operation in England. There are, in fact, 20,000 co-operative credit societies, both rural and urban.

As co-operative credit is the most conservative of all forms of co-operation it has rallied together the liberal and the bourgeois parties, and even the small traders, who have gained great advantages therefrom. It was a sort of lightning conductor for quite a long time, a preventive against the extreme socialism of Lassalle and Karl Marx. Thus, credit societies had a high place in the federations—notably in the General Union of Berlin, the most important one founded by Schulze-Delitzsch-while the distributive societies remained in a secondary position, their only function being (in the opinion of the Union) to help the workman to save and to be a source of supply for the credit societies. But the federation of credit and distributive societies under one banner was impeded by the fact that the small traders (who constituted the majority of the co-operative credit societies) declared that the development of distributive societies aimed at their extermination. Futhermore, the General Union, which, inspired always by the spirit of Schulze-Delitzsch, stood for bourgeois liberalism, and defended the middle classes, was unable to accept the socialist labour program of social reform which the distributive co-operative societies both in Germany and France were beginning to teach. At the Congress of Kreuznach, in 1902, held under the presidency of Dr. Crüger, disciple and successor of Schulze Delitzsch, a resolution of the German Union condemned this program as being too socialistic.

Consequent on this motion, the larger number of distributive societies resigned, in order to form an independent Union with its head-quarters at Hamburg. This Union, however, unlike the Belgium group, does not profess the socialist faith; it has not allied itself with the large socialist democratic party, but by certain regulations-such as prohibiting societies from selling to the public or paying interest on

shares-it gives to its societies a more "anti-capitalist and more mutual aid" character than that which obtains in any other country.

Today, Germany, although very tardy in entering the domain of distributive co-operation, advances with gigantic strides. The oldest co-operative distributive society on the Rochdale system appears to have been formed in Neustadt, near Magdeburg, in 1864. But it is only in the last years of the 19th century that German co-operation began to expand. In this field, as in the field of industry, she aimed at outstripping England, and at her former rate of progress, would probaby have succeeded, as we shall see by the figures in the following chapter. This is interesting, because the superiority of which Germany boasts, in the domain of organization, was not generally recognized, except in so far as it concerned compulsory State, or military, organization. Yet here we have a kind of organization— free and spontaneous co-operative association-for which Germany displays an aptitude not less remarkable than that of the individualist English people. We must remember that the qualities, and even the faults of the German race— the spirit of discipline which can subordinate private to general interests, the gregarious instinct which moves it to join together, the enormous capacity for carrying things through, the cult of organization, even the very worship of the kolossal-are all conditions eminently favourable to the success of co-operation in Germany. As we shall see in the following chapter, the largest distributive societies in the world are to be found in Germany.

Let us pause here. This is not the place for a history of distributive co-operation in every country during the second half of the 19th century. It would be very monotonous, because in every country except Belgium the Rochdale type has been more or less faithfully copied. It would be more interesting to continue this history later on, in trying

to discover in which countries this form of co-operation has the greatest chance of success. It is not certain that the

small seed imported from England will flourish in every country, and, at any rate, it is perfectly clear that its development will be unequal, as we shall explain in the following chapter.

When it is remembered that the type of association created by the Rochdale Pioneers was specially contrived to meet one particular need one cannot fail to admire the way in which this little seed of co-operative effort has been able to adapt itself to all countries, to modify itself to the special circumstances of its surroundings, and to give birth to a wonderful variety of different forms of activity. It flourishes in all countries alike-in frozen Iceland and Labrador, and in the burning Islands of the Pacific. In Palestine several colonies of Zionist Jews, finding themselves cut off from all supplies by the war, organized themselves into co-operative societies, in order to be able to live and await relief.

Unfortunately, statistics relating to consumers' co-operative societies are very incomplete. The number of societies in each country is fairly well known, but there are not many where the number of members is stated, and there are even fewer where that most important figure, the turnover, is known with any degree of accuracy. Thus in Italy, where co-operation has developed to a remarkable degree, there are, as yet, no exact statistics. Even in those countries where societies are grouped in federations there are a certain number of "wild men" who do not supply the returns sought, so that the figures given are below the actual figures and ought to be increased by an unknown quantity.1 It is only in

1 This condition prevails to a marked degree in the United States. Many of the societies are isolated, out of the channels of co-operative

Great Britain and Switzerland that co-operative statistics are more or less complete, because in these two countries alone almost all the societies are grouped in a national federation.

Subject to this reservation, the following figures may be given for 1914, the last normal

year:

These figures have been much affected by the war, though not generally, as might have been expected, adversely affected. On the contrary, in almost every country, belligerent

thought and feeling as it circulates among the societies affiliated with The Co-operative League or with one or another of the local federations or wholesales. The officers of such associations do not answer or even acknowledge requests for information. Some of these have been hunted down by members of the staff of The League or other interested persons. But the country is so large and the faithful workers so few that scores of co-operatives come into existence, live and die without being known to the American Co-operative Movement.

* Author's Note. These figures are taken from co-operative journals, from the "International Co-operative Bulletin," and from reports presented by delegates to the Congress. The mark of interrogation in some cases indicate those whose details are uncertain and sometimes contradictory. We have classified the countries in the order of the figures in the second column, which gives the number of members. The number of societies indicated in the first column is not really a sign of superior