The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-01-23

cooperative society,
Buying and Selling Done Jointly.
The most general form Of coUpera-
ton Is the dairy society. OF these
societies there are now more than
four hundred, Next in number are
the rural banks, which number more
than two hundred. Other cooperative
organizations make joint purchases Tor
farmers, breed cattle, promote local IN
dustries, particularly lace-making, sell
poultry and eggs, grow bees and mar
ket honey, sell butter and transact
wholesale business for the country So
cieties. The central society and some
others are aided financially by the
government department Of agriculture,
agricultural committees and county
councils.
Cooperation Stopping Emigration.
The result shows i'll economic bet
terment and in q more wholesome
rural life. A single instance OF the
first result is that the yield OF butter
per gallon Of milk has constantly III
creased during the last ten years ana
that Irish butter now sells readily IN
London in competition with its great
rival, butter from Denmark. From
certain counties where the cooperative
societies have done their best WORK
emigration has almost ceased. Much
has been done toward improving the
condition of the cottages and by es-
tablishing libraries, sane amusements
and helpful recreation in the villages.
The Gaelic league has done good serv-
ice here. Better be Quarreling than
be lonesome" runs the Irish proverb.
The new village conditions would BAN
ish Quarreling without substituting
solitude, accomplishing this result by
diSCouraging drunkenness and pre-
venting emigration, the two giant evils
of the Ireland of yesterday
Another happy result is the moral
discipline already making itself felt.
This has strengthened individual en-
ergy and the wise use Of cooperation
has stimulated individual effort, deVel-
oping a taste for work by increasing
the produce of labor. However great
the material advantages of coopera-
ton, particularly the cooperative
credit system-by which money is
lent at low rates for reproductive
work-the educational results are yet
more important.
Technical Education Bearing Fruit.
Close akin to the efforts of the
cooperative societies has been the pro.
motion of technical education by the
state. This work, carried on by the
governments Department Of Agricul-
ture and Technical Instruction for Ire
land, is, in way, similar to the work
of the American Agricultural colleges
and Experiment stations, except that
it is broader, not combining itself to
agriculture and the mechanic arts"
It teaches the farmer and labofer, ii
trains in it's schools for business, COM
merce, agriculture and technical pu1.
suits. 1t goes further and seeks an
industrial revival by encouragement
of new local factories. The depart.
ment's work, also beset by dificultieJ !,
shows considerable progress. Com
mercial enterprises and an industrial
spirit are appearing in the smaller
towns as we'll as developing in the
larger centers, Dublin, Belfast and
Cork. The manufacture of bacon, of
WOODEN goods, Of laces, has begun in
villages where ten years ago surplus
labor, unemployed was driven to for.
eign lands.
Dear Transportation Heavy Handicap.
With created or revived local indus
tries comes consideration of better
transportation, Farm produce and in.
dustrial products pay three per cent of
their value to reach a market in Can
ada and fifteen per cent in Ireland. 1t
costs four dollars a ton to get eggs
from France to London, six dollars a
ton from Denmark, and twenty-five
dollars a ton from Galway, Ireland.
This condition an Irish parliament
may be expected to seek to remedy
Just now it blocks economic develop
ment.
ireland is thinking now in terms of
Woolens and linens, poultry and fat
cattle, eggs and butter, banks and rail-
ways said the brilliant T. M. Kettle,
professor Of economics in the new
National university at Dublin.
Social and Moral UpIift."
Nor are the Irish at home forget
ful of the higher things in life. They |
are creating a new literature, they are |
developing social life, gracious as al
ways in the veriest villages-for your
irish peasant is born a gentleman
and promoting higher standards of
morality. In all the constructive
movements in Ireland the religious
question looms large. For religion to
ne real lrishman, Protestant or Cath
'llc, IS not an argument, but an in
Quoting again Professor
Kettle: 1T seems to us as reason
Iole to prepare children for their
moral life by excluding religion as to
prepare them for their nhysical life by