INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. 349 



man in their purchases of raw produce as 

 soon as misery is no obstacle to the association. 

 Belgium, and especially Switzerland, could also 

 be quoted for similar illustrations, but the 

 above will be enough to give a general idea of 

 the importance, the vital powers, and the per- 

 fectibility of the rural industries. 



Conclusions. 



The facts which we have briefly passed in 

 review show, to some extent, the benefits 

 which could be derived from a combination of 

 agriculture with industry, if the latter could 

 come to the village, not in its present shape of 

 a capitalist factory, but in the shape of a 

 socially organised industrial production, with 

 the full aid of machinery and technical know- 

 ledge. In fact, the most prominent feature of 

 the petty trades is that a relative well-being 

 is found only where they are combined with 

 agriculture : where the workers have remained 

 in possession of the soil and continue to cul- 

 tivate it. Even amidst the weavers of France 

 or Moscow, who have to reckon with the com- 

 petition of the factory, relative well-being pre- 

 vails so long as they are not compelled to part 

 with the soil. On the contrary, as soon as 

 high taxation or the impoverishment during a 



