THE NEW PRINCIPLE OF INDUSTRY. 



527 



all for each, are virtually the indorsers. By this 

 provision of the organization credit is given to 

 borrowers who can command credit nowhere else, 

 nor on any other possible conditions. Here, in 

 these three modifications of cooperation, we have 

 provision made— 1. By cooperative stores, for 

 economy in the necessary expenses of subsistence ; 

 2. Retention and the equitable apportionment of 

 all profits to the active partners in the production 

 of commodities ; and, 3. The provision of credit 

 and distribution of profits of «ioney, as a money- 

 maker, among those who furnish the capital stock. 

 There are no more and no other branches of the 

 economy of the individual and of the household 

 than these." 



The reader will see still recurring definitions 

 of the cooperative principle, as they are needed 

 to explain the successive steps taken in con- 

 structive progress. There is need of this. For 

 principles like 



" Truth can never be confirmed enough, 

 Though doubts did ever sleep." 



The main idea that should never be absent 

 from the mind of a cooperator is that equity 

 pays, and that the purchaser at the store and the 

 worker in the workshop, mill, or field, or mine, 

 or on the sea, should have a beneficial interest in 

 what he is doing. A soundly-founded movement 

 will grow marvelously if the members act up to 

 their principles. Of course the difficulty is there. 

 A principle is a troublesome thing, and no won- 

 der that so many persons have distaste for it. A 

 principle is a distinctive sign of opinioo, chosen 

 and accepted. It is a mark by which a man is 

 known. It is a profession of conduct ; it implies 

 a method of procedure ; it is a rule of action, a 

 pledge of policy to be pursued. To be a man of 

 principle is to be known as a person having 

 definite ideas. Such a one is regarded as a man 

 who sees his way and has chosen it. While 

 others are confused he is clear. While others go 

 round about, he goes straight on. When others 

 are in doubt he knows exactly what to do. But 

 the majority are not of this quality. They see a 

 principle for a short time, and then lose sight of 

 it ; and, when they learn that it requires purpose 

 and courage to act up to it, they do not want to 

 see it again. They do not understand that a true 

 principle is the best way of attaining the end they 

 have in view ; and if success presents any diffi- 

 culty they are quite ready to try another way. 

 Indolence or impatience, timidity or cupidity, 

 suggests to them an easier, a safer, a quicker, or 

 more profitable way, and they are ready at once 

 to set out on the new path. Some one may point 



out that the new paths lead to a point the very 

 opposite of that they proposed to reach. This 

 does not disturb them. Having no clear discern- 

 ment of the nature of principle, or passion for it, 

 they think one object as good as another — or 

 better, if they see immediate advantage in it. 

 These persons are not at all interested when you 

 explain to them that they have " lost sight of 

 principle." They give you to understand that all 

 recurrence to principle is " dry," and if you pro- 

 pose to return to it they describe you as a 

 " theorist," well intended but clearly " unprac- 

 tical." There are others who readily adopt a 

 principle and profess a willingness to carry it 

 out ; but when they are required to stand to it 

 and stand by it against all comers, that is quite 

 another thing. If you remind them that being 

 pledged to one thing means that they are not to 

 do the opposite thing, you find they have never 

 thought of this. Many persons are willing to be 

 regarded as men of mark, so long as no duties 

 are exacted in support of the pleasant pretension. 

 But to be held as committed to a special line of 

 action is irksome to them. Principle implies 

 self-control : it implies the subordination of mis- 

 cellaneous passions and interests to one chief 

 thing. Those who profess principle raise expec- 

 tations, and as a rule people dislike having to ful- 

 fill expectations. Therefore, if principle is to 

 prevail in any society, it has to be well explained, 

 and the advantage of abiding by it has to be well 

 inculcated ; otherwise men of strong selfishness 

 soon get uppermost — their ambition becomes 

 their principle, their interest their policy, and 

 they command the connivance or the acquies- 

 cence of the capricious feebleness around them ; 

 and feebleness is mostly begotten of confusion of 

 thought. Clear action is only to be had from 

 persons who have clear ideas, and the difficulty 

 is to impart these. Unless there is some repeti- 

 tion, there will be no indelible impression; unless 

 the statements include all aspects of the subject, 

 the reader will not see all round the idea; and if 

 there be much iteration he will grow weary of the 

 matter and look at it no more. What is not 

 seen clearly is this : 



Mere copartnery in business, which some 

 writers mistake for cooperation, lies outside of it. 

 A copartnery which proceeds by hiring money 

 and labor, and excluding the laborer from par- 

 ticipation in the profit made, is not cooperation. 

 In this country cooperation never accepted even 

 Louis Blanc's maxim of giving to each according 

 to his wants, and of exacting from each according 

 to his capacity. This is too scientific for the 



