managing employer, or with both middlemen and employer. In the case of
a profit-sharing scheme in which the share of the profits accruing to
the workmen is invested in the business for them, ultimate control of
the enterprise may come into the hands of the workmen through profit
sharing. In such a case the plant might be conducted coöperatively. In
practically every instance, however, coöperation does not grow out of
profit sharing, but arises independently.

113. ESSENCE OF COÖPERATION.--The essence of coöperation is that a
group of individuals undertake to perform for themselves those
functions which are commonly carried on by the business man.
Coöperatives are often workmen, though not necessarily so.

Under the coöperative plan, all of the profits of the enterprise are
divided among the coöperators; on the other hand, the risks of the
business must also be borne by them. Management of the enterprise is
conducted partly by officers or committees serving without pay, and
partly by paid agents. The general policies of the business are
settled by the coöperators acting as a body.

Coöperation seeks to exchange the centralized control of the business
man for the diffuse control of a group of coöperators. This
arrangement, its advocates hope, will permit wealth and power to be
distributed among more and more people, and especially among those
classes that possess relatively little property. Let us inquire
briefly into the four types of coöperation.

114. CONSUMERS' COÖPERATION.--Consumers' coöperation, also known as
distributive coöperation or coöperation in retail trade, is the most
common form of coöperation. It is also probably the most successful