s not see why he should be loyal to it
if a trader offers him anything a shilling a ton cheaper. A good
committee is formed, but the members think they hold their offices
mainly in order to get first cut for themselves at some good bargain the
society has made, and they start with the delusion that they are good
men of business. Things, therefore, get into the hands of the manager,
and it is astonishing how much more quickly a bad manager can lose money
than a good one can make it. And if in these and other ways it is uphill
work with farmers' societies, the work is still more uphill with
small-holders. It is the breath of their nostrils to bargain
individually, and if a society is started they will only send their
stuff to be sold when they and every one else have a glut, ungraded and
badly packed--and then they grumble at getting a low price.

But all co-operative work is abundantly worth while. And the field of
co-operation is not limited to the purchase of supplies or the sale of
produce. It ought to cover the use of tractors and threshing sets and
the installation and distribution of power. And if agriculture gets a
chance of settling down to a moderate amount of stability and
prosperity, it would not be beyond the bounds of hope that part, at any
rate, of the profits of co-operative enterprise should be used to
develop the amenities of the common life of the community--to provide
prizes for the sports and the flower show--the capital to start an
industry for the winter evenings, and even seats for the old people
round the village green.

Times are not propitious for increasing the productivity of our land,
excepting by the slow processes of education--which work particularly
slowly in agriculture. Nor are they immediately propitious for raising
the workers' standard of life, though we should never leave go of this
as an essential. But many of us can, if we will, help a good man to
start on the land, or help a man who has made good on the land to do
better. Many of us can help to develop real independence of life in the
villages and, through co-operation, those kindly virtues of friendliness
and helpfulness to others and willingness to work for common ends which
are sometimes not so common as they might be. And those who _can_ do any
of these things _should_, without waiting for legislation--for the
legislator is a bruised reed.

[Transcriber's Notes:
The following apparent printer's errors have been corrected f