INFORMATION RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 8 1 



tervenes directly, calling the attention of the military authority to particu- 

 lar cases and seeking to give information as to agricultural needs. 



Finally the department is preparing, from the point of view of agricul- 

 tural labour, for the period after the war, adducing a mass of documentary 

 evidence. It aims at maintaining agricultural production and seeking to in- 

 crease it with the smallest possible amount of human labour power. For this 

 end it must study the agricultural districts, estimate the importance of their 

 various crops, see if these are produced in the most favourable conditions, 

 and. if not. discover how to transform them. It must investigate the possi- 

 bility of ensuring necessary laboui to farmers by causing a return to the land, 

 and do this by rendering country life attractive, organizing immigration, 

 and greatly improving agricultural material. The department is at the 

 fountain-head of infomiation. It has already collected very interesting in- 

 formation, is activel}^ following up its work, and expects to attain to fruitful 

 results. 



3. The Principles on which tJie Department Works. — The department 

 of agricultural labour considers that the problem of the necessary labour is 

 technical, and that it must be solved not by following general formulae 

 but practically, on the experimental method, taking into account economic 

 facts and conditions. 



It considers that no gulf must be fixed between the agricultural labourer, 

 the employee and the master, but that all concerned miist be recalled to 

 their duty. 



Doubtless after the war the department will not survive in its present 

 form, but will continue as a national office of agricultural labour which will 

 co-operate with the State and the large trade groups. Thus, at a time 

 when the need for it will be acutely felt, it will be able to continue its work. 

 It will be in correspondence with offices of agricultural labour in the depart- 

 ments of which the exi.sting commissions are the germ. It will possess 

 powers, independence and means of action. 



