VILLAGE POLITICS 109 



acquiesce in the political lead of a landowner, 

 however stupid and selfish he might be, ceases 

 to be operative when the old-time owners of 

 the soil are replaced by wealthy merchants 

 and stockbrokers. The coveted title of 

 " squire " may be secured by a person who 

 runs an estate on the proceeds of beer or 

 umbrella frames, but the glory has departed 

 from the word in the minds of the rustics 

 whose rural lineage is not, like his own, 

 superficial and make-believe. 



The possession of greater wealth is another 

 important asset of rural Conservatism. In 

 some parts of the country a candidate who is 

 poor suffers in comparison with his opponent, 

 not merely because he is less likely to subscribe 

 liberally to local funds, but simply by reason 

 of his comparative poverty. I have known 

 it thrown in the teeth of a candidate by 

 labourers living on 12/- to 13/- a week that 

 he rode to the meeting on a bicycle (in con- 

 trast to his opponent's motor-car). Another 

 hard-working candidate was assailed by the 

 cry that he was "too poor to marry and lived 

 in a small house." In an eastern county 

 a labourer remarked to a young, cultivated, 

 well-born politician of very limited means 

 who had given him a tip, " Lor,' sir, you ought 

 to have been a gentleman." 



