36 



large, highly-capitalised farms were established they would probably 

 provide houses for a large number of their employees, but to obviate 

 the possibility of hardship in the case of dismissal or dispute a certain 

 number of free cottages would be required. 



On the whole, the economic position of the rural worker depends 

 upon the general conditions prevailing in the industry. While the 

 urban worker is directly interested in the quantity and quality of the 

 produce of the land, the rural worker is more directly interested in 

 the methods by which it is produced and their economic results. It 

 might be possible to double the present production of the land and yet 

 reduce the general standard of living of those engaged in its production. 

 The townsman's interest is to obtain the greatest net production of 

 food per acre after feeding the population engaged in agriculture, 

 thus securing food supplies for himself. The rural worker can always 

 produce enough food for his family, and his main interest is in securing 

 a high rate of production per man, for on that depends the standard 

 of living of himself and his family. As he produces more food than he 

 consumes, he is interested in the maintenance or increase of prices, 

 while the urban worker who is a consumer is concerned that they shall 

 not rise. 



The problem of production in agriculture is to increase the quantity 

 without increasing the unit cost of the goods produced. In other 

 words, to get the maximum quantity of food for a given quantity of 

 labour and capital expended. Comparisons have recently been made 

 between the agricultural systems of this country and Germany, 

 apparently to the disadvantage of the British system ; but while the 

 German farmer is supposed to feed from 70 to 75 persons and the British- 

 farmer only 45 to 50 persons from each 100 acres of cultivated land, 

 the German system requires 18.3 persons and the British system only 

 5.8 for the cultivation of each 100 acres. Thus each person engaged 

 in British agriculture feeds 7.6 persons, and each person engaged in 

 Gferman agriculture feeds only 3.8 persons. Some modification of this 

 statement is required, because of the large proportion of women 

 employed in German agriculture, but the production 'per man in Germany 

 probably does not amount to more than two-thirds of the production 

 per man in this country. The result of this difference is seen in the 

 difference between the rates of wages, for even with a better system 

 of distribution in Germany wages of German agricultural workers are 

 not equal to those paid in Great Britain.* 



* A comparison of earnings (including cash wages and extras) of agricultural 

 workers in different countries does not provide for a full comparison of the standards 

 of life of this class in various countries, largely because of possible differences 

 in the use which is made of earnings, and also partly because of some other circum- 

 stances outside the employment of the men. such as the amount of work done and 

 wages earned by their wives. But the amount of earnings is the main element 

 in the determination of the standard of life of the working classes, and the following 

 comparison may be given. 



(Note continued on page 87). 



