ORGANISATION. 159 



respect of the number of societies existing ; and Austria 

 and Hungary, with their subsidised societies doing a large 

 business — it is true, on sometliing Hke a spoon-feeding plan — 

 Switzerland, with very active and well-organised agricultural 

 Co-operation ; Italy, with its sindacati, its comizi, its affittanze 

 collettivc, and so on. Sweden and Norway have come in in 

 some force and are satisfied with the results of their Organi- 

 sation. In Bulgaria, Serbia and Roumania co-operative 

 organisation had, before the war, transformed the face 

 of the country — far more beneficently than the subsequent 

 tramp of battalions. And America is heaving with 

 agricultural organising work, bristling with societies which, 

 although their Co-operation is of rather a different stamp 

 from that which we in Europe accept as ideal, more on joint- 

 stock lines, exercise even greater power, disputing the 

 primacy of business with the mighty rings and trusts and 

 grouped railway interests in wide districts — to state one 

 instance, almost monopolising agricultural insurance in 

 the Middle West — providing machinery and telephone 

 service for their members, and altogether governing the 

 enormous Western fruit trade, all of it with remarkable 

 success. Canada is reported to have at least 2,000 societies 

 of the sort. The United States boast more than 10,000. 

 Everywhere have Governments, bent upon promoting 

 the prosperity of their countries, and more specifically of 

 Agriculture, given what encouragment they could to the 

 introduction, and subsequent more and more perfect organi- 

 sation, of Agricultural Co-operation — in some cases more 

 than was useful. But in any case they may claim the 

 merit of having recognised the importance, not to say indis- 

 pensability, of the establishment of Organisation on co-opera- 

 tive Hues and shown their goodwill — as did also, in this 

 country, more explicitly, the late Mr. Hanbury, during his 

 brief tenure of office in Whitehall Place, telling us, of the 

 Agricultural Organisation Society, that he did not consider 

 himself entitled to the gratitude which we expressed to 

 him, since it plainly was his " duty " to encourage Co- 

 operation in Agriculture — for which " encouragement " 

 unfortunately not overmuch scope was allowed him. In the 



