THE STATE AS FARMER 23 



would require a Dickens to do justice to the 

 humours of the present system. The original 

 and deep cogitation required to decide upon 

 a policy : the subsequent battle of wit and 

 resolution against dullness and guile in the 

 various fairs and markets : the pathos of six 

 months' keep and prices at the end the same 

 as at the beginning : a war or some such 

 trouble to save the few at the deadly cost of 

 the rest of the inhabitants ! So has the round 

 been going without relief or gleam of light. 

 The show has added its misleading glory to 

 this weak, aimless, ignorant work. How can 

 a show tell us the truth about any of the facts 

 we want to know ? Or attend a sale, and you 

 will find that prices depend as much upon 

 the number of buyers, and the time their 

 trains start for home, as upon the weight 

 and quality of the lots. Some items must 

 reach the hammer first of course ; but that 

 is just the evil, and it is intolerable that a 

 farmer's long care and assiduity should result 

 in a mere chance or toss-up when it comes to 

 the cash return he needs for all his labour. 

 And the system is a roundabout and mislead- 

 ing means of arriving at quality at all. This 



