t the incentive of abundant pecuniary returns for efficient
superintendency; even more because of the natural selfishness of human
beings who seek personal preferment, and the natural inertia of those
who know that they will be taken care of whether they exert themselves
or not. More serious still are the difficulties that lie in the way of
a satisfactory distribution of the rewards of labor, for there is sure
to be serious difference of opinion over the proper share of each
person who contributes to the work of production, and no method of
initiative, referendum, and recall would avail to smooth out the
difficulties that would be sure to arise.

206. =Co-operation.=--The third principle is _co-operation_. The
principle of co-operation is as important to society as the principle
of division of labor. By means of co-operative activity in the home
the family is able to maintain itself as a useful group. By means of
co-operation in thinly settled communities local prosperity is
possible without any individual possessing large resources. But in
industry where competition rules and the aim of the employer is the
exploitation of the worker, general comfort is sacrificed for the
enrichment of the few and wealth flaunts itself in the midst of
misery. There will always be a problem in the industrial relations of
human beings until there is a recognition of this fundamental
principle of co-operation. The application of the principle to the
complicated system of modern industrialism is not easy, and attempts
at co-operative production by working men with small and incapable
management have not been successful, but it is becoming clear that as
a principle of industrial relation between classes it is to obtain
increasing recognition. If it is proper to admit the claims of the
employer, the employee, and the public to an interest in every labor
issue, then it is proper to look for the co-operation of them all in
the regulation of industry. The usual experiments in co-operative
industry have been the voluntary organization of production, exchange,
or distribution by a group of middle or working class people to save
the large expense of superintendents or middlemen. Co-operation in
production has usually failed; in America co-operative banks and
building associations, creameries, and fruit-growing associations
have had considerable success, and in Europe co-operative stores and
bakeries have had a large vogue in England and Belgium, an