60 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 







unnecessary chores (jobs), rendered inevitable by this extra- 

 ordinary system of separating management from ownership. 



The farm labourer has much in common with the famous 

 tramp who was willing to work for his breakfast, but went 

 without rather than pile the firewood on the other side of the 

 yard for no earthly benefit. Useless work strikes at the soul. 

 Every hour of every day that is happening on most of the farms 

 of England. And that leads naturally to the subject of cost 

 account. It may comfort you to know that only 10 per cent. 

 of American industry has any cost accounts. Competent 

 opinion added to my own unrivalled facilities for information 

 on this matter leads me to believe that in England there is 

 less than 5 per cent. In Germany it is 90 per cent. The para- 

 mount importance of cost accounts for the improvement of 

 farming as a business, combined with the fact that it is one 

 of few subjects not fogged by unsettled basic conditions, make 

 the matter one of present practical interest. The trouble in 

 the way of general application is the unfortunate fact that 

 farm cost accounts present great technical difficulties. As a 

 practical accountant, I do not believe that farmers will ever 

 master the subject, and probably would not be justified in 

 giving the time necessary to do so. Any accounts they are 

 likely to keep would fail to reveal so many factors, that the 

 accounts would mislead as often as they would correct his 

 judgment. 



My only hope lies in the recent development of machinery 

 which renders possible centralised accounting from simple 

 basis returns like time-cards, milk-weights and feed-tickets. 

 This is not the tune and place to discuss the technique, but 

 I expect to see its use in England despite the difficulty of cum- 

 bersome weights and measures. The real trouble will be to 

 induce farmers to make any returns, but that will probably 

 be less difficult than to educate them in the intricacies of cost 

 accounts. The choice is between a course that is psychologically 

 difficult and one which seems to me intrinsically impossible. 



The commercial side of farming, that is the buying and selling 

 of requirements and output, is of immediate practical impor- 

 tance, but here, again, a satisfactory solution is impossible, 

 until we have a more definite answer to my question " Who is 

 running the business ? " I will, however, present a few thoughts 

 applicable to the problem whether the answer is landlord or 

 farmer. 



If we turn to my' first table, the output in 1907 is shown 

 as 127,000,000, and the value of the farms in England and 

 Wales was apparently 700,000,000, and farmers' capital has 

 been estimated at 40 per cent, that of the landlords. But 

 placing the two together at 700,000,000 the relation of capital 



