ORGANISATION. 205 



close their doors. Card-players arc cold-shouldered. Evil- 

 Hvers are tabooed. Old bad habits have been dropped. 

 And were it not for the devihshly devastating work of the 

 Austrians, rural Serbia would now be, as it was before the 

 war, the wealthier, socially the better and the happier. 

 Italy has similar tales of improvement to tell. I have 

 spoken of them elsewhere. ^ In India patriots hope by 

 means of the Raiffeisen society — of which there are already 

 thousands in that country — to reconstitute a replica of the 

 ancient dearly cherished Indian " village community," 

 with its close touch and friendly feehng, making for happiness 

 among neighbours. 



Dr. J. A. Ryan, Professor of Pohtical Economy at the 

 Great Seminary of St. Paul at Minnesota, a recognised 

 authority in the United States on questions of social 

 economy to which he has devoted much study, writes : 



" The transformation in the rural life of more than one Euro- 

 pean community through Co-operation has amounted to little 

 less than a revolution. Higher standards of agricultural products 

 and production have been set up and maintained, better methods 

 of farming have been inculcated and enforced, and the whole 

 social, moral and civil life of the people has been raised to a higher 

 level. From the view-point of material gain, the chief benefits 

 of agricultural co-operation have been the elimination of unneces- 

 sary middlemen, and the economies of buying in large quantities, 

 and selling in the best markets, and employing the most efficient 

 implements. . . . Co-operation," so he concludes, " is a golden 

 mean between individualism and socialism. It includes all the 

 good features of both. On the one hand, it demands and develops 

 individual initiative and self-reliance, makes the rewards of 

 the individual depend upon his own efforts and efficiency, and 

 gives him full ownership of specific pieces of property. On the 

 other hand, it compels him to submerge much of the selfish- 

 ness and indifference to the welfare of his fellows, which char- 

 acterises our individual economy. It embraces all the good that 

 is claimed for socialism, because it induces men to consider and to 

 work earnestly for the common good, eliminates much of the 

 waste of competitive industry, reduces and redistributes the 

 burdens of profits and interest and puts the workers in control of 

 capital and industry. At the same time it avoids the evils of an 



1 In " People's Banks," Third Edition, 1910. P. S. King & Son. 

 Ltd. 



