LAND PROBLEMS i

& NATIONAL WELFARE
BY CHRISTOPHER TURNOR '

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LAND PROBLEMS AND
NATIONAL WELFARE

LAND PROBLEMS

AND NATIONAL WELFARE
BY CHRISTOPHER TURNOR

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE

RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT MILNER,

G.C.B., G.C.M.G., ETC.

LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY, MCMXL

THT. ANCHOR PRESS, LTD. TIPTREK, ESSEX.

INTRODUCTION

THE author of this book shares with
many thoughtful and public-spirited
men the hope that we may see the
formation of a National Party, which
will cut itself adrift from worn-out political
controversies and shape its course with a single
eye to the general welfare. That fine ideal has
all my sympathy, and yet I find it very difficult
to imagine how it is to be realised in practice.
But if a National Party is out of the question,
there is nevertheless urgent need for a National
Policy, by which I mean a body of political
doctrine, having some basis of principle, some
inner unity, which will take account of all the
great needs of our national life, internal and
external, and propound an orderly and coherent
plan for dealing with them as a whole. Cer-
tainly no such policy will ever be accepted in
its entirety by any political party. But if it
gains an ascendency over the intellect of the
nation, as other systems of political thought
have done in the past, it will influence the
action of all parties, and make them its more
or less conscious, more or less willing instru-

Introduction

has many votaries, while there are not lacking
^,'ood judges who disbelieve impartially in both.
And it is not only over the main lines of policy
that controversy rages, but over the many sub-
sidiary developments, some of which are cer-
tainly necessary to make any policy a success —
Co-operation, Credit Banks, the cheapening of
Transport, the elimination of the middle-man,
a better system of rural Education. All these,
not to mention the burning question of Free
Imports, are subjects of incessant debate. Yet
the combatants have at least this in common,
and it is no small matter, that they realize the
need of turning the soil of the country to better
account and of increasing the number of people
engaged in its cultivation. That the land of
these islands is under-cultivated, and that one of
the chief causes of its being under-cultivated is
that it is under-peopled — these two propositions
at least are common to agricultural reformers
of every school. The recognition of these two
facts and the conviction of their immense im-
portance have been slow in permeating a nation
so preponderantly absorbed in urban pursuits
and interests. But they are gaining ground
now every day, and bid fair to shatter the self-
complacency, with which we have been in the
habit of regarding our lop-sided economic
development.

viii

Introduction

This new attitude of the public mind is
calculated to ensure a fair hearing to those who
are anxious to urge the needs and the claims
of agriculture. Hitherto they have often found
themselves preaching to deaf ears, but now
they can count on a large measure of sym-
pathetic attention. The gospel of rural life,
as preached, for instance, by Sir Horace Plunkett
in his brilliant essay on the Rural Life Problem
in America, has an interest and an attraction for
English readers which it would certainly not have
had twenty years ago. And so I venture to
think that the present book, which deals from a
different point of view with the same absorbing
problem, is timely in its publication. I am not
concerned to endorse all the opinions of the
writer. But I feel the greatest sympathy with
his main object and with the spirit of his enquiry.
He is a landowner who combines with a practi-
cal knowledge of agriculture a high sense of the
duties of his position, and, what is perhaps more
uncommon, a keen sympathy with the farmer
and the labourer. He realises the solidarity of
interest between men of all classes who live on
and by the land, and his aim is to point out
what they collectively owe to the country, and
what consideration is due to them in return.
If I am right in thinking that the subject, with
which he deals, occupies, as it certainly deserves,

ix

Introduction

a foremost place among questions of public
interest, then the experience and the opinions
of a man of his position and his liberality of
mind cannot fail to be of value to all those who
arc earnestly seeking for the foundations of a
National Policy.

MILNER.

Sturry Court,
Kent.

A

PREFACE

T the very beginning of this book I
must pay a humble tribute to Prince
Kropotkin, that great man who has
given so much thought to land and
land problems. It was his work, " Fields,
Factories, and Workshops," that first aroused
my interest in land, and in the study of the
productiveness of the soil and the possible yields
of foodstuff per acre.

Scientific interest in the land is sadly lacking
in England, and a "land tradition" is practically
non-existent. Never in the history of our country
has there been such need as now for a land
tradition which would tend to make land
recognised as the greatest national asset, and
the land problem as the one problem that
lies at the root of all social reform. Not only
do we need a public opinion keenly interested in
land ; it is equally necessary that those depen-
dent, wholly or in part, on urban industries shall
be brought to realise, and to realise to the full,
that it is essential for their own benefit that they
spare no effort, however costly, to encourage agri-
culture. Then, and not till then, will our great
rural industry receive the consideration it deserves.

xi

Preface

If this book serves to arouse the interest of
even a few of my readers in Land Problems, and
induces them to study these problems for them-
selves, I shall feel that my effort has not been
in vain.

While correcting this work for the press I
came across the Report, lately published, of the
Country Life Commission appointed by Mr.
Roosevelt during his presidency. Though
dealing entirely with America the conclusions
of the Commission are applicable in so striking
a degree to our own conditions that I quote a
few paragraphs from the Report, as they form
an excellent preface to the whole subject of
Rural Development.

** The underlying problem is to develop and
maintain on our farms a civilization in full
harmony with the best American ideals. To
build up and retain this civilization means, first
of all, that the business of agriculture must be
made to yield a reasonable return to those who
follow it intelligently, and life on the farm must
be made permanently satisfying to intelligent,
progressive people. The work before us, there-
fore, is nothing more nor less than the gradual
re-building of a new agriculture and new rural
life. We regard it as absolutely essential that
this great general work should be understood by
all the people. Separate difficulties, important
as they are, must be studied and worked out in

xii

Preface

the light of the greater fundamental problem.

The commission has pointed out a number of
remedies that are extremely important ; but
running through all of these remedies are several
great forces, or principles, which must be utilized
in the endeavour to solve the problems of
country life. All the people should recognise
what those fundamental forces and agencies are.

