366 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
ance that far transcends their average wisdom is shown by the achievements of the Benedictine monks in clearing and civilizing northern Europe, by the success of the mediaeval burghs, by the preternatural shrewdness of Jesuit policy, by the prosperity of the co-operative undertakings under the management of the Mormon church. The victories of trades unions and the triumphs of joint-stockism, from the East India Company to the latter- day Trust, trumpet the merits of the corporate form of associa- tion. Says the latest investigator of American communistic societies :
There is not one co-operative community in the country ten years old that
has popular government Those communities have lived longest and
been most prosperous in which the general membership has had least to do in shaping the government or business management, and in which an almost
military discipline has been exercised by some central authority In a
sense they have all been theocracies, laying claim to an inspired leadership, through which, they believe, they have enjoyed divine guidance, and so been saved from the mistakes and follies that have brought ruin to so many others. 1
The secret of corporate wisdom is differentiation and speciali- zation. Out of the common run are winnowed a directing few, and these specialize upon their work till they become experts. An organ a brain in any case, sometimes also a group-hand or group-eye is constituted. The towering capacities are formed into a board, council, cabinet, bureau, or standing committee, and intrusted with the conduct of the corporation. The methods of bringing about this concentration of power are various. Full members may be distinguished from novices or probationers. Members may be graded by seniority or services or degree of initiation, so as to award power to the time-tested and discerning. The members may choose their managers directly or choose their choosers. Directors may hold power for life, for a stated term, long or short, or until ousted. In the exercise of power they may be absolute, or they may be hampered by the constitution or the referendum. The responsibility of an executive board may be directly to the members or to a representative assembly, itself responsible. The organ of direction may be simple, com-
1 Bulletin of the United States Department of Labor, No. 35, pp. 642, 643.
