Small Holdings 



another a labourer's son, and so on, to a remark- 

 able extent. Providing they can obtain a few 

 acres to begin with they feel secure, for if a man 

 is industrious and honest he can get credit for 

 any reasonable amount. He must find cash for 

 labour, but the seed merchant, the potato mer- 

 chant, and the manure merchant will trust him 

 until his harvest is gathered. As a class he justifies 

 their trust, he is admittedly honest, and if he is 

 reasonably industrious he is sure to get on and 

 pay his way. 



In these fertile Fens may be seen the process 

 whereby England prospered in the second and 

 third decades of the last century, when every- 

 where men began business with small capital, 

 rising to prosperity. Commerce has now entered 

 upon another phase. The man with little capital, 

 however honest, however industrious, cannot 

 thrive, to the dismay of our thinkers, who deplore 

 the vanishing independence of the nation. Let 

 them come to the Fens, and they will discover 

 a nest of prosperous conservative individuals, 

 fiercely independent, bowing to none, calling 

 no man master, thinking and saying what they 

 please. This is because the soil is good, and will 

 respond infinitely to the demands made upon it. 

 Where the soil is poor the small man is in diffi- 

 culty. He must either enrich his plot, a laborious 



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