54 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



in mind is that, at the present stage, it is much better 

 for farmers to combine for industrial purposes than for 

 pohtical ; combine industrially, and political power (and 

 I am all in favour of seeing a certain number of farmer 

 M.P.s) will come as a consequence. But to combine 

 politically in the first instance is to pursue a shadow and 

 miss the substance. 



The new machinery set up by the Government (the 

 County Agricultural Committees, etc.) concerns itself 

 directly with the industry and is not, or should not be, 

 political. Therefore agriculturists should make every 

 effort to capture this administrative machinery, and 

 reduce the official element to the minimum. The 

 farmer of the future will, I am sure, have to give more of 

 his time to public or semi-public work than he did in 

 the past. The Miller of the Dee attitude, " I care for 

 nobody and nobody cares for me," is no longer possible. 

 The large farmer will have to think more about the 

 interests of his smaller brethren than he has done hereto- 

 fore. And if collective buying and selling, and access to 

 credit for short-period loans, are vital to the small 

 farmer, then the large farmer will have to throw himself 

 heart and soul into the movement. And in these days 

 of combines, when it is impossible to say that a ring in 

 this or that important commodity will not be made, the 

 large farmer will in the long run find this to be to his 

 own advantage. 



Another point is that many of our smaller farmers 

 are not good business men ; buying and selling has 

 been reduced to a fine art by the dealer, and the properly 

 run co-operative society can undertake all that side for 

 the man who may be a good cultivator but not a good 

 business man. By a properly run society is meant one 

 which is run on sound business lines, and has a well- 



