THE AGRICULTURISTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 96, 17 January 1919, Page 8

THE AGRICULTURISTS

? VALUE OF ORGANISATION SOME WORDS ON STATE CONTROL. • In -an • address before the Farmers' Club, Loudon, Mr. Leslie Scott, K.C., M.P., on the subject of "Agricultural: Organisation," said that the war. had' learnt them that production agriculture was essential to the security and. possibly, the existence, of the country. The State from henceforth would regard itself as having a direct interest ' in"agriculture',', and "whether"they 'liked it or not, farmers would never again get the'complete freedom they had.be- ' fore, the war. ' Stato control in some measure had come to stay. "Whether ' the kind and degree .of that: control: will be tolerable or intolerable-will de'.pend on the farmers themselves. To •jmake it tolerable two things are neccs.'sary. ■ First, that they should produce : the amount of food tho uation wants,

of the kind it wants, at the price it

■ wants. Second, that they should eoni- \ 'bine together in an organisation which . will bo strong enough to ensure that .thej r are treated with justice, and that the politician does not i lake impossible demands upon them. Prices have been regulated. during the war, and price regulation in a cJcmocracy .is a little bit like the drug br.Hi.—it, is apt to grow on people. Excessive

State control,'then, is one of the chief dangers'which the industry must ex/pect and take means.to avert: I.eadof commerce and. industry have' discovered the possibilities of good .'business both in farming and in farm products. Farmers, if they :.re not care-

ful, may. find their-birthright taken from them. Capitalists are investing

.money in. farming: because tl-cv fee that money is to be made by farn.ing on big'lines; in other '.vords, by organisation. The small shopkeeper, has in many trades' been suppuuitcd by the large'multiple shop. Multiple farming lias begun in this country on the same lines. A 'commercial company appoints a skilled manager end •runs as one concern a imm' , igr of separate farms, on each of which there was once an independent' farmer, who is now just a foreman. Sir Daniel Mali has made us familiar with the. idea.

.of:the very large 5000-acro farm. Of I 'commercial farms' of the sort it is well that wo should have a fcw. It is.one way whereby the farming of this country can be made more efficient. If it were the only way, economic pressure might force us to adopt it generally. Butjthe'-drawback' of it,is that the nation, would Jose its race, of mdepend-* ent farmers, who stand for so much that is strong and good in the li"»re of our national character. And it is not

the only way. lam convinced- that by organisation on co-operatirovlincs— i.e., through agricultural .'./l-opericive societies, most of the -'advantages 'of the large commercial farm'c-im'be at-

tained without sacrificing : the", independent farmer." IK regard' to live stock, Mr. Scott concluded by asking ■.why should not a society wn Lulls, stallions, boars, etc., and hire cut their iiervices? The use of inferior bulla is a curse of British farming. They all -know how much the' milking Lerds of the country could be improved. Lord -Bledisloe congratulated Mr. Scott on his courageous paper. Some middlemen would; always ': bo required for transport and distribution. Organisation would eliminate the. unnecessary middleman whoni agriculture bad carried on its back for too many -years, and to whom, and not die producer, the excessive prices d'emnnd«d from the consumer were mainly due.