◆¹ Let us take an example. Tom, Dick, and Harry, we will say, are three brothers, who have each inherited a field of twelve acres. They are all equally strong, and equally industrious: we may suppose, in fact, that they all came into the world together, and are as like one another as three Enfield rifles. Each works in his field for the same time every day, digs up as many loaves as he can, and every evening brings them home in a basket. But when they come to compare the number that has been dug up by each, Tom always finds that he has fifteen loaves, Dick that he has twelve, and Harry that he has only nine; the reason being that in the field owned by Harry fewer loaves develop themselves than in the fields owned by Tom and Dick. Harry digs up fewer, because there are fewer to dig up. Let us consider Harry’s case first. [Sidenote ◆1 Labour must be held to produce so much as is absolutely necessary for its own support.] ◆¹ Each of the loaves is, we will say, worth fourpence; therefore Harry, with his nine loaves, makes three shillings a day, or eighteen shillings a week. This is just enough to support him, according to the ideas and habits of his class. If his field were such that it yielded him fewer loaves, or if he had to give even one of the loaves away, the field would be useless; it would not be cultivated at all, either by him, or by anybody, nor could it be; for the entire produce, which would then go to the cultivator, would not be enough to induce, or perhaps even to make him able, to cultivate it. But, as matters stand, so long as the entire produce does go to him, and to no one else, we must take it for granted that his exertion and his field between them yield him a livelihood which, according to his habits, is sufficient; for otherwise, as I have said, this field neither would nor could be cultivated. And it will be well here to make the general observation that whenever we find a class of men cultivating the utmost area of land which their strength permits, and taking for themselves the entire produce, their condition offers the highest standard of living that can possibly be general amongst peasant cultivators: from which it follows that, unless no land is cultivated except the best, the general standard of living must necessarily require less than the entire produce which the best land will yield. We assume then that Harry, with his nine loaves a day, represents the highest standard of living that is, or that can be, general amongst his class.