Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/237

198 by an individual and his sons or brothers, each had to take his share of the work, and very hard work it was, too. The hunting, shooting, or cricket had to be pursued as a pastime and as a change. In course of time, however, we find that the family colliery is a public company, with a board of directors, and owned not by two or three, but by hundreds of proprietors, and managed by perhaps one or two managing directors, who practically do all the work, while the profits are scattered all over the country. The result is that the labours of a few men make the profits of many, and the many can play golf, cricket, or anything else they like. Socially, in one sense, this is all to the good: it is far better that when large profits are made they should be distributed amongst many rather than amongst a few. Whether it is good that so large a number of men should be in a position to live not on their own exertions but on that of others, is a question that cannot be discussed here, but it explains to my mind the large increase in the numbers of those who can devote more time to golf and cricket now than the professionals