THE WORKER'S SHARE IN AGRICULTURE. 151 



are given in the Report of the Wages Board Committee already 

 mentioned. 



It must be admitted that, up to the date of the Board of 

 Trade Report, the history of profit-sharing schemes in agricul- 

 ture had not been very encouraging, for it was recorded that 

 out of eighteen schemes which had been started, twelve had been 

 abandoned. But as the man who never makes a mistake never 

 makes anything, so failure to succeed is no evidence that success 

 is unattainable. The fact that six schemes had succeeded, or, 

 at any rate, survived and I believe there are now others 

 shows that the problem is not insoluble. 



I admit that if we accept the view that there are not now, and 

 never again will be, any profits in farming, a discussion of methods 

 of sharing them is waste of time. But I submit that, if only 

 for the sake of argument, we must assume that farming in this 

 country will be carried on, and as no industry can long be carried 

 on without profits, the discussion is not quite futile. If there 

 is any truth in the remarks which I made at the outset, we shall 

 not get much help in the times in which we now live by quoting 

 precedents from the Victorian era. The point to be established 

 is that it is desirable that the workers should have a definite 

 share in the financial results of their labour, and that the induce- 

 ment to them to use their best efforts should not be merely the 

 fear of losing their job. If this principle is right in itself, and if 

 its adoption in Agriculture will strengthen the bonds which should 

 unite those engaged in the same calling, emphasise their common 

 interest, and increase the production of the land, I cannot believe 

 that the wit of man is incapable of devising a practical means of 

 applying it. 



At the beginning of these remarks I referred to the fact that 

 it is not infrequent for a farmer to take counsel with the more 

 experienced of his labourers, in regard to the operations of the 

 farm, and thus to invite him in a limited degree to take a share 

 in the management. A tendency is also becoming prominent 

 among the workers in other industries to claim a definite share 

 in the control of the business in which they are employed. This 

 is quite distinct from a claim to a share in the management, 

 which may be given under a profit-sharing or co-partnership 

 scheme, in respect of capital invested in the undertaking. The 

 claim is made by wage-earners as wage-earners. 



It has been expressed by a prominent Labour leader in these 

 words : " We invest our lives in these mines, which is of greater 

 importance than the capital of the employer, and to that extent 

 have a right to say as to what the conditions shall be, not merely 

 the working conditions, but we are entitled to have some in- 

 formation on the commercial side of the thing also." Of course, 

 it may be said that farming is not mining, and that the condi- 



