276 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



once said of the British Empire, " at all points." Even in the farm- 

 yard there are distinctly separate sections, upon all of which one 

 pair of eyes cannot possibly at all times remain fixed. The work- 

 man's eyes and vigilance, coming to the master's aid, may prove of 

 very great value. There are so many different operations, many of 

 them trivial in themselves, but, collectively speaking, of unques- 

 tionable importance. I have spoken of co-operative credit once as 

 a complicated piece of machinery in which every spring, every 

 wheel, every cog or other piece of mechanism, has its own acting 

 pair of eyes, its own judgment and its own responsibility, and which 

 on that account works so admirably. Agriculture may, by means 

 of profit-sharing, be organised in the same way. 



There are, in fact, a number of cases on record — apart from 

 those in which Herr von Thunen and Lord Wallscourt were the 

 chief actors, in which profit-sharing has been tried in this connection 

 and has been found to answer well. In France, where profit-sharing 

 has been taken up with remarkable interest by a considerable number 

 of devoted partisans, it has been frequently applied to agriculture. 

 The classical example of agricultural profit-sharing in France is 

 that of Albert Cazeneuve, carried out on his property, a property 

 of nearly 600 acres, therefore a fairly large farm, with a consider- 

 able staff of labourers, in the Haute Garonne. The author of the 

 experiment found the result entirely satisfactory. In his book, 

 " Les Entreprises Agricoles et la Participation du Personnel aux 

 Benefices," the author points out the causes which, in his opinion, 

 make for a readier success in agriculture than in industry in this 

 way : " Operations are less complex and often more easily to be taken 

 account of. The employer, if he will only take the trouble, is able 

 to judge more readily and with greater precision, of his actual 

 financial position, because he is to a less extent involved (engage). 

 Profit-sharing will, in its application to agriculture, not interfere 

 in the book-keeping carried on. The calculation of the several 

 shares due to the several persons entitled is easier to make." The 

 same system has also been tried in districts as far apart as Brittany 

 and the Centre and South of France, with varying results, the 

 variety of which shows, as M. Cazeneuve insists, that " you cannot 

 practice profit-sharing in one stereotyped way, but must adjust it 

 in method to the several surroundings, know the character of your 

 labourers, and, in conclusion, keep correct accounts." A case 

 standing perhaps a little by itself and calculated, I think, to weigh 

 with possibly reluctant employers, is that of a gentleman, now 

 deceased, having a vineyard property in the Gironde, who informed 



