Some Present-Da}) Policies. 41 



community, but in the long- run this policy would over- 

 reach itself and break down. But it is too much to expect 

 success in such an offensive against the community. It 

 would fail and it would deserve to fail. The power of the 

 workers to maintain a standard of living in any capitalist 

 industry depends in the long run on the output per person 

 employed in the industry, and no policy which does not 

 secure a steady improvement in the productive power of 

 those eng-aged in the industry can offer any hope of a 

 progressive improvement to the wage-earners. 



Security of Tenure. 



There has been a revival in recent years of the demand 

 for security of tenure by farmers and for judicial rents. 

 That demand is always keenest when the industry is 

 prosperous and good profits are being made. The enter- 

 prising farmers know the danger of rents being raised 

 ag-ainst them, and are afraid to plan a course of 

 cultivation, the fruits of which they have no security of 

 reaping. That the danger is a real one has been recognised 

 by the compensation clauses of the Ag-ricultural Holdings 

 Acts, and by the Agriculture Act, 1920. These provide 

 compensation to a way-going tenant for certain scheduled 

 improvements, and additional compensation is now pro- 

 vided for unreasonable disturbance. But these provisions 

 do not wholly protect the really good farmers. They claim 

 that there is no provision to secure to them the full value 

 of continuous g^ood farming, and no practical scheme has 

 yet been devised which will give adequate compensation 

 for the cumulative fertility arising from their expenditure 

 and skill. All the legislative devices so far fall short of 



