AND ON THE CONTINENT.

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to the number of .shareholders (7), and in this way with ninety percent, of all companies in Oldham . A minimum number of sharesto qualify as directors is not specified, but every shareholder isequally eligible. “ Almost the whole population of wage-workersand small trades-people in the town of Oldham are connectedwith spinning” is stated in the annual volume of the Co-operativeSociety at Manchester. The same thing is confirmed to me byletter by Mr. Samuel Andrew, the Secretary of the great Em-ployers' Association.

Operatives who will not undertake the risk of possessing shareshand over their savings to the undertakings in the form of loans;loans are accepted down to the lowest sums. The shares them-selves, also, do not exceed the nominal value of £ 5 . Amongstthose who invest their money in spinning-mills are also tradeunions, and I know from the mouth of the gentleman himself thatone of the most- noted trade-union leaders of Lancashire filled atthe same time, for a certain period, a post of trust with one of thelaigest limited spinning concerns of Oldham.

The competition for directors’ positions, the publicity of thewhole book-keeping, as well as the pride of the shareholders inthe possession of the best machinery, has the ultimate result thatall such undertakings, without exception, have had commercialsuccess. Mr. Samuel Andrew, the highest authority on thecotton industry, has, before the “ Commission on Depression ofTrade,’’ extolled the ability of these directors emanating from theworking class, and ascribed to these undertakings the salvation ofthe cotton industry. Also in the time of inflation at the com-mencement of the “seventies” the commercial foundation of thecompanies has been completely _freo from reproach. The bestproof for this is the permanence of the undertakings; further,also, that to-day individual employers in many cases would ratherinvest their capital in these companies.

The wide scope of the English “limited” laws, which leave alarge portion of the companies’ articles of association to theparties (for instance, the value of the payments on the shares,the value of the shares, voting power in general meetings, etc.) hasfavoured this speedy development, economically and socially.Far less successful than in spinning are the attempts of similar

7. Compare “ Co-operative Wholesale Annual,” 1884.