October, 1912.] 



273 



CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURE. 



History of Progress. 



There has recently been published a collection of monographs* which 

 trace the history of the Co-operative movement in the principal countries 

 of the world. The volume is commended to the attention of those to 

 whom agricultural interests appeal. It is a revelation of the power of a 

 new economic force which has its beginnings in remotest history. 



To the ordinary Englishman the word Co-operation suggests vaguely 

 a form of urban shop-keeping. In Great Britain co-operative methods 

 have made little headway outside the towns. The country is still one of 

 large holdings farmed by men, individualist by instinct, who have not 

 yet felt the need of combination. If the movement towards small hold- 

 ings, inaugurated by the act of 1907 and officially blessed by both parties, 

 develops, it will shortly be found that an effective co-operative organisa- 

 tion is an indispensable condition of success. But for the present we 

 must look to Ireland and to foreign countries in order to see what 

 co-operation in agriculture can effect. 



These monographs tell the story ; it is a plain tale of facts and figures, 

 all the more remarkable because it covers a period of little over 50 years. 

 Last century was one of awakening and activity in every branch of 

 human affairs. The strain and competition and the progressively 

 centralising tendency of commerce and industry reacted on the agricul- 

 tural world. The stress of life grew steadily harder : a growing popula- 

 tion demanded more intensive cultivation and a more productive soil, and 

 these could be obtained only by utilising the costly improvements of 

 technical science ; while the increasing opposition of the commercial 

 world and the growth of outside economic concentration compelled the 

 closest attention to the interests of agriculture. Had the small farmer 

 clung to his isolation he would have gone to the wall. Fortunately, when 

 the economies and saving power of association for common ends were 

 demonstrated to him, he developed a genius for it. The amazingly rapid 

 development of co-operation is the one great fact of recent agricultural 

 history in Europe ; it extends not to one or two countries to certain 

 branches of agriculture, but to every country where the small holder 

 exists and to every department of rural economy; And the movement 

 has been wholly for good. In towns association is to some extent a 

 dividing force, applied to the defence and assertion of sectional and class 

 interests at the expense of others. But in rural areas it is more purely 

 utilitarian and is generally a bond uniting all classes. 



Co-operative work in India. 



India, short though her co-operative history is, occupies a serious 

 place in this volume. The inclusion of her monograph is useful, because 

 it brings her methods and lines of work and results into prominent con- 

 trast with those of other countries. The comparison is instructive, and 

 those who are interested in the Indian movement will find the volume 

 suggestive and illuminating. 



* Monographs on Agricultural Co-operation in various countries, published by the 

 International Institute of Agriculture, Rome. 



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