412 AN AGRICULTURAL PARTY 



less compromise, some give and take between those who are 

 asking for legislation. This is another point of which our opponents 

 are making the most. Are the Conservatives absolutely unanim- 

 ous on any one point ? Are the Liberals ? Are they even sure 

 they are Liberals or Radicals ? Are the Labour Party ? Are 

 the Irish Party ? Are the Teetotalers ? Are the Church Party ? 

 There is quite as much accord among agriculturists as there is 

 among any other section of the community ; but there is less 

 organisation. This is to be regretted, but it does not weaken our 

 case. The part of the industry that is organised must look after 

 the whole of it. If the greater part prefers to remain voiceless, 

 it may do so ; but it need not. There is no reason why every 

 individual should not take his part in helping to formulate the 

 desires of his industry ; and if it be said that the Chambers do 

 not voice the majority, or that they advocate matters which are 

 injurious to those not belonging to the Chambers, let those out- 

 side come in and alter that policy. The local Chambers are not 

 " pocket boroughs," and the Central Chamber is just what the 

 local Chambers make it. This want of unanimity is only another 

 bogey. 



No. 4. LABOURERS WILL NOT VOTE WITH THEIR 

 EMPLOYERS. 



This, on the face of it, would absolutely crush out any vestige 

 of hope that otherwise might have been entertained if it were 

 true ; but it is not. There are hundreds and thousands of labourers 

 that, at the present time, vote the same way as their employers. 

 If this were not so, how is it that L T nionist candidates for rural 

 divisions ever succeed in getting into Parliament, since the 

 majority of landowners and farmers have been on the Unionist 

 side, but have been vastly outnumbered by the labourers ever 

 since the last Reform Act ? If some of these labourers have voted 

 with their employers, I fail to see why they should not support 

 an agriculturist. I believe, on the contrary, that very many 

 labourers would support an agricultural candidate who would 

 not vote for a Unionist. That, of course, remains to be proved ; 

 but I unlike our opponents do not assert it as an incontro- 

 vertible fact. It is not unlikely, either, that many labourers 

 have got as tired of the election promises of both Liberal and 

 Conservative candidates as have many of their employers, and 

 would welcome a change. 



It was a labourer w r ho first made it clear to me that the interests 

 of the three sections were so largely identical. 



I also base my conclusions upon facts gathered during several 

 years spent in organising work among all classes of agriculturists 

 in nearly every county in England. Judging from that experience, 

 I am not surprised at Mr. Rider Haggard holding the opinions 

 he gave expression to in The Times last December. But Mr. 

 Haggard judges from his own experience in North Norfolk ; 

 and in that particular district I found the feeling of antipathy 



