OTHER DRAWBACKS 253 



children, it will not be long before a state of things 

 is reached analagous to that found in certain parts of 

 Italy, where 25 per cent, of the peasants have ' properties ' 

 of less than J acre each. Should he leave all to one 

 son, the other members of the family may feel aggrieved, 

 while if the son who inherits is required to contribute to 

 the maintenance of other members of the family, there 

 is created a rent-charge which, with the special moral 

 obligations involved, might become much more burden- 

 some than ordinary rent, especially in times of depres- 

 sion. Alternatively, any general letting of properties so 

 inherited would bring into existence a body of small 

 landlords, who would probably be found far worse than 

 the large landlords they succeeded. 



The small holder who is content to hire rather than 

 buy thus avoids what Dr. Lavergne describes as ' that 

 turning aside of capital from the cultivation of land to 

 its purchase, which is one of the chief vices of our 

 French rural economy.' Whatever money he possesses 

 he can keep as working capital ; he has less need to 

 borrow, and then to sorrow ; he is more free to improve 

 his position as opportunity occurs, and he avoids possible 

 family discords and complications. 



These considerations should almost suffice in them- 

 selves to show that, while the drawbacks of peasant 

 proprietary may have to be tolerated as best they can in 

 France and other countries where they are the growth 

 of generations, one may well pause before doing any- 

 thing to create deliberately such a system in Great 

 Britain. 



I would, however, also point out that the tenant has 

 this further advantage over the would-be small pur- 

 chaser : that sympathetic land-owners, who care more 

 for the social advantages or for the opportunities for 

 sport they derive from their estates than from any 



