mic welfare. Essential to this
constructive period of Denmark's life is co-operation.[32]

In Sir Horace Plunkett's recent book, "The Rural Life Problem in The
United States," he develops this principle clearly. He says that in the
organization of country life in Ireland it was necessary to go into the
very heart of the people's experience and organize their economic and
social processes in forms of co-operation.

"When farmers combine, it is a combination not of money only, but of
personal effort in relation to the entire business. In a co-operative
creamery for example, the chief contribution of a shareholder is in
milk; in a co-operative elevator, corn; in other cases it may be fruit
or vegetables, or a variety of material things rather than cash. But it
is, most of all, a combination of neighbors within an area small enough
to allow of all the members meeting frequently at the business center.
As the system develops, the local associations are federated for larger
business transactions, but these are governed by delegates carefully
chosen by the members of the constituent bodies. The object of such
associations is primarily, not to declare a dividend, but rather to
improve the conditions of the industry for the members.

"It is recognized that the poor man's co-operation is as important as
the rich man's subscription. 'One man, one vote,' is the almost
universal principle in co-operative bodies.

"The distinction between the capitalistic basis of joint stock
organization and the more human character of the co-operative system is
fundamentally important.

"In this matter I am here speaking from practical experience in Ireland.
Twenty years ago the pioneers of our rural life movement found it
necessary to concentrate their efforts upon the reorganization of the
farmer's business.

"1. We began with the dairying industry, and already half the export of
Irish butter comes from the co-operative societies we established.

"2. Organized bodies of farmers are learning to purchase their
agricultural requirements intelligently and economically.

"3. They are also beginning to adopt the methods of the organized
foreign farmer in controlling the sale of their butter, eggs and poultry
in the British markets.

"4. And they not only combine in agricultural production and
distribution, but are also making a promising beginning in grappling
with the problem of agricultural finance. It is in the last portion of
the Irish p