246 THE FARMER AS A COOPERATOR. 



upon the whole I think tliat whoever possesses in a high 

 degree, integrity, brains, vigor, experience, and tact, is quite 

 likely to possess most other necessary qualities, and at any 

 rate to be an exceedingly useful person, and probably a good 

 manager; but in summing up the requirements it must never 

 be forgottei] that the manager of an important cooperative 

 business must be equipped to cope successfully with those who 

 by natural selection have passed through the period oi 

 salaried employment, and in the fulness of experience, are now 

 managing, as owners, the great competitive establishments 

 with which cooperation itself must compete. 



Methods of Determining the Possession or Lack of Qualities 

 Necessary to Conduct Cooperative Business-— It is evident that 

 the value of one's personal equation cannot be determined 

 with scientific accuracy. Whatever conclusions are reached 

 will always be subject to a large margin of error; in forming 

 our judgment of ability and character we are influenced in 

 very complex ways by our impressions of the person's con- 

 versation, writing, personal appearance, and his associations 

 and history so far as known to us, and from the sum of all 

 these impressions our judgment is formed. As one becomes 

 more largely an employer of men, he acquires the habit ot 

 analyzing these impressions, and assigning in his mind a 

 certain definite value to each, and directs his preliminary 

 inquiries toward the ascertainment of such definite facts as 

 will throw light upon character. It must be remembered that 

 in competitive business the candidate for a responsible position 

 will usually have long been known by the employer, either as 

 an employee in a subordinate capacity, or as a competitor in 

 the same line of business; while the beginning of an impor- 

 tant cooperative enterprise is subjected to this disadvantage, 

 that the selection of manager must be made by those who 

 have perhaps not had experience in employing business men, 

 are imperfectly acquainted with each other, and may not 

 have clear concei)tions of all the qualities required; and that 

 the selection must usually be made from tlio.se without pre- 

 vious experience in the exact business to be done, or upon the 

 scale which is pro})Osod, and who arc also perhaps not well 



