Most of the enterprises were managed by the stockholders, although, in
some cases, the local organization of the Knights of Labor managed the
plant.
Most of the cooperative enterprises were conducted on a small scale.
Incomplete statistics warrant the conclusion that the average amount
invested per establishment was about $10,000. From the data gathered it
seems that cooperation reached its highest point in 1886, although it
had not completely spent itself by the end of 1887. The total number of
ventures probably reached two hundred. The largest numbers were in
mining, cooperage, and shoes. These industries paid the poorest wages
and treated their employes most harshly. A small amount of capital was
required to organize such establishments.
With the abandonment of centralized cooperation in 1884, the role of the
central cooperative board changed correspondingly. The leading member of
the board was now John Samuel, one of those to whom cooperation meant
nothing short of a religion. The duty of the board was to educate the
members of the Order in the principles of cooperation; to aid by
information and otherwise prospective and actual cooperators; in brief,
to coordinate the cooperative movement within the Order.
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