But on Friday the 23rd the men's leaders had held
a meeting in the Keir Hardie Memorial Hall, and had in that less mellow atmosphere refused to state what decision they had arrived at. Last Saturday morning their secretary announced that they had decided to call out every man in their Union on Monday morning unless the farmers had definitely accepted their terms by that time. So the Farmers' Union met to consider the truce proposal after war had actually been declared by the men and, being human, they rejected it out of hand. The men's leaders have blundered very badly indeed. They have sacrificed the support of the weight of public opinion, which was deeply sympathetic to them, for some slight tactical advantage over the farmers. Worse, they have sacrificed the unity of their own ranks, for we hear that many members of the Union have not ceased working for masters who have not enforced the wage reduction. It is only recently that farm labourers have been fully organized, and it is natural that their leaders should be inexperienced—but this is no matter for congratulation to the farmers. It only means that the industry is a house divided against itself, unable to unite in demanding from the Government a more equitable system of taxation than the present. As we pointed out last week, the present rating of agricultural land is grossly unfair and could almost certainly be remedied if all the agricultural interests combined to put pressure on the Government.
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