CO-OPERATIVE SETTLEMENT 



which formerly made its own exorbitant price for fertil- 

 izer, and now buys this material, so necessary to the pro- 

 ductiveness of the Irish soil, at wholesale rates. It mar- 

 kets its products in large lots in the best markets, and, 

 to some extent, dictates tho cost of transportation. It 

 raises more various and profitable crops, and converts 

 them into finished product in its own factories. It fur- 

 nishes itself with co-operative credit, so that it is possi- 

 ble to prevent the sacrifice of products for ready money 

 and to hold them until the market is most favorable. As 

 an inevitable consequence of this remarkable industrial 

 uplift, the social and intellectual life of the people is 

 steadily rising. 



It is impossible in this brief reference to tho work of 

 Mr. Plunkett and his associates to even hint at all the 

 ways in which they are striving to show their country- 

 men that the road to prosperity lies through co-opera- 

 tion. Already the economic gain is vast, and the prom- 

 ise even more so. It goes almost without saying that 

 the results will be such as to prevent the further de- 

 population of the island by misery and famine, and per- 

 haps even to recall thousands of its sons and daughters 

 from over the sea. 



Ireland had no problem of reclaiming and settling new 

 lands. Her vexed question was how to make comfort- 

 able and happy the people who already crowded her 

 small territory. But the experience which has been re- 

 ferred to illustrates two points wholly pertinent to this 

 chapter the virtues of organized production and ex- 

 change, and the necessity of enlightened and devoted 

 leadership. 



We may go back to tho seventeenth century and get 

 293 



