maxa(;kn[I':n't ok coupkrativI': sijcikties. 253 



reasonable comfort among the people with whom he will nec- 

 essarily associate, a fair idea of the commercial value of the 

 desired service inay be obtained. If tlie location is in a city 

 or large town, the total ex})onse of an ordinary family will 

 usually be about five times the rent of a house suitable for 

 their occupation. Any income above that can usually be 

 laid by. 



These considerations are useful as aiding to determine what 

 a coo[)erative society can afford to pay for certain service. As 

 a matter of fact, however, the society will and should, like com- 

 petitive employers, pay not what it can aflor<l to pay, but what 

 it can get the necessary work done for. And this will be deter- 

 mined by the same influences which fix the prices of other 

 commodities in the competitive market. So long as coopera- 

 tion is competing with individualism, its dealings with all 

 outside its own organism must be competitive. 



If there is in the market a scarcity or excess of persons 

 possessing the necessary qualifications, that will, of course, 

 correspondingly atfect the market value of their services; but 

 assuming, as is doubtless correct, that there is no lack of 

 natural ability, the cost of acquiring and maintaining the 

 necessary qualifications will determine the limit below which 

 compensation can not be reduced witliout impairing efficiency. 

 The cost of acquiring the qualifications can be fairly well 

 estimated in the light of what has been said. Tiie cost of 

 maintaining them is not likely to be fairly estimated as to 

 the most important concerns, having their operating centers 

 in large cities, by persons accustomed only to country life. 

 Those intrusted with important interests must mingle with 

 those in charge of similar interests, and who, in competitive 

 business, will be paid either by salary or by profits, in accord- 

 ance with their responsibility. These business associations 

 will lead to certain social relations, all of which involves a 

 certain expense. The cubic feet of living space, and the sun- 

 light, without which no farmer would consider himself com- 

 fortable, will cost, in a large city, more than the net income 

 of most small farms. The reasonable recreations, and social 

 enjoyments, which, in the country, cost little or nothing, are a 



