gress to meet in Chicago, February 12-14, 1920, with the following objects: "1. To co-ordinate co-operative effort among the various producing and distributing groups of co-operators to the end that speculation, profiteering and all unnecessary intermediary trading and jobbing in the necessities of life should be eliminated and that there should be established, as nearly as possible, direct buying and selling between original producers and ultimate consumers. "2. To educate the workers through their organizations and press to the almost completely neglected method of increasing the daily wage by multiplying its purchasing power through co-operative trading methods. "3. Being both borrowers and lenders in matters of finance and outrageously exploited in transactions involving either operation by those who control the life blood of the business world, to undertake to establish among and between the workers of the mine, factory, farm and field, a financial system of their own for the permanent use of their own money and credit in co-operatively financing the means of production and distribution of life's necessities. "4. To teach and give the widest publicity to the contrast afforded between a system of industry directed on the one hand by competition and self-interest, and, on the other, by co-operative effort; and to show that while the results in the first case have but naturally led up to the present frightful world conflagration, industrial democracy and mutuality in business are indispensable if civilization is ever to abolish industrial and military warfare and usher in a new social order." The proposed alliance between the four big railroad brotherhoods and the farmers' organizations to further the co-operative movement, its endorsement by the American Federation of Labor, the purchase of manufacturing plants, by another railway workers' organization, the special activities of the Northwest Co-operative Association and the Pacific Coast Co-operative League, which are noted in the February issue of the National Labor Digest, led to a report on the subject by a special committee of the American Federation of Labor and to a general meeting in February at Chicago, of the National Co-operative Congress. The new alliance proposes to establish banks throughout the country, a hundred million dollar reserve fund, and with this fund to establish factories, warehouses and other business enterprises, in order to get rid of the profiteer by eliminating the middleman and by bringing together the purchaser and the consumer. The Committee of the Federation of Labor made a favorable report on the plan and it was at the November meeting of the railroad members and the farmers in Chicago that the situation seemed promising enough to induce them to call the meeting of the Congress in February. A bulletin called the "Federal Co-operator" is the organ of the Federal Employees' Co-operative League, with headquarters in New York, which may be consulted for information in regard to the development of the movement in the United States. The two principal difficulties in the way of a successful operation of co-operative stores is, in the first place, attempting to get along with cheap and unscientific help and the second is the lack of adequate organization of the productive end. The following short program, which has been unanimously adopted by the American Federation of Labor, was presented by the committee: "1. That a qualified trade unionist co-operator be appointed by the president of the American Federation of Labor to serve as lecturer and advisor on the practical work of Rochdale co-operation. "2. That this committee shall have office room in the American Federation of Labor Building in Washington, which shall be the center of information by correspondence and otherwise on the subject. "3. That he shall visit localities in which co-operative societies are in process of formation or have already been formed, and give practical information to the officers and members of such societies, making out routes of travel for this purpose, so as to conserve his time and perform the work at a minimum of expense. "4. That it shall be understood that central labor unions and local trade unions, as such, shall not form co-operative societies, but shall appoint committees from their membership to act in co-operation with other citizens who are in sympathy with the trade union movement in assisting in establishing and upbuilding a general co-operative movement. "5. That every local trade union under the jurisdiction of the American Federation of Labor be requested to contribute the sum of one dollar in order to establish successfully the Federation Bureau for promoting and advancing the cause of true co-operation in the United States and Canada." The committee excluded from consideration all forms of associated work which did not fall within the limits of the Rochdale system, the principles of which are as follows: "1. A democratic organization. 66 2. One vote for each member with equality in share ownership. No voting by proxy. "3. Cash returns quarterly to members of the difference between the total amount they have paid for their purchases and the lesser total cost of these purchases to the co-operative society, including among the cost depreciation and a reasonable amount for a reserve fund to meet emergencies and extend the business. "4. Rejection of the principle of profits. "5. Current interest on loan capital. "6. Sales where possible preferably to members only. "S. A sufficient number of retail stores to be established to The following resolution adopted by the Northwest Co-operative Convention will furnish some idea of the extensive plans of the co-operators: "Whereas, organized labor, organized farmers, and the organized co-operative movement are united to establish and develop a united and a comprehensive co-operative program of education, organization, and finance on a national scale, and in a measure and manner worthy of commensuration with the dignity of the movement represented; now, therefore, be it "Resolved, That we favor the organization of a comprehensive nation-wide co-operative program, unifying and centralizing the efforts of the workers to take care of their own economic interests; and "That an effort be put forth immediately to raise the sum of at least $2,000,000, in the State of Washington, one-half of which should be raised in King County; and "That a committee of five be appointed from this convention to serve on a reconstruction committee of fifteen, of which committee organized labor shall be requested to appoint five members and the organized farmers the other five, with the responsibility of interesting the entire working class in the supreme importance of co-operation as their next step forward." CHAPTER XI British and American Shop Committee Plans We will quote from the Third Triennial Report of the Commission on Social Service of the Episcopal Church on these shop committees (p. 175): "The shop committee proper must, at the outset, be distinguished from certain spurious forms which have given rise to widespread misconception, and have generally served to confuse the issue. Strictly speaking, the shop committee plan provides for joint meetings of employers and employees' representatives, usually, though not always, equal in number, and of varying powers: 'In most cases the management have not hesitated to agree to be bound by unanimous vote, as they are adequately protected by their own representatives.' "This definition would rule out of consideration two other types of so-called shop committees, individual instances of which have perhaps bulked larger in the eye of the public than those of the genuine form. One of these is represented in the Leitch Plan,' which is simply an attempt to adopt American political machinery to industrial organization, but fails in the vital point of not providing regular joint sessions of the representatives of the two parties management and labor. "The second specious type includes the various other organizations of employees which (likewise) do not provide for any joint sessions with the management or its representatives'' welfare associations, brotherhoods,' and so forth. "What is practically the first notable American experiment in this direction - irrespective of the particular merits of the plan in question, and has a right to be classified as genuine in accordance with the foregoing definition — grew out of one of the most serious disturbances in the recent industrial history of the country- the Colorado miners' strike; and it is significant of the movement in general that it has tended to prevent strikes, particularly during the period of America's participation in the war, and in accordance with rulings and judgments of the National War Labor Board, which are responsible for many shop committees. Other plans have been voluntarily initiated, till now there are |