Knowledge. — To improve any situation the
underlying facts must be understood. The
farmer must have exact knowledge of his busi-
ness and of the particular conditions under
which he works. The United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture and the experiment stations
and colleges are rapidly acquiring and distribut-
ing this knowledge ; but the farmer may not be
able to apply it to the best advantage, because
of lack of knowledge of his own soils, climate,
animal and plant diseases, markets, and other
local facts. The farmer is entitled to know
what are the advantages and disadvantages of
his conditions and environment. A thorough-
going system of surveys in detail of the exact
conditions underlying farming in every locality
is now an indispensable need to complete and
apply the work of the great agricultural in-
stitutions. As an occupation, agriculture is a
means of developing our internal resources ; we
cannot develop these resources until we know
exactly what they are,

xiii

Preface

Education. — There must be not only a fuller
scheme of public education, but a new kind of
education adapted to the real needs of the farm-
ing people. The country schools are to be so
redirected that they shall educate their pupils
in terms of the daily life. Opportunities for
training toward agricultural callings are to be
multiplied and made broadly effective. Every
person on the land, old or young, in school or
out of school, educated or illiterate, must have
a chance to receive the information necessary
for a successful business and for a healthy,
comfortable, resourceful life, both in home and
neighbourhood. This means redoubled efforts
for better country schools, and a vastly in-
creased interest in the welfare of country boys
and girls on the part of those who pay the
school taxes. Education by means of agriculture
is to be a part of our regular public school
work. Special agricultural schools are to be
organised. There is to be a well developed
plan of extension teaching conducted by the
agricultural colleges, by means of the printed
page, face to face talks, and demonstration or
object lessons, designed to reach every farmer
and his family, at or near their homes, with
knowledge and stimulus in every department of
country life.

Organisation. — There must be a vast en-
largement of voluntary organised effort among

xiv

Preface

farmers themselves. It is indispensable that
farmers shall work together for their common
interests and for the national welfare. If they
do not do this no governmental activity, no
legislation, not even better schools, will greatly
avail. Much has been done. There is a multi-
tude of clubs and associations for social, educa-
tional, and business purposes ; and great national
organisations are effective. But the farmers are,
nevertheless, relatively unorganised. We have
only begun to develop business co-operation in
America. Farmers do not influence legislation
as they should. They need a more fully
organised social and recreative life.

Spiritual Forces. — The forces and institu-
tions that make for morality and spiritual ideals
among rural people must be energised. We
miss the heart of the problem if we neglect to
foster personal character and neighbourhood
righteousness. The best way to preserve ideals
for private conduct and public life is to build
up the institutions of religion. The church has
great power of leadership. The whole people
should understand that it is vitally important to
stand behind the rural church and to help it to
become a great power in developing concrete
country life ideals. It is especially important
that the country church recognise that it has a
social responsibility to the entire community as
well as a religious responsibility to its own group
of people."

XV

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE LANDOWNER . . - - i

II. THE FARMER - - - - - ^2

III. THE RURAL LABOURER - - - " "S

IV. EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURE - - I36
V. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE LAND - - I94

VI. SMALL HOLDINGS AND AGRICULTURE - - 234

VII. AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION - - - 259

Vlll. POLITICS AND THE LAND - - - 284

IX. THE LAND AND THE EMPIRE - - - 327

XVll B

LAND PROBLEMS AND
NATIONAL WELFARE

LAND PROBLEMS AND
NATIONAL WELFARE

CHAPTER I

THE LANDOWNER

IN any review of the agricultural condition
of England it is only fitting to begin with
the consideration of the landowner. In
the past he took a very active part in the
government of his country, and the duty of
local administration rested almost entirely with
him. And though a gradual change has been
taking place, tending to reduce the power and
influence of the landowner, he still is, or at
least ought to be, a leader of the agricultural
industry and the mainspring of all local rural
life. Some sixty years ago that remarkable
man, Mr. John Darby, wrote these prophetic
words :

" In proportion as the landowner loses the sole control
" and direction of local affairs, so will he cease to be an
" active member of the community, he will stand aloof and
" give himself up to the pursuit of pleasure."

I think that all who are acquainted with
country life and who watch the processes of
evolution ever at work in all classes of society

I c

Land rrohlems and National Welfare

will admit that Mr. Darby's forecast has, to a
great extent, come true.

There are districts in which the majority of
landowners take little part in administrative
work, and an excessive and undue share is there-
fore thrown upon the few, who are thus over-
taxed.

Fewer landowners now represent their shire
or district in parliament than was the case in
days of yore — largely because, even if they were
willing to do so, many could not afford to devote
the money or the time exacted by parliamentary
life in London. Still, making all due allowance,
the apathy of the landowner, at a time when the
policy advocated by a large number of politicians
constitutes a direct menace to his existence, is,
to my mind, a remarkable feature of the present
condition of the country.

It seems well nigh impossible to induce land-
owners to take concerted action to advance the
cause of agriculture.

The Central Land Association was formed in
the hope of bringing all landowners together
in a common cause ; it has been doing good
work, and many leading landowners have joined
it, but it could be wished that a greater number
would actively identify themselves with the move-
ment. It does not seem to be realised that this
society stands apart from all other organisations ;
and that by diligently supporting a society which

2

The Landowner

is non-party, and yet is essentially political, one
which works for the interests of the whole
agricultural industry and is not merely a land-
lords' defence league, we shall be able effect-
ually to protect all that is best in our present
system of land tenure.

Disunited, landowners can do little, for their
voting power is small.

If they form themselves into property defence
societies to fight for the cause of landlordism
alone, they will be playing directly into the
hands of the Socialists.

But if they elect to form a great society,
which shall exist solely to further the interests
of agriculture in parliament and out : a society
which shall be recognised as representative of all
that is soundly progressive ; then the landowners
of Great Britain will put themselves in an
unassailable position, and will be able to guide
those essential reforms in our system of land
tenure which must surely come.

The great point to keep in mind is that
about 80 per cent, of the population has little
or no sympathy with the landowner ; in fact,
any feeling there is may be looked upon rather
as one of hostility. Reference is not here made
to the rural population living on large estates,
which, as a whole, is decidedly friendly to the
landowner. A few years ago, when working
professionally as an architect, I discussed the

3

Land Problems and National Welfare

social conditions of the country with many of
the intelligent artisans with whom I came in
contact ; and, though none of them had a
specific dislike for the individual landowner, I
found they were all very much against the
present system of landlordism, and felt it wrong
that so much of the land of England should
be in the hands of so few men.

