| Show CO OPERATION cooperation there has been a great deal said at one time and another in relation to the operative cooperative co system of labor and merchandise as it exists in utah and stud elsewhere but V of combinations in in this direction now it is the undoubted bated right of the citizens of this territory or any number of them to unite together and form cooper co oper active institutions f for or carrying on any kind of business that will be profitable to those who engage in it eo to long as it is legitimate coop co op cration in is not ft a new thing it has existed in the old world for a hundred years the most flourish flourishing ing institution of this character is that at rochdale rockdale Roc hdale england the members of that society commenced business we believe in the year 1844 with a capital of about it was judiciously managed and three years later at the beginning of the year the business amounted to a million and a half dollars and by the authain their sales reached nearly five and a quarter millions their profits are simply immense other business grew out of that institution institution ution which assumed gigantic proportions and were of a valuable character and highly benefi beneficial rial to the whole nation wherever these combinations exist and are properly conducted they cannot fail to be beneficial to those who are connected with them these organ organizations i are found in various parts of the united states and have in many instances benefited the working classes in various ways other than in merchandising in utah the operative cooperative co system has been tried for a number of yea yeara and has im worked alvan advantageously tag for the people the first effect it had here a st little over a 12 years yean ago agoras was to reduce the of every class ef of goods needed by the community which at that time very high and in the hands bands of comparatively a few persona persons wire made enormous profits out of the people of the territory in most of the largo large cities of utah arc are large branch houses the parent institution is in salt lake city they all do a large business bui iness which yields A good dividend to the stockholders in the concerns last year the receipts of the ogden branch alone reached nearly a million doll arsand in the fix six months of the last list fiscal year they rose to over half a million the iH of the house is still increasing these institutions however do not interfere with the trade of other business houses here all of whom are liberally patronized by all clarea of people the co cooperative business of the cormons mormons Mor mons ia utah has been frequently denounced by their enemies tas as one of the institutions by which the cormons mormons Mor mons are said to beheld be held in servitude and that they are absolutely sol forbidden to trade at adv any other house than those con controlled trolle d by the heads of the church some of the most sensible and just remarks we have seen for ix a long time past on this subject appeared a few days since in aa an editorial article in the california alia alta we extract the following it is ono of the anomalies of mormonism that the only great success in operation cooperation co which has been achieved in america has been by this sect in utah albeit BO so little is known of the matter outside of the territory that when general barnard was hunting for examples of american co opera tion for bis his book on that subject he never once thought of mentioning utah yet each mormon tillage village and hamlet baa has its it operative cooperative co and mer cantile institution wherein every mechanic and farmer has a small share they naturally all trade with the establishment in which they are interested and this assures its prosperity at the same time making it almost impossible for an outside trader to come in and compete for this reason tho the operative cooperative co enter enterprises of tho mormons cormons are disliked privest by the he gentiles Gen tilea and commonly spoken afu ofu of as an illustration of mormon clannish beeg awand and intolerance it Is i true that the religions and comm commercial f acial ideas of the saints work together e r very handily the influence of the church being lent to sustain the co stores and the latter litter reacting and helping to to maintain the solidarity oli darity of the religious fabric but it would it would not be just to treat mormon operation cooperation co as merely a poof I 1 of f bigotry bi t t ry and d elusiveness exclusive ec e c lusi veness nef corat operation cooperation co ion I 1 is preached phed to work wo rk f B a in a other p parte of the world worl d a mt advantageous type of ind andua kios it tc why should it not 7 be equally commendable in utah moreover operation cooperation co has list been of incalculable assistance to the people of utah in enabling men of small means to obtain credit and accumulate property when they could not have done so in other ways A poor immigrant from E europe m rope b by joining a operative cooperative co dative institution a and taking a tract of land can get advances and bo be carried over as they eay say in ip the agricultural regions region s until he lie ab had time to make a crop and get returns it is also reasonable to suppose that the noticeable influence which operation cooperation co haa has everywhere else exerted to make the industrial in du population frugal and saving has existed in full degree in lie the utah community |
