THE STORY OF THE 



AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



CHAPTER I. 

 HISTORICAL. 



MAN has been described as a " clubbable " animal, though 

 it is not certain that he has an exclusive right to the adjec- 

 tive. It would be easy to contend that rooks, at any rate, 

 are clubbable and that the kind of institution most in 

 vogue with them is a discussion club. Bees also, though 

 they are mostly regarded as factory-workers 



"Creatures that by a rule in nature teach 

 The act of order to a peopled kingdom " 



might also claim to be clubbable, while, if the Jungle Book 

 may be taken as an authority, it would be difficult to deny 

 the clubbable instinct in monkeys and wolves. 



Whether it was in response to the sub-conscious prompting 

 of inherited instinct, or no, the fact to be recorded here is 

 that no sooner had a body of men and women been officially 

 brought together to form the Agricultural Wages Board 

 than they immediately proceeded to form an unofficial 

 Club. It is safe to add that all of them obtained more 

 personal satisfaction from the unofficial body than from the 

 official one, which is perhaps another way of saying that 

 occupations which are optional are more attractive than 

 those which are obligatory. 



The Agricultural Wages Board set up under the Corn 

 Production Act consisted of thirty-nine persons, of whom 

 sixteen were representatives of farmers, sixteen representa- 



1 B 



