CO-OPERATION 127 



market in a presentable shape. And to produce quantities of 

 " classified " and " standardised " produce, a co-operative society is 

 in the best position, inasmuch as it comprises a number of producers 

 whom it can influence. The result secured has been very marked 

 in that enormous trade of classified fruit which has sprung up, 

 mainly under co-operative action, to some extent in this country, 

 on a much more imposing scale between ourselves and our great 

 colonies, simplifying business and making it at once more profitable 

 to the seller and more convenient to the buyer. However, other 

 goods besides fruit have benefited no less by the innovation. 

 " Classification " and " standardisation " have improved goods 

 all round, to the benefit of consumers and the steadying of sale to 

 producers. Eggs, butter, potatoes, and other vegetables, have all 

 profited by the change. People know now of a greater certainty what 

 they stand to get, and what each label implies. The grain trade 

 has shared very largely in such improvement of business methods 

 effected wherever grain growers have had the spirit and the enter- 

 prise to combine for collecting their grain in common granaries for 

 common sale. That is not yet in England. In all other branches 

 of business the collective dealer, who comes into the market with a 

 large volume of classified goods, occupies an incomparably more 

 commanding position than the isolated producer offering his job 

 lot. He is no more the submissive, cap-in-hand servant of the 

 wholesale buyer, but enters the lists armed with the same weapons 

 as his opponent. We ourselves observe the effect in the very suc- 

 cessful " fairs " and " markets " — some few of which, still only on a 

 modest scale, have been opened in this country and flourish well, 

 mainly for livestock and vegetables. But very much more preten- 

 tious, and more successful, specimens of the same trading are to be 

 seen abroad, in the Netherlands and — specifically for live stock — 

 in Germany and Austria, where there are huge co-operative markets 

 of which co-operator sellers are the regulators and masters, but 

 which are numerously attended by buyers, who gladly submit to 

 co-operative rules because they know that they will buy good, 

 tested and graded produce. 



Here, indeed, is the result of " bulking " goods, disposing of 

 them in large quantities. But there is more than " bulk." And 

 that " more " involves a promise of service more valuable still 

 to the community. What the collectively selling producer aims 

 at is not a thumping snatch-profit here and there, a matter of 

 smart bargaining or a lucky " hit," but a dependable steady sale 

 at staple, foreseeable prices, a sale that can under all circum- 



