28 HUNTING 



the capitalist reaches the peasant, passing necessarily 

 on its way through the hands of the farmer. Occa- 

 sionally a farmer, forgetting that individual prosperity 

 is the result of collective wealth, will exclaim, " I do 

 not hunt ; and hunting damages my land, and damages 

 me in other ways. Why then should I allow hounds 

 to cross my farm ? " The practical answer is, " Because 

 you receive compensation for all the damage caused 

 to you by hunting."* The crux of the matter,|how- 

 ever, is that the modern farmer cannot afford to hunt, 

 and therefore it is difficult to make him comprehend 

 the advantages which he derives from a sport which he 

 cannot personally enjoy. There are few farmers now 

 who are so keen on preserving foxes as the old South 

 Staffordshire yeoman, who, on Christmas eve, used 

 to place raw meat outside the earths on his land, so 

 that the foxes might enjoy their Christmas dinner 

 without the trouble of working for it. The old order 

 changeth, and the new order thinks it incumbent to 

 get as much as possible out of the hunt. But to hark 

 back to the methods by which the non-hunting farmer 

 is benefited by hunting indirectly. If it were not 

 for hunting, what capital would there be in the 

 country ? The large landowners would not spend their 

 time in a place where they could not enjoy their sport, 

 as has been proved in certain districts in Ireland, 

 where fox-hunting was boycotted. The large country 

 seats would either be closed, or let to tenants between 

 whom and the farmers there could be no sympathy, 



* For to state a case which is of frequent occurrence, suppose 

 a fox raids a poultry-yard, the farmer has only to send in his 

 claim to the Hunt Secretary, or Master of Fox-Hounds, and he 

 will receive a cheque by return of post. 



