THE SONS OF TOIL. 161 



" The influence of the parson is often for good, but some- 

 times he tries to domineer over every one. The schoolmaster 

 and parson are often in conflict. We are getting a better 

 and more manly type of parson to-day." 



" The Army brought the best out of the men and we do 

 not want to see them go back into the old rut." 



" Some people cling to the idea that anything will do for 

 the labourer, but the labourer in the future would look on 

 things differently." 



" Socialists had always neglected the rural problem." 



" An honest market is the one vital need of the small 

 grower." 



" The agitation in the Labour world is in the direction of 

 control by the industry concerned. The labourer wants to 

 feel that he has some control." 



" First give the labourer a decent wage, a good cottage, 

 and the chance of a brighter social life." 



" Trade Unionism would bring people together and 

 supplant suspicion by the fact of a common interest and 

 purpose, and I regret that farmers and landlords had generally 

 been opposed to labourers joining a Union. Another help 

 towards attaining a broader outlook is sport, and Trade 

 Unionism is responsible for establishing conditions which 

 afford the labourer an opportunity of taking part in sports. 

 The half-day holiday enables the labourer to come in contact 

 with others, and is a helpful agency in producing a better 

 type of worker." 



" In Scotland they were told 3 i8s. 6d. was a normal 

 week's wage for an agricultural labourer, and the farmers 

 were ready to pay it. Did that mean that in England they 

 are not such good farmers ? Something was wrong with their 

 business capacity if they were not able to pay equal wages." 



By Farmers. 



"It is stated that the wages of agricultural labourers 

 before the war were totally inadequate in comparison with 

 other workers. I admit this appears so on paper, but few 

 people are really aware of the very many advantages that 

 these men enjoyed, not possible in town life." 



M 



