SOME ECONOMIC INTERESTS 135 



help association of responsibility and power. In one community 

 visited it was remarked to the investigator that you can tell a 

 cooperator by his independent bearing 1 . In more than one 

 locality attention was called to the fact that on the part of the 

 bankers and business men in their dealings with the small 

 farmers and the poor people, there has been a marked disap- 

 pearance of condescension and the air of favor and patronage. 

 In parts of Ireland visited the respectful treatment on the part of 

 others is keenly appreciated by the cooperators, while the system 

 has caused a greater fellowship and better mutual understanding 

 between the classes. There is a social and industrial leveling up 

 which is satisfactory to all concerned. 



All this points to the powerful influence of cooperation in the 

 promotion of democracy. The cooperative movement was essen- 

 tially democratic in origin. Both the original founders and the 

 prime movers were mainly from the class most directly benefited. 

 That the democratic principle is the basis of success in agri- 

 cultural cooperation is proved by the fact that attempts of 

 farmers to combine on other principles almost invariably have 

 failed, while in cities no other industrial system has been attended 

 with social results which are so satisfactory. True cooperation 

 which alone can hope for enduring prosperity is founded on the 

 principle of pure democracy. 



The educational effect of the cooperative system is such as 

 to give the wage earners a keen interest in public affairs and to 

 cause them to realize their own power and responsibility in them. 

 That the cooperators use this power intelligently may be seen in 

 the large number of their representatives in the public bodies 

 and the creditable manner in which they acquit themselves. It 

 is confidently asserted that 70 per cent, of the cooperators are 

 on the side of political progress. Cooperation is becoming one 

 of the strongest aids to efficiency in political democracy. 



It is the hope of most leaders in the cooperative movement 

 that it will do much to make war less frequent. The cooperative 

 alliances of different countries will undoubtedly increase their 

 trade with one another. Already reference has been made to 

 an international alliance of cooperators. The members of a great 

 international business organization will understand the folly 

 of going to war with one another. Among cooperators there is a 



