NEED OF ORGANISATION 71 



has testified, has under such influence been turned into a different 

 country altogether from what it was. And when we cast our eyes 

 upon our cousins beyond the seas, alike in the Dominion as in the 

 great Republic of North America, we are amazed at the imposing 

 number and magnitude of those " co-operative " organisations which 

 purvey their agricultural produce with clockworklike regularity and 

 surprising saving of expense. However little, many of those organisa- 

 tions may still deserve the predicate of " co-operative " in the sense 

 which that term has come to bear in this quarter of the globe, being 

 in truth only " mutual," and therefore rightly labelled " companies," 

 they present an admirable picture of practical organisation, and 

 undoubtedly work for good. 



All these things have grown up, right and left of us, north, south, 

 east and west, leaving our own country unfortunately almost wholly 

 unaffected. Both our agricultural calling and our rural life have 

 remained stationary and unorganised, and in consequence scarcely 

 changing from what they were before. 



And yet we have not been left without reminders of the necessity 

 and urgency of reform. The pinch of want has made itself felt. 

 There have accordingly been gropings and tentative soundings 

 time and again. We have had voices raised in favour of organisa- 

 tion more than once. In respect of agriculture, we have had little 

 experimental purchasing societies formed. Some twenty years ago 

 a modest practical beginning was made when, under the chairman- 

 ship of the late Lord Wenlock, the " British Agricultural Organisa- 

 tion Society " was formed — in imitation of Sir Horace Plunkett's 

 then already successful " Irish Agricultural Organisation Society." 

 And it is truly painful for one who took an active part in that 

 beginning, now that by reason of age, alterum pedem in cymbd 

 Charentis habens, he is no longer capable of active organising work, 

 to observe how very little effect that well-intended early move has 

 produced — while a sister movement, likewise moulded upon the 

 triumphant Irish model — which latter has indeed become the 

 accepted pattern for all English-speaking communities — that is, 

 the " National Agricultural Organisation Society " of the United 

 States, formed practically only in 1916, has already a record of very 

 good work to show, promising rapid further growth, and substantial 

 good service, putting us laggard old-world bunglers humiliatingly 

 to shame. 



Of the reasons for our indifference and continued inaction it may 

 be more convenient to speak at a later stage. Suffice it here to 

 point out that, as it happens, in our case organisation in truth has 



