In this way, the proprietor of a farm finds: 1.

In his crops, means, not only of supporting himself and his family, but of maintaining and improving his capital, of feeding his live-stock--in a word, means of new labor and continual reproduction; 2.

In his ownership of a productive agency, a permanent basis of cultivation and labor.
But he who lends his services,--what is his basis of cultivation?
The proprietor's presumed need of him, and the unwarranted supposition that he wishes to employ him.

Just as the commoner once held his land by the munificence and condescension of the lord, so to-day the working-man holds his labor by the condescension and necessities of the master and proprietor: that is what is called possession by a precarious [15] title.

But this precarious condition is an injustice, for it implies an inequality in the bargain.