32 



THE ERRORS OF THE PAST 



This gospel has been preached for many years 

 by the Agricultural Organisation Society. It began 

 first as a private and voluntary body, but of recent 

 years it has been speaking with Government 

 recognition and Government support. During the 

 years of its existence it has done most valuable 

 work, but at the same time one cannot fail to 

 observe that the number of farmers enjoying the 

 benefits of co-operation is small, and the turnover 

 of all the rural co-operative societies only a very 

 small percentage on the total turnover of agricul- 

 tural products. 



No. II. Statistical Position of Co-operative 

 Societies in the United Kingdom 



The superficial explanation of this terribly slow 

 growth of agricultural co-operation in England is 

 that " the Englishman does not take easily to co- 

 operation," because it is " some new-fangled foreign 

 invention " and therefore disliked instinctively. 



But the facts are that co-operation, as the world 

 knows and practises it to-day, is English to the 

 very root, and that by far the most gigantic develop- 

 ment of co-operative buying and selling is to be 

 found in England. 



No, the truth about the slow spread of the co- 

 operative gospel in this country is that the rural 

 population is sparse and scattered ; that in the 

 bulk it is entirely without prospects of ever rising 



