Page:Scribner's Monthly, Volume 12 (May–October 1876).djvu/107

Rh shops and foundries now in operation in this country. In January, 1872, a number of machinists and other workingmen met in the town of Beaver Falls, Pa., and under the laws of that State formed an incorporated company under the name of the " Beaver Falls Co-operative Foundry Association," for the purpose of manufacturing stoves, hollow-ware, and fine castings. The capital was fixed at $25,000, with the right to increase it to $50,000, and the affairs of the company were placed under the government of a president, a treasurer, and five directors. Articles of agreement and appropriate by-laws were drawn up and signed, and the first officers were elected for one year. The number of members was quite limited, and all the capital they could command did not reach $4,000. On this basis the association went into operation, and it has prospered steadily ever since. Full time has been constantly maintained (except during brief stops for repairs), and wages have been paid once a week to every member employed. The amount of the wages thus earned was the same as for similar work in the same line of business. A few desirable members have since been added. Each took as many shares as he was able to purchase, and the association has now a membership of twenty-seven, with a paid up capital of $16,000. Each share has regularly earned an annual dividend, over and above all expenses and interest on plant, of from twelve to fifteen per cent. The goods produced last year were valued at $40,000, even at the present low prices. A few outside hands are employed, but in the apportionment of the labor the members have the preference. In the control of the association each member has one vote only, and each is obliged to attend the regular quarterly meetings of the stockholders. The larger part of the stockholders are regularly employed in the foundry, and are paid wages for the time employed. Other stockholders merely receive dividends on their stock.

In the fall of 1867 a number of workingmen in the town of Somerset, Mass., united under the laws of that State, for the purpose of starting an iron foundry, in the belief that the co-operation of their money and labor might be of mutual advantage. Thirty men contributed their money and collected a capital of a little more than $14,000, and with this started the "Somerset Co-operative Foundry Company," in the manufacture of ranges, parlor and cooking stoves, and hollow-ware of all kinds. The ownership of five shares entitled a man to work in the foundry at regular wages. Each member had one vote in the election of the officers in whom the government of the company was vested. The details of the government were very simple, and it has proved efficient. The experience of the company during its nine years of business life has been satisfactory, in spite of the dull times that recently have fallen upon the iron trade. Since it began work the stockholders have been paid dividends to the extent of forty-four per cent., either in cash or in new stock. Within the last five years it produced material to the value of $340,000 and paid $151,000 in wages, while its total sales since it began have reached almost half a million dollars. The company spent within the last two years $5,400 for new flasks and patterns, and still showed a net gain of $11,914 for the two years. It has now a capital of $30,000, partly paid in cash and partly earned, and a surplus fund of $28,924. There are now fifty-three members of the association, of whom thirty are employed in the foundry. Of the other shareholders, all save five or six are mechanics employed in other shops in the neighborhood. Another instance of the practical working of co-operation is shown in the experience of the "Equitable Co-operative Foundry Company of Rochester, N. Y." This company was started under the general manufacturing law of New York in 1867 with a capital of $30,000. This was divided into shares of $100 each, and of the forty-five contributors to the capital all save two or three immediately obtained work in the foundry. The by-laws by which this company was to be governed, and is still conducted, are worthy of examination, as showing its working methods. The first article appoints the time and place of the annual meeting of the stockholders and directors, and provides for vacancies in the board of directors caused by death or otherwise. The second article places the government of the company in a board of nine directors, who elect annually a president, treasurer, secretary, and manager or superintendent. The salaries of these officers are fixed by the board of directors, and they are at all times subject to their direction. The third article states that it shall be the duty of the president to preside at all the meetings of the directors, sign all important papers, bonds, contracts, stocks, etc., and make an annual report of the doings of the association in detail. The fourth and fifth articles define the