WAGES 43 



In the principal countries of Europe the number 

 of agriculturalists who work for hire roughly equals 

 the number of those who work on their own land, 

 and in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New 

 Zealand an identical proportion appears of those who 

 work for themselves. In the case of the new countries 

 it cannot be suggested that there is a shortage of land, 

 or that anyone who desires to obtain land cannot be 

 satisfied, and as nevertheless agricultural hired labour 

 is as numerous there as it is here it appears to be 

 the case that the institution of agricultural labour for 

 hire arises from natural causes, suits the needs of a 

 large portion of the rural population, and is not due 

 to an inability to obtain land. 



Agricultural ivages are set by the plenty or scarcity 

 of land. — The willingness of agricultural labour to hire 

 itself out is, however, not absolute but conditioned by 

 the inducements offered. The agricultural hand is 

 both able to employ his own labour and will do so 

 unless the advantages of hire equal those which he 

 could obtain by working for himself. 



Where a people have a superabundance of culti- 

 vable land at their disposal cultivation will be restrained 

 to the superior qualities, and the agricultural labourer 

 will have the power of taking up for himself land of 

 the same kind. He will do so if the wages offered to 

 him do not approximate to what he could make for 

 himself on land of this nature. Therefore his wages 

 must be about what he could make for himself on good 

 land. Here the abundance of land and the choice 

 which it offers sets the wages of agricultural labour. 



On the other hand, when a country is thickly popu- 

 lated and inferior land has been brought into use a 

 labourer instead of accepting low wages can also go 

 to work for himself. But then he can get only some 

 of the remaining land which will be of a degree of 



