The Labour Bill in Farmirtg. 
69 
bompetition, springing from a wholesome desire to distinguish 
fhemselves in what is by far the largest and most important of 
'lational industries. Then, too, there is no need for the farmer 
:o solicit custom. He produces articles in universal demand, 
for which he is sure to receive the market price, whether remu- 
herative or unremunerative, without going farther than the next 
inarket-town. He need not advertise, or employ agents to tout for 
iiim, or be at all anxious about the sale of his commodity, though 
ie may have great cause for anxiety about the price it fetches. He 
loes not stand beholden to any customers, or fear the loss of orders 
from this man or that ; nor has he to reckon from time to time 
upon possible sudden, capricious checks to demand, through 
changes in habit or taste, or through the competition of foreign 
manufactures in foreign markets. He is wholly independent of 
foreign markets, and is absolutely certain of a demand for all his 
iroduce at his own barn-door, without incurring the smallest 
)bligation to the buyer, or going cap in hand to anybody. 
There is another side to this picture, and it is a much less 
pleasant side. The farmer carries on his business under con- 
ditions which often render skill and industry wholly unavailing 
:o secure success. He deals with land which may be unthankful. 
He must face the seasons, over which he has no control. Crops, 
;o the growth of which he may have contributed all that good 
lusbandry and unceasing care require, may fail to fulfil their 
3arly promise. From year to year his land yields varying 
quantities, over which his toil and thought and outlay have little 
influence. Then his cattle and sheep sufTer from diseases which, 
of late years, have come to be far more fatal and frequent than 
they used to be, while he is equally powerless to prevent them. 
If, like most manufacturers, he were able to recoup himself for 
losses by raising prices — or if, like some other producers, he 
could combine to keep up prices — his position, economically, 
would be vastly improved. But a farmer's is a cosmopolitan 
trade. He does not feel that he has rivals in his neighbours, 
because farmers throughout pretty nearly the whole world are 
his rivals, and therefore the cereal produce of his parish, or even 
iOf his county, is not worth considering in its effect upon the 
price of his own produce. At present, indeed, he has to a large 
extent a monopoly in the supply of beef and mutton, though 
before many years are over we may be sure that science will 
find the means of cheapening this commodity by importing it in 
much larger quantities, and in a more palatable condition, from 
countries like Australia and South America. As to wheat, how- 
ever, which hitherto has been the staple crop of the British 
farmer, he must measure himself against producers in countries 
where taxation is light, where the seasons are favourable, where the 
