26 LANDLORD AND TENANT 



countries where peasant proprietorship prevails of agricul- 

 tural co-operative societies for the combined purchase and 

 sale of produce. Such co-operation is suitable for any 

 country where democratic ideas prevail, and where a sense 

 of freedom and independence are valued beyond many of the 

 material goods of life ; but the co-operative ideal can only 

 be successfully translated into practice when a certain stage 

 of education and of social and political development has 

 been reached. In my opinion India has not yet reached 

 that stage ; and co-operation can have but little effect in 

 the improvement of agriculture in India. 



The alternative unit of organization is the landlord's 

 estate. Here there should be a spirit of co-operation 

 between landlord and tenant, the landlord being the guide, 

 philosopher and friend of his tenants ; but also their master. 

 No industrial concern can be successfully managed unless 

 discipline be enforced. If a landlord's estate is to be 

 managed to the greatest economic advantage of the country, 

 a certain measure of discipline must be enforced on the 

 estate. No tenant should be at liberty by his carelessness, 

 ignorance or negligence in cultivation to exhaust the soil, 

 or to damage the crops of neighbouring tenants, as when he 

 neglects to clear his land of weeds, or drains his tiolds into 

 those of his neighbor, or lets his cattle stray For the 

 prevention of contagious diseases amongst animals, for 

 economy of fuel and manure, there are certain rules of 

 estate management, the observance of which should be 

 insisted on by all good landlords. We may rightly see in 

 the landlord who exercises his agricultural function an 

 omployor of labor who, instead of engaging a large number 

 of laborers directly under his control, hires out the use of 

 his land, improved with a certain amount of his capital, 

 under certain conditions which will ensure the working of 

 the whole estate to the mutual advantage of the landlord 



