CONn.USION. 471 



and the coming race of labourers endowed with land — 

 better by far than an}' that Whitehall Place could send out. 

 And they will teach Co-operation of the right sort, not look- 

 ing for patronage or help from the outbidc, but built up by 

 themselves upon the solid foundation of self-help and self- 

 reliance. 



It is the perception of the necessity of combined action 

 for organising purposes that is wanting in our case, not the 

 power to effect it. And such perception wants to be infused 

 into our stolid backward folk by teaching. Teaching 

 requires effort ; and it requires money. But the money 

 spent upon it will prove well laid out. It is sure to come 

 back " with usury." 



Only that Organisation wants to be genuinely co-operative 

 and free, in the service of only one interest. It is sheer 

 mockery on the part of the Government of Ireland to talk 

 of " non-controversial Co-operation " so ordered as to leave 

 the traders and the gombeen men in possession still, offering 

 the farmers a mere empty name. How on earth can such 

 a movement be made " non-controversial " ? Buying and 

 selling are of the essence of the thing. Trade is competition ; 

 and competition means controversy. And it is admittedly 

 competition which has secured for us more honest trade and 

 cheaper prices than ruled once — all this to the benefit of 

 humanit}/. The Eastern Swiss farmer has organised to 

 good purpose, and where the trader was fraudulent or over- 

 grasping, he has beaten him and ousted him from his villages. 

 The Danish farmer has had his country stores since 1866, 

 decidedly " controversial," and has fared the better for 

 having them. His "controversial" Co-operation has 

 taught him that agricultural Organisation which has 

 enabled him to rise superior to Prince Bismarck's twice- 

 repeated protectionist onslaught, issuing all the stronger 

 economically from the contest. The Raifieisen co-operator 

 in Germany, having his hands full with other business, not 

 yet practised in this country, holds his admitted right to 

 set up "controversial" stores in reserve, to be employed 

 whenever the German " bania " begins to deal unfairly 

 by him. The English and Scotch industrial working man 



