Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-01-16
COOPERATION IS IN THE AIR
Farmer Must Have Leadership, and
This Comes Only Through Better
knowledge Of Neighbors.


Cooperation is in the air now. We
are talking about 1t in almost every
state In the Union. In some states
they have made rapid progress. In
others they have done nothing as yet,
mainly because conditions are SO easy
that they do not feel the necessity OF
cooperation.
Where the subject has taken hold
OF the public mind. the people are in
terested in the formation of co-opera-
tive organizations. The American
people have the idea that things can
be done by machinery; that they can
have cooperative machinery just as
they can have improved machinery on
the farm. Our suggestion is that you
do not put too much faith in co-opera-
tive schemes. and that you look pref
ty closely at schemes which work well
in other countries. and which are rep
resented as practical in this. says Wal
lace's Farmer
The one machine that moves the
world effectively is the human machine
man himself; not his bodily powers.
but his brain powers. Cooperation is
a thing that must be learned: and the
you how to get the knowledge. be-
cause all great movements which ben
eft men come from the people them
selves. The banker can't furnish a
cooperative scheme for you; neither
can the merchant. You must develop
1t yourself.
The place to begin is right in the
home, in the family. Are you cooper
ating in the ordinary work of your
farm in such a way as to bring the
best results? Have you taken your
boys into your confidence. and asked
their opinion about how to do this or
that or the other thing? how to handle
this field or the other? how to feed
your live stock? Are you cooperating
with your wife and getting the best
out of life? Are you cooperating with
your children in their studies, their
sports and recreation? Do you know
the heart Of your child, or is he keep
ing something back which he does not
feel free to talk to you about? The
place to learn cooperation is right in
your own home.
The uext place is In your neigh
borhood. Are you getting three or
four Of your neighbors that you like
best into your home in the evening?
Are you figuring with them how you
can cooperate? To cooperate means
simply to operate together; in plain
English, to work together to the best
advantage; to work to each others
hand. SO that what one does will help
the other fellow also. Are you look
ing upon your neighbors as competi-
tors. working to see which can get the
best of the others. or as men working
for the benefit of each other?
This involves an entirely different
attitude toward your neighbor. toward
life. Competition is individualistic;
cooperation Is altruistic. Individual
ism means working for yourself; al
truism means working for the com
munity, for your neighbors as well as
life? When you get your family to
working together and your neighbors
to working together. the rest Is easy
The difficulty is in getting started and
getting started right, with the right
attitude toward life. toward the com
munity.
When neighbors get acquainted. It
develops leadership; for there will al
ways be a leader. The wild things
even the crows and prairie chickens,
have leader. You cant do anything
without leadership. What the country
needs more than anything else is lead
ership, not the leadership of the bust
ness man in town, nor the leadership
of the banker, nor even the leadership
of the preacher. Leadership must be
developed among the farmers them
selves. We must learn whom it is safe
to follow, who is the wisest leader. The
rest is easy. 1t is surprising what an
amount of good can be accomplished
when we once get acquainted with
each other, with our neighbors, and
develop leadership which the commu-
nifty will follow. Without this the
farmer cannot attain to the full mea-
sure of mis- prosperity. He must have
leadership; and this can come only
through a better knowledge of the abil-
ity that is going to waste for want OF
recognized leadership.