When the earliest cooperative units were formed, the members seem to have assumed that the step had relevance only for themselves and only for their economic good. At Fenwick in Scotland eleven men agreed in 1769 “to take what money we have in our Box and buy what victual may be thought Nessassar to sell for the benefit of our society.” The sole end was the economic benefit of the little group. Near the close of the century, “the poor inhabitants” of Hull in England set up a cooperative mill. The harvest had been lean, and the price of flour was very high, so that the people felt “much trouble and sorrow” in their persons and families, and thought they should take every care to preserve themselves “from the invasion of covetous and merciless men in the future.” They also asked the mayor to give something toward “this great enterprise.”
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