THE NEW AGRICULTURE 205 



and saving. An idea of the business done by the Agricultural 

 League may be given by a few figures. In the year 1906, 

 for example, the league bought for the use of its affiliated 

 societies 28,000,000 kilos of chemical manures, besides more 

 than 25,000,000 kilos of cattle foods costing over $1,000,000. 

 The same year its banking business had grown till it reached 

 a turnover of more than $2,000,000. The amount of insur- 

 ance and savings handled by it has increased lately to enor- 

 mous proportions. Throughout Europe, in the places which 

 these societies cover, the material gain has amounted to from 

 20 to 40 per cent. What such opportunities for mutual bene- 

 fit may mean to a single family is shown by a concrete ex- 

 ample : On one farm of twenty acres, for instance, cooperation 

 has easily saved a margin of $480 each year. Think what 

 this might add to the comfort of living ! 



Great as has been the economic gain, the moral and social 

 value, some say, is even higher. This is due to the fact that 

 a successful " cooperative " truly educates its members. This 

 should cause no surprise, for it commands applied science, 

 it commands honesty, it drives out suspicion of one's neigh- 

 bor, and in its place puts confidence. More than that, " it 

 includes the ever-enlarging good of others as a part of 

 one's own welfare," says Mr. Brooks. In fine, its aim is to 

 draw men together and not to separate them or antagonize 

 them ; its working hypothesis would seem to be science and 

 brotherhood. Once born in a community, the social conscience 

 is bound to grow ; new visions flash across the sight ; before 

 long the whole spiritual perspective becomes changed. The 

 social causes, as opposed to the individual causes, of evil and 

 injustice are for the first time shown up. Intolerance, whether 

 ecclesiastical or political, appears in all its ugliness. 



The present solidarity of the European farmers, which is 

 to-day so remarkable, has, as we have seen, been reached along 



