Co-operation 
C. E. Stewart, Jr., Mgr. Fla. C 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
When Prof. Rolfs asked me to speak 
today, he did not mention to me the sub¬ 
ject on which he wished me to prepare an 
address. I suppose he thought there was 
no use in giving me a topic to discuss; 
that there was only one thing any ex¬ 
change man could talk about, and no 
matter what subject he might give me to 
start on, I would wind up by talking 
about co-operation. We are all so full of 
the idea of co-operation that we talk about 
it whether there is occasion for it or not. 
There is a principle coming into such 
common use in the business organizations 
of this country that many are misled into 
thinking that it indicates the dawn of a 
new era. No Trade Paper can be read 
today without hearing it advocated many 
times, and we who live in this the most 
progressive age since the world began, 
forget that it is the rock upon which all 
civilization and progress are built. This 
principle is co-operation. 
There are three main factors which are 
essential to the success of any great en¬ 
terprise or industry, and these are effi¬ 
ciency, economy and co-operation. The 
units of a vast army must co-operate as 
must the various departments of a large 
corporation for their progress depends on 
efficiency and economy, which cannot be 
attained without co-operation. 
It is an old and familiar word used now 
itrus Exchange, Tampa, Fla. 
in a new sense. It has a different mean¬ 
ing from “co-operation” as defined in the 
dictionaries. The term is defined there 
as “United action for the increase of me¬ 
chanical power, as when several men join 
in moving a log or boulder because one 
alone could not stir it.” But industrial 
co-operation is a union for the purpose 
of obtaining the proper profit of a trans¬ 
action and distributing it equitably among 
those who do the work. It delivers the 
public from the conspiracy of capitalists, 
jobbers and manufacturers who make the 
laborer work for the least, the customer 
pay the utmost for whatever he needs of 
money, machines or merchandise. 
Co-operation is a word to conjure with. 
It escaped frenzied finance and specula¬ 
tion by owning its ordinary interest val¬ 
ues, it builds up its trade and member¬ 
ship by giving them the profit which they 
have contributed. Mr. Carnegie believes 
that the future of the nation and the 
sound, healthy growth of our industries 
lie along the lines of mutual understand¬ 
ing and co-operation between employer 
and employee, producer and consumer. 
During the dark days of ruinous com¬ 
petition, common sense and business cour¬ 
age evolved the scheme of industrial co¬ 
operation to bring the workman and con¬ 
sumer into partnership for their mutual 
benefit. It is organized self-help and its 
principle is a definite thing. As John 
