354 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



both from Whitehall Place and by leading gentlemen in the move- 

 ment, who were bent upon distinguishing themselves by the devising 

 of quite new methods. Not one of them has answered — least of 

 all have so the two starts made in the organisation of wholesale 

 business, one of which came hopelessly to grief at the moment of its 

 inception, while the other cannot be said to have proved particularly 

 businesslike — and has consumed a goodly amount of money. On 

 such a point Balloon Street in Manchester, with its long and wisely- 

 extended experience, appears, on the face of it, a more trustworthy 

 guide than the Temple. Why, indeed, go so far afield for new and 

 untried methods, when we have a beaten and well-trodden path 

 before us which has already proved its merit by leading, in the words 

 of the late David Lubin, the organiser of the American Commission, 

 up to a veritable miracle, and which has in consequence become the 

 universally recognised and accepted model for similar institutions all 

 over the globe — imitations producing everywhere without exception 

 similar results ? And generally, in such matters, Manchester and 

 Glasgow, Lincoln and Leeds must needs rank as safer guides, very 

 much more acceptable to the class of small holders whom the country 

 is thinking of, than gallant majors and captains with army practice 

 and counsel learned in the law. 



Education and co-operative organisation are the two forces that 

 we want to harness to our car. They make a good pair. The one 

 will tell at once. It will show us how to produce more and more 

 cheaply. The other will tell progressively and in comparatively 

 little time. It will teach us how to put our increased production 

 to better use, how to buy, and sell and work, in common. 



In the second place, we have the land problem to deal with. 

 And in respect of that co-operation has shown a mind to take up a 

 position which, if permanently maintained by so formidable a force 

 of active champions of their policy, might cause difficulties to our 

 would-be agricultural reformers, who carry their heads too high 

 to care to consort with these " working men," or to stoop to argue 

 with them, and so very unwisely defy them. These " working 

 men " have a deal of force behind them, and a deal of grit in them, 

 and can, even when on the wrong tack, accomplish a great deal. 

 Repelled by those to whom they willingly offered their support and 

 their markets, not only do they appear inclined to organise their 

 own agricultural, that would be specifically small holdings, move- 

 ment — being equipped with ample facilities for such undertaking — 

 which in their hands could not fail to succeed and would be a 

 dangerous competitor, but, marching to some extent in the foot- 



