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"The following, is a complete and verbatim copy of a New York City newspaper of the date given. It is printed on a small quarter sheet of coarse paper(b) The printing is so bad that it is hard to read, and the typographical errors, all of which have been corrected, are inexcusable.(c)"
The motto of the paper is: "Let the Rich Pay! Let the Poor Enjoy!" The responsible editor is Lasalle Smith, and the proprietor's Marx Jones, Chairman of the New York City Board of Ethical Control, Cabet Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Arbitration for Wages and Prices, Baboeuf Brown, Chairman of the Board of Control for Rents and Loans, and Rousseau Peters, President of the Cooperative Bank. A notice warns readers that "This paper is published strictly under the cooperative rules established by the Typographical Union in our office and under the direction of the council of the same. The Committee of Grievances gives its assent and approval to each number before it is published. All subscriptions are payable monthly in advance to the Treasurer of the Typographical Union. The Typographical Union, being a member of the organized Cooperative Commonwealth, has police powers for the collection of all sums due to it."
We send copies of this edition of our paper to a large number of persons who have not hitherto cooperatedin our enterprise but whom we have enrolled until they signify their refusal. We call especial attention to the names and standing in the Cooperative Commonwealth of the proprietors of this journal. We believe that many of those whom we now invite to cooperate, and who have been under suspicion of being monopolists, capitalists, recalcitrants, and reactionists, will see that they cannot better establish their credit for civism than by accepting our invitation.
Our reports of the Ethical Tribunal show that our noble Board of Ethical Control needs to guard diligently our interests. Another pestilent preacher has been condemned to the chain gang. At least we make sure that our streets will be cleaned, a task which no cooperators could be asked to perform, since all the ancient lawyers, professors, and preachers are now condemned to this business. The stubbornness and incorrigibility of these classes towards the Commonwealth is astonishing.
The Board of Ethical Control announce as the result of the plebiscite which was taken on April 1 last, that, by a vote of 5319 to 782, the Commonwealth voted to retain the present Board of Ethical Control for ten years instead of reelecting them annually as heretofore. This is as it should be. Why disturb the tranquillity of our happy state by constant elections when our affairs are entrusted to such competent hands?
The agents of the Board of Ethical Control reported 213 persons found dead in the streets at the dawn of day, 174 bearing marks of violence; the rest, not having cooperators' tickets, were ancient monopolists who had apparently perished of want. The Grand Cooperator said that he should submit to the Board of Ethical Control the question whether it is edifying to continue these reports.
Of old Ye were enslaved by those who said: Work! Save! Study! We emancipate you by saying: Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
The first right of everyone born on this earth is the right to enjoy. The Cooperative Commonwealth assures this right to all its members.
We have not abolished private property. We only hold that every man is considered to have devoted his property to public use. We have not abolished landlords, capitalists, employers, or captains of industry. We retain and use them. Such members of a society are useful and necessary if only they be held firmly in check and forced to contribute to the public good.
We need "history" and "statistics" to batter down all the old system, but we should be the dupes of our own processes if we used them against ourselves. All sensible cooperators should know that history and statistics are far greater swindles than science.
There are dangers in the Cooperative Commonwealth which demand vigilance. There is danger of jealousy and division amongst cooperators. Harmony is essential to the Cooperative Commonwealth and we must have it at any price.
Some say that our Commonwealth is weak. It is the strongest state that ever existed. No one before our time ever knew the power of a "mob," as it used to be called. At a tap of the bell, every cooperator is at hand. Our only danger is factious division of this power. Let every cooperator have rewards for harmony and penalties for faction - strict, sure, and heavy!
There is danger from science. The evolution heresy is a worse foe to cooperation than the old Christian dogma. Stamp it out!
There is danger from the virus of the old anarchism -- worst of all because it is often enough like the truth to deceive the elect. It means liberty and individualism. Stamp it out!
The Commissioners of immigration have detected several persons striving to leave the city for Long Island, carrying gold with them. It is well known that many rich persons, animated by selfishness and disregarding their duties as trustees of their wealth for the public, have escaped to the wilds of Long Island beyond the Commune of Brooklyn, carrying with them all the gold which they could obtain. Hence the Commissioners of Emigration have arranged to patrol the East River by the Commonwealth galleys and have limited the ferry transits to the Fulton ferry between 8 and 9 A.M. and 5 and 6 P.M. Any persons found carrying away gold will be sent to the galleys and the gold confiscated. Gold is needed to buy supplies tor the Commonwealth.
No dispatches from Philadelphia have been received for a fortnight. A steamboat(f) of 100 tons burden is cruising in the Hudson River, taking toll of all goods in transit across the river. Reports disagree as to the character of the persons on this boat. By some it is asserted to be manned by cooperators who, being poor, are putting into effect ethical claims against material goods. By others it is said to be manned by a gang of monopolist scoundrels and vagabonds, who, driven to desperation by the boycott and plan of campaign, seek this means to perpetuate their existence. It behooves the Board of Ethical Control to learn which of these reports is correct before taking action.
