FOOTNOTES:
[70] This letter, which was reprinted in the Coventry Co-operative Record of January, 1880, was written, some time in August, 1879, to Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, who had sent Mr. Ruskin his "History of Co-operation: its Literature and its Advocates," 2 vols. London and Manchester, 1875-7.
[From "The Daily News," June 19, 1880.]
ON CO-OPERATION.
Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire,
April 12, 1880.
Dear Mr. Holyoake: I am very glad that you are safe back in England, and am not a little grateful for your kind reference to me while in America, and for your letter about Sheffield Museum.[71] But let me pray for another interpretation of my former letter than mere Utopianism. The one calamity which I perceive or dread for an Englishman is his becoming a rascal, and co-operation among rascals—if it were possible—would bring a curse. Every year sees our workmen more eager to do bad work and rob their customers on the sly. All political movement among such animals I call essentially fermentation and putrefaction—not co-operation.
Ever affectionately yours,
J. Ruskin.