Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/148

 good sound beer would be provided. I should prefer not less than ten per cent. of the men to be habitual drunkards, and any other vice such as thieving, foul language, combativeness, and so forth, would be welcomed in moderation, for our object is to learn whether or not a mud Englishman can be formed into a man.

"'The staff I should select with great care, insisting on honesty, strict temperance, and all the virtues that can be obtained for good pay. I consider very important the retaining of an expert accountant, who would set down all incomings and outgoings. The manager ought to be a clear-headed business man free from fads, and the instructing gardener thoroughly competent and up-to-date. Within a year you would be able to show what can be done with the land, and what with the men on the land.

"'Prince Kropotkin says that by one day's labour, on one-twentieth of an acre, one man can produce a year's bread for one man; that is, eight-and-a-half bushels of wheat. Adopting this as a basis to go on, a plan carrying out my suggestion might do the double duty of solving the question of the unemployed, and proving that England can feed herself without foreign assistance.

"'Yours sincerely, .'"