Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-10-02
EDITORIAL ON COOPERATION


An editorial on the subject OF COOP
GRAFTON. published on the other side Of
the ocean. carries this sentence. "A
rural community. acting a. one body.
buying together, manufacturing to-
gether. marketing together. Is more
like q family than anything else. It
Is this we are fighting for"
The picture which IL drawn by
these words Is ideal. and being ideal.
1t Is scarcely practical. says Kimball's
Dairyman. There are certain con-
ceptions of q readjustment of eco
nomic affairs which some would have
us believe will prove q solution Of
every rural question that IL puzzling
the thinking public. Just now there
is one great problem before the farm
ers. the question of greater profits
from the investment of time. money
and labor which they must make. Can
these be acquired through cooperation
as ideal and as communistic as Is i'm
piled by the above?
The student of history will think
back to the days when-in what some
would call the good old times"-one
man did everything that was neces-
sary for the conduct of life in the
home. Even the nails. the hinges. the
horseshoes were made in the farm
shop. In the home the cloth was
woven, the yarn was spun. the gar
ments were manufactured. No one
would wish to 60 back to this simple
form Of life. yet reading of 1t today
Is as interesting as perusing the most
popular fiction.
Modern economic conditions imply
specialization. One man can do one
thing. another may do another. There
is not time enough, competition Is too
keen. life is too short, for one to cover
all lines of work. On the other hand,
there Is no reason why the commodi-
ties that are necessary for the main
tenance of life in q community could
| not be purchased through coopera-
tive efforts az well a. by the indi-
viduals. There Is no reason why the
products that are common to q COM
operatively as well as to be sold by
the individual producers. There IN no
reason why the commodities that are
produced ready for consumption could
not be sold comparatively rather than
through the individual producer. Here
Is a situation whereby in union there
is power and strength and influence.
These characteristics cannot be de-
veloped by each to the extent that
they can by common effort.
The great obstacle in the way of the
realization of this dream will be the
inevitable suspicion which man holds
towards bis neighbor. 1t Is human ma
ture for the less fortunate to suspect
the more fortunate. It Is human ma
ture for the man who IL falling back
ward In the march toward success,
to cast slurs. to see unpleasant char
acteristics, and to say unkind things
of those who are passing him in the
race of business. AS long az this is
the case, which will be es long a. bu
man beings exist as they do today. Il
will be impossible to secure unity Of
effort. q unity Of purpose. rortac'
degree of cooperation. Yet /! th's
perfection cannot be attained. lis ;.p
proach is superior to the struggle
which is going on in too many l.'acea
today.
The ideal is never reached, for wk'es
Il IL reached II ceases to bcroao az
ideal. Therefore, one may well lo:l
to the picture that Is or.liG I'd atOso
Such cooperation Is well night Is-rfeS
ton. and although 1t may 20: ps fuls
realized the sSproach to it Is vors
while as the community that strives
to realize this ideal will be the bssscl
for its efforts.