There are only about 5,000 large landowners
(of over 1,000 acres), and yet this handful of men
owns about one half the land of Great Britain !
And although in official blue books about
1,000,000 landowners are recorded, the greater
part of these are men who own a town lot or
two, and so do not count as landowners in the
rural sense of the word. In Germany there are
5,000,000 landowners, and in France about the
same number.

Taking present circumstances into considera-
tion, I am convinced that the only way in which
landowners can now maintain themselves as a
class is by actively identifying their interests
with those of the agricultural industry. From
this time forward landowners should sink their
own class interests for the welfare of the industry
— as many in fact do — so that Socialists and
extreme Radicals may be given no opportunity
of asserting that property owners are pursuing
a merely selfish policy. Landlords should so
manage their estates that politicians and the

4

The Landowner

general public would be forced to recognise that
the land, the nation's chief asset, was being put
to the best possible use. Landlords should
not only guide the development of the agri-
cultural industry, but should direct the whole
movement of land reform. Land reform will
have to come within a few years' time ; and it
rests with the landowners either to guide that
reform — as the Danish landowners have done —
or to see the whole process of reconstruction
taken out of their hands and attempted by
politicians who may lack that practical know-
ledge which is necessary to make land reform
successful.

Landowners still subscribe large sums to the
party chest : they could therefore, more than any
other section of the rural community, force
politicians to give heed to the requirements of
agriculture ; they could insist upon the choosing
of candidates for rural constituencies by reason
of their agricultural qualifications, and could stop
the present system of sending down " carpet-
baggers " to contest our rural divisions.

It should be clearly recognised as necessary,
in order to secure the solidarity of the move-
ment, that a certain number of suitable tenant
farmers be returned to Parliament ; for it
is only right that the people who make their
entire living off the land should have some
representatives of their own in the House of

5

Land Problems and National Welfare

Commons. The same postulation applies to the
rural labourers : it would in every way be de-
sirable to have a few good labourers representing
country districts in the House. The number of
farmer and labour members would from force
of circumstances be limited, but the inclusion
of even a few would do more than anything
else to consolidate the agricultural interest
throughout the country ; it would be the best
demonstration of what combination could effect.

To secure this recognition in parliament, and
the extension of the agricultural movement on a
large scale, it is essential that all agriculturists
should contribute to a special " Parliamentary "
fund.

If landowners do not put themselves at the
head of the land reform movement, guiding it
wisely and in such a way as to cause the
smallest amount of disturbance, and at the same
time to secure the maximum benefit to the people
in general, they will undoubtedly be swept aside
— taxed out of existence — and this form of
extinction is clearly in the minds of a large
section of politicians.

In view of the present developments it is
necessary for landowners to study the economic
relation of land to the welfare of the whole
nation, and also in great detail its economic
relation to every question of social reform now
stirring the minds of men.

6

The Landowner

From the national point of view one of the
chief needs is that more food should be pro-
duced in the country. There are at this
moment some 12,000,000 acres of poorly-laid
down, neglected, unproductive grass land that
could be put to much better use.

The question of the yield per acre, or rather
per square mile — because it is in considering the
larger area that our waste of land is most
apparent — is one for the landowner as well as
for the farmer. I fear that the need of more
intensive farming is not thoroughly understood
by landowners ; as a rule they assented, during
the period of depression, to increased extensive
methods as the best way of meeting the crisis
— i.e., less labour and less manure bestowed
upon the soil until over large areas these were
reduced to below the economic minimum.

All scientific experiments at Rothamsted
and elsewhere, while they show that there is a
maximum output which it is unremunerative to
exceed, clearly prove that there is a minimum
which is disastrous ; also that a more than
ordinary application of labour and artificials to
the soil is commercially sound, and that ex-
penditure in this direction is directly and im-
mediately remunerative.

English landowners must learn to regard
their estates as business concerns to a far
greater degree than has been customary in the

7

Land Problems and National Welfare

past. To do this need in no way curtail to
them the pleasure of their connection with the
land, but rather will increase the practical
interest of it, and will encourage that affection
which is rightly felt by the owner of an
ancient estate ; for nothing is more destructive
of the sentiment which a man should have for
his property than the pressure of hopeless
poverty.

It will be necessary, then, in the first place,
for the rising generation of landowners to be
learned in the details of estate management,
just as the commercial man must know the
details of his business. A few landowners send
their eldest sons to Cirencester, Wye, or to the
agricultural course at Cambridge. This is good,
but the instruction does not go far enough.
A young Dane, for instance, goes through a much
longer course of preparation, often including
the practical management of a farm as under
bailiff and finally as head bailiff, the whole
training frequently extending to seven years.

In the second place it will be found expedient
to reduce the size of many estates: one man can
manage more land than another, but a large pro-
portion of the land of England is held in estates
too large for any one owner to handle efficiently.
I call an estate efficiently managed when it is
paying the owner a fair interest on the capital
it represents, in other words, on its selling value.

The Landowner

There is an axiom in the commercial world
which is equally applicable to estate manage-
ment : " When the head of a business can no
longer grasp all its details then that business is
on too large a scale for economic working." I
do not for one moment suggest that the land-
owner should dispense with the land agent, for
a go-between is essential ; but I do hold that he
should himself have a thorough knowledge of
estate management, and should be able to
supervise all that takes place ; and above all,
that he should be competent to devise new
methods of developing his estate to suit the
changing conditions of the times.

On the whole I am inclined to think that in
the case of a large estate of 15,000 or 20,000
acres, the best plan is to have a highly qualified
resident agent rather than to entrust its con-
duct to a firm of agents ; the manager on the
spot should generally prove less costly, and
there is now a good available supply of well-
trained and up-to-date agents.

I quite recognise that there exist numerous
firms of land agents, excellent in every respect,
who often send their junior members to reside
on smaller estates. Still the danger remains
that a firm will be tempted to undertake the
management of more land than its individual
members can give proper attention to. But the
worst plan of all is to entrust the management to

9

Land Problems and National Welfare

a firm of solicitors ; for it would seem to be self-
evident that they, untrained in estate agency
or in farming, cannot be the best managers of
land. Yet I fear that a good deal of property
is so managed — I have myself come across
some extraordinary cases.

