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THE HELMSHORE MASSACRE.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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a , philandering Colonel and a newspaper correspondent takinga capital , aiid turning the tide of a revolution with a telegram—a flash of lightning ! Toothing new ? A conqueror entering a fallen city in a railway train , with his carpet bag in his hand . Nothing strange indeed ; why Austria is framing a constitution , and an English Prince of the Blood is preparing to receive the homag-e of the people , who not a hundred years ago sacrificed their best blood to banish the rule of his family from their land . But there are even stranger things occurring in these rejuvenescent times . Doctrines which , even within the last decade , were pronounced dangerous and damnable , are discovering germs of truth , and are beginning to _ bo accepted as not so dangerous , not so damnable , ami not so Utopian is the le CharterHow
aiter all . There , for example , Peops . we well-to-do philosophers scouted and pooh-pooh'd that a dozen years ago ! It was a mere absurdity , a fevered and licentious dream , a wild impossibility . Yet since then one of the points has been established . The Property Qualification of Members of Parliament has been abolished , and the world goes on much as usual . Then there was Socialism . What a many-headed monster was that ! It was sheer madness , and nothing else . St . Soros , Robert Owes , lions Bla 2 n-c , and Mr . Maubicje , were simply fit subjects for a commission of lunacy—no , not for a commission ., for Hanwell , or Colney Hatch , without judge or jury . They could not have more conclusively established thiur hopeless insanity , if like the Earl of Kingston , they had denied the right of the Bishops to sit m the
House of Lords . , . . But in these wonderful days even Socialism is beginning to wear a less terrible aspect . The monster has not so many heads as he had ; he is not half so repulsive in aspect as we thought him . lake the Devil , he-is turning out , on better acquaintance , to be not so black as he was painted . . . For the proot let us go to Rochdale . Here we have Socialist principles in actual practice among the working men , and what is more , the practice is successful , and has stood the trial of some years . It is not the rampant Socialism of St . Simox or Robert Owen exactly ; nor does it aspire to the universal scope aimed at by M . Louis Blaxc . It does not pretend to be the panacea for all the ills of society ; iior does it assume to be potent t
enough entirely to cure one of them . Nevertheless , ihas effected a great improvement in the condition of the poor man , and it both works well and pays . The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers , which has since been the parent of many similar institutions , both in Rochdale and elsewhere , was founded in 1844 , the object being to enable the working classes to become independent of the tyranny of capital . It began by forty working men contributing three pence apiece . In the course of a few weeks their three-pences amounted to ; £ 28 ; with this small sum the forty pioneers opened a little shop for the sale of groceries , butter , flour , and other provisions of the kind . At first the shop was only opened on Saturday night , and was managed gratuitously by the promoter . It was up-hill work for some years to keep the concern t
afloat ; but it continued gradually to attract customers , and shorly after the failure of the Rochdale Savings Bank , the capital of the store was trebled in twelve months . At the present moment there are , in Rochdale , three co-operative societies , owning among them a capital of no less than £ 60 , 000 , the whole of that large amount having been subscribed by men of the working classes . The original society has a grocery and provision warehouse , a butcher'sshopj a drapery and clothing shop , and shops for tailoring and shoemaking , its capital being upwards of £ 20 , 000 . The plan upon , which the business is conducted is as nearly as possible that which is pursued by public companies generally , with the addition of an educational scheme ; and a certain limitation as to the scale of profit payable in cash . Each member is expected to purchase , l > y
degrees , five shares of £ 1 each { but is not allowed to hold more than one hundred , and upon these he receives five per cent , per annum interest , and no more . The remainder of the profit is devoted to two purposes : the first is the maintenance of a free library , news-rooms , and evening classes for the members . The other is a dividend ftmd , or drawback , which is divided among the customers of the store , in proportion to their purchases . This latter dividend is often larger than the first ; since a man who spends £ 25 in the store has a dividend of £ 3 placed to his credit , as a sort of discount upon his purchases . Thus the store is , in faot , the purchasing- agent of its members . The members , collectively , as shareholders , obtain goods at wholesale pricos , sell them at retail prices , and at the end of the year divide the profits among themselves , in the manner described . The store is also a Savings Bank , and receives deposits from its
members up to the amount of dSlOO , paying interest at the rate oi five per cent , for the use of the money . The advantages of this Association are thus plainly stated by one of its founders : — " We can do with fewer overlookers than a master manufacturer , because with us every man is an overlooker , having strong 1 interest in the quality of his neighbour's work as well as Iiih own . We have lops waste , because every man feels with us , that he has an interest in avoiding' it . We can always secure the best workmen , because with us they will have the current rate , of wages and profits in addition . Our working-, therefore , will be more economical than that of our competitors j and , as every manufacturer knows , tho profits of the cotton trade depend on Hmnll economies . " Another great advantage , in uddifcion to all the ot ' iorw , is that tho customers at thoso oopnera ^ ivo stores » iro enabled to purchase unadulterated and genuine goods . It should bo mentioned , also , that one of the most strict rulps of tho Association is that no moinbor shall bo allowed to have goods on credit . Ho may bo it shareholder in the concern , or he may bo a depositor to the full amount of £ 100 ; but ho cannot have
goods without paying for them over the counter . He may withdraw a portion of the money he las invested ; but that process must be duly gone through , and tie transaction squared at once . It is well observed by a writer in ^ Frazer ' s Magazine , " who seems to have been convinced almost against-his will , by what he saw at Rochdale—that " no better education , practical , intellectual , and moral , could have been given to the working classes of that town . than that which their store , and mills , and factory—for the store has been the parent of both these latter—have given and are giving them . They are learning self-respect , self-command , and selfknowledge . They have learnt , most of them , to regard the rights and goodwill of capitalists , employers , and wealthy neighbours ; to comprehend something of economical laws , and to understand the suicidal folly of strikes and riots . "
Here , then r we have several notable examples of the successful working of trade societies conducted according to the principles of communion . It must be observed , however , that the communism practised by the Rochdale pioneers is divested of the impracticable crotchets which have defeated all former efforts in the same direction . The rights of private property are fully recognised , and the constitution of the Society is especially designed to foster and promote energy , self-relianee , and prudence . The store helps no one who does not help himself ; and the advantages which it affords are meted out in proportion to the value . of the co-operation of its members . These co-operative stores are , in fact , nothing more nor less than a modification of Joint-Stock Companies . And why should not working men subscribe capital , form boards of directors , and carrv on business by combination , as well as their betters ?
