THE AGRARIAN REFORM OF 1903. 151 



it would not in that case have been possible 

 to effect sales at from 2s. to 8s. reduction in 

 rent. Probably the rush to purchase on the 

 part of the tenants would then have been less 

 than it is. There is only the question whether 

 this might not have been the more desirable 

 result. In Ireland, the magic of property consists 

 in the fact that it is cheaper by 25 per cent, to 

 get it than not to get it. It is not the acquisition 

 of property but the refusal of it that is associated 

 with sacrifices. There are therefore a number 

 of individuals who are forced into peasant 

 proprietorship, a way of life in which they 

 cannot get on, because they do not possess 

 and cannot possess the qualifications, material 

 or moral, which would fit them for it. The State 

 will lose nothing by them, for their holdings are 

 security for the advances. It is, however, a 

 thoughtless application of the credit of the State 

 when those who ought to benefit by it have to 

 end in the bankruptcy court. Already under the 

 Ashbourne Act cases of this unfittedness came to 

 light not very unfrequently.^ Under the Wyndham 

 Act, they will naturally be far more numerous. 



The Irish tenant often has not sufficient capital 

 to work his holding. The reduction in his rent 

 will, indeed, make it easier for him to obtain 

 working capital, especially as we have seen that 

 the legislation which gave him a part owner- 

 ship in his farm has facilitated this object, and 



^ Bailey's Report, pp. 8-1 1. 



