 is being done by them now, and probably the most im- 
 portant half, at that. If they are in business, why should 
 they not have equal rights in politics ? I'm sure we men 
 haven't made such a particular success of the job, that 
 we have much reason to be proud of it. Perhaps the 
 women can help us to run shop in a cleaner and better 
 way, if we give them the chance. So, if you want to 
 count my vote, Barr, count it 'aye.' " 
 
 "The vote seems to be unanimous, gentlemen," ex- 
 claimed Barr, "and I will appoint Crandall and Hammer 
 here as a special Committee to help me maintain order 
 and see that the meeting goes off all right. So, if there's 
 no further business we'll adjourn, and see that Mr. Bruce 
 gets all that cash safe to the bank as we go out the 
 street." 
 
6o LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 The usual announcement of the next meeting of the 
 Club and of the subject selected by the Committee was 
 made in the issue of the "Herald" a day or two later, and 
 the editorial mention of the matter was very favorable to 
 the decision of the Executive Committee in permitting 
 the subject to be discussed. "No other public question 
 of the day has aroused so much interest, and is now 
 claiming the attention of intelligent persons to so great 
 an extent as this," said the "Herald." "We congratulate 
 the W^orkers' Club on being so up-to-date, and especially 
 upon their good fortune in securing for our citizens the 
 opportunity of hearing Miss Louise Channing, one of 
 the ablest advocates of this reform movement, who will 
 make the leading address on this occasion, and who will 
 be pleased, we are informed, at the close of her address, 
 to answer any questions that may be asked." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 The Leading Issue: Equal Suffrage for Women. 
 
 "No single principle of liberty has been enunciated from 
 the year 1688 until now, that does not cover the claim of 
 woman." — Wendell Phillips. 
 
 "The natural right of a woman to vote is just as clear as 
 that of a man, and rests on the same ground. Since she is 
 called on to obey the laws, she ought to have a voice in making 
 them." — Henry George. 
 
 "The broadest and most far-sighted intellect is utterly 
 unable to foresee the ultimate consequences of any great 
 social change. Ask yourself on all such occasions, if there be 
 any element of right and wrong, any principle of clear natural 
 justice that turns the scale. If so, take your part with the 
 perfect and abstract right, and trust God to see that it prove 
 the expedient." — Wendell Phillips. 
 
 The public meetings of the Workers' Club were held 
 in what had originally been the assembly room of the 
 High School. It was a large room with a seating 
 capacity, now that the old desks had been removed and 
 their place taken by chairs, of between 400 and 500, 
 although on special occasions many more could be 
 crowded within its limits. At one end was a long, low 
 platform, which had formerly been used for the School 
 Commencements, and from which much learning and 
 eloquence had been dispensed to admiring crowds. This 
 was now used as the Speaker's platform, and those who 
 arrived early at the second meeting of the Club were 
 surprised to see a double row of chairs stretched at the 
 rear of the platform, and several more in the foreground. 
 They were even more surprised when the hour for the 
 speaking had arrived to see a number of ladies make their 
 way to the platform and take the chairs at the rear. Fol- 
 
 (61) 
 
62 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 lowing them came the members of the Executive Com- 
 mittee, Crandall, Hammer Harry and Chairman Barr; 
 and with them were Sharpe, the Principal of the Public 
 Schools ; and Bruce, the Cashier of the local Bank. 
 
 Chairman Barr lost no time in opening the meeting. 
 The exercises began, as usual, with music by the High 
 School Chorus, after which Barr advanced to the front 
 of the platform and said: 
 
 "Some of you may have thought, my friends, that the 
 Workers' Club was taking a very novel step, when you 
 read the announcement of the subject to be considered at 
 this meeting; but our Committee believes that long before 
 the meeting is o\'er you will all acknowledge that it acted 
 with wisdom, and in a way that shows that it is our wish 
 to consider questions of live interest and real importance. 
 Before we begin our regular proceedings, I will ask our 
 well-known fellow-^townsman, Mr. John Crandall, to read 
 the list of Officers for this meeting." 
 
 This was another innovation, and at once the interest 
 of the large audience, many of whom were women, was 
 aroused. Crandall advanced to the front and said: "Mr. 
 Chairman : As soon as the decision was reached that this 
 meeting should be held, your Committee decided that it 
 wished to show to our good friends here," here he turned 
 and bowed to the group of women seated on the stage 
 near him, "that the leading citizens of Pleasantville are 
 no whit behind the rest of the world in granting them a 
 fair hearing. W^hile there are doubtless some who are 
 not as yet persuaded that the course they advocate is the 
 right one to pursue, still the American sense of Fair Play 
 ensures them here, as it must in every civilized com- 
 munity, a respectful hearing. Your Committee desired 
 to give to our citizens the opportunity to express, by some 
 connection with this meeting, their approval of the move- 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 63 
 
 ment, — in many cases, — and in all, the conviction that a 
 cause like this was entitled to, and must receive, a fair 
 hearing at the hands of our people. I am glad to be able 
 to announce that of the gentlemen waited upon by Ham- 
 mer Harry and myself in regard to being Officers of this 
 meeting, not one declined to allow us to use his name, 
 and many of them' spoke of it in terms of warm sympathy 
 and approval." 
 
 He then proceeded to read a list of names which 
 included nearly all the leading business men of the town, 
 — the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the corporations 
 owning the big mills; the Mayor, and leading members 
 of the Town Council; the leading merchants; the Officers 
 of the two Banks ; the ministers of all the Churches ; the 
 leading teachers ; and also a number of well-known resi- 
 dents whose business was in the neighboring city ; — in 
 all, a list such as no other meeting for many years past 
 could have presented. It must be admitted that Crandall 
 read this list over in his best manner, and with a great 
 deal of personal satisfaction, for this had been his plan 
 to accomplish an orderly meeting. He knew that the 
 disorderly element would be present, as in fact it was, — ■ 
 but he also knew that nothing would have such a tendency 
 to keep that element in perfect order as the knowledge 
 that their employers were in a way responsible for the 
 meeting, and would resent anything like disorder as a 
 personal affront. "I rather think we have them, Ham- 
 mer," he had said to Smith, as they came to the meeting; 
 "I guess they will be as quiet as mice; and it will be a 
 great opportunity for some of them to get a little truth 
 in compact form. I hope she will give it to them straight, 
 so that they cannot miss it." And it may be added that 
 he was correct in his prophecy, and his hope fully realized. 
 
 As soon as the list of Officers had been read and their 
 
64 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 election made by unanimous vote, Chairman Barr ad- 
 vanced again, and began his short speech of introduction : 
 
 "When this meeting was decided upon, my friends, I 
 wanted very much that my friend, CrandaU, or Hammer 
 Harry, should preside; but they said, 'No'; and then I 
 hoped that one of the ladies interested in the Equal Suf- 
 frage cause would do so ; but all seemed to think that 
 this ought to be as much like one of the usual meetings 
 of the Club as possible; so here I am, as usual. But I am 
 glad to say that we were able to persuade some of the 
 leaders of this cause in our town and county to be with 
 us, and as they want to give effective backing and sup- 
 port to their spokesman, they have consented to be here 
 with her on the platform. It may be, gentlemen, that 
 some who have come here to-night to scoff, will remain, 
 — if not to pray, at least to be convinced ; and if I may 
 speak from a bit of personal experience, I would venture 
 the opinion that no one is better qualified to do it than the 
 speaker, whom I shall have the honor to introduce. 
 Before I do so, may I be allowed to tell of the sage 
 remark of a colored man of my acquaintance some weeks 
 ago. Some one asked him what he thought of Woman's 
 Suffrage; and he replied, that he didn't know 'nothin' at 
 all about it; but he must say he hadn't got no sympathy 
 for 'em, for he was sure dey done brung it on deirselves, 
 and deserve it all, — whatever it is.' It now gives me 
 pleasure, my friends, to introduce to you the lecturer of 
 the evening. Miss Louise Channing, who will address us 
 on the subject announced." 
 
 As Barr concluded, Miss Channing advanced, and was 
 received with a round of applause by the audience, who 
 were at once captured by her appearance. Tall, dressed 
 in quiet good taste, free from mannerisms and affecta- 
 tions, with a face speaking of youthful enthusiasm and 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 65 
 
 great intelligence, it seemed to some of her hearers as 
 though the Spirit of Youth were speaking to them 
 through a beautiful human medium. In a low voice, but 
 one that could be distinctly heard, she began to plead for 
 the cause she evidently loved : 
 
 "I am indebted to your Chairman, my friends," she 
 began, "for the good opening to my address which he 
 has given me. The daughter of a Union soldier, I have 
 always rejoiced that the Great Republic which he helped 
 to save, when it had given the greatest blessing of life, — 
 freedom, — ^to the former slave, also gave him that right 
 and privilege through which alone he could make his 
 freedom operative in law and valuable to him as a man, — 
 the right of suffrage. I rejoice that in the States of 
 highest education and best government of our Union, that 
 right of his is unquestioned. But may I not ask you 
 men, who believe in justice and fair play, if it is altogether 
 right that the daughter of a man who risked his life for 
 the life of his country should be deprived of this right 
 and privilege, while a colored man who does not know 
 the difference between 'sufiferings' and 'suffrage' is 
 granted it?" 
 
 Here the speaker was interrupted by a round of ap- 
 plause, in the midst of which Hammer Harry, although 
 sitting on the platform, became so lost to all proper sense 
 of decorum that he leaned toward Crandall, and ex- 
 claimed in a stage whisper, which, because it was his, 
 could be heard all over the room. "I give in ; captured in 
 the first round"; which was so enjoyed by the audience 
 that it sent them off in another round of noise, in which 
 Hammer, who now realized the gravity of his offence 
 against propriety, had all he could do to regain his 
 composure. 
 
 The lecturer now proceeded to give a brief historical 
 
66 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 sketch of the growth of the movement in favor of Equal 
 Suffrage for Women, in the course of which she claimed 
 that one of the first men to speak fearlessly in favor of 
 the cause was the great leader, then quite a young man, 
 who afterward led his countrymen through the red sea 
 of war to the promised land of a truly free and reunited 
 National existence. "It is true," she added, "that the 
 opponents of Equal Suffrage claim that because Abraham 
 Lincoln made no speeches in advocacy of the cause, he 
 had therefore lost interest in it, and that it no longer 
 formed any part of his political creed. But I may remind 
 you and them that in the days between 1850 and i860 
 other great issues came to the front : and it is not strange 
 therefore that in that time he did not give further atten- 
 tion to the subject. It still remains true that more than 
 a decade before the organization of the American Wom- 
 an's Suffrage Association, Abraham Lincoln uttered 
 those words which make his memory forever green to all 
 who believe in Equal Suffrage for Women : 'I go for all 
 sharing the rights of suffrage, who help to bear the bur- 
 dens of Government, — by no means excluding females.' "* 
 
 "May I ask your attention to this subject, my friends," 
 continued the speaker, "from two points of view ; the 
 personal and the political? And as we thus look at.it, 
 will you try to answer with me this question : Why 
 should women be deprived of the right and privilege of 
 voting? And first, in the personal sense. 
 
 "Has not woman the required mental ability to entitle 
 her to vote? Can she not as readily form just conclu- 
 
 ♦Lincoln's exact words were as follows : "I go for all sharing the 
 privileges of Government who assist in bearing its burdens. Conse- 
 quently I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay 
 taxes or bear arms, (by no means excluding females.)" From a letter 
 to the Springfield Journal, under date of June 13th, 1836; (when a 
 candidate a second time for Representative in the State Legislature.) 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 67 
 
 sions, based upon what she sees and hears, as men can ? 
 If you think that her mental ability is inferior to that of 
 man, had you not better consider the advisabihty of 
 taking from her the education of your children, which 
 you have so largely committed to her care ? 
 
 "But this point need hardly be argued, for men are so 
 accustomed on all public occasions to saying such pleas- 
 ant things about the good qualities of women, and 
 referring in such eloquent words to what we have done in 
 the realms of Literature and Science and Art, that the 
 question of our mental equality may perhaps be consid- 
 ered settled. But if any should still doubt it, even they 
 will shortly be conNJ-inced, for the records of our Colleges 
 and Universities prove that women students already 
 greatly exceed men students in number, and the danger 
 now seems to be that in a few years the scholarly and 
 learned class in this country will be chiefly women. When 
 that day comes, let us hope that neither the men who now 
 oppose Equal Suffrage because women are not intelli- 
 gent enough to vote, nor the women who will then have 
 acquired the right to vote, will be so unjust as to attempt 
 to exclude men from voting for that reason. 
 
 "If, then, we admit that the intellect of woman qualifies 
 her to exercise the right of suffrage, let us see whether 
 her moral qualifications are also equal to the task. And 
 here the only investigation we can make will be a compara- 
 tive one; for if, in spiritual insight and moral force 
 woman is the equal of man, then surely, as he enjoys 
 this right, it should not be denied her on this ground. To 
 state this question is equivalent to securing your approval. 
 If there were any evidence required, that furnished by the 
 records of the prisons of the country would be conclusive; 
 for these show that for all crimes, the number of women 
 convicts is less than six per cent, of the whole number, — 
 
68 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 thus showing that the morality of women, when judged 
 by this standard, is about sixteen times as great as that 
 of men. But this would undoubtedly be unfair to the 
 men, so we will not urge it, — but will simply claim, what 
 I am sure every fair-minded man will readily concede, 
 that on the ground of morality alone, there can be no 
 objection to allowing women the right of suffrage. 
 
 "If we are satisfied, therefore, that woman has both the 
 intelligence and the morality to qualify her for suffrage, 
 let us see whether, from the political point of view, she 
 is not also qualified for it. Here those men who oppose 
 Equal Suffrage seem at a great disadvantage, because 
 every sound political reason upon which they base their 
 own claim to this right is equally strong and sound for 
 woman. Your great Declaration of Independence says 
 that 'Governments derive their just powers from the 
 consent of the governed.' You will all admit that 
 woman is governed, in the sense that she must obey the 
 laws ; how then can you escape the logical conclusion that 
 her consent should in some way be had ; and in what way 
 can it be had, justly and fairly, save through the exercise 
 of the right of suffrage ? You also have told us again and 
 again, and began your great revolution with the declara- 
 tion, that 'taxation without representation is tyranny.' 
 Is it any the less tyranny because a woman is the victim ? 
 What right have men who utter such sentiments to tax 
 women to support a government, whose laws they have 
 no voice in adopting or repealing? 
 
 "And as we consider the subject of taxation let me 
 repeat something which a friend of mine who sees the 
 injustice of present conditions, recently told me. He 
 said that he had had occasion to consult the tax assess- 
 ment books in one of our large cities, in looking up Real 
 Estate assessments, and he was surprised to notice that 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 69 
 
 in many instances when houses in a block would appear 
 in the names of women owners, the assessments would go 
 up, apparently for no other reason than because they 
 were owned by women. He could see no difference from 
 the description between these more highly appraised prop- 
 erties and those beside them owned by men, and came to 
 the conclusion that, not only were women paying taxes, 
 but that they were paying much more than a fair share. 
 This forms an additional reason, based upon the taxa- 
 tion argument, why women should have the right to vote ; 
 for such injustice could not long survive their exercise of 
 the right." 
 
 The speaker now turned her attention to some of the 
 objections frequently urged against granting Equal Suf- 
 frage, most of which have become well-known through 
 constant repetition, and have so little force that they need 
 but slight consideration. The old objection based upon 
 the fact that women do not fight, and could not be used 
 as soldiers and policemen, she answered by the statement 
 that the need for the fighter in modern civilization was 
 growing more and more remote; that the vast majority 
 of male voters now exercising the right had never been 
 called upon either to fight or to act as policemen; and 
 that, if they were, the services contributed by women as 
 nurses, even on the field of battle, should be accepted by 
 society as the payment of an equal obligation ; for surely 
 to save life is as great a service to the State as to take it. 
 
 "Most of the objections to Equal Suffrage, my 
 friends"; continued the speaker; "are, as you have seen, 
 too puerile and weak to be worthy more than a passing 
 glance. But there are two, which are by some persons 
 considered so strong that I have reserved them for more 
 serious consideration. One of them is the old claim that 
 women are too emotional, too sentimental, to be entrusted 
 
70 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 with this solemn duty of voting; the other that they can 
 exercise a stronger influence for good by exerting their 
 'silent influence' in some indirect, but all-powerful 
 manner. Let us look at these objections for a few 
 minutes. 
 
 "If it is true that women are too sentimental to exer- 
 cise the right of suffrage, — what shall be done with that 
 class of men who also acknowledge the power of senti- 
 ment and emotion in their lives? Shall we refuse to 
 allow them this right on the same grounds? Are not 
 our friends who present this as an objection entirely 
 mistaken in their assumption that we have had, or in the 
 nature of things ca)i have, too much sentiment in our 
 politics? Is it not rather true that we have had entirely 
 too little of it there? Take the sentiment of personal and 
 political honor; who will claim that we have had too 
 much of this sentiment, — and it is purely sentiment, — 
 nothing more nor less, — in our political life? A recent 
 writer on this subject has well said: 
 
 'The man who is not controlled by sentiment betrays his 
 friends, sells his vote, is a traitor to his country, or wrecks 
 himself, body and soul, with immoralities: for nothing but 
 sentiment prevents any of these things. The sense of honor is 
 pure sentiment. The sentiment of loyalty is the only thing 
 that makes truth and honesty desirable, or a vote a non-salable 
 commodity. Government would be a poor affair without senti- 
 ment, and is not likely to be damaged by a slightly increased 
 supply.'* 
 
 "The other objection which we so frequently hear 
 urged by our friends, 'the enemy,' — that of the great 
 value of woman's silent and indirect influence, — an influ- 
 
 *From a paper read by Mrs. E. T. Brown at a meeting of the Georgia 
 State Federation of Women's Clubs. 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 71 
 
 ence which they claim is stronger than the bahot can be, 
 — should be considered in all fairness, because those who 
 urge it are undoubtedly sincere in their belief that it 
 forms a good and strong reason why women should not 
 be granted the right to vote. So, because of the regard 
 we have for those who present this argument, rather than 
 for the argument itself, let us consider it carefully. 
 
 "In the first place it seems fair to say that in granting 
 to women the right of suffrage, there is no desire on the 
 part of those favoring this great reform to compel all 
 women to exercise the right. If some women should be 
 convinced that they can do better work in the direction 
 of the uplift of public sentiment or the purification of 
 politics, by using their indirect and silent influence, it 
 will still be possible for them to so use it. They will 
 not be compelled to vote. So that, if there is really any- 
 thing in this argument of indirect influence, nothing need 
 be lost to society or government by allowing those women 
 who wish to exercise their influence to do so. By the 
 same token, — if the friends of Equal Suffrage are willing 
 to grant this liberty to their friends who oppose suffrage, 
 is it not simply fair and just that the same liberty should 
 be granted them? 
 
 "But how about this so-called 'indirect influence,' as 
 a matter of fact? Does it really exist, save in the imagi- 
 nation of those who urge it? Is it not something so 
 intangible, so evanescent, that she 'who thinks she has 
 it, proves by the very thought, she has it not?' What 
 great work, either in the realm of politics, or in social 
 uplift outside of politics, or in philanthropy, can those 
 who place so much dependence upon it, refer us to ? And 
 even if they were able to refer to some things that had 
 been accomplished through this medium of indirect action, 
 should that operate as a good argument against the use 
 
72 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 of direct means, when these last are honorable and just? 
 Who would not prefer to act directly, in a straight- 
 forward manner, rather than by the use of an indirect 
 method, which may always be objected to, simply because 
 it is indirect? Where can be the possible advantage of 
 a silent and indirect influence, when a direct influence, 
 even though not silent, can be exercised? 
 
 "And finally, as to this method of accomplishing good 
 work, I wish to ask our opponents, especially the men 
 who oppose giving women this right and privilege, how 
 would they like it themselves? If this indirect influence 
 can be used to efifect all necessary good results, why did 
 they secure the right to govern themselves at such cost 
 of life and treasure? Has it all been a great mis- 
 take; and would they prefer to go back to the days of 
 the King and courtier, and the use of 'silent influence'? 
 And if not, will they please tell us why not? In their 
 explanation to us of their reasons for objecting to this 
 method of silent and indirect influence, they will find our 
 own best reasons for objecting to it. It is hardly to our 
 discredit, if, reading the lessons of history as we find 
 them written by men for our instruction, we do not wel- 
 come the lauding of indirect methods in human govern- 
 ment. Preferring to work in direct lines, to think our 
 thoughts along straight lines, we trust we may be par- 
 doned for not placing much confidence in the power of 
 indirect influence. Some of us have heard of the treat- 
 ment accorded that great leader of women, Frances 
 Willard, when she approached the Executive Committee 
 of one of the great political parties, now nearly a gen- 
 eration ago ; and I have heard men speak in angry tones 
 when they told of the slight attention granted her there. 
 We know now that if she had been able to say then, as 
 she might say in these days : 'Gentlemen, there are nine 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 'ji 
 
 States that will vote this year, and in those States the 
 women hold the balance of power,' her reception would 
 have been very different. And in that difference lies all 
 the difference between direct influence, and silent or 
 indirect influence. 'Revolutions do not go backward, 
 gentlemen; let us keep on looking forward.' 
 
 "As an illustration of the ignorance which is some- 
 times brought to the discussion of this great reform, will 
 you allow me to refer to a recent article in one of the 
 leading magazines of the country. The writer evidently 
 believed that she held a brief for the women of the coun- 
 try opposed to Equal Suffrage, and entitled her article, 
 'For the Twenty-two Million,' — on the mistaken assump- 
 tion that nearly all of the women outside of the States 
 that have already adopted suffrage for women were 
 opposed to it. In the course of the article she thus refers 
 to one of the early advocates of Equal Suffrage : 
 
 'From the books I learned about Lucretia Mott, a simple 
 Quaker maid, not yet out of her teens who struggled so hard 
 to get the education her fine mind craved and who found the 
 doors of education barred against her because she was a 
 Woman. She had something to fight for and little wonder she 
 put up a good fight for the ballot or any thing else which would 
 give her some measure of freedom.'* 
 
 "Apparently this was not intended for humor; but, if 
 not, then it is fair to say that it seems strange that a 
 writer on a serious subject, inviting widespread public 
 attention, should not take the trouble to consult books 
 that will give correct information, before trying to rep- 
 resent any number of millions of people. Such mis- 
 
 *From article entitled "For the Twenty-two Million," published in 
 "The Outlook," May 4th, I9i2- 
 
74 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 statements of fact, that could have been readily corrected 
 by looking up a biography of the person she was writing 
 about, throw discredit upon the other statements con- 
 tained in her article, some of which are no doubt true. 
 Lucretia Mott was a mature woman over fifty years of 
 age when she began to take an active interest in the cause 
 of Equal Suffrage. The American Woman Suffrage 
 Association was organized in 1848, when she was fifty- 
 five years old. She had had no such struggle for an 
 education as is pictured in the article referred to, as her 
 people were Friends, or Quakers, as they are usually 
 called, who have always stood for the equal education of 
 boys and girls ; so that she readily acquired a good educa- 
 tion as a matter of course, and was teaching before she 
 was twenty years of age; and teaching, not in a public 
 school, but in an academy, as the advanced institutions of 
 learning for girls were then called. 
 
 "The mistakes made by this writer would hardly be 
 worthy your attention, were it not for the fact that they 
 are indicative of many like incorrect statements that come 
 from our friends, 'the enemy.' This is illustrated in the 
 same article by the startling statement she makes, — 
 referring to some of the old laws that are a disgrace 
 to the statute books of the great majority of the 
 States of the Union ; — in these words : 'The old worn- 
 out laws that remain on the statute books do no more 
 injustice to women than to men.' This statement is made 
 in face of the fact that in only sixteen of the forty-eight 
 States is a mother equal guardian with the father over 
 her own children, and that in a majority of them the old 
 infamous laws of consent as to young girls still prevail. 
 For over fifty-five years the women of Massachusetts, — ■ 
 probably the best educated community in the Union, — ■ 
 struggled to secure the passage of an equal guardianship 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 
 
 /5 
 
 law, before they were successful; while the women of 
 Colorado secured it the year after they obtained the right 
 to vote. Is it not just to say that before women or men 
 attempt to discuss such important subjects, they should 
 study the first elements of discussion? 
 
 "And now, lest I seem to be unfair to the writer 
 referred to, let me give you her conclusion as to the 
 reason why she and the others who think as she does, do 
 not want the ballot. She asked this question of a Doctor 
 of Philosophy : 
 
 'Why are you opposed to it ?' 
 
 'The Philosophy Doctor became serious. "Because I don't 
 want to see women robbed of their greatest power." ' And then 
 she adds: 
 
 'At last — the reason sharply defined — it is the real reason 
 why I do not want the ballot.' 
 
 "And so again we run up against this illy-defined 
 'silent, indirect influence, which women are supposed to 
 use on occasion, and by which they claim to accomplish 
 great results. Now, as against the opinion of the writer 
 of the article referred to, let me give you the opinion of 
 one of the best-known women philanthropists of the 
 present day, Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House, Chicago, 
 who, writing especially of what the ballot in the hands 
 of women could do for the protection of the home, said : 
 
 'If woman would fulfill her traditional responsibility to her 
 own children; if she would educate and protect from danger 
 factory children who must find their recreation on the street; 
 if she would bring the cultural forces to bear upon our mate- 
 rialistic civilization ; and if she would do it all with the dignity 
 and directness fitting one who carries on her immemorial duties, 
 then she must bring herself to the use of the ballot, — that latest 
 
76 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 implement for self-government. May we not fairly say that 
 American women need this implement in order to preserve the 
 home ?' 
 
 "There is another great reason why women should be 
 granted the right of suffrage to which I wish to call your 
 attention, and I am all the more glad to do this because 
 these meetings are held under the auspices of the Work- 
 ers' Club; and the reason I refer to, is based upon 
 woman's right to consideration as one who is a most 
 important factor in modern industry. Do you know that 
 more than one-twelfth of the total population of the 
 United States is represented in the ranks of this great 
 army of women workers, there being over eight million 
 women engaged in one form or another of industry? 
 Surely you will agree with me that this great body of 
 workers is entitled to all the protection that can be theirs 
 in any right way. And it has been found by experience 
 that there is no surer way of securing to them the full 
 protection of the law than by allowing them to exercise 
 the right to vote. Some of you will ask me how I know 
 this, and that question brings me to the concluding state- 
 ments that I wish to make. We all know the old adage, 
 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating,' and I am glad 
 that we are able to know of the possible results of Equal 
 Suffrage from the fruits it has already produced. And to 
 some of these results, I wish now to call your attention. 
 
 "One of the States of the Union has been trying Equal 
 Suffrage for over forty years ; another for twenty years. 
 Surely in this time its results must have become apparent. 
 Let us see what some of these are. 
 
 "Wyoming admitted women to the full right of suf- 
 frage in 1869, the State entering the Union with the 
 words 'Equal Rights' as the motto on its seal. When 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN ^^ 
 
 statehood was applied for, determined opposition was 
 made in Congress to the admission of a State with a 
 woman suffrage clause in its Constitution. So strong 
 was this opposition that the territorial delegate in Con- 
 gress telegraphed to the Legislature that he feared that 
 statehood would not be granted unless the suffrage clause 
 was abandoned. The Legislature telegraphed back : 'We 
 will remain out of the Union a hundred years, rather 
 than come in without woman suffrage.' So the State 
 came in with it. In the early years after admission sev- 
 eral attempts at repeal were made, but all without result, 
 and for many years the status of woman as a citizen 
 possessing all the rights and privileges of citizenship has 
 been unquestioned. About eighty per cent, of the women 
 entitled to vote exercise the right, the proportion being 
 quite as high as that of the men. The effect of the woman 
 vote upon legislation, which is, of course, the supreme 
 test, has been most excellent, they having helped to secure 
 child welfare laws ; legislation making gambling illegal ; 
 raising the age of protection for young girls to eighteen 
 years ; securing property rights to women ; providing for 
 equal pay for men and women teachers ; establishing kin- 
 dergartens and a state industrial school ; providing a home 
 for dependent children; and, as would naturally be ex- 
 pected, aiding to secure all legislation that makes for 
 moral and social uplift. The record of woman's partici- 
 pation in making laws in Wyoming is one of the strongest 
 possible proofs of her ability, and shows to other States 
 and to the whole country how greatly her help is needed 
 in that direction. 
 
 "And the same thing is true of Colorado, which granted 
 women full suffrage in 1893 by the enactment of a law 
 which was submitted to the voters and carried by a 
 majority of a little over 6,000. In 1901 the question was 
 
78 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 again submitted to the people of the State, this time in 
 the form of an amendment to the State Constitution, and 
 was adopted by a majority of 17,000. In the eight years 
 that intervened, the people had time to test the quality of 
 Equal Suffrage, and their decision by a greatly increased 
 majority showed how fully they approved of it. Now let 
 us see what woman suffrage has done for Colorado. And 
 here I know that I must go slow, and present only well- 
 substantiated facts, because of strange reports that have 
 been made as to the bad effects that have resulted from 
 it in that State. I am glad, therefore, to be able to call 
 to the witness stand, to give testimony for the cause I 
 represent, one whose word will carry weight with all who 
 hear it, — his Honor, Judge Ben B. Lindsay, of Denver. 
 I hold in my hand a little book which contains an article 
 entitled 'Measuring Up Equal Suffrage,' with the sub- 
 title, 'An Authoritative Estimate of Results in Colorado,' 
 — which was prepared by Judge Lindsay and Mr. George 
 Creel for the purpose of giving the people of the whole 
 country greatly needed information, and in a form that 
 could not be questioned. You will agree with me that 
 if any man in that State is qualified to give the facts 
 about this hotly debated question of results there, it is 
 Judge Lindsay. 
 
 "I am sure that you wish to know the truth about this 
 matter, and so you will pardon me for reading a few 
 extracts from this article, — and perhaps allow me to com- 
 ment on them as I proceed. In the second paragraph 
 the writers, referring to Equal Suffrage, say of it : 
 
 'It has been one of the great bells that has aroused Colo- 
 rado to the work of flushing filth from its politics, bettering 
 economic conditions, mitigating the cruelties of industrialism, 
 promoting equal and exact justice, and making for a more 
 wholesome and expansive environment. To these ends, in the 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 79 
 
 short space of seventeen years, it has aided in placing a score 
 of needed laws on the statute book. It has raised new standards 
 of public service, of political morality, and of official honesty. 
 It has helped to lift the curse of corporation control from the 
 government. It has gone far to bit and bridle the lawless 
 ''liquor interests." ' 
 
 "That makes a fine beginning, does it not, my friends? 
 Those sentences are worthy of being committed to 
 memory by the boys and girls in your High School, not 
 only as a fine specimen of English, but for the expression 
 of the purposes of government which they contain. Let 
 me read now a reference to the child welfare legislation, 
 which the women of Colorado helped to secure. The 
 writers say : 
 
 'If the reform were pinned down to a specific result, and 
 discussion limited to one concrete outcome, equal suffrage could 
 well afford to rest its case on the findings of the Inter-Parlia- 
 mentary Union. This globe-circling organization of men and 
 women, who play important parts in the public affairs of their 
 various countries, is on record as declaring that "Colorado has 
 the sanest, the most humane, the most progressive, most scien- 
 tific laws relating to the child to be found on any statute books 
 in the world." And of these laws which drew such praise from 
 impartial sociologists, not one but has come into operation since 
 Colorado's adoption of equal suffrage in 1893 ; not one but owes 
 either its inception or its success to the voting woman.' 
 
 "The writers then proceed to give a list of the acts 
 looking toward social betterment, that were adopted by 
 the Legislature of the State after women began to vote, 
 mentioning fifteen Child Welfare laws, among these being 
 the following : Establishing a State home for dependent 
 children, three of the five members of the Board to be 
 women; making mothers joint guardians of their children 
 Avith the fathers ; raising the age of protection for young 
 
8o LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 girls to eighteen years; creating Juvenile Courts; forbid- 
 ding the insuring of lives of children under ten; and ten 
 others, all safeguarding children to a greater extent than 
 they are safeguarded in any other State or country. It 
 is interesting to know that the first bill introduced into 
 the State Senate after women were allowed to vote, was 
 the bill providing for a home for dependent children ; and 
 the first bill introduced into the House was the bill for 
 raising the age of protection for young girls to eighteen 
 years. Is it not true, my friends, that the enactment of 
 these two laws alone would forever justify the granting 
 of equal suffrage to women? 
 
 "In reply to the old assertion that voting would in 
 some mysterious way injuriously affect woman and 
 'destroy the home,' the writers, have this to say: 
 
 'Why, in the name of reason, should the mere fact of voting, 
 work deterioration in any woman ? It does not take any mother 
 "away from her home duties" to spend ten minutes going to the 
 polls, casting her vote and returning to the bosom of her family, 
 but during those ten minutes she wields a power that is doing 
 more to protect her home, and all other homes, than any other 
 possible influence.' 
 
 "It is worth while to notice that this opinion of Judge 
 Lindsay and his co-worker agrees fully with the opinion 
 of Aliss Addams, which I have just read. Referring to 
 the much-lauded "silent influence' of our opponents the 
 
 writers say: 
 
 'Against this open and publicly exerted influence of the voting 
 woman, the "silent influence" preached by the anti-suffragist 
 makes a most sorry showing. Before Colorado women had the 
 franchise, they vainly used the great "silent influence" in an 
 effort to have kindergartens made part of the public school 
 system. After the adoption of equal suffrage, they forced the 
 reform within a year.' 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 8i 
 
 "They then refer to the struggle in Massachusetts, 
 which continued for over half a century, before the 
 women were able to iniiucncc the adoption of the law, 
 making the mother equal with the father in the guardian- 
 ship of her children ; and then the writers add : 'Colorado 
 women received suffrage in 1893, and in 1894 they put 
 this law on the statute books.' This comparison helps 
 us to see that 'indirect and silent influence' is even more 
 slow than indirect. To go from New York to London by 
 the way of Cape Horn and the Suez Canal would perhaps 
 equal the indirectness, but could not come near the slow- 
 ness of the approach of the women of Massachusetts to 
 a law which every man knows was right and just, and 
 which they were compelled to plead for, for over fifty 
 years. Surely indirection is indirect ! 
 
 "Just two more short extracts from this most telling 
 article, my friends, and I am through with this proof of 
 the value of Equal Suffrage, as shown by actual experi- 
 ence. With reference to the source of the strongest 
 opposition to this reform that the advocates of it have to 
 face, the writers say : 
 
 'Almost every woman, no matter what her mind and manners, 
 is constitutionally opposed to the liquor traffic. She hates the 
 saloon and fears its menace to her home and men folk.' 
 
 "And again, speaking of the attitude of this traffic 
 toward the women voters, they say : 
 
 'The liquor interests hate the voting woman because they 
 cannot fool her out of her antagonism.' 
 
 "In using those words, we may be sure that Judge 
 Lindsay made no mistake. Those interests always have 
 been, and no doubt always will be, the inveterate foe of 
 
82 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 every movement looking toward social betterment, and 
 we will be wise if we realize at once the implacable foe 
 with which we have to deal. But with the aid of the men 
 who place the home above the saloon, as the great 
 majority do, we have no fear of submitting the question 
 to them for their decision. More and more will they 
 realize, as we do, that in the accomplishment of this 
 reform lies the fate of every movement that aims at the 
 improvement of political and social and industrial condi- 
 tions. 
 
 "And now, as a more than fitting close to this address, 
 and partly in order that you may notice the great progress 
 our cause has made, I wish to call your attention to the 
 words of one of the greatest workers for righteousness 
 who has ever helped this country to attain a higher civili- 
 zation. In his great speech before the Woman's Rights 
 Convention which met in the City of Worcester, Mass., 
 on the 15th and i6th of October, 1851, — a speech which 
 has, perhaps, not been equalled since, — Wendell Phillips 
 said, when referring to the very few lines of employment 
 that were then open to women : 
 
 'Woman is ground down, by the competition of her sisters, 
 to the very point of starvation. Heavily taxed, ill-paid, in 
 degradation and misery, is it to be wondered at that she yields 
 to the temptation of wealth? It is the same with men; and 
 thus we recruit the ranks of vice by the prejudices of custom 
 and society. We corrupt the whole social fabric, that woman 
 may be confined to two or three employments. How much do 
 we suffer through the tyranny of prejudice? When we peni- 
 tently and gladly give to the energy and the intellect and the 
 enterprise of woman their proper reward, their appropriate 
 employment, this question of wages will settle itself; and it 
 will never be settled at all until then. 
 
 'This question is intimately connected with the great social 
 problem, — the vices of cities. You who hang your heads in 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 83 
 
 terror and shame, in view of the advancing demoralization of 
 modern civilized life, and turn away with horror-struck faces, 
 look back now to these social prejudices, which have made you 
 close the avenues of profitable employment in the face of 
 woman, and reconsider the conclusions you have made. Look 
 back, I say, and see whether you are surely right here. Come 
 up with us and argue the question, and say whether this most 
 artificial delicacy, this childish prejudice, on whose Moloch 
 altar you sacrifice the virtue of so many, is worthy the exalted 
 worship you pay it. * * * Whether we choose to acknowl- 
 edge it or not, there are many women, earning two or three 
 dollars a week, who feel that they are as capable as their 
 brothers of earning hundreds, if they could be permitted to 
 exert themselves as freely. Fretting to see the coveted rewards 
 of life forever forbidden them, they are tempted to shut their 
 eyes on the character of the means by which a taste, however 
 short, may be gained of the wealth and luxury they long for. 
 Open to man a fair field for his industry and secure to him its 
 gains, and nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of every 
 thousand will disdain to steal. Open to woman a fair field for 
 her industry, let her do anything her hands find to do, and 
 enjoy her gains, and nine hundred and ninety-nine women out 
 of every thousand will disdain to debase themselves for dress 
 or ease. 
 
 'Of this great social problem, — to cure or lessen the vice of 
 cities, — there is no other solution, except what this movement 
 offers you. It is, to leave woman to choose her own employ- 
 ments for herself, responsible, as we are, to the common 
 Creator, and not to her fellow-man. I exhort you, therefore, to 
 look at this question in the spirit in which I have endeavored to 
 present it to you. It is no fanciful, no superficial movement, 
 based on a few individual tastes, in morbid sympathy with tales 
 of individual suffering. It is a great social protest against the 
 very fabric of society. It is a question which goes down, — we 
 admit it, and are willing to meet the issue,— goes down beneath 
 this social system in which you live. And it is true, — no deny- 
 ing it, — that, if we are right, the doctrines preached from New 
 England pulpits are wrong; it is true that all this affected 
 horror at woman's deviation from her sphere is a mistake,— a 
 mistake fraught with momentous consequences. Understand 
 us. We blink no fair issue. We throw down the gauntlet. 
 
84 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 We have counted the cost; we know the yoke and burden we 
 assume. We know the sneers, the lying frauds of misstatement 
 and misrepresentation that await us. We have counted all, and 
 it is but the dust in the balance and the small dust in the meas- 
 ure, compared with the inestimable blessing of doing justice to 
 one-half of the human species, of curing this otherwise imme- 
 dicable wound, stopping this overflowing fountain of corrup- 
 tion, at the very source of civilized life. Truly, it is the great 
 question of the age. It looks all others out of countenance. It 
 needs little aid from legislation. Specious objections, after 
 all, are not arguments. We know we are right. We only ask 
 an opportunity to argue the question, to set it full before the 
 people, and then leave it to the intellects and the hearts of our 
 country, confident that the institutions under which we live, 
 and the education which other reforms have already given to 
 both sexes, have created men and women capable of solving a 
 problem even more difficult, and meeting a change even more 
 radical, than this.'* 
 
 "These words of the great Reformer were uttered over 
 fifty years ago. What marvelous steps forward this half- 
 century has seen. The great Anti-Slavery movement, in 
 which he took such active part, has accomplished its 
 purpose and passed into history. Slavery, such as he 
 then knew, has ceased to exist in this country. The tem- 
 perance reform, in which he was also deeply interested, 
 has made great progress. And the greatest reform of all, 
 — that of equal rights for woman, has become a world- 
 movement, in our own country has won repeated victories, 
 and is to-day the leading reform movement, whose full 
 triumph is within sight. As we look with full assurance 
 to the future, let us not forget the noble workers of the 
 past, who looked forward to our day with hope and con- 
 fidence, and sowed that we might reap; those daring and 
 
 ♦From "Speeches, Lectures and Letters of Wendell Phillips'' ; pub- 
 lished by James Redpath : Boston, 1863. 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 85 
 
 noble souls who 'cried out against the wrong and spared 
 not,' — 'summoning the conscience of the nation to amend 
 its laws.' " 
 
 As the speaker retired, she was greeted with hearty 
 applause, after which Barr announced that questions or 
 remarks would be in order. After a slight pause, to the 
 surprise of many, Crandall, who did not often speak in 
 public and who was occupying a chair on the platform, 
 rose and addressed the chair. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," he began, "when this subject was 
 first mentioned I did not look upon it with much favor, 
 thinking it somewhat out of the line of work we had 
 mapped out for the winter. But since hearing the address 
 we have just heard, I am sure that our Committee made 
 no mistake. The simple fact that such a large number 
 of women are now engaged in industry makes it right 
 and proper that we should consider anything that will 
 make for their welfare ; and I think we have been shown 
 that this reform will surely do that. 
 
 "But what I wanted especially to say, when I rose, is 
 this. A friend of mine down in the City owns several 
 houses there, and he told me not long since that one year 
 he overlooked paying the taxes until near the expiration 
 of the term. Then he went to the City Hall to attend to 
 it, and he found that because it was nearly the end of the 
 term, there was a great crowd there to pay the tax. The 
 line extended for a long distance through and even out- 
 side the building. He was able to arrange to send his 
 tax by check, so that he did not have to spend two or 
 three hours waiting his turn, as he at first expected. But 
 this is what he said attracted his attention about that 
 crowd of taxpayers, — the very large number of women 
 and even girls who were in the line, waiting their turn. 
 
86 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Quite a number, he said, were young girls, sent there no 
 doubt because their fathers could not spare the time from 
 their business. Now the question I would like to ask, and 
 I wish I could ask some of those opposed to Equal Suf- 
 frage who are not here, is this : How much worse would 
 it be for a woman to go to the polls to vote, or how 
 much more time would it take, than for her to go to the 
 City Hall to pay her tax? And if we are going to, not 
 simply allow her, but when she has property, compel her 
 to pay the tax,— where is the justice in depriving her of 
 the right to vote ?" 
 
 Crandall's short speech was met by a round of applause, 
 which had hardly ceased when the School Principal, Mr. 
 Sharpe, rose and addressing the Chair, spoke as follows : 
 
 "If you will allow me, Mr. Chairman; there is one little 
 contribution that I would like to make to this meeting. 
 It is frequently urged against woman suffrage, as has 
 been mentioned by the speaker this evening, that women 
 should not be allowed to vote because they do not serve 
 as soldiers and policemen. The answers to that, already 
 made, are good, but there is another which, it seems to 
 me, ought to be known ; and that is that, according to the 
 laws of the United States, men do not have to enlist as 
 soldiers, provided that they have a conscience that says 
 they should not do so. A friend of mine recently called 
 my attention to this fact, and gave me an account of the 
 history of the law. It seems that during the latter years 
 of the Civil War some members of the Society of Friends, 
 whose principles would not allow them to bear arms, were 
 drafted, and the attempt was made to compel them to take 
 arms and go to the front. My friend told me that the 
 matter went so far that they were threatened with the 
 death penalty, if they persisted, — to which one of them 
 replied : 'Very well ; I would rather be killed, than kill.' 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 87 
 
 Well, the result was that the men at the head of the gov- 
 ernment realized that such men ought not to be killed, 
 and a law was passed, — made a law by the signature of 
 President Lincoln, — which allowed those having con- 
 scientious scruples to enter the hospital service instead of 
 the armed service, — or to pay a certain fixed sum to pay 
 for securing hospital service in their stead.* Of course 
 this was only allowed when the person's life gave evidence 
 that his conscientious scruples were real, and not simply 
 assumed for the purpose of escaping service. As this is 
 the law, and as women have usually done the greatest 
 part of the hospital work, it seems to me that there 
 remains nothing to this old pretended argument based 
 upon military service. As the world grows in wisdom, 
 men will find a substitute for the methods of the brute 
 in the settlement of disputes ; and reason and argument, 
 which are the real weapons for men, will take the place 
 of the sword and the musket, which properly belong to 
 the childhood of the race." 
 
 As Sharpe took his seat, the audience was treated to 
 another surprise, for a sweet-faced, elderly woman, who 
 
 ♦This law was adopted in February, 1864; the section referred to 
 reads as follows : 
 
 Act of February 24th, 1864; Statutes at Large, Vol. XIII, Chapter 13. 
 
 "Section 17. And be it further enacted. That members of religious 
 denominations, who shall by oath or affirmation declare that they are 
 conscientiously opposed to the bearing of arms, and who are prohibited 
 from doing so by the rules and articles of faith and practice of said 
 religious denominations, shall, when drafted into the military service, 
 be considered non-combatants, and shall be assigned by the Secretary 
 of War to duty in the hospitals, or to the care of freedmen, or shall 
 pay the sum of three hundred dollars to such person as the Secretary 
 of War shall designate to receive it, to be applied to the benefit of the 
 sick and wounded soldiers: Provided, That no person be entitled to 
 the benefit of the provisions of this section unless his declaration Oi 
 conscientious scruples against bearing arms shall be supported by satis- 
 factory evidence that his deportment has been uniformly consistent 
 with such declaration." 
 
88 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 had been sitting with the group on the platform, arose 
 and advancing to the front, addressed Chairman Barr, 
 and said : 
 
 "Air. Chairman, will you kindy allow me to introduce 
 myself as the President of the Equal Suffrage League of 
 this County? On behalf of our League I wish to express 
 to you and to the members of the Workers' Club our 
 thanks for your great kindness in allowing us to hold this 
 meeting under your auspices. I am sure that I speak for 
 every member of our League, in thus expressing our 
 thanks, and I trust that this meeting will have the result 
 of bringing into line with our reform all the women and 
 all the men who are here. It is to you men that we 
 women have to look to see that this attempt to secure 
 justice is successful. From what I have seen and heard 
 this evening, I feel confident that we shall not look in 
 vain. Let me leave with you these words from Henry 
 George," and she read from a slip in her hand : " 'The 
 natural right of a woman to vote is just as clear as that 
 of a man, and rests upon the same ground. Since she is 
 called on to obey the laws, she ought to have a voice in 
 making them.' " 
 
 As Mrs. Godwin retired to her seat, she was greeted 
 with the heartiest applause of the evening, and as there 
 were no further responses to the Chairman's call for 
 questions or remarks, he declared the meeting adjourned. 
 
 9f: H< :4: :{: :{c 
 
 As they were making their way out of the big room, 
 Crandall called to Barr to wait a moment, and taking 
 Hammer Harry by the arm, told him that he wanted him 
 to be a witness to what would take place. "What is it, 
 Jackie?" said Barr, as they came up; "seems to me you 
 look rather solemn." 
 
 "Well, Barr, I want to say something that I hope 
 
EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN 89 
 
 won't give offence; but it seems to me it's got to be said. 
 I do wish you would try to introduce the speakers with- 
 out running off any of your old jokes. It sort of jars on 
 my nerves, and I'm afraid some of them won't like it." 
 
 "Why, bless your soul, Jackie," returned Barr, who 
 was more surprised than hurt. "Don't you know me 
 well enough to know that that's just my way? I don't 
 mean anything by it, — and sometimes, like to-night, it 
 seems to help the lecturer to get right into the subject. 
 But if you think they don't like it, — why, I'll try to 
 reform. You remember what Strong said about my 
 needing my daily joke. I guess it's born in me, and will 
 have to work its way out. But, say, Jackie ; here's a 
 compromise ; suppose you preside at the rest of the meet- 
 ings. That will suit me fine." 
 
 But to this Crandall demurred; and upon appealing 
 to Hammer for support, was surprised to find it very 
 faint-hearted, for the latter said : 
 
 "I don't know that I can agree with you, John. Every- 
 body knows Barr here, and if he were to try to be solemn 
 on the platform, they would be sure he wasn't well. I 
 think he's doing fine, and I believe in letting well enough 
 alone. Besides, don't you remember what the old rhyme 
 says ; it comes from away back, and is full of wisdom : 
 
 "A little nonsense now and then 
 Is relished by the best of men, — 
 And, consequently, women." 
 
 So Crandall was induced to tell Barr that he guessed 
 he had made a mistake, and they parted as good friends 
 as ever. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Conference No. 3 : Looking Toward Co-operation. 
 
 "Democracy is nothing less than the life of all by the co- 
 operation of all for the welfare of all." — Charles Zueblin. 
 
 "Let us here highly resolve, that * * * Government of 
 the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from 
 the earth." — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 "Co-operation is the only remedy for low wages, strikes, 
 lock-outs, and a thousand other impositions and annoyances to 
 which workingmen are subject." — From article in the Iron 
 Moulders' International Journal. 
 
 "Well, the crowd behaved all right, didn't it, Davie?" 
 inquired Crandall of Earr, as the latter joined the group 
 of Directors of the Building Association at the following 
 meeting, after the business which had called them to- 
 gether had been disposed of. "And I guess everybody 
 was pleased with the speech, weren't they?" 
 
 "Yes, you managed that all right," replied Barr. "The 
 only criticism that I heard was from Singleton, who said 
 that he didn't see what such a speech had to do with 
 Co-operation, which he understood we were going to 
 make the main part of our winter's campaign." 
 
 "Well, it seemed to me that that was pretty well 
 answered by what Miss Channing said about the great 
 number of women workers. How did it strike you, 
 Hammer?" 
 
 "That was a good answer, so far as it went," replied 
 
 the latter ; "but the best thing, to my mind, was what she 
 
 quoted from Wendell Phillips; you remember what he 
 
 said about fighting the great evils of the big cities, — that 
 
 (90) 
 
LOOKING TOWARD CO-OPERATION 91 
 
 the only hope of doing effective work lay in accomplish- 
 ing Equal Suffrage. I am convinced that that is abso- 
 lutely true, and as I cannot stay much longer, I thought 
 I would like to give you what is, to my way of thinking, 
 the only remedy for it." 
 
