228 REPORT — 1861. 



This capital consists of actual money, or stock purchased by monej', and which 

 might very fairly be estimated at a value considerably above its cost price. 

 Now let us pause for a moment to consider the progress that has been made. 



In the year 1844 the capital was £28 



„ 1850, commencement of Corn-Mill .... 2,299 



„ 1854, commencement of Manuf. Soc 11,144 



w 



1861 125,729. 



But this does not by any means represent the whole of the financial co-operative 

 progress in Rochdale. Several other societies have come into existence, which, 

 though independent of this Society, and not recognizing so clearly as this Society 

 the principles of cooperation as laid do-wn by it, are nevertheless societies which 

 receive and develope the resources of the working-classes, which tend to raise them 

 morally, socially, and intellectually, as well as materially, and which must not, 

 therefore, be wholly left out of our accoimt in estimating the progress which 

 cooperation has made in Rochdale. It would be foreign to my present purpose 

 to enter into an enumeration of their operations. I only refer to them in order that 

 the Section may understand that the progress described in this paper is very far 

 from representing the whole of the results of the principle of cooperation in the 

 tovra of Rochdale. 



There is one thing to which I would advert before I leave the subject, which is 

 greatly to the credit of the principal promoters of this movement, and is all the 

 more necessary to be mentioned, because the contrary is sometimes asserted. I 

 cannot, of course, speak for all of them ; but, as far as 1 have had an opportunity of 

 obsen'ing them, I have been struck with the absence of that IcA-elling spirit and of 

 that desire of self-aggrandizement which has characterised some of the working- 

 class attempts to elevate themselves. The chief ambition of the principal promoters 

 of the movement in Rochdale appears to me to be to raise themselves by raising 

 the class to which they belong, vdthout desiring to leave it, and without the slight- 

 est wish to depress or injure any other class. Their object and their ambition 

 appears to be that the workiug-class should be well fed, well clothed, well housed, 

 well washed, well educated — in a word, that they should be respectable and re- 

 spected. If any taint of the socialist and communist theories in which the society 

 originated still cleaves to them, it is being rapidly worked off, and will, I am per- 

 suaded, shortly disappear. And, to their honour be it spoken, so far are they from 

 trying to monopolize the advantages they have acquired, that they are animated by 

 a generous spirit of proselji:ism, and put themselves to considerable trouble and ex- 

 pense in communicating to inquirers from all parts of the kingdom the results of 

 their experience, and aiding them in the formation of new societies. The follow- 

 ing extract from a paper they have printed for the use of persons wishing to form 

 new societies will sen-e to illustrate this remark, and will I am sure, be listened 

 to with interest by the Section : — 



" 1st. Procure the authority and protection of the law by enrolment. 

 " 2nd. Let integrity, intelligence, and ability be indispensable qualifications in 

 the choice of officers and managers, and not wealth or distinction. 



" 3rd. Let each member have only one vote, and make no distinction as regards 

 the amoimt of wealth any member may contribute. 



" 4th. Let majorities rule in all matters of government. 



" 5th. Look well after the money matters. Punish fraud, when duly established, 

 by the immediate expulsion of the defrauder. 



" 6th. Buy yom* goods as much as possible in the first markets ; or, if you have 

 the produce of your industry to sell, contrive, if possible, to sell in the last. 



" 7th. Never depart from the principle of bujing and selling for heady money. 

 " 8th. Beware of long reckonings. Quarterly accoimts are the best, and shoidd 

 be adopted when practicable. 



" 9th. For the sake of security, always have the accounted value of the * Fixed 

 Stock ' at least one-fourth less than its marketable value. 



" 10th. Let members take care that the accoimts are properly audited by men 

 of their own choosing. 



" 11th. Let Committees of Management always have the authority of the mem- 

 bers before taking any important or expensive step. 



