556 INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



Another instance occurs in North America. Says Bancroft, 

 writing about the Papagos 



&quot;Most of these people irrigate their lands by means of conduits or 

 ditches, leading either from the river or from tanks in which rain 

 water is collected and stored for the purpose. These ditches are kept 

 in repair by the community, but farming operations are carried on by 

 each family for its own separate benefit, which is a noticeable advance 

 from the usual savage communism.&quot; 



Thus it seems a safe inference that generally, among semi- 

 civilized peoples who practise irrigation, the required works 

 have resulted from the joint labours of many. 



835. When we ignore those narrow limits commonly 

 given to the title cooperation, we see that, beyond those 

 already named, there are many social structures which are 

 rightly comprehended under it, and must here be noticed. 



The most familiar of them are the multitudinous friendly 

 societies, from village sick-clubs up to the vast organizations 

 which from time to time hold their congresses. Next above 

 the purely local ones, come those which take whole counties 

 for their spheres ; as in Essex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berk 

 shire, &c., having county-towns as their centres. Larger 

 still are the affiliated orders, numbering TO in the United 

 Kingdom, which take wider ranges: the largest being the 

 Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, and the Ancient Order of 

 Foresters, together numbering nearly a million members. 

 Certain other bodies of kindred natures, chiefly burial socie 

 ties, have extensive ramifications &quot; Industrial Assurance 

 Societies,&quot; they have been called; doing for the poor what 

 the more conspicuous institutions for averaging the risks of 

 fire, accidents, wrecks, &c., do for the better off. Excluding 

 such of these as are carried on to gain dividends on invested 

 capital, and including all which afford mutually-assured 

 benefits, we see that they are pervaded by the spirit of 

 cooperation: there is acting together though not working 

 together. 



