OBJECTIONS. 109 



directly the farmer is master by co-operation of 

 the situation, he would be in a position to pop 

 up the price of milk in our large centres, at 

 which there would be an immediate outcry, and 

 the farmers would be told they were indulging in 

 a monopoly in a necessary article of food. Farmers, 

 however, do not adopt this attitude as a rule, 

 although there is certainly a tendency (with which 

 we cordially sympathise) to combine both for the 

 sale of their milk and for other purposes, such 

 as, for example, for the purchase of manure, 

 seeds, and implements. Nevertheless, it is quite 

 open to question whether co-operation on any 

 large or national scale, even for milk-selling, 

 would, amongst our farmers, be preferable to the 

 system of individual selling to companies or to 

 large dealers — a system they appear to prefer. 

 In the meantime, it is well that the public 

 should be told that the whole question has been 

 thoroughly enquired into by the Central and 

 Associated Chambers of Agriculture. The con- 

 clusion, after a very exhaustive survey of co- 

 operation as existing both in this and in other 

 countries, was that co-operation for " purchase " 

 and co-operation for " sale " formed two separate 

 problems. This is precisely what we might have 

 expected them to say. They add that the solution 

 of the one is easy, whilst that of the other is 

 extraordinarily difficult. In other words, it is no 

 difficult thing for farmers to subscribe towards 

 an association of their own, which association can 

 obtain manures, seeds, and implements on more 