 "Go ahead. Hammer," said Barr; "if you have really 
 found the remedy, you surely ought to let us know it, — 
 for everybody else seems to be at sea. Is it something 
 that will effect a cure in a week, or will it take as long 
 as a month?" 
 
 "Now, don't try to be funny, Barr. The subject is 
 too serious. I only wanted to give you ray thought on it, 
 and you can consider it, or turn it down, just as you 
 please. The evil that Phillips referred to is essentially a 
 sin against the family, and there is no place where co- 
 operation is so badly needed as right here, in dealing with 
 it. It is something that the heads of the family, — the 
 fathers and the mothers, — of the big cities ought to get 
 together and consider; and they can find the right cure 
 for it, I am sure. They ought to do this for the same 
 reason that they do other work for the family, — for the 
 sake of the boys and the girls, whose welfare is at stake ; 
 and for the sake of the family, whose very life is attacked 
 by this evil. And if they find that the boys and girls are 
 driven into it because they cannot get ahead, — can't get 
 decent promotion, — then they ought to put a stop to such 
 conditions. Now, you'll have to excuse me ; but I wanted 
 to leave that thought with you before I went. It's Co- 
 operation of the highest kind that is wanted here, and 
 that is the only thing that will bring the right result." 
 
 So saying, he bade the little company good night, and 
 passed out. "What's the matter with Hammer, John?" 
 inquired Barr,- as soon as his footsteps had ceased to re- 
 
92 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 echo in the hallway. "It seems to me he is looking rather 
 down in the mouth." 
 
 "You forget the date, Barr," replied Crandall. "You 
 know that every year at about this time, he wants to get 
 away, and be alone. I think you have mentioned it once 
 or twice before, in other years." 
 
 "That reminds me, Mr. Crandall," interrupted the 
 School Principal, who was of the group; "would you 
 mind telling me something about your friend? I have 
 wanted to inquire for some time. You know I'm com- 
 paratively a newcomer to the place. There seems to be 
 something mysterious about him. In the first place, how 
 did he ever come by such a peculiar name?" 
 
 "Excuse me, Mr. Sharpe," replied Crandall ; "it never 
 occurred to me that you didn't know, or I would have 
 told you, — for such a name must appear odd. It came 
 from what he did at the time of the big boiler explosion 
 at the mill a good many years ago. Let's see ; how long 
 ago was it, Barr?" 
 
 "You'd better ask me, Mr. Crandall," interrupted 
 young Strong, the solicitor of the Association, who had 
 arrived a few minutes before Hammer left. "You see I 
 was a schoolboy at the time, and the accident happened 
 during the noon recess, and I didn't get back to school 
 that day. I heard the explosion and followed the crowd 
 down to the mills, and I saw the whole thing, — that is 
 all that Hammer did, and I wouldn't have missed it for 
 a week of school, no matter what the punishment was. 
 It was just twelve years ago last October; I was just past 
 my fifteenth birthday, I remember." 
 
 "Suppose you tell Mr. Sharpe just what happened, 
 Strong. I wasn't able to get there until it was nearly all 
 over. You see it happened at the upper mill, Mr. Sharpe, 
 and my w.ork at that time was down at the lower mill." 
 
LOOKING TOWARD CO-OPERATION 93 
 
 "Well, I don't like to interrupt your telling about it, 
 Crandall," replied Strong, "but it was one of the finest 
 things I ever saw, and I confess I do like to tell of it. 
 When I got near the mill, I wormed my way, boy-like, 
 through the crowd until I was in the front rank, and then 
 saw that nearly the whole far side of the mill, next to 
 the canal, had been blown out; the walls were down in 
 part, and there was an awful mix-up of building, ma- 
 chinery and so on. Everybody was excited and all kinds 
 of rumors were going. It was said that over a dozen 
 men were killed and any number hurt. As a matter of 
 fact three men were killed, and about a score wounded, 
 more or less severely. The explosion must have been 
 terrific, for about half of the boiler had been thrown clear 
 across the canal more than a hundred feet and struck 
 with such force against the old silk mill that it knocked 
 in the wall and lay there imbedded. But I must tell you 
 about Hammer. I hadn't been there more than a minute 
 or two till I saw him come running up. In another 
 moment he was in the thick of it. It seems that several 
 of the men had been caught under the falling wall and 
 were pinned down there. That's where he got his name. 
 He called for a hammer, and some one brought him the 
 biggest sledge-hammer I ever saw. Well, it would have 
 done your heart good to have seen him use that. I never 
 saw such blows struck, and yet he did it with such skill, 
 so those said who were right with him, that no wounded 
 man ran any risk. In a few minutes he was working with 
 a crowbar, prying things up ; then he was lifting the men 
 out. Well, if you had seen him working that day, Mr. 
 Sharpe, you wouldn't wonder that the men all called 
 him Hammer Harry after that, and they would lie down 
 and let him walk over them, if that would do him any 
 good. Oh, yes; I most forgot to tell you about his 
 
94 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 getting hurt himself. While he was in the thick of it, 
 part of the roof fell down, and he was struck on the head 
 by a heavy timber; you can see the big scar on his left 
 temple yet, where it struck him a glancing blow. Of 
 course his face was covered with blood in a minute, and 
 they called him to drop the hammer and go out for treat- 
 ment himself. But he only said : 'It's only a scratch, 
 boys,' and seemed to work all the harder. I remember, 
 every once in a while he would raise his arm and brush 
 the blood away with his shirt sleeve. And it was a pretty 
 bad blow he got, too ; for after it was all over, the Doctor 
 had to attend him, and put in several stitches. Oh, but 
 it was fine to see a man work that way," concluded 
 Strong, who was still young enough to be enthusiastic at 
 times. 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Strong," exclaimed the Principal when 
 he had finished his story. "No; I do not wonder at the 
 name, now, nor that he seems to be proud of it. But, if 
 the question is not intrusive, — what was the meaning of 
 what you said a few minutes ago to Mr. Barr, — about 
 his going away at this time of year ; it had a rather odd 
 sound, Mr. Crandall." 
 
 "Well, I don't wonder that that did seem rather strange 
 to you," replied the latter. "The reason for it runs back 
 nearly twenty years, I think. You see Hammer had mar- 
 ried several years before that and had as nice a home as 
 any man could wish. After his boy came, I think he was 
 about as happy a man as you could find in a day's travel. 
 'The little lad,' he used to call him, — sometimes 'Laddie,' 
 and he was as handsome a youngster, and as bright, too, 
 as you ever saw. Well, when the boy was about six or 
 seven years old, he lost him under rather distressing cir- 
 cumstances, and a little later the same year his wife died. 
 It was just about this time of the year that the boy died, 
 
LOOKING TOWARD CO-OPERATION 95 
 
 and every year since then it's been a hard time for him." 
 "And I don't wonder. But what was the cause of the 
 
 boy's death?" You said " 
 
 "Yes," interrupted Crandall; "it was one of those 
 things hard to understand, and harder still to bear. Ham- 
 mer had built his new house up on the hill two or three 
 years before, — where he still lives, you know. One day 
 he had to go down to the city on a little business, and 
 came back on the late afternoon train. He was in a 
 hurry to get home, so he rode up the hill on the trolley. 
 On the car was a neighbor with her small son with her. 
 The boy was fretful and troublesome, and the mother 
 tired out, so Hammer, who was always monstrous fond 
 of children, took him on his lap and entertained him. He 
 couldn't know at that time, neither could she, that the boy 
 was in the first stages of some contagious disease, — - 
 diphtheria, I think. Well, he helped them off the car at 
 his corner, and then hurried home, and in a moment more 
 his own boy comes jumping into his arms, happy as a 
 king to have him back. In a few days the boy was down 
 with the disease, and in about a week he was dead. What 
 hurt Hammer most was the thought that he had carried 
 the disease to the boy himself, but I've often told him 
 that that was pure accident ; but for years he couldn't 
 get over it." 
 
 "And his wife? You said that she, too " 
 
 "Yes," continued Crandall, "she couldn't stand the loss 
 of the boy. They were both wrapped up in him, and she 
 was one of the sensitive, sympathetic kind, and not over 
 strong, either. Somehow she couldn't rally from it, — 
 seemed to just sort of weaken from day to day until the 
 end; if any one ever died of a broken heart, she did. 
 Well, it went hard with Hammer, for inside of his rough 
 exterior he has about the best heart you ever knew. And 
 
96 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 even yet, when the time of year comes round when the 
 little fellow died, it goes hard with him. He always 
 wants to go off and be alone awhile. But he'll be all 
 right in a day or two. There are some things about 
 Hammer I wish I could tell you, for you would under- 
 stand him better, but I'm pledged not to ; so I can't. But 
 one thing you've noticed yourself. He might have grown 
 sullen and morose under his trouble, but there's nothing 
 of that kind about him ; and his good heart shows out in 
 many ways." 
 
 "There's one other thing you might tell Mr. Sharpe," 
 said Barr, "and that is about his admiration for Lincoln. 
 Why I believe that Hammer knows more about him than 
 most of the historians in our colleges. He's made a 
 regular study of him." 
 
 "That might be of interest to you, Mr. Sharpe," said 
 Crandall, "and it is interesting to know how it came 
 about. He told me he heard a lecture on 'Lincoln as a 
 Man' once, and the lecturer spoke of the many sides to 
 his character, and referred to the various ways in which 
 he had suffered. He told especially about the death of 
 his favorite son in the White House and how hard that 
 was for Lincoln to bear. Hammer said that sort of gave 
 him an insight to his character that he had never had 
 before, and he made up his mind that he would read all 
 about him he could. He has in his bookcases about every 
 biography of Lincoln that has ever been published ; two 
 or three shelves of books about Lincoln only. And he 
 not only has the books, but he knows what they contain : 
 there's hardly a question about him that you could ask 
 Hammer, but what he could tell you off hand." 
 
 "That is certainly interesting, and I'm glad you told 
 me," replied the School Master. "I'm something of an 
 admirer of Lincoln, myself; and I will be glad to avail 
 
LOOKING TOWARD CO-OPERATION 97 
 
 myself of the knowledge which you say he has. It was a 
 good idea for him to take up the study of a great char- 
 acter like Lincoln. It would help us all to do something 
 like that." 
 
 At this point Bruce came up and announced that his 
 cash was all right on the first count. Then, addressing 
 Barr, he said : 
 
 "Well, what have you arranged for the next meeting, 
 Davie? I suppose you and the others here have it all 
 fixed ?" 
 
 "Not yet," replied Barr. "I've a notion or two in my 
 head, but I think I had better wait until the rest have had 
 their say. What shall it be, Jackie ?" he added, turning to 
 Crandall. 
 
 "I'm sure I don't know, Barr. Anything will satisfy 
 me, — but I think it ought to have some bearing on Co- 
 operation. You know that's what we started out with, 
 for this winter's campaign." 
 
 "We certainly did, Jackie," replied Barr. "But your 
 reply reminds me of the answer of the old fireman, when 
 the Committee waited on him to ask what color he would 
 choose for the new engine house. They couldn't agree 
 among themselves, you know, so they decided to leave it 
 to him. 'Well, boys,' he said, 'any color at all will satisfy 
 me, so long as it's red.' So any old subject will satisfy 
 you, providing it's Co-operation. What do you say, 
 Strong?" 
 
 "Oh, I agree with Crandall," replied the young lawyer. 
 "And I think the answer of the old fireman a very good 
 one, too." 
 
 "So it was," exclaimed Barr. "And what is your 
 choice, Mr. Bruce?" 
 
 "I agree with Crandall, too. And so, I am sure, does 
 Mr. Sharpe. But tell us about your own plan, Barr." 
 
gS LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "Well, strange to say, I agree with the rest of you for 
 once, but I have the speaker selected and his subject, too, 
 if you will all help me to persuade him to do it." 
 
 "Who is it?" inquired Crandall, "and what do you 
 want him to speak about?" 
 
 "You're the man, yourself, Jackie," replied Barr, with 
 a smile. "And your subject is to be the great American 
 attempt at Co-operation, that has been so successful; and 
 there is no one better qualified to speak on it than you." 
 
 "What in the world, Barr?" exclaimed Crandall. 
 "What can you mean? I'm no public speaker; and I 
 don't believe I could make anything interesting, so's the 
 people would listen." 
 
 "You can do it all right, Jackie," said Barr. "The 
 subject is one that you know all about, and I'll wager 
 you'll keep the people interested. I propose that you tell 
 us about Building Associations, and as you're the Presi- 
 dent of one, you can't say that you don't know anything 
 about it, either." 
 
 "But everybody knows all about them, already," ob- 
 jected Crandall. 
 
 "And that's where you make a great mistake, Jackie. 
 I'm surprised again and again how little is known about 
 the Association by a great many persons, who you would 
 think would be posted." 
 
 "I believe Barr is right," interrupted Bruce. "At the 
 Bank I frequently have inquiries about the working of 
 the Building Association from persons who, I thought, 
 knew all about it. And then, as we all know, it is just 
 in the line of Co-operation, and is the great American 
 success in that line. When people say to me, as they do 
 once in a while, that Co-operation does not seem to be 
 able to succeed in this country, I always ask them what 
 
LOOKING TOWARD CO-OPERATION 99 
 
 they think of the success of Building Associations; and 
 that generally quiets them on that line of talk." 
 
 "Good for you, Mr. Bruce," exclaimed Barr. "And 
 so we will consider it a unanimous request to Jackie to 
 post himself on that subject and let us have it at the next 
 meeting; and so you all vote, do you not?" 
 
 They all voted that way, except Crandall; but a little 
 persuasion from the others induced him to yield, and 
 promise that he would do his best to present the subject 
 Barr had selected. 
 
 "But I don't believe I can take up much time with 
 that subject," he added. And then as another idea 
 occurred to him, he said : 
 
 "What would you say to this? Suppose I ask Mrs. 
 McCall if she would tell us about her experience with a 
 Building Association, just to show how it can be used to 
 help a person when they are in a tight place. Some of 
 you know something about that, and it would be worth 
 while for others to know of it." 
 
 "You might ask her, but she would never do it," replied 
 Barr. "She's too timid, and would shrink from the 
 publicity." 
 
 "I think I can manage that," replied Crandall. "It's 
 a pretty good example of co-operation at its best, and I 
 believe that if it was explained to her that her telling 
 about it might help other women in a tight place, she 
 would do it." 
 
 "Suppose you try it, anyway," said Sharpe, the School 
 Master. "And I'll tell you what I'll do, provided you 
 wish it. I doubt if those two items on the programme 
 will fill up the whole evening, so I'll tell you something 
 in the line of Co-operation that I saw this last summer 
 while I was on my vacation. It makes a complete answer 
 
loo LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 to those who think Co-operation cannot be made success- 
 ful in this country;— as though we Americans were in 
 some way different from the rest of the world. But if 
 any one has anything else to ofifer, why I'll wait." 
 
 "I'm sure we're all indebted to you, Mr. Sharpe," said 
 Barr. "It's a mighty kind offer, and we'll be glad to hear 
 from you. So we can consider the programme arranged 
 for, gentlemen, and I will make the usual announcement 
 in the 'Herald.' " 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Co-operation in Action. 
 
 "Co-operation depends for its success, not only on its com- 
 mercial principles of cash payment and deferred benefit, but on 
 the moral qualities of patience, thrift, and loyalty, which make 
 the character known as the co-operative man." — Francis G. 
 Peabody. 
 
 "Allez en avant : et la foi vous viendra." — D'Alembert. 
 (Go forward, and faith will come to you.) 
 
 "Pure co-operation, when well-established, prevents strikes 
 by completely identifying the interests of labor and capital. It 
 stimulates energy and encourages thrift." — Richard T. Ely. 
 
 "We are to have the good fortune, my friends," said 
 Chairman Barr, as he came forward to introduce the first 
 speaker at the next meeting of the Workers' Club, "of 
 listening this evening to an aggregation of talent, and 
 not to one single lecturer. The first speaker you all know 
 so well that it is not necessary for me to introduce him 
 to you ; but it gives me great pleasure to present your old 
 acquaintance, Mr. John Crandall, who will address us on 
 a subject to be announced by himself." 
 
 Crandall was not altogether unaccustomed to speaking 
 in public, although his audiences had been heretofore 
 limited for the most part to members of his own Church, 
 where he had frequently acted as Class Leader, and had, 
 for a number of years, been the Superintendent of the 
 Sunday School. Naturally a leader, he did not feel 
 strange on the platform, and began his address in a 
 perfectly easy, natural manner. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : When my 
 friend Barr suggested to our Executive Committee that 
 
 (lOl) 
 
102 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 I present to this meeting the general subject of Building 
 Associations, I confess that I at first demurred, thinking 
 that everybody in this day knew all about them ; but upon 
 the assurance that I was mistaken in this respect, and 
 believing that we can find no better example of co-opera- 
 tion than is furnished by such Associations, I waived my 
 objections and consented to do so. If, therefore, I should 
 go over ground already well known to you, I trust you 
 will pardon me, and recall that my remarks are meant 
 for those who do not as yet understand what a Building 
 Association is. 
 
 "The first Association of this kind in the United 
 States was organized in Frankford, Philadelphia, in 
 January, 1831, under the name of the Oxford Provident 
 Building Association. The early period of growth was 
 from 1840 to 1850, but it is only in comparatively recent 
 times that their assets have reached the enormous figures 
 which are the surprise of all. In 191 1 the total assets 
 amounted to over 1030 millions of dollars, and it is 
 estimated that by the end of 19 12 they exceeded $1,200,- 
 000,000 (twelve hundred millions of dollars). 
 
 "The method of work, as many of you know, consists 
 in the accumulation of a capital by monthly payments 
 made by the members at a meeting held for that purpose, 
 and to transact other business; and then lending this 
 accumulated capital to the members on real estate security 
 at a certain fixed rate of interest, which interest is payable 
 to the Association in equal monthly instalments at the 
 same time the monthly dues are paid. The usual rate of 
 interest is six per cent., although this varies at different 
 times and in different places. The amount that can be 
 loaned on bond and mortgage to any one member is the 
 maturity value of his shares and this is usually $200 per 
 share, although this also varies in different States. 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 103 
 
 "Where the maturity value of the shares is $200 the 
 interest per share will be, at the rate of six per cent., $12 
 per annum, or $1.00 per share per month. So that if a 
 person has ten shares, upon which he borrows on a mort- 
 gage $2,000, his annual interest payment would be $120, 
 or ten dollars per month, exactly the same as the monthly 
 payment on his shares; so that his monthly payment to 
 the Association, after making the loan, would be $20.00. 
 
 "A small initiation fee is charged when a member joins, 
 — generally of 25 cents per share. This is to provide 
 the cost of pass books and other starting expenses, and 
 this is usually found to be ample. Fines are levied for 
 omitting to pay the monthly dues, and these help swell 
 the available amount of funds for loans. As the interest 
 is paid monthly, it helps to increase the amount that can 
 be loaned, and also makes the Association earn com- 
 pound interest. The accumulated payments are offered 
 to the members for loans on real estate security at the 
 monthly meetings, being put up and allotted to the highest 
 bidder, very much after the method of an auction sale, — 
 the shareholder offering the highest premium securing the 
 loan, provided the security he offers meets with the ap- 
 proval of the Directors, after an investigation by a Com- 
 mittee. The premiums paid for loans can be paid in one 
 sum, or the proportional payment can be made monthly, 
 in which case they go to swell the amount that can be 
 offered to borrowers. As soon as the total monthly pay- 
 ments, including dues, interest, premiums and fines 
 amount to a total sum equalling $200 for each outstand- 
 ing share, the series is said to have matured, and that 
 amount per share is then paid to those shareholders who 
 have not borrowed on their shares, while to those who 
 have borrowed and who have regularly made their 
 
104 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 monthly payments, the cancelled bond and mortgage are 
 returned. 
 
 "Where the rate of interest is six per cent, this term of 
 maturity will, of course, be shorter than where the rate 
 is but live per cent. In an Association in which six per 
 cent, is paid for loans, the term of maturity will usually 
 be about eleven or twelve years. Suppose it is twelve 
 years. Then it is readily seen that the non-borrowing 
 shareholder has paid in $144 per share, and receives in 
 return $200, a gain of $56 per share. In the case of the 
 borrowing shareholder, his payments, if made for the full 
 term of twelve years, would amount to $2,880 for his ten 
 shares, or $880 more than the amount of his mortgage, 
 whereas the interest alone on the mortgage, if unpaid 
 during the term, would have amounted to $1,440. 
 ; "As many of you know, this method of saving, and of 
 paying for homes, has been quite popular here in Pleas- 
 antville for forty or fifty years past, and a large part of 
 the town has been built up in this way. The whole scheme 
 is really a form of co-operative banking, with the loans 
 made upon approved real estate security. One reason for 
 the great success that has attended this form of co-opera- 
 tive association is that the expenses of administration 
 have always been kept at a very moderate figure. Another 
 is the regularity of the payments, and the fact that if not 
 made on the date on which they are due, a fine must be 
 paid. Patience and thrift are therefore taught at the 
 same time that profits are being secured by this form of 
 co-operation. 
 
 "The Ninth Annual Report of the United States Com- 
 missioner of Labor, — that for 1893, — is almost exclu- 
 sively devoted to the consideration of the Building and 
 Loan Associations of the country, and on this account is 
 invaluable for any one desiring full knowledge on this 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 105 
 
 subject. The edition appears to be exhausted, but until 
 another shall be published copies may be found in the 
 public libraries, and consulted there. In this report the 
 Commissioner of Labor says : 
 
 'The growth of these Associations in the United States has 
 been very rapid since 1840, and their accumulated assets have 
 increased to an enormous amount. These private corporations 
 doing a semi-banking business, conducted by men not trained 
 as bankers, offer a study in finance not equalled by any other 
 institutions. England, France and Germany and some other 
 countries have kindred institutions, but nowhere have they 
 grown to such vast proportions as in the United States.' 
 
 "To show how great this growth has been, the figures 
 for 1892 may be compared with those for 191 1. In the 
 former year there were 5,838 Associations, having assets 
 amounting to $528,852,885, while in 191 1 there were 
 6,099 Associations, with assets amounting to $1,030,- 
 687,031. 
 
 "Those who arfe in favor of Co-operation are some- 
 times met with the objection that for some unexplained 
 reason the system of Co-operation does not seem to be 
 suited to the American people, as the co-operative efforts 
 do not thrive here. If any of you ever has this old objec- 
 tion presented to you, I hope you will remember the 
 remarkable growth of Building Associations in this coun- 
 try, and ask your informant how he can explain that. As 
 you know, this success is due to the spirit of Co-opera- 
 tion, and to that only; so that we can claim with good 
 reason that one of the greatest successes, — if not in fact, 
 the greatest success, — ever attained by the application of 
 the Co-operative idea, has been here in our own country. 
 
 "I had intended, when I began my address, my friends, 
 to say that if I had not made myself clear, or if any one 
 
io6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 had any questions to ask, I would be glad to answer them ; 
 but I have something better than that to propose, and 
 that is that any one who does not understand all about 
 Building Associations should come around to the next 
 meeting of our Association, the Home Building Associa- 
 tion, — here in this building, and join us by taking out a 
 few shares. The best way to learn about anything is to 
 do it; and by doing this, you will not only learn all about 
 such Associations, but you will be doing yourself a favor 
 that will be of help to you in all the years to come." 
 
 Crandall took his seat amid a round of applause, after 
 which Chairman Earr beckoned to a little woman who 
 had been sitting on one of the front seats. She made her 
 way around to the entrance to the platform, and joined 
 Barr, who immediately presented to the audience as the 
 next speaker, Mrs. McCall, "who had," he said, "after 
 much persuasion, consented to come and tell them how 
 the Building Association, through co-operation, could be 
 of great help to a woman as well as to a man. It gives 
 me great pleasure," he concluded, "to introduce to you, 
 my friends, one whom you know to be among our most 
 worthy citizens, and who takes an interest in every good 
 work amongst us." 
 
 Mrs. McCall, a sweet-faced motherly-sort of woman, 
 was received with cordial applause by the audience, 
 nearly all of whom knew her well. Waiting till the 
 room was quiet, she began in a low voice, as follows : 
 
 "When Mr. Crandall called and asked me to come 
 here this evening and tell you something about myself, 
 and how a Building Association had been of help to me, I 
 told him at first that I really could not do it, and that 
 was the way I felt about it. But when he went on and 
 said that the reason why he wanted me to do it was 
 because it might help some other woman who might be 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 107 
 
 situated just as I was, or even worse, — I told him I 
 would think about it, and if I could make up my mind to 
 attempt it, I would let him know. Well, I am here, so 
 you know my decision. It was what he said about the 
 other woman that has brought me here ; for if any word 
 of mine can make the way of another, situated as I was, 
 easier for her, then there can be no doubt that I ought 
 to speak it. 
 
 "Many of you will recall the time, nearly twelve years 
 ago now, when my husband was injured at the mill, and 
 his death a few weeks later. I want to say that the owners, 
 and the men too, were as kind to me as they could be ; and 
 help was extended as they thought was right ; and the in- 
 surance benefits, due at such times, were also paid. But I 
 had a family of four children, the oldest boy about ten, 
 and the youngest a little over two. Some of you 
 know that Jim had built a new house only a few months 
 before, and had borrowed $3,000 on it from the Building 
 Association. The house had a store on the ground floor 
 front, and we were trying to carry on a grocery business, 
 with the help of a young man assistant. Well, like any 
 mother would, I wanted to keep my family together ; but 
 before many months it became a question whether I was 
 going to be able to do it. The monthly payments in the 
 Association had to be met, of course, and they soon 
 became a burden. Then there came a long, dull period at 
 the mills. Some of my customers could not pay up; I 
 had some losses, and things were looking very dark to me. 
 
 "Well, as some of you may know, there are things that 
 happen in this town now and then that are hard to ex- 
 plain. One evening, when things were looking about as 
 bad as they could, and I was wondering how I could 
 place the children if I was compelled to sell out and give 
 up, one of the children brought home a postal from the 
 
io8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Post Office, that looked rather mysterious, — for it wasn't 
 signed. It simply had on it this message; 'If you will 
 call at the Bank, you will hear of something to your 
 advantage.' That was all. No; you needn't look at 
 Mr. Bruce that way; he hadn't come to town yet, and 
 knew nothing about it. In fact, I was pledged not to use 
 any names, if I ever told anything about what happened. 
 So I am going to ask you not to try to find out anything 
 about who was concerned in it. The old cashier, whom 
 I saw, is passed on; so you can't see him; and as to any 
 one else, you know as much about him, or them, as I do. 
 "When I called at the Bank, this is what happened. 
 The old cashier told me that, while Pleasantville was 
 only a manufacturing town and might look hard to a 
 good many who only passed through it on the train, it 
 still had a good many fine people in it. T think you have 
 in your Church,' said he ; 'what you call your Lookout 
 Committee; do you not?' — I answered that we did. 
 'Well,' said he; 'some of the men of this town, — -you 
 mustn't ask me who, for I am pledged to keep their 
 names quiet, so far as I know them, have also formed 
 a 'Lookout Committee' of their own; and their duty is 
 to be on the look-out for any case that seems to need help, 
 and, where it will be accepted, to extend it. Now, the 
 Committee may have made a mistake, and if they have, 
 they want to ask your pardon ; but if they have not, and if 
 you need a helping hand over a hard place on the road, 
 they would like to extend that help, and they have 
 honored me by asking me to be their agent in the matter. 
 Now, I am a Bank cashier, so I get to see a great many 
 cases of money-need, as I call it, — and with me it is a 
 mere matter of business. And if you are willing, I may 
 be able to suggest some way in which you would be will- 
 ing to take this help just as a loan is made from the Bank, 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 109 
 
 — that is, — to be paid back again, just as soon as you are 
 able ; and with interest, too, if you so wish it ; for I know 
 that a great many persons want to be entirely inde- 
 pendent.' 
 
 "That is about what he told me; and I wish I could 
 make you feel the heavy load it lifted from my mind. It 
 seemed as though a great, big helping hand had been 
 reached out to help me, and just at the time I needed it 
 most. I guess my face must have told him what I felt, — 
 for I couldn't say much. But this is what he did. He 
 asked me how much would see me over till Spring, and 
 when I told him about three hundred dollars, he said; 
 'Well, that can be easily arranged by having a note dis- 
 counted here. Three men well known to our Board of 
 Directors can be found to endorse it for you, and I am 
 sure the Bank will take it. You see, they all knew Jim, 
 and are glad to do this for you and him ; but, when you 
 pay it off, you must not ask to see their names, for that is 
 part of the bargain ; when you settle, I will run the pen 
 through your name, and I won't hand the note to you. 
 Do you agree to that?' Well, of course I did, and it was 
 so arranged. 
 
 "And now something else strange happened. Some- 
 how, from that day, business began to pick up, and in 
 a short time we were doing all that we could. Men at 
 the mills who had never dealt with us before, and some 
 of whom lived quite a distance away, began to deal 
 regularly with me, and so my trade grew larger and 
 larger. Oh, yes; I mustn't forget to tell you another 
 thing that the old cashier asked me to do, that I thought 
 at the time was rather strange. He said he wished I 
 would take out a few more shares in the Building Asso- 
 ciation, — say five or six; and, if necessary, use part of 
 the money borrowed from the Bank to make the first pay- 
 
no LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 ments. I remember he said he thought that business 
 would soon improve again, and I could no doubt carry 
 them without difficulty, and they would be a safeguard 
 against future trouble. Well, I took his advice, although 
 I was half afraid to do it. But things did turn out, as 
 he said ; and I've often wondered whether he didn't know 
 that all that new trade would come to me. 
 
 "Well, that's about all that I have to say, my friends. 
 Perhaps I should add that when the note was due the first 
 two or three times, I could not pay the whole amount, 
 but I paid what I could and had no trouble in getting 
 it renewed for the balance. And after it was finally paid 
 off, I am glad to say that I needed no further help. But 
 it has been a good thing to know that there was in this 
 town those who were on the look-out for any case that 
 really needed help. I was able to keep my family together, 
 and send Jimmie, who is now of age, through the High 
 School, and he has since been my helper in the store, as 
 many of you know. And all the other children, too, 
 have had all the time at school they needed. When the 
 series of the Building Association in which I had my 
 stock, matured, I received from the officers the cancelled 
 mortgage, and I tell you it does feel good to own your 
 own home, as many here know. If there was any way 
 that I could thank the men who gave me that help, I 
 would like to do it; but I have no doubt the thought of 
 doing such things is sufficient reward for them; and I 
 feel bound to regard their wish to remain unknown. I 
 thank you for the kind attention you have given me." 
 
 As the little woman turned and hurried from the plat- 
 form, she was followed by a hearty round of applause. 
 The Chairman came forward and said : 
 
 "Before introducing the next speaker, I would like to 
 say that the reason why your Committee v^^as especially 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION in 
 
 desirous that Mrs. McCall should tell us her story was, 
 aside from the one that she has given, — that it might 
 possibly help some other woman, — this ; that it forms one 
 more good illustration of what co-operation and brother- 
 hood can do. You have noticed that it was through the 
 co-operation of several persons that the help she spoke 
 of was extended. Any one person might, perhaps, have 
 had the good thought of extending aid, but through the 
 fear that more might be needed than he could afford to 
 do, might decide to do nothing. While if the burden 
 could be shared between several, he would not hesitate to 
 bear his part. And in very many cases, as in this one, no 
 one would need to make any contribution whatever. All 
 that was needed was to show the way how, and to help 
 share the risk, in case failure was met with. Let us all 
 wish long life to the 'Lookout Committee' of Pleasant- 
 ville, and full success to all its steps toward Co-operation." 
 
 This sentiment was heartily applauded by the audience ; 
 after which Chairman Barr presented the next speaker, 
 the School Principal, Mr. Sharpe. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen" ; began the 
 latter as he stepped forward ; "my purpose in addressing 
 you this evening is to direct your attention to the latest 
 and probably the most significant experiment in the 
 direction of Co-operation that this country has seen. 
 It is a recent movement, and is as yet but little known to 
 the country at large, yet it is destined, I believe, to play 
 a large part in the introduction of our people to the 
 purposes and methods of Co-operation. Modelled largely 
 upon those Co-operative Societies, which have had such 
 remarkable success in England, I believe that this move- 
 ment will yet develop into such magnitude that we will 
 not be ashamed to compare it with the work of our 
 English cousins. 
 
112 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "Let me tell you how I became acquainted with this 
 great movement. Last summer I spent a good part of 
 my summer vacation visiting some friends in the near 
 Northwest, by which I mean Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
 While there my attention was directed to several Co- 
 operative stores in the large towns which I visited, and 
 also to several creameries and farmers' ware-houses, 
 which I was informed were run on co-operative principles. 
 Naturally I took a great deal of interest in these new 
 business departures and made many inquiries; and this 
 is what I learned : 
 
 "Several years ago three men, who had themselves 
 been engaged in commercial business in that section, 
 became interested in the co-operative idea, and began to 
 apply it by organizing Co-operative Societies for con- 
 ducting Creameries and Warehouses for the farmers, and 
 for managing stores in the towns and cities. They have 
 succeeded so well that by this time there are over twenty 
 thousand families practising co-operative buying and 
 selling in the two states mentioned and the neighboring 
 states. To a large extent these families have -solved the 
 problem of the high cost of living and are getting their 
 supplies of all kinds from 8 to lo per cent, cheaper than 
 their neighbors who are not interested in this plan. 
 
 "They have organized their business on the well- 
 known Rochdale plan ; which is, briefly stated, that profits 
 should be distributed to the persons whose transactions 
 have made the profits possible, after first paying a moder- 
 ate interest rate to the stockholders for the capital 
 invested. And it has been found that this plan applies 
 as well to farmers desiring to sell their produce, as it 
 does to towns-people desiring to buy the produce of the 
 farm, or the goods from the manufactory. 
 
 "About two years ago the Wisconsin Legislature ap- 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 113 
 
 pointed a Committee to investigate Economic Conditions 
 and propose legislation. This Committee sent a repre- 
 sentative abroad to study Co-operation at close range. 
 One of the most interesting countries whose conditions 
 he studied was Denmark, where he found co-operative 
 societies at their best. His report shows that co-opera- 
 tion and education have raised Denmark, in less than a 
 century, from being one of the most impoverished coun- 
 tries in Europe to a population of two and a half millions, 
 with 250 millions of Dollars in their Savings Banks ; that 
 90 per cent, of the farmers own their own farms ; and 
 that the nation exports over 90 millions of Dollars worth 
 of butter, meat and eggs every year. His report has 
 given a great stimulus to the growth of the co-operative 
 movement in the Northwest. 
 
 "In England this representative studied the organiza- 
 tion of the Co-operative stores, whose success has been 
 so remarkable. While there he was asked by one of the 
 leaders of the co-operative movement in Scotland : 
 
 'But why do you come here to study the co-operative store, 
 when you have some of the best examples in your own state of 
 Wisconsin, and a center in Minneapolis, in the office of the 
 Right Relationship League, where the most advanced methods 
 known to co-operation are taught?' 
 
 "In this way his attention was centered upon the move- 
 ment of which I learned something last summer, and 
 which I have been studying since. It was started about 
 six years ago, (in 1906) and has been so successful that 
 in this time they have organized about two hundred 
 stores, creameries, etc., and are establishing new ones at 
 the rate of two or three per month. In 191 1 the stores 
 then organized were doing business of over $7,000,000 
 per annum. The total capitalization at that time was 
 
114 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 about $2,000,000, and the profits distributed in 191 1 
 among the customers of the stores in proportion to the 
 business done by each was over $500,000, making a net 
 saving of over 8 per cent, on the entire purchases of 
 twenty thousand famihes. 
 
 "Mr. E. M. Tousley, the Secretary of the Right Rela- 
 tionship League, referring to the usual method of estab- 
 lishing these stores, states that, with hardly an exception 
 the co-operative stores in the Northwest have not been 
 established as new stores, but have been founded by the 
 organizers buying up existing business establishments. 
 
 "Among the most important rules adopted by these 
 co-operative societies are the following; that the society 
 shall have the first right to buy any shares that the owner 
 may wish to sell ; that all goods shall be sold for cash 
 at the ruling market price ; that a depreciation account 
 shall be kept, and also a surplus profit account, to which 
 a portion of the profits shall be carried before any 
 dividend is declared; that all profits in excess of the 
 amount paid as interest on the capital and the amount 
 carried to surplus account, shall be paid to the customers 
 of the store, in proportion to the amount of their purchases 
 as shown by the sales-slips furnished when the purchases 
 are made, and to the clerks and employees, counting the 
 amount of their salaries the same as patronage; that the 
 Directors shall be paid for attending the regular Direc- 
 tors' meetings, and shall forfeit their office for failure to 
 attend, without a good excuse. 
 
 "As a general thing, sales are made for cash only; 
 but some of the rural stores are compelled to take the 
 butter and eggs offered them by their customers, but 
 they pay for these in cash, instead of in trade. Cutting 
 prices below the ruling price is not approved. The cus- 
 tomer pays as much at the co-operative store as at the 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 115 
 
 individual merchant's store ; but when he makes the pur- 
 chase receives a sales-shp, which entitles its holder to his 
 share of the profits of the business. 
 
 "The returns already made to the share-holders and the 
 purchasers in the past few years abundantly prove that 
 well-conducted co-operative stores will show profits in 
 this country as well as abroad. And they have done this 
 notwithstanding the fact that it is a principle of Co-opera- 
 tion as they have it in the Northwest to pay the highest 
 salaries that are consistent with good business methods, 
 and not to allow their employees to be overworked. No 
 manager of a co-operative store is allowed to make his 
 son or daughter work for him without pay, as is some- 
 times done by the individual storekeeper. 
 
 "One of the most important sources of saving in the 
 operation of the co-operative store is found in their ability 
 to take the cash discounts, which the wholesaler is nearly 
 always ready to grant. As an instance of the value of 
 this source of saving, one of the stores saved $281 in one 
 month by paying cash for purchases, while another in the 
 same period saved $129 in the same way. As the effort 
 is usually successful to start these stores with ample cap- 
 ital for the business expected, it is made possible for 
 the management to take advantage of this method of 
 saving. In a number of instances the volume of business 
 has largely increased after passing into the control of 
 the co-operative society. 
 
 "Like the movement in Great Britain, this movement 
 in the Northwest has for its purpose much more than a 
 mere effort to gain material advantage. This is illus- 
 trated in the case of a small town in Minnesota, in which 
 the population is almost entirely Scandinavian. There it 
 has taken the form of bringing the women together — 
 first as members of a Committee to criticise the manage- 
 
ii6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 ment of the co-operative store, and then in efforts for 
 the general social service of the whole community. The 
 store in this place was the first to establish a woman's 
 rest room, and later it installed two traveling libraries, 
 one in English and one in Swedish, as a free service to 
 the people of the town. 
 
 "Nearly all the co-operative stores maintain educa- 
 tional departments, for which they appropriate funds; 
 and the new law in the State of Wisconsin sanctions the 
 use of five per cent, of the revenues for this purpose ; and 
 this money is spent in spreading information of this 
 movement through the excellent monthly magazine 'Co- 
 operation,' which is published by the Right-Relationship 
 League, and also in public lectures and courses in farm- 
 ing and general business.* 
 
 "The State of Wisconsin is the first to recognize the 
 present value and future possibilities of this movement 
 for Co-operation, and has adopted a law which embodies 
 the best features of the English Rochdale co-operative 
 methods. It seems certain that, as its good results, not 
 only financially, but educationally and morally, become 
 more and more widely known, it will spread until it 
 shall finally be known by the good it does, in all sections 
 of our country. These countrymen of ours in the North- 
 west have done for us what the Rochdale pioneers did 
 for the people of England sixty years ago — proved the 
 practicability of Co-operation, and set an example which 
 may be followed by all our people to their great advan- 
 tage in every possible way.** 
 
 *The text of the Co-operative Association law, adopted by the State 
 of Wisconsin in 191 1, will be found in the Appendix. 
 
 **"Co-operation, a Magazine of Economic Progress,'' is published 
 monthly by the Co-operative Education Bureau, 1123 Metropolitan Life 
 Building, Minneapolis, Minn. Mr. E. M. Tousley is the editor. Sub- 
 scription; $1.00 per annum. 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 117 
 
 "Before asking your attention to the great results ac- 
 complished in Great Britain, will you allow me to read 
 a few paragraphs from a recent article in the magazine 
 just referred to, 'Co-operation,' written by the Editor, 
 Mr. E. M. Tousley, one of the most active of the Amer- 
 ican pioneers in this movement. Speaking of the rela- 
 tions of labor and capital, and the true basis for the dis- 
 tribution of profits, he says : 
 
 'In every commercial and industrial transaction three factors 
 produce or create wealth or profits, so-called ; namely, capital, 
 labor and patronage. No one or two of those factors can 
 produce wealth without the other. Should the interests of 
 capital be abnormally developed by the granting to it of special 
 privileges which are not enjoyed by labor and patronage, the 
 result will be the domination of the people by capital and the 
 consequent weakening of the masses, the workers and con- 
 sumers, by injustice and poverty. 
 
 'The vital question is as to how the resulting wealth or profits 
 created by the fair and natural co-operation of capital, labor 
 and patronage may be equitably divided, so that no one of the 
 three elements shall have special privileges or become abnor- 
 mally developed. The principles laid down by the Rochdale 
 pioneers in the co-operative program answers the question fully 
 and justly. That answer is that, inasmuch as capital is a thing 
 and not a human being, give it a just compensation for its use 
 and no more. What is a just compensation? some one may ask. 
 What is the measuring stick? Capitalists themselves fix this 
 measuring stick by being willing to loan their money at an 
 interest rate of from three to six per cent, per annum. * * * 
 
 'After this has been paid there is a surplus left. To whom 
 does it belong? 
 
 'Obviously it belongs jointly to the wage earners, who per- 
 formed the work for the enterprise, and to the patrons who 
 purchased its products. If the surplus on hand equals any 
 certain per cent, of the total amount of the business transacted, 
 such per cent, must become the measuring stick with which to 
 equitably distribute the surplus among the patrons and the 
 employees, — units of the brotherhood, — in proportion as each 
 
ii8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 has patronized the organization, counting wages or salaries paid 
 to employees, — the ordinary competitive wage scale, — the same 
 as business transacted by them. 
 
 'If not satisfied with this distribution of the profits created by 
 the co-operation of capital, labor and patronage, will some one 
 kindly furnish a better measuring stick? If such an adjust- 
 ment in the industrial, commercial and labor world would not 
 soon abolish the war between capital and labor, and would not 
 soon solve much of the problem of the high cost of living, and 
 would not soon create a more perfect business, social and 
 political system in every community, will some one present a 
 better plan? 
 
 'But,' says some one, 'this is Socialism.' No, it is not Social- 
 ism. Socialism is political action, and therefore means forcing 
 at least a large minority of the people to do as a majority may 
 dictate through laws enacted and enforced by a political party; 
 and, besides, it has in it a threat of the confiscation of capital. 
 
 'The whole program of Co-operation is voluntary, and with- 
 out voluntary action by each participant it would not be Co- 
 operation at all. Industrial Co-operation is the only alternative 
 between dominant Capitalism and revolutionary Syndicalism. 
 Capital must be brought to see the justice and the social and 
 economic gain in the program of voluntary Co-operation, and 
 to willingly join its forces with workers and consumers in the 
 building up of a more perfect and equitable social, economic 
 and political state. The writer believes that capitalists are ready 
 or almost ready to meet co-operators half-way on such a basis.' 
 
 "In those few paragraphs, my friends, you have one of 
 the clearest statements of the purposes and methods of 
 Co-operation that has been made ; and we may all re- 
 joice that such just principles and methods are now being 
 successfully appHed in our country. A beginning has 
 been made, and no man can tell how great the future 
 results will be. Now let us compare this statement with 
 the original principles as stated by the English pioneers 
 in 1855. As stated by them, these principles were: 
 
 'I : — That human society is a brotherhood, not a collection of 
 warring atoms. 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 119 
 
 '2: — That true workers should be fellow workers, not rivals. 
 '3:— That a principle of justice and not selfishness should 
 regulate exchanges. 
 
 "How they attempt to carry out these principles may be 
 seen in this declaration of the English Co-operative 
 Union, which embraces over six hundred societies; 
 
 'This Union is formed to promote the practice of truthful- 
 ness, justice and economy in production and exchange: 
 
 'i : — By the abolition of all false dealing, either (a) direct, 
 by representing any article produced or sold to be other than 
 what it is known to the producer or vendor to be; or (b) in- 
 direct, by concealing from the purchaser any fact known to the 
 vendor, material to be known by the purchaser, to enable him 
 to judge of the value of the article purchased. 
 
 '2: — By conciliating the conflicting interests of the capitalist, 
 the worker and the purchaser, through an equitable division 
 amongst them of the fund commonly known as profit. 
 
 'By preventing the waste of labor now caused by unregulated 
 competition.' 
 
 "You see at once how fully in harmony with these 
 principles and methods are those of the American co- 
 operators of the Northwest, which I have outlined to 
 you. And you know of the marvelous progress of Co- 
 operation in England; how the movement, started in an 
 humble way by the Rochdale pioneers in 1844, has de- 
 veloped into hundreds of co-operative stores and great 
 Wholesale Societies, engaged not only in selling, but in 
 many cases in manufacturing goods amounting in value 
 to millions of Pounds Sterling. A recent letter from Mr. 
 William Maxwell, President of the Scottish Wholesale 
 Society, says that the sales in the United Kingdom for 
 1910 amounted to the enormous total of £118,448,910 
 (nearly $600,000,000), and the profits for the same 
 
I20 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 year were £11,250,718 (about $55,000,000). The total 
 number of employes in 1909 exceeded 80,000. 
 
 "As to the higher purposes of Co-operation, there 
 have been few better statements than that made by Pro- 
 fessor Marshall at the Co-operative Congress held at 
 Ipswich in 1889. In the course of his Inaugural address 
 he said : 
 
 'The cardinal doctrines of its faith are, firstly, the production 
 of fine human beings, and not the production of rich goods, as 
 the ultimate aim of all worthy endeavor. Secondly, he who 
 lives and works only for himself, or even only for himself and 
 his family, leads an incomplete life; to complete it he needs to 
 work with others for some broad and high aim.' 
 
 "With these good words, expressing the best purpose 
 of this great movement, I leave the subject with you for 
 your further thought." 
 
 Hardly had the Chairman announced that the subject 
 was open for discussion, when young Strong was on his 
 feet claiming recognition : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," he began; "only this last week I ran 
 across something in my reading that interested me 
 greatly, and as it is in direct line with what our speakers 
 have brought us this evening, I would like to present it. 
 I was reading a weekly magazine which I have taken ever 
 since I was a boy, when I saw an article on what Co- 
 operation had done in the past few years for the farmers 
 of Ireland. Strange to say, it was written by one whose 
 early experience had been in the central western part of 
 our own country, and his article was intended to call atten- 
 tion to what he considers a greatly needed work in this 
 country among our farmers. He says that this is what 
 has been accomplished in Ireland; I copied a few words, 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 121 
 
 thinking they would be of interest here this evening ; he 
 says : 
 
 'In a little more than twenty years, against tremendous diffi- 
 culties, in an atmosphere charged with religious and political 
 animosities, a peace-making movement based on the principle 
 of self-help by mutual help has been built up. All creeds and 
 parties leave their religious and political differences outside. 
 More than nine hundred farmers' co-operative societies, with 
 about a hundred thousand members, are doing a business of 
 about fifteen millions of dollars a year.'* 
 
 "This is a record of progress which seems to me most 
 remarkable. If that could be done in Ireland in the face 
 of the difficulties mentioned by the writer, what might 
 not be done in this country, where the conditions do not 
 present such obstacles. There has been a movement here 
 to make it easier for our farmers to get needed accom- 
 modation from those having money to lend, and the 
 systems of Co-operative banking which have done such 
 a great work in Germany have been studied at close range 
 by parties interested, who have reported to our Govern- 
 ment, and it is altogether likely that some plan, closely 
 following the Raffeisen plan or the Schultze-Delitsch 
 plan of Co-operative banks will be adopted here. As I 
 listened to my friend, Crandall, explaining how the Build- 
 ing Associations worked for the good of the people in the 
 towns and cities, I could not help wondering whether 
 some modification of this plan of small monthly pay- 
 ments, with possible large loans on real estate security 
 at moderate rates of interest, might not meet the needs 
 of our farmers. 
 
 "While I am on my feet, will you allow me to call your 
 
 *From article on "Co-operation and Country Life." By Sir Horace 
 Plunkett: in "Youth's Companion," Feb. 6, 1913- 
 
12^ 
 
 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 attention to an interesting fact connected with the capital- 
 getting for the English Co-operative stores ? I have read, 
 and have also heard from one or two who knew these 
 stores when they lived in England, that some of the share- 
 holders in the early days, — and I understand that the 
 practice still continues, — paid for their shares of stock 
 in small monthly payments, thus combining the Building 
 Association principle with the ownership of stock in the 
 Co-operative undertaking. This is a thought that may 
 help in the establishment of such a form of Co-operation 
 in this country. We are so well acquainted, generally, 
 with this latter plan, that the use of it in connection with 
 the other should be quite readily adopted." 
 
 "And that reminds me, Mr. Chairman" ; said Crandall, 
 rising as Strong took his seat; "of a question that arose 
 in my mind while Mr. Sharpe was lecturing to us. Why 
 is it not possible for us to have just that kind of a store 
 here in this town? I don't have any feeling against the 
 middleman, such as you sometimes read about. As a 
 general thing he is a citizen who pays his taxes, some- 
 times owns his own store, and renders good service to 
 the town in which he lives. But recently it has happened, 
 and I think is happening more and more, that new stores 
 are being started by big corporations that have no interest 
 in the towns as residents or property holders ; and as 
 against this class of merchants, it seems to me we would 
 be doing ourselves a good turn if we would try the plan 
 described by Mr. Sharpe. No doubt we could find one 
 or more of our own men here who would be glad to sell 
 out to us, just as the men in the Northwest found mer- 
 chants there glad to sell out." 
 
