CHAPTER VIII. 



CO-OPERATION IN THE UNION. 



IT IS STRANGE that a feature so important as co-oper- 

 ation should engage so little of the public attention. It is 

 one of the grandest themes for the contemplation of 

 mankind. It is harmony in nature, perfection in science 

 and success in governments. Its universal practice would 

 bring health, happiness and comfort to the human family. 

 Its harmonious actions are clearly denned in the mechan- 

 ism of the heavens, and in the animal, vegetable and 

 mineral kingdoms. It is the perfection, the aggregate 

 success of all other laws. Competition is the reverse of 

 co-operation. 



u Civilization rests upon and is dominated by the 

 competitive system. This system is the outgrowth of the 

 selfish propensities inherent in humanity, and it is in the 

 social world what the law of the "survival of the fittest" 

 is in the animal creation. Through the struggle for exist- 

 ence the human family has moved onward and upward 

 from one stage of development to another until a great 

 industrial civilization has been attained, of which the con- 

 trolling forces are capital and labor. Capital is the accu- 

 mulated wealth of labor, and labor is only another term 

 for the energy of the race ; one is a passive instrument 

 the other the living, vitalizing force of humanity. Under 

 a right business system the apparent distinctions which the 

 names imply would cease to exist, for capital would be 



