CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST CO-OPERATIVE CONVENTION—THOMPSON NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR.
The great hall was thronged with delegates and spectators. There was a feeling that this convention was to select the next governor and state officers and people who were not members, but resided in Idaho, were many of them disposed to be favorable. The railroads, owners of gold mines, some of the great cattle kings, real estate brokers, money loaners and saloons were against us, but the masses were friendly. We calculated that we had ten thousand more votes at our disposal than our opponents. It was estimated by the leaders of the People’s party that more than half of the inhabitants of the state outside of the Association would support the ticket, but Thompson had several times assured me that while more than half were disposed to support us, most of them had not the mental strength to do so. Be that as it may the convention met, organized and went to work. No need to describe all that was done. Mr. Edmunds, chief of our Department of Education, made a speech nominating John Thompson for governor. He described the Co-opolitan Association, presented an historical sketch of its foundation and development, pictured Co-opolis as it was when our company reached Hacket’s ranch, told the story of each year’s work, and, in closing, showed how one master mind conceived and one master spirit directed every detail of that magnificent undertaking.
“You would hardly credit, if you were acquainted with the facts, the history of Co-opolis as I have presented it,” said he as he proceeded. “From the smallest beginnings we have progressed to that magnificent estate which lies before you. The world may behold if it will, and accept the model if it choose. In five years all this has been effected. In the first year we had only the bare land, the running water, a few cattle and sheep. In the second year we had five thousand cultivated acres, ten thousand sheep, one thousand cattle and abundant harvests. In the third year we had a surplus of produce and wool, forty thousand sheep, twenty thousand cattle and with the help of irrigation abundant harvest. In the fourth year, in addition to two hundred thousand sheep, seventy-five thousand cattle and abundant harvests, we have added a woolen mill, in which we manufacture our own woolen blankets and yarn and knit our own woolen stockings and shirts. We can sell these in any market. We are now building another mill and will work our wool product into cloth. You ask how we have progressed so rapidly? I reply that the Brotherhood throughout the United States has contributed much to our enterprise by purchasing our surplus products and disposing of them in eastern markets. But better than this we have never lost the labor power of one able-bodied man during all this time. The confidence of the Brotherhood in us was due to the magnificent generalship of one great man, and that one great man was and is John Thompson of Co-opolis. (Here the enthusiasm became unbounded and the audience cheered for several minutes.)
“But, my friends, let me say to you that John Thompson has not only been a general. He inherited a large fortune from his father and while he has not contributed one cent of this to the Commonwealth he has sent men at his expense to several of the great cities of this country to search out deserving persons and has advanced to them the funds to come hither and to pay the one hundred dollars required of each person on admission. These amounts have been repaid from the wages of the recipient in due time. I say to you, gentlemen, that this world does not contain a more thoughtful, able and public-spirited man than John Thompson, whom I now nominate for governor of Idaho.”
Mr. Edmunds sat down and the great hall fairly shook with the applause which, as often as it subsided, was repeated again and again. James Rutherford of Boise City, a delegate who, although a member of the National Brotherhood, was, as yet, not connected with any colony, seconded the nomination and moved that President Thompson be declared the nominee by acclamation. The motion was put and carried without a dissenting vote amid the wildest enthusiasm. The nominee having been escorted to the platform by a committee designated for that purpose, addressed the convention, after the tremendous cheers given in his honor had subsided.
As he stood facing the great audience waiting an opportunity to begin I thought I had never seen him look so masterful before. His tall, powerfully built frame presented the picture of an athlete, and his face expressed an intelligence which could only belong to a man of great intellectual force. He was the personification of strength of physique, mind and will. His face, as usual, was clean shaven, his black hair was combed straight back from his forehead, his large dark eyes surveyed his audience with a look which was a strange commingling of love and command. I do not believe a man, friend or enemy, in the multitude before him doubted his sincerity, or was conscious, for the moment, of any other sentiment than that of admiration. He drew all men toward him and, as many have often related to me since, when they came within his influence they seemed most naturally to fall in line behind him and acknowledge him as leader. He began to speak slowly, but his voice could be heard distinctly throughout the great hall.
“Mr. President and gentlemen,” said he, “we have now reached a point in the history of this Commonwealth which marks the beginning of an epoch. To my mind it is apparent that all the events of Christian civilization have been a preparation for the higher civilization which we are privileged to usher in. It has been said that ‘Time’s noblest offspring is her last,’ and we may hope that such offspring is this day born, and that it will thrive and continue to grow until time shall be no more. I have always believed that the old system from which we have sought to escape is barbaric feudalism, and that, whether in its ancient military or its modern commercial form, it was distorted by selfishness and greed.
“The motives of the robber baron of the dark ages and the self-serving organizer of trusts to-day do not differ, and if in the dark ages the one, by force of arms, held possession of fertile valleys and exacted tribute from neighboring peoples, the other by fraud monopolizes an industry and seeks to crush out all competitors. Death strewed the paths of both, the one being no less hideous in blood than the other was in the gaunt and shrunken spectre of starvation. The one, however, spent itself in its own terrors and disappeared before the awful ravages of destructive war. So the other has exhausted itself in greed and making the automaton serve in the stead of man has taught man the lesson of co-operation.