 As Crandall was about taking his seat, he was inter- 
 rupted by a stage whisper from Hammer Harry, which, 
 as usual, was heard all over the room; "Why don't you 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 123 
 
 make a motion to appoint a Committee to consider the 
 question, and report at the next meeting?" 
 
 "Why, so I will" ; he replied, and made the motion, 
 which was seconded by two or three, and declared carried 
 unanimously. The Chairman appointed Crandall, Ham- 
 mer Harry and young Strong on this Committee, with 
 power to add to their number, making the suggestion that 
 they try to find a Committee of housekeepers who would 
 work with them in completing the arrangements. "You 
 can't get along in work of this kind," he concluded, 
 "unless you have the co-operation of the women." 
 
 As the Chair was about to announce that the meeting 
 stood adjourned, his eye was caught by Cashier Bruce, 
 who spoke briefly, as follows : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, will you kindly allow me a few min- 
 utes? I wish to make a comparison that is frequently 
 overlooked. Some persons who hear of Co-operation for 
 the first time, and who do not care for innovations, think 
 they are opposed to it. In many cases, if they will only 
 take the time to think, they will find that by practice, — 
 I mean by their own practice, — they are in favor of it. 
 That is to say, we are all of us in favor of that form of 
 co-operation with which we are familiar, which serves 
 us, and which is profitable to us. For instance, we would 
 find it difficult to discover any one in this town who is 
 opposed to Building Associations, which apply the prin- 
 ciples of true co-ope"ration so successfully right here in 
 our midst, and which have benefited so many of us. 
 Another instance, which I may cite, is the Savings Bank, 
 the work of which everyone favors, and which is so true 
 a form of co-operation that there is no capital employed 
 whatever, in the strict form of such banks, where all 
 profit is divided between the labor employed and the 
 patronage; — to the former in the shape of salaries, and 
 
124 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 to the latter in the shape of interest on the amount de- 
 posited. From this I conclude that in those cases where 
 we understand the form of co-operation, we favor it 
 heartily. Let us therefore not be afraid to study it, when 
 it presents itself to us in new forms. 
 
 "In conclusion I would say that I was much interested 
 in what Mr. Strong said about the possible application 
 of the Building Association principle to the farmers' 
 loan movement; and it may be of interest to him, as 
 well as to the others present to know that a friend of 
 mine, a man of many years' experience in the banking 
 business, who has made a study of the various methods 
 used in the leading countries on the continent in advanc- 
 ing such loans to the farmers, is of the opinion that the 
 method adopted in France, through the agency of the 
 Credit Foncier, is practically the application of our 
 Building Association principle to that problem. Having 
 an interest in the subject, I wrote him recently, and in 
 his reply he not only confirmed this statement, but added 
 that for some years past the large Trust Company with 
 which he is connected has been making moderate loans, 
 when well secured by first mortgage, to farmers, allow- 
 ing a long term for the re-payment, charging a moderate 
 rate per cent, for interest and also making a charge an- 
 nually for the expense of carrying such loans. 
 
 "As an illustration of the way in which this plan would 
 work out on a mortgage loan for $i,ooo. — I was in- 
 formed that the annual payment would be $80.00, — for 
 a thirty year loan; and if the payments are kept up, at 
 the expiration of the term, the loan is paid, the mortgage 
 cancelled, and the obligation returned. On such a loan, 
 the annual expenses are rated at $7.73, making in 30 
 years a total of $231.90; the principal of $1,000, — is 
 repaid, and also a payment made for interest amounting 
 
CO-OPERATION IN ACTION 125 
 
 to $1,168.10, — or an average rate per cent, for the term 
 of less than four per cent. By making some reduction in 
 the item of expense, — which seems to be a little high, — 
 the annual payment for the extinction of the debt could 
 possibly be reduced. But the illustration as I give it to 
 you, will serve to show how readily the Building Associa- 
 tion ideas can be applied to the problem of making mort- 
 gage loans for long terms at very moderate rates of 
 interest to farmers who desire such accommodation; and 
 the risk involved would in most cases be no greater than 
 the risks taken by the average Building Association." 
 
 As there was no response when Chairman Barr invited 
 further remarks, he declared the meeting adjourned. 
 
 ♦The Co-operative Education Bureau, 1123 Metropolitan Life Build- 
 ing, Minneapolis, Minn., publishes the monthly magazine "Co-operation," 
 — subscription, $1.00 per year, and also a series of valuable tracts on 
 Co-operation, which can be used to advantage in spreading informa- 
 tion of this great movement. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Conference No. IV; The Question as to "How." 
 
 "To will and not to do, where there is opportunity, is in 
 reality not to will; and to love what is good and not to do it 
 when it is possible, is in reality not to love it. Will which stops 
 short of action, and love which does not do the good that is 
 loved, is a mere thought separate from will and love, which 
 vanishes and comes to nothing." — Suredenborg. 
 
 "For good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless 
 they be executed." — Emerson. 
 
 "I always thought that the man who made the corn should 
 eat the corn." — Lincoln. 
 
 After the transaction of the routine work of the Board 
 of Directors of the Home Building Association at their 
 next meeting, it was found that an unusual number of 
 members of the Board was present. This was due to the 
 fact that Strong and Bruce had quietly passed the word 
 to the other members that something interesting in the 
 way of an examination of Hammer Harry's knowledege 
 of Lincoln was apt to take place, as they had heard Prin- 
 cipal Sharpe say that there were one or two questions 
 that he wanted to ask him. Of course they had kept this 
 quiet from the two most interested, so that it was not 
 strange that Hammer should remark, as he noticed the 
 increased attendance : 
 
 "It looks as though things in the Building Associa- 
 tion line were looking up; we haven't had a meeting as 
 full as this since I can remember. What's done it, Jackie ? 
 Been offering premiums for the members to turn out?" 
 
 "Not so far as I know. Hammer. Perhaps some of 
 them thought you would entertain us with a few new 
 
 Lincoln stories." 
 
 (126) 
 
THE QUESTION AS TO "HOW" 127 
 
 "Well, I can't do that," replied Hammer; "all my 
 new stories are old ones. But, by the rule of contraries, 
 this attendance does remind me of one of the old ones; 
 but it's so old that I'm sure you've all heard it." 
 
 "Go ahead, Hammer" ; interrupted Barr. "All your 
 Lincoln stories are good, no matter how often we've 
 heard them. Sometimes an old story is like an old 
 friend ; you don't turn him down because you've met him 
 before, but are all the more pleased to see him." 
 
 "Well, if you can stand it, I can. The story was of the 
 time, early in the war, when Lincoln was being pestered 
 every day with applications for office by everybody, and 
 he said one night after a mighty hard day, that he wished 
 sometimes he had the smallpox, so that he might have 
 something he could give everybody." 
 
 "I'm glad to hear you tell that old story, Mr. Smith," 
 said the School Principal; "because that serves to verify 
 it. I've heard that one questioned ; but as you give it, I 
 have no doubt of its genuineness. By the way, I've heard 
 some one say that you once saw President Lincoln. Is 
 that so ; and would you be willing to tell us the circum- 
 stance?" 
 
 "I'll be glad to" ; replied Hammer, who was now in 
 his element. "I can't say that I ever saw 'President' Lin- 
 coln, for he was not yet President when I saw him, but 
 he was so near it, that I always think of him as President 
 at the time. It was when he made that great speech, — 
 one of his shortest, too — in front of Independence Hall 
 in Philadelphia. I was a youngster not quite twelve 
 years old; but my father was an enthusiastic Lincoln 
 man from the first, and so when my Uncle Harry, for 
 whom I was named, who was then living in that city, 
 wrote and asked if I couldn't come down and go with 
 him to see the new President, both father and mother 
 
128 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 said I must go; and of course, I was wild to go. I 
 remember my mother said at first that it wouldn't do, 
 because I would lose too much time from school, but 
 father said I had better miss a week's schooling than 
 miss that. So they put me on the train in charge of the 
 conductor one afternoon, and Uncle Harry met me at the 
 station. Well, some of you may remember that right 
 across the street from the old Hall there used to be a 
 hotel called the American House. It seemed that Uncle 
 Harry knew one of the men in charge pretty well, so he 
 took me there, and we had a good supper; and then he 
 told me that old Abe, as everybody called him then, was 
 up the street at the Continental Hotel, only three squares" 
 away, and that early the next morning, just at sunrise, 
 he was going to raise the flag on Independence Hall, 
 and that we were going to see him do it. Well, you 
 can imagine how pleased I was. So he got me to go to 
 bed early, and I was soon fast asleep. Then, what do you 
 suppose that fellow did?" 
 
 "Give it up, Harry"; replied Barr. "What was it?" 
 "Well, as soon as I was asleep, he left me in charge of 
 one of the maids in the place, and went up to the Contin- 
 ental to see if he could catch sight of the President. He 
 told me so afterwards; but I told him I didn't care; it's 
 just what I would have done, if I'd been old enough. 
 Well, while it was still dark the next morning, he had 
 me up, and by daylight, or mighty soon after, we went 
 right across the street and got near the stand on which the 
 President was to speak. Pretty soon we heard the parade 
 coming down Chestnut Street, and in a little while Lin- 
 coln and the Mayor of the City and some others went 
 up on the platform, which some soldiers, — they called 
 them 'the Scott's Legion,' I think, — came and surrounded, 
 but Uncle Harry and I got just as close as we could, and 
 
THE QUESTION AS TO "HOW" 129 
 
 I heard everything he said, and saw every movement he 
 made as he pulled the flag up into its place. I remember 
 there was an old man-of-war's man there from the big 
 ship yard above the City, to give any help with the ropes, 
 if any was needed. My; how I did watch Lincoln; and 
 once I thought there was going to be trouble, too; for 
 there was a little kink in the rope as he was pulling the 
 flag up, and I was afraid that it wouldn't go up. But 
 Lincoln wasn't troubled ; he just worked a minute or two 
 with the ropes, as cool as you please, and in a minute the 
 flag went sailing up into its place as nice as could be. 
 That was how I came to see Lincoln; and I've always 
 been thankful to my uncle for taking me there, and to 
 my father and mother for making it easy for me to go. 
 As things turned out, it was the only time I could have 
 seen him, too." 
 
 "How was that, Mr. Smith?" inquired Bruce, who had 
 finished counting his cash, and was an interested listener 
 to Hammer's story. 
 
 "Well, my Uncle Harry enlisted, and lost his life at 
 Gettysburg; and father never got to Washington during 
 the war; so you see that was my only chance." 
 
 "Well, I'm sure we're all indebted to you for telling us 
 that" ; said the School Principal. "Recently I ran across 
 a new story of Lincoln, — at least, new to me, and I 
 wonder if you can tell me whether it is genuine." 
 
 "I'd be glad to hear it," replied Hammer. "But as to 
 its being genuine or not, I'm not an authority ; so I 
 wouldn't like to attempt to settle a question of that 
 kind." 
 
 "Well, let me have your opinion, at least," said 
 Sharpe. "The story comes to light by way of San Fran- 
 cisco, and as that is pretty far from the scene of action 
 mentioned, it may or may not be true; still, it bears the 
 
I30 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 marks of probability. The story goes that on one occa- 
 sion Senator Stephen A. Douglass, 'the little giant' of 
 those days, addressed a large meeting at Springfield, 
 Illinois, in support of his theories and policies, and appar- 
 ently with telling effect. The next morning Mr. Lincoln 
 entered a local store, falling incidentally into free talk 
 with a young man of nineteen or twenty who was serv- 
 ing as salesman behind the counter. T don't think, Mr. 
 Lincoln,' said the youth, 'that you or anybody can meet 
 Mr. Douglass' arguments. Why, Mr. Lincoln,' his voice 
 rising to the pitch of enthusiasm, 'that was the greatest 
 speech ever made in Springfield. And Mr. Douglass is 
 the greatest man in the United States.' After his delib- 
 erate fashion, Mr. Lincoln replied : 'My young friend, 
 I agree with you to this extent, that the speech was in 
 its way a formidable one. It was adroitly conceived and 
 brilliantly spoken. But it was not a great speech, and 
 Judge Douglass is not a great man. It was not a great 
 speech because there were involved in it as fundamental 
 to its argument, three misstatements of fact; Judge 
 Douglass is not a great man because he knew that what 
 he said was not the truth.' "* 
 
 "Well, that's very interesting," said Hammer Harry, 
 as Sharpe paused ; "and it's new to me. It sounds as 
 though it might be true, too ; for it has the Lincoln 
 dependence upon the truth. If there ever was a man who 
 put the truth in the first place, and not in the second, it 
 was Lincoln. Your story reminds me of one that is well- 
 authenticated. It gives his own estimate of himself, and 
 is interesting on that account. Have you ever heard it?" 
 
 "I don't think I have. I can't recall any one in which 
 he made an estimate of his own powers." 
 
 ♦From the San Francisco "Argonaut," December, 1912. 
 
THE QUESTION AS TO "HOW" 131 
 
 "Well, the story goes that one day, when a group of 
 his political friends was gathered at the White House, 
 some one made a statement that he was the greatest 
 leader in his party, and the logical candidate for the 
 nomination in 1861. Lincoln couldn't stand that. He 
 objected and said: 'No; there were other abler and 
 better known men than I; there was Seward, a college 
 man, and a greater scholar than I will ever be ; and there 
 were Chase, and a half dozen more, all as able as I, or 
 better equipped. But yet,' he added, 'there was one 
 respect in which, perhaps, I excelled them all; yes, I 
 guess there was one quality I had in which I was better 
 equipped than any of them.' He was asked what that 
 was, and his reply shows how great he was ; how modest 
 in his self-estimate, and yet how great in intellect, as see- 
 ing what was most needed at that hour. His reply was : 
 'Well, I think perhaps I was a little better calculated 
 to hold the North and West together than any one else 
 at that time. I had grown up in the West and I knew 
 it like a book ; and I knew the East and the North fairly 
 well, having been to Washington and also down East. 
 Yes, I guess I was better fitted to hold the two sections 
 together than any one else at that time.' " 
 
 "That is certainly most interesting, Mr. Smith," said 
 the School Principal. "And now, may I ask you about 
 another little story which seems to come into line with 
 the addresses we have been having this winter in the club. 
 This is to the effect that on one occasion, when talking 
 with a friend, Lincoln said : 'I always thought that the 
 man who made the corn should eat the corn.' Do you 
 know whether that is a true story, and the name of the 
 party he said it to?" 
 
 "That's genuine enough," replied Hammer; "it's a true 
 Lincoln story, and I can tell you just where you can find 
 
132 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 it. One of the best Lincoln books that I know of is called 
 'Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln.' It was written by 
 the personal and political friends of the President and the 
 book was edited by Allen Thorndike Rice, who was, at 
 the time, the editor of the 'North American Review.' It 
 occurred to him that the contemporaries of Lincoln were 
 fast disappearing from the scene of action, and that the 
 world ought to have their estimate of him in an enduring 
 form. So he induced them to write their reminiscences 
 of him, and this volume is the result. If I couldn't get 
 another copy, I wouldn't take a hundred dollars for mine. 
 I've read it oftener than any other book I have. That 
 story is in the article written by Cassius M. Clay, and he 
 says that Lincoln used those very words to him, himself.* 
 Clay thought that they meant a great deal as to Lincoln's 
 opinion of slavery, and maybe they did ; but I have 
 thought that they were the expression of his sense of jus- 
 tice on the subject of labor and capital. It's really the 
 same thought that is deep down in the heart of every man, 
 when he is honest with himself; 'the man who makes the 
 corn ought to eat the corn' ; and I don't believe that the 
 labor question will be settled until it is settled on that 
 basis. There is something else on the same line that 
 Lincoln said, — ^but I guess I'm doing more than my share 
 of talking, so I'll shut up." 
 
 "Go on, Mr. Smith," urged the Principal, "I'm sure 
 we're all very much interested in what you're saying, 
 and you've just struck an important question." The 
 others also urged Hammer to go on, and after a slight 
 pause, he continued : 
 
 "Well, I don't like to do all the talking, boys. I'll give 
 
 *See article by Cassius M. Clay in "Reminiscences of Abraham 
 Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time." Edited by Allen Thorn- 
 dike Rice; published by the "North American Review"; 1888; page 297. 
 
THE QUESTION AS TO "HOW" 133 
 
 you this, and then I'm done. I was reading the article 
 written by George S. Boutwell, published in the same 
 book, and he said that on one occasion Lincoln said some- 
 thing about the relations of labor and capital, that has 
 a good deal of meaning now for all of us. I have never 
 met the same thing anywhere else, but as Boutwell quotes 
 it over his own name, I have no doubt that it is from one 
 of Lincoln's speeches. I copied out the words, for I 
 thought I might have a chance to use them at one of the 
 discussions after a lecture, — but I would just as lief give 
 them to you now. Here they are," and he drew from his 
 vest pocket a slip of paper and read these words : 
 
 'Labor is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is 
 only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed, if labor 
 had not first existed. Labor is the support of capital, and 
 deserves much the higher consideration.'* 
 
 "Now, the date that Boutwell attaches to that utter- 
 ance is interesting, for it is in the period of agitation that 
 led up to the formation of the great party which put 
 Lincoln twice in the White House to do his great work. 
 It is 1854; it might pay you, Mr. Sharpe, — for I see 
 you're interested in Lincoln, — to look up just the par- 
 ticular occasion of those v^^ords, and let us know." 
 
 "That would be a very interesting quest, Mr. Smith," 
 replied the Principal; "I'll see what I can do about it." 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," interrupted Crandall, "this is 
 mighty interesting, I know ; but we might spend the night 
 here 'swapping these stories,' as Lincoln used to say, and 
 that wouldn't suit me a little bit, — for there's a busy day 
 
 *See article by Gearge S. Boutwell in "Reminiscences of Abraham 
 Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time." Edited by Allen Thorn- 
 dike Rice; published by the "North American Review"; 1888; page 129. 
 
134 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 ahead of me to-morrow. Barr, suppose you tell us what 
 you have arranged for the next meeting." 
 
 "I haven't done a thing, Jackie. I declare, I'm clean 
 stumped. I know what the people want, but I don't know 
 who can give it to us," replied Barr. 
 
 "Well, tell us what they want ; maybe we can find some 
 way of getting it for them." 
 
 "It's a strange thing to me," repHed Barr; "but since 
 the last meeting no less than four or five different persons 
 have said about the same thing to me, and I suppose that 
 means that a good many more have the same idea in 
 their heads. They say : 'It's all very nice to tell us about 
 Co-operation and what it has done here and there, but 
 what we would like to know is, how are we to get the 
 capital to make the start? And that's what stumps me. 
 Now, can anyone tell me the answer ?" 
 
 There was a slight pause, and then Bruce spoke up: 
 "It don't seem to me that that is as difficult as it looks 
 at first sight, Barr. You see," ^but Barr quickly inter- 
 rupted with : 
 
 "You're just the very man I've been looking for. Now, 
 don't tell it to me, but keep it for the meeting. What 
 do you say, gentlemen; isn't Mr. Bruce just the one to 
 give us the next address?" 
 
 To this there was general assent, in spite of Bruce's 
 protestations that no one would be interested in anything 
 he might say, that no one would come to the meeting, 
 etc. He discovered too late that he had made a mistake 
 in speaking as he did, and was finally compelled to yield 
 and consent to make the address. To encourage him, 
 Barr said : 
 
 "Don't you worry about the meeting being well at- 
 tended, Mr. Bruce. Let that rest in my hands. I'll see 
 that you have the record attendance; and I guess that 
 
THE QUESTION AS TO "HOW" 135 
 
 Crandall and Hammer will see that the crowd behaves 
 all right. They're experts in that line, you know." 
 
 As the company was about to separate, Barr turned 
 to Hammer and said : 
 
 "There's a question I want to ask you, old man ; for I 
 think you're the one who can answer it. What did Mrs. 
 McCall mean at the last meeting by what she said about 
 that 'Lookout Committee?' Do you know anything 
 about it?" 
 
 "I guess you'll have to ask Crandall about that, Davie," 
 replied Hammer, and endeavored to pass by Barr and 
 leave the room. But Crandall heard the question, and 
 the fencing reply Hammer had given, and at once took 
 up the thread of talk by saying to Barr : 
 
 "Why, that's one of those queer and curious things, 
 Davie, that I can explain to you later. But talking about 
 queer things, I heard the other day one of the strangest 
 about you that I've ever met yet" ; and in reply to Barr's 
 urgent demand for enlightenment, he continued : 
 
 "Well, the party that told me about it said that on the 
 down train one morning last week, the Honorable and 
 Worthy Conductor, one certain David Barr, seemed all of 
 a sudden to lose his head. My informant said that he 
 had just got on the train, and was about to hand you his 
 ticket, when you suddenly dashed away from him, ran at 
 top speed through the car, and then on through the next, 
 and he thought also through another; and acted alto- 
 gether as though you had suddenly lost your wits. Of 
 course you don't have to explain to us ; but it did look a 
 little queer, didn't it?" 
 
 "Yes," replied Barr, "looks queer, till you know the 
 reason why; then it's simple enough. Just as I gave the 
 signal to go ahead, the station agent handed me a tele- 
 gram, which I felt sure was the regular notice to stop at 
 
136 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Bell's Crossing for the express to go by. But when I 
 read it, I saw that the regular orders had all been changed 
 for some reason, and we had to stop two stations further 
 up the road. So I couldn't stop to be nice and polite ; I 
 just had to get forward and see that the orders had got 
 into Jim's hand, and into his head, too; so that he 
 wouldn't go sailing by. Sorry, if I hurt your friend's 
 feelings." 
 
 "Not at all, Barr. He is big enough to know that you 
 had some good reason for your hurry. But you'll admit 
 it did look a little queer to an outsider. It reminds me 
 of what a friend of mine once said about being 'peculiar.' 
 It was one of the best things I ever heard, too." 
 
 "Well, tell us, Jackie," said Barr, half-pleased again 
 to have the attention directed from himself. "I'm sure 
 we will be delighted to hear from a friend of yours." 
 
 "Now, don't write it down 'sarcastic,' Davie," replied 
 Crandall. "My friend's remark was worth hearing, even 
 if he was my friend. He was speaking about some old 
 party, who had the reputation of being rather eccentric, 
 and he said : 'They say he's peculiar ; but that don't 
 mean anything; all of us are more or less peculiar; only 
 we see the other fellow's peculiarity easier than we do our 
 own ; and of course that's natural.' " 
 
 "And that reminds me," added Barr, now thoroughly 
 mollified by Crandall's tact, "of the story of the old 
 Quaker gentleman, who said to his good wife one day: 
 'Rachel, it seems to me, that everybody is queer, except- 
 ing thee and me'; and then added, as a second thought 
 came to the rescue, 'and sometimes I think thee is a little 
 queer.' " 
 
 In the laugh that followed, the group separated; and as 
 Crandall and Hammer walked together out the Pike, the 
 former laughed and said : 
 
THE QUESTION AS TO "HOW" 137 
 
 "Yes, he pretty near had you that time, Hammer. But 
 I've never known the old rule to fail. When a man gets 
 too curious about your affairs, turn the curiosity on him 
 just as soon as you can. He will be so much taken up 
 with his own business then that he'll forget yours. It 
 certainly acted like a charm with Davie ; and I declare I 
 was afraid every moment he would see what I was 
 driving at." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Co-operation Through Legislation : How ? 
 
 "It was once thought that corporations could not succeed, but 
 the inherent advantages of corporate industry after a long 
 struggle have made themselves manifest, and corporations are 
 crushing out the individual. It is believed by some that the 
 inherent advantages of Co-operation will sooner or later make 
 themselves felt, and that after a period of adversity, of struggle, 
 and of slowly increasing success, Co-operation will finally gain 
 industrial supremacy, thus uniting harmoniously labor and 
 capital and ushering in an era of industrial democracy." — 
 Richard T. Ely. 
 
 "Sometimes, again, industrial peace is actually established 
 within a limited circle, as in the substitution of mutual interest 
 for commercial antagonism in the co-operative system." — 
 Francis G. Peabody. 
 
 "Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the 
 world is the triumph of enthusiasm." — Emerson. 
 
 On the evening of the next meeting of the Workers' 
 Club, an audience as large as the meeting place would 
 accommodate was awaiting Chairman Barr and the 
 speaker of the evening at the hour announced in the 
 columns of the "Herald." Barr and several members of 
 his Committee had been active in giving notice of the 
 meeting, and a few days before the date fixed upon had 
 mailed postal cards, bearing the following unique an- 
 nouncement, to all the members of the Club and to the 
 leading citizens of the town : 
 
 "HOW? HOW? HOW?" 
 
 If some one should offer to tell you HOW 
 to accomplish something that you wanted very 
 
 (138) 
 
HOW? 139 
 
 much to do, don't you think you would give 
 him the chance? Well, we rather guess you 
 would. 
 
 So, of course, you will want to come to the 
 next meeting of the Workers' Club, to be held 
 at the Club House next Tuesday evening, the 
 7th inst., at 7.30 o'clock, sharp. An invitation 
 to do so is hereby extended by the Executive 
 Committee of the Club. Please extend notice 
 of this meeting to others. 
 
 Executive Committee Workers' Club. 
 
 Promptly at the hour mentioned, Chairman Barr and 
 Mr. Bruce appeared on the platform, and as soon as the 
 preliminary music by the High School Glee Club had 
 been enjoyed, the Chairman proceeded to introduce the 
 speaker : 
 
 "It is a pleasure to greet so many this evening, my 
 friends, and as it is likely that we will need all the time 
 at our disposal to consider the important subject that has 
 brought us together, we will waste no time in formalities. 
 There is one matter, however, that I think I should refer 
 to. Since sending out the postals announcing this meet- 
 ing I hav£ been taken to task by quite a few members of 
 the Club for sending out such an invitation without giving 
 the name of the speaker. In reply to this criticism, I wish 
 to say that the omission was intentional, and was for two 
 reasons : first, because the Committee thought that a little 
 curiosity on your part might increase the attendance ; 
 and, second, because it was suggested by the speaker of 
 the evening himself. The first reason seems to be justi- 
 fied by the result accomplished, and the second no doubt 
 will be explained by the speaker himself, Mr. Bruce,- — 
 whom you all know, — some of you, no doubt, to your 
 
I40 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 sorrow, and whom it now gives me great pleasure to 
 introduce to you." 
 
 As Bruce came forward and addressed the Chairman, 
 and then turned to the audience, Crandall, who was sit- 
 ting with other members of the Committee near the front, 
 thought that he detected an expression in the eyes of the 
 speaker as he glanced at Chairman Barr that boded no 
 good to that worthy individual. In a quiet, conversa- 
 tional tone Bruce began as follows : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : As one who is 
 well acquainted with the frank directness and lack of all 
 concealment in the rapid-fire mental action of our genial 
 Chairman, I must nevertheless plead guilty to a slight 
 feeling of surprise at one thought just expressed by him, 
 which seems to require some explanation from me. He 
 has said truly that most of you know me, and has inti- 
 mated that some of you have acquired that knowledge to 
 your sorrow. This was no doubt intended as a mere 
 pleasantry, and will be accepted by me as such, but it 
 does at least open the door far enough for me to say that 
 it frequently happens that the Cashier of a Bank, in 
 giving answers to a certain class of business inquiries, is 
 compelled to act in a representative capacity; and is also 
 sometimes compelled to convey a collective negative reply 
 when his own personal wish might be to give an affirma- 
 tive reply. I cannot recall, however, that my good friend, 
 Barr, ever received such a negative reply from me to any 
 request he may have made ; but his memory may be better 
 than mine in this respect, and I beg to assure him that, 
 if he does recall any such experience, my own regret must 
 at least equal his, and I would beg him to remember, 
 and apply, the good advice of the old adage : 'If at first 
 you don't succeed, try, try again.' " 
 
 There was a round of laughter and applause at this 
 
HOW? 141 
 
 "retort direct," which was led by Crandall and joined in 
 by Barr, and just as it ceased the deep voice of Hammer 
 Harry was heard all over the room, as he tried to convey 
 to Barr, in one of his audible stage whispers, the needed 
 injunction : "Now, will you be good?" 
 
 "Your Chairman has also referred to the fact," con- 
 tinued Bruce, "that I had requested him not to announce 
 the name of the speaker on the postals he sent out. I 
 did this for two reasons, one of which he has already 
 given ; curiosity to hear an unknown is often far greater 
 than the desire to listen to one well known. My second 
 reason was because it was my desire to speak only to 
 those really interested in the subject to be discussed. 
 Having been an interested hearer at the meetings held 
 this season by the Club, and knowing from expressions 
 I have repeatedly heard that many of our people are also 
 deeply interested, it was my thought that we could come 
 much nearer 'getting somewhere' as the result of this 
 meeting if we had present only those who felt this in- 
 terest in the subject itself, rather than in any speaker 
 who might address the meeting. As the identity of the 
 speaker has been established, may I further complete the 
 announcement by saying that my subject will be: 'Co- 
 operation Through Legislation. How?' 
 
 "Some of you will recall the impressive arraignment 
 of modern industrial conditions which was adopted by the 
 great Methodist Church at its Quadrennial Conference in 
 1912, a part of which was incorporated in the address of 
 Mr. Strong. As further evidence of the fact that the 
 Christian Church is deeply moved by existing conditions 
 and is earnestly seeking to remedy them, will you allow 
 me to read a portion of the report of the Commission on 
 the Church and Social Service which was unanimously 
 adopted by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ 
 
142 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 in America in December, 1912. The whole report is well 
 worthy your attention, but I will now ask it for only a 
 few of its statements and recommendations. 
 
 "The report contains this well deserved approval of the 
 efforts that are being made by conscientious employers to 
 secure better conditions for their employes : 
 
 'There are many of our leaders in industry and commerce, 
 high-minded men, with sympathetic hearts, who are seeking to 
 extricate themselves and their fellows from the toils of a 
 bewildered economic system.' 
 
 "Then, as though desiring to show how great is the 
 need for the work 'of amelioration, the report says, a 
 little later : 
 
 'We read the latest word from the Bureau of Labor; of 3S,ooo 
 men killed; of two million injured in one year in industry, a 
 large proportion by preventable disasters, and we say, as we 
 read the chapter, two million and thirty-five thousand "of these." 
 * * * "In one industry, in one little town, 5,000 'of these my 
 brethren' working twelve hours a day and sometimes more, 
 seven days every week." ' 
 
 "The social platform presented in this report, and 
 which was unanimously adopted by the Council, contains 
 sixteen planks, all supporting the reform of present 
 abuses, and in favor of general social uplift. Some of 
 the most important of these are the following, 'for which,' 
 the report says, 'the Church must stand :' 
 
 'For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all 
 stations of life. 
 
 'For the protection of the family, by the single standard of 
 purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regulation of marriage, 
 and proper housing. 
 
 'For the abolition of child labor. 
 
 'For such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as 
 
HOW? 143 
 
 shall safegTiard the physical and moral health of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 'For the protection of the individual and society from the 
 social, economic and moral waste of the liquor traffic. 
 
 'For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, 
 occupational diseases, and mortality. 
 
 'For the right of all men to the opportunity for self-main- 
 tenance, for safeguarding this right against encroachments of 
 every kind, and for the protection of workers from the hard- 
 ships of enforced unemployment. 
 
 'For a release from employment one day in seven. 
 
 'For a living wage in every industry, and for the highest 
 wage that each industry can afford. 
 
 'For a new emphasis upon the application of Christian prin- 
 ciples to the acquisition of property, and for the most equitable 
 division of the product of industry that can ultimately be 
 devised.' 
 
 "Just another paragraph from this remarkable report, 
 my friends, and then I will ask you to join me in the 
 search for the method by which the remedy for such con- 
 ditions, that has been already presented in this course by 
 others, may be applied. The report, in referring to the 
 greater knowledge that society has been gaining of the 
 actual conditions, says : 
 
 'More distinctly do men discern that mere power does not 
 confer a moral title to reward. That powerful interests have 
 not ceased to take toll of our labor, to levy tribute on the people, 
 to exercise a taxing power without authority, and that they are 
 thereby continuing to amass the wealth of the nation in danger- 
 ous aggregations, there is common consent. That a large part 
 of this is in the nature of extortion ; that it is, in too large 
 measure, the cause of poverty and of many of the evils against 
 which we cry aloud ; that if we evade it, we are still trying to 
 cure effects without touching causes, and are seeking to ensure 
 moral evolution without taking account of resident forces, are 
 matters of public conscience.' 
 
144 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "I think you will agree with me that such strong pre- 
 sentments of the truth, coming from such sources, must 
 have great weight with thoughtful people, and do a 
 mighty work in crystallizing that public sentiment which 
 will surely some day discover the remedy for most of the 
 ills mentioned, and having discovered it, will so enlighten 
 the public will that it will gain the courage to apply it. 
 My own conviction is that the remedy has already been 
 discovered, and has been described to you by several of 
 the speakers who have preceded me, and my especial duty 
 this evening is to tell of the method, — the 'How,' — as 
 my friend, Barr, has termed it, of the application. And 
 I am more than pleased to attempt this, because I have 
 the conviction that my own branch of industry, — for so 
 I beg leave to call the banking business, — has in large 
 measure 'blazed the way,' and done it in legislation, so 
 that the marks can be readily found and the trail easily 
 followed. I see some incredulous looks here and there in 
 the audience, — but still I maintain that my statement is 
 true. And now for the proof. 
 
 "The just and peaceful remedy for most, — perhaps for 
 all, — industrial ills is to be found, I believe, in some 
 method of Co-operation, which will give the worker a 
 fair interest in industry as part owner, — fully equal, so 
 far as his interest goes, — to any other owner. In other 
 words, a system that will make the workers, in part or 
 altogether, the owners of the machine, and not its serv- 
 ants or its slaves, as they too frequently are now. I use 
 the words, 'in part or altogether,' intentionally, for it 
 may well be that in some cases a group of workingmen 
 will desire themselves to form their own corporation and 
 own the machines themselves. In most cases, however, 
 there will no doubt be a union of labor and capital in the 
 ownership, and it should not be difficult to adjust their 
 
HOW? 145 
 
 interests fairly and justly to both parties, and to safe- 
 guard the interests of the minority holders. In other 
 words, my proposition has been well expressed by Mr. 
 Strong, in his address ; to try to make the word Corpora- 
 tion mean Co-operation; to put into the old body of the 
 private corporation, which has to too great an extent 
 been occupied by the spirit of greed and gain only, the 
 new spirit of brotherhood and fellowship. Can this be 
 done? I see again some incredulous smiles, and I realize 
 that many of you do not think such a transformation 
 possible. Perhaps it does require some optimism to enter- 
 tain such a belief. Let me give you my reasons for 
 believing that it will be done. 
 
 "There is a widespread conviction that the present 
 system with its many forms of injustice, which have been 
 sufficiently stated in the passages quoted, cannot long 
 endure, — if for no other reason, because its weight of 
 injustice cannot meet the support of public opinion, — the 
 strongest force in the world. What will take its place? 
 Our Socialist friends claim that they offer the only 
 feasible solution ; yet when they are asked for a program 
 of action, — requested to tell us what they propose to do, 
 ■ — we find that they are hopelessly divided into a number 
 of dififering groups, each with some high-sounding words, 
 such as 'the abolition of private property,' 'the State the 
 sole owner,' etc., but when we ask for some program of 
 action, some method of procedure, by which they propose 
 to attain these ends, — they are either silent, or vaguely 
 hint of a coming revolution. Many of us must be par- 
 doned if we form the opinion that the remedy in such 
 case would be worse than the disease ; and for coming to 
 the conclusion that, until Socialism will in some way 
 insure to society a higher type of man by developing 
 higher moral and spiritual powers than are found in the 
 
146 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 present order, it can offer no solution to the present prob- 
 lem that would be of permanent value. 
 
 "Why should one believe, therefore, that the method of 
 Co-operation will be successful? There are several 
 reasons. In the first place our proudest claim is that we 
 are a Christian people, and however far we fall short of 
 realizing in its full possibility what the claim implies, no 
 one will doubt that we go farther toward its realization 
 than if we made no such claim. Our highest code of 
 morals, to which millions try to make their lives conform, 
 and with good degrees of success, is Christian. The best 
 laws we have, both in the Nation and in the several 
 States, closely follow the Christian code of morals; for 
 much of recent legislation, such as Child Welfare, the 
 protection of young girls, equal rights for mothers as 
 regards their children, etc., we must go directly to the 
 Sermon on the Mount for their inspiration. No one who 
 is well informed will deny that there has been a decided 
 trend of legislation in the direction of the application of 
 Christian morals in the last two decades. What more 
 natural then, than that the industrial changes which to 
 many seem imminent should take the direction of align- 
 ment with Christian morals? Surely the large bodv of 
 active Christians in our country who are to-day exercising 
 a greater power in legislation than ever before, — the 
 Christian Church, which is now aroused to the evils of 
 conditions as never before in its history — and the large 
 body of persons who, although not openly allied with 
 the Church, still share its thought and accept its moral 
 code ; surely these forces will combine and turn the 
 coming changes in the direction of a just and peaceful 
 settlement. And no other method that has been consid- 
 ered has met with the same degree of approval from 
 Christian thought that Co-operation has met. In fact we 
 
HOW? 147 
 
 may claim for it that, in its higher purposes of brother- 
 hood and fellowship, and the production of a higher type 
 of manhood and womanhood in industry. Co-operation 
 is the Christian method. In that conviction you find one 
 reason for the faith that many of us have in its final 
 complete triumph.* 
 
 "Another reason is that the change we propose is in 
 the direction of a peaceful evolution toward a higher 
 form of social and industrial justice. Being so, it is 
 natural, reasonable, and in accord with the experience of 
 the race. We might almost claim that it was scientific, 
 if it were not for placing too heavy a burden upon a word 
 already overworked. But, being in the direction of evolu- 
 tion to the next higher form, we have faith in its accom- 
 plishment for that reason alone, — ^because we believe that 
 the method of evolution is the method of orderly growth, 
 of which God's world is full. 
 
 "And again, some of us have faith in it because of 
 what it promises for humanity. In a weak and far-off 
 way, we try to share the grand optimism of our Master 
 in his faith in humanity, — of the true worth and dignity 
 of human life, because of its possibilities ; and in the 
 moments of truest faith we know that nothing is too good 
 
 *"A question here arises ; Whether in some ulterior, perhaps not far 
 distant stage of this 'Chivalry of Labor,' your Master Worker may 
 not find it possible and needful, to grant his workers permanent inter- 
 est in his enterprise and theirs ? So that it becomes, in practical result, 
 what in essential act and justice it ever is, a joint enterprise : all men, 
 from the chief Master down to the lowest Overseer and Operative, 
 economically as well as loyally concerned for it? 
 
 "To reconcile Despotism with Freedom, — well, is that such a mystery? 
 Do you not already know the way? It is to make your Despotism 
 just. Rigorous as Destiny, but just, too, as Destiny and its Laws. 
 The Laws of God ; all men obey these, and have no freedom at all but 
 in obeying them. The way is already known, — part of the way ; and 
 courage and some qualities are needed for walking on it." Carlyle ; 
 "Past and Present": pp. 241-2. 
 
148 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 for the children of the All-Father; and having attained 
 many of the best things in life; — freedom of thought and 
 act, education for our children, the right to worship God 
 according to our own conscience; we dare to have faith 
 that this other good of equal and exact justice in indus- 
 trial life can also be attained, and we go forward confi- 
 dently to accomplish it. We remember the words of One 
 who said that if the men of his day had had faith, they 
 could have commanded a mountain to be cast into the 
 sea, and it would have been done. And since then many 
 of us have seen the Brooklyn bridge and other great 
 bridges, and have realized that here were mountains of 
 iron ore, not indeed cast into the sea, but carried for 
 hundreds of miles and stretched through the air to make 
 a safe and easy pathway for the hurrying feet of millions. 
 Not one single act of faith did it, but many repeated acts 
 of faith. Only men of faith and vision can do such 
 things. In the greater things that will yet be wrought by 
 Co-operation in the industrial world some of us have 
 faith because humanity is worthy of those better things, 
 and because past achievements make all good things 
 possible, if men will but go forward to achieve them. 
 
 "And finally, many of us have faith in Co-operation 
 because of what it has already done. Of some of these 
 you have already heard from those who have preceded 
 me. Of some of its other achievements I will speak later. 
 Now that I have given you some of the reasons 'for the 
 faith that is in us,' let me tell you how it is that the 
 banking business has 'blazed the way' for the application 
 of Co-operation as a remedy. 
 
 "You will, of course, realize that the problem before us 
 is a problem in legislation, and may be stated thus : How 
 can we so change the form of the private corporation that 
 it will mean co-operation ? It can be done by legislation 
 
HOW? 
 
 149 
 
 in the various States, but preferably, as I believe, by 
 National legislation. I use the word "preferably,' be- 
 cause such a large number of corporations do an inter- 
 state business or hope soon to do so, and the advantage 
 of having them operate under a national law is obvious. 
 But for corporations that intend to transact business only 
 in the State in which they are located, a State charter 
 would of course be sufficient, and for these State legisla- 
 tion should be secured; and one State has already taken 
 this needed action. 
 
 "Now, as to the National legislation desired for Co- 
 operative corporations : My proposition is that, in the 
 interest of safety to those investing their money, espe- 
 cially those workingmen and working women who may 
 wish to share in the ownership of the machine, the 
 National Government shall do for this form of Co-opera- 
 tion just what it did a half century ago for the business 
 of banking, — that is to say, nationalize it and make it 
 safe, so that the small investor in this form of industry 
 may know that his rights will be safeguarded in much 
 the same way that the investor in the stock of a National 
 Bank knows the same thing. This would require chiefly 
 two things : first, that the payments on account of capital 
 stock would have to be bona fide and paid in, — at least 
 to a large extent, — before business began, — and so certi- 
 fied to the proper authority; and second, that the National 
 Government would exercise supervision over the corpora- 
 tion, just as it does over the National Banks. As the 
 individual corporations would naturally pay for this 
 supervision, just as the banks do now, there would be no 
 cost involved to the government by this supervision, and 
 as the Department of Commerce is now thoroughly or- 
 ganized, this duty could be added to those under its care. 
 
 "There you have in a nutshell the method of applica- 
 
I50 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 tion which I have wished to present to you ; and you see 
 at once how the great Act which made the business of 
 National banking one of the safest that the world knows, 
 has blazed the way for similar acts that can be applied in 
 various forms to make other lines of business safe. I 
 urge it especially for the Co-operative form of corpora- 
 tion because many of those, perhaps the great majority, 
 who would be willing to join in such enterprises would be 
 persons of moderate means, who, because of what they 
 know of the success of co-operation in other countries, 
 would be glad to join in such undertakings here, if they 
 were only sure that proper safeguards would be thrown 
 about the business. And if the National Government can 
 exercise this power of safeguarding in connection with 
 one branch of industry, why not about another? In fact, 
 would not this be an exercise of power that would be 
 justified by every consideration of public policy, when it 
 is remembered how severe have been the losses of the 
 public through putting their money in corporations whose 
 stock issues were not safeguarded in any proper way? 
 
 "There is another direction, also, in which the National 
 Bank Act has blazed the way for future legislation, and 
 this is worthy of consideration here because it teaches us 
 how to prevent objectionable stock issues. I refer to the 
 method that was used when it became desirable to make 
 the bank note issues of the banks absolutely safe. This 
 was really one of the greatest good results accomplished 
 by the National Bank Act, for from the time it went into 
 effect bank notes issued anywhere in this country have 
 been safe. It is true that at the time this was done there 
 was another motive, — that of providing a ready market 
 for the Government bonds ; but as this was also a benefi- 
 cent work, as all who believe in our form of government 
 must admit, and helped to save government of the people 
 
HOW? 151 
 
 for the people, we need not stop to criticise it here. The 
 fact remains, that while under the old State bank laws, 
 there had been immense losses through banks issuing 
 notes, and failing without providing for them, — after the 
 passage of the National Bank Act, such losses absolutely 
 ceased. The method of doing this is worthy our close 
 attention. The national legislature did not prohibit the 
 issue of notes by State banks; to have done that would 
 no doubt have been regarded as an invasion of the rights 
 of the States. But the national government clearly had 
 the right to levy taxes ; and so a tax, that was prohibitory 
 in nature, was levied on all issues of circulating notes by 
 State banks; and since that annual ten per cent, tax was 
 provided by the National Bank Act, State banks have 
 found it inconvenient to issue bank notes, although their 
 right to do so has not been questioned. 
 
 "You will ask, perhaps, in what way does that part of 
 the Act blaze the way for legislation affecting Co-opera- 
 tion? In this way: it is generally acknowledged that the 
 issue of stocks of various kinds by corporations organized 
 in certain States, has in many cases worked great injury 
 to the public. It may be that the States have the right 
 to authorize the issue of the various kinds of stock, 
 although their right to so issue them when an interstate 
 business is to be done seems open to question. But, 
 however that may be, there could hardly be any question 
 as to the right of the National Government to tax a cor- 
 poration doing business in more than one State ; and the 
 principle applied in the case of bank note issues by State 
 banks could well be applied to prevent the issue of more 
 than one kind of stock, except in well-defined cases. This 
 would go far to safeguard the public; and if the stock 
 of the Co-operative corporations were only of one kind, 
 with a large proportion to be actually paid in before 
 
152 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 boisiness was begun, as in the case of the National Banks, 
 a great measure of protection, which has been badly 
 needed for years, would be thrown about the moderate 
 investor. And there are other ways in which this power 
 of taxation might prove to be of value in the future. 
 
 "There is another way in which the business of bank- 
 ing has, in many instances, set the pace or blazed the way 
 for other lines of business. I am glad to be able to say 
 that quite a number of banks have for years past, by the 
 action of their Boards of Directors, paid to their em- 
 ployees on their salaries the same rate per cent, as they 
 declared as a dividend on the capital stock. I wish that 
 I could say that all banks did this, for it seems to me 
 that the principle involved is so just that all shareholders 
 would approve of it. In this way many have acknowl- 
 edged a principle which is sure in time to extend to all 
 branches of business, — if for no other reason, then be- 
 cause its inherent justice is so obvious. It is to the 
 great credit of the banking business that it has to so 
 great an extent acknowledged and applied this just 
 principle. 
 
 "From what I have said as to the desired legislation, 
 you have no doubt seen that I have implied that if the 
 investment of money in Co-operative enterprises is once 
 made safe, in much the same way that it is made safe in 
 the business of national banking, and if this is once fully 
 explained to the people, the capital required for such 
 enterprises would in all likelihood be forthcoming. This 
 is my conviction, and it is based largely upon the experi- 
 ence of the national banks. For many years after the 
 passage of the National Bank Act in 1863, the minimum 
 amount of capital required for the capital of any such 
 bank was $50,000. In recent years this minimum has 
 been reduced to $25,000, and this has resulted in the 
 
HOW? 153 
 
 organization of many banks with this smaller capital. A 
 very large number of these small National Banks have 
 been very successful, and have helped in the growth of 
 the country in many ways, and have also distributed a 
 large amount of profits to their stockholders. 
 
 "It is undoubtedly true that a great many industrial 
 enterprises could be started with a capital like the present 
 minimum capital for a National Bank ; and a much larger 
 number, if the capital required was what the minimum 
 was formerly. If the people can be assured that the 
 capital required is bona fide, — that it has been all paid 
 in, either in cash or in goods and equipment taken at a 
 fair value,- — if this fact is verified by the officials of the 
 government, just as it is in the case of the organization 
 of a National Bank ; and if, following this, there shall be 
 properly conducted examinations and published reports, 
 it should not be difficult for Co-operative enterprises to 
 secure all the needed capital. And when the benefits 
 likely to result from the proper introduction of Co-opera- 
 tive methods in general business and industrial under- 
 takings is considered, there should be no difficulty in 
 securing legislation that would mean much for both the 
 moral and material progress of the whole people. 
 
 "The experience that has been met in the case of the 
 national banks would no doubt be met with in these 
 suggested Co-operative corporations, — in the develop- 
 ment of small into larger institutions. When a national 
 bank of small capital has been successful, and the larger 
 capital is desired, it is not difficult to secure it, — and in 
 this way many at first small banks have grown to be 
 much larger. In the same way, a Co-operative enter- 
 prise, having but small capital at first, and proving 
 successful, could very easily grow to much larger pro- 
 portions. This has, in fact, been the history of many of 
 
154 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the large corporations now in existence, especially in our 
 large towns and cities, where the rapid growth in popu- 
 lation in the past two or three decades has produced con- 
 ditions which not only make this development of indus- 
 tries easy and rapid, but which also call for all the 
 amelioration that Co-operation, or any other improved 
 system, can offer. 
 
 "It frequently happens that the advocates of Co-opera- 
 tion find support for their principles where they do not 
 expect it, and as additional proof of the aid that has been 
 extended by the banking business, will you allow me to 
 refer to the Report of the National Monetary Commis- 
 sion. As many of you are aware, this Commission was 
 appointed in 1908 and for several years made a most 
 exhaustive and careful study of banking conditions in 
 all the leading nations. Its Report, presented to Con- 
 gress in January, 1912, embodied the results of this study, 
 and included the text of a bill, which the Commission 
 recommended be enacted as a law, providing for marked 
 changes in the legislation afifecting the finances of the 
 Government and the people. Chief among these was the 
 organization of the National Reserve Association, dif- 
 fering radically from the central banks in European 
 centers, and from anything heretofore attempted in this 
 country. 
 
