THE
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"It was not a muckraker, nor a professor, nor any of the familiar type of the danger ous element, but M r . George W . Perkins, lately of the banking firm of J . P . Morgan & Co., who told the National Civic Federa tion the other night that this country faces a crisis as grave as that which preceded the Civil W a r . " Further on, M r . Perkins is quoted as saying that— "There are just three possible ways to solve our present problem W e may create a co-operation on a vast scale and put it under the regulation of the Federal Govern ment ; we may turn over all the big and i m portant enterprises to Government owner ship; or, third, we shall have, whether we
March, 1911
MASSES
like it or not, Out and out Socialism'." But what precisely is the federally regulated co-operation on a vast scale which M r . Perkins prefers to the other two possibilities? O n this question the Independent remarks : "In all seriousness we hope that M r . Perkins will, on some suitable occasion, de scribe more explicitly his scheme for an inclusive co-operation under federal regula tion. E v e r y phrase that he has so far used to express his idea might have been taken from any standard exposition of 'out and out Socialism,' which, we understand, M r . Perkins does not at all advocate." A n d the editor closes with this strange dictum : " M r . Perkins' analysis is scientifically
sound. There are just three possibilities be fore us in the present crisis, and M r . Perkins has named them." Consider now that the editor has already told us that he sees no difference between M r . Perkins' first possibility and Socialism, and then let us ask ourselves what this summing up means. Is it not very much like saying that the American people can have Socialism, or they can have Socialism, or they can have Socialism, but other choice they have none? Surely that last sentence of the article could not knowingly have flowed from the Independent's editorial pen. M a y we guess that we have here a frag ment dictated by the editor's subliminal self, of which his primary personality was unaware? The gods grant it to be a true prophecy !
The American Co-operative Contract System By P I E T V L A G T
H
E
A M E R I C A N Wholesale Co-opera tive has recently introduced into its stores a new co-operative feature known as the Contract System. B y this system the co-operatives are en abled to enlarge their volume of business and greatly increase their earnings with no additional investment of capital and but slight expense. It has been tried in a number of the stores with extremely good results. The plan was submitted a few months ago to The American Wholesale Co-operative by Charles Behrens, Secretary of T h e American Co-operative of Hoboken. T h e co-operative stores enter into contracts with local merchants dealing i n such articles as jewelry, shoes, drugs, bread, meat, etc.—articles which the co-operative stores do not as yet carry. The merchants hav ing contracts with the various stores display signs i n the windows announcing that co-opera tive stamps may be procured there. They pur chase for cash from the American Co-operative checks at the rate of $5.00 per $100.00 worth of
checks. These checks are of different denomina tions ranging from five cents to one dollar. Merchants give them upon request to their customers. The co-operative stores accept the checks and credit the purchaser monthly with the total amount of purchases made both from the co operative store direct and from the private mer chants. A dividend is then declared on the total amount of purchases, as explained in my article on co-operation i n the February number of The Masses. If a customer who is not a member of the co operative store takes checks, he must, in order to get credit for them, go to the co-operative store. In this way the non-members are attracted to the co-operative. According to Section I, Paragraph 3, of the constitution of The American Wholesale Co-operative, persons buying i n contract stores and receiving co-operative checks thereby become members of the Co-operative. B y this Contract System the workingmen are taught to realize i n a very concrete way what
they can accomplish by uniting their purchasing power. It is possible that in the future the private mer chants will try to counteract the Contract Sys tem by forming an organization of their own. But the middle class move slowly, and it is safe to predict that they will not think of organization until it is too late. B y the time they are ready the workingmen will have tasted of the sweets of solidarity i n buying, and they will stand by their own co-operative organization. They will not hesitate then to take their savings from their banks and invest them i n their own enterprises. The experience derived from the operation of the Contract System will prove a powerful educative factor in co-operation. W e strongly urge all co-operative stores to adopt this plan. W e advise the stores in the East to get i n touch with Comrade Behrens. H e is a good German speaker, and those co-operatives that have a large German speaking membership should try to arrange a general meeting at which to discuss the plan
G A U O T Τ Ε BY R E G I N A L D W R I G H T K A U F F M A N Let
it come now! Ο God, Thou nearest us groan Deep in our dungeons, who were never free— The Samsons that, through earth's eternity, Paid for their masters' ease with blood and bone; If, at the last, our lords will not atone, If, at the last, they rob us of our fee, If, at the last, the worst we dread must be: If Right must strangle Wrong to win her own— Then, hear me 'mid Thy swirling systems, Thou: By whatsoever pity we have won, By ail our tyrants' crimes beneath the sun, I beg Thee this one mighty boon allow: In mine own time let that high deed be done; Let it come now, my God,—let it come now!
Drawn by Charles A . Winter
