CorCREftOl 
mmM' 
caes®'!! 
YORK- 
For Winter Concrete Construction 
ATLAS Cement can be used successfully for indoor concrete construction 
tasv SnH A par,icularl y r hen there ^ is littIe ° ther work to keep 
creteOn S Th, p * C ° UP °J\,¥ OW to ou r <f^> nearest office for our bo 
Crete On The Farm and Concrete on the Farm in 
■which tell what and how to ?.*£. ?™°i d o 
Milk Cooling Tanks 
Now is the time to build 
your indoor cooler. Then 
when warm weather over¬ 
takes you, it will be ready 
to keep milk cool and 
sweet. The protection af¬ 
forded against loss will save 
many times the cost of the 
few bags of ATLAS re¬ 
quired. Build now—in spare 
time. 
Cattle Feeding Alleys 
Built with ATLAS Cement 
they not only prevent food 
waste but permit cleaner, 
weight-producing food con¬ 
sumption. Easily kept clean 
and sanitary—and are per¬ 
manent. 
Another suggestion ; ~ con¬ 
crete your cellar floor this 
winter. Make it warmer in 
winter, cooler in summer 
and dry always. 
/WET WT. 94 LBS, 
Alt-M eift mctohV 
"The Standard by which all other makes are measured J 
Atlas Portland Cement Comp 
Boston Philadelphia Birmingham Dayton Des Maine* Sr. T o..;. r 
NEW YORK 
PORTLAND W 
7bt 
A Primer of Economics 
By John J. Dillon 
Part XLV 
RURAL. NEW-YORKER October S, 1021 
obtained greater degree of freedom. Pros- a keener sense of civic responsibility than, 
perous villeins became farmers. Poorer the ownership of a home or a farm, 
villeins and cottars were employed by the Nations and empires have built cities, 
lords, and the wage system developed as and grown rich in commerce and trade! 
AX AXCIEXT INSTITUTION 
Private property in land is. we now 
know, a much older English institution 
than we formerly supposed. English 
records speak of Boc-land and Folk-land. 
The former is the land in which the 
owner had a written or book record. The 
old authorities interpreted Folk-land to 
mean all lands held by all people in com¬ 
mon. About 35 years ago Dr. Vino- 
gradorff proved that this explanation was 
an error, and that Folk-lands meant lands 
that were held by individuals under com¬ 
mon law and custom, without written or 
hook authority. This being by far the 
largest portion, it was formerly thought 
that the people held the greater part of 
the land in common, hut it is now known 
that this land was largely held in a loose 
way. but under general custom as private 
property. At the same time the public 
ownership of some land has been a cus¬ 
tom of all countries. It prevails to some 
extent with us. and yet in England. 
Society as a whole has consented to pri¬ 
vate ownership, hut the original right of 
the people to all land in common is con¬ 
ceded whenever society is authorized to 
grant private rights to some of it. 
England was highly prosperous under 
the Romans in the early centuries. They 
built roads, bridges and aqueducts, and 
buildings both public and private, and 
developed mines and agriculture. After 
the Romans left, in the early part of the 
fifth century, improvements and in¬ 
dustries rapidly declined. The people had 
lands a-plenty. It was their homes 
their cattle and products, and their lives 
and freedom that concerned them. They 
were beset by marauding bands at home 
and by pirates and invaders from abroad 
Some crude form of organization was 
necessary for mutual protection against 
their enemies and rivals. They handed 
themselves together, just as the early 
American settlers did, to protect them 
selves from the Indians, and not much 
different in principle from the way wt 
now organize to protect ourselves in the 
marts of trade. The chief or king of the 
tribe or clan planned protection for the 
humbler members, and they reciprocated 
in personal service. There were clashes 
between tribes, and the strongest leader 
dominated the.weaker ones. Then, «s 
now. the leaders developed their own 
favorites by gratuities at the expense of 
the others, and these became the nobles, 
and freemen. When the rulers success¬ 
fully invaded other territory the conquered 
lands were given in part to these favoi 
ites. and the conquered people were heldl 
as serfs to cultivate the land. There 
seems also to have been a middle class 
who were permitted to occupy the land 
and pay tribute to the chief and nobles.| 
A portion of the conquered lands were re¬ 
tained by the chief and worked by serfs| 
or laborers in bondage. Between indi¬ 
viduals as between tribes might was the I 
recognized authority. Under this system! 
landlordism developed in the time of the 
Saxon kings, and the foundation of the| 
manorial system was laid. It seems, iu| 
fact, that the manorial system was noth¬ 
ing more than the natural development! 
of the rude conditions preceding it, as 
might he expected with the growth of 
population, the creation of towns and| 
villages and the development of trades. 
