CHAPTER VIII. 



ALTRUISM IN COOPERATION. 



ALTRUISM means regard for others. It is the key-note of 

 the exhortations of many advocates of practical cooper- 

 ation. We slioLild cooperate because public welfare 

 demands it. An earnest worker in practical cooperation once 

 wrote me that he had no faith in the success of any coopera- 

 tive movement not inspired and sustained by the altruistic 

 spirit. For myself I must confess that when observing the 

 inception and conduct of cooperative business enterprises, 

 I have never yet been able to think clearly enough to settle to 

 my own satisfaction the degree in which altruism contributed 

 to results. The philosopher says truly that we can not con- 

 template any joint action of one's self with another for a com- 

 mon purpose without having regard for the welfare of that 

 other, which is altruism. However true this is, it is not 

 satisfying. The question is, What is the motive which impels 

 one to act? I have personally observed some hundreds of 

 men sign subscriptions to the stock of cooperative societies, 

 and participated in the conversations which preceded that act. 

 In all these conversations, I presume, the public benefit to 

 accrue was made prominent, and in a great many it was the 

 motive avowed as the leading one which induced signature. 

 I seldom believed it to be the real motive, although in some 

 cases there could be little doubt of it. I have never been able 

 to analyze even my own motives in joining such societies, and 

 in promoting them. Certainly I never joined one without 

 seeing in the act a distinct personal advantage to m3^self, and 

 yet reason told me that if I wished to exert myself in the 

 proposed lines of trade, it would be more profitable to employ 

 my business experience and vigor in exploiting the more 

 ignorant than in aiding them to resist exploitation. It hap- 

 pened that I had no such wish, so that in joining them I was 



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