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THE PATH OF A PIONEER

ROM New Lanark to New Harmony-and After" might be the appropriate title for a sketch of the career of Robert Owen. His name has blazed for years as a heartening sign to the pioneers of two landsBritain and America.

But it was even before his purchase of New Lanark Mills in 1800 that Owen had begun to interest himself in the welfare of the working-classes. In his previous managerial jobs he had studied their needs and conditions, and had seen the grave wrongs that the "Industrial Revolution" had brought to them. It was perhaps something more than chance that had led him, who was to challenge the system introduced by that Revolution, to become the owner of the mills opened originally by Richard Arkwright, one of the prominent inventors who made the Revolution a reality.

Starting as a mere reformer, striving to win the favor of his employees, thought and experience drove him across the Atlantic in that great crusade for cooperation that settled him and his idealistic followers on the banks of the Wabash, in the heart of America. When the Indiana experi: ment had failed, the same belief in humanitarian principles made him the champion of the rising British trade unions, upon his return across the water.

What a career-merchant, manufacturer, champion of humanity and a “new education", of trade unionism and cooperation. far ahead of his time, settling a dispute between Great Britain and the United States one day and debating with Alexander Campbell the next! It is a life requiring a versatile pen for its deliniation. And that pen has been used effectively by G. D. H. Cole in his "ROBERT OWEN", just published by Little, Brown & Co. No happier biographer for Owen could be thought of than Mr. Cole, himself so versatile in his interests and ideas. Every trade unionist should acquaint himself with this work, and every trade union library should have it on its shelves.

Out of the many pictures that Mr. Cole gives us of this interesting character, two are worthy of particular quotation-one because it shows that Owen as an employer had such a different notion of the treatment of employees from

our employers of today, and the other because it reveals the weakness in Owen's own 'character.

In the chapter on New Lanark, we read this: "By this time (1806) cotton from the United States was being largely used in the mills. For a long time there had been friction between the British and American Governments, especially over the American claim to trade freely with France and the British claim to an unrestricted right of search at sea. This quarrel led, în 1806, to an American embargo on the export of cotton to England, and to a cotton famine in that country. Cotton prices soared; but as no one knew how long the embargo would last, buying at the high prices was a highly speculative affair. Manufacturers had to choose between shutting down their mills or taking the risk of producing at a very hig cost what might be worth much less by the time it was sold. Owen and his partners decided to shut down; but he succeeded in persuading them to follow the example set by Dale when the mill was burnt down twenty years before, by paying fuil wages to all the operatives thrown out of work by this decision. The stoppage lasted more than four months, and more than £7,000 ($35,000). was paid out in wages to those unemployed in consequence of it."..

So that Owen believed that the industry, and not the` workers, should really bear the "risks". As to his weakness-his neglect of his family-Colę says:

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"He lived in and for his idea; apart from it he virtually ceased to exist at all. He became a humanitarian, and lost his humanity. The 'man of one idea' went far to spoil the idea by straining it too far and placing too much weight on it. And, by the same strain, he went even far toward spoiling the men. He became an embodied principle, and forgot his wife. One affection only the universal benevol He remained a ence for humanity could not drive out. great lover of children-actual human children, and not children in the abstract. This stayed with him to the end; but for the rest I feel he became in his later years less a man than a walking principle, and that this goes far to' account for his failures. He made his world cold with universal benevolence. He would have been a better' prophet and more of a man if he had known how to do things by halves. But that the 'man of one idea' could never do."

STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC. REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912, of Labor Age, published monthly at New York, N. Y., for April 1, 1926, State of New York, County of New York,

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Before me, a notary public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Leonard Bright, who, having been duly sworn according to law deposes and says that he is the Business Manager of Labor Age and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of ownership, management, etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 411, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit:

1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are:

Publisher-Labor Publication Society, Inc., 3 W. 16th St., New York City.

2. That the owner is (If owned by a corporation, its name and address must be stated and also immediately thereunder the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding one per cent or more of total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, the names and addresses of the individual owners must be given. If owned by a firm, company, or other unincorporated concern, its name and address, as well as those of each individual member, must be given.)

Labor Publication Society, Inc., (a membership corporation with approximately 200 members); James H. Maurer, President, 430 North St., Harrisburg Pa.; Harry W. Laidler, Treasurer 70 Fifth Ave., New York City; Louis Francis Budenz, Secretary, 3 W. 16th St., New York City.

3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: (If there are none, so state.) None.

LEONARD BRIGHT, Business Manager. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 14th day of April, 1926. ERNEST BOHM (My commission expires March 30, 1927)

Editor-Lonis Francis Budenz, 3 W. 16th St. New York City. Managing Editor-Louis Francis Budenz, 3 West 16th St., New York City.

Business Manager-Leonard Bright, 3 W. 16th St., New York City.

(seal)