THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 83 



While the table given on pp. 79 — 80 is, notwithstanding its 

 incompleteness, sufficiently suggestive of important economic 

 benefits gained by the Irish people as the result of agricul- 

 tural organisation, the moral results have been no less 

 remarkable than the material results. 



The Irish peasant has been not only saved by his credit 

 societies from the merciless grip of the " gombeen man," 

 but he has had instilled into his mind the principle of self- 

 help through mutual help ; he has been taught by the same 

 credit societies the commercial value of a good name ; he 

 has learned to sink distrust and suspicion of his neighbour 

 and adopt, instead, a spirit of comradeship towards him ; he 

 can lay aside religious and political differences in order to 

 discuss with those around him matters concerning their 

 common welfare, and he is being subjected to important 

 educational influences, either through the village libraries 

 that are being set up, or through the instruction in improved 

 methods he gets from organisers or other experts. 



Then the social gatherings — dances, concerts, lectures and 

 entertainments — organised by his co-operative agricultural 

 societies, whether in the village halls specially provided by 

 them or otherwise, are bringing fresh life into many an out-of- 

 the-way place where great need for it had hitherto existed. 



So the New Movement has not only enabled the Irish 

 peasantry to conduct their farming operations on improved 

 lines but it has, from the point of view of what may be called 

 its " human aspect," created in them a New Spirit which is, 

 at the same time, making them better men and women, and 

 giving them a New Outlook on life in general. 



The experiences of societies affiliated to the Irish Agri- 

 cultural Organisation Society and, also, the point of view 

 from which their members regard the work that is being 

 carried on, may be illustrated from the following typical 

 examples, taken from a pamphlet issued in 191 1 under the 

 title " Agricultural Co-operation in Ireland : A Plea for 

 Justice by the I.A.O.S." :— 



" It is impossible to estimate the amount of good done and the 

 benefits conferred on the farmers of this district since the society 



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