<SPAN name="chapter_iv"></SPAN>
<h2 class="chapter_title"><span class="chapter_number">IV</span><br/> Coöperation—Success by Helping the Other Fellow</h2>
<p class="chapter_summary">Our industrial system has resulted in making
many men economic eunuchs. The salvation of
our cities, the salvation of our industries and
the salvation of our nation depend on discovering
something which will revive in man that desire to
produce and joy in production which he had
instinctively when he was a small boy.</p>
<p class="first_paragraph"><span class="first_word">A few</span> days ago I was present at a
dinner of business men in Boston
who were called together in order
to secure some preferential freight rates
for Massachusetts. The principal theme
of that gathering was to boom Massachusetts
at the expense of the rest of the country.
At the close of the dinner I was
asked to give my opinion and said: “Let
us see how many things there are in this
room that we could have were we dependent
solely on Massachusetts. The
chairs and furniture are from Michigan;
the cotton is from Georgia; the linen from
Ireland; the silver from Mexico; the glassware
from Pennsylvania; the paper from
Maine; the paint from Missouri; the clock
from Connecticut—and so on.” Finally
I got the courage to ask if there was a single
thing in the room that did not originate
from some state other than Massachusetts.
Those men were absolutely
helpless in finding a single thing.</p>
<p>The same fact applies in a general way
to every state and every home. Look
about, where you are sitting now. How
many things are there in the room just
where you are,—there is a table, a chair, a
shoe, a coat, a necktie, a cigar, a lampshade,
a piano, a basket—for all of these
you are dependent upon others.</p>
<p>The same fact is true when we analyze
one staple like shoes which, primarily, are
made of leather. Where does the leather
come from? Just follow that leather
from the back of the steer until you buy it
in the form of shoes. Think where that
steer was raised, and where the leather was
tanned. Think of all the men engaged in
the industry from the cow-punchers to the
salesmen in the stores. But there is more
than leather involved in shoes. There is
cotton in the shoe lacing and lining.
There is metal in the nails and eyelets.
Not only must different localities coöperate
to produce a shoe; but various industries
must give and take likewise.</p>
<p>Civilization is ultimately dependent on
the ability of men to coöperate. The best
barometer of civilization is the desire and
ability of men to coöperate. The willingness
to share with others,—the desire to
work with others is the great contribution
which Christianity has given to the world.
The effect of this new spirit is most thrilling
when one considers the clothes which
he has on his back, the food which he has
on the table, the things which he has in the
house, and thinks of the thousands of people
whose labour has directly contributed
toward these things. Now this clearly
shows that the fourth great fundamental
of prosperity is coöperation, the willingness
and ability of men to coöperate, to
serve one another, to help one another, to
give and to take.</p>
<p>But the teachings of Jesus along these
lines have a very much broader application
than when applied merely to raw materials,
or even manufactured products. As
we can begin to prosper only when we develop
into finished products the raw materials
of the fields, mines and forests, so
we can become truly prosperous only as
we develop the greatest of all resources,—the
human resources. Not only does
Christianity demand that we seek to help
and build up others; but our own prosperity
depends thereon as well.</p>
<p class="thought_break">******</p>
<p>When in Washington, during the war, I
had a wonderful opportunity of meeting
the representatives of both labour and
capital. I had some preconceived ideas
on the labour question when I went to
Washington; but now they are all gone.
I am perfectly willing, now, to agree with
the wage worker, to agree with the employer,
to agree with both or to agree with
neither. But this one thing I am sure of,
and that is that the present system doesn’t
work. The present system is failing in
getting men to produce.</p>
<p>By nature man likes to produce. Our
boy, as soon as he can toddle out-of-doors,
starts instinctively to make a mud pie.
When he gets a little older he gets some
boards, shingles and nails and builds a hut.
Just as soon as he gets a knife, do you have
to show him how to use it? He instinctively
begins to make a boat or an arrow or
perhaps something he has never seen.
Why? Because in his soul is a natural desire
to produce and an inborn joy in production.
But what happens to most of
these boys after they grow up?</p>
<p>Our industrial system has resulted in
almost stultifying men economically and
making most of them economically non-productive.
Why? I don’t know. I
simply say it happens and the salvation of
our industries depends on discovering
something which will revive in man that
desire to produce and that joy in production
which he had instinctively when he
was a small boy.</p>
<p>Increased wages will not do it. Shorter
hours will not do it. The wage worker
must feel right and the employer must feel
right. It is all a question of feeling.
Feelings rule this world,—not things.
The reason that some people are not successful
with collective bargaining and
profit sharing and all these other plans is
because they think that men act according
to what they say, or according to what they
learn, or according to that in which they
agree. Men act according to their <em>feelings</em>,
and “good feeling” is synonymous
with the spirit of coöperation. One cannot
exist without the other and prosperity
cannot continue without both. Hence the
fourth fundamental of prosperity is Coöperation.</p>
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