ctions upon such
methods. Cooeperative consumption is successful: first, where those
cooeperating are fairly equal in wants and abilities, or closely related
through kinship or friendship; second, where the range of cooeperation
includes common wants; third, where no one is given the advantage of
credit; fourth, where mutual confidence selects and sustains a continuous
management; fifth, where frequent and full reports can make the business
plain to all concerned. It would be interesting to follow the growth of
cooeperative stores and banking associations from small beginnings to
enormous enterprises, but the limits of this volume will not permit. This
extension may be realized from the statement that the Rochedale
cooeperative societies of England now number nearly two thousand, with more
than a million members and nearly seventy-five million dollars of capital.

Chapter XXVII. Economic Functions Of Government.

_Governmental limits._--All society recognizes certain universal wants and
the necessity of meeting these with essential order and the best economy.
These universal wants enforce the organization of society under some form
of government. Such an organization grows out of the necessity rather than
the will of humanity. Hence government, local or more general, is the
direct effort of individuals in society for the general welfare. Usually
the best test of general welfare is the assent of the majority of mature
and intelligent members of the community. In the history of the world,
however, the importance of the object to be gained has overcome obstacles
in the will of the governed as much as any other. Among children the right
of the parent to govern for the welfare of the family is never questioned
until character and wisdom are doubted. Among crude and disorganized
bodies of people, superior wisdom and earnest purpose make leadership. Yet
always, in the end, the ideal of welfare in any community implies growth
of individuals into authority over themselves as one of its main objects,
if not its chief one. Thus the best government for any community at any
stage of its advancement is the one that best secures the welfare of all
in existing circumstances.

It must be remembered that the chief elements of welfare are above
government. All the kindly affections which make the chief bonds of
society are to be cultivated by good government, but cannot be forced by
any law, either positive or prohibitive. Indivi