THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



labor, and they are as much entitled to receive its con- 

 tinuous results as if they had invested it in poultry or 

 cows. 



It is neither necessary nor desirable that stockholdings 

 in such an enterprise be exactly equal, since men differ 

 both in their earning and their saving capacities. The 

 important consideration is that all shall have the same 

 opportunity to earn, to save, to invest, and to reap the 

 reward of investment. Private enterprise denies men 

 this opportunity and restricts it exclusively to those who 

 have large capital, generally acquired by exploiting the 

 labor or taking advantage of the necessities of others. 

 Co-operative enterprise opens the door to all and permits 

 every man to participate in the profits of those industries 

 which are beyond the reach of individual strength or 

 capital. It is easy to erect safeguards to prevent control 

 from falling into the hands of a few individuals. 



Co-operation shares its profits with labor as justly as 

 with capital. While the wage-scale must necessarily con- 

 form to the world's standard in cost of production, the 

 worker has the opportunity to invest his savings in the 

 industry and to share in a premium paid to all who at- 

 tain a quality of work above a fixed standard. Skilled 

 labor must receive higher pay than unskilled, and men 

 fitted by ability, knowledge, and experience to fill places 

 of high responsibility must command the same wages in 

 co-operative as in private employment. 



Co-operation thus furnishes a method by which the 

 masses of men may obtain the benefits of labor -saving 

 machinery and of modern production upon a large scale 

 and preserve themselves from degradation or ruin at the. 

 handri of those new economic forces. It is a method 



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