Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1876 — A. Workingmen’s Co-Operative Society. [ARTICLE]

A. Workingmen’s Co-Operative Society.

The concentration of population in the manufacturing districts of England is pasi belief til) one has seen some such a center as Leeds. Here the British workman may be seen at his best and at his worst. His liberal patronage of the ginshop, and his love for the gentle bull-pup, have been a fertile theme for official pens. It is'more agreeable to report-whatlie has done to help himself, to organize his idle shillings into a federal union of dividends and to'teach himself and children sobriety and thrift. , i v-r. Here is a tangible expression of Yorkshire common sense—a handsome fourstory block of stores, splendid in plate giass, carved stonework, and architectural display—the stores of the “Leeds Indus-' trial Co-operative Society, Limited,” Albion street, Leeds. It maybe Saturday afternoon—a half holiday in the mills—apd the streets swarm with work-people of every age and condition.”. Albion street is none too wide for the traffic that pours along its sidewalks and roadway, and gathers about the open doors of the “Leeds Industrial,” actually struggling In and put, and pressing thickly up to the , counters. One door leads tq a grocery store, the next to a drapery store, another door- leads up-stairs to the hoUse-ffiruiblring ware-rooms, the out-fitting department, and the boot and shoe Store. There is no display in the windows (after the co-operative mannerj, and we may follow the 'multitude inside to watch the active trade. Plain, hard-working people, perhaps grimy from their toil, they press up to the counters, cash in hand, ready to buy. The salesmen have evidently prepared for a good demand, and the staple goods, already put up In convenient packages, are piled in enormous-heaps on the counters. They deal out the bundles with wonderful speed, take the money, mqke a note in a sales-book, tear off the voucher (or half-leaf), and give it with the change to the customer. Each one takes his of her goods, and moves away as quickly as possible to make room for others. 'Near the door, im a tiny office, such as is sometimes used for the eflshier in American stores, sits a young girl. Each one presents the fly-leaf to her, and receives a tin or brass token representing the amount of the purchase. This is the evidence of traae at the society’s Stores, and will be a guide in estimating the allocation of profits next dividend day. For event bag of flour the member may buy he will receive back a bonus or dividend of two shillings and sixpence. On all other goods the bonus will be two shillings and twopence ;in every pound these tokens represent. This is the key to this active trade; this explains this eagerness to buy; this is the “ excuse for beiqg” that the society can show.

The shops seem to be equal to the best of their class in London or New York. The &xk?k is very large, of apparently the ,best quality, and is admirably put up, ready for immediate sale. Going upstairs, we find the building blockaded with people intent on trade. A woman coming down-stairs, her three boys making much clatter with their new wooden shoes, brushes past a man with a wicker baby-carriage under one arm and a mop broom under the other. There is plenty of roughness, broad Yorkshire dialect, toil-siamed clothing, and good English push and scramble; everyman for himself; but, with all, there is a feeling for order and honest good-nature. Above, stairs; there are halls and corridors necked from floor to ceiling with boots and shoes, brushes, kitchenware, household goods, and readymade clothing# The people swarm jntoi every nook and. corner, besiege the salesmen, and drive a lively trade. These busy shop, pers and anxious buyers are the members of the Leeds Industrial—a few of the 16,000 share-holders, the legal owners of this building, the thirty brahch stores, the shoe manufactory and the great flour-mill at Marshall street in the Holbeck district. Every min and woman of this company has five or more shares in the society, or has paid down good shillings to let them earn the shares. Each one of these people participated in that handsome dividend of £16,506 17s. Bd. that was paid last quarter day. That is more than two pounds a year apiece, or two shillings and a trifle over in every 240 pennies they spent at the stores, "besides the interest at . five per cent, a year on their share capital of £122,332 17s. 11 Charles Barnard, in Scribner for December.