PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATION. 57 



built on the strongest instincts of the race. It mny be well 

 to glance at two or three cooperative experiments by way of 

 illustration, and this I propose to do, after considering more 

 fully the general bearing of the question on every-day life, or 

 the principles of cooperation that society has found to be 

 essential to its life, and enforces by civil law or custom. 



It is plainly impossible for men to live, and have the ben- 

 efits of civilized life, without cooperation in some form. The 

 question to be considered in the end by us is, how far volun- 

 tary cooperation can be carried to advantage, especially 

 among farmers. We shall attempt to discuss the general 

 principles of cooperation, illustrate the subject by examples 

 of successful cooperation, and point out the possible extent to 

 which this principle can be carried in New England agricult- 

 ural districts and in new settlements. 



The necessity for cooperation is so great, that, as we have 

 intimated, society, as a whole, demands it, and the laws 

 enforce it, not upon any class, but upon the people as a whole. 

 The demands change according to the conditions of the com- 

 munity. All our public roads are examples of cooperation. 

 The law compels every man to do his part in building and 

 maintaining these highways, because they are essential to 

 civilized life ; they are such common benefits, that, as all would 

 not voluntarily do their part to secure them, society compels 

 each man to join with his neighbors in the work, — a work 

 essential to progress, essential to the enjoyment and profit of 

 all. Public schools are a second example of enforced coopera- 

 tion. Such schools are declared to be essential to our civili- 

 zation, and so society demands that each man shall do his 

 part in sustaining them. In both these instances, the prin- 

 ciple of cooperation is carried farther than it could be carried 

 valuntarily in the community at large, until the world is much 

 better than it now is. 



The principle enforced in these cases is, that men must 

 contribute according to their property, while all have an equal 

 right to the advantages. The man who pays but a poll-tax 

 has the same right in the public highway and to the public 

 school as the one who pays a hundred times as much. In 

 fact, up to a certain point, society acts upon the communistic 

 principle. We go to the ballot-box and vote away money. 

 8 



