This brings us to the case of the man who cannot pay the competitive rent on a holding of normal size, and have sufficient left to provide himself and family with a decent livelihood. The fundamental reason why the rent is so high is to be found in the economic weakness of the great mass of the tenants, who can neither emigrate to another country nor get a better living as wage earners in their own. Their predicament is exactly the same as that of the helpless and unskilled labourers who are compelled by the force of competition to accept less than living wages. In these circumstances it seems clear that a government commission would be justified in reducing the rents to such a level as would leave the tenants of average efficiency on normal holdings the means of maintaining a decent standard of living. In such cases, then, the landowner has not a right to the full economic or competitive rent. His right thereto is morally inferior to the tenant's right to a decent livelihood, just as the capitalist-employer's right to the prevailing rate of interest is morally inferior to the labourer's right to a living wage. Neither in the one case nor in the other is mere competition the final determinant and measure of justice. It has no moral validity when it comes into conflict with man's natural right to get a reasonable livelihood on reasonable conditions from the bounty of the earth. These fundamental questions will be discussed at length in the chapters on wages. To the possible objection that the concept of a "normal" holding is vague, the sufficient reply is that in practice it can be estimated with as much definiteness as the concept of the "average" labourer. As we see from the history of the Irish Land Courts and their "Judicial Rents," it can be defined with sufficient accuracy to serve the ends of practical justice. More than this is not attained in any department of human relations, particularly, economic relations. _The Labourer's Claim Upon the Rent_