4 PREFACE. 



and most varied way, of the co-operative move- 

 ment. What the individual will never do of 

 himself he will often do eagerly and successfully 

 as a unit in an organization, where the aims to 

 be sought by all are defined by a few exceptional 

 minds, which, it is possible, may sweep the whole 

 body along with them in the current of their 

 energy and will. An organized body must move 

 as a mass or fall to pieces. Hence the peculiar 

 social and economic value of co-operation, par- 

 ticularly in countries where the traditions of in- 

 dustrial enterprise are not strongly established. 

 The Wyndham Land Act, therefore, cannot in 

 any real sense be regarded as a settlement of 

 the Irish agrarian problem. But if it removes 

 that problem, at least as regards a great part 

 of the island, from the sphere of politics and 

 places it in that of voluntary social effort, it will 

 have accomplished a great task and opened the 

 way to a new era. 



Such is the conclusion which Dr. Bonn has 

 drawn from his study of this country. It amply 

 confirms the views which have been long enter- 

 tained and put into practice by the pioneers of 

 reform in Ireland. But the extension of their 

 practical work is a matter of imminent concern 

 to the country, for the forces of new life have 