Another unsound practice which prevails to a
considerable extent is that of looking to the
Estate Office to provide employment for some
poor and deserving relation whose sole qualifi-
cations are that he is poor and deserving. This
is bad economy : it would be far cheaper to
pension him.

Thirdly, it is important that the landowner
should have, if not a very intimate knowledge
(which would be best) of the processes of agricul-
ture, at least sufficient knowledge to enable him
to follow and to understand current research in
agricultural science. He should see to it that
the home farm, where there is one, is not run
by the bailiff as a demonstration of extravagance,
but rather as an example of how much the land
can be made to yield. More home-grown food-
stuff must be produced, and landowners should
take the lead in weaning the country from the
present system of extensive farming, encourag-
ing in its place the adoption of intensive methods.
The test of true patriotism for the agriculturist
is the amount of foodstuff that he can produce ;
and the man who will grow £^ worth per acre

10

The Landowner

is a better citizen than the man producing ^^3
worth. In the words of Dean Swift, " Whoever
can make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass
grow where only one grew before, will deserve
better of mankind, and do more essential service
to his country than the whole race of politicians
put together."

The profit derived from the home farm will
naturally depend on the management, and in
very few cases will the landowner be able to show
as high a margin of profit as will the practical
farmer, who makes his living directly from the
soil; but, discounting the higher labour bill, there
is no reason why the home farm should not in
every other respect be a demonstration of up-
to-date farming. At any rate, the heavy losses
which now so commonly occur should not be
allowed to continue. I have several friends who
tell me that they lose between ^^3 and £4 per
acre per annum on their farming operations.
These are extreme cases, but a net loss of £1
per acre is common. I think this deficit is often
due to the fact that bailiffs of home farms
concentrate their attention on pedigree stock
and prize taking, and do not greatly care whether
or not the farm pays as a whole.

In Denmark it is noteworthy that the land-
owner does make a profit from his farms in hand ;
in fact they are often his chief source of income.
I remember an owner of a 1,500 acre estate say-

II

Land Problems and National Welfare

i ng, when asked if he farmed all his land, "Cer-
tainly; it would not pay me to let it — I want to
pocket the farmer's profit also ! "

The same conditions exist in many parts of
Germany, and on the continent generally among
the lesser nobles and landowners; they farm the
best of their land and only let outlying parts.

While it is true that on the continent as a
whole farms are less well equipped than in
England, the reverse is the case in Denmark:
in that country a great deal is spent on the farm-
house and buildings, but it is not money extra-
vagantly spent, for it brings in good interest.

I put the Danish expenditure on buildings at
about double the English average per farm. This
is largely occasioned by the more severe climate,
and also by the fact that dairy-farming is the
common industry and that cows require more
elaborate accommodation than any other stock.

These splendid buildings are to be found on
f arms owned by the occupier, whether of the
1 anded or the farmer class ; although on the few
big estates that I visited I found similar ex-
cellent buildings provided by the landlords for
their tenants.

For example, and by no means an unusual
one, I saw on a 400 acre farm buildings that
had cost ;^9,ooo ; and the tenants on farms of
that size live in houses with from four to six
sitting-rooms beautifully furnished.

12

The Landowner

If all this is done in Denmark, and if Danish
landowners have succeeded in leading the
development of the agricultural industry on
lines at once beneficial to themselves and to the
whole country, why should it be impossible to
institute some such movement in England ?
The Danish landowners may not have as much
shooting as their English confreres, but still they
have quite good sport with pheasants, ducks,
and partridges. They have no hunting, but they
live in their own houses — and very beautiful old
houses they are. They farm their home farms
and do not lose money on them ; they manage
their woods on such model lines that the wood-
land generally yields the average rental of farm
land. This can be said of very few English
woodlands.

Above all, the Danish landowner has the
satisfaction of knowing that he is playing a
leading part in the agricultural development of
his district, not as a noble patron lending his
patronage, but as a practical working partner.

I admit that conditions are very different in
England, and Denmark can only serve as a
demonstration of what organisation can do for
an industry. But we must organise in our own
way, and \vhen we English landowners give our
minds to it I believe we shall show ourselves as
capable of organisation as those of any other
country.

13

Land Problems and National Welfare

Denmark is a small country, and after her
war with Germany she had either to organise
or go to pieces. Without the incentive of war
there is no reason why we should not or-
ganise our agriculture, county by county,
developing the resources of each county to its
fullest extent.

But we must remember that the Danish land-
owners recognised in time that their old system
of land tenure, which sixty years ago much
resembled ours, did not meet the requirements
of the times. So they set about remodelling
it, and actively assisted every legislative effort
of the Government. They sold their farms to
the sitting tenants, often going so far as to accept
a mortgage in part payment, a plan which has
apparently been successful, for 1 met no land-
owner who complained of bad debts. In this
way the Danish landowners did their share in
developing Danish agriculture and making it
the splendid organised industry that so greatly
impresses the visitor to that country to-day.

In England there are still many landowners
wealthy enough to disregard the consideration
of making a profit out of their land, and so the
incentive is wanting to put their estates on the
best economic basis; but a still larger number of
men lack the means to put in hand the economic
re-organisation of their estates, unless they have
the courage to devise drastic reform and to face

14

The Landowner

the possible risks entailed.

In many cases an owner's present straightened
circumstances are not due to his own but rather
to past mismanagement, and to the fact that his
father or grandfather overbuilt the property. A
landowner who is too fond of bricks and mortar
can work more harm to his estate than one who
is too fond of horses, and there are doubtless
many afflicted landowners who will heartily en-
dorse that opinion ! It is sad to think of the
number of beautiful old manor houses destroyed
in the early part of the nineteenth century to
make room for the sham gothic mansions, so dear
to the hearts of our grandfathers. But apart from
the size of the family mansion, there is evidence,
on most large estates, of extravagant expenditure
on the farm buildings put up sixty years ago by
agents or proprietors who were affected by the
wave of megalomania that swept the country
when wheat was £\ per quarter. These large
farm buildings are often inconvenient and have
never repaid the money spent on them ; for it
is noticeable that farms less extravagantly
equipped bring in quite as much rent to-day
as do those with very large buildings.

