No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 463 



In certaiu sheep-raising sections of Scotland, the sheep are 

 driven to a central market, and there sold at auction. At a recent 

 sale sheep thus sold brought from fifteen to twenty shillings a 

 head. Their quality was up to the average and they were to be had 

 in sulllciently large numbers. But one lot of about thirty attracted 

 special attention. They were first-class, but not unusual except that 

 it was difficult to distinguish one sheep from another, so uniform 

 were they. Breeders wanted these to breed from; dealers wanted 

 them for the trade, and such was the demand that the entire lot 

 finally brought thirty-one shillings per head— more than one-third 

 more than the average. 



In none of these cases were the vital defects in the products 

 themselves. Quality sold the fruit, quantity the horses and uni- 

 formity the sheep — each at a considerable advance over products 

 similar in other respects. The question arises, how can these de- 

 sirable qualities be secured most certainly'' The answer is by co- 

 operative effort. 



''Farmers must learn the vital need of co-operation with one 

 another," declared President Roosevelt in his great speech to farm- 

 ers at Lansing, last June. ''The people of our farming regions must 

 be able to combine among themselves as the most efficient means of 

 protecting their industry from the highly organized interests which' 

 now surround them on every side. A vast field is open for work 

 by co-operative associations of farmers, in dealing with relation of 

 the farm to transportation and to the distribution and manufacture 

 of raw materials. It is only through such combination that Ameri- 

 can farmers can develop to the full their economic and social power." 



The principle of co-operation is not new. It has been in opera- 

 tion since Jacob tended Laban's flock in Padan-Aram and received 

 a share for so doing. It is a well known fact that agricultural 

 communities existed in Europe in the Middle Ages, and that at 

 that time there was a co-operative use of land which wo\ild be 

 deemed almost revolutionary if proposed now. The success of the 

 Rochdale co-operators in England, has been known for upwards of 

 two hundred years. Co-operative creameries in Canada have raised 

 the price of butter from ten to thirty-five cents per pound. Fruit 

 growers' associations in the West have nearly doubled the prices 

 of their fruit. In fact iuvstances of this kind multiply themselves. 



Naturally at this point we ask, "\Miat is co-operation? It may 

 be defined as the concert of many for the compassing advantages im- 

 possible to be refvched by the one, in order that the gain may be 

 more fairly shared by all concerned in its attainment. "A co-opera- 

 tive society" declares one writer, "begins in persuasion, proceeds by 

 consent, accomplishes its end by a common effort, incurs mutual 

 risks, intending that all members shall receive that just award of 

 gains proportionate to work executed, to capital subscribed, or cus- 

 tom given." 



"We must work out a means of working together," says Prof. 

 Bailey. "This is to be a great constructive work, lifting the indi- 

 vidual by developing the associative spirit in such a way that he may 

 obtain his own self-help at the same time that he secures the help 

 of his fellows and the incentive of community action. Any group- 

 association tliat crystalizes about a real economic problem, has the 

 spur of necessity and therefore has vitality." 



