#60. Co-operation.# Among the measures proposed for improving the position of workmen, the best is co-operation, if we understand by this name #the uniting together of capital and labour#. The name co-operation is used indeed with various meanings, and some of the arrangements called by it have really nothing to do with what we are now considering. #To co-operate means to work together# (Latin, _con_, together, and _operor_, to work). About thirty-five years ago some workmen of Rochdale, noticing the great profits made by shopkeepers in retail trade, resolved to work together by buying their own supplies wholesale, and distributing them amongst the members of the society which they established. They called this #a co-operative society#, and a great number of so-called co-operative stores have since been established. Most of these are nothing but shops belonging to a society of purchasers, who agree to buy at the store and divide the profits. They have on the whole done a great deal of good by leading many men to save money and to take an interest in the management of affairs. The stores are also useful, because they compete with shopkeepers, and induce them to lower their prices and to treat their customers better. We frequently hear now of shops selling goods at #co-operative prices#. But such co-operative societies have little or nothing to do with the subject of capital and labour. Commonly these stores are conducted less upon the true co-operative principle than ordinary shops. A shop is usually managed by the owner or by a man who has a large interest in its success, and has the best reasons for taking trouble. Co-operative stores, on the contrary, are often managed by men who are paid by salary or wages only, and have nothing to do with the profits and the capital of the concern.