 "It is not my purpose now to discuss this Report, but 
 I do wish to ask your attention to the fact that in certain 
 particulars it upholds the principle of Co-operation, and 
 in the text of the proposed law the same principle seems 
 to be applied, especially in relation to the division of the 
 profits expected from the business of this great Associa- 
 tion of Banks, — a large proportion of which are assigned 
 by the bill to the Government, — which of course means 
 the people. In the Report the Commission says of this 
 
HOW? 155 
 
 National Reserve Association, that 'It provides for an 
 equality of privileges and advantages to all banks, great 
 and small, wherever located. Its dominating principle is 
 co-operation and not centralization/ And again it says : 
 'It is not a bank, but a co-operative union of all the banks 
 of the country.' And again the Report says : 'We pro- 
 pose that the authority now exercised by seven or eight 
 thousand national banks shall be vested in this co-opera- 
 tive association of all the banks.' So that it seems fair 
 to say that, not only by the national bank legislation of 
 the past, has the way of co-operative legislation been 
 blazed and made clear, but that the most important finan- 
 cial legislation that has ever been considered in this 
 country also upholds the principles of Co-operation and 
 sheds light on its future pathway. 
 
 "And now, my friends, I desire to have the pleasure of 
 directing your attention to one of the most remarkable 
 instances of successful Co-operation that the world knows 
 of. In fact, it seems that up to this time the world has 
 known only too little about it, — as it is one of those cases 
 of quiet development, without the blare of trumpets or 
 wide advertising, which, because of the absence of noise, 
 accomplish all the better results in growth, and when 
 discovered, surprise us by what they have silently accom- 
 plished. It is a pleasure to present this because it seems 
 to be the realization in actual experience of almost ideal 
 conditions, — of conditions that had been thought out by 
 the mind of a great humanitarian, and then successfully 
 accomplished by the application of just principles. 
 
 "If I should say to you that there was in actual exist- 
 ence a duly chartered industrial corporation, which had 
 grown in thirty-five years from a small plant employing 
 only thirty-six workers to a large plant employing more 
 than fifty-five hundred persons ; that had grown so large 
 
156 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 that it now had branches for manufacturing its goods in 
 four cities, and had stores in eight cities; that it had 
 probably attained a higher degree of appHed industrial 
 justice than had even been thought of in any other 
 attempt at co-operation ; would not such statements come 
 as a pleasant surprise? And yet it is to an achievement 
 cf that character that I wish to direct your attention, in 
 the hope that wider and wider knowledge of such suc- 
 cessful accomplishment may lead others to do likewise. 
 The immense value of such instances of the full accom- 
 plishment of high ideals is their value as examples. 
 'What man has done, man can do'; and a great deed 
 accomplished is a mighty incentive toward other like 
 deeds. 
 
 "It is to one of the smaller German cities that we must 
 go to find this ideal application of the principles of pure 
 co-operation. In the University City of Jena there lived 
 some years ago a University Professor who had ideas on 
 the subject of industrial justice, and to whom came the 
 opportunity to apply the principles in which he believed. 
 The business grew under the impelling force of his ideals, 
 and when it had grown to large proportions he obtained 
 from the State the form of charter which he desired, and 
 in which the greatest care was taken to preserve the ideas 
 for the future and to obtain the fullest measure of justice 
 and consideration for the workers. Having thus placed 
 the business on the most secure legal foundation, and 
 having secured in legislation the support of his ideals, he 
 gave the business, now developed to great proportions, 
 to the workers, — providing, of course, for the continuing 
 interest in the industry of the workers, and not permit- 
 ting the good work he had done to be dissipated by the 
 greed and selfishness of subsequent workers, who might 
 not share his broad views. 
 
HOW? 157 
 
 "This industry is that conducted by the Carl Zeiss 
 Foundation in Jena, with branch factories in London, 
 Vienna, Riga and Gyor, and having branch stores in 
 Berlin, London, Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Hamburg, 
 Frankfurt and Mailand. Its line of business is the manu- 
 facture and distribution of optical instruments of all 
 kinds, photographic lenses, stereoscopes, binoculars and 
 telescopes, optical measuring instruments for surveying, 
 and physical and chemical research, astronomical obser- 
 vations, and for use in the army and navy. Some of the 
 largest astronomical instruments now used in this coun- 
 try have come from this great manufactory, whose indus- 
 trial conditions are the nearest ideally just of any 
 productive industry on earth. It should be, and no doubt 
 is, a great satisfaction to those using the products of this 
 manufactory to know that this is true. 
 
 "These great works have been evolved from the humble 
 workshop which Carl Zeiss, then scientific instrument 
 maker to the University, established in 1846. During 
 the first thirty years of its existence the undertaking 
 grew steadily without, however, assuming the dimensions 
 of a factory. The succeeding thirty years, however, 
 witnessed developments by which its general character 
 became wholly changed under the influence of widely 
 extended commercial relations and by the magnitude of 
 its operations. In 1877 the firm employed only thirty- 
 six persons, which number had, in i8gi, increased to 
 500. In March, 1900, the number exceeded 1,000, and 
 in June, 1908, was over 2,000. At the end of 1910 the 
 number of employees was 2,884; by the end of 191 1 the 
 number had increased to 3,476; and on October i, 19 12, 
 it was over 4,100. A recent letter from the President of 
 the Carl Zeiss Stiftung, Dr. Schomerus, says : 
 
158 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 'Owing to the ever increasing amount of orders, we are 
 bound to enlarge our works and the above figures will therefore 
 still further increase.' 
 
 "The Jena Glass Works of Dr. Schott and Genossen, 
 which also forms part of the Carl Zeiss Stiftung, has 
 besides about 1,300 employes, thus making in all, at the 
 end of 1912, about 5,500 employes. That such a num- 
 ber of vi^orkers should be employed in an industry which 
 in 1877 had only thirty-six workmen, proves that some 
 very unusual causes have been operating. Let us see 
 what some of these causes are. 
 
 "The event which more than any other determined the 
 future growth and greatness of the Zeiss Works was the 
 accession of Professor Ernst Abbe in 1866. Upon the 
 death of Dr. Carl Zeiss in 1888, and the subsequent retire- 
 ment of his son in 1899, Professor Abbe acquired the 
 sole control of the concern, and in 1891 created the Carl 
 Zeiss Stiftung, to which he transferred the ownership 
 of the Optical Works and a controlling interest in the 
 affiliated Glass Works of Schott and Genossen. Pro- 
 fessor Abbe completed the donation on July 26, 1896, 
 and on August 16, 1896, the Statutes of the Stiftung, 
 formulated by him, were ratified and invested with 
 statutory force by the Grand-ducal Government of Saxe- 
 Weimar. In 1891 he transferred to the Stiftung his 
 entire personal estate within the limits allowed by the 
 laws of the country, and accepted for himself a position 
 on the Board of Managers. 
 
 "The general aim and purpose of the foundation were 
 thus outlined by the donor : 
 
 'i : — To carry on and develop, under a title deed of impersonal 
 ownership, those branches of precise technical industry which 
 
HOW? 159 
 
 under the active co-operation of the founder have been estab- 
 lished in Jena by the two sister works. 
 
 2 • — To make permanent provisions for the economic security 
 of the said undertakings, and to maintain and further develop 
 their existing industrial labor organization as a means of pro- 
 viding a livelihood to a large number of people and also as a 
 useful instrument for furthering scientific and practical 
 interests. 
 
 '3: — To fulfil higher social duties than personal proprietors 
 would permanently guarantee towards the totality of co-workers 
 in its employ, in order to better their personal and economic 
 rights.' 
 
 "Certain objects that were aimed at by the founder, 
 outside the immediate industrial features mentioned 
 above, are the folloviring : 
 
 'I : — To promote the general interests of the branches of 
 precise optical and technical industry. 
 
 '2 : — To take part in organizations and measures designed to 
 promote the welfare of the working population of Jena and its 
 surrounding districts. 
 
 '3 : — To encourage the study of mathematics and the natural 
 sciences both as regards research and teaching.' 
 
 "The connection with the University is very close, 
 Professor Abbe having created on behalf of the Founda- 
 tion, for the benefit of the University, a special endow- 
 ment, the income of which is to be applied toward 
 carrying on work calculated to promote scientific research 
 and increase the teaching resources of the University, it 
 being especially stipulated that 'the funds are available 
 for these purposes so long as the University lecturers and 
 professors are permitted to teach without academical 
 restrictions and to enjoy full political and personal free- 
 dom in common with other citizens.' 
 
 "The administration is vested in a Board of Managers 
 
i6o LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 representing the works, the university and the Govern- 
 ment. The interests of the workers are represented by a 
 Committee of 120, elected by the votes of all employes 
 over eighteen years of age. From this large group an 
 executive committee of seven is chosen, which meets 
 weekly. Through this committee the workmen can deal 
 directly with the management. 
 
 "Profits in excess of the current expenses are devoted 
 to three general purposes : first, improvement and en- 
 largement of the business itself; second, increase in the 
 wages of the workers ; third, betterment of their social 
 conditions. All workers are guaranteed a definite weekly 
 wage, which is the minimum they may receive. In addi- 
 tion to this at the end of the year a part of the surplus is 
 also distributed. For a long period past this has aver- 
 aged 8 per cent, per annum. In the decade from 1899 to 
 1909 the annual bonus for five years was 10 per cent, per 
 annum. There has been an increase of about 14 per cent, 
 in the average wage since 1892, and the wage, not includ- 
 ing the annual bonus, is at present somewhat higher than 
 the average paid elsewhere in Germany for work requir- 
 ing equal skill. 
 
 "Pensions of various kinds are provided for. Five to 
 fifteen years' service entitles the workman to a pension 
 for disablement, equal to 50 per cent, of the wages 
 received during the last year of work. Old age pensions, 
 amounting to 75 per cent, of the last wage, may be 
 claimed after thirty years of service by employes over 
 sixty-five years of age. Death benefits are arranged for, 
 and a sick fund, from which workers are allowed to 
 receive 75 per cent, of their usual wage for a period not 
 exceeding one year, has been established. 
 
 "Eight hours is the working day. It is especially 
 worthy of note that on the eight-hour basis, which was 
 
HOW? i6i 
 
 introduced in 1900 by vote of the workers themselves, the 
 average product is 4 per cent, greater than it was when 
 nine hours made the day's work. The consumption of 
 alcoholic beverages during working hours is prohibited 
 by the terms of the agreement of service. This regula- 
 tion was introduced at the same time as the eight hours 
 working day, and the pamphlet issued by the Foundation, 
 setting forth the system of employment states that, 'the 
 abolition of the beer drinking habit in working hours, 
 which directly and indirectly occasioned much loss of 
 time, has largely contributed to the success of the eight 
 hours working day.'* 
 
 "A six days annual vacation, with full pay, is allowed 
 all employes who have been at least one year in the 
 employ of the works. No fines are imposed for any 
 reason whatever. For specified offences, reprimand or 
 dismissal may be inflicted after due trial. A Savings 
 Bank, conducted under the direction of the Works, allows 
 5 per cent, interest on accounts up to the extent of 3,000 
 marks. In every way the welfare and advancement of 
 the working people are looked after, and it is hard to 
 conceive of any need that has not been provided for by 
 the great-hearted founder of this unique practical experi- 
 ment in the direction of applied industrial justice. But 
 there are two arrangements, which especially distinguish 
 this experiment, — one a positive, the other a negative, 
 one, — to which I wish to call your particular attention, 
 because they both show the great care and forethought 
 
 *Prof. Abbe, when urging the men to adopt the resolution prohibit- 
 ing the use of alcoholic beverages during working hours, "reminded the 
 men that it was a scientifically established fact that the temporary 
 stimulus that alcohol imparted was apparent only, and was inevitably 
 followed by a certain depression ; hence, while it seemed momentarily 
 to revive, its ultimate effect was to lame the available store of energy." 
 
1 62 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 that were expended upon this effort by the mind of the 
 founder, who was a close student of social and political 
 conditions. 
 
 "First, the positive arrangement providing for 'Com- 
 pensation for Dismissal,' — a provision that seems to be 
 absolutely unique, and yet so just, when the reasons for 
 it, that were in the mind of the founder, are considered, 
 that one wonders why this has not been generally 
 acknowledged as a just principle in the conduct of indus- 
 try. This provision forms one of the articles of the Deed 
 of Incorporation, so that it is fixed in the primary law of 
 the Foundation. It provides that in all cases of dismissal, 
 for which the person himself shall not have given cause, 
 a compensation shall be allowed, depending upon the 
 term of service; for those who shall have been in the 
 service of the works over six months and leSs than three 
 years the compensation shall be full pay for one-sixth of 
 the actual term of service; and for those whose service 
 exceeds three years, full pay for a term of six months 
 shall be allowed as compensation. 
 
 "How Ernst Abbe came to establish this principle of 
 compensation for dismissal on the basis of a legally 
 secured claim, he explains in his 'Annotations' to the 
 Deed of Incorporation in the following words : 
 
 'Consider the case of a man who remains for a lengthy period 
 in the service of a manufacturing concern, apparently with the 
 intention of connecting himself thereto permanently, largely to 
 the advantage of the employer, while the latter by maintaining 
 the arrangement, fosters a tacit understanding that the employ- 
 ment is of a permanent nature. Yet suppose that at some later 
 period the employer, for reasons of his own and without being 
 coerced by dire necessity, decides to dismiss the employee in 
 question, say, because his further employment has ceased to be 
 advantageous or because of personal reasons which previously 
 had not interfered with the continuation of his employ. Then 
 
HOW? 163 
 
 surely, if we apply, in an impartial spirit, the principles of 
 equity, we shall find ourselves face to face with a monstrous 
 abuse of power to the detriment of the weaker party. To any 
 but a mind imbued with plutocratic principles it must appear as 
 an obvious duty, in all cases of this kind, to provide an appro- 
 priate compensation for the collapse of the expectation which 
 the employee was led to entertain, and for the loss of opportuni- 
 ties which he might have embraced in the meantime, but which 
 in the supposed security of his position he has allowed to 
 pass by.' 
 
 "It is doubtful whether any employer of labor has ever 
 gone beyond this in the attempt to secure for his work- 
 ingmen the same degree of justice that he would desire 
 if their conditions were reversed. It is a high example 
 'of 'doing unto others as you would have them do unto 
 you,' and one that is worthy of the sincerest form of 
 praise, — that of imitation. Let us hope that the time is 
 speedily coming when this form of compensation for dis- 
 missal may be voluntarily adopted by employers 
 generally.'* 
 
 "The other arrangement, which I have called a nega- 
 tive one, is found in the fact that the Works do not 
 provide dwellings for the workmen. The reason for this 
 illustrates anew this great German's idea of the proper 
 way to extend help, and exhibits his opposition to any- 
 thing that savored of paternalism. The principle that led 
 to this decision is stated as follows : 
 
 *Prof. Abbe, in further consideration of this subject of dismissal, 
 from the sociological point of view, wrote as follows : "Moreover, it is 
 from a purely social aspect, extremely desirable that persons who lose 
 their employment under these circumstances should be furnished, in the 
 shape of pecuniary compensation, with the means of maintaining them- 
 selves while seeking fresh work and of meeting the incidental expenses 
 occasioned by this search. Neglect of this elementary obligation must 
 needs add to the army of the unemployed and to those who are charge- 
 able upon the public rates." 
 
i64 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 'However good may be the houses built by factory owners 
 for their workmen, experience has shown that in times of 
 dispute and trouble they become almost invariably utensils of 
 v/ar, calculated to place the men in a very doubtful position of 
 political dependence, and thereby tending to prejudice the devel- 
 opment of that very integrity of citizenship which Abbe desired 
 to secure.' 
 
 "The Works do, however, make advances to the work- 
 ers for building purposes at low rates of interest, thus 
 helping them to become their own landlords, and also 
 maintains close relations with the Jena Co-operative 
 Building Society, to which it has made large advances at 
 3 per cent, interest, — thus further aiding its employes to 
 build and own their own homes. 
 
 "I have made this extended description of this German 
 attempt to realize pure co-operation, because it comes 
 nearer reaching the ideal condition than any other I have 
 heard of, and also because it has been so successful, — not 
 only in the direction of extended development and finan- 
 cial success, but because of attaining the ideal of indus- 
 trial peace through justice, which is the desired goal of 
 all who think deeply on this subject. Of course, no one 
 would expect strikes or other disturbances in an industry 
 owned and chiefly controlled by the workmen themselves, 
 and we are not surprised therefore that such things are 
 unknown in these great works. May we not hope that 
 an experiment that has met with such signal success in 
 Germany may be imitated in our own and other countries ? 
 Surely among the many employers of labor here there 
 should be some who would like to attempt the realization 
 of peace through justice in industrial conditions, — either 
 in the manner which I have tried to outline to you as 
 having been so successful in Germany, or by some other 
 method of applying the principle of co-operation. 
 
HOW? 165 
 
 "In closing my remarks, will you allow me to recapitu- 
 late what I have tried to present to you? In the first 
 place, I have tried to show how my line of industry has 
 shown the way in which legislation may travel, in order 
 to secure a greater interest in industry for the workers 
 themselves, and along perfectly safe lines, through safe- 
 guarded Co-operation; second, I have tried to show how 
 it has also blazed the way by voluntarily acknowledging 
 the right of labor to the same dividends out of profits 
 that capital receives; and in the third place, I have tried 
 to present to you, as an ideal form of Co-operation, a 
 practical experiment in this direction in another country, 
 thus giving an example of actual achievement which may 
 serve as a model for others to work toward. If I have 
 not made myself clear, or if any one has questions to ask, 
 I will be glad to answer them, if I can." 
 
 Hardly had Chairman Barr made the usual announce- 
 ment, when he was addressed by Singleton, who presented 
 the following query : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, there is one question I would like to 
 ask Mr. Bruce. He has told us about that interesting 
 experiment in Germany, and as I recall it, he said that 
 the whole plant, equipment, etc., had been given or 
 donated by the Professor whom he named. Now, what 
 I would like to know is this : where there is no big- 
 hearted man like that, how are the workmen to get con- 
 trol of such a property, or in fact any property, at all? 
 It takes a good deal of capital to get together a big 
 industrial plant, and I can't see how it's going to be done. 
 If he can tell us, I wish he would." 
 
 That this question was also in some other minds 
 present could be seen by the nods of approval which 
 Singleton's question called forth. Bruce again came 
 forward and said : 
 
i66 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "Mr. Chairman: I am very glad that my friend has 
 asked that question, for it enables me to emphasize what 
 I meant to say with regard to the necessity for legisla- 
 tion that shall make the investment of capital by work- 
 ingmen and working-women as safe as possible. I feel 
 confident that if that be done, — perhaps in the way I 
 have hinted at, — in the same way that it was done for 
 the National Banks, — I feel confident that in a few years, 
 after some successful experiments worked out before the 
 people, and proving that such investments were safe and 
 profitable, all the capital needed would be readily found; 
 in fact I am sure it would be offered by those eager to go 
 into enterprises of an industrial character when once they 
 knew that these were to be safeguarded by the National 
 Government. And, as I have said, for all interstate busi- 
 ness such incorporation and safeguarding seems to be the 
 pressing duty of the National Government." 
 
 "Well, you may be right," exclaimed Singleton, as 
 Bruce paused, "but I don't agree with you. I don't 
 believe you could do it. It's a beautiful optimistic dream, 
 but I don't believe it is anything more." 
 
 "Of course," replied Bruce, "there is room for more 
 than one opinion about it. As I have suggested, a similar 
 experiment might be tried here in the same way that it 
 was in Germany. I am sure we have just as great- 
 hearted men in this country as anywhere on earth ; but I 
 also believe that, when we make the laws right for such 
 action, we will find our people ready to take advantage 
 of them. But I see that Mr. Sharpe has a question, or 
 some statement, ready for us, so we will listen to him." 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," said the School Principal, "I want 
 to reinforce what Mr. Bruce has told us by an experiment 
 in dividend sharing, which recently came to my notice. A 
 friend informed me that in the big city nearby there was 
 
HOW? 167 
 
 a commercial house which for years past has made it the 
 practice to give to all its employes a share in the profits. 
 Naturally I was interested, and after securing a letter of 
 introduction called upon the President of the Company, 
 for I found it was an incorporated Company. I stated 
 the reason for my call, and received a very cordial recep- 
 tion, and in the half-hour interview that was granted me, 
 was given a full insight into the methods they had 
 adopted. There were two things particularly that im- 
 pressed me in what was said. The first confirms the 
 desire on the part of the workers, not simply to receive 
 presents in the shape of a share in the profits, but rather 
 to receive dividends just as other shareholders do, so that 
 they may have the sense of belonging in a regular busi- 
 ness way to the enterprise. The President of the Com- 
 pany informed me that some years ago they had tried 
 profit sharing, but found that it did not work. 'Our 
 people accepted it,' said he, 'just as they would a present, 
 but it did not seem to attach them in any way to the 
 business; so we gave it up and tried this new method, 
 which we have found to work all right.' This consisted 
 in allotting to their working people, both men and women, 
 shares of stock in proportion to their terms of service ; 
 for instance, an employe of five years standing would 
 receive one share ; of ten years, two shares, etc. As the 
 shares were very valuable, paying each a dividend of 
 $60 or $70 per annum, each additional share meant a 
 considerable addition to one's salary. He instanced one 
 man, — a colored porter, who had been with them for over 
 fifteen years, — who receives in this way each year an 
 addition to his salary of over $200. The other thing 
 that impressed me was his statement made in the course 
 of our talk, and he said it as though he fully meant it : 
 'You can't do too much for your people.' I should add 
 
i68 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 that this Company employs over 200 hands, and its yearly 
 distribution of dividends in this way exceeds $10,000. In 
 addition to this it has had the custom for many years of 
 making all its force at an annual Christmas entertainment 
 a Christmas gift, — also based somewhat upon the term of 
 service. It has also recently instituted sick benefits, and 
 old age and disability pensions. 
 
 "It is quite possible that there are other instances of 
 profit sharing or dividend sharing here and there through- 
 out our country, and every one of these deserves to be 
 encouraged, for they all have a tendency to lead toward 
 pure Co-operation. An excellent example of the latter, 
 which is no doubt known to many of you, is the Harvard 
 Co-operative Society of Cambridge, Massachusetts, which 
 has grown from very small beginnings about thirty years 
 ago until now it transacts a total annual business of about 
 $400,000, employs about seventy-five persons, and makes 
 an annual dividend to its patrons of about nine per cent, 
 of the amount of their purchases. For the past three 
 years the total amount of these dividends on purchases 
 was about $55,000. This Society presents, through its 
 successful operation for over thirty years, one of the best 
 answers to those who claim that the co-operative principle 
 cannot be applied in this country. It has, it is true, the 
 advantage of close relations with a great University, but 
 this merely indicates another field for co-operative effort, 
 without in the least detracting from the value of co- 
 operation in other fields." 
 
 "I am indebted to Mr. Sharpe for giving us those 
 instances, which are exactly in line with what I have 
 said," said Bruce. "And there is one statement further 
 that I would like to make in the same connection. The 
 feeling as to profit sharing or dividend sharing that he 
 has mentioned is very widely extended, I am sure, from 
 
HOW? 169 
 
 expressions I have heard. Those who receive such 
 acknowledgments of interest would naturally prefer them 
 to take the shape of dividend sharing, for that does give 
 the sense of belonging to the enterprise, whether it is a 
 bank, a store, or a manufactory. As a further reply to 
 what Mr. Singleton has said, may I refer to the experi- 
 ence of a friend of mine, who was interested in organizing 
 a National Bank of a city not far away. One of the sur- 
 prises that came to him was the offer on the part of a 
 workingman to take quite a block of the stock, the sub- 
 scriber saying that as it was a National Bank, he felt 
 safe in making the investment, and he thought it would 
 pay him better than having it on deposit in a Savings 
 Bank, where it had been. It is quite possible that, if the 
 co-operative undertakings were made safe in the same 
 way, we would be surprised at the amount of capital that 
 would be forthcoming to go into them. But it should 
 not, by any means, be forthcoming until by legislation 
 such investments have been made as safe as the law can 
 make them. Perhaps, on some future occasion, if it 
 should seem desirable, I may be able to present further 
 facts along this line." 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," said Crandall at this point, "there is 
 a question I would like to ask Mr. Bruce. He said some- 
 thing about taxation being used in some ways to help co- 
 operation. I would like to ask him just how this could 
 be done." 
 
 "You will remember," said Bruce in reply, "that I 
 said that a tax, somewhat like the ten per cent, tax on 
 the issues of bank notes by State banks, might be levied 
 to prevent the issues of stock that represented no value. 
 The other taxation that I had in mind was rather nega- 
 tive, as it consisted in relieving co-operative societies 
 from taxation imposed on other corporations. Such relief 
 
I70 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 would be a decided help, and would only carry still farther 
 a principle well recognized in legislation. You know that 
 Building and Loan Associations, being regarded as co- 
 operative in character, are relieved from the usual cor- 
 poration tax in many, perhaps in all, the States ; while the 
 national corporation tax law, passed a few years ago, also 
 relieved these Associations from paying the usual cor- 
 poration tax. My thought was that all purely co-opera- 
 tive societies should be relieved from paying all such 
 taxes ; and that in those cases in which there was a meas- 
 ure of co-operation, they should be relieved in proportion 
 as they were co-operative. This is a detail of legislation 
 that could be readily worked out." 
 
 As Bruce retired. Hammer Harry rose and addressed 
 the Chair. "Mr. Chairman," said he, "I want to say that 
 I did not altogether admire the remark made a few 
 minutes ago by my friend, Singleton, when he said that 
 'it might be a pretty optimistic dream,' but would never 
 be attained. Now, some one has said that 'never is a 
 rather long day,' and one of our American writers has 
 also said; 'Don't prophesy, onless ye know.' It seems 
 to me we have been hearing at this meeting, and at others 
 that have preceded it, about facts, and not about dreams ; 
 about actual accomplishments, and not about things 
 simply hoped for. Now, I want to make a proposition 
 to my friend. Singleton, and that is that this Club, and 
 perhaps some outside its membership, will give him a little 
 trip to Europe to investigate and report to us what he 
 finds, if he will take the time off for it. I move you, Mr. 
 President, that this Club appropriates $ioo toward the 
 expenses of such a trip, and I will guarantee to collect 
 the balance from others. He can spend a whole month 
 over there and see what Mr. Bruce and others have told 
 us about, and then come home and report to us. We 
 
HOW? 171 
 
 want to know the facts ; and I do not believe that he will 
 find anything different from what our lecturers have told 
 us. But now's his chance to look into it for himself." 
 
 The motion was seconded and adopted unanimously. 
 The Chair announced the vote, and informed Mr. Single- 
 ton that the Club would appoint him its representative for 
 the service outlined by Smith. To this the appointee 
 demurred, amid the good-natured raillery of those who 
 knew him well; but he was assured by Hammer that he 
 and the Club were in earnest, and he finally said he would 
 think it over. This little diversion, which led to a great 
 deal of merriment at the expense of the proposed repre- 
 sentative, concluded the meeting. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 Conference No. 5 : Looking to the Schools. 
 
 "Fifty years ago the great body of hand-workers were 
 ignorant and unobservant ; now they have eaten of the tree of 
 knowledge and their eyes are opened." — Francis G. Peabody. 
 
 "The central idea of Co-operation is that capital and labor 
 and ability should cordially work together, should each be 
 duly recognized and fairly rewarded." — Thomas Burt, M.P. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen," said Barr at the next meeting of 
 the Directors of the Building Association, after routine 
 matters had been disposed of, — "as the old Squire said, 
 'the next thing's something else : who struck Billy Blank ?' 
 What shall we take up for the next meeting?" 
 
 "Suppose we wait for that until Mr. Bruce is done 
 counting his cash," replied Sharpe, the School Principal; 
 "there's a matter I want to propose, but as he is inter- 
 ested in it, I would like to wait for him." 
 
 "And that will give me the opportunity to say some- 
 thing," said Crandall, "that's been on my mind for some 
 time. It concerns the propositions we have been listening 
 to, for the introduction of some form of Co-operation 
 into general industry. Now, mind you, I'm in favor of 
 that, if it can be worked fairly to all parties; but I've 
 been close to the head men in more than one big plant, 
 and I know that they don't have any picnic, if they do 
 their duty, and I think that most of them try to. And 
 there seems to me to be one big obstacle in the way of 
 the general adoption of such a plan, and I haven't as yet 
 seen a way around it." 
 
 "What might that be, Mr. Crandall?" inquired the 
 
 (172) 
 
LOOKING TO THE SCHOOLS 173 
 
 Schoolmaster. "Coming from you, who know the condi- 
 tions, that looks interesting; let us have your thought." 
 
 "Well, it's this way," began Crandall, and then hesi- 
 tated a moment. "Perhaps I can best explain what I 
 mean by telling a little story, — even if it is against myself. 
 One hot summer day a few years ago, I had to go to the 
 office to see the 'little boss' about some matters in the mill. 
 It was when we were hoping to get a big order that we 
 had put in a bid for ; and the getting it meant the running 
 of the mills, for things were awful slack just then. I 
 know I was hoping all I could that we might get it, for a 
 shut-down just then meant a hard pull for me, and no 
 mistake. I had been hard at it all morning, and I was 
 clean worn out when I went to the office. Well, there I 
 saw the 'little boss' sitting in the inside office as cool as 
 you please, reading the newspaper. He kept me waiting 
 several minutes, and I kept getting hotter and hotter 
 every minute, — thinking what an easy time he was 
 having, while I was sweating out in the mill. I guess I 
 was pretty near the boiling point when he finally came 
 out, but I didn't say anything, and I reckon it's fortunate 
 I didn't. He had the newspaper with him, and he threw 
 it down as he came to me, and said : 'Well, John, I see 
 by the paper that the big order is coming our way ; it was 
 awarded yesterday, and we ought to have the formal con- 
 tract here to-morrow.' Then he noticed a change in my 
 face, I guess, for he said : 'Why what's the matter, man ?' 
 for I felt a little faint. That order meant a great deal 
 to me, and I saw at once what a big fool I'd been. Since 
 then I don't find any fault with the 'little boss' reading 
 the newspaper. I reckon that's just as much a part of 
 his business, as getting the goods out is mine. Do you 
 catch what I mean, Mr. Sharpe?" 
 
 "I take it that you think a troublesome point would 
 
174 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 be between the management and the workmen. Is that 
 it?" 
 
 "Yes, that's just it. Many of the men stand just 
 where I stood that morning; they think that the man- 
 agers of a big plant have an easy time, just because it is 
 a different sort of a time from what they have them- 
 selves. But I guess that often there are more headaches 
 in the office than in the works ; at least I know there are 
 often worrying times there, as well as in the mills. Now, 
 I haven't as yet seen any way around that difficulty. The 
 men must realize that for trained and skilled manage- 
 ment, there must be a liberal arrangement as to pay ; and 
 there will be the hard pull, when it comes to the intro- 
 duction of any general scheme of Co-operation, or else 
 I'm mistaken." 
 
 "I'm inclined to think you're right," answered Sharpe. 
 "Since we have been discussing this subject in the meet- 
 ings of the Club, I've been interested in looking up what 
 some of the leaders in the direction of Co-operation have 
 said about it ; and, unless I'm much mistaken, that is the 
 place where they fall down. And to my mind, it explains 
 more than an3^hing else why so many attempts at Co- 
 operation, especially at Productive Co-operation, have 
 failed. I was reading recently what some of the English 
 leaders say about Co-operation, and it is right here that 
 I should beg leave to take issue with them. They think 
 that the division of all profits should be between Capital, 
 Labor and Patronage. That plan has worked well in 
 Distributive Co-operation, for there these are the chief 
 factors to the problem. But when you come to Produc- 
 tive Co-operation, it seems to me that you have one more, 
 and that is the one you have just mentioned, — trained 
 management; and this will be especially true of produc- 
 tion on a large scale. But here comes Mr. Bruce ; perhaps 
 
LOOKING TO THE SCHOOLS 175 
 
 he can tell us something- about this difficulty," and he 
 briefly outlined to the latter what they had been dis- 
 cussing. 
 
 "The best answer to that, gentlemen," said Bruce, "I 
 have found in the plan adopted at the great German 
 industry that I tried to tell about at the last meeting. 
 Professor Abbe had undoubtedly thought deeply on every 
 subject connected with his great works, and this had not 
 escaped his attention. It is provided in the By-Laws of 
 the Carl Zeiss Works that the salary of no superintendent 
 or high official shall exceed ten times the average wage 
 paid for the last three years to all workmen over twenty- 
 four years of age, who have been employed for three 
 years. Up to the present time, therefore, no salary has 
 exceeded $5,000 per year. You will agree with me, I 
 think, in the opinion that this is a just and liberal arrange- 
 ment, and removes the objection that you have spoken 
 about." 
 
 "It strikes me that that is not only just but liberal, — 
 as you say. How does that answer your objection, Mr. 
 Crandall?" said the Schoolmaster. 
 
 "I think that something like that would answer," 
 replied Crandall. "Of course, the proportions would 
 vary in different cases; sometimes, more; sometimes, less. 
 In the case of large-scale production, as in some of the 
 big corporations, it would probably be nearer twenty or 
 thirty times the average wage, rather than only ten times. 
 But I catch the idea, and I'm glad that the great German 
 thought that out for us, for I'm sure it's an important 
 matter to consider, and has always seemed a big puzzle 
 to me." 
 
 "Well, if that is settled, then I'll take up with Mr. 
 Bruce and the rest of you the matter I had in mind," said 
 Sharpe. "During the past week there have been several 
 
176 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 persons who have come to me with the request that our 
 Committee should induce Mr. Bruce to explain further 
 his method of getting the capital for Co-operative enter- 
 prises. One or two expressed surprise at what he had 
 said as to the banking business being an example of what 
 might be done, and one went so far as to say that, in his 
 opinion, no business in this country had so fallen down, 
 as regards its duty to the plain people, as that very busi- 
 ness. What do you say, Mr. Bruce, — can't we have 
 another address from you, or at least the opportunity for 
 some of these persons to ask you some questions?" 
 
 "Well," replied the bank cashier; "if the Committee 
 really desires it, and if you think there is a demand for 
 more information, I will try it; but I will ask you to give 
 me a little time to prepare for it. I wouldn't care to 
 attempt it at once." 
 
 "Suppose we say the following month, then, Mr. 
 Bruce?" said Barr. And this proposition being accepted, 
 he added: "Well, we're getting ahead of the game; 
 next month arranged for before we have tackled this. 
 What shall we fix on for the next meeting, gentlemen?" 
 
 "Just one minute, Barr," interrupted Bruce. "I would 
 like to say, in reply to a part of Mr. Sharpe's remarks, 
 that I am inclined to agree with the person who made the 
 criticism of my business,- — at least in part. In a certain 
 sense, I'm afraid that the banking business has fallen 
 down, and it is because I want to look up the figures, so 
 that I can speak from the book in reference to that 
 matter, that I ask for the postponement till next month. 
 If that is satisfactory, we will consider it settled." 
 
 "And in reply to your question of a minute ago, Barr," 
 said Crandall, "I would like to say that the Committee 
 appointed to consider the question of starting a Co- 
 operative store here, on the plan of the English stores, 
 
LOOKING TO THE SCHOOLS 177 
 
 will be ready to report, and we would like to have a part 
 of the time reserved for us at the meeting this month; 
 so there's a part of your program." 
 
 "And I would like to make a suggestion," added Ham- 
 mer Harry. "I've been thinking over the idea of Co- 
 operation a good deal since these meetings began, and it 
 seems to me that we have a mighty good example right 
 here in town, that we hardly ever think about, and I 
 would like to have Mr. Sharpe, who is posted, tell us 
 something about it at this coming meeting." 
 
 "Good for you. Hammer," exclaimed Barr, who was 
 glad to see the program shaping itself so easily, without 
 efifort on his part. "But what kind of Co-operation have 
 we around us that we don't know about?" 
 
 "Why, the Public School," answered Hammer. "If 
 that isn't Co-operation of the best kind, I'd like to know 
 what it is. And Mr. Sharpe has it at his fingers' ends or 
 knows hov/ to get it there easily." 
 
 "Good boy. Hammer," exclaimed Crandall; "it takes a 
 good head to see something that's right under our eyes, 
 that we haven't the sight to see. That'll be just the thing, 
 and we'll consider that settled, if Mr. Sharpe is agree- 
 able." 
 
 "I'm perfectly willing to prepare something on that 
 subject," replied the Schoolmaster; "and it will come in 
 very well, I think, as an illustration of Co-operation, — • 
 but I do not think what I will have to say will take up 
 much time. Of course, I could speak without limit, if I 
 were to load you down with a mass of statistics, but that 
 is not what you want, nor will I give it to you." 
 
 "How would this do, then," said young Strong, who 
 had just arrived; "let Mr. Sharpe take all the time he 
 wants, and if there is any left, and if you care for it, 
 I will be glad to take ten or fifteen minutes to tell about 
 
178 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the remarkable Co-operative experiment at Guise, in 
 northeastern France. What Mr. Bruce told us about the 
 great German industry, which is practically run by the 
 workmen, called my attention to this, and I have seen 
 a friend who visited the town a few years ago for the 
 purpose of studying conditions, and what he has told me, 
 I'm sure, will be of interest to all of you." 
 
 "I'm sure, we're all obliged to you. Strong," said 
 Crandall; "for that offer, and it will do fine. And I like 
 the spirit of Co-operation that your offer shows. I think, 
 sometimes, that that is what the American people need 
 more than anything else. We have carried the idea of 
 'individualism,'- — 'every man for himself, and,' — well, 
 you know the rest, — so far, that we seem to have for- 
 gotten the other spirit of getting together and working 
 together. That is something that this new movement to- 
 ward Co-operation is going to teach us, — or I'm mistaken 
 in my guess." 
 
 "Well," said Barr, who was bound to have the last 
 word; "I'm sure this meeting shows that we're making 
 progress in that direction. By the way, Mr. Bruce," he 
 added as they were passing toward the door; "you can get 
 ready for a big house, and for two or three hard ques- 
 tions, too. I've got one, myself, that I declare is a 
 Chinese puzzle for me." 
 
 "Now, Davie," said Crandall, as he put his arm over 
 Barr's shoulder, "don't take that as a sign of what your 
 question will do to any one else. How often must I tell 
 you that what some people need is not more head room, 
 but a different quality of brains?" And thus chaffing 
 each other, the group separated. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Public School and the Familistere. 
 
 "The Commonwealth requires the education of the people as 
 the safeguard of Order and Liberty." — Inscription on the Bos- 
 ton Public Library. 
 
 "Agitation is the method that puts the school by the side 
 of the ballot-box. Agitation prevents rebellions, keeps the 
 peace, and secures progress. Muskets are the weapons of ani- 
 mals. Agitation is the atmosphere of brains." — Wendell 
 Phillips. 
 
 The purpose of Andre Godin, Founder of the Familistere, 
 at Guise, France: "To respect, protect, develope all human life, 
 over all the world, as a means of serving God in men, by the 
 worship of work, and of peace, and by the love of humanity." 
 — "Social Solutions," Andre Godin. 
 
 The announcement that Barr had inserted in the col- 
 umns of the "Herald," to the effect that the program for 
 the next meeting of the Workers' Club would consist of 
 several numbers, including the important report of a 
 Committee, resulted in filling the meeting room to its 
 fullest capacity. After the opening musical exercise, 
 Chairman Barr proceeded to introduce the Principal of 
 the Public School, Mr. Sharpe, informing the audience 
 as he did so, that the speaker would address the meeting 
 "upon the one subject that he knew most about." 
 
 The Schoolmaster had had considerable experience as 
 a public speaker and felt at home, especially on a school 
 platform. He began his address as follows : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : It has been 
 suggested to me that some facts in regard to the Public 
 Schools of the country might be of interest, in connection 
 
 (179) 
 
i8o LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 with the study that the Workers' Club is making of Co- 
 operation ; and I am very glad to respond to the invitation 
 to present some information in reference to this subject, 
 about which the average citizen knows too little. 
 
 "In the first place, it is important that we do not claim 
 that the Public School system is a co-operative system in 
 the sense in which we use the word when we speak of 
 commercial and industrial co-operation; although I hold 
 that it is much nearer that than it is to Socialism, which 
 frequently claims the Schools and the Post Office as the 
 best illustrations of what Socialism could do, if adopted. 
 But those Socialists who make this claim appear to forget 
 the very first principles of Socialism, which insist strenu- 
 ously upon the abolition of private property and the entire 
 overthrow of individualism; and as we all know, the 
 Public School system has no objection to the right of the 
 individual to hold property, and makes no attempt to 
 interfere with the individual, save to help him. To say 
 that the system illustrates what Socialism could do, ap- 
 pears to fall far short of the truth, for the Public School 
 system began almost before Socialism was thought of, 
 and remains to-day as one of the best products of Democ- 
 racy, proceeding inevitably from the Democratic spirit. 
 No better expression of the reason for the Public School 
 has ever been given than was inscribed on the great 
 Public Library in Boston when it was erected, in these 
 words : 
 
 The Commonwealth requires the education of the people as 
 the best safeguard of Order and Liberty.' 
 
 "Let us record those words in our memory, so that we 
 may always recall the purpose of Public Education, and 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL i8i 
 
 be easily able to convince ourselves that its cost, however 
 great it may be, is never too great. 
 
 "In one sense, we may readily compare the system of 
 the Public Schools with the system of industrial Co-opera- 
 tion, which has been presented to us as the ideal toward 
 which we should strive. If we regard the general public, 
 who invests the money for the equipment and support 
 of the schools, as the capitalist; and the pupils and their 
 parents as the patrons; and the teachers as the workers; 
 we will have the three parties to the contract who are 
 usually regarded as necessary to true Co-operation. In 
 this view, we may consider the return to society in well- 
 educated youth as the return that the capitalist receives 
 on his investment (and no greater return than this can be 
 desired by an intelligent people), the advantage of a good 
 education, as the return made to the patrons,- — and the 
 return in salaries, — only too often, too small a return, — 
 as the reward the teachers receive. In this way there is 
 a decided resemblance to true Co-operation, as we have 
 recently become acquainted with it, in the Public School 
 system. 
 
 "Many of you will agree with me in the thought that 
 there has been no development in our social life, which 
 compares in good results with the system of Public 
 Education, fostered by both State and National laws. 
 No higher duty devolves upon us of this day than that 
 of passing on to our children, improved so far as we may 
 be able to improve it, this splendid system of education 
 supported by the State. That the system is in some 
 quarters bitterly criticised need not give us much con- 
 cern ; in fact, when such criticism is constructive, it is to 
 be welcomed, as showing that the people take an active 
 interest in the system, that it lies near their hearts, and 
 that they want to see it produce the best results. 
 
1 82 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "Will you allow me now to bring to your attention a 
 few facts, which show how great has been the growth of 
 the Public School system in this country in the past forty 
 years ? And it is well to remember that the system is not 
 yet a century old ; — in fact, had only made a good begin- 
 ning by the time of the Civil War. For the past forty 
 years there has been a steady decline in the percentage of 
 illiteracy in this country, this decline having been from 
 20 per cent, in 1870 to J.^ per cent, in 1910. Fortunately 
 this decline has been most marked in the case of the 
 colored population, being from 79.7 per cent, in 1870, — 
 just after the gift of freedom to the race, to 30.5 per 
 cent, in 19 10. This is certainly a most marked and 
 gratifying decline, and shows the great progress that this 
 race is making in the direction of a higher civilization; 
 and the progress of any part of the body politic helps the 
 development of the whole body. 
 
 "Perhaps in no way can we so readily acquire a proper 
 idea of the growth of our Public School system, and 
 realize how great is the devotion of our people to it, as 
 by comparing the annual expenditures of a few decades 
 ago with the present expenditures. In 1870 the total 
 amount paid out for expenses was $63,396,000, while in 
 1910 it was $426,250,000, or nearly seven times as much. 
 In 1870 the total value of all the Public School property 
 in the country was $130,383,000, and in 1910 this amount 
 had grown to $1,091,007,000, or over eight times as 
 much. The payments for teachers' salaries in 1910 
 amounted to $250,000,000, just about four times the total 
 amount of all expenses in 1870. These figures show, not 
 only the marvelous growth of the Public Schools in the 
 recent past, but prove how generous our people have been 
 in the support of this system of public education. 
 
 "Another very interesting fact in connection with this 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 183 
 
 subject is the number of persons who are engaged in the 
 public service as teachers. In 1870 there were 200,515 
 teachers employed in the Public Schools, of whom 61 
 per cent, were women. In 1910 there were 523,210 
 teachers thus employed, and of these 79 per cent, were 
 women ; thus showing how the number of women teachers 
 has grown in the past few decades. These figures are 
 certainly impressive ; they show the true greatness of the 
 Great Republic; the high opinion the people entertain 
 of the value of education ; their desire that their children 
 shall have, with each passing generation, better and better 
 advantages; and their determination to supply them, no 
 matter what the cost, with the best the world has to offer. 
 In very many country districts to-day, the Public Schools 
 ofifer in buildings, equipment, and in quality of teaching, 
 facilities that were not dreamed of in the large towns and 
 cities thirty or forty years ago. 
 
 "And this is as it should be. There is nothing too good 
 for our children. This is the conviction of our people, 
 and they try to show it in every way. If you were asked 
 by an intelligent foreigner to point out the best thing 
 that our civilization had done for our people, what would 
 you show him ? Would you take him to some great public 
 work, to some fine monument, to some big industrial 
 plant, or would you point with pride to the Public School 
 and the Public Library? I am sure that some of you, at 
 least, would agree with me in the thought that the 
 highest reach of our civilization is shown in such a build- 
 ing as the Congressional Library at Washington, exhibit- 
 ing at once the high purpose and the generous spirit of 
 our people; and in some of the noble public parks of our 
 great cities, proving that we hold the conviction that only 
 the very best is good enough for a free people, and that 
 the humblest among us is entitled to that best. For that 
 
1 84 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 is what these great parks, and this splendid preparation 
 for public education, prove. 
 
 "And now, as we turn from this subject, will- you 
 allow me to refer to a very complete scheme of Co-opera- 
 tion that has been only recently introduced into the Public 
 School system, which has already accomplished good 
 results, and has great promise for the future? I refer to 
 the Home and School Association work, which has been 
 introduced into many school districts with good effect. It 
 is a kind of co-operation that all must instinctively ap- 
 prove of. It brings the parents into close relations with 
 the work of the schools, acquaints them with the work 
 the teachers are trying to do, and makes possible a true 
 co-operation that means much for the good of the pupils, 
 the teachers and the parents. Here again there are three 
 parties to the contract, showing how close this moral co- 
 operation is to the industrial form we have been con- 
 sidering." 
 
 As the School Principal closed. Chairman Barr came 
 forward and said : "Those of you who attended the first 
 meeting of the Club this winter, will recall the address 
 we heard on that occasion by our friend, Henry B. 
 Strong, Esq., and will no doubt be gratified at the an- 
 nouncement I am now able to make that he will speak to 
 us this evening on an experiment in Co-operation, which 
 he has recently heard of, and of which he has made a 
 study. I take pleasure in again presenting Mr. Strong." 
 
 "It is to be my privilege, my friends," began young 
 Strong, "to invite your attention this evening to one of 
 the most remarkable experiments in the direction of pure 
 Co-operation that has ever been made. In the address 
 of last month by Mr. Bruce, we were told of the great 
 works in Jena, Germany, that are owned and controlled 
 by the workers. The account that we heard then called 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 185 
 
 my attention to another experiment in Europe that has 
 been very successful in accompHshing the purposes of its 
 founder, and which conveys to us the same lesson which 
 the German experiment does; — and that is, that great 
 ideals may be carried out to successful completion if 
 those having them will be faithful to them and go for- 
 ward to their accomplishment. 
 
 "The Co-operative experiment to which I refer is the 
 great Familistere situated in the little city of Guise, in 
 northeastern France, near the Belgian frontier. Founded 
 in 1859 by Jean Baptiste Andre Godin, the first building 
 of the Familistere was completed in 1861. By 1907 the 
 buildings had been largely increased, and there were 
 employed in the industrial plant over 2,200 workers. In 
 the period of twenty-eight years from 1879 to 1907 the 
 workers of the Familistere received, in addition to the 
 usual wages, a total amount exceeding $1,350,000, and 
 through the system of very low rents, made possible by 
 the large buildings, similar in many respects to the mod- 
 em flats of our large cities, and through the Co-operative 
 stores run in connection with the Familistere, had the 
 usual expenses of living very greatly reduced. 
 
 "Let us see what were the purposes of M. Godin in 
 founding his great industry. A French writer has said : 
 'That which makes a fine life is a great thought of youth 
 realized in maturer years.' This was the fortunate ex- 
 perience of Andre Godin. He Avas born in the Depart- 
 ment of Aisne, northeastern France, in the home of a 
 simple village smith, January 26, 181 7. At eleven years 
 of age he left the humble parish school to work at his 
 father's forge. It is said that at that time he was so 
 small that he had to stand on a stool to reach the vise. 
 In his book entitled 'Social Solutions,' referring to the 
 conditions of his life early in youth, he says : 
 
1 86 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 'For me, day by day, returned the hard labor of an occupa- 
 tion which kept me in the workshop from five in the morning 
 till eight at night. I saw in all its nakedness the destitution 
 of the workman and his needs, and it was in the dejection this 
 brought upon me that, in spite of my small confidence in my 
 own ability, I said to myself, 'If ever I lift myself above the 
 condition of the workman, I will seek means to render his 
 life happier, and to lift labor from its degradation.' 
 
 "This resolution, formed thus early in boyhood, he 
 nobly carried out when the opportunity presented itself. 
 Later his attention was attracted to the writings of 
 Fourier, and securing his principal work, 'The Theory 
 of Universal Unity,' he read there his wide-reaching plan 
 of social regeneration, founded on the association of 
 labor, capital and ability. Continuing the business of 
 manufacturing stoves and heating appliances, by great 
 industry and by continually striving to excel his competi- 
 tors in the quality of the goods he turned out, he acquired 
 a comfortable fortune and was able to apply some of the 
 ideas he had absorbed from his studies. The Familistere 
 was the outcome. This was a Co-operative association of 
 labor, capital and ability, the great purpose of which was 
 to bring to the workman the equivalents of riches. It is 
 said of him that the principles which animated him in 
 this enterprise might be reduced to one; he wished to 
 encourage, exalt, glorify labor. Later in life he wrote 
 several works on social and industrial subjects, and his 
 leading purposes are recorded there. His chief thoughts 
 are as follows : 
 
 'Labor will never regain the place to which it is entitled, 
 unless we create, in all those who co-operate in one task, a will- 
 ingness to entrust the authority to manage to solid ability, and 
 unless each receives in honor and wealth the exact equivalent 
 of his contribution to the common task.' * * * 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 187 
 
 'It is true that the free acceptance of such a law supposes 
 in the worker a high degree of mental and moral culture, and 
 that such culture supposes a material position superior to that 
 of the workmen of to-day. Thus the problem is finally reduced 
 to the following : How to improve the life of the worker and 
 thereby increase his value as a worker and as a citizen.' 
 
