1. Co-operation, it is urged, injures the middleman and the small
trader.
To encourage farmers to do well and economically for themselves what is
now done indifferently and expensively for them by the middleman, must
of course act injuriously on some existing interests. This is not
disputed. But the change is absolutely necessary for the regeneration of
rural Ireland, and this objection cannot be allowed to stand in the way.
Looked at in its broader and more enduring aspects, co-operation is
bound to stimulate and improve general trade by increasing the spending
power of the farmers. The Chambers of Commerce of Dublin and Belfast
have not been slow to perceive this, and have warmly endorsed the
Society's application for a grant from the Development Commissioners.
2. The political objection to the movement, so far as it takes the
definite form of charging the I.A.O.S. with being a propagandist body
aiming under the mask of economic reform at the covert spread of
Unionist opinions, will not stand a moment's examination. There is not a
particle of evidence in support of such a charge, and the presumption
against it is overwhelming.
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