Yet, on the whole, the small men have withstood the
depression better than the big. A really amazing example is emphasized in the current issue of the Ministry's Journal, a very excellent monthly. It is the tale of a man who took a county council holding of thirty-four acres in all of poor down land at a rent of 168, afterwards reduced to /56. His total capital was £300. Four years later he accepted an offer to buy the holding at 11,025, paying down his total capital of 1870 and leaving 1655 on mortgage. In April of this year he had paid off the whole, out of profits off the holding. It is an amazing record for one man. He was aided by his wife and eldest boy, and kept one lodger at 10s. a week. For the rest, he saved money off this scrap of bad land at the rate of some /250 a year ! Was ever a better example of "the magic of property ? " Does any ambition work more strongly than the desire to own land ? Not even Candide could resist it.
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