 'According to Godin this end must be reached by improved 
 housing and a better organization of all those services of pro- 
 duction, trade, supply, education and recreation which make up 
 the life of the modern worker.' 
 
 "These ideas were gradually applied from 1859 down 
 to the date of his death in 1888, one large building being 
 added to another as the works grew in size and impor- 
 tance. By his will he left all that portion of his fortune 
 which the French law gave him the power to dispose of, 
 — that is to say, the half, — to the Society of the Familis- 
 tere, his widow remaining Managing Director of the 
 Society for some time after his death. The establish- 
 ments and institutions that make up the Society of the 
 Familistere may be summarized as follows: 
 
 'First, the collection of the united dwellings, which give the 
 members of the society the greatest advantages in comfort, 
 health and freedom. 
 
 'Second, a group of Co-operative shops, supplying all neces- 
 saries in food, clothing, fuel, etc. 
 
 'Third, an educational service, including a kindergarten, and 
 providing elementary education for both boys and girls until 
 they are at least fourteen years of age. 
 
 'Fourth, a system of profit-sharing, by which the workers 
 have in less than twenty years become the owners of the large 
 capital represented by the Familistere with its workshops and 
 appendages. 
 
 'Fifth, a system of mutual insurance, designed to relieve sick- 
 ness, old age and infirmity, and to guarantee to the inhabitants 
 of the Familistere the necessaries of life.' 
 
1 88 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "It is interesting to know that the first charges 
 against the gross profits, before any dividends are appor- 
 tioned, are the amounts voted to the various mutual 
 insurance funds, and the amounts set aside for educa- 
 tion ; then a certain amount is set aside to meet deprecia- 
 tion in plant, and also for the interest payable to the 
 owners of Savings Certificates. The balance constitutes 
 the net profits, and is divided as follows : Seventy-five 
 per cent, as the dividend due to wages and the interest 
 due to capital; and the balance of 25 per cent, as the 
 reward due to ability. In the twenty-eight years pre- 
 ceding 1907 there was awarded to ability $530,000 in 
 dividends, of which amount over $40,000 was awarded 
 for useful inventions. In the same period, it is inter- 
 esting to note that the workmen received as dividends, and 
 in addition to their usual wages, the sum of $1,350,000, 
 and that for years past the v/hole plant which has a 
 capital of $1,000,000 has belonged to them. By a system 
 of Savings Certificates, issued to them as their interest 
 in the works increases, according to the value of their 
 work, upon which interest is paid to the owners, and 
 which are redeemed in cash after a number of years, and 
 new Savings Certificates issued to other workmen, there 
 is a continually changing ownership in the works, but the 
 ownership is still confined to the workmen. This in- 
 genious plan was the work of the founder, who, no 
 doubt, wished to provide against any future individual or 
 group ownership of the great enterprise he had started. 
 
 "Another very interesting fact in the history of this 
 Co-operative experiment was the voluntary reduction in 
 the amount that had been paid to M. Godin, as Managing 
 Director. Prior to 1885 this had been 12 per cent, of 
 the surplus profits. But in that year, at his own sugges- 
 tion, this was reduced to only 4 per cent., the difference 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 189 
 
 being carried to the credit, partly, of the Committee of 
 Management, and partly, to the maintenance of pupils, — 
 the children of the workmen, — in the Government 
 Schools. As an indication of the extent of this added 
 benefaction from this great-hearted Frenchman, I will 
 say that in the two years 1906-07, the amount awarded 
 to the Managing Director out of the profits was $6,000; 
 while in the same two years, the amount awarded to the 
 Committee on Management was $27,000. An act like 
 this, coming as the voluntary action of a Captain of 
 Industry, whose great purpose in life was 'to glorify 
 labor,' and to exalt the value of 'the one thing precious 
 on earth, — human life,'* reveals the greatness of soul of 
 a true leader of men, and makes one wish that we could 
 claim him as one of our own countr3mien.** 
 
 "In many particulars this experiment at Guise is 
 similar to that at Jena; but in other particulars, it is 
 quite different. One of the chief points of difference is 
 the provisions made as to the housing of the employes. 
 At Jena the industry does not itself own or rent houses, 
 while at the Familistere the society owns and controls 
 the great buildings in which the great majority of the 
 workers live, although they are at liberty to live else- 
 where, if they so desire. The latter plan has the advan- 
 
 *"One of the radical doctrines of M. Godin is that the great cap- 
 italist has no moral right to use his fortune for personal aggrandize- 
 ment, whether he inherited it from others or built it up himself through 
 industrial enterprises. The fact remains the same, that it has all been 
 created — every particle of it — by labor, by the expenditure of Human 
 Life, the one thing precious on the earth. Hence, justice demands that 
 it be used for the development, the progress, of Human Life." — From 
 "Social Solutions," by Andre Godin ; translated by Marie Howlands ; 
 page 325. 
 
 **For a more detailed account of the Familistere, see "Twenty-eight 
 Years of Co-partnership at Guise"; translated by Aneurin Williams; 
 published by the Labor Co-partnership Association, London, W. C. 
 
I90 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 tage of reducing the rents paid by the workers to almost 
 absurdly small figures, when compared with the usual 
 rents in other countries; thus a suite of two large rooms 
 and a smaller one will rent for from $30 to $40 per year. 
 In many cases, it is said, the dividends received on the 
 store supplies purchased for the family will pay the 
 annual rent. So that the main purposes of M. Godin have 
 certainly been achieved; the first needs of food, clothing 
 and shelter have been provided at the lowest possible 
 cost; education has also been provided for, and recrea- 
 tion has also been considered in his plan, a large theatre 
 being one of the buildings owned by the society, in which 
 the best plays are frequently presented by the best talent. 
 Both of these great experiments in Co-operation, and par- 
 ticularly in Productive Co-operation, are worthy our 
 careful study. 
 
 "In conclusion, will you allow me to refer to what 
 seems to me to be the inherent defect in the existing 
 private corporation, from which many, if not all, of the 
 ills due to the present system have come? The great 
 mistake we have made, or, rather, that we have allowed 
 to continue until some of the evils resulting from it 
 almost threaten the continued existence of free institu- 
 tions, is this : we have allowed ownership and control to 
 follow almost exclusively the pathway of the Dollar, 
 fixing such ownership and control in the money interest 
 as shown by the amount of shares taken or the amount 
 of Dollars invested, while we have not sufficiently pro- 
 tected the minority interest, or have not protected it at 
 all, — although the intelligence and the efficiency of the 
 minority holders may be as great as, or greater than, 
 that of the majority interest. 
 
 "Our subserviency to the property idea reminds me of 
 a little story, which will, I think, well illustrate the 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 191 
 
 point I wish to make. It is said that at the Convention 
 in which the terms of our great Constitution were decided 
 tipon, the question of making the right to vote depend 
 upon a property quahfication was discussed, and at one 
 time it looked as though such a clause might be adopted 
 by the Convention. This was fortunately avoided, how- 
 ever, by the argument presented against it by Benjamin 
 PYanklin, who illustrated what he said by this homely 
 parable : 'Suppose,' he said, 'that in a certain town 
 there were two men of equal intelligence, one of whom 
 had no property while the other owned a mule, whose 
 value was up to the limit which the honorable gentlemen 
 think should be fixed as the basis for the right to vote. 
 On election day both appear at the polls to vote; one, 
 wathout the property, is denied that right, while the other, 
 owning the mule, is granted the right. But, gentlemen, 
 if that be done, who is it, after all, that votes? Is it not 
 the mule, rather than the man?' And the great Philos- 
 opher, by his apt illustration, carried the majority with 
 him; so that in the early days of this country, when all 
 of our ancestors, or nearly all, were poor men, the 
 Dollar was not placed above the man; — very much for 
 the good of our people. 
 
 "But, in our modern business arrangements, so much 
 of which depend upon the private corporation, have we 
 not in efifect done just what our fathers refused to do, 
 in reference to politics? Have we not allowed the man- 
 agement, the direction, the control, the final decision, to 
 follow the Dollar line, — while the human element, the 
 man, the moral sense, — and, may I add, too, the spiritual 
 insight? — although some may smile at such a factor in 
 business life, but which is so splendidly shown in the 
 lives of the great German, of whom we heard at our last 
 meeting, and of the great Frenchman, of whom I have 
 
192 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 tried to tell you this evening, — have we not allow^ed the 
 Dollar to preside, and manage, and direct, and control, 
 and have we not too greatly ignored the greater forces 
 of life, which might have controlled, and directed to 
 better things, if we had allowed the way to be open for 
 them? And if we have made this mistake, had we not 
 better correct it? Surely, we are not so proud of our 
 work, — of present conditions, — that we can decide to 
 allow them to remain indefinitely as they are. Have not 
 the great men who have given the best thought and the 
 highest moral impulse they had, to the solution of this 
 question, blazed the way for us to follow ? And if their 
 great example has touched our thought and can inspire 
 our action, shall we not follow along the way in which 
 they have gone, to the realization of right relations, to 
 the firm placing of peace and security on the foundations 
 of truth and justice?" 
 
 As Strong was about to retire from the platform, 
 Singleton arose and said that he had a question he would 
 like to ask him. Strong, expressing his willingness to 
 answer it, Singleton proceeded : 
 
 "I would like to ask whether, in your opinion, the 
 Public School cannot very properly be considered a fair 
 example of Socialism ; and whether the Post Office cannot 
 also be so classed? I understood that to be questioned, 
 and I would like further information." 
 
 "In reply to that, Mr. Singleton," answered the young 
 attorney, "I would say that it would depend upon your 
 definition of Socialism. If you simply mean an office run 
 and controlled by a public official, supported by the public, 
 then I presume that they are both illustrations of what 
 Socialism could do; but, if by Socialism you m.ean that 
 the State should run and control all activities of life, all 
 kinds of business, manufacturing and commercial, and 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 193 
 
 that private property should be prohibited by law, — 
 which is the usual meaning attached to the term, — 
 then I should say that the Public School and the Post 
 Office have no real connection with Socialism. Do you 
 not see that, if you count them as achievements of Social- 
 ism and make that your definition, your case is already 
 won, — for everybody believes in the Post Office and 
 makes use of it; and the great majority of us believe in 
 the Public School, although it has its critics. Indeed 
 many of us are quite ready for a much wider application 
 of government control to the activities of life. Some of 
 us have thought that all public utilities, — and by that I 
 mean all utilities that the public is compelled to make use 
 of, such as telegraph lines, trolley and railway transpor- 
 tation, express service, might well come under govern- 
 ment control, for the simple reason that the public is 
 compelled to use them. But, believing that, does not 
 make me deny the right of private property or join the 
 ranks of the Socialists, any more than my use of the Post 
 Office or the Public School, or the use of the semi- 
 express utility of the parcels-post, makes me one. If it 
 did, we'd all be Socialists." 
 
 As Strong retired. Chairman Barr came forward and 
 said that the Committee appointed at a previous meeting 
 to consider the matter of organizing a Co-operative store, 
 such as had been described by Principal Sharpe, was 
 ready to present a report. Crandall, who had been made 
 Chairman- of this Committee, came forward and ad- 
 dressed the meeting as follows : 
 
 "Our Committee has held several meetings, my friends, 
 and I am glad to be able to report substantial progress. 
 The very next morning after the meeting at which the 
 Committee was appointed, a letter was handed in at my 
 house before I left for work, making an offer to sell to 
 
194 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the new Co-operative Society a well-established grocery 
 and provision store. This offer came from one whom 
 you all know, and our Committee was prompt to look 
 into the offer. That evening I called them together, and 
 we all went out to see Mrs. McCall, from whom it had 
 come. You know that her store is well located, and has a 
 good trade, largely from the men at the mills. This is 
 what Mrs. McCall told us ; she said that her son, Jimmie, 
 was now old enough to run the store; that her oldest 
 daughter was teaching, and that through the store she had 
 been able to save something and also had her house clear. 
 She said she wanted Jimmie to have the store, and 
 thought that if we would take it from her at a fair 
 price, and keep him to run it, paying him what was 
 right, we could have it. Well, we knew the boy, and 
 had known his father before him; so we decided on 
 $5,000 as a fair price, and we want to place that amount 
 of stock of the Pleasantville Co-operative Society. I 
 might as well add, I think, that more than one-half of the 
 stock is already subscribed for, and we hope the balance 
 will be taken here to-night before we adjourn. Subscrip- 
 tion slips will be distributed in a few minutes. Oh, yes; 
 I ought to say, too, that we do not wish any one to sub- 
 scribe for more than fifty shares. The par value of the 
 shares has been fixed by the Committee at $10.00 per 
 share. If there are any questions to be asked, I will be 
 glad to answer them, if I can." 
 
 "Suppose you tell us. Jack" ; suggested Hammer Harry, 
 himself a member of the Committee, but who thought 
 that some would like to have the information; "Suppose 
 you tell us what the expectations are as to profits, &c." 
 
 "All right, Hammer" ; replied Crandall. "As this is a 
 going business, making fair profits, the Committee is 
 united in the opinion that we ought to be able to pay six 
 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 195 
 
 per cent, on the capital without question. Then the usual 
 plan is to set aside a certain percentage for a surplus fund, 
 so as to strengthen the business, and after that the profits 
 are divided in the shape of a percentage dividend to the 
 purchasers of goods, and the same per cent, is also paid 
 on the salaries of the manager and the clerks. Usually, 
 on a good business, this dividend is about 8 per cent., al- 
 though in exceptional cases it has been as high as 10 or 12 
 per cent. And the dividend to stockholders on purchases 
 is made twice as much as that to non-stockholders. That 
 is to say; if we allow 10 per cent, to stockholders, we 
 would only pay 5 per cent, to the other class. Our Com- 
 mittee thinks it safe to figure on a payment of 8 per cent, 
 on purchases to our stockholders." 
 
 "Rather a rosy, optimistic view, isn't it, Crandall?" 
 inquired Singleton, who had never been inclined to take 
 a very rosy view of life himself, and naturally resented 
 it when the other person did. 
 
 "Perhaps so," quietly replied Crandall; "but I am so 
 confident of a good return out of this business, Mr. 
 Singleton, that I'm willing to say to you now, in the 
 presence of all these witnesses, that I will guarantee you 
 10 p€r cent, on your purchases, if you become a stock- 
 holder, and half that dividend, if you do not take any 
 stock, but will simply deal with us. That seems like a 
 fair ofifer, does it not?" 
 
 There was no reply from Singleton, but Hammer's 
 deep whisper was heard over the room, in spite of his ef- 
 fort to keep it quiet; "Rather guess you had him that 
 time, Jackie." 
 
 The Committee now proceeded to distribute the sub- 
 scription blanks to the audience, and the next half-hour 
 was spent in this way, securing names and answering 
 questions; after which the blanks were collected; and, 
 
196 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 after computing the returns, they reported, through 
 Crandall, that the full amount had been subscribed and 
 some hundreds over; "But we'll soon make that all right," 
 added the Chairman. "Some of us who subscribed 
 liberally, will reduce our holdings, so that all may co- 
 operate with us. I'm glad to announce that the Pleasant- 
 ville Co-operative Society has been organized. We will 
 expect a payment of fifty per cent, on the stock on the 
 first of next month ; the balance in two monthly payments 
 on the first of the next two months. Now, I propose, 
 brethren, that we close this meeting by singing the long- 
 meter Doxology." 
 
 A few looked at Crandall, to see whether he could mean 
 this as a joke, but they saw at once that he meant it in 
 all seriousness; so in a few minutes, led by him, they 
 all joined in the well-known verse, and the meeting con- 
 cluded. "I don't see why we shouldn't," said he to Barr, 
 as they were passing out; "if the strengthening of 
 brotherhood and fellowship on the earth, isn't the Lord's 
 work, then I don't know anything that is; and if we 
 should not praise Him for that, I don't see anything 
 greater that we can praise Him for." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Another Conference: Counting in Big Figures. 
 
 "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not 
 bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I 
 have." — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 "Details aside, any business that makes millionaires on the 
 one end, and sallow, emaciated and sickly men, women and chil- 
 dren on the other, is not conducted in a legitimate manner. 
 There is no equity in the distribution that gives uncounted 
 luxury at one end of the mill and hopeless poverty at the other 
 end." — From "Unity," December, 1912. 
 
 " * * * under an economic pressure, grinding down upon 
 the working girl at the very age when she most wistfully de- 
 sires to be taken care of." — Jane Addams. 
 
 On account of a great storm almost equalling a bliz- 
 zard, the attendance at the next meeting of the Directors 
 of the Home Building Association was unusually small, 
 barely a quorum being present. Barr was delayed until 
 late by the difficulty on the railroad in getting trains 
 through; but Crandall, Hammer Harry, Bruce and 
 Sharpe, with one or two others, were present, and saw 
 that the needed business was transacted. 
 
 "I heard and saw something the other day, Mr. Smith," 
 said the Schoolmaster, addressing Hammer; "that I'm 
 sure would have had great interest for you; shall I tell 
 you about it?" 
 
 "I'm sure I would be glad to hear of it, Mr. Sharpe," 
 replied Hammer. 
 
 "Well, I wish you could have been with me to see it, 
 as well as to hear it. I was on a visit to the schools in a 
 large city in a neighboring state, and among others I 
 
 (197) 
 
198 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 visited the High School in which the colored pupils are 
 instructed. While there, the Principal, a colored woman, 
 had the High School pupils, about four hundred in all, go 
 through an exercise which I'm sure would have pleased 
 you, — and which all schools of equal grade might well 
 adopt, it seems to me, as a regular school exercise. What 
 do you suppose it was?" But when Hammer said he 
 could not even guess, Sharpe continued : 
 
 "Well, she had the whole roomful rise and repeat Lin- 
 coln's Gettysburg Speech. They had been well trained, 
 and repeated it with careful deliberation, and without a 
 mistake. It was really one of the finest things I ever 
 heard. I suppose the association with the great Eman- 
 cipator had something to do with it, but as they repeated 
 the last paragraph — you remember it, of course — it be- 
 gins : 'It is for us, the living, rather to be here dedicated 
 to the great task remaining before us,' and ends with 
 those great words about 'government of the people, by 
 the people, for the people'; I declare, as they repeated 
 these words I found the tears in my eyes. I wish that all 
 our High School pupils everywhere might get that 
 speech by heart." 
 
 "And I wish so, too," exclaimed Hammer, who had 
 been greatly interested in the incident related by the 
 Schoolmaster. "Do you know, I think that is the great- 
 est speech ever delivered, and all Americans should know 
 it by heart." 
 
 "Do yoiij Hammer?" quietly inquired Crandall, who 
 thought that, for once, he had caught his friend ofif his 
 guard ; but he and the Schoolmaster were treated to a 
 surprise, for Hammer as quietly responded, "I certainly 
 do," and proceeded to repeat the whole speech. "I 
 learned that years ago," he concluded, as he finished it; 
 "and if I hadn't done it then, I would do it now." 
 
COUNTING IN BIG FIGURES 199 
 
 "Well, I must admit that I'm surprised, Mr. Smith," 
 said Sharpe. "I would like to tell the pupils in the High 
 School about this; I think it would encourage them to 
 study the speech" ; and when Hammer had given his con- 
 sent, he added : 
 
 "There was a little incident that occurred in school a 
 few days ago that will probably interest all of you. You 
 know 'Big Tim' O'Rourke, I'm sure. Well, one of the 
 brightest boys in the High School is his son Jimmie. He 
 came to me one evening, just after the school had been 
 dismissed and asked me a question that I rather think 
 would be a poser for any one of you. He wanted to know 
 just how much a million dollars was. He said he had 
 been reading something in the newspaper, and was much 
 interested in the problem. I always encourage that sort 
 of fresh, live interest in a question ; but I confess that at 
 first I was puzzled how to answer it." 
 
 "And what answer did you make?" inquired Bruce, 
 who had just joined the party. "That question is a little 
 in my line and I would like to know how you figured 
 when you answered it." 
 
 "Well, I must admit I was nonplussed for an instant. 
 I looked around for an answer, and in a minute I saw 
 it out of one of the windows of the schoolroom. You 
 remember the new house that Robinson built last year 
 just beyond the schoolhouse; he applied for a loan here 
 at the Association, so I was posted as to its cost, &c. So 
 I told the boy to take a good look at that, for the cost 
 of it, including the lot, was just about $5,000. 'Now you 
 divide a million by 5,000,' I told him, 'and you will see 
 how many houses like that you could build for a million 
 dollars.' " 
 
 "And a mighty good answer, too," exclaimed Barr; 
 
200 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "for he had something that he could look at and get an 
 idea as to what a million really is." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Barr," replied Sharpe. "And then, 
 what do you suppose that youngster wanted to know?" 
 
 "Give it up, Mr. Sharpe," replied Barr; "unless it was 
 what the rings of Saturn are composed of, or some easy 
 thing like that. That's the sort of question that I have 
 thrown at me now and then by my youngsters." 
 
 "Well, not quite as hard as that, I'll admit. He asked 
 me how many feet front Robinson's lot was; and when 
 I told him about lOo feet, he said he wanted to see how 
 far the houses would extend in a straight line. He fig- 
 ured a little while and then told me what the answers 
 were, and why he wanted to know. It seems he had 
 read in a paper that two or three very wealthy men each 
 had fortunes exceeding two hundred millions in amount, 
 and he was curious to know what such an amount was 
 like ; he said he could work it out now on the house-value 
 line." 
 
 "Did he tell you what the result was?" inquired Barr, 
 who found the question novel and interesting. 
 
 "Yes; and I was so surprised that I went carefully 
 over the work with him, for I could not credit his state- 
 ment at first. He told me, after a little, that, if you would 
 allow sixteen streets 80 feet wide to every mile, you 
 could have forty of those houses and lots to the mile, 
 and to accommodate forty thousand of them, the number 
 that 200 million dollars would pay for, it would take a 
 thousand miles in a straight line, or 500 miles built up 
 on both sides. He said, 'Wouldn't that make a pretty 
 avenue ?' and I said I thought it would ; but by that time 
 another idea had occurred to me, and I asked him how 
 many persons could live in a house like that. He said 
 that Mr. Robinson had a wife and five children and 
 
COUNTING IN BIG FIGURES 201 
 
 there was plenty of room in the house for all. I asked 
 him then, how many would that make for the forty thou- 
 sand houses, and he quickly said 280,000. In a minute 
 he saw what I was driving at, and said : 'But in a city 
 that big, most of the people would live in much smaller 
 houses, wouldn't they?' 'Surely,' I replied. So he 
 quickly made another calculation, and said in a minute : 
 'Why, Mr. Sharpe, if we put only one-half the amount in 
 houses that cost $5,000, and the other half in houses that 
 cost $2,500 each, do you know that that would mean 
 60,000 houses ; and if we allow only five to each house, 
 instead of seven, that would mean a population of 300,- 
 000 persons?' " 
 
 "Now, Mr. Sharpe, you're fooling us, are you not?" 
 inquired Crandall; "surely there's some mistake about 
 those figures, isn't there?" 
 
 "You can go over the work yourself, Mr. Crandall," 
 replied the Schoolmaster. "I was of that opinion, my- 
 self, at first, but I verified them very carefully, and the 
 boy was right. There was one deduction to be made 
 from it, however, that I did not suggest to him; but I 
 think I may do so here, for it will probably occur to you 
 Building Association men; and that is, that upon those 
 houses, for which this amount of two hundred millions 
 would pay, enough money could be raised on first mort- 
 gage loans to provide ample capital for all the varied 
 commercial and manufacturing activities that a city of 
 that population would have need for. So that any indi- 
 vidual who takes or absorbs that amount of wealth is 
 really taking the income and support, the food, shelter 
 and clothing, the education and business opportunities of 
 300,000 persons. I remember that when Jimmie 
 O'Rourke had finished his calculations, I asked him what 
 
202 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 he thought of it, and what do you think he said ?" 
 
 "What was it, Mr. Sharpe?" asked Barr. 
 
 "He said : 'Well, I think it's an awful responsibility.' 
 I agreed with him, and then I asked him : 'Well, Jimmie, 
 would you care to take that as your share?' And quick 
 as a wink came his reply: 'I'd rather be excused, Mr. 
 Sharpe, for if I did, I couldn't help thinking the other 
 fellows couldn't get theirs.' " 
 
 "Good for the boy," exclaimed Hammer Harry at this 
 point. "Do you know, Mr. Sharpe, I have a friend who 
 travels around a good bit, and some time ago he was 
 telling me about Switzerland — he'd been over there the 
 summer before. He said it was a country of high moun- 
 tains, as everybody knows; but he added something that 
 I hadn't thought of before. 'Of course, being a land of 
 high mountains, it must be also a land of deep valleys; 
 and so it is.' Now, it has often seemed to me that that 
 is what this country is, or is coming to be, in regard to 
 its money — at least, as to the owning and controlling of 
 the money and property. If you have these enormous 
 fortunes on the one hand — like the high mountains in 
 that country — you are sure to have the lack of fortunes, 
 and in many cases the utter lack of property, which means 
 poverty, on the other — corresponding to the deep val- 
 leys. Now, is there not some way to prevent this? Is 
 there not some evening-up process by which we could 
 escape the high mountains on the one side and the deep 
 valleys on the other? Surely, it cannot be the will of a 
 just God that the great mass of his children should be 
 struggling continually with poverty and a few enjoying 
 more wealth than they know how to use." 
 
 "Why, Hammer," replied Crandall ; "don't you know 
 that that is what we have been in search of this winter, 
 
COUNTING IN. BIG FIGURES 203 
 
 and some of us think we have found the right answer in 
 Co-operation." 
 
 "Well, I hope it's the right one," replied Hammer. 
 "Seems to me we ought to have brain power enough to 
 find a better answer than the present one. Instead of 
 taking the mountains and valleys of Switzerland for a 
 model, it looks to me as though the Almighty had in- 
 tended to show our people what He wanted them to hold 
 and enjoy when He allowed them to go and occupy the 
 great high plains of the middle west — a great tableland 
 of high prosperity — that's what I call it. And from what 
 I've heard of these meetings, I'm not sure that He hasn't 
 sent His light to us from that very quarter, too." Say- 
 ing which, Hammer subsided into silence. 
 
 "There is a pleasing fiction frequently expressed by 
 those who uphold the present order," said Bruce; "espe- 
 cially by its beneficiaries, to the effect that there are as 
 many and as great opportunities to-day as ever before. 
 Some few go so far as to declare that present opportuni- 
 ties are greater than ever before ; but it is worthy of note 
 that they confine themselves to this 'glittering general- 
 ity,' and do not go into particulars. So far is this con- 
 tention from the truth, that the directly opposite state- 
 ment seems to me much nearer it. Fifty or sixty years 
 ago the young man who had inherited, or had made, a 
 few thousand dollars had a dozen or more promising 
 doors of opportunity open to him, to every one that is 
 open to him to-day. The young merchant or manufac- 
 turer of to-day who would dare to enter into competi- 
 tion with the great stores of our cities or the big plants 
 of the private corporations would indeed exhibit very 
 great courage, but very little intelligence ; in a few years 
 he would probably have much more experience and much 
 less capital. A subsidiary position as a servant to-day 
 
204 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 forms the business horizon line for most of our people, 
 and for this condition men are responsible — for men make 
 conditions. And this condition has been brought about 
 by those who have 'cornered' opportunity; or, if we ac- 
 cept the definition of liberty as being opportunity, by those 
 who have 'cornered' liberty. Surely a return to old con- 
 ditions, where freedom of opportunity existed for all, 
 even though sharp competition kept even pace with it; 
 or a forward movement, to achieve still better conditions 
 through Co-operation, is the pressing need of the pres- 
 ent hour." 
 
 "There is another thought in connection with this sub- 
 ject," quietly continued the Schoolmaster, "which is 
 worthy of our consideration. If this has been done by 
 several persons in the past, what is to prevent someone 
 else, having a greater opportunity sometime in the future, 
 from taking five hundred millions or, provided the oppor- 
 tunity is offered, even a thousand millions? If the laws 
 have nothing to say against it, I cannot see why that 
 might not happen. In moral quality, the one act is ex- 
 actly like the other. And if we have been so fortunate 
 in the past as to see such great power come into the hands 
 of those who acknowledge moral obligations, may it not 
 just as readily happen that it may come into the hands of 
 the unscrupulous, or the ambitious ; and where might the 
 liberties of a free people be, if such almost unlimited 
 power should come into the hands of unprincipled men ?" 
 
 "And still another thought in the same connection," 
 added Bruce, "is this : As I tried to show in my first ad- 
 dress, much of the present accumulation of wealth has 
 come about from the issue of stock that has not been 
 paid for, but which has been made valuable by labor, and 
 in which, as it seems to a great many of us, labor should 
 have had a share, through some equitable plan of distri- 
 
COUNTING IN BIG FIGURES 205 
 
 bution. That is where the 'rub' in the present situation 
 comes from. Now, Co-operation provides against any- 
 such future reaching out for great weahh at the expense 
 of labor, because labor is assured of a fair share in the 
 increase which results from labor and capital working 
 together. And as a first step toward the prevention of 
 such injustice in the future, we hold that legislation 
 should be enacted that would prevent such issues of 
 stock." 
 
 "Well, we are looking to you, Mr. Bruce," said Barr, 
 as the latter paused, "to take up any phase of the sub- 
 ject you wish to in your next address. I think you will 
 find the people interested ; and as I have already told you, 
 there are two or three hard questions getting ready for 
 you." 
 
 "In that case," replied Bruce, rising to go, "as I have 
 to make my preparation in the margin of time at my dis- 
 posal, I will hurry home to look up some figures I want 
 to present to you"; and he left the room, and was soon 
 followed by the other members of the Committee. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A Needless Failure, and a Possible Recovery. 
 
 "The Banker must begin to take interest in other people, as 
 well as from them." — B. F. Harris. 
 
 "It is excellent 
 To have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous 
 To use it like a giant." — Shakespeare. 
 
 "The real prosperity of the State and Nation depends on the 
 welfare and success of the average man." — B. F. Harris. 
 
 As announced through the columns of the "Herald" by 
 Chairman Barr, the speaker selected by the Executive 
 Committee to make the address at the following meeting 
 of the Club was Mr. Bruce, the Cashier of the local Na- 
 tional Bank, who had been persuaded, so Barr's an- 
 nouncement read, "to further present what in his opinion 
 was the solution of the difficulties of the present indus- 
 trial situation." 
 
 When Bruce arose to address the meeting the follow- 
 ing month, he was surprised to find the hall filled to its 
 fullest capacity, some men even standing along the sides 
 and at the end of the room. A large proportion of the 
 audience was composed of women, who had from the 
 first shown great interest in the discussions and addresses, 
 especially since the second meeting, at which the cause 
 of Equal Suffrage had been presented. Barr introduced 
 the speaker this time without any attempt at humor — 
 which Crandall had finally induced him to see was not 
 essential when men and women were bent upon seriously 
 
 considering important questions. So, without taking any 
 
 (206) 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 207 
 
 time for preliminaries, Bruce began his address at once, 
 as follows : 
 
 "You will no doubt remember, my friends, that at the 
 close of my address two months ago, I intimated that 
 on some future occasion, if it should seem advisable to 
 your Committee and acceptable to you, I might pursue 
 the subject then considered and attempt to show more 
 fully just how the general plan then suggested might be 
 applied for the good of the whole community. In order 
 to do that, and especially in order to show how the busi- 
 ness in which I have spent the most of my life can, to the 
 greatest degree, aid in a work which can hardly suc- 
 ceed without its active co-operation, and which it is pecu- 
 liarly fitted, when properly conducted, to help; in order 
 to do this, it seems necessary that I should first refer 
 to what appears to be a needless failure on the part of 
 banking to realize and fulfill one of its most important 
 duties to the public, and to suggest, if possible, a recov- 
 ery fromi such a condition of failure. I will therefore 
 call the present address an attempt to consider 'A Need- 
 less Failure, and a Possible Recovery.' 
 
 "You will also recall the fact that, in considering the 
 reasons for the present greatly increased cost of living, 
 the increased populations of the large towns and cities 
 of the country have been referred to. This increase in 
 the class of consumers, without a corresponding increase 
 in the class of producers, is undoubtedly one of the lead- 
 ing causes of the increased cost of living. But I wish 
 now especially to direct your attention to the rapid 
 growth in the population of our large cities for another 
 purpose. This is, to call your attention to a most sur- 
 prising state of afifairs in the relation of the growth of 
 banking to the growth of these communities. From 
 
2o8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the figures of the last census we learn that nearly one- 
 half of the people of the whole country now live in the 
 large towns and cities. The growth in this urban popu- 
 lation is well indicated by the figures for the four largest 
 cities in the country, which for the last two decades are 
 as follows : 
 
 i8po. 
 
 1900. 
 
 IpIO. 
 
 New York City. 2,507,414 
 
 3,437,202 
 
 4,766,883 
 
 Chicago 1,099,850 
 
 1,698,575 
 
 2,185,283 
 
 Philadelphia .... 1,046,964 
 
 1,293,697 
 
 1,549,008 
 
 Boston 448,477 
 
 560,892 
 
 670,585 
 
 5,102,705 
 
 6,990,366 
 
 9,171,759 
 
 "Thus showing an increase of 37 per cent, in the dec- 
 ade preceding 1900, and of over 31 per cent, in the decade 
 between 1900 and 1910. From 1890 to 1910 there was 
 an increase of nearly 80 per cent. It is worthy of note 
 that within the limits of these four cities just about one- 
 tenth of the total population of our country is congre- 
 gated, while within the metropolitan districts of the same 
 cities (that is, within ten miles of the center of the cities), 
 considerably more than one-tenth of our whole population 
 is concentrated. 
 
 "With this large increase in our city population there 
 has been, as we all know, a very large increase in the 
 amount of business done. This is well reflected in the 
 totals showing the bank clearings, but is probably bet- 
 ter shown by the totals of the deposits in the National 
 Banks of these four cities, which, going back to 1880 and 
 taking nearly the same date in each subsequent tenth year, 
 were as follows : 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 209 
 
 For 1880. 
 
 No. Banks. Capital. Surplus. Deposits. 
 N. Y. City 47 $50,650,000 $16,964,570 $379,621,132 
 Chicago . 9 3,950,000 2,350,000 43,512,619 
 Phila. ... 31 16,793,000 7,434,897 74,356,292 
 
 Boston... 54 50,250,000 10,147,090 106,261,939 
 
 141 $121,643,000 $603,751,982 
 
 For i8po. 
 
 No. Banks. Capital. Surplus. Deposits. 
 N. Y. City 47 $49,100,000 $35,823,886 $428,629,853 
 Brooklyn. 5 1,352,000 1,805,000 52,291,351 
 
 Chicago.. 19 16,100,000 6,891,500 107,083,539 
 Phila. ... 45 23,788,000 12,428,303 109,918,056 
 Boston ... 56 51,800,000 13,725,460 143,702,376 
 
 172 $142,140,000 $841,625,175 
 
 "And now for the purpose of comparison, and also to 
 show how a dangerous financial policy, even though only 
 proposed and not finally adopted, will disastrously affect 
 growth, let me call your attention to the figures for 1896, 
 before giving you the figures for 1900 and 19 10. You 
 will remember that the period from 1892 to 1896 was the 
 period of the free coinage of silver propaganda, which did 
 so much to throw doubt upon both individual and na- 
 tional credit, and affected all business interests. It was 
 not until this attempt was finally defeated by the people 
 by the overwhelming popular vote in 1896 that general 
 business interests began to revive. The figures for 1896 
 are as follows : 
 
210 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 For iSg6. 
 
 No. Banks. Capital. Surplus. Deposits. 
 
 N. Y. City 49 $50,450,000 $42,340,000 $445.735477 
 
 Brooklyn. 5 1,352,000 2,240,000 15,919,100 
 
 Chicago .. 21 21,400,000 9,548,400 107,419,294 
 
 Phila. ... 41 21,965,000 14,673,000 108,835,072 
 
 Boston... 55 50,750,000 14,950,325 144,009,057 
 
 171 $145,917,000 $821,918,000 
 
 "It is certainly interesting to note how complete was 
 the paralysis of general business interests caused by the 
 threat of the free coinage of silver. In spite of a great 
 increase in population, the number of National Banks in 
 these four largest cities did not increase in the six years 
 after 1890, while the total of the deposits held by them 
 showed a decline of nearly twenty million dollars. Now 
 let us look at the tremendous growth in deposits in the 
 next four years. The figures for 1900 are as follows : 
 
 For ipoo. 
 
 No. Banks. Capital. Surplus. Deposits. 
 
 N. Y. City 44 $62,800,000 $47,390,000 $884,407,910 
 
 1,352,000 1,900,000 16,662,327 
 
 19,250,000 9,180,000 237,829,607 
 
 19,905,000 17,275,000 203,415,184 
 
 37,400,000 14,212,000 205,691,052 
 
 Brooklyn . 
 
 5 
 
 Chicago .. 
 
 14 
 
 Phila. ... 
 
 36 
 
 Boston . . . 
 
 38 
 
 137 $140,707,000 $1,548,006,080 
 
 "Here we begin to notice a very peculiar un-reciprocal 
 action. As a usual thing, and where the way is open for 
 free growth, there will naturally take place, in connec- 
 tion with a rapid growth in population and an accompany- 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 211 
 
 ing rapid growth in the volume of general business, a cor- 
 responding growth in the number and the capital of 
 Banks. Here we begin to see exactly the contrary de- 
 velopment ; for, while in these four years the total of the 
 Deposits held by the National Banks in these four largest 
 cities increased nearly 100 per cent., the number of Na- 
 tional Banks decreased twenty per cent., and the total of 
 their capital decreased over five million Dollars. Let us 
 look at the figures at the end of the following decade and 
 see how this remarkable development had progressed. In 
 19 10, at the corresponding period of the year, the figures 
 were as follows : 
 
 For iQio. 
 
 No. Banks. Capital. Surplus. Deposits. 
 
 N.Y.City39 $119,900,000 $125,055,000 $1,318,826,745 
 
 Brooklyn 5 1,802,000 2,250,000 25,076,691 
 
 Chicago. II 41,400,000 22,188,000 410,836,121 
 
 Phila. .. 33 22,405,000 35,515,000 330,634,913 
 
 Boston . 20 22,950,000 18,050,000 248,871,911 
 
 108 $208,457,000 $2,334,246,381 
 
 "Here we see that the development that began between 
 1896 and 1900 has been making still more rapid progress. 
 While the total Deposits have increased about 55 per 
 cent., the number of National Banks has decreased from 
 137 to 108, or over twenty per cent. It is true that the 
 total capital in New York City increased over 90 per cent., 
 but this was largely due to the conversion of very large 
 surpluses, in the possession of a few of the Banks that 
 increased their capital, into active capital. A surplus 
 fund is in reality silent capital, and only becomes active 
 
212 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 and legal capital after conversion into capital on the books 
 of the Bank and the issue of stock representing it. 
 
 "This very peculiar blight v^hich fell upon the business 
 of National banking shortly after 1896 is worthy of our 
 attention, for it indicates a tendency which, if it should 
 spread and become general, would bode ill to almost every 
 legitimate business interest in our country. It is very 
 noticeable from the figures already given; but it is still 
 more noticeable when we take the figures for one of these 
 cities in which the tendency toward concentration has 
 been most marked. Strange to say, this is the city of 
 Boston, in which we would least expect to find any adop- 
 tion of the monarchical principle, whether in politics or 
 business. Let us compare the figures for 1896, just be- 
 fore this movement began, with the figures for several 
 years since : 
 
 Boston National Banks — Figures for i8p6 and Since. 
 For 
 
 A^, 
 
 0. Banks. 
 
 Capital. 
 
 Average Deposits. 
 
 1896: 
 
 55 
 
 $■50,750,000 
 
 $144,009,057 
 
 1898: 
 
 58 
 
 52,850,000 
 
 201,292,000 
 
 1902: 
 
 39 
 
 35,350,000 
 
 222,300,000 
 
 1906: 
 
 28 
 
 28,400,000 
 
 222,451,000 
 
 1910: 
 
 20 
 
 22,950,000 
 
 248,871,911 
 
 1912: 
 
 19 
 
 30,300,000 
 
 251,371,000 
 
 "The growth of Deposits shown by the above figures 
 is not so striking as the strange decrease in the number 
 and capital of the Banks; while the Deposits jumped 
 about 70 per cent, over what they were in 1896, the 
 number of National Banks decreased from 55 to 19, and 
 in capital from over fifty millions to a little over twenty 
 millions. It is true that the amount of capital has been 
 increased in this present year to about thirty millions, but 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 213 
 
 this increase came in the capital of the three large Banks 
 which were responsible for the reduction of the number 
 of Banks, thus showing conclusively the concentration of 
 the banking power in a few hands. These three National 
 Banks now hold in Deposits just about two-thirds of the 
 total Deposits in all the National Banks in this City. 
 
 "The figures given show that in recent years in these 
 large cities a greatly increased volume of business has 
 been done on a greatly reduced capital, and by a much 
 smaller number of Banks. As a possible reason for this 
 concentration of business in a few hands, the dividend re- 
 turns on the stocks of the three Boston Banks that have 
 been most active in effecting the mergers there present 
 an interesting study when taken in connection with the 
 market value of their stock. Thus, in 1898 the dividend 
 rate of the Bank that has been most active was 6 per cent., 
 and for several years since then it has been 12 per cent.; 
 its stock sold in 1898 at $129.00 per share, and in 1912 
 as much as $410.00 per share was asked for it. Of the 
 other two Banks, the stock of one sold in 1898 for 
 $224.00 per share, while in 1912 as much as $430.00 per 
 share was asked for it. Its dividend rate in 1898 was 
 10 per cent., and since then has been 12 per cent. The 
 market value of the other in 1898 was $177.00 per share, 
 and in 1912 as high as $266.00 per share; while its divi- 
 dend rate in 1898 was 8 per cent., and since then has been 
 as high as 1 1 per cent. The rapid increase in the market 
 value of these Bank stocks may possibly give us the clue 
 to the raison d'etre of these big concentrations of bank- 
 ing capital. 
 
 "In this connection there are at least two questions of 
 sufficient importance to be worthy of our consideration; 
 one has to do with the welfare of the individual and the 
 other with the welfare of the general public. How does 
 
214 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 this concentration of banking power affect the individual ? 
 Is it a good thing for him? And the first individual 
 whom I would consider in this connection is the man 
 who has, perhaps — as happens in a great many instances 
 — given many years of careful effort to the upbuilding 
 of an institution, to finally see it "absorbed" by some 
 stronger institution which has secured the control of a 
 majority of the stock, and who finds himself thrown out 
 of a position without the slightest regard as to any moral 
 or legal rights that he may have. In most city banks 
 there are at least three positions that pay very well ; three 
 to five more that pay good salaries, and five to ten more 
 that pay comfortable living salaries. In every such Bank 
 it would be safe to say that from twelve to fifteen men, 
 earning good salaries, are affected by every merger; in 
 many, the number would be very much larger. When 
 these changes take place, it sometimes happens that all 
 the working force is also taken over, but that is rather 
 the exception than the rule, and when the force is not 
 provided for, wrong is done and sometimes hardships re- 
 sult that cannot be made right by any amount that may 
 be added to the dividend or the market price of the 
 Bank that has gained something by the deal. Taking 
 the total of the reduction in the number of Banks from 
 1898 to 1912, or 64, and multiplying it by 10 (a very low 
 estimate of the number of men affected per Bank), and 
 we have 640, which would represent the number of fam- 
 ilies affected ; multiplying this again by 5, we would have 
 over 3,000 as the number of persons who are directly 
 affected by the concentrations in the National Banks of 
 these 4 large cities. It may be claimed that these persons 
 are not entitled to any consideration, in view of the 
 greater efficiency that has been attained by the change. 
 To come to that conclusion, we must of course first deny 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 215 
 
 that a man has any right to the fruit of his labors when 
 a stronger man exclaiming 'greater efficiency' comes 
 along and claims them. If efficiency means better serv- 
 ice to the general public, then it is worthy of considera- 
 tion; but if it simply means bigger dividends or a higher 
 market price for the one who has the power to take, then 
 we had better go slow before we admit that 'efficiency' 
 has any rights that we are bound to respect. 
 
 "The other question is perhaps the more important 
 one, as affecting a greater number of persons : how is the 
 welfare of the general public affected by this concentra- 
 tion of banking power in a few hands? In the first 
 place, it may be questioned whether the great reduction 
 in the number of men interested in a business such as 
 banking can be a good thing for the general public, for 
 the reason that there are times when, in this business espe- 
 cially, 'in a multitude of counsellors there is safety.' 
 There are periods of business depression which have oc- 
 curred again and again, and which in all probability will 
 recur again, when all who can help to throw additional 
 light on the solution of the difficult questions that arise 
 are needed. It may be that in concentrations that have 
 taken place all the banking ability, all the knowledge and 
 skill that were available have been conserved and are 
 still available ; but there seems to be at least room to 
 doubt whether this is true, and whether the new policy is 
 not altogether a great mistake. 
 
 "Again, how are the business interests of the small 
 business man taken care of after these mergers are af- 
 fected? Is the small merchant, who has always had his 
 business needs met by the comparatively small Bank, 
 going to receive much consideration from the Big Bank, 
 with the ten million dollar capital, and able to make loans 
 of a million at a time? Is it likely that he will receive 
 
2i6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the same attention under the concentrated form of bank- 
 ing that he received from the smaller Bank? And as 
 there are still a large number of small tradesmen in all 
 the big cities, should not their rights be taken into con- 
 sideration? 
 
 "Again, does not the new system make it easier for 
 a man, or a group of men, who may desire to cripple or 
 destroy a business rival, whether large or small, to ac- 
 complish their purpose ? Has there not been at least good 
 reason to suspect that this power has on some occasions 
 been so used? 
 
 "And again, does not this large aggregation of bank- 
 ing capital in a few Banks put it in the power of those 
 who hold it to work to the disadvantage of the people in 
 a way that would be impossible if they did not control 
 such power? If, for instance, one of these large Banks 
 wished to make a deal with a foreign state, by which it 
 would lend it money to be used in a way to injure the 
 people of this country, what is there to prevent its doing 
 so — save, of course, a sense of patriotic duty, which may 
 or may not be operative at the right time. 
 
 "Finally, may it not be questioned whether the reduc- 
 tion of banking capital of over fifty millions, distributed 
 among fifty institutions, to thirty millions controlled by 
 less than twenty Banks, is a good thing for the com- 
 munity in which it takes place, on the ground of safety 
 alone? Certainly it seems much safer to have the large 
 business interests of a great city distributed as widely 
 as possible, and protected by as great an amount of cap- 
 ital as can be safely and profitably employed, than to 
 have these interests concentrated in the hands of a few. 
 Is not the trouble with recent business and industrial 
 changes this : that we have allowed to be set up amongst 
 us, whether knowingly or ignorantly, a system of business 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 217 
 
 that is closely allied to the old and outworn monarchical 
 ideas in politics ? And if the present tendency is allowed 
 to go on unchecked, may we not properly expect that the 
 one man idea will be carried to its logical conclusion, until 
 each large city shall have but one large Bank? If it 
 should come to that, let us hope that the one in control 
 will at least forward to those compelled to use it the car- 
 fare to get to and from it. 
 
 "And that brings me to the question which I believe 
 some of you are ready to ask : how are we going to pre- 
 vent such a consummation, if the powers that be decide 
 that it is desirable? First, let me say that it seems that 
 this movement for the concentration of great money 
 power has more of evil possibility in it than any of us 
 have yet imagined. It is to-day one of the great dangers 
 of our country ; and no more inveterate foe to true democ- 
 racy can be dreamed of than unlimited money power in 
 the hands of a few. While those who have it to-day may 
 be trusted, perhaps, not to unwisely use their power, still 
 no one can tell what their successors might wish to do. 
 It is a power that must be controlled and curbed in the 
 interests of the whole people. Can this be done, and 
 how? 
 
 "All that anyone can hope to do by way of answering 
 this question is to suggest a course of action that would 
 make such concentration impossible, or very improbable, 
 in the future ; and there are two thoughts in this connec- 
 tion that I would like to leave with you. The first is this : 
 that forty-nine is so near to fifty-one that the latter ought 
 not to be allowed to do just exactly with the former as 
 its sweet will dictates. That is to say, there should be 
 some way of controlling the action of a mere majority, 
 when it comes to large business interests. There should 
 be either some sort of proportional representation of a 
 
2i8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 minority interest, or a mere majority should not have the 
 power that is now generally possessed; but, for certain 
 actions— as, for instance, the merger of a Bank — a two- 
 thirds or three-fourths vote of the stock should be re- 
 quired. And even then, before such a change is effected, 
 the whole matter should be submitted to a competent au- 
 thority to decide whether it is in accord with good pub- 
 lic policy; if not, the merger should be prohibited. 
 
 "The other thought is this : that it should be possible 
 to put the advantages offered by the National Banking 
 system within reach of the small tradesmen of our large 
 cities. If this were done, a great work would be accom- 
 plished in the direction of social and business uplift. It 
 frequently happens that a loan of a moderate sum of 
 money — say, $300.00 or $500.00 — helps to tide the small 
 merchant over a difficult place, and means to him all the 
 difference between success and failure. And yet, be- 
 cause of the terms of the National Bank Act, it is to-day 
 much more difficult for the small tradesmen in a large 
 city to secure such accommodation than for the mer- 
 chant in a small town, or even village, to do so. The 
 amount that has been fixed for the minimum capital for 
 a National Bank in a large city, while not comparatively 
 large when compared with the very large Banks with 
 several millions capital, is nevertheless so large that the 
 small tradesmen find it difficult or impossible to raise it. 
 The terms fixed by law for the capital of State institu- 
 tions are generally so much less onerous that capital is 
 much more readily raised for them; so that the small 
 merchant in the large city can hardly look for accommo- 
 dation from the very institution which is especially char- 
 tered for the purpose of making commercial loans. 
 
