48 POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTS 



expected that the farming will be intensified and a 

 larger number of men employed upon the same area. 

 This will add to the total earnings without increasing 

 the capital, management, rent and other of the out- 

 goings in the same proportion, thus raising the divisible 

 profits of the enterprise. 



The advantages of such a scheme of industrialized 

 farming, other than the possible profits to the capitalist, 

 are twofold. In the first place it is necessary to raise 

 the wages of the agricultural labourer. Except in 

 certain districts he is the worst paid workman in the 

 country. His numbers and quality have been steadily 

 declining through emigration and the competition of 

 better paid industries, until in many districts only a 

 residuum of partially capable or inefficient men are 

 being left upon the land. This transference to other 

 occupations is likely to be accelerated by the war ; men 

 who have enlisted and have thus experienced higher 

 rates of pay, who have also once been uprooted and 

 violently disturbed in their routine of life, will at least 

 make an effort not to go back to the old conditions. 

 Higher wages means that the labourer must receive a 

 greater share of the returns derived from farming, and 

 this becomes possible upon the industrialized farm by 

 the fact that a given area of land has not to carry so 

 many masters and admits of other economies in work- 

 ing. Whether the agricultural labourer can ever be paid 

 wages equivalent to those prevailing in other industries 

 for men of no greater skill must depend on the extent to 

 which the labourer can be rendered more efficient and 

 capable of a larger output. This is most likely to occur 

 on a large farm where organization, contract work, 

 and the use of machinery can be given full play. 



