Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-12-14
FEW WAYS ON COOPERATION
Principle Has Found Larger Develop
ment in City Than In Country
Some Advantages Noted.

(By c. r. BARNS, Extension Division
Minnesota College Of Agricultural
Whatever advantages the city may
claim over the country, either as a
place Of residence or as an arena Ior
business enterprise, are mainly due 10
the fact that in the city the principle
Of cooperation has found a larger 10
velopment. The cooperation may De
often involuntary, and in many cases
the principle has been perverted TO
the enrichment of corporate and otner
monopolies; but 1t nevertheless SO
permeates all municipal life as to con-
stitute the largest factor in the max
ing Of the city. The improved road
ways and sidewalks, the water supply
and sewer systems, gas and electric
lighting and heating facilities, the
trolley lines, telephone service, parks,
libraries, picture galleries, hospitals
express deliveries, cheap amusements
and superior school advantages-au
are the fruits OF a varied application
Of the cooperative plan" For CO.
| operation is simply an agreement oy
a number of men to unite In doing
or maintaining something which none
of them, individually, would be able TO
do or maintain. The mere fact OF a
mans taking up his residence In d
city makes him, however involun-
tarily, a co-operator in all its WORKS
Of public service. Their maintenance
Is a part Of the cost of living" there
The extension Of cooperation has
been more rapid in the cities because
of The multiplied contracts among the
number of people there brought To-
/ gether, which have practically forced
, them to Join hands for the general
advancement, along some lines; and
along others, has made 1t easy for the
3 corporate and monopolistic beneficial
ries Of cooperation to levy the tribute
Q charged for the use Of their several
8 conv~eniences conveniences which
the multitude was not yet ready TO
e install from It's own resources. But
today similar Observation-Disclosures
9 by the Of the telephone, the
trolley, the daily mails, and all thai
they imply-are as numerous In many
a country district as they were In the
d city Of I'VE olden time" before the ad
vent there Of the agencies named
And the multiplication Of contracts
o stire the progressive spirit In the
o country as 1t has done in the city
o And that spirit can find no outlet Tx
that afforded by the development O
cooperation
. The extension of cooperation aloni
these lines may we'll engage a larg'
IS share Of the new spirit now kindline
So. also, may the Good Roads
movement, than which few co-opera
tive undertakings promise more. Sue
,e extension will make easier the appl
e. cation Of the cooperative idea to tn
or purchase and use Of costly farm ms
t. chinery; to the creation-where neigl
r. bors are sufficiently near-of a perm;
le nent supply of running water; to tn
common raising, for shipment by tn
in carload, Of a single kind Of vegetable
to a single breed of cattle o. hogs, a sill
er gle type Of horses; 70 the establish
We ment Of social and civic centers {
of s~choolhouses or churches; to the .bea1
tifying of country roads with shad
e. trees and side-lawns; to the establish
m ment Of a free government news ser
ng Ice, which shall enable the countr
nd daily to compete with the city shee
ID. and thus restore the independent
ID, and dignity of journalism; to the ligh
ut ening of the burdens Of the farmer
to wife by the establishment Of the C
le- operative laundry. These are but
few of the many venues throut
)e- which, by cooperation, our people mi
". attain to higher and better living.