 "My suggestion is this : make it as easy for the man of 
 moderate means in the large city to secure accommoda- 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 219 
 
 tion as it has been made for the merchant of the smaU 
 town and village. As each Bank pays the cost of the 
 examinations made by the Government, no additional bur- 
 den would be placed upon the Government by such a 
 change; and to the objection that it would not be safe 
 to have such Banks with moderate capital doing business 
 in the large business centers and there competing with 
 the great city institutions, I would say that this is an- 
 swered by the fact that the rents and other expenses in 
 such centers would make this impossible, as the small 
 Banks would not locate there because of the expense. But, 
 surely, there can be no good reason why a National Bank 
 with the same capital as is allowed by the State in which 
 it is located, should not be allowed to incorporate and 
 locate on the outskirts of a large city; and a capital of 
 $100,000 ought to be sufficient to warrant its location 
 anywhere. In one of the four large cities mentioned, the 
 laws of the State permit a State Bank to be incorporated 
 with a capital of $50,000, while the National Bank Act 
 requires for a Bank in the same city a capital of $200,000. 
 The State law also allows a Trust Company to incorpo- 
 rate with a capital of $125,000, so that it is made twice 
 as difficult to start a National Bank as a Trust Company, 
 and four times as difficult as it is to start a State Bank. 
 "The system of banking made possible under the Na- 
 tional Bank Act is the safest system of banking known 
 in this country, and the safeguards it throws about this 
 business ought to be made available to the merchant of 
 small means as v.'ell as to the millionaire. I think you 
 will agree with me that if this business has any power 
 to help humanity upward, there can be no greater need 
 for it anywhere than in the modern large city. We hear 
 a good deal nowadays about helping the farmer and mak- 
 ing life in the country better worth living, and that work 
 
220 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 deserves all encouragement ; yet it remains true that the 
 country presents no such need for help as is found in our 
 cities. No other place in the world can show such abject 
 poverty, such concentrated misery, as the slums of our 
 large cities. As one of the agencies that might help to 
 prevent some from falling to a lower and lower state of 
 misery, by extending help when most needed in a business 
 way, and as a help to lift men to better business condi- 
 tions, I want to suggest to you the National Bank of quite 
 moderate capital, with all the safeguards known to the 
 Government thrown around it. In other words, let us put 
 this form of safe business again within reach of the 'plain 
 people,' for it is their right to enjoy all the advantages 
 it can offer. 
 
 "Such Banks would be found to be of great help to 
 the newcomers from other countries. New to our laws 
 and customs, and with this safe system of banking now 
 practically closed to them, it is not strange that they so 
 often fall a prey to unscrupulous fellows who speak their 
 language and offer to take care of their money as private 
 Bankers. In the large cities we are used to reading of 
 the failure or decamping of such persons every once in 
 a while, and the resultant loss of thousands of the sav- 
 ings of their easy dupes, who ought to be safeguarded, if 
 it is possible to do so. Why should it not be made easily 
 possible for their countrymen to organize National Banks 
 with moderate capital and thus help themselves and offer 
 a safe banking place to the newcomer? In every large 
 city there should be one or more of these National Banks 
 of various nationalities, officered and directed by those 
 who had been in the country a few years, and ready to 
 offer this kind of aid to their compatriots. To make this 
 possible would be a gracious act on the part of the Great 
 Republic toward her new citizens. It would undoubtedly 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 221 
 
 save much suffering and be a real lift upward to many 
 who would be grateful for it. 
 
 "No doubt other ways of curbing the present tendency 
 toward centralization of banking power will occur to you 
 as you consider the subject. I commend it to you as 
 worthy of your best thought and consideration. The 
 question is sometimes asked : how did the present condi- 
 tion come about? is it the result of design, or did it 
 simply happen ? I would answer this in the Yankee way, 
 by asking another : human nature being what we know it 
 to be, is it not altogether likely that the well-defined pur- 
 pose, the resolute will and the strong arm have combined 
 to bring about the results we see? 
 
 "Some of you may ask the question : what should have 
 been the normal growth of the banking business in those 
 four cities if entire freedom of opportunity had existed, 
 and if the movement for concentration had not taken 
 place? And in reply to that I can only say that the best 
 way to determine it is to take the rate of growth of the 
 preceding like period and apply that to the more recent 
 period. The increase in the number of National Banks 
 in the above four cities from 1880 to 1895 was from 141 
 to 171, a gain of 30, or 21 per cent. gain. Applying this 
 rate of gain to the later period of fifteen years, there 
 would have been an increase in the number of National 
 Banks of from 171 to 207. But, instead of this, there 
 was a decrease from 171 to 108, so that the loss in the 
 actual number from what might have been expected was 
 from 207 to 108. Part of this loss may, of course, be ex- 
 plained by the fact that in some places there has seemed 
 to be a larger number of Trust Companies and other in- 
 stitutions doing a banking business, organized in the 
 later period. But it is also true, on the other hand, that 
 in the later period there has been an enormously greater 
 
222 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 volume of business done and, therefore, greater banking 
 facilities would naturally have been required than in the 
 earlier period. 
 
 "But whatever may have been the cause, whether de- 
 signed or accidental, we may rest well-assured that the 
 cure will not come by accident. It must be thought out 
 and applied by those who have the courage to look at 
 facts as they are, and when the remedy has been deter- 
 mined upon, to apply it without fear. If the results of 
 this concentration of power are dangerous to us individu- 
 ally, or to the nation as a whole, then such power should 
 be controlled or, if need be, overthrown. The enlight- 
 ened will of the people, expressed in Law, and supported 
 and upheld by the strong arm of the Lav/, should cer- 
 tainly be adequate to uphold the right and overcome the 
 wrong. 
 
 "In turning from this first part of my address to in- 
 vite your attention to another branch of the banking sit- 
 uation which seems of nearly equal importance, will you 
 allow me to emphasize the point I have tried to make, 
 that the fact that the National Banking business in our 
 largest cities has become, or is fast becoming, a 'Lost 
 Art,' except in the hands of certain powerful interests, 
 and has largely passed out of the hands of the middle 
 class of business men — not to speak of those whose means 
 are very moderate — this fact reveals a very great failure 
 on the part of the business of banking, as defined and 
 protected by our national laws, to serve the common 
 people, and calls loudly for such changes by law as shall 
 make it what it should be — the servant of the whole 
 people, and intended to make at least one branch of busi- 
 ness safe beyond the possibility of loss. I have tried to 
 point out two or three methods by which a recovery from 
 its present condition may be made, and this great system 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 223 
 
 of banking be once more placed in the honorable position 
 it was intended by its founders to occupy. If other bet- 
 ter methods can be found to act more promptly or safely, 
 no one will welcome them more heartily than myself. 
 
 "The second half of this address, to use the words of 
 Colonel Sanford, who used to delight audiences in this 
 town, 'will be much shorter than the first half.' I wish 
 to ask your attention to a few facts connected with the 
 reports of the Savings Banks of our country, which will, 
 I think, prove of interest to you. When propositions are 
 made looking toward the plain people or the working 
 people forming co-operative enterprises, and practically 
 testing co-operation, the objection is frequently raised, 
 'But where will they get the money from? You know 
 that the workingmen have no money.' That is the state- 
 ment most frequently made in objection. When I hear 
 it, I always feel like asking the one who makes it, 'How 
 do you know ? Who told you so ?' 
 
 "The statement that the workingmen of this country 
 have no money is, in view of the published reports of 
 our Savings Banks, as great an absurdity as can be ut- 
 tered. While it is possible that a portion of these de- 
 posits belong to persons who do not work for their living, 
 it is perfectly safe to conclude that by far the greater 
 part of these savings do belong to the workers, both men 
 and women. The average business man uses his funds 
 in his business; the men engaged in large business en- 
 terprises can use their money to much better advantage 
 than in ways that will not pay more than three or four 
 per cent. ; so that necessarily the savings come from those 
 who do not understand how to invest safely and wish to 
 have all the safeguards possible throv/n about their sav- 
 ings. If these deposits do not, therefore, belong to the 
 
224 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 workingmen and working-women of the country, to 
 whom do they belong? 
 
 "Let us look at the figures showing the total amount 
 of these savings and their rapid growth in recent years, 
 for there is food for thought to be found here. Going 
 back to 1870 and coming down by decades to 1910, the 
 figures are as follows, as compiled and published by the 
 Comptroller of the Currency.* 
 
 Total savings in the Savings Banks of the United 
 States : 
 
 For 1870 $549,874,358 
 
 For 1880 819,106,973 
 
 For 1890 1,524,844,506 
 
 For 1900 2,449,547,885 
 
 For 1910 4,070,486,246 
 
 "To this enormous total of savings should be added 
 the total amount invested in the Building and Loan As- 
 sociations of the country, for these are in the same class 
 of savings. Taking the figures for the year 191 1, we 
 should add the sum of $1,030,687,031 to the above total 
 of savings in order to arrive at the approximate amount 
 which the workingmen and working-women of this coun- 
 try have been able to save, and which has been carefully 
 invested, either by themselves, acting on the Boards of 
 Management of the Building and Loan Associations, or 
 by the Officers of the Savings Banks, whose Directorates 
 usually include the ablest business men of the communi- 
 ties in which they are located, many of whom accept such 
 
 *The figures are from reports of Savings Banks, strictly speaking, 
 and do not include savings deposits in other banks and Trust Com- 
 panies. 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 225 
 
 duties without pay and with an eye single to the good of 
 the people whom they thus serve. This is one of those 
 forms of service that is rarely acknowledged, and yet is 
 of the greatest value to the people served, tending toward 
 individual and social uplift in many ways. 
 
 "We thus have a grand total of $5,101,173,277, as 
 representing the total savings of the working people of 
 this country. Nor have we yet discovered the full 
 amount, for many Trust Companies and some National 
 Banks also receive savings accounts, which in the total 
 run up to large figures. But, as this amount cannot be 
 accurately determined, let us assume that it comes from 
 others than workers. The figures already arrived at are 
 large enough for our purpose, and show conclusively that 
 the working people of the country cannot be said to be 
 without means to engage in safe enterprises, if they are 
 once assured that they shall be honestly and efficiently 
 managed. 
 
 "And now I seem to hear the question that must be in 
 some miinds present, 'Do you mean to encourage the with- 
 drawal of savings to invest in doubtful, or questionable 
 business enterprises? Surely you do not think such a 
 course safe, or one that would be to any great extent 
 adopted?' And to this I would have to reply, 'Surely I 
 do not, under present circumstances.' But, suppose that 
 the general Government should decide to encourage co- 
 operative enterprises to the extent suggested in my last 
 address, by allowing those manufacturing corporations 
 engaged in interstate commerce that may desire to do so 
 and new ones also, to incorporate under the national law 
 in much the same way that National Banks are now able 
 to incorporate, thus assuring to all investors that the Cap- 
 ital has been paid in in cash, and that the Government will 
 exercise supervision over them ; would not that place such 
 
226 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 national corporations on an entirely different plane, as 
 regards safety and desirability as investments, from that 
 which they occupy at present; and would it not largely re- 
 move the objections to such investments which at pres- 
 ent very properly obtain ? 
 
 "As an indication that this is not a new idea, and show- 
 ing that some of the ablest minds have been considering 
 it, let me quote the words of one of our great masters 
 of industry, whose name is well known to all of you. Re- 
 ferring to this subject in his book entitled 'Highways of 
 Progress,' Mr. James J. Hill says : 
 
 'Under the constitutional provision allowing Congress to reg- 
 ulate commerce between the States, any company desiring to 
 transact business outside of the State in which it is incorpo- 
 rated should be held to a uniform provision of Federal law; 
 namely, that all should satisfy a commission that their capital 
 stock was actually paid up in cash or in property taken at a 
 fair valuation, just as the capital of a National Bank must be 
 
 certified to be paid up by the Comptroller of the Currency. 
 * * * 
 
 'With such a simple provision of law, the temptation to make 
 companies for the purpose of selling prospective profits would 
 be at an end, and at the same time no legitimate business would 
 suffer; nor could any number of individuals desirous of en- 
 gaging in business as a corporation suffer from any hardship 
 by being obliged to prove that their capital was as advertised — 
 that they were not beginning to deal with the public under false 
 pretences. 
 
 'I am convinced that this is the simplest, most effective and 
 necessary regulation to be applied to modern business methods. 
 It begins at the beginning. It not only attacks the practice by 
 which millions of the people's money have been coaxed into bad 
 investments, but it also bears directly upon the main evil at- 
 tributed to the existence of big corporations. With it they 
 would lose most of their incentive to any such wrong-doing as 
 may be within their power; with it there would be little induce- 
 ment to claim exorbitant profits by raising prices, because the 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 227 
 
 fact could no longer be concealed by spreading the net return 
 over a fictitious capitalization.'* 
 
 "You will notice that to the legal provision suggested 
 by Mr. Hill, showing that the capital has been paid in in 
 full, I have added the provision for supervision by the 
 National Government much in the same way that it now 
 exercises supervision over the national banks. If the 
 corporations were made to pay the cost of these examina- 
 tions by the government agents, there would be no addi- 
 tional charge to the people for them. That they would 
 tend to make general corporation business much safer 
 than at present, the experience of the national banks 
 abundantly proves. And this greater safety would at- 
 tract capital to them. 
 
 "If general industry were so organized, or if but one 
 well-known section of it were so organized that the 
 workingmen and working-women would know for a cer- 
 tainty that they were to be protected so far as Govern- 
 ment requirements go, as to payments on account of 
 stock, and Government oversight, no doubt there would 
 be many willing to invest a part of their savings in such 
 protected corporations. No one knows better than men 
 engaged in my business the danger of making stock in- 
 vestments under the present 'hit or miss' style of incor- 
 poration; and no one would more strongly urge those 
 who think of making such investments to go slow, and 
 do so only after thorough investigation, and full assur- 
 ance that the corporation being considered is sound and 
 well managed; but if the present conditions can be 
 changed and made safe for the small investor, as they 
 should be, then the objections would be removed and a 
 
 •See "Highways of Progress," by James J. Hill, pages 136 and 137. 
 
228 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 comparatively large investment of savings might be made 
 without great risk. 
 
 "And this would be especially likely to occur if a safe 
 method of incorporating Co-operative Associations under 
 Government control were adopted. The very fact that 
 the returns to labor were to be considered in such asso- 
 ciations, with the probability that the experience met with, 
 under careful control elsewhere, would be repeated here, 
 would be an invitation to workingmen and working- 
 women to invest a part of their savings in such protected 
 enterprises. Where Co-operation, both in a productive as 
 well as in a distributive way, has been fairly tried, under 
 conservative control and with the working people taking 
 a direct interest in the management, it has met with 
 marked success. What has been done elsewhere can be 
 done here; all that is needed is a fair trial under the right 
 direction. If that is assured, we have a right to believe 
 that the capital required to make the start will be forth- 
 coming. 
 
 "There is another point in regard to these large sav- 
 ings to which I wish to call your attention, and that is 
 that they form one of the greatest conservative forces 
 that modern society knows. When the proposition is 
 made looking toward any radical system of socialism, 
 such as the division of all property among those who 
 would like to take it without showing any rightful title 
 to it, or the taking over of all property by the State, to 
 be administered in some strange way, not yet defined, for 
 the good of all, when such propositions as these shall be 
 made, we may rest well assured that the workers, both 
 men and women, who have accumulated these great sav- 
 ing funds, will have something to say about it, and we 
 can hardly expect that their decision will be favorable to 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 229 
 
 it, unless human nature shall greatly change before that 
 day. 
 
 "And not only will the natural human impulse be 
 against such scheme of general distribution, but the man- 
 ner of the investment of these large saving funds, as at 
 present administered by those controlling them, will make 
 such distribution all the more unlikely. For they are now 
 so safely invested, for the most part, that they form a 
 most important part of the real capital of the great in- 
 dustries of the country. It is true that this investment is 
 not in the so-called active capital of our industries; but 
 it does form a large part of the underlying capital in the 
 shape of well-secured bonds issued by our great corpo- 
 rations, both public and private. Scarcely a good munici- 
 pality anywhere in the country but its bonds form a part 
 of the invested savings of the workers of the country. 
 Scarcely a solvent Railroad Corporation, or any large 
 incorporated industry, but its bonds can be found among 
 the investments of these savings. So that modern indus- 
 try, even under the present far-from-ideal conditions, does 
 indeed owe this to the workers — that a large portion of 
 its underlying capital is furnished to it by this stored-up 
 labor, thus made active and helpful in the prosecution of 
 general industry. This fact alone seems to make the 
 union of labor and capital under more equitable condi- 
 tions than now prevail almost inevitable some time in the 
 future. It makes the date for the general distribution of 
 all property through some form of socialism very remote 
 indeed ; and it entitles labor, because of this great addi- 
 tional service to capital, to the most equitable treatment 
 that capital can grant, or that can be agreed upon between 
 them. As one of the great conservative forces of society, 
 therefore, which shall help to keep us steady in times of 
 stress and trial ; and yet not so conservative as to be op- 
 
230 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 posed to progress in right directions, I invite your consid- 
 eration to these savings of the workers of our country. 
 
 "As the subject of Co-operation in its various forms 
 has been presented in this series of meetings, the ques- 
 tion, 'Why have attempts at Co-operation so frequently 
 failed, especially in this country?' has no doubt been in 
 many minds. Will you allow me to suggest one or two 
 reasons for many of the failures, and at the same time 
 remind you that we have in our country achieved at least 
 two of the greatest successes in Co-operation that the 
 world knows of, as shown in the Building and Loan As- 
 sociations which were described by Mr. Crandall, and in 
 the Savings Banks, whose great success has been shown 
 this evening. But it is at the same time true that quite 
 a number of attempts have been made at Co-operation, 
 which have failed; and it is well worth our time to in- 
 quire, Why? 
 
 "The failures in Co-operation, both in our own coun- 
 try and abroad, have been due chiefly to three causes : 
 first, lack of sufficient capital ; second, lack of proper book- 
 keeping and auditing, and third, lack of the proper recog- 
 nition of ability, by which is meant, trained administra- 
 tive ability. To these may be added differences that are 
 apt to creep in when success begins to be achieved; but 
 the leading causes are the three first mentioned. So well 
 is this recognized that in the movement that has been in- 
 augurated in the Northwest, especial stress is laid upon 
 the necessity for auditing, and sufficient capital ; and in 
 the division of profits, the same rate per cent, declared as 
 a dividend on purchases is also allowed on salaries and 
 wages paid, which is a proper recognition of ability. In 
 the English form of Co-operation the surplus profits are 
 divided between labor, capital and patronage ; and in the 
 two noted instances of productive Co-operation that have 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 231 
 
 been presented at these meetings — the one in Germany 
 and the other in France-^the division is between labor, 
 capital and ability. If I might be permitted to suggest 
 a change, and what seems to me an improvement, it would 
 be that both patronage and ability, in addition to labor 
 and capital, should be recognized in the distribution of 
 surplus profits, thus removing one of the dangers to suc- 
 cessful Co-operation — the non-recognition of ability — 
 which has caused many failures. This plan seems to have 
 been adopted in the Northwest, and augurs well for the 
 future of Co-operation there. 
 
 "Some of you may think it strange that I have not pre- 
 sented a plan for a Co-operative Bank, and in reply to 
 that silent inquiry I would say that I have not done so be- 
 cause that has already been pretty well done through the 
 presentation of the Building and Loan Association work ; 
 for, as was stated then by Mr. Crandall, these Associa- 
 tions are practically a form of Co-operative banking, with 
 special rules as to the investment of their funds, by which 
 they are turned in the direction of Real Estate loans, the 
 idea being, originally, to help men own their homes. But 
 some modifications should be made in the general banking 
 laws which would provide for the organization, under the 
 proper safeguards, of other forms of Co-operative Banks, 
 such as the ^great Italian institution, which is one of the 
 greatest Banks and also one of the greatest successes of 
 Co-operative principles that the world knows. In fact, 
 the application of the principles of Co-operation to the 
 business of banking is a very simple matter, as we have 
 there in plain sight all the factors to the problem : we have 
 capital, on which a fair rate of interest should be paid; 
 we have labor on the part of those who work in caring 
 for the deposits, investments, &c. ; we have patronage, in 
 the shape of deposits, to which a share of the profits would 
 
232 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 naturally go; and finally, we have ability, in the adminis- 
 trative officers. The time is surely coming when some of 
 the greatest triumphs of Co-operation will be shown in 
 the banking business, and I believe they will be in our own 
 country, too. This should come, in part, to make good 
 the failure of banl-cing to render to the people the full 
 measure of service which we have a right to expect from 
 it. It forms that possible recovery of the business to 
 which I have referred." 
 
 After Bruce had concluded, Chairman Barr made the 
 usual announcement as to the lecturer's willingness to an- 
 swer question, and had hardly ceased when Singleton, the 
 Single Tax advocate, was on his feet, and presenting the 
 following question: 
 
 "I would like to ask the gentleman whether he does not 
 think that banking should be a perfectly free business in 
 which any citizen might engage, just as he might decide 
 to be a baker or shoemaker? and if not, why not?" 
 
 Bruce came slowly to the front of the platform, smiling 
 as though he were not altogether surprised to hear the 
 question (he told Barr after the meeting had adjourned 
 that it seemed like meeting an old friend to hear that 
 question asked). 
 
 "In reply to my friend," he began, "I would say that 
 I am not able to answer his question in the affirmative. I 
 would be glad if human nature were such, or that the 
 experience of society were such, that it could be so an- 
 swered, but unfortunately such is not the case, and I am 
 compelled to say 'No, I do not think so.' The general 
 experience has been that it is much safer to consider the 
 banking business as a partly public business, and that it 
 should have thrown about it all the protection that is pos- 
 sible. Where individuals do engage in it, and they can 
 still do so — there is no prohibition of it — the laws of 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 233 
 
 many of the States require certain formalities to be ob- 
 served, reports to be made, &c., and it seems to me that 
 is perfectly proper, on the score of the protection of the 
 public. As I have already intimated, I regard the Na- 
 tional Bank system as the safest form of banking the 
 world has yet seen, and am glad that it was first tried 
 among our own people, although some of its features had 
 been known elsewhere. I trust that that answers the gen- 
 tlemen's question." 
 
 "Well, it answers it in a way," retorted Singleton, "but 
 it doesn't satisfy me at all. I hold that that business ought 
 to be as free as any other. As to protecting the public — 
 the public isn't always a baby. It shouldn't need to be 
 protected all the time by laws that interfere with personal 
 liberty." 
 
 "In reply to that, I would beg to say," replied Bruce, 
 "that there has always been a portion of the public that 
 has not shown much ability to take care of itself in such 
 business as banking. . Laws are made not only for the 
 strong, but for the weak as well ; and where the weak 
 need protection, it is certainly the duty and province of 
 law to provide it. And that is what the banking laws of 
 the various States have aimed to do. Possibly in an ideal 
 state of society such protection will not be necessary; but, 
 unfortunately, we have not yet arrived at that point of de- 
 velopment." 
 
 This statement was received by a round of applause, 
 during which Singleton took his seat with a pugnacious 
 shake of his head. Barr immediately asked : "Any more 
 questions, ladies and gentlemen?" and was rather sur- 
 prised to hear the deep voice of Hammer Llarry exclaim, 
 as Hammer rose to his feet : 
 
 "Yes ; I would like to ask Mr. Bruce whether he can 
 
234 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 tell us anything about how fast those savings have grown 
 in this country." 
 
 "That's an interesting question, Mr. Chairman," re- 
 plied Bruce. "I have given you the figures since 1870, 
 but I did not go into it further, for I was afraid of tiring 
 you with them. In answer to Hammer's question, I will 
 quote the figures from one State only, and I give its fig- 
 ures because the Savings Bank system of the country 
 really started there. The figures are for the State of 
 Massachusetts, and I will compare only two periods — • 
 1832, a few years after the inauguration of the system, 
 and 1912. The figures are as follows: 
 
 Savings Bank Deposits in Massachusetts : 
 
 For 1832 $2,000,000 
 
 For 1912 857,784,673 
 
 "These figures certainly show a remarkable growth. 
 I wonder if the gentleman who asked this question had 
 any special reason for .doing so. If he has, I wish he 
 would let us know." 
 
 "Well," responded Hammer, "there were two ideas 
 running sort of criss-cross through my head. I think you 
 told us in your last address that these Savings Banks were 
 run almost as a pure co-operative system of banking — 
 that is, they did not, as a general thing, have any capital 
 stock paid in ; did not make any dividends, but divided all 
 the profits among their depositors in the shape of interest, 
 except a part that they passed to their surplus accounts. 
 Did I get that right ?" 
 
 "Yes," replied Bruce, "that is the usual manner in 
 which they are run, although I think that in some States 
 they are allowed to have a capital stock paid in — in which 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 235 
 
 event, they would naturally pay dividends. But the usual 
 form is w^ithout capital." 
 
 "Well, then," replied Hammer, "what I want to ask 
 is this : are not these Savings Banks a good illustration 
 of what Co-operation can do, with Government help ; for 
 in all the States where they operate, the law does try to 
 protect such deposits ; is this not really Co-operation 
 under Government supervision, and a very successful form 
 of it, too?" 
 
 "They certainly form such an illustration," replied 
 Bruce ; "and they are so fully Co-operative that there is 
 no capital employed, so that no return whatever is made 
 on capital — all the profits being divided between labor and 
 patronage ; the salaries to officers and clerks being the re- 
 turn to labor, and the interest paid on deposits being the 
 return to patronage. The question you have just asked, 
 I presented to one of the leading officers of a Savings 
 Bank in a great city lately, and his reply was this : 'They 
 are purely co-operative, not even having to pay anything 
 for capital.' " 
 
 "Then," continued Hammer, "it seems to me they are 
 about the greatest success in Co-operation that the world 
 knows of. They have collected big amounts of the peo- 
 ple's money, which is carefully invested for them, and 
 they are under the supervision of the State. Your sug- 
 gestion is, if I understand it, Mr. Bruce, that the State 
 and National Governments should do for general in- 
 dustry what has already been done for these Savings 
 Banks by the States, and for the National Banks by the 
 National Government. Is that it?" 
 
 "That is very nearly it, Mr. Smith," replied Bruce, 
 "with this difference, of course, that in the industrial en- 
 terprises capital would, of course, be required; while in 
 the case of Savings Bank it is not required. To make it 
 
236 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 more easy to secure this capital, I have suggested the same 
 care as to the capital being paid in, and as to supervision 
 after the business is going, as the Government now exer- 
 cises in the case of National Banks." 
 
 "Thank you, sir," said Hammer. "Now, there is one 
 more question in regard to this, and then I guess I'm 
 done. You have told us something about the growth of 
 these Savings Banks deposits in the past twenty years. 
 Can you give us any idea as to their probable growth in 
 the future; what will they be at the end of the next twenty 
 years?" 
 
 "Not being a prophet," replied Bruce, "I would not like 
 to prophesy; but, of course, you only wished for a prob- 
 able estimate. The result would depend upon the gen- 
 eral course of business. We must remember that the past 
 fifteen years have been a period of unusual growth in 
 business, and, with some exceptions, of more than usually 
 steady employment for labor ; and in spite of the increased 
 cost of living, the savings of labor, as shown by the re- 
 turns of the Savings Banks, have been far greater than 
 in any other like period. The only ansvi^er that could be 
 made to your question would be that, if like conditions 
 should prevail, the total savings as shown by the totals in 
 the Savings Banks of the country at the end of the next 
 twenty years should be between fifteen thousand and 
 twenty thousand millions of Dollars. The gain from the 
 interest alone, if allowed to remain on deposit, would 
 nearly double the present amount, and the additional sav- 
 ings would in all probability make it up to the larger 
 amount stated. But, then, that calculation is based upon 
 conditions remaining as they are or growing better. As 
 to the likelihood of that, you are as good a judge as I." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Bruce," said Hammer. "The reason 
 I asked that question was this: if those big figures, or 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 237 
 
 something like them, are reached, and if the same careful 
 investment of them is made by the managers, won't the 
 investments in the industries of the country owned by 
 labor be something tremendous? You have told us how 
 large they are now ; if labor goes on saving and if its sav- 
 ings are invested as they have been — and there don't 
 seem to be any other way — won't the time come when 
 these savings will be nearly the whole thing? and won't 
 the time come, too, when labor will think that instead of 
 receiving a very moderate return in interest from these 
 savings, which form the backbone of the industries of the 
 country, it should have a larger return as part owner of 
 the industries? And will it not have a right to think so?" 
 
 "The great investment interest, you refer to," replied 
 Bruce, "certainly entitles labor to the most just considera- 
 tion and treatment that can be given it. The management 
 of the large amounts deposited in the Savings Banks of 
 the country is worthy of the highest praise. Whether any 
 wider investment of these funds in general industrial op- 
 erations would be wise is a debatable question ; but under 
 present conditions such investments would, in my opinion, 
 be most unwise, and it is fortunate that they cannot be 
 made. When changes in the laws governing industries 
 shall be made ; when the capital is known to be fully paid 
 in, in cash or in real value, and when the State and Na- 
 tional Governments shall exercise proper supervision — 
 then, it seems to me, a much wider investment of such 
 funds could be safely made, to the very great advantage 
 of labor; and especially so, if the corporations, whose 
 stock was taken, were Co-operative societies, under State 
 control, just as the Savings Banks, holding these depos- 
 its, are under State control." 
 
 "Now, Mr. Bruce," said Chairman Barr, after a slight 
 pause; "as no one else appears to have a question, will 
 
238 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 you allow me to ask one that has been in my mind for 
 some time — ever since your first address, in fact. I would 
 like to know how you propose to manage matters when 
 a big corporation, say like a Railroad or Steamship Com- 
 pany, or some big manufacturing Company employing 
 hundreds or thousands of employes, is concerned. I 
 understand how you can run a store on the Co-operative 
 plan; but how you are going to do it in the other case 
 is what gets me. I think there are others here who are 
 like me, who would be glad to hear something further 
 about that." 
 
 "Perhaps that has not been made very clear," replied 
 Bruce; "and I am glad you have brought it up. My 
 thought in reference to that is this : that after a fair divi- 
 dend has been paid on the capital, the balance of profits in 
 manufacturing and other corporations might be divided 
 into three parts, one of which should go as an additional 
 dividend on capital ; another, as the return to labor in ad- 
 dition to wages, and the third, to the Surplus Fund, so 
 as to strengthen the corporation until this Fund became 
 so large as to need no further additions, when the total 
 surplus profits, after the payment of the dividends on cap- 
 ital, could be divided between labor and capital in equal 
 shares." 
 
 "I notice you said 'a fair dividend,' Mr. Bruce," said 
 Barr; "would you mind telling us what you would con- 
 sider a 'fair dividend' on capital?" 
 
 "Certainly," replied Bruce; "a 'fair dividend' is, in my 
 opinion, such a dividend as any one of us would like his 
 money to earn if invested in a corporation where he had 
 to take the chances of loss, if business were bad. Most 
 of us would like to have five or six per cent, in such cases, 
 and I think that that would be a fair dividend. In fact, 
 I like to be generous in my treatment of capital, just as 
 
A NEEDLESS FAILURE 239 
 
 I would like to be generous in my treatment of labor, and 
 1 would be willing to say that the return to capital should 
 be not less than five per cent., and not more than seven 
 per cent. — the higher rate whenever circumstances would 
 justify it." 
 
 "Well, I'm sure I'm obliged to you, Mr. Bruce," said 
 Barr, "for that question has been a puzzler to me for 
 some time. I could see how you could work it in the store 
 business, but the other was hard to see. Now, gentle- 
 men, if there are no other questions, Ave will — " 
 
 "Just one minute, Mr. Chairman," added Bruce; "the 
 question you have just asked me has brought up another 
 thought that has occurred again and again as these meet- 
 ings have gone on. I have thought what might have been 
 the condition of labor and capital in our country if, when 
 the great revival of business took place about fifteen years 
 ago, some form of Co-operation had existed, such as I 
 have tried to outline; or if, instead of this, capital had 
 acknowledged, because of the great service that labor had 
 just rendered in keeping the finances of the nation on a 
 safe basis and saving us from national bankruptcy; if 
 Capital had said to Labor : 'You shall have an equal share 
 with me in all the at-present-unearned, but with your help 
 soon-to-be-earned, millions of common stock which, with 
 the consent of the laws, I will issue.' If some such ar- 
 rangement as that had been made, and if the amounts that 
 have been made good, with the help of labor, had been 
 equally divided with labor, would not the relations of 
 labor and capital be rather different from what they are ? 
 and would not added opportunities have come to labor 
 from that added wealth? Would not thousands of stu- 
 dents have secured higher education? would there not 
 have been greater comfort in many homes? and, better 
 than all else, would there not have existed a feeling of 
 
240 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 brotherhood and fellowship that now is sadly lacking? 
 It is this that Co-operation aims at, and will some day 
 achieve — a greater diffusion of wealth to all who labor, 
 both with the hand and with the brain — not merely that 
 there may be more money in this and in that bank ac- 
 count, but that the higher things of life may be more 
 readily attainable by all, that justice and peace may rule, 
 and a higher, nobler type of manhood and womanhood be 
 realized. Such an evolution is in the natural order of 
 things ; let us go forward to achieve it." 
 
 With this brief addendum to the address, which was 
 heartily applauded by his hearers, the meeting concluded. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 Another Conference: Engaging Home Speakers. 
 
 "No individual life can be truly prosperous passed in the 
 midst of those who suffer. To the noble soul, it cannot be 
 happy; to the ignoble, it cannot be secure." — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 "And for success, I ask no more than this, — 
 
 To bear unflinching witness to the truth. 
 
 All true, whole men succeed : for what is worth 
 
 Success's name, unless it be the thought. 
 
 The inward surety, to have carried out 
 
 A noble purpose to a noble end ?" — Lowell. 
 
 "Mr. Bruce," said Hammer Harry, at the next meeting 
 of the Building Association Directors, after the cashier 
 had completed his labors and joined the group gathered 
 around the large table in the Board room, "I've had a 
 hard question ready for you for two or three days, and 
 now I've got my opportunity." 
 
 "All right, Hammer," replied Bruce; "if I have the 
 answer, it's yours for the asking." 
 
 "I wanted to ask you whether you could tell us what 
 proportion of the deposits in the Savings Banks of the 
 country would be sufficient to put the Co-operative stores, 
 necessary to meet the needs of the country, in a way to 
 do business. I've been trying to work it out, and I want 
 to see how near you and I come in getting the answer." 
 
 "Well, that's a new one for me, Hammer," replied 
 Bruce ; "but, if you will give me a few minutes, I'll try to 
 have my answer ready" ; saying which he took his pencil 
 and began to figure. In a few minutes he looked up, and 
 with a smile at Hammer, said : "Well, that is most aston- 
 ishing, isn't it?" 
 
 (241) 
 
242 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "What's the answer, Mr. Bruce?" asked Crandall, 
 whose curiosity could never stand long delays. "Have 
 you and Harry run across a real puzzle, or only something 
 
 curious 
 
 ?' 
 
 "Well, something very interesting, to say the least," 
 replied Bruce; "as I think you will admit when I tell 
 you that to make a good start, and as I believe, provide 
 all the capital needed for years to come in Co-operative 
 distribution, less than one per cent, of the amount the 
 people have on deposit in the Savings Banks would be 
 ample." 
 
 "It's something like that, that I ran across," said 
 Hammer, — "when I tried to figure it out, that made me 
 decide to ask you about it." 
 
 "Now, Mr. Bruce, that seems impossible," added Cran- 
 dall ; "are you sure you haven't made a mistake ?" 
 
 "Well, listen to the figures,— all of you," returned 
 Bruce. "I'm taking the total figures for all the Savings 
 Banks, and the other savings in other banks as well, as 
 given by the Comptroller of the Currency for 191 2, 
 which are about 6,500 millions. Now, one per cent, of 
 that amount is 65 millions, is it not? Now, properly dis- 
 tributed through the country, I think that that amount 
 would provide capital for a very good start. Let me 
 show you how I would distribute it; suppose we set 
 aside 25 millions for capital in the ten States having the 
 greatest population and the greatest number of Savings 
 Banks ; then 20 millions for the next ten in population and 
 Banks; and the balance of 20 millions for the balance of 
 the States. That would certainly be sufficient for a good 
 start ; and after a good beginning is made, with profits for 
 one or two good years distributed, we need not fear that 
 ample capital will not be forthcoming after that. I would 
 not be afraid to guarantee that in all the States with 
 
ENGAGING HOME SPEAKERS 243 
 
 largest populations, where Savings Banks have been in 
 existence for the past 20 years, one per cent, of the 
 deposits in such banks would furnish ample capital for 
 such Co-operative stores in the respective States. 
 
 "Don't you think that would be rather small in some 
 of them, Mr. Bruce ?" inquired Crandall. 
 
 "Well, let us take it right here in our own State," 
 replied Bruce. "In the big city which is our neighbor, 
 the Savings Banks proper have deposits amounting to 
 167 millions; in the balance of the State, in purely Sav- 
 ings Banks, there are 35 millions more, — making 202 mil- 
 lions : and in the other banking institutions there are 
 probably 50 millions more, — or 250 millions in all. One 
 per cent, of this amount would be 2^ millions; and that 
 would certainly be enough for a good start for the Co- 
 operative stores in the big towns and cities throughout 
 the State. Or, take the big city alone : one per cent, of the 
 Savings Bank deposits there amount to $1,670,000, — and 
 this would be ample capital for all the Co-operative stores 
 that would be needed there for a long while to come. In 
 fact, in the large cities I believe that one-half of one per 
 cent, of such deposits would furnish an ample capital for 
 all the stores that would be needed for a long time. And 
 when you consider the saving that this would effect for 
 the people generally, it seems strange that the experiment 
 on the plan of the English stores has not yet been tried." 
 
 "Well, now that we have made our attempt here, per- 
 haps the idea will spread," said Crandall. "But there was 
 another point in your last address, Mr. Bruce, that I 
 wanted to ask you about." 
 
 "And your question was, — ?" inquired Bruce. 
 
 "Well, I wanted to ask you whether you don't think 
 that the time is pretty near when a forward movement 
 in the direction of Co-operation can be made; it seems to 
 
244 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 me that we are nearly ready for it. You know it has 
 been prophesied that when our people do take hold of it, 
 they will do it to some purpose, meaning to put it right 
 through." 
 
 "I certainly agree with you in that opinion, Crandall," 
 replied Bruce. "The English pioneers were prepared for 
 the experiment they made by hard experience; and the 
 way that the common people of this country have been 
 treated during the present period of advancing prices for 
 all necessities is in line with their experience : so that we 
 can be said to have had the same thing in the way of 
 preparation. Then, there is this in our favor now : and 
 that is, we have all the advantage to be gained by their 
 experience, and can profit by the mistakes and the failures 
 they made. We know in advance what plans are apt to 
 prove successful, and what dangers we should avoid. It 
 is a thousand times easier to start with every prospect 
 of success now than it was then. It seems as though we 
 had made so much progress along this line that only a few 
 steps remain to be taken. You know we have considered 
 some of these steps in our meetings, — our Building and 
 Loan Associations, our Savings Banks, — both of which 
 have met with such great success here ; and more recently, 
 the great movement so successfully inaugurated in the 
 Northwest, and which is bound to spread over the whole 
 country. Now if we can secure the needed legislation, 
 both by the several States and by the National Govern- 
 ment, we ought to see in the near future a great move- 
 ment in the direction of Co-operation, as defined by, sup- 
 ported by, and enforced by law." 
 
 "And what I like best about the whole thing," said 
 Crandall, as Bruce paused, "is the purpose that Co-opera- 
 tion has, as the English writers you quoted, said, to make 
 a higher type of business man and woman, and bring 
 
ENGAGING HOME SPEAKERS 245 
 
 about something better than we have now in the way of 
 business morals. Why, do you know, Mr. Bruce, what 
 you said the other evening about the way the banking 
 business has been conducted in the big cities, was one of 
 the greatest surprises of my life." 
 
 "You're right there," interrupted Hammer Harry at 
 this point; "why, Mr. Bruce, is that really the way that 
 men in the banking business treat one another ? I always 
 supposed that it was a rather high-toned sort of business, 
 where men were treated as men, and with at least an 
 ordinary degree of justice and right. Why, if I had a 
 half dozen boys, I'd be afraid to let any one of them go 
 into a business like that." 
 
 "You mustn't judge a whole business by a few samples 
 that are bad," replied Bruce. "There are still as fine men 
 in that line of business as you'll find in any other; al- 
 though I must say, there does seem to be, in some direc- 
 tions, a decline from old standards. As I have been 
 studying what must have taken place during this period 
 of concentration, — how men who have grown gray in 
 this honorable line of work have been set aside, so that 
 bigger profits might accrue to others, who may never 
 have worked at it at all, — I confess that I'm inclined to 
 feel about it as you do. But then I remember that these 
 are the exceptions, and not the rule; and I know that it 
 would be utterly unfair to condemn the whole business 
 because of some instances of injustice like these. In the 
 main the business is managed by as high-toned, fair- 
 minded men as you can find in any line; even more so, 
 in my opinion." 
 
 "Well, maybe you're right, Mr. Bruce," said Hammer 
 Harry; "perhaps it's only the efifect of the spirit of the 
 age on the business. But I'm afraid that that spirit is 
 largely mis-directed. It don't seem to know the difiference 
 
246 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 between success and failure; or, perhaps, I ought to say- 
 it has taken a wrong measuring-stick for success, and so 
 makes a good many mistakes. Nowadays, the only meas- 
 ure of success seems to be the Dollar; if a man makes a 
 big pile of cash, no matter how, that seems to spell suc- 
 cess. When I was growing up, we had a different meas- 
 ure, and I confess I liked it better. It was in the time 
 when men were giving themselves and all they had to the 
 country, and the rule then seemed to be : How much can 
 I give ? Now, the rule seems to be : How much can I 
 get ? We honored men in those days for the greatness of 
 their sacrifice for the country; now, honor seems to go 
 to the one who can grab the most." 
 
 "Not altogether, Mr. Smith," said Bruce; "there are 
 still a great many who are not content to use the modern 
 measuring-stick." 
 
 "Well, I hope so; but it seems to me that we have 
 drifted into a place where greed and grab only rule. By 
 the way, Mr. Sharpe," he added, turning to the School 
 Principal; "what is that part of grammar that teaches 
 about adjectives; like good, better, best, and so on?" 
 
 "I think you must refer to the comparison of adjec- 
 tives, Mr. Smith. There are three degrees, you know; 
 Positive, Comparative and Superlative." 
 
 "Thank you; that's just what I wanted to know; it's 
 so long since I went to school, that I had forgotten just 
 how you called them. Well, it seems to me that the three 
 modern degrees of success are : Positive, greed; Compara- 
 tive, grab; and Superlative, graft. There are a good 
 many things happening that seem not only to indicate it, 
 — but they prove it. Let us hope there'll be a turn for 
 the better soon, so's we can get a better standard of suc- 
 cess. Everything seems to hinge on that. Why, in the 
 old days, the man that lost the most was sometimes 
 
ENGAGING HOME SPEAKERS 247 
 
 thought the most of. Did you ever hear of General 
 Nathaniel Lyon?" 
 
 "Oh, yes. I think we have all read about him, Mr. 
 Smith. He was a Union general, early in the Civil War.'" 
 
 "Well, let me tell you something I heard about him. 
 I was down in the city of Hartford a few years ago, and 
 I visited the State Capitol there, — a beautiful building, 
 set in a fine park. But I saw a piece of paper in the 
 library in the State House that made me forget the great 
 building and the beauty about it. It was a sheet of paper 
 bearing the signature of Abraham Lincoln ; it was Lyon's 
 Commission as a Brigadier General, but it never reached 
 him. He was killed in an engagement before it got to 
 him. And this is what the State Librarian told me; he 
 said that Lyon was a native of Connecticut and owned a 
 little farm down there; and when his will was read, it 
 was found that he had given that little property to the 
 Government, to help it in its hour of need. Can you beat 
 that for patriotism? He gave himself while he lived, 
 and he left his property to his country. That shows 
 the spirit of those days. And in comparison with what 
 we have now, — the greed, grab, graft game, — doesn't 
 the old spirit tower up into the sky ; and don't the present 
 game seem cheap, and tawdry, and mean and low and 
 vulgar, in spite of all the fuss and feathers it can display ? 
 I tell you, it's the spirit a man lives in, — it's the spirit 
 that rules a country, that makes them great or little." 
 
 "I think you're right there, Hammer," said Crandall; 
 "but it seems to me that you're hardly fair as to the feel- 
 ing of the great majority of the people. The heart of 
 our people is all right, and don't you forget it. There's 
 a great deal more of good than bad to be found, even 
 yet; and I believe the good is all the time growing." 
 
 "Well, think that way, if you can, John" ; replied Ham- 
 
248 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 mer; "but remember that I am older than you and can 
 remember some things that you can't. I have spoken of 
 General Nathaniel Lyon, because he was the type of thou- 
 sands of men when I was growing up. Again and again 
 did the best men in a community, — the best educated, 
 the leaders in business, give up everything and go to the 
 aid of their country; and it left with me and thousands 
 of other boys a memory that has always remained with 
 us, and taught us what our country was worth. Shall I 
 tell you of just one of those memories, which I think 
 thousands of men as old as I am must have?" 
 
 "Lm sure we would be glad to hear it, Hammer"; 
 replied Crandall. 
 
 "Well, I don't know why I should be telling you this, 
 but somehow my memory goes back to those days to- 
 night; perhaps it's to teach Barr, here, and some of the 
 rest of you, just what this country of ours has cost, and 
 so let them know what it's worth. I think I told you 
 some time ago about my Uncle Harry, who I was named 
 for, — about his taking me to see President Lincoln, and 
 afterward enlisting and losing his life at Gettysburg. 
 Well, about three or four months before that battle he 
 was home on a little furlough, and of course he came to 
 make us a visit. I remember, just as if it was yesterday, 
 sitting on his lap the day he started back for the front, 
 and admiring his big army overcoat, and fingering the 
 big, brass buttons, with Uncle Sam's eagles on them, and 
 wishing I was old enough to go with him. And then, 
 after a while he kissed me good bye, and I ran with the 
 rest of the folks to the front door to see him off; and at 
 the corner of the next street he turned and waved us a 
 good bye in a cheery way, — then passed from sight, and 
 we never saw him again. Like so many others, he went 
 as a living sacrifice, cheerfully, willingly made, — that 
 
ENGAGING HOME SPEAKERS 249 
 
 you and I might enjoy the blessing of a Government of 
 the people, by the people, and for the people. And I 
 think of other sacrifices,- — perhaps even greater than his; 
 — of men who, wounded in that service, have given fifty 
 years of suffering to the country they loved : and it seems 
 to me that the Great Republic, which they helped to save 
 for us, — like a great-hearted mother, — must especially 
 love these children of hers, who were thus willing to 
 serve her. And so you must excuse me if, when I think 
 of these sacrifices, willingly offered by great souls on the 
 altar of Liberty, I feel a little their passionate love of 
 freedom, and speak perhaps more strongly than I should." 
 And Hammer relapsed into silence, as though he had 
 spoken rather too freely. 
 
 "I guess we'll have to admit you're right. Hammer," 
 said Barr, after a slight pause; "but it never struck me 
 that way before. I always thought that we were just 
 the right thing, sure. Look here, suppose you give us 
 that, with some additions, at our next meeting. It would 
 be just the right stunt, wouldn't it, Mr. Sharpe?" he 
 added, turning to the Principal. 
 
 "I think that that would be fine. In fact, Mr. Smith," 
 he continued, "it is just the note that we have thus far 
 missed. Let us have your definition of success and 
 failure. I'm sure it will be helpful : and add to it your 
 idea of patriotism." 
 
 "I can't do anything of the kind," replied Hammer; "I 
 couldn't do it any more than Earr could, and it isn't any 
 more fair to ask me than it would be to ask him." 
 
 Here was where Hammer made his mistake, for the 
 suggestion was at once taken up, and by a little wise 
 using of the one against the other, with some good 
 natured bantering thrown in, the others soon persuaded 
 Barr that he could do very well, and then tied Hammer 
 
250 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 down with a firm promise that if Barr would address 
 the meeting, he would do the same. The little meeting 
 soon adjourned with this understanding, but Hammer 
 Harry continued to protest against any such arrangement, 
 even after he had accepted the situation. Both he and 
 Barr left the meeting place in a more serious frame of 
 mind than was usual with them, — each regretting the 
 haste with which he had spoken. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 An Accident and A Promotion. 
 
 "So passed the great, heroic soul away." — Tennyson. 
 
 "And the brave deed burns on, to light men's feet 
 Where death for noble ends makes dying sweet." 
 
 — Lowell; of Robert Gould Shaw. 
 
 "That best portion of a good man's life; — 
 The little, nameless, quick-forgotten acts 
 Of kindness and of love." — Anon. 
 
 "Death ever fronts the wise; 
 Not fearfully, but with clear promises 
 Of larger life." — Lowell. 
 
