It was under these conditions that the cooperative movement had
its brief day of experiment. As early as 1828 the workmen of
Philadelphia and Cincinnati had begun cooperative stores. The
Philadelphia group were "fully persuaded," according to their
constitution, "that nothing short of an entire change in the
present regulation of trade and commerce will ever be permanently
beneficial to the productive part of the community." But their
little shop survived competition for only a few months. The
Cincinnati "Cooperative Magazine" was a sort of combination of
store and shop, where various trades were taught, but it also
soon disappeared.

In 1845 the New England Workingmen's Association organized a
protective union for the purpose of obtaining for its members
"steady and profitable employment" and of saving the retailer's
profit for the purchaser. This movement had a high moral flavor.
"The dollar was to us of minor importance; humanitary and not
mercenary were our motives," reported their committee on
organization of industry. "We must proceed from combined stores
to combined shops, from combined shops to combined homes, to
joint ownership in God's earth, the foundation that our edifice
must stand upon." In this ambitious spirit "they commenced
business with a box of soap and half a chest of tea." In 1852
they had 167 branches, a capital of $241,7191.66, and a business
of nearly $91,000,000 a year.

In the meantime similar cooperative movements began elsewhere.
The tailors of Boston struck for higher wages in 1850 and, after
fourteen weeks of futile struggle, decided that their salvation