HOW TO SETTLE 205 



the bargain, the house property is secured unencumbered to the 

 beneficiary's family in the event of his dying before the nine-tenths 

 advanced have been cleared off. Lord Ernie's scheme at Maulden, 

 under which the eighteen freehold holdings created were handed 

 over to as many settlers without a penny down being asked, is of a 

 piece with this. And the fact that no fewer than 575 men competed 

 for the holdings plainly proves that if only similarly liberal terms will 

 be offered, applicants for freehold holdings will not be wanting 

 among ourselves. What is conceded in terms of payment will, no 

 doubt, under this plan have to be made up in personal trouble in 

 inquiring about the applicants' fitness and selecting the right ones. 

 But then, as we want the thing done, we ought not to grudge a little 

 trouble. Lord Ernie has assured me that on these sales he has made 

 no loss. One man failed, but another was promptly there to take 

 his place with all its liabilities. It stands to reason. These settle- 

 ments are not houses, such as the building societies have carefully 

 to watch over, where they are creditors, lest they should be allowed 

 to fall out of repair and be slily abandoned. They improve in value, 

 and every penny paid off adds so much to their present value ; 

 and the expense and labour put in is not like furniture, which may 

 be carried off by night. In Prussia the Government authorities 

 themselves have met acceptable settlers in a variety of ways — with 

 patience, and also with actual advances. " Once a man has put all 

 his life's savings into his holding," so President Beutner remarked 

 to me, speaking of a man who had sunk £60, which was all that he 

 had got, into his holding, " I may make quite sure that he will not 

 run away from it." Mr. Gladstone met Irish tenants acquiring 

 their holdings with Government support by a retention of one-tenth 

 of the Government advance. We want more settlements on the 

 lines of that at Maulden, which avowedly was entered upon as an 

 intended exemplum utile, to show the Government how to proceed. 



But in Germany the Government's activity in the matter has been 

 supplemented by voluntary action on the fines of philanthropy-cum- 

 5 per cent., working in some instances with substantial capital. To 

 state one instance, there is the " Landbank " — whose plan of 

 working I explained in the Economic Review of April, 1912 — operating 

 with a capital of £2,000,000, on which it earns a higher dividend 

 than 5 per cent, by combining business of its own — likewise useful 

 in the public interest — with the systematic cutting up of large estates 

 into small holdings as a non-profit yielding business (beyond the 

 5 per cent, or so stipulated for). Really, there is a good deal of 

 margin for overplus to be obtained in these cases — which is an 