THE MANORIAL SYSTEM 
The manor was a large area, which] 
was in large part owned outright by the 
“lord of the manor.” The other por¬ 
tions of the area were subject to rents 
and tribute, which in the early days were| 
paid in produce and service. Later they 
were paid in service and money, and at.| 
a still later period in money alone. 
At the time of the Norman Conquest! 
in 1066 agriculture in England was car¬ 
ried on in the open field and village sys-| 
tern. The land was laid out in long nar¬ 
row strips divided into three portions, 
which were cultivated under the rotation 
system. The individual allotment was 30 
acres of cultivated lands, two to three 
acres of pasturage and a house. The 
cultivator did not live on the cultivated 
land. lie had a house in the village 
which was a part of his holding. These 
cultivators were called tenants in villein¬ 
age. The tenant was a villein. lie went 
with the land. If he left the manor he 
was pursued and brought back. He was 
subject to the master. lie rendered the 
service demanded. lie did not know at. 
nightfall what he was to do on the mor¬ 
row, and he paid what was demanded of 
him. He was not a slave, as we under¬ 
stand the term. There were “free ten¬ 
ants above him, and serfs and cottars 
below him, who were little better than 
bondsmen. Slaves formed nine per cent 
of the population at the time of the con¬ 
quest. 
Under the feudal system following the 
Norman Conquest the lord cultivated his 
personal reservations of land by serfs,or 
slaves or rented it free to tenants. Grad¬ 
ually the personal service and payments 
ill produce were abandoned, and payments 
made entirely in money. Villeins paid 
more and became free tenants. Occasion¬ 
ally a crusty lord would try to enforce the 
old rules, and protests were made. Even 
uprisings occurred. After these protests 
and uprisings concessions were made and 
customs developed that came to have the 
force of law. The villein tenant acquired 
a certain right in the land. Finally 
slavery began to disappear, and tenants 
the feudal system declined and finally 
disappeared. 
It is evident that from all this private 
property in land developed naturally with 
out any fixed or premeditated economic 
policy. The original owners were driven 
from their land by marauders, or held 
on it as chattels by invaders and con- 
querers. The lord appropriated the man¬ 
or lands, and exacted service and revenue 
from the enslaved tenants. Yet in time 
natural laws again asserted their authori¬ 
ty, and the villein became the farmer 
and the owner of his own land. Large 
landed estates were again created through 
pillage and conquest and royal grants, 
hut natural laws are now again assert¬ 
ing their power, and even in England and 
Ireland the small farmer owner is re¬ 
placing the landlord. 
It is no doubt possible to develop a 
better system than the private owner¬ 
ship of land, hut the system, while fa>• 
from perfect, seems to have developed 
naturally from the manorial and feudal 
system. Given the condition now that 
all land he owned and held in common, 
without the embarrassment of title or 
ownership in any of it by individuals, 
or groups, it is quite possible that a com¬ 
mission could work out a plan that would 
serve us all better than the one we 
have; hut as far as our experience goes 
there is nothing that better stimulates 
enterprise or better inspires intellectual 
and social improvement or that awakens 
In mass they have flourished and then de¬ 
cayed. A nation of small freeholders 
may build less extravagantly and with 
less show of display; but their modest 
homes and temples arc the promise of 
enduring civilization. 
PEX ATT*HE I > P1SOPKFIT Y 
In this country and in the civilized 
world generally property in human beings 
no longer exists. The only wonder now is 
that it. ever could have existed in a soci¬ 
ety assumed to be founded on justice and 
inspired with a love of humanity. In 
other countries there are yet forms «f 
property in trusts or grants and in in¬ 
herited jurisdictions which go with the 
land- We are comparatively free from 
tliis form of property, which in no case 
should exist; but we have property in the 
legal rights and privileges in the members 
in various exchanges throughout the 
country, and no grant or monopoly in the 
old world ever conferred on royal favor¬ 
ites a more efficient means of collecting 
tribute from the masses than this modern 
American institution bestows on its mem¬ 
bers to beguile the innocent or gullible 
and to swindle monopoly’s helpless vic¬ 
tims. 
Motorist (after hitting pedestrian) : 
"You were trying to cross the middle <>f 
the block.” Pedestrian: “What difference 
does that make? If I cross at the corner 
you will knock me into the middle of the 
block, and we might just as well bej 
there.”—Toronto Farmers’ Sun. 
in 
The Atlas Portland Cement Company 
(Address the Atlas Office nearest you) 
Ptease send me a copy of “Concrete On The Farm” and “Con- 
Crete On The Farm jn Cold Weather”without cost or obligation, 
Name . . 
Address 
