AGEICULTURE ON THE RHINE. 91 



tind to value the corn delivered and the ineal re- 

 ceived in money, to make all waste apparent, and to 

 suggest the requisite means of economy. Were the 

 forests and grazing commons treated in the same manner 

 a like result would take place. The invaluable con- 

 trol retained by the villagers over their miller, of dis- 

 placing him for misconduct, would secure their meal from 

 the adulteration of which the inhabitants of towns so 

 justly complain. We cannot help thinking that a ju- 

 dicious development of this German village system would 

 secure to the people many of the advantages which they 

 hope, by what are galled socialist or communist unions, 

 to attain, without exposing them to the dangers which 

 these innovations threaten. Food of all kinds and cloth- 

 ing cheap and good might be secured by village shops,, 

 or by the establishment of district magazines, on a plan 

 like that of the A[)othecaries' halls that are now found 

 in all German towns under the inspection of the govern- 

 ment. The adulteration of colonial wares, that is noto- 

 rious, forms as heavy a drain on the health as the over- 

 charge for retailing in small portions does upon the purses 

 of the great mass of the people in all countries. Their 

 resources might everywhere be made to go much further 

 than they now can. To secure these advantages no. 

 revolution in political or religious institutions is requi- 

 site. A far more searching change in public opinion is,, 

 however, indispensable — the recognition of the fact that 

 the cheapness of necessaries is a private as well as a 

 public benefit. 



Like the moral side of the village system, the material 

 aspect and arrangements of the village itself, its houses,, 

 its roads, its public and corporation edifices, have twQ/ 



