A Grain Growers' Meeting 



in fact, he had little to say on the question), I 

 talked a bit, and what I said may prove a fore- 

 word to a short account of the meeting. 



" I dare say this association business is all right, 

 but you know the Old Country farmers never 

 seem to hang together to much purpose," said 

 my sturdy, practical comrade. 



" True enough," I replied, and went on : " But 

 here, you see, the farmer is under somewhat different 

 conditions. Although he often has a mortgage 

 and a lot of debts, both of which he has a struggle 

 to pay off, and, alas, sometimes fails to do, yet 

 he has no landlord in the Old-Country sense of 

 the word." 



" But," said Tom, " I thought there is a general 

 feeling among both landlords and tenants in 

 the Old Country that the landlord is a sort of 

 help and protection to the tenant, and the latest 

 talk is that he, the tenant, does not really want 

 to be rid of his landlord." 



** I guess your view of agricultural opinion 

 in the Old Country is pretty near the mark," I 

 said, and went on : " Don't let us get into a dis- 

 cussion of the great British land question, but 

 see how it affects the combination of the farmers 

 in their own interest. Now, I. think the Canadian 

 farmer has a better chance to combine, and will 

 almost be forced to do so, simply because the 



177 If 



