Page:Co-operative housekeeping.djvu/38

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Co-operative housekeeping

2d. No goods or meals being delivered except for "cash," the pernicious credit system of our present domestic economy, by which good and trustworthy customers are made (through overcharging) to pay the bad debts of the unthrifty and dishonest, is swept away; and, moreover, a check is put upon the inevitable extravagance which the credit system fosters by postponing the day of settlement.

3d. The article sold being of "good quality," every housekeeper would be sure of getting her money's worth.

4th. As they would be "accurately prepared for immediate household use and consumption," she would be saved all the expense and house-room of separate cooking and washing conveniences; all the waste of ignorant and unprincipled servants and sewing-women; all the dust, steam, and smell from the kitchen, and all the fatigue and worry of mind occasioned by having the thousand details of our elaborate modern housekeeping and dress to remember and provide for.

5th. As all the clear "profit" on the goods the housekeeper buys is to be paid back to her,—and this profit is about a third on everything consumed by her household,—even if she take no active part whatever in the executive duties of the association, she will, by merely being a member, receive again £60 from every £180 she lays out. Now it costs hundreds of town and city families of moderate means for food, kitchen fuel, and servants' wages from £130 to £200 a year; nor can a woman dress with mere neatness in these times for less than £40 a year. Then, under our present system, about £240 a year passes through the hands of those among us who live with what is called moderation and economy. But in co-operative housekeeping, a third of this sum would be saved, and we should have as much for £160, and get it more easily and comfortably, than we do now for £240. If, however, the co-operative housekeeper were qualified to fill one of the offices of the association, and chose to do so, then, beside her dividend of profit, she would have also the salary of her office; both salary and dividend, remember, being clear gain, since her ex-