66 SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND 



should be sent each day to whatever market offers 

 the best price of the day, or that arrangements should 

 be made with a large consumer, such as an industrial 

 co-operative society, to take the whole of the produce 

 of the colony at the market price of the day. For 

 this purpose collective marketing is essential. Whether 

 this collective marketing must necessarily be on a 

 strictly co-operative basis is another matter. We 

 are inclined to think that for the purposes of a colony 

 such as we have in mind, it is impossible to hope that 

 the true co-operative ideal can be attained from the 

 very beginning. True co-operation depends on a 

 willing association of its members, their perfect loyalty 

 to one another, and the subordination of selfish interests 

 to the good of the whole society. We are convinced 

 that co-operation is to the interest of every individual 

 member, but it can only result from careful education, 

 it must have time for growth, and it cannot be forced 

 or compelled. Whatever may be the case in regard 

 to men who are accustomed to co-operative methods, 

 we think that in the case of a colony of men who 

 will at first be strangers to one another, and who will 

 not possess practical knowledge of the problems of 

 marketing, it will be better to begin by setting up 

 under the control of the director an organisation 

 which can collect their produce, dispose of it to the 

 best advantage, and pay them the proceeds less ex- 

 penses and a reasonable commission, without attempt- 

 ing in the first instance to place such an organisation 

 on a strictly co-operative basis. We should hope, 

 however, that as the small holders acquired experience, 

 reahsed the advantages of collective dealing, and 

 became educated in the principles of co-operation, 

 they would become capable of taking over the control 

 of the organisation and running it as a co-operative 

 society." 



