Several  years  ago  a  complete  programme  of  measures  in  the
interest  of  agriculture  was  introduced  in  the  Prussian  Diet  and
commended  to  the  Government  by  the  combined  votes  of  the
Conservative  fractions.  One  of  these  measures  was  the  regula-
tion of  employment  agencies  with  a  view  to  curtailing  their
activity  in  rural  districts.  Not  only  were  employment  agents  to
be  required  to  obtain  a  "concession"  from  a  public  authority
before  beginning  business,  but  the  grant  of  permission  was  to  be
made  dependent  upon  the  proved  existence  of  a  need  for  such
agents.  In  practice,  the  employment  agent  was  to  be  forbidden
to  offer  work  to  agricultural  labourers,  whether  they  desired  a
change  of  employer  or  employment  or  not.  Another  measure
was  the  sharpening  of  the  law  regarding  breach  of  contract,  so  as
to  make  it  more  difficult  for  discontented  agricultural  labourers
and  servants  to  leave  their  employment  even  under  the  special
circumstances  which  legally  justify  an  immediate  dissolution  of
the  contract  of  service.  The  teaching  in  rural  schools  was  every-
where to  be  adapted,  as  to  hours  and  seasons,  to  the  local  needs
of  agriculture.  State  undertakings  were  to  be  required  to  free  as
many  workpeople  as  possible  at  harvest-time,  so  that  the  corn  and
beet  grower  and  the  general  body  of  farmers  might  have  a  greater
reserve  of  temporary  labour  to  draw  upon  at  need.  The  prisoners
in  houses  of  correction  were  to  be  made  available  to  a  far  larger
extent  than  hitherto  for  improvement  works  in  the  country.
