248 THE FARMER AS A COOPERATOR. 



I assume that men with those habits would not be considered. 

 I have often thought that honesty is in the nature of a luxury 

 which most men desire; those who fall are invariably those of 

 infirm will wlio permit extravagance — and sometimes confi- 

 dence in others — to beget indebtedness, under whose pressure 

 they come to think they can not afford the luxury of 

 honesty. 



Ahiliti/. — Business ability consists more than anything else 

 in the accurate knowledge and classification of facts relating 

 to the business. Judgment is the most common of business 

 qualities; you can find it anywhere. I make this ap[)arently 

 paradoxical statement purposely to emphasize the fact that 

 what we call the poor judgment by which the majori«ty of men 

 are unquestionably swayed is simply insufficient knowledge. 

 When men of identical interests differ it is because one 

 believes something to be true which the other disputes or 

 has not thought of. Of course vigor is essential to success, 

 but I am now speaking of intellectual qualities. But the 

 possession of accurate knowledge is almost complete evidence 

 of vigor, because accurate knowledge is only attained by 

 industry, and there can be no industry without vigor. The 

 man who accepts a casual newspaper paragraph, or any unau- 

 thenticated statement of a fact essential to his business, may 

 seem to have knowledge, and yet may be w^orse than ignorant. 

 If he does not think he knows, he will probably seek to ascer- 

 tain before acting, but if he acts on inaccurate information he 

 invites disaster. The man of ability therefore will know 

 things definitely, either of his own knowledge or from tlie 

 definite authenticated statement of one who does know and 

 who is worthy of trust. 



The larger and more important the business the larger the 

 number of facts it is necessary to know definitely in order to 

 conduct it successfully. For example, tFie manager of a 

 cooperative dried fruit marketing society should know all the 

 facts relating to the following matters: Varieties of dried 

 fruits, tlieir modes of prei)aration and packing in all produc- 

 ing districts; cost of production and transportation in all 

 districts, that he may estimate the probable strength of com- 



