THEIR CHARACTER AND OBJECT. 441 



'terms of cooperative ettbrt. They liavc saiu, with mucli truLli, 

 that there was no dependence to be placed upon the small 

 farmers, who would sa}- one thing and do another, and have 

 left the work of organization and instruction to men far less 

 interested than themselves, but possessed of more public spirit. 

 Within a year or two increasing pressure, involving danger to 

 large investments, has brought this class of men largely into 

 the cooperative vineyard, where they are none the less wel- 

 come because they come late. They bring commercial ability 

 and financial strength, and will get their penny with the rest. 

 California is, of course, not the only country where coopera- 

 tive marketing has been attempted. It is a feature of some 

 European societies, but their operations in this direction, wliile, 

 probably, in the aggregate, exceeding those of California, have 

 not attracted much attention from writers on the subject. The 

 grape-growers of New York and Ohio maintain organizations, 

 which have been successful in some years, and unsuccessful 

 in others. The fruit-growers of Georgia and Oregon have 

 made similar efforts, and one society was organized designed 

 to include all tlie fruit-growing interests of the United States, 

 for which the time is not yet ripe. The fruit-growers of Florida 

 have also had, and perhaps still have, a marketing society. 

 I have not the data to give the facts in regard to any of these 

 societies, but the student of cooperation may know, without 

 special inquiry, that the experience in tliose states, and in 

 Europe, is substantially the same as tliat of California. 

 Human nature and the law^s of trade are much the same 

 everywhere. 



