CO-OPERATION 31 



as other producers would profit equally with 

 himself in any resultant benefits. If all are benefited 

 all should contribute. Working alone, the average 

 farmer is practically helpless to develop an efficient 

 marketing system.^ 



The quickest and most effective way of creating 

 proper conditions of marketing is to develop 

 co-operation throughout the country. But co-opera- 

 tion will do much more than that for the agricul- 

 tural population. In the first place, it brings unity 

 and uniformity of standard where there is now 

 neither. It gives the small farmer the economic 



No. 10. Statistics of Agricultural 

 Organisation 



England and Wales. Ireland.' 



Population .. .. 36,000,000 .. .. 4,390,219 



Acreage under Cultivation 27,053,100 .. .. 4,815,265 



Agricultural Co-operative 



Societies.. .. .. 550 .. .. 1,023 



Turnover . . . . . . ^3,000,000" . . . . ;^3, 668,958 



Total Membership . . 55,000* . . . . 106,301 



advantages which are now only enjoyed by the 

 large farmer who is a first-class business man. It 

 helps the cultivator in his purchases as well as in 

 his sales. Above all, co-operation is of great ethical 

 and social value. It instils ideas of mutual assistance 

 and citizenship and of subordinating individual 

 interests to the good of the group. In return it gives 

 to the small farmer a degree of real independence 

 such as he has never hitherto known. It turns a 

 loosely grouped set of people into a real community. 



* Year Book of the U.S.A. Department of Agriculture. 



* Estimated. * Figures for 1914. 



