FUNDAMENTAL RUI>KS OF COOPERATION. 211 



of public duty, and should be treated as such. There is doubt- 

 less at the beginning of important cooperative enterprises a ne- 

 cessity for the useful exercise of public spirit, during a short 

 time, in educating the masses in the aims and methods of 

 cooperation. The British cooperative societies maintain such 

 a propaganda permanently, relying upon it as a principal 

 means of extending their business.* Bat in America, at least, 

 popular enthusiasm is entirely unreliable as the basis of busi- 

 ness enterprises, and any action taken should be based on 

 cold business calculations. Cooperative enterprises must be 

 projected in the light of human nature as it is, and not as we 

 may wish it might be, or hope it may become. Social evolu- 

 tion may sometime produce a race which is unselfish, and 

 broad-minded; but it has not yet done so, and if its operation 

 tends that way its movement is too slow to permit the present 

 or the next generation to seriously consider it in founding 

 business enterprises. It is generally believed that cooperative 

 societies for marketing products tend to equalize receipts 

 among growers, and to prevent undue depression of prices at 

 the point of production. All growers will therefore encourage 

 their formation by others, but great numbers will seek to 

 avoid any risk, expense, or obligation connected with them, 

 fully intending to make use of them if made successful at 

 others' risk, and to compete with them b}' slightly underselling 

 if they feel so disposed. 



Of course this is utterly contemptible, but it is so general 

 that it must be considered characteristic of human nature. It 

 must be taken into account iu founding cooperative societies, 

 as the experience of dealing with this class may be certainly 

 expected. It is therefore necessary to make sure that there 

 are enough members who believe it will pay them best to 

 support and carry through the undertaking. There are, of 

 course, those who once having entered upon such an enter- 

 prise, will stand by it as a matter of good faitli, whatever temp- 



* Some of the best English tracts place the public welfare as atlected bv the 

 iifluence of cooperation upon membership before the material advantao-e to the 

 members. See Appendix F. 



