76 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



to show that a farmer would have obtained any adequate 

 profit from a holding of over 800 acres. 



Apart from this particular instance, however, I 

 venture to remark that the profit-sharing principle 

 deserves at any rate as much consideration as some 

 other loudly vaunted ideas. It at least differs from 

 some other schemes by reason of being economically 

 sound from a theoretical point of view. The carelessness 

 and lack of interest in their work of many farm labourers 

 are a common cause of complaint, and no doubt 

 also the source of annual waste and loss. If it were possible 

 to devise some practical means by which the labourer 

 could be financially interested in the success of the 

 year's operations, no one, probably, would dispute its 

 desirability. In commercial undertakings we have seen 

 of late years a very wide recognition of the principle of 

 associating employes with employers, and I submit that 

 the principle is at any rate worthy of the careful con- 

 sideration of owners and occupiers of land. 



It is not possible to conclude without one more word 

 about wages, because it is frequently suggested as a 

 " remedy " that farm labourers should be paid higher 

 wages. It would be just as true — and equally practical 

 — to say that the remedy for agricultural depression is 

 better prices. There is one way — and apparently only 

 one way — in which the level of wages can rise, and 

 that is by increasing the efficiency of the labourer. 

 This might be illustrated by a reference to the difference 

 in the wages paid in the North of England and 

 those paid in the East or South. The average weekly 

 wage in the North is perhaps 20 to 30 per cent, higher 

 than in the East or South, and why ? Mainly because 

 the work is more efficient. This is shown by the fact 

 that the payment per acre for wages is, on the whole, 

 no higher in the North than in other districts. It 

 follows, therefore, that those who wish to improve the 

 lot of the agricultural labourer can effectively do so by 



