THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 12 August 1905, Page 12

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.

(By A. H. Truebridge.) THE STORY OF THE FOUR GIANTS Ir "The Earth is the Lord's," Ps. xxiv., 1. "A free nation is that in which every unit of its members participates equally iv the ownership of the land which it occupies." — J. Rusticus. Four giants lived together in a world, and called themselves Human Society. They were civilised giants, and, therefore, in order that they might live in a civilised manner, it was necessary for them to have three things— food, shelter, and clothing. So the first provided all kinds of shelter. He froze in the icy north cutting timber, and sweated at huge furnaces fcmelting metal. He lay on his back and hewed coal, and waded knee-deep in wet clay making bricks. lie laboured among great whirling saws, which sometimes cut pieces from bis body; and among clashing machinery, which blinded and lamed him. He worked buried deep beneath the earth's surface; and elevated high in the air on flimsy scaffold poles. In short, he performed the ten thousand operations involved in the construction of shelter. He was the Builder. The second provided tho clothing. He also worked in extremes of heat and cold ; obtaining raw material, making machines and manufacturing with them the wool and the cotton and the leather. He breathed the poisonous breath of the dyes with which his produce was coloured, and ruined his health and eyesight stitching and sewing. He was the Clothier. The third tilled the soil and ploughed the sea. He grew the corn and bred the cattle and horses. He worked from sunrise to sunset in the fields, in tho cold and wet of winter, and the glare and heat of summer. He fought tho winds and waves of the boisterous ocean, carrying I bis life in his hand from day to day. In [ the heat of the tropics, in the ice of the poles you would find him at his work. We will call him the Farmer. The Fourtn owned the world in which the other three' worked and upon which all four lived. He was calle* 3 Landowner. Now these giants consumed, or used, or wore out a great deal of matter in the process of living. These wero the food they ate, the clothes they wore out, the wear and tear of their dwellings^ and of all the thousands of things used and concerned in the making of each and all of these. We will call this using up of matter by the general term "destruction" ; and say, then, that each' one "destroyed" commodities, or "produce," every year to tho value of £60. It sounds a small sum, but then it must be remembered that these were giant pounds, each one equal to many thousands of ours. Therefore as each one was destroying £60 ' worth of produce every year, it is clear that if they were to continue to live this amount of new produce must be created by each every year to replace that which was destroyed. So Builder by his labour created £60 worth of produce to replace by exchange that destroyed by him ; Clothier did the same, and Farmer did likewise. But at the end of the very first year it was clear that something was wrong, for Hie necessaries of life r.in short. Now Builder, Clothier, and Farmer had been so busy with their own concerns ' that neither had had time to notice what the other was cloing. So tUey called a meeting to try and find out what was the matter. Builder said, "There's something wrong somewhere. We haven't enough produce to go on with. I've destroyed £60 worth and created £60 worth. It's not my fault." Clothier said, "I've destroyed £60 worth and created £60 worth. It isn't my fault." Farmer said, "I've destroyed £60 worth and created £b0 worth. The fault is not with mo." And then there was silence. So, as no- j body spoke, Builder said to Landowner, ! "How about you? You've destroyed £60 worth; have you created £60 worth?" Landowner replied, "I? Certainly not. I never work. Ido not make my hands rough and bard, and injure my health by labour. I'm astonished at your asking me, a gentleman, such a question. Don't you know that this world whicli we all occupy, and from which you extract your coal nnd iron, copper and tin, your gold and silver, your timber, your wool, and your cotton, your cattle and your corn, and upon which your houses and workshops stand— don't you know that all this belongs to ME? Work? I work? I never heard of such a thing. You musfc be frightfully ignorant. You'd better put in some of your spare time studying political economy. I wish you a very good morning, and better manners to you." So the other three giants were left to themselves, and very foolish they felt, although* they were v *not quite satisfied. But they were, like all their kind, some- j what heavy and slow-witted, and moreover Landowner wa*> such an. extremely gentleman-like giant, nnd had assumed j such an air of superiority and patronage towi-rds them, that really they felt they would not bo able to screw up sufficient courage to say anything unpleasant to him, even if they had anj cause; of which they were by no means quite sure, for it wns certain they knew nothing about this "political economy" (not having time for such things), which apparently was something which settled the matter. Then they put their heads together, and Builder said, "Look here. One thing is very certain. Landowner destroys £t>o worth of produce every year, and doesn't create any, so there *i&*that much short. Three's into 60 goes 20. Each of us three mus,t work a bit holder j and make £80 worth of jwoduce instead of £60 worth, to make up for L-indowner. It's a bit hard on us, to he sure ; but then he wears such nice clothes and Iwb such a 'way' with him that he makes the show look 'toney.' And besides, you must, admit that he always says that he takes a great interest iii us and likes to see us happy and contented; and once he gave me a cigar out oi his own case, and a very good one it was, 1 can tell you. So the three giants, Builder, Ciotliier | and Fanner, went to work to make up for i Landowner. Previously each had been I able to get through Ins labour and make ! uy his £60 worth of produce by working ' eight hours a day. Now 'each worked ten hours daily, and so made up the extra £20 worth ot produce which otherwise l ho would not have required. • Of course, j it was for their real good, because plenty ! of hard work keeps ignorant giants out of i mischief. •.• ♦ * "But mother,'" said tho little boy, "perhaps Hie giiint Landowner made Ih'e world himself beforo the other giants came?" "No,", said his mother; "he didn't make their world any more than men have made ours." "Then," enquired rho little boy, "how did it come to 'belong' Iv him?" "I think it's bedtime," e-iid liis mother. (To be continued.) A return has been prepared by Sir. R. Crowe (says the Australasian) showing a comparison of the rabbit-grading results for June, 1904 and 1905, from which it appears that there was an increase this year of 490,810 rabbits, or 31.16 per cent. Tho figures show to what proportions the trade has grown, Lasb -month over two million rabbits were graded, the exact total being 2,050,566, of which 1,513,728 wero first grade, 284,356 second glade, and 251,982 rejects. In Juno last year the total was 1,559,756 r.ibbit», of which 1,153,328 were first grade, 171,984 second grade, and 233,444- rejects.