A report comes from the West that the Indians(g) have seized Illinois, killing the whites and taking possession of the improvements. They have imbibed the ancient capitalistic notions and are impervious to ethical and cooperative doctrines. They are rapidly increasing in numbers, strange as it may seem, for we have read in ancient books that they were dying out a century ago. It is suggested that they now increase because they are conquering, and that they will go on doing so until they exterminate all whites from the continent. In the absence of private mails(h), we humbly suggest that our Board of Ethical Control should communicate(i) with similar boards of the communes to the westward.
The Board of Equalization of Production have set the amounts of various commodities which may be produced during the coming fall season. Those whom it concerns are to call at the office of the Board at once, pay the fees, and obtain their instructions. The penalty of over production is fixed at 100 cooperative units(j) per unit of product, half to the informer.
The Board of Arbitration for Contracts will sit daily at their office in Cooperative Hall from 10 to 1 A.M. to approve of contracts. The fee is 1000 cooperative units from each party. Notice is called to the ordinance of the Board of Ethical Control: "If two or more persons make a contract without the presence and approval of the Board of Arbitration or otherwise than in conformity with the regulations of said Board, they may be fined according to the circumstances of the case."
The Cooperative Railroad Commission, having found a mechanic to repair the locomotive, announce that they will recommence regular weekly trips to Yonkers on next Monday. A train will start at 9 A.M., or as soon thereafter as convenient. Accommodation for twenty-five passengers. Passports may be obtained until noon on Saturday. They must be vis'ed by the Railroad Commission and by the Cooperative Guardians of Public Morals at their office in the Cooperative Workhouse not later than two o'clock on the same time. The fare to Yonkers will be 10,000 cooperative units. On account of the inter-county commerce law, all freight and passengers will be transhipped at Yonkers. To prevent vexatious inquiries, the Commission hereby announce that they are not informed whether or when trains will be dispatched to points beyond.
Since the Commonwealth was founded, as our readers know, cooperators have refused to work in coal mines. No great harm has come of this since the factories and machinery have been abolished and railroads and steamers have almost gone out of use. Some coal, however, is a convenience, and our readers will see with pleasure that delinquents in considerable numbers are being sent to these mines under an agreement with our Board of Ethical Control with the similar authority of the Lehigh Commune in the ancient state of Pennsylvania.
We are informed that a number of ancient capitalists and monopolists, being in a starving condition, recently applied to the Board of the said Commune for leave to go into an abandoned coal mine and work it for their own support.
A week ago yesterday, Cooperative Association 2391, A. P. D., bricklayers, 7824, M. X. H., plasterers, 4823 N. K. J., hod carriers, F. L. M. 8296, joiners, met to consider the state of the building trades. On account of the decrease in the population, by which great numbers of houses are vacant, building has ceased for years past and these once great associations have dwindled down. The Board of Ethical Control has caused public buildings to be constructed in order to give them work and has ordered landlords to make repairs to the same end. The conference on Friday, a week ago, was to consider further measures of relief. It was decided that no vacant house ought to be allowed to stand. Some maintained that no repairs ought to be allowed at all, in order that new houses might become necessary, but others thought that this would take away what little work is now obtained. G. C. Marx Rogers former professor of political economy, made a speech in which he proposed that all houses now vacant and all ruins now standing which give shelter to unregistered vagabonds and boycotted persons should be destroyed; also that a committee be appointed to inspect all existing dwellings, mark those which are out of repair and unfit for cooperative residences, and that these latter should then be razed to the ground. This would cause an immediate demand for new houses. This proposition was unanimously adopted.
On Wednesday last the cooperative associations aforesaid met to hear the report of the committee. Twelve hundred and forty-seven houses had been noted so far as unfit for residences. The joint associations passed a decree against said houses, as a beginning, and ordered the committee of the whole to proceed to execute it.
They marched in a body to Bleecker Street, the northern-most limit of the ruined houses and demolished them entirely. They then moved southerly, destroying all vacant houses. Gradually, a number of persons gathered to look on. The agents of Ethical Supervision kept this crowd at a distance and secured the joint Cooperative Associations full independence in the execution of their decree.
In East Canal Street, Nonconformist Jonathan Merritt, lessee of a block of tenements, tried to dissuade or prevent the destruction of his buildings. He was roughly handled, his skull split open and his arm broken by the cooperators. The agents of Ethical Supervision took him in on a charge of disturbing the public peace.
When it came to the destruction of occupied buildings, the tenants objected. By the ordinance of the Board of Lodgings and Rents, each had been allotted to his domicile and was, of course, bound to keep it until allowed to change. It was also feared that no lodgings could be found. The Board of Lodgings and Rents immediately convened and issued new allotments of domicile. Suspects, nonconformists, recalcitrants, and reactionists were sent to lodge in the ancient churches and the cooperators were assigned to their tenements.
The revival and prosperity of the building trades is now assured.
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Here ends part I of the Cooperative Commonwealth by Dr. William Graham Sumner.
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