Cows and Men 77 



which his education is at present particularly 

 directed. It would be cruel to reveal his character 

 as we find it without revealing along with it the 

 cowardly conspiracy which for a hundred years 

 has been directed against him by the Imperial 

 Parliament and its alien ally in control of Irish 

 education. In view of his double dose of social 

 and intellectual poison, the wonder is that he is 

 not worse. 



It will be easy to infer my good fortune in 

 deciding for a minimum of man and a maximum 

 of cow. I knew, as I know still, that there were 

 other products which could be more profitable ; 

 but, with a far higher wage factor in their cost of 

 production, they depended so much more on men, 

 multiplying the points of leakage in the process. 

 The wage factor in the cow is comparatively small, 

 and I can go to the fair with her myself, making 

 leakage practically impossible unless when she 

 happens to be sucked by a man, which requires an 

 ingenuity too rare for common practice, even with 

 us, though indicating the unsafety of products 

 more easily annexed.* Around me here in Mayo, 

 I find vegetable products imported which afford 

 a net profit of ^50 to 80 per acre, with the 

 local soil and climate quite suitable to them ; 

 but the ordinary peasant has neither the 

 knowledge nor the means, while the man who has 

 both is deterred by thieving. 



Thus the cow is to me something more than a 



* A " man " was found sucking one of my cows when he found 

 thieving in any other form impracticable. 