The policy which prevailed some years ago
of merging small farms in large ones is another
cause of heavy loss of revenue.

Estates with but few farms in excess of 300
acres have suffered far less reduction in their

15

Land Problems and National Welfare

rent rolls than have those which include many
farms of 400 acres and over. And when it
comes to the 1,000 acre farm., few men could be
found during the years of agricultural depres-
sion, or even at the present day, with sufficient
capital to work it.

Many men suffering from financial stress are
inclined to ascribe all existing evils to the
Radical Government and to death duties. This
is not a sound conclusion; and by accepting it
the landowner is reduced to a feeling of hopeless-
ness which prevents his realising that it is often
possible successfully to reverse a forebear's mis-
taken policy. In many cases former life-tenants
not only built extravagantly, but furnished the
money for building by raising mortgages ; and,
instead of providing by life insurance for their
younger children, often left heavy family charges
on their estates. The result of all this mis-
management is fast amounting to a crisis — for
the majority of landowners. The charges on
estates remain constant, the cost of up-keep since
the agricultural depression has actually risen in
some cases by 100 per cent., and rent rolls have
decreased in many districts by nearly 50%. It
is a serious position for estates of all sizes but it
hits the smaller properties hardest, for they
have less power of resistance. Already the
majority of owners of purely rural estates of
5,000 acres or thereabouts can no longer live at

16

The Landowner

home unless they have an income from other
sources than land. Such a condition is unsound,
and cannot last; either some means must be
found to make the estate pay a fair interest on
its capital value (market value), or the estate —
in part at least — must be sold and the money
better invested. Legislative interference may
have hastened the present distress, but it is not
the main cause of it.

There is another feature affecting present
economic conditions, which I must mention,
although it is a dangerous and delicate subject.

The amount of money spent on shooting, in
spite of the decrease of revenue, is far greater
than it used to be; the preserving and raising of
game has been reduced to a science, and the
lust for big bags has taken possession of men
who often can ill afford the sport, and who
endeavour to compete with the standard set by
richer men who take shootings in the neighbour-
hood.

Still more important is the fact that on many
estates more game is preserved than is compat-
ible with the interests of agriculture. The land
of England should supply the foodstuff for the
nation, and when the head of game is so large as
to injure the farmer then harm is done not only
to the true interests of the landowner, but to
the country at large. No amount of monetary
compensation can make up for the discourage-

17 D

Land Problems and National Welfare

ment to the farmer and the harm done to the
routine of a farm by having a considerable
number of acres of barley destroyed by
game. I have been over farms on which not
only a large proportion of the root crop, but
every single swede and mangold had been
damaged by hares. I have heard landowners,
men who ought to know better, say of such and
such a farm that it was only fit to rear game.
There are very few farms of which this could be
in any wise true, but there are many which are
not fertile enough to support a big head of game
as well as to produce paying crops.

The argument is often put forward that it is ex-
pedient to keep up a large head of game, as with-
out good shooting the place would be difficult
or impossible to let. While this is undoubtedly
often true, there are, however, many exceptions ;
and not seldom it would pay the landowner
better greatly to reduce the head of game
and to ask more rent per acre for his farms.
It takes very good shooting to bring in a rent
of 2s. an acre all round, but I know many
estates where the amount of game preserved
makes quite 4s. an acre difference in the rental
of the farms.

But I must deal in more detail with the ques-
tion of estate duties, that sword of Damocles, to
which a passing reference has been made.

There seems little doubt that a section of the

18

The Landowner

Liberal party designs in the future to use death
duties as the means wherewith to tax landowners
out of existence, and also as a clever device
with which to begin the nationalisation of the
land — vide the clause in the Budget which
allows the duty to be actually paid in land.

Great uncertainty seems to prevail with regard
to the requirements of Somerset House and
to the way in which the death duty schedules
should be filled up.

I believe that a large number of estates pay
more in death duties than is necessary, and the
greatest good ensues where the landowner him-
self deals personally with the matter, provided
that he thoroughly understands the condition of
his estate and has all the figures at his fingers'
ends. It is often very difficult for the land-
owner's legal adviser thoroughly to understand
the condition of the property when called upon
suddenly to draw out the statement for death
duties. If the estate accounts are well kept he
can easily make a statement which may seem
correct but is not really so ; for it is far more
difficult to prepare a schedule of accounts in
connection with a large business in land than
it is to furnish like information in regard to any
other business.

There are so many side issues which have to
be taken into account — items which even good
book-keeping is liable to omit, and which yet

19

Land Problems and National Welfare

make an important difference in the whole state-
ment.

I must bear witness that in my own case
Somerset House dealt very fairly with me in the
matter of estate duties. I was not satisfied
with the way in which the Estate Duty Schedule
had to be filled up and so I refused to sign it ;
because it did not, to my mind, meet or make
clear the exceptional circumstances in which
the estate was placed.

Although I was told that it would be useless
to submit any corrected figures I persisted and
went personally into the case. The net result
of my attention was that the sum paid amounted
to very much less than that which appeared in
the original schedule.

I do not mean to imply that I was treated
with any special favour : there may have been
exceptional features in my case ; the estate
paid neither more nor less than was legally
required of it. To have paid more would have
involved it in ruin.

Succession duties are in a different category,
for here the Somerset House Authorities have
no discretionary powers and can only carry
out the requirements of the Statute Law of the
land. That law compels the owner of a rural
estate to pay a heavier duty than he would have
paid had he inherited a similar sum invested
in securities.

20

The Landowner

This was certainly so in my own case.

My case was undoubtedly an extreme one,
as all my income is derived from land ; whereas
very often the amount of duty payable on
income from agricultural land is confounded
with that payable on income from town property
or from securities. For the purposes of this tax
I was obliged to fill up the schedule in such a
manner that I was credited with an income
really about three times as large as my net
available revenue. This condition of law, which
seems to be most unjust, arises from the fact
that before Sir William Harcourt's death
duties came into force, landed property was
less heavily taxed than other forms of property.
Succession duty was the only tax payable on
land, and landowners often contrived to reduce
even this to a minimum ; but the test cases, as
a rule, went against them, the judges rightly
holding that landowners generally were not un-
fairly charged. At that time, therefore, the law
relating to succession duties, though severe,
was fair. When death duties were imposed,
succession duty was at once felt to be more
onerous, and was no longer fair.

