284 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



widely practised in the country. It is not every agricultural 

 labourer, or his wife or child, who would be content in his or her 

 leisure hours to be a mere cumber-ground. The unprofitable talk 

 about ununderstood politics or the spurious excitement over impos- 

 sible Jack Cade schemes are not to every one's taste. Nor has every 

 one a liking for the cricket ground or the football field. To many 

 enough of the people coming into account an additional pound or 

 two earned would be held well worth labouring for — especially if 

 the work to be done could be made interesting. We have had a 

 great war, which has consumed much of our erst stored-up wealth ; 

 and the accepted watchword everywhere now is " production." Pro- 

 duction, indeed, there should be at all possible points — out of 

 working hours, if it cannot be in. 



Now, rural industries, to provide remunerative employment in 

 idle hours and months, have proved elsewhere a most acceptable 

 addition to small agriculture. Writers on industrial problems in 

 Belgium remark upon the unmistakable look of prosperity which 

 Belgian villages used to wear, in which straw plaiting was carried 

 on in the olden days, before China and Japan had come in as under- 

 cutting competitors, in comparison with non-straw-plaiting villages 

 by their side. And so it was elsewhere. Looking at our half 

 deserted plains, on which we hope to raise up populous villages, 

 one cannot resist the conviction that the practice of some appro- 

 priate handicrafts would in this country have the same effect. 



Unfortunately, gladly as one would see multiplying rural homes 

 becoming feeders of national industry, there are unquestionably 

 serious hindrances in the way — as those who have made the promo- 

 tion of rural industries their task have discovered to their disappoint- 

 ment. There is willingness — at any rate in some quarters. There 

 is a good deal of skill, not a little creditable taste and inventiveness. 

 The particular line of wares selected, so one would judge from the 

 products, was likewise not badly chosen. And yet the business will 

 not prosper. Wares are produced — not half as many as there might 

 be ; but one can scarcely feel regret at there not being more, since 

 what there are will not sell at all readily. And that is probably 

 the main obstacle to the spread of the practice. 



Small industries are, in fact, passing through a period of trial, 

 the advent of which Arnold Toynbee was not the only one to lament. 

 We cannot now any longer distinguish between hand and " power " 

 industry. For " power " has successfully invaded the territory of 

 small industry and beneficially asserted its sway. Electricity 

 will penetrate anywhere, and help the smallest industrialist. It 



