Miscellaneous. 



332 



[October, 1910. 



is available for it, and for the plants 

 growing in it. Agricultural research 

 shows it to be increasingly probable 

 that, until those limits are reached, the 

 growth of the knowledge gained in the 

 laboratory and the experiment plot, and 

 the advance in the skill Avith which the 

 land is worked, will tend by themselves, 

 to bring the cost of production on so- 

 called worn-out soils down to the level 

 of that on soils of greater fertility. 

 Thus the time may be reached when the 

 grains will be the same, whether the 

 labour is being employed for inferior 

 soils or for those which are superior, and 

 the return from the capital used will be 

 as great, near the ultimate point at 

 which it can be invested usefully, as it 

 is when it consists virtually of labour 

 alone, applied to newly cultivated soils. 



These considerations have reduced the 

 question of the best use of the soil to 

 one of labour, and the problem for the 

 agriculturist; will be to find the way in 

 which he can employ most profitably, 

 both from his own point of view and 

 that of the labourer, the sources that are 

 at his disposal. This problem will in- 

 clude the task of discovering the means 

 by which he may be enabled to have a 

 constant supply of efficient labour 

 at his command ; it will be readily 

 understood that by 'labour' is not 

 meant field labour, alone, but all 

 the means for the provision of such 

 human energy as is not employed solely 

 in a directive and administrative capa- 

 city. 



The question of the supply of labour 

 is not, however, merely one of the 

 future, as the outcome of the conditions 

 that have just been described. It is a 

 matter of the present, in many regions 

 of the world, including parts of the 

 West Indies. It is evident that one of 

 the chief causes that may operate in the 

 production of a shortage of labourers, 

 is the creation of conditions, in another 

 country, such that high wages are offer- 

 ed, in order to attract the worker, with 

 the result that he yields to the tempt- 

 ation to make a test of the apparently 

 better conditions in the new country. 

 He cannot be expected to realise that 

 the receipt of higher wages does not 

 necessarily bring about an increase in 

 comfort and material prosperity, and 

 he does not recognise, while still in his 

 native country, the value of the many 

 ameliorating circumstances that enter 

 into his daily life there, the shariug of 

 which is not dependent on the posses- 



sion of money. In making these state- 

 ments the value of emigration to a place 

 where wages are higher, which arises 

 from the opportunity to remit sums 

 of money to those who are left behind, 

 is not ignored. It is evident, however, 

 that such emigration has a limit of use- 

 fulness in this direction, and that its 

 interference with the provision of an 

 adequate labour-supply may result in 

 making conditions less favourable in the 

 country which the emigrant has left. 



In considering what steps should be 

 taken in order that a constant supply 

 of adequate labour may be ensured, 

 where there are signs that this might 

 become no longer available, assistance 

 will be gained from a proper civilisation 

 of the obvious fact that the labourer 

 works solely in order that he may pro- 

 vide himself, and those who are depen- 

 dent on him, with the means to live, 

 together with as many luxuries as he 

 can command. As time passes, the evi- 

 dence of any sentiment of attachment to 

 a particular employer or place is quickly 

 becoming smaller. These conditions 

 make it natural that the supply of 

 labour should move in those directions 

 where it appears that the greatest prices 

 will be paid for it. This is no longer a 

 local condition, for as has been consider- 

 ed abeady, it leads to emigration, and 

 that the more easily, as means of trans- 

 port are increased and made cheaper. 

 The fact of practical value immediately 

 suggested by this is that, if this un- 

 steadiness of labour supply is to be 

 remedied, it must be made worth the 

 labourer's while to remain where he is 

 being employed ; an appeal must be 

 made to him through the provision of 

 additions to his welfare ; he must be 

 convinced by a material argument which 

 he is able to appreciate. 



The way in which this argument may 

 be provided is a matter for trial, and 

 the applications of the suggestion arising 

 after experience. It will vary in diffe- 

 rent places, and will require modific- 

 ation as conditions change with time. 

 Efforts toward its discovery are being 

 made already ; one of these, namely, the 

 scheme of giving bonuses for permanent 

 labourers, adopted at the Antigua Sugar 

 Factory, was described shortly in the 

 last number of the Agricultural News, 

 and it is of interest that this has proved 

 itself worthy of extension. Such endea- 

 vours should result in adding the value 

 of permanency to that of the presence 

 of labour, and, as regards the labourer, 

 should enhance the sense of the value 

 of his continuous work and of his self- 

 respect. 



