Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/375

 SOME NOTES ON THE PRACTICE OF CO-OPERATION NANALAL C. MEHTA, x.c.s. the habit of placency Statistics are apt 'to be delusive unless limifions inherent in them. fostering an atmosphere especially when they register manifestations of a progressive movement. forgotten that numbers as such cannot measure values, that they have always to be read with Figures have a of pleasant corn- the numerical It is often moral interpreted in the light of precise understanding of the ideas under- lying them. The annual reports on the progress of. the co- operative movement issued by the provincial registrars seem to relate happy tsles with only minor tragedies here and there which generally have a moral and an explanation attgched to them. The result is not infre- quently a facile optimism in the mind of the public, for do not the swelling figures of societies, members, pessan hss now grssped he blessings of. eo operson, and that strife is giving way to harmony, slowly but