As a side issue it seems unreasonable for an
estate — especially serious is the case of an
impoverished estate — to be more heavily pena-
lized when a nephew or cousin succeeds than
when a son inherits. Where there is wealth

21

Land Problems and National Welfare

this law merely mulcts the successor, but where
there is not wealth it cripples the estate.

When Sir William Harcourt introduced the
death duties he should, in common fairness,
have readjusted the succession duties.

To complete the tale of injustice done to the
landowner I must make mention of the perennial
grievance of the income tax. The landowner
is assessed under Schedule " A,'' and this
wrongfully, as even Mr. Lloyd George admitted
to the deputation from the Central Land
Association. Every landowner who keeps care-
ful accounts and is willing to exhibit them
should be assessed under Schedule " D," and
it is amazing that such a large class should so
long have suffered an obvious injustice without
energetic protest as have the owners of landed
property in England. And, moreover, the
more modestly rented the estate the greater is
the injustice, which in all probability the land-
owners themselves scarcely realise. I cite three
examples.

(a) An estate which under Schedule '* A "
shews an income of ^4,500, and which pays
tax on that amount, yields in reality to the
owner only ^2,500 ; and on this sum he would
pay tax if he were assessed under Schedule "D."

(b) An estate which under Schedule " A "
shews an income of ^3,900 would be assessed
under Schedule " D " at ^2,000 per annum.

22

The Landowner

(c) An estate which under Schedule " A "
shews an income of ^5,800 would be assessed
under Schedule " D " at ;/^2,8oo.

In this last instance the owner's income is
overstated for assessment purposes by more
than double its actual amount.

Despite all the concessions made by Somer-
set House I suffered severely from death and
succession duties, but I suffered and still suffer
far more from the results of the errors of judg-
ment of an agent who managed the property
some sixty years ago. He followed that unsound
policy to which I have already referred of
grouping small farms into big ones, because
he liked dealing with one large farmer rather
than with several small ones. This mistake
was coupled with extravagant spending on farm
buildings.

The estate in question is an entirely agri-
cultural one, and its rental is somewhat below
the 20s. per acre which is given as the average
rental for the agricultural land of the country.
It is chiefly arable and therefore has felt the
long-continued depression to the full. The
rent roll has declined by nearly 50%, but this
proportion does not express the total loss to the
owner. In addition, the cost of up-keep has
increased by at least 50%, for much building
and repair that in prosperous times devolved
upon the farmer are now undertaken at the

23

Land Problems and National Welfare

owner's charge : and further, the actual cost
of building has increased by at least one-third
during the past thirty years.

I give these particulars in order to indicate
briefly what manner and condition of estate
we are considering ; and if I seem to dwell at
undue length upon the details of the course I
adopted, I do so, not only in the hope that it
may be of interest to some readers, but also
that it may even encourage others who are
called upon to face the great difficulties and
hard work attendant on the inheriting of a
large estate in a distressed condition.

The Socialist ranter talks of confiscating the
landowner's rent — a pitiable cry when rent there
is none ! In my own case either I receive a
very low rental for the land itself, and no interest
whatever on the capital expended on the estate
during the past sixty years, or I get a low rate
of interest on that capital and no rent ; it is a
matter of one or the other, but not both.

I am now considering the net income which
a property yields for the support of the head
of the family, for the payment of charges to
other members of that family, and for the up-
keep of house, gardens and shooting amenities
which, when not let, must properly be charged
to the privy purse and not to the estate.

After careful consideration I can say deliber-
ately, that if the capital spent upon my estate

24

The Landowner

during the past sixty years had been invested in
a security bearing even so low an interest as
Consols, the net income of the family would
now be considerably larger than it is. That
this should be possible shows clearly how
necessary it is for landowners to study the
existing system of land tenure with a view to
removing, as speedily as possible, the dangerous
and unsound features of the present condition.

It must further be noted that in these calcula-
tions I have left out the original capital value
of the land (the money spent in purchase) and
have confined myself solely to the consideration
of the capital spent on the estate during the
past sixty years.

The estate is lightly mortgaged for its size,
so that is not the cause of the trouble in this
case ; and that many estates are in the same
condition as mine is shewn wherever figures
are available. If capital does not bring in fair
interest, then it is either badly invested or
wrongly treated — and mismanaged capital is
bad not only for the loss to the individual
concerned, but it also constitutes a public
evil.

But I have strayed from the problem pre-
sented by the area of land which I was called
upon to manage. A very short study of the
account books showed me that there would
be a deplorably small margin of receipts over

25

Land Problems and National Welfare

expenditure for my personal income. And my
first idea was, naturally, how to enlarge that
margin. Improvement in this direction could
only be obtained by reducing current ex-
penditure without causing the estate to suffer,
and also, if possible, by increasing the receipts.
The worst feature of the case was that even
the small margin referred to was by no means
stable : given an extra bad year with the farms
in hand it would disappear entirely. When
I succeeded in 1903 — a bad year in my part
of the country — I had about 4,000 acres in
hand, in five or six large farms, which not
only had been paying no rent or interest on
working capital, but for the preceding five
years had shown a loss of over ^i per acre
per annum on the farming operations.

The land in hand was poor and had been
run down from years of too low farming.
Still it was land which in 200 or 250 acre
farms would have let fairly well ; quite as
good, in fact, as that of the average Danish
land. But it was land which in large farms
would not let during the bad times, and which
until recently no one would look at at any
price — not even at half a crown an acre. The
whole situation made me at first feel almost
reckless : at all events it inclined me for kill or
cure measures. The only direction in which I
found I could effect any decided saving in

26

The Landowner

expenditure was in the building department,
and even there it was necessary at first to
spend more than the annual average in order
to get the buildings into such a condition that
a permanent reduction would be possible.
And here I found my training as an architect
most valuable. On many large estates a poor
return is got for the money spent on building
and repairs. The accounts relating to this
department are often inaccurate, as estate
timber and estate hauling, etc., are frequently
left out of the statement of the cost of building.
Even with an efficient clerk of the works it
is hard to get a fair amount of labour out
of the building staff on an estate situated at
some distance from the dwelling-place of the
owner and agent : ( — and though my land is all
in one county, one part of the estate is 50 miles
away from the rest). I came finally to the con-
clusion that it would pay me best to do building
and repairs by contract on the part of the
estate on which I did not live, and consequently
I disbanded the building staff, with distinctly
good results. But the most pressing problem
was how to deal with the land in hand. Again
my former training as an architect helped me
greatly : by utilizing outlying buildings, and
turning cottages into farmhouses, I was able,
at a small outlay of capital, to let off 1,200
acres within three months, and as the area was

27

Land Problems and National Welfare

divided into small farms I got a fair rent. This
operation meant the immediate saving of ^1,200
a year of the former loss on farming that land,
plus the new rentals ; it also reduced the land
in hand to exactly 3,000 acres, in three large
farms.

