. A rural commune or co-operative
community ought to have, to a large extent, the character of a nation.
It should manufacture for its members all things which it profitably can
manufacture for them, employing its own workmen, carpenters, bootmakers,
makers and menders of farming equipment, saddlery, harness, etc. It
should aim at feeding its members and their families cheaply and well,
as far as possible, out of the meat and grain produced in the district.
It should have a mill to grind their grain, a creamery to manufacture
their butter; or where certain enterprises like a bacon factory are too
great for it, it should unite with other co-operative communities to
furnish out such an enterprise. It should sell for the members their
produce, and buy for them their requirements, and hold for them
labor-saving machinery. It should put aside a certain portion of its
profits every year for the creation of halls, libraries, places for
recreation and games, and it should pursue this plan steadily with the
purpose of giving its members every social and educational advantage
which the civilization of their time affords. It should have its
councils or village parliaments, where improvements and new ventures
could be discussed. Such a community would soon generate a passionate
devotion to its own ideals and interests among the members, who would
feel how their fortunes rose with the fortunes of the associations of
which they were all members. It would kindle and quicken the intellect
of every person in the community. It would create the atmosphere in
which national genius would emerge and find opportunities for its
activity. The clan ought to be the antechamber of the nation and the
training ground for its statesmen. What opportunity leadership in the
councils of such a rural community would give to the best minds! The man
of social genius at present finds an unorganized community, and he does
not know how to affect his fellow-citizens. A man might easily despair
of affecting the destinies of a nation of forty million people, but yet
start with eagerness to build up a kingdom of the size of Sligo, and
shape it nearer to the heart's desire. The organization of the rural
population of Ireland in co-operative associations will provide the
instrument ready to the hand of the social reformer.

Some associations will be more dowered with ability than others, but
one will learn from another, and a vast network of living, progressive
orga