Excerpt from Co-Operation and Nationality: A Guide for Rural Reformers From This Next Generation I have heard people speak as if Ireland were a freak, as if our national problems were absolutely unique, and we could learn little or nothing from other countries. Agricultural co-operation, for example, might suit farmers in other lands, but it was either too high or too low for us. The creamery system was a disastrous departure from our ancient methods of butter-making. We would starve our children if milk and eggs could be sold at higher prices, for it would make these wholesome articles too costly a luxury for the home. All this and much more has been gravely urged. It was natural enough, when the majority of the people were trying to show how impossible government from Westminster was, that every cause, reasonable or unreasonable, should be urged to emphasize our unique character and the hopelessness of other people understanding us sufficiently to let us develop happily. Anything which would show our problems were not unique seemed to destroy an argument for self-government, and it looked as if we might at last shape ourselves into a national freak which would justify, not self-government, but control by the Commissioners for Lunacy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.