It is impossible for a landowner, no matter
how much he may have studied the science and
practice of agriculture, to find time properly
to supervise the farming of a large area, and I
think the same remark fairly applies to the
agent of a big estate.

This is particularly the case where it is neces-
sary to change the methods of cultivation. When
once a tradition is formed a single man can
effectively supervise a large area ; but when the
object is to change the methods of cultivation on
large farms, where for years the total receipts
have averaged under ^^3 per acre, and where
the bailiffs and labourers have grown accus-
tomed to a routine of non-paying farming : —
in other words, where it is necessary to give up
extensive and to adopt intensive methods of
cultivation, then a very specially qualified
person is required to superintend the farming
operations. The ordinary run of farm bailiff,
no matter how honest or practical, is not the
class of man for such business. That was one
of the points that struck me most in Denmark
— the high class of men employed as farm

28

The Landowner

bailiffs and the large salaries paid to them.

I wanted, then, to find a man capable of
effectively superintending the 3,000 acres of
land in hand ; I wanted a man who was a first-
class scientist and at the same time above the
average at the practical details of agriculture,
and, more than all, a man who could handle men.
After about a year I found a man, the son of
a Scotch farmer, educated at the University of
Edinburgh and at various Agricultural Colleges.
He possessed to the full the first two qualifica-
tions, but alas ! his quick Celtic temperament
did not make him a success with the sturdy
sons of Lincolnshire.

At the outset it was my object to see which
departments of the farm paid, and which did
not. With this in view, I got a chartered
accountant to tabulate the farm accounts, and
it was at once made clear that there was a very
heavy loss on beasts : a loss on yearlings, more
loss on two-year-olds, and most loss on three-
year-olds. So striking and continuous was the
loss in this department, one which no possible
allowance for manurial value could wipe out,
that the accountant — a city man — became much
puzzled. He thought that these beasts could
hardly be kept for purposes of business, and so
he asked if they were all kept as pets ! Sheep,
at the time, paid well, and wheat showed a
clear profit per acre. But, somehow or other,

29

Land Problems and National Welfare

never more than two quarters of barley per
acre was actually sold, and so it did not pay ;
though what there was of it was commonly of
good quality and realised high prices. The
grass land was generally very poor and a source
of loss, and seeds were a failing crop.

The heavy loss on the farms was undoubtedly
due to the following causes :

(i) To the fact that keeping beasts till they
are three years old does not pay on the
ordinary mixed farm with poor grass.

(2) To the fact that what grass there was
was poor, and that in most years a large portion
of the seeds and root crops were only half or
even quarter crops. Though the farms were
nominally 1,000 acre farms, rarely more than
300 or 400 acres were under effective cropping.

(3) To the excessive amount of ground game.
I removed this last source of loss as speedily

as possible by exterminating rabbits and reducing
the number of hares.

With regard to the other sources of loss, the
way in which I proposed to meet them was :

(i) By substituting heavy milking dairy cows
for fatting beasts ; by trusting to arable land for
providing food for the cows, and for such beasts
as I decided to keep ; in other words by employ-
ing largely fodder crops — lucerne, sainfoin,
catch crops, etc.

(2) By endeavouring to improve such grass

30

The Landowner

as was capable of improvement, and by gradually
ploughing up and cropping the hopelessly bad
pasture.

(3) By so improving the land through better
cultivation and by the application of lime,
artificials, etc., that half and quarter crops
would be the exception instead of the rule and
the yield of all crops would be increased.

It was a large business to handle, and many
mistakes were made.

One of the chief mistakes, I think, was the
sharing of the services of the expert with several
of my neighbouring landowners. At the time
I was glad to take this course, but looking back
I am now convinced that my own 3,000 acres
alone, considering the condition they were in,
required more work than the one man could
properly give. In consequence of this joint
employment of an expert the whole plan failed
to a great extent in execution. But the chief
source of loss arose from increasing the head
of stock before we had sufficiently augmented the
supply of foodstuffs by means of fodder crops,
etc. We might have succeeded, however, if an
unusual drought had not supervened, which still
further reduced the supply of food on the farms
and necessitated large purchases of fodder and
even of straw, a course which is always disas-
trous to the finances of a farm.

I farmed these three large farms for four

31

Land Problems and National Welfare

years, and though the results were not all that
I had hoped for, at all events they justified the
employment of the expert.

The expenditure per acre was reduced, the
receipts were somewhat increased, and a loss of
£\ per acre was wiped out. This was due partly
to the reduction of ground game, partly to im-
proved prices, but largely to the constant, even
if not sufficient, supervision of the trained expert.

FARMS IN HAND

Gross receipts and expenditure in terms per
acre for the years 1899-1903, and 1905-08.

Receipts Expenditure

1899-03. 1905-08. 1899-03 1905-08.

Farm A. £2 i o £1 ^ i\\ £z \ o £1 11 3^

Farm B. 1 19 7 3 7 i 3 5 4 3 4 of

Farm C. 2 13 o 2 16 yi 3 17 2 307^

N.B. In the first period little was spent on

artificials, whereas in the second period

heavy purchases of these are included

in " Expenditure."

VALUATION PER ACRE

Farm A. Farm B. Farm C.

1899-03 £^ 18 o ;^5 14 o £b 1 ^

1905-08 605 628 534

The experiment quite convinced me that if

those English landowners who are now losing

on their home farms would follow the example

of their continental brethren and employ trained

32

The Landowner

experts, of the right sort, to supervise the farms,
the results would be satisfactory.