“I have never been a friend to political socialism as a factor in building up the Co-operative Commonwealth. My judgment has proposed to me the development of the co-operative principle in commercial and industrial lines until it became so strong that it could not be ignored. In that manner the railroads, telegraphs and other vast interests from unknown forces, developed into those mighty giants which came to control the government and now terrorize the people. I have hoped that the Co-operative Commonwealth developing in like manner, slowly but surely, might with very different motives and for different purposes, become strong enough to take the government and wield it for the common good of all. If I mistake not, the time has come, the Commonwealth is equal to its purpose, and we may assume our political rights. If we win in the election now approaching the state of Idaho will become a co-operative state. Our aim should be to establish our system without encroaching upon the constitution of the nation. We will violate none of the provisions of that instrument, but we will carefully observe all its limitations. This will be no more difficult for us than it is for the great trusts and monopolies, which have become so powerful that they are able to obtain an interpretation of the constitution when they wish it, whereby its limits have been and are constantly extended to suit their purposes. By presenting a model of one co-operative commonwealth, we may, and I believe will, sooner or later induce other states to follow our lead, and the entire sisterhood of states may form one great co-operative nation. But we should advance to the accomplishment of our purpose, in this state, with wisdom and caution.
“We must make as few mistakes as possible. Our endeavor must be to understand and strictly conform to the law. We must respect the opinions of those who do not agree with us. We must not disturb any citizen in the enjoyment of his property and it should never be forgotten that the Commonwealth depends for its growth solely upon volunteers. You have, my friends, nominated me to be the first governor of Co-operative Idaho. I have consented to accept this dignity only because I now believe that he who acts as President of the Co-operative Commonwealth should also be the governor of the state, until every vestige of the old system is removed from Idaho and all its people have voluntarily entered the new system. We must have a dual government, but the Co-operative Commonwealth must control it.
“Idaho, the name of our state, is said to mean ‘Light on the Mountains.’ We will strive to give it a still broader signification and, God willing, it shall be a light to all the people.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth was conceived by men who believed the human race capable of advancing to the highest ideal of civilization. It never depended, for its success, upon those philosophers who chose to believe that because they themselves did not feel the pinch of want therefore none others need feel it, nor of those philanthropists who were always going about giving that sort of temporary relief which only served to make the source of poverty all the more prolific and the cause all the more obscure. They did not ask advice of learned students of history, who by that dim light discovered only the passions and sins of great sinners, and being diverted by the monsters whose careers filled the world with their unhallowed fame, failed to observe the patient, law-abiding, industrious and sober millions who toiled unobserved in the background.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth is founded upon the theory that all men can as well habituate themselves to conform to higher as to lower standards. The individualist, the theoretical democrat, urges that our system will tend to destroy self-reliance and to weaken the individual man. The same proposition carried to its logical conclusion would abolish all co-operative effort, and as society, even in its lowest forms, rests upon co-operation, all society is, if judged by that standard, but weakening in its effects. But whether co-operation makes men weak depends upon its purpose. If it is organized for theft, murder or lewdness, then it certainly tends to make men morally weak. If it is organized for luxury, riot or intemperance, then it tends to make them physically weak. If its purpose is blasphemy, gross materialism and the prevention of the free investigation of religious truth, it cannot fail to make men spiritually weak. The Co-operative Commonwealth is organized for none of these. Its aim is to produce a better and stronger man mentally, physically, morally and spiritually. It gives the fullest education to all and endeavors to make the minds of its pupils independent and self-reliant. It offers the largest opportunity for physical culture, and in all moral and spiritual spheres presents the highest and best standards, without limiting freedom of thought or criticism.
“In brief, the consummation of our programme is, the complete elimination of speculation, gambling and unjust advantage from the social state, and to guarantee our members the rewards of their own efforts. We do not permit the rich to rob the poor, the strong to prey upon the weak, nor the keen to sharpen their faculties at the material expense of those who may be dull. To say that this is injurious to the development of what is best in man, is to assert that life has no purpose except physical gain, and that the main purpose of life is to provide clothing, shelter and food. We hold that these are only the means of life and that the purpose of life is the highest development of manhood and womanhood for the acquisition and appreciation of truth.
“The Co-operative Commonwealth is a great insurance association, and as such guarantees to its member the enjoyment of his or her earnings. It goes one step further, and assures him that if accident or sickness shall deprive him of physical or mental ability, or death shall remove him from a dependent family, all physical and mental needs shall be provided for him or them. All such advantages were and are regarded as lending strength to any form of society and surely they cannot be other than meritorious features of our system.
“With a firm belief in the righteousness of our great cause, and assuring you that my life is devoted to your service, I again express my willingness to accept this nomination. I need give you but one pledge and giving that you can feel perfectly secure that your will is to govern the future. It is my purpose to use my utmost endeavors to have a constitutional convention called as speedily as possible, if I shall be elected, and through that convention you, my brothers, will establish the Co-operative Commonwealth forever.”
Again the convention went wild with enthusiasm and the delegates and visitors crowded around the nominee. I have attended many state conventions, but never before saw one which resembled so closely in its magnitude and tumultuous enthusiasm those assemblages in which the national parties are wont to designate their choice for chief magistrate of the great republic. The reason, however, was apparent. All understood that this convention was to initiate a peaceful revolution whose influence would ultimately be world-wide in extent.
After the enthusiasm attending the nomination had subsided the convention nominated the remainder of the ticket. All the candidates were co-operators, but selected from different localities.
For Secretary of State, Addison Wellman of Boise City; State Treasurer, Benjamin D. Corwin of Alpha, then a flourishing colony, now a great city, on the Snake river, about sixty miles from Co-opolis. For Lieutenant-Governor, Edward J. Murphy of Banford, in the northern part of the state. This ticket, be it said, did not fully conform to our plan to have the officers of the state and the association identical, but it was considered best to unite all our colonies under one brotherhood government within the state and then to carry our plan of official identity of state and brotherhood into effect. The platform adopted was very brief. It pledged the Co-operative Commonwealth to respect all vested rights and to conform to the constitution of the United States, but asserted that the sources and machinery of material production should be owned in common. It also declared for a constitutional convention to be called at an early date.