220 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



have been started which have never succeeded in getting 

 beyond the mere spoiling of the white paper upon which 

 the names of a few subscribers are inscribed. Several 

 things are requisite for the workingmen to learn before 

 they can successfully start or carry out co-operation. 



ist. They should study the subject in all its bearings. 

 Become familiar with all the workings of co-operation 

 not in one particular form, but its general scope. That 

 cannot be done, except by a course of reading and study, 

 and that course will also give them an insight into other 

 matters which will be of great value to them. 



2d. Cultivating that spirit of mutual confidence 

 which should obtain among them at all times and in all 

 things. That is a virtue that is sadly lacking among 

 workingmen, and its absence acts as a bar to anything 

 they may undertake to build themselves up. The debris 

 scattered along the pathway of time, records the wrecks of 

 many assemblies, caused by this lack of mutual confidence. 



3d. They must disabuse their minds of the erroneous 

 impression that co-operative enterprises pay them some- 

 thing for nothing; that their one dollar's investment will 

 pay them five dollars every thirty days; that they have 

 done their share of the work after they have paid in their 

 money, and that it is not necessary for them to do anything 

 else to assist in building up the enterprise. Co-operative 

 enterprises are like all business they require working up 

 to a paying basis. 



4th. Decide on what kind of co-operation you wish 

 to invest your money in, and then go to work to raise the 

 necessary capital. After that is done and the money is in 

 bank, then organize by selecting your directors and mana- 

 ger. Right at this point is the beginning of the end, and 

 oftentimes the end of many co-operative enterprises. They 

 are so suspicious, and so ignorant of business, that they 

 proceed at once to bind up the manager in such a net- work 