We have more than enough of wild speculations , conducted without capital , by boards of direction composed of penniless adventurers , utterly without either money , honesty , or capacity . The object of many of these is simply to put money into the pockets of directors and officials , at the expense of a credulous and . tooconfiding public . The working-man ' s co-operative store is an institution of quite another kind . Its whole and sole object is mutual advantage ; and while each shareholder and member oi the Society is entitled to a voice in the election of its directors and managers , there is a permanent guarantee that the capital of the Company can never be divert ed ' from its legitimate purpose . We hope to see the example so -worthily set by the pioneers of Rochdale followed by all the great towns in the kingdom ; for we cannot doubt that all efforts of the kind , if energetically and
carefully conducted and kept within proper limits , must prove commercially successful , and greatly redound to the advantage of the working classes .
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T HE curtain has fallen on the Helmshore tragedy . The inquest has heen holden and verdict given , but we very much question the satisfaction that verdict will give to the public in general and the relatives of the sufferers in particular . Die latter , however , will have their remedy at law against the East Lancashire Company . Let us now proceed to analyse the evidence , and see how far the jury have fulfilled or disappointed our expectations of a more satisfactory verdict than that returned after the Round Oak accident . One of the first witnesses called swore , my name is Thomas Dpckwoeth , I live in Ingle-street , Haslinpfdon , and sun a cordwainer . I left Manchester in the second excursion train about
half-past eleven that night . I was in that portion of the train which did not break loose . We . stopped at one station between Manchester and Bury , again at Bury , then at Ramsbottom , whore I got out and fetched a gill of rum to oblige a friend who was with me , and then returned and got into the train . Tho public-house is closo to the station . The rum was drank amongst us . Onei of the party asked the guard of the train to drink , and he replied , " J U be with you altogether directly . " Tho train was just then moving oft , and in a minute or two ho camo into our carriage wi » his lamn . and drank and smokad a pipo with us till wo noury to
reached Holmshore station . Ho believed John Chippendale be the guard who drank tho mm . Samuel Gtri > drod , spmdemaker , of Bromley , another witness , sworo ho was a passenger by the train in question , and was in a first-class carriage , tho ono on which the couplings broke . They left Salford at five minutes to eleven . There were eight of us in . the same compartment , although it was only built to carry six . When we got on tho Helmshore side of Ramsbottom station , a porter came to tho door , and smcl it " was time for a small collection for having brought uh so safely on our way . " Ho did not get anything from any of us . Ono man , however , said , " I think I gave you mine at Manchester . John AsrtwoRTji , another witness , sworo , I was in tho tram , and was ,. alonn fill wn rrnt , t , n Tln . msbnttftni . when T and tho others wore asleep till wo got to Ramsbottornwhen I and tho others wwu
, awoke up as we were leaving Batnsbottom by a portor , who enmo ni and said , " You ' ro looking snug , chaps ; you have managed n sweetly ; are you going to stand oughtP " I gave him throe ¦ halfpence , and throo others gave him something 1 , Wo wore 8 > xm us travelling in a first-class carriage with third-ulass tickets , f »* - man then lol't us , und soon affcor wo camo to tho Holmshoro station . Just as tho carriages pulled up they ro-boundod , tho snap oceurreu , and they began to go back . I do , not think any break wns put o » when we stopped ; if thoro had hocn a brook on I do not think urn ro-bound covifct havo boon to grant . " . Now , the evidonoo which wo hore quote , wo think inowt impm tant to tho inquiry , and yot very Ufctlo noiioo npyonrM to havo moot taken of it by tho Jury or Government Inspector , It raises a ouoHWori in our minds whether tho breaks wo over put on at all , wlion . w «« train was stopping at Helmshoro , b . -y thoso two previous nttonciMiw «*¦
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814 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . |_ Sept . 22 , i 860
The Helmshore Massacre.
THE HELMSHORE MASSACRE .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 22, 1860, page 814, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2366/page/6/
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