CO-OPERATION 319 



small buyer, the movement is gaining ground rapidly ; 

 the farmers are learning to work together, and are 

 likely to make a start with the co-operative sale of 

 produce now they have learnt the advantages of 

 co-operation in purchase. Manures, seeds, agricultural 

 implements are the chief articles supplied ; but the 

 educational value of a co-operative society may be 

 seen from the way it has taught the farmers in this 

 district the virtues of Scotch and Irish grown seed 

 potatoes simply by importing them and pressing them 

 upon their customers. But, once the co-operative 

 principle gets hold, it is impossible to limit its 

 application in any direction ; and the Carmarthen 

 Society, though started to deal in agricultural require- 

 ments only, has inevitably extended its operations to 

 tea, sugar, and other household requisites. The 

 society is only ten years old, but in that period it 

 has multiplied its members by ten and its turnover 

 by twenty ; and the fact that the turnover per 

 member has increased as well as the number of 

 members is the best evidence of the increasing 

 prosperity of the district, a prosperity in which 

 co-operative trading has been a distinct factor. 



