But at present only about 21/4 per cent. of English
industry and commerce, as tested by profits, is under the conduct of co-
operative societies. Hence, while it seems possible that the slow growth
in productive co-operation, and the more rapid progress of distributive
co-operation, may serve to point the true line of successful advance in
the future, the present condition of the co-operative movement does not
entitle it to rank as one of the most powerful and prominent industrial
forces. Though it may be hoped and even predicted that each movement in
the agglomerative development of capital and labour which presents the
two agents in larger and more organized shape, will render the work of
conciliation more peremptory and more feasible, it must be admitted that
all these conciliatory movements making for the direct fusion of capital
and labour, are of an importance subordinate to the larger evolutionary
force on which we have laid stress.
We see then the multitudinous units of capital and labour crystallizing
ever into larger and larger masses, moving towards an ideal goal which
would present a single body of organized capital and a single body of
organized labour. The process in each case is stimulated by the similar
process in the other. Each step in the organization of labour forces a
corresponding move towards organization of capital, and _vice versa_.
Striking examples of this imitative strategic movement have been
presented by the rapid temporary organization of Australian capital, and
by the effect of Dock Labourers' Unions in England in promoting the
closer co-operation of the capital of shipowners.
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