ALTERED CONDITIONS 171 



Switzerland would have to change their methods, 

 from the point of view both of resorting more to 

 machinery, in order to solve the labour problem, 

 and of using chemical fertilizers in order to in- 

 crease the volume, and decrease the relative cost, 

 of production, so as to compete better with the 

 foreigner. In other words, the farmer was to 

 employ fewer hands but spend more money. 



The drawback to this plan was the average 

 cultivator's lack of capital — a difficulty only to 

 be overcome by the creation of organizations 

 which would enable the farmers alike to borrow 

 on advantageous terms, and to effect the neces- 

 sary purchases under the best conditions. The 

 establishment of organizations of this type was, 

 in fact, for the Swiss farmers, as Dr. Hans 

 Midler relates in Die Schweizerischen Konsum- 

 genossenschaften : Hire Entxmcklung unci Hire 

 Re.su/tate, a matter of life or death. But, Dr. 

 Midler goes on to say : — 



It took a long time for the peasant to work himself up 

 to this conviction. An incarnate individualist, he resisted 

 any idea of actually resorting to combined trading or 

 co-operative effort, even when already convinced of the 

 necessity of so doing. Finally, however, he saw it had 

 become for him a question either of combination or of 

 ruin; either of rising to a true sense of his position, and 

 showing confidence in his neighbour, or of dropping out of 

 existence. When once this alternative presented itself 



