AGRICULTURAL DRA>L\TIS PERSON.E 61 



labouring man that at last the Government do reaUze 

 that it is ploughhind that employs the largest amount of 

 labour. This is a very important point and it is 

 clearly understood by the labourers themselves ; and 

 there is no doubt that they resent the laying down of 

 land to grass, for they know that it is taking away their 

 occupation. 



But the point that labour does not yet fully understand 

 is — that no possible legislation on the part of any Govern- 

 ment can prevent the farmer laying down land to grass, 

 if his only alternative is to retain it under the plough at 

 a financial loss, or with an wholly inadequate return upon 

 his outlay. 



A Government can take measures to tune up the 

 indifferent farmer, and in this it should have the whole- 

 hearted support of labour ; it can further secure the 

 good farmer against loss in growing crops on arable 

 land, which it is to the nation's interest to have grown ; 

 and by insuring the farmer against loss the Government 

 gains a right to see that the farmer pays his labourer an 

 adequate wage. All that is a workable equation ; and 

 no one should understand more clearly than the labourer 

 the basic principle that the farmer cannot go on producing 

 food, cultivating the land, and so employing labour, 

 at a loss. 



And that is the reason why the labourer should support 

 the farmer's demand for a fair price for his produce. 



But nothing that a Government can do will enable 

 the farmer to farm against bad labour, or an in- 

 adequate output per man. That is the bed-rock of 

 the problem ; whether a fair proportion of the land 

 is to be under the plough, or whether there is to be 

 a wholesale laying down to grass, rests largely with 

 the labourers themselves to say. There is so much 



