What Cooperation Is 115 



groups or societies of men, rather than with 

 isolated men: the effect of the work is aug- 

 mented, energy is conserved, and, most im- 

 portant of all, an organization is left behind to 

 continue the work, or at least to advise the 

 utilizing of the lessons that have been learned. 



Any group-association that crystallizes about 

 a real economic problem has the spur of 

 necessity and therefore has vitality. All such 

 local units should be known to somebody, and 

 all of them should be organized into larger 

 units. All of them should be encouraged, for 

 they may be the germs of a new social order. 

 Some central agency should coordinate and 

 integrate them all so that, while every one 

 maintains its complete autonomy, altogether 

 they may progress toward definite social ends. 



In New York, for example, there are more 

 than two thousand creameries, skimming-sta- 

 tions and similar organizations, many of them 

 more or less cooperative: What an oppor- 

 tunity to reach and energize the dairy indus- 

 try! Some state agency should coordinate 

 them on an educational basis ; other states 



