The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

68 THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY

of the transaction. It is followed by a dividend; it is followed by an invitation to the monthly or quarterly meeting. It may be followed by an invitation to a lecture, or a dance, or a whist drive. It is not only a cash nexus that binds me to my local Co-operative Society; there are plainly many other attractions. If I am a lonely man, I can assure for myself various social contacts: I may even find a wife. Indeed, why not? If she is already a Co-operator she is probably thrifty and home-loving. No doubt there are a hundred thousand members who think of nothing but their own convenience and their dividends; but there are many hundreds of thousands who are attached to the Movement by conviction, by sentiment, by their social proclivities. These are only a few of the many imponderables, the things unseen, that raise Co-operation far above the ordinary commercial standards. The economist who does not understand this belongs to the nineteenth century.

Nor must we forget that Co-operation has long since passed from distribution to production. In all probability, it is the largest producing unit in the world.

Equally pertinent is it to remember that Cooperation has, through its own Bank, largely mastered its own internal problems of credit.

In the House of Industry envisaged in these pages, no specific mention has been made of the vole of the consumer. There is, of course, the intermediate consumer ; but there is also the final