CHAPTER VI 

 SOME ECONOMIC INTERESTS 



A. COOPERATION 

 THE MORAL BASIS OF COOPERATION 1 



THOMAS N. CARVER 



So far as I know, everybody agrees that cooperation would 

 be a good thing. Nevertheless, there is little cooperation as yet. 

 If we all agree that it is a good thing, why do we not cooperate ? 

 This is a question which has puzzled many of us. I believe I 

 have one or two suggestions which go pretty nearly to the root 

 of the matter. The causes of this lack of cooperation are funda- 

 mentally moral, and we must attack the problem at this point 

 before we can make much progress. All problems hang in clus- 

 ters. You can't separate from our moral problems the eco- 

 nomic problems that all hang on the same stem. I believe if you 

 will look about your own neighborhood you will find that if you 

 have a neighbor who is very careful about his own rights and 

 your obligations, he is not an easy neighbor to work with. 

 These two things mean the same. His rights are your obliga- 

 tions, his obligations are your rights. They are different names 

 for the same thing, different sides for the same shield. Suppose 

 3'ou are the same way. You two will never get along together 

 and work together in this world. A whole community made up 

 of people of this kind will never cooperate. On the other hand, 

 if your neighbor is very careful of his obligations and your 

 rights, he is easy to get along with. And if you are very care- 

 ful of your obligations and his rights, you are also easy to get 

 along with. You two can work together peaceably and amicably. 

 A whole neighborhood made up of people of that kind can work 

 together and cooperate. Here is some work for the moral and 

 religious agencies. 



i Adapted from "Proceedings of National Farmers' Congress," p. 191. 



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