 But it was not so ordered, — that Hammer Harry- 
 should make the address at the next Club Meeting. Long 
 before that time the little town had been startled by an 
 event which greatly changed the current of affairs ; which 
 made it impossible that his address could be delivered, 
 and even made it unnecessary for Barr to prepare his. 
 This was due to an accident and an accompanying act 
 of heroism, — one of those numberless acts of devotion 
 and self-sacrifice which occur almost daily in this great 
 country of ours, passing almost unheralded, but making 
 life sweeter and richer for us all. It happened in this 
 wise : 
 
 The very next morning after the meeting of the Com- 
 mittee Hammer Harry was coming slowly up the pike, as 
 the main street of the town was generally called, on his 
 way home after an emergency call to the mills early in 
 the morning, to superintend repairs made necessary by a 
 
 (251) 
 
252 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 break-down in some of the heavy machinery, about which 
 he knew more than any one else. As he crossed one of 
 the intersecting streets near the base of the hill, he noticed 
 that the men repairing the roadway had not yet removed 
 the heavy wooden trestle with which they had barred off 
 the street, thus compelling drivers to make a long detour 
 to get to the river bridge. Wondering how much longer 
 it would take them to complete a little job like that, for 
 the obstruction had been there several days, he proceeded 
 slowly up the hill. He Vv'as very tired, having lost a good 
 part of his night's sleep, and intended getting even when 
 he reached his home by turning in after breakfast and 
 taking the morning off. 
 
 He had climbed half way up the hill, when his atten- 
 tion was attracted by a noise farther up, — the rattling 
 of a wagon, and the shouts of passers-by. In an instant 
 he saw a sight that thrilled him, and electrified him into 
 life and action, such as a moment before would have 
 seemed impossible. The heavy Dearborn wagon, — the 
 market wagon, — belonging to the "little boss," drawn by 
 its usual team of high-spirited horses, was coming flying 
 down tlie hill, with the driver, Barney O'Donnell, strug- 
 gling to regain control of the runaway horses, but with 
 indifferent success. In the wagon were the three chil- 
 dren of the "little boss," two girls, who were clinging to 
 the sides of the swaying wagon, and the boy, whom 
 Barney had ordered to lie down, so that he could place 
 his legs over him, and thus hold him in. 
 
 Hammer saw that there was but one thing to be done, 
 if the lives of the children were to be saved, and that was 
 for the team to be turned into a broad avenue crossing 
 the pike at right angles, near which he had arrived. Run- 
 ning to the intersection, he shouted to Barney, and by 
 motions made it clear to him what he must try to do. 
 
A PROMOTION 253 
 
 The driver had succeeded in getting the team partially 
 under control, but the horses were still going at great 
 speed, and it seemed doubtful whether the turn could be 
 made. But Hammer knew that it must be made; he re- 
 called the obstruction across the street at the base of the 
 hill, and he was determined that the turn should be suc- 
 cessfully accomplished. Forgetting himself, he ap- 
 proached too near the center of the roadway, or perhaps 
 the wagon skidded in making the turn, or it may be that 
 he deliberately placed himself where he knew he would 
 be struck, so as to make the turn to safety more sure, — • 
 however that may be, as the turn was made the wagon 
 struck him a glancing blow, which came with great force, 
 and sent him reeling to the side of the road. As the 
 wagon with its living freight passed on to safety, he fell 
 heavily, struck his head against the curb, and lay 
 motionless. 
 
 In an instant the street was in an uproar. A crowd 
 gathered, and Hammer's unconscious body was tenderly 
 raised and carried to a drug store, and two nearby 
 physicians summoned. In a few minutes Doctor Doug- 
 lass arrived, and gave him needed attention. When asked 
 how badly he was hurt, the Doctor would only say that 
 it was "pretty bad." In a few minutes Barney, who had 
 turned the runaway team up hill again at the next street, 
 quickly regained control, then tied the horses beside the 
 street, and placing the children in charge of a neighbor 
 came running back to see what he could do. The poor 
 fellow's distress, when he found that Hammer was badly 
 hurt, and that nothing could be done, was pitiful. "He 
 saved us all" ; he repeated again and again. "I'm sure 
 it was the stroke we gave him as we turned, that sent us 
 around safe; and I'm sure he meant that we should hit 
 him; he knew we couldn't get round without." 
 
254 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 When asked how it had occurred, Barney said he 
 hardly knew, — it had all happened so quickly. "At the 
 top of the hill I noticed that there was something wrong 
 with the harness, and got out to fix it. As I got back, 
 they started; I don't know why; guess it must have been 
 the noise of a bursting tire of an auto that had just 
 passed. At any rate they were a bit too quick for me, 
 and seemed to take the bits in their teeth. If it hadn't 
 been for Hammer, it would have been all up with us, for 
 if we had gone on down the hill, what would have hap- 
 pened at the bar at Ford Street?" 
 
 Crandall came up the street a few minutes after the 
 accident, for he, too, had been called to the mills by the 
 break-down. As he saw the crowd gathered about the 
 corner, he hastened along, and was soon shocked by the 
 news of the injury to his old friend and fellow workman. 
 A little later he helped to take the wounded man to his 
 home, and then spent most of the day at his bedside. 
 Again and again he sought some reassuring word from 
 the Doctor, but always in vain. "I cannot tell," the 
 latter would say; "but I think there is little hope. You 
 see he fell heavily, and there is an ugly wound at the side 
 and back of the head. If I could give you anything to 
 build your hope on, I would be only too glad to do it; 
 but I cannot." And that was all Crandall could get from 
 him. 
 
 Late that evening there was a sad group gathered in 
 the Committee Room at the old school house. Barr had 
 heard the news upon his arrival in town on the evening 
 train, and after a brief visit home, had hurried here, 
 thinking that some of the others would be sure to come. 
 Nor was he mistaken, for before long all the members 
 of the Committee who could come had arrived. Bruce 
 
A PROMOTION 255 
 
 had heard of the accident shortly after it happened; but 
 Sharpe had been called out of town, and had heard but 
 little about it. "How did it happen?" was his inquiry, 
 as soon as he reached the room. 
 
 Bruce gave him the particulars, as he had heard them, 
 and then young Strong, who had just joined them, 
 added : 
 
 "As I came up the street I stopped at McFadden's 
 grocery, and asked him about it. He's right on the cor- 
 ner there, where it happened, you know. He said that 
 he heard the shouting up the street, and ran to the door 
 to see what was the matter. He saw the team coming, 
 and then noticed Hammer in the middle of the street, 
 shouting to Barney and pointing for him to turn. 'I 
 thought he was too near and might be struck,' he said; 
 'and shouted for him to come back. But I might as w^U 
 have been quiet, for all the good it did. I really believe 
 that he tried to put his body so that it would be struck, 
 for fear that the wagon might turn over as they went 
 round : he sure meant to save those children.' And from 
 what we all know of Hammer, we won't have much 
 trouble in thinking the same way." 
 
 After that but little was said for some time, all wait- 
 ing for the well-known step of Crandall, for they felt 
 sure they would see him during the evening. Nor were 
 they mistaken, for well on toward ten o'clock, they heard 
 him coming with heavy tread along the hallway. Barr 
 sprang to the door to meet him, but they all realized, as 
 soon as they saw him, that the end had come. Crandall 
 made his way to the table at which the others were sit- 
 ting, placed his arms upon it, then laid his head upon his 
 arms and began to sob like a child. While he was sitting 
 thus, there was another footstep along the hallway, and 
 in another moment the door opened, and the "Little Boss" 
 
256 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 stood before them. He came slowly forward and joined 
 them, saying to Crandall, as he took his seat : 
 
 "I felt sure I would find some of you here. Is it all 
 over then, John?" 
 
 Crandall could only nod his head; and the newcomer 
 said: 
 
 "Well, you all know the debt I owe him, boys. I don't 
 dare to think what would have happened if he had not 
 been there. I had to go down to the city to-day; was 
 taking the train about the time it happened. Barney met 
 me at the train this evening and told me about it ; he says 
 that Hammer deliberately put himself in the way of the 
 wagon. My wife hasn't got over it yet. I wish you 
 could hear the boy tell about it. It seems that he and 
 Hammer have been quite friends for some time ; Hammer 
 always used to stop and pass the time of day with him, 
 when he saw him about, and the boy had taken quite a 
 shine to him ; called him 'the nice, big man.' I asked him 
 to-night if he wasn't afraid when he was in the wagon 
 and the horses running oS, and he said : 'Indeed I was, 
 until I saw the nice, big man standing there ; then I knew 
 he would take care of us all.' And so he did. And now 
 he's beyond our power, even to thank." 
 
 Crandall now straightened up, and with a shame-faced 
 air, said : 
 
 "You must excuse me, men ; but you see. Hammer and 
 I have been together so long that this has shaken me out 
 of myself. I don't see how I'm to get along without 
 him." 
 
 "Was he conscious at all, John, before the end?" in- 
 quired the Iron Master. 
 
 "Yes, sir" ; replied Crandall. "I would like to tell you 
 what happened. The Doctor had told me late in the 
 afternoon that he felt sure there was no hope; but he 
 
A PROMOTiUN 257 
 
 said that there might be a short period of consciousness 
 a little while before the end ; that he was not sure, but it 
 sometimes happened that way. And so it did. Were any 
 of you where you could notice the sunset to-night ? Well, 
 you remember how fine it was. Hammer's room has two 
 big windows facing the west; and just when it was the 
 brightest he opened his eyes, and I saw he was fully con- 
 scious again. He smiled at me, and I saw he wanted to 
 speak. His head was pretty well tied up, you know; so 
 I put my head down close to his mouth, and the first 
 thing he said was : 'Were any of the children hurt, 
 Jackie?' And when I said, 'No, Hammer; nobody hurt 
 but you,' he said, 'I'm so glad, so glad; just what I 
 wanted.' And then in a minute or two he added : 'It's 
 all right, Jackie; it's all right; just as I wanted,' — and 
 then he stopped and looked beyond me, as if he was look- 
 ing at some one else standing there; and he said, in the 
 gladdest tone I ever heard from him : 'Why, laddie ! is it 
 you, dear lad?' and then the curtain came down, and he 
 was unconscious again. I knew what had happened, for 
 I've seen it before. His boy had been sent for him, and 
 I knew then that it would not be long before the end 
 would come. The rest was only the machine breaking 
 and running down. The end came a half hour ago, and I 
 came straight here. I wanted to see you all, and tell you 
 about it." 
 
 There were no dry eyes in the room as Crandall 
 finished his account of what had taken place at Hammer's 
 deathbed. Barr walked over to a window, where he 
 stood blinking at nothing for a while. 
 
 In a few minutes Crandall suddenly turned to Sharpe, 
 the School Principal, and said : 
 
 "I wish you would do me and Hammer a great favor, 
 Mr. Sharpe." 
 
258 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 The latter was surprised at the request, but replied : 
 
 "Why, of course, Mr. Crandall; if there's anything I 
 can do, I'll be glad to do it for you. What did you have 
 in mind?" 
 
 "Perhaps you'll think it strange, but I want you to 
 read a couple of poems. I was telling you some time ago 
 something about Hammer's life, you remember. Well, 
 I don't know whether you will believe me when I tell 
 you that Hammer had a presentment that this year 
 would be his last. He told me about the first of the year, 
 and I tried to say that he was morbid, and was getting 
 nervous, &c. But he held out his arm, and told me to 
 feel his pulse, and asked me if that felt nervous. 'Why, 
 I'm right glad to be able to say so, Jackie,' he said; 'I'm 
 not nervous or morbid ; I'm just glad, that's what I am' ; 
 and I couldn't get him to change his mind. Well, he asked 
 me as a favor, if I would read something at his funeral. 
 'I don't care for any set service,' he said; 'although you 
 can do as you please about that, but there are two poems 
 that I would like you to read then, if you will.' I told 
 him that I did not believe I could do it, but I might be 
 able to find some one who could. He said that would 
 do just as well ; and he gave me the poems. I have them 
 here, and I thought you would perhaps be willing to read 
 them to us now, and then read them, too, at his funeral." 
 
 "I'll do anything to oblige you, Mr. Crandall," replied 
 the Schoolmaster. "Will you let me see them? Oh, I 
 know this one" ; he added, as he took them. "It's one of 
 the most beautiful in the language; a proof of what 
 Shelley said; 'Our sweetest songs are those that tell of 
 saddest thought.' Strange, is it not, that any one who 
 could write a poem like this, would not put his name to 
 it? It is just a stray, you know; published in a news- 
 paper without any name to it. But then there is doubt- 
 
A PROMOTION 259 
 
 less a life-history written in it. Did Mr. Smith tell you 
 why he liked it?" 
 
 "Yes"; replied Crandall; "he said about what you have 
 just said; he liked it because it told the story of his life. 
 But he added, I remember, that he had begun to under- 
 stand; and that he believed that sorrows, even like his, 
 were sent that men might grow to be more helpful and 
 sympathizing. And that was what he had become, as I 
 know better than any one else." 
 
 The Schoolmaster had a rarely sympathetic voice, and 
 all the group, including the Iron Master, thought they 
 had never heard anything more beautiful, as he read with 
 deep feeling the following poem : 
 
 GETHSEMANE. 
 
 "In golden youth, when seems the earth 
 A summer land for singing mirth, 
 When souls are glad and hearts are light 
 And not a shadow lurks in sight. 
 We do not know it, but there lies 
 Somewhere, veiled under evening skies, 
 A garden, each must sometime see; 
 Gethsemane, Gethsemane, — 
 Somewhere his own Gethsemane. 
 
 "With joyous steps we go our ways, 
 Love lends a halo to the days, 
 Light sorrows sail like clouds afar. 
 We laugh and say how strong we are. 
 We hurry on, and hurrying go 
 Close to the borderland of woe, 
 That waits for you and waits for me; 
 Gethsemane, Gethsemane, 
 Forever waits Gethsemane. 
 
26o LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "Down shadowy lanes, across strange streams, 
 
 Bridged over by our broken dreams. 
 
 Behind the misty cape of years, 
 
 Close to the great salt font of tears 
 
 The garden lies; strive as you may. 
 
 You cannot miss it on your way ; 
 
 All paths that have been or shall be 
 
 Pass somewhere 
 
 Through Gethsemane. 
 
 "All those who journey, soon or late 
 
 Must pass within the garden's gate; 
 
 Must kneel alone in darkness there 
 
 And battle with some fierce despair. 
 
 God pity those who cannot say; 
 
 'Not mine, but thine' ; who only pray 
 
 'Let this cup pass,' and cannot see 
 
 The purpose in Gethsemane ; 
 
 Gethsemane, Gethsemane, 
 
 God help us through Gethsemane.'' 
 
 "And who is the other by?" asked the Schoolmaster; 
 after a short pause. "I notice that it is in manuscript. 
 Was there any special meaning attached to it, in Mr. 
 Smith's mind, do you know?" 
 
 "Yes, there was" ; replied Crandall. "He said that 
 had been written by a friend of his, who knew of the 
 experience the poem tells about; and Harry said that 
 something like it had happened to him; and after the 
 death of his boy, it seemed to him as though it must have 
 been him that the writer meant. He said one poem told 
 about his past life and the other about his hope for the 
 future. You will see what he meant, as you read it." 
 
 So Sharpe read the second poem, which was entitled 
 "The Greeting," and which ran as follows : 
 
A PROMOTION 261 
 
 THE GREETING. 
 
 We were passing through the great station, my five year old 
 
 boy and I, 
 When we met my old friend, the Captain — who would not 
 
 let us pass by 
 Without a few words of greeting; so we paused and chatted 
 
 awhile, 
 The child a most eager listener — looking up with his frank, 
 
 boyish smile. 
 
 The Captain — his Chief of Policemen ! How he loved and 
 
 admired the man ! 
 His boyish ideal of manhood — of its courage and strength — 
 
 all began 
 And ended in Captain MacDonald: and the Captain, with warm, 
 
 Scottish heart 
 Returned in its kind his devotion, of his life and his love claimed 
 
 a part. 
 
 "My, how your laddie is growin'; sure, soon he'll be votin', — 
 
 a man ! 
 He minds me of my little Sandy; sure, they're built on much 
 
 the same plan. 
 My laddie will soon be past seven ; a terror he is to my folks — 
 With his noise, and his romps, and his badness, and betimes, 
 
 his sly little jokes. 
 
 "Ah, what would we do without children? We old folks — I 
 fear, we'd grow bad : 
 
 And life — 'twould be hardly worth living: sure, 'twould be 
 terrible sad. 
 
 They bring us such wealth of devotion, they give us such full- 
 ness of love : 
 
 Sure, they teach us all lessons from Heaven — from the King- 
 dom of Children above." 
 
262 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Thus he spoke, and my boy eyed him closely, as a worshiper 
 
 true of great men, 
 With an air of gravest attention, till he paused for a moment. 
 
 and then 
 The lad lifted his clear, childish treble, and said, in his courtly 
 
 way: 
 "I would like to meet your laddie; may I see him here some 
 
 day?" 
 
 I could see he had pleased the Captain, who saluted and gravely 
 
 said: 
 "I'm sure he would be delighted," and patted the dear, boyish 
 
 head. 
 Then, turning to me, he added: "I think they'd be friends 
 
 through and through ; 
 For my laddie loves me so fully : I see yours is as loyal to you." 
 
 So we left our big-hearted Captain, and hastened to catch our 
 
 train. 
 Ah ! how many hard places and changes did I see ere I met him 
 
 again ; 
 But the hardest of all was the parting from the boy who was 
 
 loved so well. 
 How dark are that valley's deep shadows, only those who have 
 
 known them can tell. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Once more as I passed through the station, the Captain came 
 
 to me again, 
 And at once he inquired: "How's your boy, sir?" and then, at 
 
 my look of pain ; 
 "You don't mean, he's been taken from you?" and I saw the 
 
 quick tears start: 
 "And mine, I've lost, too !" he added, with a look that went to 
 
 my heart. 
 
 Ah, me : in our fullness of sorrow, our hearts knew each other 
 
 that day ! 
 And, taking the hand of the Captain, I sought in my heart what 
 
 to say ; 
 
A PROMOTION 263 
 
 Then recalled to his mind my boy's message — for I wanted to 
 
 comfort him so: 
 "Oh, my friend, our boys are together — in the Kingdom of 
 
 Children, you know." 
 
 Two men with a common sorrow ! Two spirits bearing the 
 cross ! 
 
 Two hearts still longing for comfort; still feeling their bitter 
 loss ! 
 
 How the fellowship born of tlieir sorrow drew them closer 
 together as friends. 
 
 Can it be that this knowing each other is the greatest of sor- 
 row's ends ? 
 
 "As ships that pass in the night, and leave no sign of their 
 
 passing:" 
 Nay! that is not friendship's word; rather, this — of a love so 
 
 surpassing 
 All love that's of earth and of time, that it changes our sorrow 
 
 to joy 
 With promises laden with blessing. I know I shall meet my 
 
 boy! 
 
 Yea : given back to my arms once more ! Aye, given back with 
 
 the gain 
 That comes from his higher living, to which my soul shall 
 
 attain. 
 He was given by Love Immortal, to walk by my side awhile ; 
 Then was called, and passed from my keeping, with his boyish, 
 
 yet heavenly, smile. 
 
 He was mine — a gift from our Father: and again shall I call 
 
 him my own ! 
 By the love I've received and have given — by that gift, the 
 
 Spirit is known. 
 I surrendered to Love Immortal the child He had loaned me 
 
 to show 
 The way to more beautiful service, that my soul more of truth 
 
 might know. 
 
264 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Oh, souls that are bearing the burden of sorrow and grief too 
 
 deep 
 For your hearts alone to endure it — let the Love Immortal still 
 
 keep 
 The loved you have lost in His keeping: you may trust that all 
 
 is well 
 In the strength and love of His keeping! And your joy at the 
 
 end, who may tell? 
 
 Oh, Thou: Who hast life in Thy keeping — whether here, or 
 
 with Thee above; 
 Thou, who sendest to us these great blessings, the surest pledge 
 
 of Thy love ! 
 Teach our weak, human hearts so to love Thee — so to lean on 
 
 Thy strength divine ; 
 That we may trust our best loved to Thy keeping: holding this 
 
 best of all — they are Thine ! 
 
 When the reader concluded there was a silent pause 
 for several minutes, which was broken by Crandall, who 
 said: 
 
 "For a number of years my lips have been sealed, but 
 now I can say what I would have been glad to say while 
 Hammer was living, but he pledged me not to. Mr. 
 Worden, do you remember asking me some months ago 
 about people coming to you and thanking you for things 
 that they thought you had done for them, when you 
 didn't know anything about it ?" 
 
 "I recall it very well"; replied the Iron Master. "I 
 have been stopped again and again by persons who had 
 been helped in some mysterious way, and thanked by them 
 for it; and I confess it made me feel foolish. Do you 
 mean to say that Hammer was the cause of it?" 
 
 "That's what I mean," replied Crandall. "I couldn't 
 tell you then, but I can now. The people of this town 
 
A PROMOTION 265 
 
 will never know what they owe to him. Do you men 
 remember what little Mrs. McCall told us at one of our 
 meetings about being helped by the Lookout Committee, 
 just after her husband died?" 
 
 There were several nods of assent, and he continued : 
 "Well, that was all Hammer's doings. He suggested 
 that we get together such a Committee. I remember it 
 well; it was just after the Society of Christian Endeavor 
 had appointed their Committee with that name, and Ham- 
 mer saw the announcement in the 'Herald.' 'That's a 
 splendid idea,' he said ; 'now, why shouldn't we men form 
 a Lookout Committee of that kind, and look up any case 
 of need that comes along? We ought to be ashamed of 
 ourselves if a town as rich as this should let any one suffer 
 in it.' And so we did it; but he was the one that was on 
 the lookout, and any help that was given was nearly al- 
 ways due to him. And there's another thing that only 
 Mr. Bruce and I knew about. Some of you may have 
 wondered why Hammer didn't get rich; everybody knew 
 that he got a good salary, and he had hardly any expenses. 
 Now, let me tell you why. His wife had inherited a 
 little money from her folks, and they put that in the 
 house they built; so he had that clear. Well, two or 
 three years after he lost his boy and then his wife, he 
 came to me one day and said that he wanted to do some- 
 thing with his money; said he was getting more than his 
 share, and he had thought it all out, and said what he 
 wanted to do was to make a fund that would take care 
 of the education of bright boys and girls, whose parents 
 couldn't afiford to send them to college. So he wanted 
 me and the Cashier of the Bank here, — Mr. Bruce, now, 
 — to be the Trustees of what he had ready to give us, 
 and that was Ten Thousand Dollars then, and he has 
 
266 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 added to it since, until it is now about twice that amount. 
 Well, the income he said should go to help pay the cost 
 of sending those who needed it down to the city to get a 
 better education than they could here; and that will ex- 
 plain to some of you things that you haven't been able 
 to understand now and then. You remember, Mr. 
 Sharpe, I told you about the boy he held in the trolley 
 that night, just before his own boy died ?" 
 
 "I remember very well," replied the Schoolmaster. 
 
 "Well, that boy was one of those that were helped. I 
 remember, Hammer said, 'the little fellow couldn't help it; 
 he didn't know what was the matter with him, and some 
 day I guess I'll see that it's been for the best.' And now 
 that fund is to be increased by all the rest that he was 
 able to make; but I don't suppose that will be much, for 
 he's been giving all his life. But I couldn't help telling 
 this much; seems like it's a relief to be able to do him 
 justice at last." 
 
 "I'm glad you told us, John," said the Iron Master. 
 "It does us good to hear such things; and, besides, it 
 makes my duty clearer. Like you, I doubt whether what 
 he has left will make the fund much larger. But I'll tell 
 you what I want to do : suppose you see what the men 
 in the mills will do, and say to them that any amount 
 that they care to add to this fund, I will duplicate; and 
 I will also double the amount of the fund as it is at pres- 
 sent, and we will hold it for all time as a memorial for 
 Hammer. When I think of what I might have come 
 home to this evening, I know that nothing I can do will 
 ever repay my debt to him." 
 
 Barr, who had been standing aside during this talk, 
 now came to the table around which the rest were sitting, 
 and said, — in a voice that trembled a little : 
 
 "It seems to me. Hammer has put us all to shame. 
 
A PROMOTION 267 
 
 While we have been talking Co-operation this winter, he 
 has been living it for years ; and now, to fill up the meas- 
 ure, he has given his life in the same spirit. I rather 
 think it's his kind of Co-operation that will count up 
 above." 
 
 "I have no doubt you are right, Barr," replied the Iron 
 Master; "and I am sure that it is the best kind of Co- 
 operation for us all while we are down here, too. My 
 experience to-day proves that clearly enough. Crandall, 
 will you take charge of the matter I spoke of, and see the 
 men at the mills? I ought to be getting home." 
 
 "I will attend to that, sir; and I'm going to ask the 
 rest to help me about it," replied the latter. "We'll form 
 a Committee and canvass the whole town; I'm sure a 
 great many, besides the men at the mills, will want to 
 contribute to this fund." 
 
 "Very well ; what I said about the men in the mills will 
 hold good for any amount you may be able to collect" ; 
 and bidding the others 'good night,' Worden passed from 
 the room. Crandall and the rest remained a few minutes 
 to complete the arrangements for making the canvass of 
 the town, and then they, too, left the building. 
 *********** 
 
 The funeral of Hammer Harry was long-remembered 
 as the largest and most impressive that Pleasantville had 
 ever known. When the towns-people learned from 
 Crandall and his friends of the work that he had been 
 doing for years past, they were deeply touched, and all 
 wanted to contribute so far as they could to the Memorial 
 Fund, the income of which was to be used to continue 
 the work in which he had been interested. The Metho- 
 dist Church, in which the services were held, at the re- 
 quest of Crandall and several others of the men at the 
 mills who were members, was crowded to the doors. The 
 
268 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 two poems were read by Principal Sharpe, and three short 
 addresses made ; one by the Minister of the Church, Mr. 
 Meredith; one by the Priest of the Catholic Church, who 
 had known Hammer well, and who said on this occasion 
 that he knew so fully how much Harry had done for 
 members of his Church that he wished to testify in this 
 way to his sense of his worth, and to show also that 
 there were times when denominational lines might be for- 
 gotten; and, lastly, to the surprise of many, by young 
 Strong, who said he wished to represent those who had 
 been helped to an education by Hammer Harry. In the 
 course of his remarks he stated that an important an- 
 nouncement, of interest to all of his friends would be 
 made within a few days through the columns of the 
 "Herald." 
 
 Hammer's body was laid to rest in the local cemetery 
 in the lot in which had been interred the bodies of his 
 wife and the "little lad" whom he had loved so well; and 
 it was borne to its last resting place by several of those 
 whom he had helped to the education they would have 
 been denied, had it not been for the aid he extended. 
 
 After the brief services at the grave, several of Ham- 
 mer's friends, including the young minister, Mr. Mere- 
 dith, Crandall, Barr, Bruce and Sharpe, remained there 
 a while. After a few minutes Crandall said; 
 
 "I don't see how I'm going to get on without him. 
 Again and again in the past few days I've caught myself 
 saying; 'I'll talk it over with Hammer,' just as I've been 
 doing for more than twenty years past ; and I know that 
 Mr. Worden will miss him almost as much as I will. I 
 can't seem to sense it yet, that he's gone ; seems as though 
 he must be around here somewhere." 
 
 "And I'm just the other way, John," said Barr. "It 
 was sudden, it's true; but when a man's work is done, it 
 
A PROMOTION 269 
 
 always seems to me that that is the best way for the end 
 to come. I like to think of him now as being with his 
 wife and the little lad he loved so well. I believe with all 
 my heart that there is where he is ; for that is what death 
 means, — a change of life, not the end of it." 
 
 "You are both right," added the young minister; "it 
 is not strange that brother Crandall should still feel the 
 old close association that must go with life-long friend- 
 ship. And may I say that that was the great compensa- 
 tion of Hammer's life. He was specially fitted for 
 friendship, and more than usually dependent upon it. 
 You do not know, brother Crandall, what your friend- 
 ship meant to him. More than once he has said to me; 
 'I wish John could know what a strong anchor he has 
 been to me; and I wish, as my best wish for the world, 
 that there were more like him.' So you are right in 
 cherishing the thought of your close intimacy with him; 
 for it was his happiness here : and brother Barr is right, 
 too, in looking forward to the happy re-union in the life 
 beyond, for, that, we may be sure, is his blessedness there. 
 Do any of you recall the thought that Tennyson used in 
 his 'In Memoriam' in reference to the death of Lazarus, 
 the friend of Jesus, whom our Lord recalled to life?" 
 
 After a slight pause, in which no one spoke, he con- 
 tinued ; 
 
 "The great poet makes one of the sisters of Lazarus 
 ask him where he was in that short period after death; 
 and then bears witness to his own thought of death: 
 these are his words ; 
 
 "'Where wast thou, brother, those three days?' 
 There lives no language of reply 
 Which, showing what it is to die, 
 Had surely added praise to praise." 
 
 *********** 
 
270 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 The announcement referred to by Strong was published 
 a few days later in the "Herald" and read as follows; 
 
 The "Herald" is glad to be able to announce that the Memorial 
 Fund in memory of our well-knojvn citizen, Henry Smith, who 
 lately lost his life in a heroic and successful attempt to save 
 the lives of four others, the details of which have already been 
 published in the "Herald," now amounts to the sum of Sixty 
 Thousand Dollars, $7,500 of which amount were contributed 
 by his fellow workmen and other citizens of our town, and the 
 balance, exclusive of the original fund, by Mr. George Worden, 
 President of the Pleasantville Iron Works. It is well known to 
 our citizens that Mr. Smith, better known as "Hammer Harry," 
 had given a fund of $20,000 — which now forms a part of the 
 above mentioned amount, the income of which was used to aid 
 in the education of boys and girls who, without this aid, might 
 not have been able to secure a college education. The Trustees 
 of the present fund are Mr. George Worden, Mr. John Cran- 
 dall, Mr. Robert Bruce, Mr. David Barr and Mr. James Sharpe. 
 The income will be used as heretofore, the intention being not 
 to pay all the expense in any one case, but to supplement and 
 make adequate and available the amount which the parents of 
 capable young persons, both boys and girls, may be able to pay, 
 in cases where this amount would not in itself be sufficient. 
 
 The application of the income heretofore has of necessity 
 been very quiet and generally unknown. As the reason for 
 this has now ceased, the announcement is now made that appli- 
 cations for such help may hereafter be made to any member 
 of the Board of Trustees, whose names are published above. 
 
 In connection with the above announcement, the "Herald" 
 takes pleasure in inviting the attention of its readers to the 
 following letter from the President of the Pleasantville Iron 
 Works, and is also glad to be able to announce further that the 
 admirable plan therein described has been adopted by the men 
 interested in the said works, and the proposed incorporation 
 will soon be an accomplished fact, the amount of stock allotted 
 to the men having been fully subscribed. 
 
A PROMOTION 271 
 
 To the Editor of the "Herald" : 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 During the past winter the "Herald" contained reports at 
 various times of the public meetings held by the Workers' Club, 
 at which the merits of various forms of co-operation were 
 presented by different speakers. In common with others, the 
 officers of this Company were greatly interested in the presenta- 
 tion of this subject. While the subject of Productive Co-opera- 
 tion was not discussed to any great extent, most of the speakers 
 discussing the subject only from the point of view of Distrib- 
 utive Co-operation, there were one or two exceptions, and I 
 have been unable to see why, if properly managed. Productive 
 Co-operation might not be as successful as the other form. 
 
 The officers of this Company have therefore decided to make 
 an experiment in this direction, provided enough interest on the 
 part of their men can be aroused. For years past we have been 
 purchasing certain supplies in the shape of small tools, which 
 we believe could be readily manufactured here in connection 
 with our works. We therefore make to our workmen the fol- 
 lowing offer: we will join with them in forming a Co-operative 
 corporation for the purpose of manufacturing the specialities 
 referred to, a large portion of which we can take from the new 
 corporation and use here — the balance to be sold ; and we offer, 
 as individuals, and not as a company, to take $22,500 of the 
 stock of a $50,000 corporation; a like amount of $22,500 to be 
 subscribed for by our men, and the balance of $5,000 to be held 
 by five Trustees, two of whom shall be selected by our men and 
 two by us, and the other one by these four men — these said 
 Trustees to hold and vote this $5,000 of stock, so that neither 
 party to this new corporation shall at any time control a major- 
 ity of the said stock. Other provisions with respect to the sale 
 of the stock, so as to retain the proportional holdings as at pres- 
 ent, as between our men and the other subscribers to the stock, 
 will be adopted when the new corporation shall be organized. 
 
 In order to make this offer operative as soon as possible we 
 hereby request a Committee of our men, to consist of Mr. John 
 Crandall and two others to be selected by him, to consult the 
 men, and report at the earliest moment whether they will join 
 in this proposed Co-operative undertaking. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 George Worden, President. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 A Final Conference; Another Invitation. 
 
 "God has no hired men ; His sons do His work." — Old Adage. 
 
 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God." — Epistle to the Romans: 8 chap. 14 v. 
 
 "The problem of our politics and of our economics is the 
 infusion of the spirit of Christ into the relations of men." — 
 Edward S. Martin. 
 
 It was a saddened group of men that gathered at the 
 meeting of the Directors of the Home Building Asso- 
 ciation the following week. The vacant chair in their 
 midst reminded them of the loss of one whom they had 
 not known, as they now realized, while he had been 
 among them. When the routine work of the Associa- 
 tion had been attended to, and they had assembled 
 around the Directors' table, there was silence for a few 
 minutes, which was broken at length by Barr. 
 
 "Somehow, things seem different," he said; "and for 
 one, I'm glad that we are about at the end of the sea- 
 son's meetings. I don't suppose anyone here thinks we 
 had better try to hold another this Spring, do you?" 
 
 There was no reply for a moment, when Crandall 
 spoke : 
 
 "As you say, Barr, it's so near the end of the term 
 
 that it is hardly worth while to call another meeting ; but 
 
 there is one thing that I think we ought to do. I walked 
 
 part way home with Hammer on the evening of the last 
 
 Directors' meeting, and he said something that I would 
 
 like to get to the members of the Club, if there's any way 
 
 (272) 
 
.ANOTHER INVITATION 273 
 
 to do it." And in response to the inquiries from several 
 of the group, he continued : 
 
 "He seemed to be worried at what he had done in 
 agreeing to speak at the next meeting, and I tried to 
 cheer him up by saying that several of us would take 
 part and make a sort of general conference of the meet- 
 ing, if he would only begin it ; that he wouldn't have to 
 speak long, &c., and that seemed to make him feel better; 
 and he said, before we parted, that there was one thing 
 that he would like to say to the members, if nothing 
 more; and that was, that he thought they ought to go 
 slow before they took their savings from where they 
 were in the Savings Banks and put them into any other 
 sort of investment ; that the first step ought to be for the 
 law to throw about such new Co-operative institutions as 
 we had been discussing all the safeguards it could, and 
 even then those who intended to invest in them ought to 
 look carefully at the character and standing of the persons 
 interested in organizing them. He said that he had seen 
 so many losses caused by careless investments by those 
 who were not posted that he wanted to say that much 
 in addition to what had been said. He added, I remem- 
 ber, that he did not say this in criticism of anything that 
 Mr. Bruce or anyone else had said, because he agreed 
 with their point of view; but he thought that this point 
 ought to be emphasized. Now, how can I get that be- 
 fore the members of the Club ?" 
 
 "How would this answer, Mr. Crandall," said Sharpe, 
 the Schoolmaster ; "can you not readily prepare a postal 
 card, containing just what you have told us, and mail 
 one to each member of the Club? And, besides, if it 
 should seem desirable to get it before others who have 
 attended, you could accomplish that by having it pub- 
 lished in the 'Herald. ' " 
 
274 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 This suggestion was adopted; and at Crandall's re- 
 quest Sharpe was appointed to act with him as a Com- 
 mittee to see that the message was prepared and for- 
 warded. 
 
 "Now, as it seems to be decided that we are not to 
 have another meeting this Spring," said Barr, "there is 
 something that I think may be of interest to you that 
 I would Hke to read. Some of you have noticed the 
 interest the women have taken in our meetings. It was 
 due, in part, to the fact that our second meeting was 
 given to them for an Equal Suffrage meeting, and I 
 guess we men all learned something at that, too. Well, 
 one of the most interested of the women who have been 
 attending our meetings is my wife. As some of you 
 know, she was a school-teacher some years ago, and she 
 used to act as Secretary of the school societies she be- 
 longed to, and so on. Pretty early in the game this win- 
 ter she said to me that she was going to keep minutes 
 of our meetings, just for herself and the children, if for 
 no one else; because she thought that some of them 
 would be worth recording. Well, of course, it goes with- 
 out saying, that 'a mere man' like me has no right to say 
 anything against work like that ; and so she has been 
 doing it. It occurred to me that some of you might be 
 interested in hearing them, and I asked her for them 
 this evening, and have them with me. So, if you want 
 to hear them, all you have to do is to say so." 
 
 As there was a unanimous demand expressed for the 
 minutes, Barr proceeded to read them. They were a 
 rather full report of each meeting, mentioning the speak- 
 ers and the strong points made by them, and conclud- 
 ing with a summary of the whole series. As was per- 
 haps natural, the meeting which had most strongly im- 
 pressed Mrs. Barr was the Equal Suffrage meeting. 
 
ANOTHER INVITATION 275 
 
 which was valuable, she said, "not only for the truths 
 that were uttered, but because of the potential value to 
 society, in all time to come, of this great reform, when 
 once accomplished." 
 
 When Barr arrived at the Summary, he hesitated a 
 moment, and then said: "I don't know whether I ought 
 to say this, being as it's all in the family, but it seems to 
 me that this is pretty well thought out by Mrs. Barr; 
 but, of course, the rest of you don't have to say so, if 
 you don't think so" ; saying which he proceeded to read 
 as follows: 
 
 "At our first meeting the general subject of present in- 
 dustrial conditions, and the future outlook for ameliora- 
 tion, was presented by Mr. Strong, his conclusion being 
 that only in Co-operation could a just and peaceful 
 method of arrangement be found, satisfactory to both 
 parties, and promising to be permanent. As two of the 
 strongest arguments against the continuance of present 
 conditions, he mentioned the recurrence of Strikes, and 
 the terrible evils found in the large cities. 
 
 "The next meeting was most courteously handed over 
 to the women, and the subject of Equal Suffrage was 
 presented in an address by Miss Channing. While it 
 was hardly thought of at the time, this was an actual 
 example of Co-operation of the right kind, which was 
 greatly appreciated by the women of our town, and one 
 that they will not allow the men to forget, for it binds 
 us to every right form of Co-operation when our help is 
 needed. It was shown at this meeting that both men 
 and women must work together for the uplift of society, 
 and that our government will never be what it should be 
 until women shall have equal rights and equal privileges 
 with men, as well as equal responsibilities. It was also 
 clearly shown that in removing the evils in the large 
 
2/6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 cities to which our attention had been called at the first 
 meeting, the help of woman was absolutely essential, and 
 that no effective handling of those evils would be accom- 
 plished until her aid was accepted and her efforts ap- 
 plied. 
 
 "At the third meeting practical Co-operation, of a 
 form that we were all more or less acquainted with, was 
 presented by three of our townspeople — Mr. Crandall 
 telling us of the great work of our Building and Loan 
 Associations; Mrs. McCall giving an account of the 
 value of the best kind of Co-operation, when it holds 
 out a helping hand, and Mr. Sharpe telling us of the 
 remarkable movement toward distributive Co-operation 
 in the Northwest, a movement founded upon the great 
 English Rochdale system and apparently bound to spread 
 throughout our country. This meeting brought us 
 closely in touch with practical Co-operation of the latest 
 and most approved kinds. 
 
 "The fourth meeting was valuable because it gave us 
 the method of accomplishing Co-operation or, at least, 
 greatly aiding it, that has been thought of by our local 
 Bank cashier, who thought that his business had in sev- 
 eral ways blazed the way for the National government 
 to aid in the establishing of Co-operation, by making it 
 perfectly safe for our people to engage in it ; his general 
 line of thought being that if the government would only 
 make it easy and safe for the plain people to put their 
 money into it, the people would do the rest. He also 
 presented a very interesting example of pure Co-opera- 
 tion which had been founded in Germany some years 
 ago, and which has proved a great success. 
 
 "At the fifth meeting the merits of our Public School 
 system, as a method of Co-operation between the people 
 and the State, was presented to us by Principal Sharpe; 
 
ANOTHER IXVITATION 277 
 
 after which Mr. Strong called our attention to the great 
 French experiment in Co-operation, known as the Famil- 
 istere at Guise, where the workingmen own the plant and 
 conduct the business, the purpose of the founder having 
 been to make the advantages of wealth available for all 
 his workmen. 
 
 "At the next meeting, Mr. Bruce, at the request of a 
 number of interested citizens, again presented his ideas 
 as to the best method of applying Co-operation through 
 legislation, beginning his address by some account of 
 what he regarded as a failure on the part of the banking 
 business to offer to society the full measure of Co-opera- 
 tion of which it was capable, and closing by presenting 
 figures showing the remarkable growth of Savings Banks 
 in the last half-century, claiming that they were an in- 
 stance of pure Co-operation, under strict governmental 
 control. This meeting was followed, as were most of 
 the others, by quite an active discussion. 
 
 "At the several meetings held this winter we have had 
 Co-operation presented not merely as an ideal condition, 
 but in a number of important cases as an accomplished 
 fact, especially abroad. Among these many instances 
 may be mentioned the great German experiment at Jena, 
 where over 5,000 employes were engaged in productive 
 Co-operation; the great French experiment in the Fam- 
 ilistere at Guise, both of which have been described to 
 us; the English Co-operative Societies, both Wholesale 
 and Retail ; our own Building Associations, and the 
 State-controlled Savings Banks, which are largely co-op- 
 erative; the successful attempts in Denmark, which have 
 resulted in re-making that country in the past century; 
 the successful attempts at co-operative banking in Ger- 
 many, in France and in Italy, which have done so much 
 for the farming communities in those countries; the 
 
278 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 more recent successful attempts in Ireland among the 
 farmers; and, finally, the introduction of the English 
 Rochdale system in our own country, which has already 
 achieved so much, and which has such great promise for 
 the future. To all these we may add the organization 
 of our own Co-operative Society, here in Pleasantville, 
 in which we are all interested, and whose success seems 
 so well assured. As we glance over what Co-operation 
 has accomplished, we are convinced that we need no 
 longer regard it as an experiment, but rather as a 
 great movement, already well under way, whose final 
 triumph is only a question of our continued loyalty to its 
 principles. 
 
 "It had been the intention of the Workers' Club to 
 hold one more meeting, and arrangements for the same 
 had been partly made when our little community was 
 startled by the sudden death of one of the leading mem- 
 bers of the Club, our old friend, Henry Smith, who gave 
 up his life in the rescue of the children of the president of 
 the mill company, Mr. George Worden. Since his death 
 we have learned many things about our friend, which 
 show that for years past he has been living a life of co- 
 operation, right here in our midst, and finally laid down 
 his life in a final act of service, which shows co-operation 
 at its highest and best. And we close with the thought 
 that in many another community there are those who 
 are quietly and serenely giving of their best in many 
 forms of true co-operation, and thus helping in the best 
 way to make their own lives, as well as the lives of 
 others, better worth living; and so we look forward to 
 the day when, industrially as well as in every other way, 
 this shall be the rule of life — when we shall have the 
 practical realization of Tennyson's great thought: 
 
ANOTHER INVITATION 279 
 
 " 'When all men's good' shall indeed 'be each man's 
 rule.' " 
 
 When Barr concluded there were many words of com- 
 mendation and of thanks from the others present, and it 
 was unanimously decided to request Mrs. Barr to accept 
 the appointment of Official Recorder of the Workers' 
 Club and keep similar minutes of all future meetings. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," said Crandall, as the members 
 were preparing to leave, "I would like to have your at- 
 tention for a few minutes while I present an invitation 
 which I have been requested to convey to the Club. You 
 all know Rev. George Godwin, pastor of the Union 
 Church near Mount Fairview. Well, it seems that he 
 and Mrs. Godwin have been very much interested in our 
 meetings this winter, and have been driving over every 
 month to attend them. You will remember that Mrs. 
 Godwin was on the platform at the Equal Suffrage 
 meeting and said a few words at the close. Well, the 
 invitation comes from them for the Club to attend a meet- 
 ing in his Church on the afternoon of Children's Day, 
 which will fall this year on Sunday, June 15th. As the 
 Church is just a pleasant drive from town, and is located 
 not far from the trolley, it seems to me that quite a num- 
 ber of our members and their friends might like to at- 
 tend. I ought to add, of course, that Mr. Godwin told 
 me, when he asked me to convey the invitation, that it 
 was his intention to consider the subject of Co-operation 
 as being an expression of Christianity." 
 
 The invitation was considered by those present for a 
 few minutes, and when Barr presented the motion for 
 its acceptance, it was unanimously adopted, and Crandall 
 was instructed to convey the thanks of the Club, when 
 he communicated with Mr. Godwin. After which the 
 meeting soon adjourned. 
 
28o LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 As Crandall and the Schoolmaster were passing out 
 the street, the latter said : 
 
 "I will be glad if you will tell me something about the 
 gentleman from whom our invitation came, Mr. Cran- 
 dall. Being a newcomer, you see, I'm not as well posted 
 as most of the men." 
 
 "I should have told you," replied Crandall ; "I often 
 take too much for granted that way. Well, I suppose 
 you know the Church at Mount Fairview; you get such 
 a splendid view over the whole country from there?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, I know that well ; that's a favorite walk of 
 mine." 
 
 "Well, I guess you know Mr. Godwin, too; that fine- 
 looking, tall, white-haired old gentleman, with such a 
 pleasant expression, who has been coming to all our 
 meetings; he and his wife have been sitting rather well 
 forward on the right, and nearly always in the same 
 seats." And, when Sharpe replied that he had noticed 
 them and knew who they were, but by name only, Cran- 
 dall continued : 
 
 "Well, Mr. Godwin is something of a character in his 
 way. As I have heard the story, he had a big church in 
 the city some years ago, in one of the big denominations 
 — I don't know which — ^but he somehow grew too big 
 for it — that is, too big in his views — and thought that 
 he ought to resign, and did so. He had some means and 
 bought a small place of four or five acres at Mount Fair- 
 view, and a few years ago the Union Church was built 
 there, and he was made the pastor of it. He serves for 
 almost no salary, and what he does get, it is said, he 
 gives away. He is greatly liked by his people, and has 
 built up quite a congregation, many driving a long dis- 
 tance to go there. They had two children — a boy and 
 a girl — ^but they lost the boy years ago; the daughter 
 
ANOTHER INVITATION 281 
 
 lives with them. I'm glad that we'll be holding our Sun- 
 day School in the morning then, for I would like to go 
 up there to that meeting, sure. By the way," he added, 
 as though a new idea had just occurred to him; "I be- 
 lieve I will invite Mr. Worden to go along, too. He 
 knows the old minister well, and I think maybe he'd be 
 glad to go." 
 
 "That's a good idea, Mr. Crandall," said the School- 
 master, as he left him at his corner; "anything that will 
 give the Ironmaster a better idea of Co-operation will 
 do good, and no doubt Mr. Godwin would be glad to 
 see him there." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Co-operation as an Expression of Christianity. 
 
 "It makes all the difference in the world whether we put 
 Truth in the first place, or the second." — Anon. 
 
 "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the 
 world, that I should bear witness to the Truth." — Jesus Christ. 
 
 "Though Love repine and Reason chafe, 
 There came a Voice without reply: 
 
 'Tis man's perdition to be safe 
 
 When for the Truth he ought to die." 
 
 • — Emerson. 
 
 "Their higher nature knew 
 They love Truth best, who to themselves are true, 
 And what they dare to dream of, dare to do." 
 
 — Lowell. 
 
 When, a few days later, Crandall seized a favorable 
 opportunity and invited Mr. Worden, the Ironmaster, to 
 attend the meeting at the Union Church at Mount Fair- 
 view, explaining that the Club had been invited by the 
 old minister, he was surprised and pleased by the prompt 
 and hearty acceptance that his invitation received. "By 
 the way, John," added the mill owner, after accepting 
 the invitation, "suppose you let me furnish the transpor- 
 tation for you and the members of your Committee. 
 We'll go up in my auto, and that'll accommodate six of 
 us. Will that be big enough ; we can have out the other 
 machine, if it won't ?" 
 
 "Thank you; that would do nicely, but I'm thinking 
 
 that some of the men would like to take their wives 
 
 along, if it's a pleasant day," responded Crandall. 
 
 (282) 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 283 
 
 "Why, of course they will; so let us arrange it this 
 way : six of us can go in one car, and I will have my man 
 arrange to call for the wives of those that go, so they 
 can have a party of their own, too. How will that an- 
 swer ?" 
 
 "Splendidly, and thank you, sir," replied Crandall, too 
 much pleased to have received such an offer, to think that 
 perhaps some of the men might prefer to drive over 
 themselves, having their wives for company. But the 
 generous offer of the Ironmaster, when explained by 
 Crandall, was gladly accepted by all included in it. 
 
 The afternoon of the day fixed for the meeting was 
 part of a perfect June day, and the drive to the high 
 point, which had been well named Fairview, was enjoyed 
 by all who accepted the old minister's invitation; and 
 there was such a goodly number that Crandall remarked 
 on the way that he thought it doubtful if all could get 
 into the Church, which was not large, being built for a 
 country congregation only. As the auto party arrived 
 rather early for the meeting, Worden directed his chauf- 
 feur to drive to the old minister's home nearby, where 
 they were welcomed by the old gentleman himself. 
 
