ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS 97 



as an investment. They give him little more than 

 opportunity to earn a livelihood as a workman. That 

 is, he receives no " rent," as that term is used in politi- 

 cal economy, and little return for capital. The farmer 

 is at once landlord, capitalist and workman. As land 

 lord he owns his land surface. As capitalist he ow^s 

 his buildings, his stock, his implements, and the tilth 

 in which he keeps his land all that the farmer iii 

 Britain provides, who pays rent for his land-area to 

 the landlord. As workman he fulfils a double func- 

 tion, he is manager of a business and manual laborer. 

 As landlord he is entitled to fair rent as trustee for his 

 land so far as rent does not include unearned special 

 privilege. As capitalist he has the right to the usual 

 reward of capital and the reward of capital, when 

 its risks also are kept in view, should be fairly equal 

 in all lines of employment. As a workman he is 

 entitled to the wages of labor and of management. The 

 first charge to be paid out of any business is labor's 

 wage, then the wage of superintendence; next comes 

 capital's portion with its two shares, the first for main- 

 tenance, the second for interest; and last of all, the 

 portion for rent. Now, in many cases the whole income 

 of the farmer is sufficient only for wages of labor and 

 management, with nothing left as return for the invest- 

 ment of capitalist and landlord. Some fifteen years ago 

 Mr. Robert Sellar, the able editor of the Huntingdon 

 Gleaner, made a series of first-hand investigations into 

 the investment and income of farmers in the counties 

 of Chateauguay and Huntingdon, Quebec, and showed 

 conclusively that many received no return, not only as 

 " economic rent," but even for capital invested in equip- 

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