87 



The production of British agriculture could be increased to an 

 enormous extent without reaching the point at which unit cost of goods 

 would be increased. But this will be made possible only by study of the 

 best methods of production and the application of capital, knowledge, 

 and skill in every sphere. Some measures may be necessary to create 

 confidence in the industry, but no artificial measures alone can secure 

 an economic increase in agricultural production. The interest of the 

 rural worker is to obtain a system of production which, while making 

 less demands on mere physical exertion, will increase the return from 

 labour and yet provide him scope for self-expression in the course of 

 his work. This can only be obtained on such farm-units as will admit 

 of vast improvements in the application of machinery to many tasks, 

 the employment of specialised knowledge in spheres of management, 

 and the employment of increased skill in spheres of labour. 



But the end of life is not production of goods : it is the production 

 of more and better life. To enable the rural worker to reach this end, 

 vast endeavours will be necessary outside the sphere of his labours. 

 The position of the rural worker in the political sphere, both national 

 and local, is extremely weak. He is apt to be much sought after by 

 persons of all parties during general elections, but because he has no 

 organisation the rural worker cannot enforce demands or claim redemp- 

 tion of promises in the periods intervening between general elections 

 when Parliament is actually at work. In local politics he is a much- 

 administered, passive person, who is at the mercy of locally elected 

 or nominated governors, but more perhaps at the mercy of the salaried 

 officials of local bodies. In such matters as the administration of the 

 Housing Acts, which are of vital interest to him, he has no power. 

 Nor will he obtain power until some kind of voluntary association 



Farm and forest workers in Germany were divided into five classes, the earnings 

 of which, in 1906, were as follows : 



GERMAN EMPIRE. 



Proportion to Average Annual 



Total Workers. Earnings, 

 per cent. 



Class 1 .14 39 45 



II 2.50 33 39 



III 24.00 27 33 



IV 42.00 21 27 



V 31.00 15 21 



The bulk of the male labourers would be included in the third class, large numbers 

 of workers in the lower classes being women and youths. 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 



Proportion to 



Number of Farm Workers, 1901. Total. Average Annual 



per cent. Earnings. 

 1907 



Shepherds 25,354 4.16 50 



Cattlemen 81,302 13.36 49 



Horsemen 154,377 25.36 48 



Ordinary Labourers 348,072 57.12 45 



