_Coöperative industry._—Coöperative industries are sometimes advocated as a complete solution of labor difficulties. The system implies a union of independent workmen, all of whom shall be sharers in the capital employed as well as in the labor involved, including management. The management of the enterprise is entrusted to chosen members of the coöperative force, and wages or salaries are fixed according to abilities employed, essentially upon the scale of current wages outside the coöperative enterprise. All profits are then shared among all members of the association in proportion to their wages. But an investment of such profits in the growth of the business is an essential part of the plan. This method satisfies the ideal of equity in division of wealth produced, provided the basis of adjustment between classes of wage-earners is accepted as fair. The principal difficulty in this respect arises in reference to the salary of managers and overseers. Such salaries are less clearly defined in the labor market, being usually complicated with profit-making, and are liable to be considered out of all proportion with the wages of other workers. If underestimated, the marked abilities required in management are likely to be withdrawn from the enterprise for independent management in profit-making. The chief difficulties, however, with coöperative production grow from the want of confidence of the multitude of shareholders in their managers. Few kinds of business can be carried on successfully under a body of absolute rules, and fewer still will bear the delays and hesitation required for a general consultation of many authorities. The comparatively few instances of genuine success in coöperative production are due, in the first place, to the comparative simplicity of the undertaking; and, in the second place, to the genius of some organizer, who has been willing to contribute his superior abilities for the sake of the enterprise itself rather than the compensation. A few principles may be fairly drawn from the general experience. First, all shareholders must be actual workers, in some way responsible for a part of the production. Second, the influence of each shareholder must in some way be held in direct ratio to his share in the production. Third, the system of accounts must be such as all can fairly understand. Fourth, the management must be entrusted to a chosen few, whose interests are chiefly in the business itself, whose character secures the confidence of all, and whose administrative ability is not too much hampered by rules.