 After a short rest in the house and an introduction all 
 round to his wife and daughter, they were invited to visit 
 the garden, of which the old folks were very proud. 
 Here they were shown, with evident satisfaction, the 
 rose garden, now in full bloom, the old gentleman pass- 
 ing up and down between the plants, calling the various 
 blooms by name, and finally handing a fine specimen to 
 each of his visitors. "Don't forget to enjoy the frag- 
 rance," he said, as he gave the last to the Ironmaster. 
 "Do you know," he added, speaking to the mill-owner, 
 but in such a tone that all could hear, "that the scientists 
 tell us that the flowers perform a very needed office in 
 
284 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the economy of nature, but they say that this function 
 could be as readily performed if the flowers had no frag- 
 rance whatever; so that it seems to some of us that in 
 the whole round of nature there is nothing that so fully 
 proves the overflowing beneficence of God as the fra- 
 grance of the rose and other blossoms. It is as though 
 God had said, 'My children cannot doubt that I am wise 
 and strong ; but, to show them that I am also good, let the 
 flowers have this added charm of fragrance — not that 
 it is needed to tell of use or of power, but simply to tell 
 them of my love and goodness.' " 
 
 He then led the way to the Church, which was rap- 
 idly filling. When, a little later, he appeared in the pul- 
 pit, he found that the room was crowded, and at once 
 proceeded with the service. After the singing of a couple 
 of hymns and the opening prayer, he began to deliver his 
 address, saying that he wished to direct the attention of 
 his hearers to the practice of Co-operation in business as 
 being an expression of Christianity, or the "application 
 of Christian ethics to the problems of business life." 
 Speaking in a conversational tone, with great directness 
 of manner, he made no attempt at oratory, as popularly 
 understood, but his words made a deep impression on the 
 more thoughtful among his audience. It is not neces- 
 sary that all that he said should be repeated here, and 
 only the more salient portions of his address will be re- 
 called. 
 
 In announcing the subject upon which he would speak, 
 he said he would take as the basis of his remarks a com- 
 pound text, taking the liberty to unite in one, parts of 
 two verses of Scripture, thus making use of a kind of 
 co-operation which he often found pleasure in using in 
 his thought. "I do this," he said, "because this joint 
 text serves to define the purpose and the method of Co- 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 285 
 
 operation in its highest sense, and at the same time gives 
 us a complete example of its method when applied to all 
 the concerns of life." His text he then announced as 
 follows : 
 
 "As workers together with Him,"* 
 "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we 
 shall reap, if we faint not."** 
 
 "The highest honor that ever comes to a human soul," 
 he said in his opening remarks, "is that of being a co- 
 worker with God. There is an old adage which says 
 that 'God has no hired men ; His sons do His work.' This 
 remains forever true — not in any narrow sense — as the 
 taking of money for teaching the truth, for many of His 
 most devoted sons have done that, and there are other 
 things that may hire men besides money, but in the high- 
 est sense of being devoted to His service — 'with good- 
 will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men' ; and 
 in following the Spirit of Truth wherever it may lead, 
 for only those who are so led are in reality His sons. 
 
 "Before coming to the church this afternoon, I invited 
 several friends to go with me to inspect my rose-garden, 
 which has connected with it a memory to which I de- 
 sire to ask your attention. Some years ago, armed with 
 a letter of introduction from a personal friend, I called 
 to see our great American historian, George Bancroft, 
 at his summer home at Newport. While there, he invited 
 me to look at his roses, and to his interest in this fairest 
 of God's creations, and his evident love of them, I trace 
 my own delight in them. Let me read to you what 
 
 *II Corinthians, 6th chap., ist v. 
 **Galatians, 6th chap., gth v. 
 
286 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 another great American has written about Bancroft's 
 roses. In his Reminiscences, published a few years ago, 
 Dr. Edward Everett Hale has said this of them : 
 
 'One of the pleasantest nooks of the eastern side of Newport 
 was Mr. Bancroft's summer home, and there he had his roses. 
 He was no mere dabster or amateur about roses, to go out in 
 the morning and snip off some beautiful blossoms, of whose 
 birth and growth he knew nothing. He was really a fellow- 
 worker with God in bringing those roses to perfection. Now 
 a perfect rose is the most exquisite visible symbol which we 
 have of what happens when man the child works with God the 
 Father, and when together they bring about what they are 
 working for.'* 
 
 "In those words of Dr. Hale we have the most ac- 
 curate definition of co-operation in its highest sense, and, 
 coupled with it, a most beautiful symbol of its completed 
 work. Many of you will agree with me, I trust, in the 
 conviction that the successful attainment of some great 
 purpose, looking toward human betterment, a greater 
 measure of justice, social uplift, the removal of heavy 
 burdens from the oppressed, the protection of the weak, 
 the welfare of the child — all work of this kind is, in 
 truth, a working-together-with the All-Father — a co- 
 operation with God — and must be acceptable in His 
 sight. Let us take Dr. Hale's words as the best expres- 
 sion of the purpose of Co-operation, and a perfect rose 
 as the most beautiful symbol of its completed work, in 
 the furtherance of which we are now engaged "as work- 
 ers together with Him." Let us look forward to the full 
 accomplishment of this work, and go onward with cour- 
 
 *From "Memories of a Hundred Years," by Edward Everett Hale, 
 pp. 65-66. 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 287 
 
 age to complete it, in the full assurance that 'in due sea- 
 son we shall reap, if we faint not.' " 
 
 In referring to the method of judging existing condi- 
 tions, in order to determine whether these are in harmony 
 with Christian ethics, he said : 
 
 "There has been one sure test given to us by our Mas- 
 ter by which we may infallibly judge of any school of 
 faith, of any scheme for the guidance of men, of human 
 laws and relations and conditions — 'By their fruits ye 
 shall know them.' Let us not be afraid to apply this rule 
 to existing conditions, for only in the light in which 
 they can be seen when thus judged — or when measured 
 by that other like rule which we have from Him — a rule 
 so just that men have called it the Golden Rule — 'Do 
 unto others as ye would that they should do unto you' — 
 only in this way can we reach a judgment that will en- 
 dure. When we apply this test to present industrial con- 
 ditions ; or, attempting to put ourselves in our brothers' 
 place, and trying to use this Golden Rule, what decision 
 must we reach as to the likeness of these conditions to 
 applied Christianity ? This is a vital question ; we should 
 meet it squarely and with clear vision ; for only so can we 
 arrive at the truth. 
 
 "There are but two aspects of the question to which I 
 will invite your attention at this time. When we con- 
 sider the ever-recurring, and under existing conditions 
 ever-to-recur strikes, disputes, lock-outs and frequent final 
 resorts to force before settlements are reached, can we 
 conclude that any arrangement of industrial relations in 
 which these things happen, and are expected to happen 
 as the inevitable result, is in accord with Christian 
 morals ? that this can be in any true sense applied Chris- 
 tianity? One of the wisest students of present condi- 
 tions has said that 'More and more the industrial world 
 
288 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 finds itself occupied by two armed camps — the force of 
 the employed combined to meet what seem the aggres- 
 sions of the employers, and the force of the employers 
 combined to resist what seem the unreasonable demands 
 of the employed.'* And again the same writer says, in 
 reference to the reason why the employed are so urgent 
 in presenting their claims, 'They find themselves the 
 agents in producing wealth of which they obtain but an 
 insignificant share, and they cry out with passionate in- 
 dignation as against a grievous wrong.'** 
 
 "Another phase of the question has been referred to in 
 the addresses that you have heard during the past winter. 
 I will not extend what has been said there as to the rela- 
 tion of industrial conditions, especially in our large cities, 
 to the growth of vice and crime; but this I dare affirm, 
 that, if the facts as they come to us from those who are 
 in the best position to know, are true, then there can be 
 no doubt that these conditions are far from being in ac- 
 cord with Christian morals. To those of you who are 
 interested in this phase of the subject I would say, ob- 
 tain a copy of that book of awful import, 'A New Con- 
 science and An Ancient Evil,' and read only one chapter 
 - — the Third — on 'The Amelioration of Economic Con- 
 ditions,' noting the instances which Miss Addams gives 
 there, and which can be reproduced from the observations 
 of all settlement workers, and note especially her conclu- 
 sion that 'in the economic aspect of the social evil more 
 than any other do we find ground for despair.'*** 
 
 "When we think of the young lives thus sacrificed to 
 
 ♦Francis G. Peabody: "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," p. 269. 
 **Ibid., p. 272. 
 
 ***Miss Jane Addams : "A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil," 
 P- 93- 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 289 
 
 human greed, can we hesitate to come to the conclusion 
 that such conditions are not simply un-Christian, but in- 
 human as well? And does not this knowledge summon 
 us to the duty of changing such conditions? It is over 
 fifty years ago that Mrs. Browning wrote that great ap- 
 peal to the heart of England, 'The Cry of the Children,' 
 which touched not only the heart of her own nation, but 
 the heart of the world. And yet how true are her words 
 of a half-century ago, when applied to present conditions : 
 
 "They look up with their pale and sunken faces 
 
 And their look is dread to see. 
 For they mind you of their angels in high places, 
 
 With their eyes turned on Deity. 
 'How long,' they say; 'How long, O cruel Nation, 
 
 Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart? 
 Stifle down, with a mailed heel, its palpitation. 
 
 And tread onward to your place amid the mart? 
 Our blood splashes upward, O Gold-heaper, 
 
 And its purple shows your path ; 
 But the child's sob in the darkness curses deeper 
 
 Than the strong man in his wrath." 
 
 "Has it ever occurred to you, my friends, that we have, 
 as a people, been making the fatal mistake of estimating 
 success in material terms, and ignoring those enduring 
 possessions which should have the larger place in our 
 thought ? Emerson has told us that 'wealth, without the 
 rich heart, is an ugly beggar' ; and truer words were 
 never uttered. May we not go a little further, in the 
 light of our own day, showing such extremes of super- 
 abundant wealth contrasted with such abysses of pov- 
 erty, and say that wealth, unless honestly acquired, can- 
 not be other than a curse — not merely in some distant 
 day in the future, but here and now ; for, if by theft and 
 devious ways wealth be acquired, and great riches be 
 
290 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 heaped upon one who is not so much their possessor as 
 their victim, what is there at last, in the midst of the 
 splendid surroundings, save a pitiful thief? Let us re- 
 vert to the old method of estimating success in terms of 
 honor. Let us again say that the scholar, like Agassiz, 
 who is too busy to spend his time in money-getting, and 
 who seeks the rewards of science, in order that he may 
 give them to others, is in very truth the successful man; 
 that he who is faithful to a great ideal, no matter how 
 meager his material wealth, has achieved real success; 
 that the men and women who serve humanity in lowly 
 ways, if those ways be honorable and just, are after all 
 the true winners of success. 
 
 "Is it not possible that we have, as a people, made the 
 mistake of confusing bigness with greatness? A railroad 
 station may be big, even unto stateliness and grandeur; 
 yet the youngest boy in your public school may plan and 
 build a grander one ; an iron plant may also be big, even 
 impressive in its bigness, yet the child of the poorest 
 toiler in it may some day take part in controlling one 
 much larger, and founded, perhaps, on more just prin- 
 ciples ; a mighty steamship may be big, even beyond the 
 dreams of most of us, yet the baby of the poorest emi- 
 grant who comes across the deep as a passenger on her 
 may live to design or command a larger and safer one. 
 Let us remember that greatness always implies the moral 
 element — must ever have a great purpose or a high ideal 
 at its center; and the humblest human soul that can en- 
 tertain a great thought, or be inspired by a noble ideal, 
 is infinitely greater than all the things that man can make, 
 or own, or control. 
 
 "We have, indeed, as a people, grown to be a big nation. 
 Yes ; but can we honestly claim to be a great people ? Or, 
 better still, can others say it of us ? Have we lived close 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 291 
 
 to the purposes set before us as a nation by those who 
 laid the foundations of government of the people, by the 
 people, for the people? Have we approached very close 
 to the realization of the objects of free government as 
 set before us in the ideals and the words of Abraham 
 Lincoln, which you have recently heard ? If we have not, 
 can we irrdeed claim to be a great people? If we have 
 not, is it not our duty to go forward, still to achieve 
 them ? and thus — and only thus — make our country truly 
 great ? 
 
 "Listen to the words of one who is counted by many 
 to be one of the great prophets of our nation. Referring 
 to our achievements as a people, Walt Whitman, not 
 many years ago, wrote as follows : 
 
 'I say that our New World democracy, however great a suc- 
 cess in uplifting the masses out of their sloughs in materialistic 
 development, products, and in a certain highly-deceptive popu- 
 lar intellectuality, is, so far, an almost complete failure in its 
 social aspects, and in really grand, religious, moral, literary 
 and esthetic results. In vain do we march with unprecedented 
 strides to empire so colossal, outvying the antique, beyond 
 Alexander's, beyond the proudest sway of Rome. It is as if 
 we were somehow being endowed with a vast and more and 
 more thoroughly appointed body, and then left with little or no 
 soul.'* 
 
 "You have heard at your meetings the strong indict- 
 ments against present conditions issued by the representa- 
 tives of large branches of the Christian Church, and with 
 the memory of those stirring words in your minds, rein- 
 forced by what I have just reminded you of, I think you 
 will agree with me that we can hardly conclude that pres- 
 
 *From "Specimen Days, and Collect," by Walt Whitman, p. 216. 
 
292 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 ent industrial conditions are in accord with Christian 
 ethics. If that is the conclusion to which we have been 
 forced, may I ask whether there can be any more impor- 
 tant work for us as a professedly Christian people than 
 the measures we should adopt to apply Christian morals 
 to our industrial problems. One of our leaders of 
 thought has well said that 'the problem of our politics 
 and of our economics is the infusion of the Spirit of 
 Christ into the relations of men' ; and you who agree 
 with me in the conviction that only through the applica- 
 tion of the teachings of that Spirit can we find the final 
 answer to our many and pressing problems, will wish, 
 above all other things, to go forward with that work." 
 
 Turning then to the consideration of Co-operation and 
 the results that would follow its general adoption, the 
 speaker attempted to show how fully this plan was in 
 harmony with Christian ideals. 
 
 "Christianity stands for the fullest possible applica- 
 tion of justice to all human relations; so does Co-opera- 
 tion, as is fully shown by those who have presented its 
 principles, and also by years of practice. Christianity 
 teaches brotherhood and fellowship ; and these are the two 
 great watchwords of Co-operation, heard again and again 
 throughout its history. Christianity proclaims its truths, 
 in order that a nobler type of manhood and womanhood 
 may inherit the earth ; and that is likewise the great pur- 
 pose and the great hope of Co-operation, which have ani- 
 mated its founders and disciples from the start. May we 
 not claim then, that in spirit and in purpose, and espe- 
 cially in its relation to the industrial and business world. 
 Co-operation stands for applied Christianity? 
 
 "May I ask your attention to the words of one of our 
 great teachers on this point? Referring to the purposes 
 of the Founder of Christianity, he says : 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 293 
 
 'Of any industrial program or proposition Jesus asks, not 
 whether it will pay, or will be extravagant or difficult to ad- 
 minister; but rather, what sort of persons will it be likely to 
 produce? In the making of goods, will it make good char- 
 acters: or, while making cheap products, will it also make cheap 
 men? * * * 
 
 'This is a point of view from which any commercial system 
 may be fairly considered. We may apply the test, for example, 
 to the industrial order now prevailing.' 
 
 "And again, the same writer says : 
 
 'The pathos and dignity of the labor movement is to be found 
 in this reiteration of the teaching of Jesus, that economic 
 schemes are to be estimated by their contribution to personality. 
 The economic order is an instrument for the making of men : 
 and a struggle which, like the present labor movement, brings 
 forth more thoughtful and loyal men, is the birth-struggle of 
 a better social world.'* 
 
 "In the series of addresses to which you have listened 
 you have heard the principles and methods of Co-opera- 
 tion fully set forth, and it has been my purpose to call 
 your attention to the fact that they are in harmony with 
 that teaching of the truth, and that ushering in of the 
 Kingdom of God on earth, which were the purposes of 
 the coming of Jesus Christ. As an illustration of the way 
 in which this truth is being more and more held by 
 thoughtful men, let me read this further quotation from 
 the same writer : 
 
 'Thus the Co-operative system is a striking illustration of the 
 teaching of Jesus. The first condition of success in Co-opera- 
 tion is a constituency of self-respecting and loyal persons. A 
 
 ♦Francis G. Peabody: "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," 
 pp. 281-282. 
 
294 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 few plain people associate themselves in a Co-operative enter- 
 prise, quite unconscious that they are in any degree bearing 
 witness to the social principle of the gospel: they apply them- 
 selves to the simple problem of conducting a shop or factory 
 with fidelity, self-sacrifice and patience ; and as their work ex- 
 pands they seem to themselves to have made a good commercial 
 venture; while in fact, in one corner of the great industrial 
 world, they are illustrating the principle of the Christian re- 
 ligion, that industrial progress begins from within.' 
 
 And in the same connection he adds : 
 
 'Jesus surveys the world as the field of the Kingdom of God, 
 and inspires individuals to become instruments of that King- 
 dom.' * * * 'The Kingdom of God, according to him, is to 
 be found in the gradually realized, and finally perfected, broth- 
 erhood of man.' * 
 
 "As another indication of the high estimate placed 
 upon the principles and methods of Co-operation, as real- 
 izing Christianity in practice, let me ask your attention to 
 the Report of the Methodist Federation for Social Serv- 
 ice, presented to the great Quadrennial Conference held 
 in Minneapolis in May, 1912, which contains these 
 words : 
 
 'The immediate application, in every industry, of the prm- 
 ciple of collective bargaining is not only essential to the pro- 
 tection of the modern industrial worker, but it is the first step 
 toward that co-operative control of both the process and pro- 
 ceeds of industry which will be the ultimate expression of 
 Christianity in industrial relationships.' 
 
 "And again the same Report says : 
 
 'That there should be equality of opportunity for all men to 
 
 ♦Francis G. Peabody : "Jesus Christ and the Social Question" 
 pp. 284-285. 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 295 
 
 secure * * .* the fullest realization of life, is an essential 
 principle of a religion which teaches the brotherhood of man. 
 As long as a religion exists which teaches man to love his 
 neighbor as himself, it creates an irrepressible conflict with 
 conditions which predispose any man to ignorance, disease and 
 immorality.' * * * 
 
 'The desire to improve social conditions, the determination 
 to discover and remove social ills, is a new assertion of man's 
 spiritual nature and task. This is not an attempt merely to 
 improve conditions, but it recognizes that while conditions in- 
 fluence men, tnen make conditions. It brings to bear spiritual 
 forces to direct the progress of society toward the perfect 
 social order. It is the modern expression of the social hope of 
 the Old Testament, of the Kingdom of God which Jesus taught.' 
 
 "In one of his later poems Whittier, speaking almost 
 as we may imagine one of the old prophets would speak, 
 exclaims : 
 
 'I know He is, and what He is. 
 
 Whose one great purpose is the good of all.' 
 
 "In this 'one great purpose' of the Divine Mind, let us. 
 His children, find also the highest purpose of our own 
 lives, for surely in 'the good of all,' and in co-operating 
 to achieve it, will we find the only true happiness which 
 life can offer. Not in the piling-up of wealth that may do 
 more harm than good ; nor in the acquisition of learning, 
 unless it be made to serve the good of all; nor in any 
 form of selfish gratification, can we find real happiness; 
 but rather in this, the service of the common good ; the 
 opening of free opportunities for all; the protection of 
 the weak, and the helping them to grow strong; the 
 guiding of the strong, through justice, to peace; the pur- 
 poseful working together toward a fuller ushering-in 
 of the Kingdom of God on earth." 
 
296 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Near the close of his address the speaker said : 
 
 "We have seen, therefore, that the purpose of Chris- 
 tianity and the aim of Co-operation are in the main the 
 same — the advancement of the Kingdom of God through 
 the promotion of high ideals and the production of a 
 higher type of humanity. While the Gospel has wider 
 sweep, and Co-operation is more restricted, as being 
 largely confined to the domain of business, still they sup- 
 port and naturally supplement each other. And of the 
 methods of work, we can say that these also are similar — 
 consisting chiefly in a working together with, a co-opera- 
 ting with, forces making toward a common end. 
 
 "Those of us who believe that 'there is a Divinity that 
 shapes our ends,' and that in national, as well as personal 
 affairs, an over-ruling Providence is working out His 
 purposes for the welfare of His children, have no diffi- 
 culty in believing that the cause of Co-operation will 
 finally be triumphant, and that an era of peace and justice 
 will be ushered in in industrial affairs. But this, like all 
 other reforms in liuman affairs, can only come through 
 the co-operation of the human agents with the Divine 
 Will; and to accomplish this will require all the high 
 faith, all the great purpose, all the resolute will, enlight- 
 ened and strengthened by renewed drafts on the Divine 
 Source of moral purpose and strength, that humanity 
 can exercise. It is safe to say that no enduring good has 
 ever been accomplished save by these means, and our 
 experience, as we go forward to accomplish this next 
 great step forward, will not be different from that of 
 those who have gone before us in efforts to uplift human- 
 ity. Let me give you one or two illustrations from our 
 own national history. 
 
 "The greatest step forward in constructive statesman- 
 ship, ever taken by man, was doubtless the adoption of 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 297 
 
 the Constitution of our country, not only because of the 
 beneficent results it has produced here, but also because 
 it has served as a model for all people who have sought 
 freedom. Some of you may recall the eloquent words of 
 the great Franklin, when he moved, in the first session 
 of the Convention which prepared the Constitution, that 
 the sessions be opened with prayer. His words deserve 
 to be remembered by all who love their country and who 
 believe in Divine guidance, and I am sure that you will 
 be glad to hear them again. On that occasion, so fraught 
 with possibilities of good for humanity, Franklin said : 
 
 'I have lived for a long time (eighty-one years), and the 
 longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, 
 that God governs in all affairs of man. And if a sparrow can- 
 not fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an 
 empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured in 
 the sacred writings that "Except the Lord build the house, they 
 labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this ; and I also 
 believe that without this concurring aid we shall proceed in this 
 political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall 
 be divided by our little, partial, local interests; our prospects 
 will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach 
 and a by-word down to future ages. And, what is worse, man- 
 kind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of 
 establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to 
 chance, war or conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that 
 henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven and its 
 blessing on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every 
 morning before we proceed to business.' 
 
 "The other illustration to which I invite your attention 
 is, perhaps, even more striking, as it comes from the 
 moment in our national history when the foundations of 
 the Constitution and of free government by and for the 
 people, seemed to be shaken to their very base. It comes 
 from the life of President Lincoln, and shows how, in 
 
298 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 the midst of trials almost beyond the power of man to 
 bear, he was upborne and upheld by a power not his own, 
 because he knew where and how to seek it. We are all 
 of us familiar with his words, that 'frequently he had 
 been driven to his knees, because he felt that he had 
 nowhere else to go.' One of these occasions was just 
 preceding the battle of Gettysburg, and is narrated for 
 us by one of the men who heard him speak of it. You 
 will recall the fact that the battle lasted three days; and 
 that on the second day one of the Union generals. General 
 Sickles, was severely wounded and carried from the field. 
 A few days later he was transported to one of the big 
 hospitals in the city of Washington. While there he was 
 visited by a member of his stafif, General Rusling, who 
 tells of a visit that President Lincoln made to the hospital 
 shortly after Sickles was removed there. 
 
 "As we all know, it was Lincoln's habit to frequently 
 visit the hospitals to cheer the wounded men of his great 
 armies. During this visit to the wounded general he was 
 asked if he had not been greatly concerned as to the 
 result of the battle while it was progressing; and his 
 answer is so impressive and so full of meaning for all, 
 that I wish to ask your particular attention to it. Gen- 
 eral Rusling tells us that Lincoln surprised both of them 
 by saying that after the battle began, he felt no fear as 
 to the outcome, and he explained this remarkable fact 
 by saying that as the two armies came closer and closer 
 together he saw that a great battle was inevitable and 
 that, greatly concerned as to the outcome, he went to his 
 room, fell on his knees and lay the whole case before his 
 God ; 'I told Him that this was not my struggle but His ; 
 that the welfare of the plain people and the continuance 
 of free government were at stake ; and I prayed that the 
 issue might be such that His children might continue to 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 299 
 
 control their destinies, and that free government might 
 not cease. And, strange as it may seem, from that time 
 on until the battle ended, all fear as to the outcome was 
 taken from me.' 
 
 "It is because of instances of this kind, my friends, 
 that many of us are convinced that a Divine purpose 
 does indeed run through human history, and that when 
 men set themselves to do the Divine will, a large measure 
 of success will be given them. For this reason, more 
 than for any other, we have the fullest confidence in the 
 final triumph of the application of the just and peaceful 
 principles of Co-operation. We are convinced that they 
 are in full accord with the highest teachings of Jesus 
 Christ, and therefore an expression of the Divine will. 
 We are further convinced that these principles have the 
 sympathy of all active Christian people, — and when I say 
 that, I wish to be understood as including many who are 
 not allied, as Lincoln was not, with any of the great 
 denominations, for I realize that there are sincere follow- 
 ers of the Master who are not willing to be confined 
 within the limits of any creed : aye, and I will go farther 
 than that, and say that I am convinced that many who 
 are connected with other than professedly Christian 
 bodies are sometimes more Christian in morals and in 
 spirit than many members of the Christian Church. Let 
 us know no narrowness as to creed or opinion, but look 
 upon the spirit in which men live, as shown by their 
 character and conduct, rather than by their easy speech. 
 
 "As I give you these reasons for the faith that is in 
 us, that Co-operation is sure to be finally triumphant in 
 the affairs of men, let me ask your attention to two or 
 three statements to the same effect ; from the writings of 
 one of our leading American economists, always the 
 earnest and outspoken friend of Co-operation, Dr. 
 
300 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 Richard T. Ely, of the University of Wisconsin; and 
 from the lips of one of the great English advocates of 
 the principles of Co-operation, Thomas Hughes. Dr. 
 Ely, writing some years ago, expressing his faith in the 
 triumph of Co-operation, said : 
 
 'The principal reason to suppose that Co-operation will ulti- 
 mately succeed is that it alone brings about such a union of 
 labor and capital as to prevent perpetual industrial warfare, and 
 that cannot be forever tolerated. It may be further said that 
 it alone is compatible with the ultimate complete triumph of 
 Christianity. Co-operation means brotherhood, a working for 
 and with one another, not against one another.'* 
 
 "And again, addressing the workers, the same writer 
 says: 
 
 'Christ and all Christly people are with you for the right. 
 Never let go that confidence. This is a sure guarantee of the 
 successful issue of every good cause, the righting of every 
 wrong. Christ forever elevated labor and exalted the laborer. 
 He worked himself, and he sought his associates and the first 
 members of his church among workingmen, men rude and 
 ignorant and certainly no better than the working men of to- 
 day.'** 
 
 "And Thomas Hughes, the great English friend of Co- 
 operation, discussing the question of what could be done 
 to ameliorate present conditions, expressed himself as 
 
 follows : 
 
 'Is this state of things unavoidable? Is all that can be done 
 only by way of alleviation — gifts by the richer classes to the 
 
 *From "Fundamental Principles of Co-operation," in the "Chau- 
 tauquan," for December, 1887. 
 
 **From the Preface to the "Labor Movement," by Dr. Richard T. 
 Ely; p. XI. 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 301 
 
 poorer, from the feeling of benevolence? Or may it not be 
 possible, by a modification of the conditions of contract to tap 
 the source of the evil, and thus effect a thorough cure? 
 
 'We, as co-operators, answer this question in the affirmative. 
 So do the Socialists. But here we part company. To them the 
 remedy for social evils is to be found within the sphere of 
 rights, by forcibly appropriating, for what is supposed to be 
 the general benefit, the wealth which has been created by free 
 contract. 
 
 'To us the remedy lies in the higher sphere of Duty. Regard- 
 ing human society as a divinely-ordered evolution, its future 
 must for us be based upon its past. Holding wealth to be, like 
 every power which man possesses, subject to the law of Love, 
 it is in this higher sphere that we seek for the remedy of social 
 evils. Not in the destruction of free contract, but by the in- 
 troduction, through free association, of contracts deliberately 
 formed for the purpose of securing to the whole body of those 
 who take part in them the largest possible measure of those 
 advantages which human activity, wisely directed, is capable of 
 attaining. Not in falling back from the security of civilized 
 liberty to the arbitrary uncertainty of savage existence, but 
 in the going forward to the gradual formation of a nobler social 
 order, as the result of a fuller appreciation of the Divine law 
 of love.'* 
 
 "A true incident which recently attracted my attention 
 illustrates in a striking way the power of Co-operation 
 to accomplish good on the highest levels of life; and 
 shows that frequently several agents work together to 
 produce the best results. The story comes from the emi- 
 gration office on Ellis Island in the harbor of New York, 
 where hundreds of thousands of emigrants land every 
 
 ♦From "Co-operative Faith and Practice,'' an address by Thomas 
 Hughes and G. Vansittart Neale ; published by the Co-operative Union, 
 Limited, of Manchester, England. This address is one of the ablest 
 presentations of the principles of Co-operation ever published, and 
 is especially valuable because it contains a warning against future 
 departures from established and tested principles. 
 
302 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 year, — and is well authenticated. It is to the effect that a 
 few years ago a young Norwegian, a graduate of the 
 University of Christiania, arrived at the emigrant station, 
 seeking entrance to our country, and on its threshold met 
 a bitter disappointment he little expected. 
 
 "As is well known, our laws require that each adult 
 emigrant must either have relatives or friends in this 
 country, or knowledge of some trade by which he can 
 support himself, or a certain amount of money, so that he 
 may not become a public charge. When interrogated by 
 the Commissioner, the young man was compelled to reply 
 that he had no relatives or friends here; neither had he 
 knowledge of any trade ; and the amount of his available 
 funds was considerably less than the required legal 
 amount : so the Commissioner found himself compelled to 
 inform him that he could not land, but must get ready for 
 the return voyage to his native country in a few days. 
 
 "His distress, — not to say, despair, — at this decision, 
 was so great, that a good-hearted woman who was pres- 
 ent at the interview, — being an attachee of the office, — 
 stepped forward and asked the Commissioner if he would 
 kindly allow her a day or two to see if she could not find 
 a friend for the young man, who would become respon- 
 sible for him. The Commissioner, impressed by the 
 young man's evident honesty, and attracted by his manly 
 appearance and behavior, was glad to grant her request. 
 
 "That afternoon a brief notice, setting forth the facts, 
 appeared in one or two of the newspapers of the great 
 city. The following morning a gentleman appeared at 
 the Commissioner's office, and requested an interview 
 with the young man. The latter was summoned, and 
 presented himself at the office. The newcomer addressed 
 him in his own language, and in a few moments asked his 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 303 
 
 name. When he gave it, the stranger started as though 
 greatly surprised, and then inquired: 'Did you happen 
 to know a person of that name,' adding the given name, — 
 'who was a Professor at the University of Christiania 
 twenty-five or thirty years ago?' — 'He was my father, 
 sir,' replied the young man. At once the newcomer 
 turned to the Commissioner, saying, 'I will take care of 
 this young man, and be responsible for him.' 
 
 "Upon the Commissioner inquiring the reason for this 
 decision, he explained as follows : 'About thirty years 
 ago I was a student at the University of Christiania. 
 Suddenly, because of certain family reverses, I found it 
 necessary to give up my career at the University, and 
 return home to help my family. When I informed one 
 of the leading Professors of my intention, he said at once : 
 'No, it will not do for you to make such a sacrifice ;' and 
 he then offered me a home, made it possible for me to 
 complete my studies, and was as a father to me. A few 
 years later I came to this country and have prospered. 
 Now, through the Providence of God, I am able to return 
 to his son the kindness he showed me, and I will be most 
 happy to do so.' The Commissioner asked him what he 
 could do for him, and he replied: 'What will I do for 
 him? He shall be to me as a son. What will I do for 
 him? All that love can do.' And, so, having satisfied 
 the Commissioner as to his standing, and his ability to 
 provide, the two friends, thus strangely brought to- 
 gether, took their way from the office, leaving a happy 
 group behind them, of whom the happiest was the 
 woman, who had been the instrument, in God's hand, in 
 this act of co-operation with Him. 
 
 "As I have considered this story of real life, I have 
 thought of the long night of keen disappointment the 
 young man must have passed ere the morning came, 
 
304 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 bringing him his happy deliverance, a great hope, and a 
 new life : and yet during the long watches of the night 
 God's sunlight was drawing ever nearer and nearer over 
 the stretches of the vast deep, bringing ever closer and 
 closer the dawn of a new and happier day. And it has 
 become to me a picture of the watching and waiting of 
 humanity for the dawn of the day of greater justice, of 
 richer opportunity, and of truer peace, which will come 
 when brotherhood and fellowship, through Co-operation, 
 shall be the law of life. And as, in this true story of a 
 great good being returned after many days, — as this was 
 effected through the co-operation of a great-hearted 
 woman, so I believe that, in this greater work of social 
 regeneration and uplift, one of God's great agents, — per- 
 haps the greatest of all, — shall be the womanhood, which 
 now, as ever, stands ready to offer the fullest measure of 
 co-operation with Him and with humanity : and some day 
 surely shall the world behold this miracle of goodness, — 
 that at the touch of a loving hand, these two great giants, 
 — Labor and Capital, — shall realize that they are not 
 enemies, but 'benignant friends' ; shall agree to settle their 
 differences as brothers; and through Co-operation shall 
 seek each other's good; and through justice shall attain 
 to fellowship and peace : 
 
 'The world sits at the feet of Christ, 
 Unknowing, blind and unconsoled; 
 It yet shall touch His garment's fold. 
 
 And feel the heavenly Alchemist 
 Transform its very dust to gold.' "♦ 
 
 The sermon of the old minister was highly appreciated 
 
 ♦Whittier : "The Over-Heart." 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 305 
 
 by the members of the Workers' Club, many of whom re- 
 mained at the Church to tell him so ; but as Crandall and 
 others of the immediate party which the Iron-master had 
 taken to the meeting wished to get back to town in time 
 for their own Church service in the evening, they made 
 a quick return. As they neared the cemetery in which 
 the body of Hammer Harry had been laid to rest, Cran- 
 dall asked to be allowed to get out there, and his request 
 was seconded by Barr and Bruce. As the others went 
 on their way, these three made their way to the grave of 
 their friend, and as they gathered about it Crandall said : 
 
 "I'm glad you came along, for I wanted to tell you that 
 I have at last found the inscription that I have been hunt- 
 ing for Hammer's tombstone. I've been puzzled, but 
 when Mr. Godwin gave out his text, I saw that that was 
 what I had been waiting for. Nothing can better show 
 just what Hammer stood for than that combination 
 text" ; and he repeated the words as though they were 
 in one sentence; "'As workers together with Him, let 
 us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall 
 reap if we faint not.' My, how Hammer would have 
 enjoyed that address this afternoon : it seemed to me at 
 times, as though he must be around somewhere, listening 
 and approving of it." 
 
 Crandall's choice of an inscription met the hearty ap- 
 proval of Barr and Bruce, and as the three friends pro- 
 ceeded down the street, Barr said : 
 
 "It seems as though our duty was to think co-operation, 
 talk co-operation, and when we can, work co-operation. 
 By doing that we get our minds sort of set that way, and 
 if 'we, the people,' get our minds all set that way, I guess 
 it'll come." 
 
 "It surely will, Barr ;" replied Crandall ; "and I'm in- 
 
3o6 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 dined to think that one of the best ways to spread the 
 good word will be through you railroad men. You get 
 over the country so much, and see so many new faces all 
 the time : and then, besides, as old Mac once told you in 
 a rather startling way, so many of you men of the road 
 are always looking forward. And that's the right atti- 
 tude for us all." 
 
 "And there's one thing of special importance," added 
 Bruce; "that men like yourself can do, Mr. Crandall. 
 You stand close to the big employers, — the great Captains 
 of Industry. You are their right arms, one might say, 
 in getting out the goods. Being so close to them, you 
 know how entirely human they are; what good qualities 
 they have; how much alike, in many respects, the men 
 who work for them. You know that, in many cases, they 
 are gifted with great hearts, as well as with big brains. 
 Many of them, I am sure, would be glad to co-operate in 
 some just form of co-operation, — just to all interests con- 
 cerned ; and it is largely to men like you, who know them 
 so well, and upon whom they often lean so heavily, that 
 we plain people look, to secure their interest and co-opera- 
 tion. I wish you would think this over, for I'm sure 
 there's a work here for you." 
 
 "I've often thought of it," admitted Crandall. "As 
 you say, I've been close enough to the bosses to know 
 how much good there is in them, — and I've always been 
 close enough to the men, of whom I'm one, to know how 
 human we are. Now that we've made a start at the mills 
 in the line of co-operation, no one can tell how far it may 
 go. I hope that some day one or more of the big men 
 will do what that German Professor did, that you told us 
 about, Mr. Bruce, — or that great Frenchman with the 
 strange name, that young Strong told us of. Seems as 
 though great Americans ought to do as good work as 
 
EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY 307 
 
 great Germans or great Frenchmen. But I wish Hammer 
 was here to help me," he added, his mind recurring to 
 the friend, whom he had so recently lost. "He could 
 have helped to do this more than I can." 
 After a few minutes of silence, Barr said : 
 "I liked those two poems that Mr. Sharpe read, but 
 there was another poem that Hammer thought a great 
 deal of, John. I've often heard him speak of it; some- 
 thing about To-morrow. I remember one verse ended 
 this way: 
 
 'We'll sow the golden grain to-day, 
 And harvest comes to-morrow.' 
 
 "Do you remember who wrote it? I'd like to look it 
 up." 
 
 "No;" replied Crandall; "I recall that he liked it, and 
 I've often heard him repeat parts of it, — but I can't tell 
 who wrote it. I remember there was one line in it that 
 always seemed strange to me. I can't recall what went 
 before or after, but this one line said : 
 
 'Lean out your souls and listen.' 
 
 "Somehow that always seemed a strange expression to 
 me, — and yet a very beautiful one, too. Oh, yes ; I recall 
 now something Hammer told me several times about 
 that very poem. He said that whenever he read it, or 
 repeated it, — for he knew it, by heart, — it seemed to him 
 as though he could hear a steady 'tramp, tramp, tramp,' 
 like the onward tread of millions of marching feet ; and 
 he thought it meant the coming children, and the men 
 and women of the future. He thought it was a great 
 poem; said it had 'a trumpet-call in every verse.' " 
 
3o8 LOOKING FORWARD 
 
 "And it is a great poem," added Bruce; "one of the 
 great prophetic poems of the ages. What Hammer heard, 
 I've heard, too, as I've read it. It was written by Gerald 
 Massey, an Enghsh poet who wrote about the same time 
 as our own Longfellow and Whittier, and is entitled 
 'To-day and To-morrow.' I think I can give you the 
 verse you referred to, John ;" and he slowly repeated the 
 words : 
 
 " 'Though hearts brood o'er the past, our eyes 
 
 With smiling features glisten ! 
 For lo ! our day bursts up the skies ; 
 
 Lean out your souls and listen ! 
 The world rolls Freedom's radiant way 
 
 And ripens with her sorrow; 
 Keep heart ! who bear the cross to-day 
 
 Shall wear the crown to-morrow.' "* 
 
 And so, talking of their friend, and of the great cause 
 in which he had taken such deep interest, and by his latest 
 act in life so helped to advance, in the sunset light of a 
 perfect day the three friends pursued their homeward 
 way. 
 
 *The poem here referred to is given in full in the Appendix, page 314. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION LAW, ENACTED BY 
 THE STATE OF WISCONSIN IN 1911. 
 
 "CHAPTER 368, LAWS OF 191 1." 
 
 "An Act to create sections 17860 — i to 17860 — 17, inclusive, 
 of the statutes, relating to the incorporation of co-operative as- 
 sociations, and the fees to be paid therefor. 
 
 "The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate 
 and Assembly, do enact as follows ; 
 
 "Section i. There are added to the statutes seventeen new 
 sections to read : 
 
 "Section 17860 — i. Any number of persons, not less than five, 
 may associate themselves as a co-operative association, society, 
 company, or exchange, for the purpose of conducting any agri- 
 cultural, dairy, mercantile, mining, manufacturing or mechanical 
 business on the co-operative plan. For the purposes of this 
 act, the words 'association,' 'company,' 'corporation,' 'exchange,' 
 'society' or 'union,' shall be construed to mean the same. 
 
 "Section 17860 — 2. They shall sign and acknowledge written 
 articles which shall contain the name of said association and 
 the names and residences of the persons forming the same. 
 Such articles shall also contain a statement of the purposes of 
 the association and shall designate the city, town or village 
 where its principal place of business shall be located. Said 
 articles shall also state the amount of capital stock, the number 
 of shares and the par value of each. 
 
 Filing. 
 "Section 17866 — 3. The original articles of incorporation 
 organized under this act or a true copy thereof, verified as such 
 by the affidavits of two of the signers thereof, shall be filed with 
 the secretary of state. A like verified copy of such articles and 
 certificates of the secretary of state, showing the date when 
 such articles were filed with and accepted by the secretary of 
 state, within thirty days of such filing and acceptance, shall be 
 filed with and recorded by the register of deeds of the county 
 in which the principal place of business of the corporation is 
 
 (309) 
 
3IO APPENDIX 
 
 to be located, and no corporation shall, until such articles be 
 left for record, have legal existence. The register of deeds 
 shall forthwith transmit to the secretary of state a certificate 
 stating the time when such copy was recorded. Upon receipt 
 of such certificate the secretary of state shall issue a certificate 
 of incorporation. 
 
 "Section I786e — 4. For filing of articles of incorporation of 
 corporations organized under this act, there shall be paid the 
 secretary of state ten dollars and for the filing of an amend- 
 ment to such articles, five dollars. For recording copy of such 
 articles the register of deeds shall receive a fee of twenty-five 
 cents to be paid by the person presenting such papers for record. 
 
 "Section I786e — 5. Every such association shall be managed 
 by a board of not less than five directors. The directors shall 
 be elected by and from the stockholders of the association at 
 such time and for such term of office as the by-laws may pre- 
 scribe, and shall hold office for time for which elected and until 
 their successors are elected and shall enter upon the discharge 
 of their duties; but a majority of the stockholders shall have 
 the power at any regular or special stockholders' meeting, 
 legally called, to remove any director or officer for cause, and 
 fill the vacancy, and thereupon the director, or officer so re- 
 moved shall cease to be a director of said association. The 
 officers of every such association shall be a president, one or 
 more vice-presidents, a secretary and a treasurer, who shall be 
 elected annually by the directors, and each of said officers must 
 be a director of the association. The office of secretary and 
 treasurer may be combined, and when so combined the person 
 filling the office shall be secretary-treasurer. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 6. The association may amend its articles 
 of incorporation by a majority vote of its stockholders at any 
 regular stockholders' meeting, or at any special stockholders' 
 meeting called for that purpose, on ten days' notice to the 
 stockholders. Said power to amend shall include the power to 
 increase or diminish the amount of capital stock and the num- 
 ber of shares. Provided, the amount of the capital stock shall 
 not be diminished below the amount of paid-up capital at time 
 amendment is adopted. Within thirty days after the adoption 
 of an amendment to its articles of incorporation, an association 
 shall cause a copy of such amendment adopted to be recorded 
 in the office of the secretary of state and of the register of deeds 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 311 
 
 of the county where the principal place of business is located. 
 
 "Section i^SSe — 7. An association created under this act 
 shall have power to conduct any agricultural, dairy, mercantile, 
 mining, manufacturing or mechanical business, on the co-opera- 
 tive plan and may buy, sell and deal in the products of any 
 other co-operative company heretofore organized or hereafter 
 organized under the provisions of this act. 
 
 Limitation of Investment and Voting Powers. 
 
 "Section I786e — 8. No stockholder in any such association 
 shall own shares of a greater par value than one thousand dol- 
 lars, except as hereinafter provided, or be entitled to more than 
 one vote. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 9. At any regular meeting, or any regularly 
 called special meeting at which at least a majority of all its 
 stockholders shall be present, or represented, an association or- 
 ganized under this act may, by a majority vote of the stock- 
 holders present or represented, subscribe for shares and invest 
 its reserve fund, or not to exceed twenty-five per cent, of its 
 capital, in the capital stock of any co-operative association. 
 
 "Section 17866 — lo. Whenever an association, created under 
 this act, shall purchase the business of another association, 
 person or persons, it may pay for the same in whole or in part 
 by issuing to the selling association or person, shares of its 
 capital stock to an amount, which at par value would equal the 
 fair market value of the business so purchased, and in such 
 case the transfer to the association of such business at such 
 valuation shall be equivalent to payment in cash for the shares 
 of stock so issued. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 11. In case the cash value of such purchased 
 business exceeds one thousand dollars, the directors of the as- 
 sociation are authorized to hold the shares in excess of one 
 thousand dollars in trust for the vendor and dispose of the 
 same to such persons, and within such times as may be mutually 
 satisfactory to the parties in interest, and to pay the proceeds 
 thereof as currently received to the former owner of said busi- 
 ness. Certificates of stock shall not be issued to any subscriber 
 until fully paid, but the by-laws of the association may allow 
 subscribers to vote as stockholders; provided, part of stock 
 subscribed for has been paid in cash. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 12. At any regularly called general or 
 
312 APPENDIX 
 
 special meeting of the stockholders a written vote received by 
 mail from any absent stockholder and signed by him may be 
 read in such meeting and shall be equivalent to a vote of each 
 of the stockholders so signing; provided, he has been previously 
 notified in writing of the exact motion or resolution upon which 
 such vote is taken and a copy of same is forwarded with and 
 attached to the vote so mailed by him. 
 
 Division of Profits. 
 
 "Section I786e — 13. The directors, subject to revision by the 
 association at any general or special meeting, shall apportion 
 the earnings by first paying dividends on the paid-up capital 
 stock not exceeding six per cent, per annum, then setting aside 
 not less than ten per cent, of the net profits for a reserve fund 
 until an amount has accumulated in said reserve fund equal to 
 thirty per cent, of the paid-up capital stock, and five per cent. 
 thereof for an educational fund to be used in teaching Co- 
 operation and the remainder of said net profits by uniform 
 dividend upon the amount of purchases of shareholders and 
 upon the wages and salaries of employes, and one-half of such 
 uniform dividend to non-shareholders on the amount of their 
 purchases, which may be credited to the account of such non- 
 shareholders on account of capital stock of the association; but 
 in productive associations such as creameries, canneries, ele- 
 vators, factories, and the like, dividends shall be on raw ma- 
 terial delivered instead of on goods purchased. In case the 
 association is both a selling and a productive concern, the divi- 
 dends may be on both raw material delivered and on goods 
 purchased by patrons. 
 
 "Section 17860 — 14. The profits or net earnings of such as- 
 sociation shall be distributed to those entitled thereto, at such 
 times as the by-laws shall prescribe, which shall be as often 
 as once in twelve months. If such association, for five con- 
 secutive years shall fail to declare a dividend upon the shares 
 of its paid-up capital, five or more stockholders, by petition, 
 setting forth such fact, may apply to the circuit court of the 
 county, wherein is situated its principal place of business in 
 this state, for its dissolution. If, upon hearing, the allegations 
 of the petition are found to be true, the court may adjudge a 
 dissolution of the association. 
 
APPENDIX 313 
 
 Annual Reports. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 15. Every association organized under the 
 terms of this act shall annually, on or before the first day of 
 March of each year, make a report to the secretary of state; 
 such report shall contain the name of the company, its principal 
 place of business in this state, and generally a statement as to 
 its business, showing total amount of business transacted, 
 amount of capital stock subscribed for and paid in, number 
 of stockholders, total expenses of operation, amount of in- 
 debtedness or liabilities; and its profits and losses. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 16. All co-operative corporations, companies, 
 or associations heretofore organized and doing business under 
 prior statutes, or which have attempted to so organize and do 
 business, shall have the benefit of all of the provisions of this 
 act, and be bound thereby on filing with the secretary of state 
 a written declaration signed and sworn to by the president and 
 secretary to the effect that said co-operative company or as- 
 sociation has by a majority vote of its stockholders decided to 
 accept the benefits of and to be bound by the provisions of this 
 act. No association organized under this act shall be required 
 to do or perform anything not specifically required herein, in 
 order to become a corporation or to continue its business as 
 such. 
 
 Prohibiting Counterfeits. 
 
 "Section 17866 — 17. No corporation or association hereafter 
 organized or doing business for profit in this state shall be en- 
 titled to use the term 'co-operative' as part of its corporate or 
 other business name or title, unless it has complied with the 
 provisions of this act; and any corporation or association vio- 
 lating the provisions of this section may be enjoined from doing 
 business under such name at the instance of any stockholder of 
 any association legally organized hereunder. 
 
 "Section 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 
 and after its passage and publication. 
 
314 APPENDIX 
 
 The poem referred to on page 308 is as follows : 
 
 TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW. 
 By Gerald Massey. 
 
 High hopes that burned like stars sublime 
 
 Go down the heavens of Freedom, 
 And true hearts perish in the time 
 
 We bitterliest need them! 
 But never sit we down, and say 
 
 There's nothing left but sorrow: 
 We walk the wilderness to-day, 
 
 The promised land to-morrow. 
 
 Our birds of song are silent now. 
 
 There are no flowers blooming; 
 Yet life beats in the frozen bough. 
 
 And Freedom's spring is coming! 
 And Freedom's tide comes up alway. 
 
 Though we may stand in sorrow ; 
 And our good bark, aground to-day. 
 
 Shall float again to-morrow. 
 
 Through all the long, dark night of years 
 
 The people's cry ascendeth ; 
 The earth is wet with blood and tears, 
 
 But our meek sufferance endeth. 
 The few shall not forever sway, 
 
 The many toil in sorrow; 
 The powers of earth are strong to-day, 
 
 But Heaven shall reign to-morrow. 
 
 Though hearts brood o'er the past, our eyes 
 
 With smiling features glisten; 
 For lo ! our day bursts up the skies ! 
 
 Lean out your souls and listen ! 
 The world rolls Freedom's radiant way, 
 
 And ripens with her sorrow: 
 Keep heart ! who bear the cross to-day 
 
 Shall wear the crown to-morrow. 
 
APPENDIX 315 
 
 O Youth ! flame earnest ; still aspire, 
 
 With energies immortal ! 
 To many a heaven of desire 
 
 Our yearning opes a portal : 
 And though age wearies by the way, 
 
 And hearts break in the furrow, 
 We'll sow the golden grain to-day. 
 
 And harvest comes to-morrow. 
 
 Build up heroic lives, and all 
 
 Be like a sheathen sabre — 
 Ready to flash out at God's call : 
 
 O chivalry of labor ! 
 Triumph and toil are twins ; and aye 
 
 Joy suns the cloud of sorrow; 
 And 'tis the martyrdom to-day 
 
 Brings victory to-morrow !