and
two-thirds what it cost before the war; and he is expected in very many
counties in England and Wales to pay his workers about double what he
paid before the war. This is a strong point for him. But the labourers'
position is just as strong. "I was not sufficiently well paid before the
war. If this is to be recognised in any way at all, I must at the
present cost of living (185) have double my pre-war wages." It is
certainly beyond all question that 30/- a week, which is the present
wage over a large part of England, is not, even with only 3/- a week
rent for house and garden, enough to keep a man and his wife and family
in a state of real efficiency. Yet I know from personal experience that
this fact is not properly recognised in practice. If one tries to pay
more one is regarded as a very rich man, and an extremely stupid one--an
idea erroneous as to one's wealth and possibly exaggerated as to one's
mentality.

How have the two conflicting views of farmer and labourer been
reconciled in practice. I can only say that so far as my own knowledge
extends--bearing in mind that the farmer has not the business man's
habit of cheerfully setting off a bad year against a good (for the
business man knows that trade must improve some time, and then he will
make profits, while the farmer has no certainty that things will
improve)--things might well have been worse. There has been a good deal
of mutual consideration and desire to make the best of difficult
circumstances. I have, however, little doubt that it would have been
better had the Wages Boards, which had controlled the rise in wages
during the rise in the cost of living, regulated the fall in wages
during its fall--relaxing control perhaps later when things became more
stable.

The reason why I think that things might have been worse is that the
District Wages Committee left a good legacy to the voluntary
Conciliation Committees which followed them--the men serving on the
latter were those who under the Wages Board system had learned to
negotiate with and to know and respect the workers--generally some of
the best farmers in their districts--and they genuinely tried not to let
the workers down with too much of a bump; on the other hand, they knew
that the only value their recommendations could have was that they
should be voluntarily observed, and therefore they took care not to
recommend rates higher than those which the least favourably situated
farmers in the dist