“The Co-operative Commonwealth was conceived by men who believed the human race capable of advancing to the highest ideal of civilization. It never depended, for its success, upon those philosophers who chose to believe that because they themselves did not feel the pinch of want therefore none others need feel it, nor of those philanthropists who were always going about giving that sort of temporary relief which only served to make the source of poverty all the more prolific and the cause all the more obscure. They did not ask advice of learned students of history, who by that dim light discovered only the passions and sins of great sinners, and being diverted by the monsters whose careers filled the world with their unhallowed fame, failed to observe the patient, law-abiding, industrious and sober millions who toiled unobserved in the background.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth is founded upon the theory that all men can as well habituate themselves to conform to higher as to lower standards. The individualist, the theoretical democrat, urges that our system will tend to destroy self-reliance and to weaken the individual man. The same proposition carried to its logical conclusion would abolish all co-operative effort, and as society, even in its lowest forms, rests upon co-operation, all society is, if judged by that standard, but weakening in its effects. But whether co-operation makes men weak depends upon its purpose. If it is organized for theft, murder or lewdness, then it certainly tends to make men morally weak. If it is organized for luxury, riot or intemperance, then it tends to make them physically weak. If its purpose is blasphemy, gross materialism and the prevention of the free investigation of religious truth, it cannot fail to make men spiritually weak. The Co-operative Commonwealth is organized for none of these. Its aim is to produce a better and stronger man mentally, physically, morally and spiritually. It gives the fullest education to all and endeavors to make the minds of its pupils independent and self-reliant. It offers the largest opportunity for physical culture, and in all moral and spiritual spheres presents the highest and best standards, without limiting freedom of thought or criticism.
“In brief, the consummation of our programme is, the complete elimination of speculation, gambling and unjust advantage from the social state, and to guarantee our members the rewards of their own efforts. We do not permit the rich to rob the poor, the strong to prey upon the weak, nor the keen to sharpen their faculties at the material expense of those who may be dull. To say that this is injurious to the development of what is best in man, is to assert that life has no purpose except physical gain, and that the main purpose of life is to provide clothing, shelter and food. We hold that these are only the means of life and that the purpose of life is the highest development of manhood and womanhood for the acquisition and appreciation of truth.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth is a great insurance association, and as such guarantees to its member the enjoyment of his or her earnings. It goes one step further, and assures him that if accident or sickness shall deprive him of physical or mental ability, or death shall remove him from a dependent family, all physical and mental needs shall be provided for him or them. All such advantages were and are regarded as lending strength to any form of society and surely they cannot be other than meritorious features of our system.
“With a firm belief in the righteousness of our great cause, and assuring you that my life is devoted to your service, I again express my willingness to accept this nomination. I need give you but one pledge and giving that you can feel perfectly secure that your will is to govern the future. It is my purpose to use my utmost endeavors to have a constitutional convention called as speedily as possible, if I shall be elected, and through that convention you, my brothers, will establish the Co-operative Commonwealth forever.”
Again the convention went wild with enthusiasm and the delegates and visitors crowded around the nominee. I have attended many state conventions, but never before saw one which resembled so closely in its magnitude and tumultuous enthusiasm those assemblages in which the national parties are wont to designate their choice for chief magistrate of the great republic. The reason, however, was apparent. All understood that this convention was to initiate a peaceful revolution whose influence would ultimately be world-wide in extent.
After the enthusiasm attending the nomination had subsided the convention nominated the remainder of the ticket. All the candidates were co-operators, but selected from different localities.
For Secretary of State, Addison Wellman of Boise City; State Treasurer, Benjamin D. Corwin of Alpha, then a flourishing colony, now a great city, on the Snake river, about sixty miles from Co-opolis. For Lieutenant-Governor, Edward J. Murphy of Banford, in the northern part of the state. This ticket, be it said, did not fully conform to our plan to have the officers of the state and the association identical, but it was considered best to unite all our colonies under one brotherhood government within the state and then to carry our plan of official identity of state and brotherhood into effect. The platform adopted was very brief. It pledged the Co-operative Commonwealth to respect all vested rights and to conform to the constitution of the United States, but asserted that the sources and machinery of material production should be owned in common. It also declared for a constitutional convention to be called at an early date.
CHAPTER IX.
MY HOME LIFE—AUNT LYDIA—MISS WOODBERRY—TRIP TO CANYON LAKE.
According to the laws of the Brotherhood each company was entitled to a fortnightly holiday and as far as possible work was entirely suspended on Sunday. The day after the convention was Thursday and the company of which I was a member enjoyed a “lay-off” on that day. Although the convention had kept me up late the night before I arose early, having arranged an outing in the country with a small company of friends. The Co-opolitan lay on the walk as I stepped out to sit upon the veranda while breakfast was being prepared. I picked it up and sitting down proceeded to read the news. At that time my residence was on Salem Avenue where it widened into an extensive park in which was a lake fed from an artesian well around which a grove of young trees grew luxuriantly. My house was not a large one. It had been constructed for me by the association, as all private dwellings had been for their occupants, upon a plan such as the occupant furnished. The estimated cost to the Association was one thousand dollars as represented by orders paid out by it for the labor and material used. It is well to state here that the construction of a house was to the Association hardly more than a question of labor. My house was, like all the dwellings in the city at that time except apartment houses, a frame structure. The timber had been obtained from the neighboring forests by our own people without cost. It had been sawed into lumber by our mills. It had been put together by our carpenters. The stone for the foundations, the lime for the walls and ceiling, the brick, mortar, sand, and, in short, all but the nails, screws, locks and gears were produced by the labor of our own people. Three years later, even these were manufactured in Idaho. So that the house cost little more than the cost of the labor employed in its construction. But it was, nevertheless, as well built and as commodious as one costing three thousand dollars in an eastern city under the competitive system, showing that our co-operative system was at least three times as effective in this line as the competitive system. This showing, however, is limited to the building trades alone, and does not include the enormous increase of productivity by the employment of all labor power in the direction of greatest utility.