CO-OPERATION KILLED BY DRINK.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 36, 10 August 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

CO-OPERATION KILLED BY DRINK.

At a temperance meeting held recently at ■ Oxford, Alderman Phillips, of London, ' spoke of a scheme of his which he had in his mind for some time, but which was utterly blasted. He said:— "For the hist few years I have been trying to get the coal-porters of my district into a union, aud to endeavour to raise them to a much better condition than they now occupy. I said to them : — What you want to do is to form a co-operative society, save up your money, bo your own guarantee, and tender for your own work. You know what you can do it for ; the result will be that you will be your own employer. You can tender at a lower rate than the middleman, and there will be no difficulty in the matter of wages and hours. This they did, and for some time all went well, but a week or two ago they cume and said they wished to share out the money, and forced me as treasurer to do so, uud that evening I saw a dozen of them reeling and staggering about the streets drunk ; and so this scheme collapsed."