When I was unexpectedly deprived of the
services of the expert referred to, I was fortunate
in letting the three farms ; for I did not feel able
myself to give the necessary time to working
them, or to devote the capital required by so
large an area. I am sorry that the many ex-
periments which were of great interest to me
personally, and which might have proved of
public use, were in consequence dropped just as
they were beginning to furnish valuable data,
although I hope some day to take up the work
again on a 300 or 400 acre farm, which is a
better and more manageable size to experiment
upon.

To make clear the various ways in which I
think landowners can help the forward move-
ment in agriculture I will now summarise the
different points I have referred to in this
chapter.

(i) Combination comes first in order of im-
portance : the landowners of Great Britain
must combine if they wish to fight successfully
for the interests of the agricultural industry.

(2) Landowners must put themselves at the
head of the movement for land reform.

(3) To provide the means for carrying on
the agricultural movement a special parlia-
mentary fund should be created.

33 E

Land Problems and National Welfare

(4) As a definite method to secure the desired
co-operation, I should like to see every rural
landowner join the Central Land Association,
a society which exists wholly to advance the
interests of agriculture and which has formulated
a constructive policy as the objective for which
to strive.

(5) It is necessary that the rising generation
of landowners should prepare directly for their
career — fitting themselves for it as the pro-
fessional man does for his profession, as the
business man does for his business.

(6) That landowners should as far as pos-
sible have a resident agent on each estate ;
above all, that firms of solicitors should never be
employed for the direct management of land.

(7) There is much room for improvement
in the treatment of woodlands.

(8) Much good would undoubtedly result if
landowners would employ a higher class of men
as bailiffs, or, where large farms are on hand,
expert agriculturists, such as are found on the
large estates in Germany. If they are employed
profitably there, there is no reason why they
should not be employed with profit here.

(g) I think landowners could do much to
encourage co-operation among rural labourers;
first of all by aiding in the creation of credit
societies, and particularly by encouraging the
formation of co-operative associations for the

34

The Landowner

purpose of acquiring land either on lease or by
purchase. i\lso, in some districts the Belgian
system for enabling the men to buy or build
their own cottages could with advantage be
developed.

(10) Landowners could also help to increase
the number of proprietors by giving every
facility for purchase, particularly to the sitting
tenant. This is, however, still difficult ; and,
though many large landowners have been sell-
ing much land of late, many of them cannot
make arrangements for the tenant to become
owner because the machinery which an act such
as Mr. Collings' Land Purchase Bill would pro-
vide is still lacking. The chief point to remem-
ber is that it is better in every way to have a
10,000 acre estate perfectly equipped and in first-
class order than 20,000 acres improperly de-
veloped.

(11) And, lastly, I think much good would
result if landowners could make a practice of
never letting a farm to a man who already has
other farms. I find this a difficult principle to
live up to in the case of large farms, because it
is only the man already in a large way of busi-
ness who has the necessary capital. But in the
case of small and medium-sized farms there are
now, as a rule, plenty of applicants to choose
from ; and it is at all events possible to keep
any small farm of say 50, 80, 100, 150 acres for

35

Land Problems and National Welfare

a small farmer, and not to allow it to be swallowed
up by a large man.

A striking feature to be noted among
Danish landowners is the combination that
exists in the family itself. I mean the way in
which the younger sons take farms from the
head of the family and invest their money in
the land. They do this because it pays them,
and such a course has the effect of greatly
strengthening the position of a landed family in
the neighbourhood. Instead of the family being
represented as in England by its head only, there
are a number of units thereof living quietly on
the land and in close touch with the labourers
and farmers of the district. The system works
for agricultural unity, and makes the farmer,
labourer, and landowner feel in practice that
community of interest which is lacking in Eng-
land.

With us quite another system prevails : as a
rule the younger son takes his portion — takes
capital often provided by the land away from the
land — becomes a professional man, or a stock-
broker in the city. He does this very largely
because he believes that he could not make a
living if he invested his portion in the land.

Why is this ? The land of England is as good
as that of Denmark, the climate is better and
prices are higher. Is not this mistaken course
due to the fact that the education of our boys

36

The Landowner

is not of the right sort ?

The Hfe of a Danish younger son, Hving in a
dehghtful old manor house, making his hving,
and a good one, out of mother-earth, is surely
more attractive than a business career or the
drudgery of an office in a town.

I have drawn this picture more for the sake
of contrasting the two systems than with any
hope that the Danish customs could at present
be adopted in our own country.

I have made certain criticisms in this chapter,
and in bringing it to an end I must take this
opportunity of saying that I do not make them
from any feeling of disloyalty to my class. I
have simply mentioned specific features in our
existing system of landlordism which appear to
me prejudicial to the agricultural industry, and
which ought therefore to be remedied. Taken
as a class I believe the present landed pro-
prietors to be quite as capable of good and
efficient work as any likely to succeed them as
large landowners.

Before I had to do with land I spent a good
deal of my time abroad, and was generally heed-
ful to learn anything I could about the treat-
ment of land. It is, then, only natural that I
should view the situation rather differently from
the man who inherits an estate after being in
the main brought up upon it, or after having
passed his earlier years in military, naval or

Land Problems and National Welfare

diplomatic service. Such an exotic experience
as mine must tend to make a landowner less in-
clined to accept the existing order of things as
immutable, especially in directions where change
would clearly benefit the country.

The opinion that land cannot be made to
pay ; that land is a bad investment ; that the
individual estate, if a purely agricultural one,
only just pays its expenses, is the root of much
evil. This opinion is, I fear, held by the majority
of landowners, and it accounts to a great extent
for the attitude of the larger proportion of my
countrymen towards land.

I can only say again that I firmly believe that
what continental landowners have done with
their estates English landowners could do also,
if they would give their minds to it.

And let me add one word to those rich men
from the cities who buy land to enjoy its
amenities, and spend happy days in shooting :
cannot they also study the economic side of the
question, and the high responsibility of their
stewardship ? For to my mind the owner of
land is to a greater extent a steward than the
owner of wealth in any other form. These men
to whom I am referring could do much to intro-
duce intensive methods of cultivation. They
have money at their disposal, they have had a
business training ; and if in the process their
shooting should be somewhat curtailed — well,

38

The Landowner

has not every man his duty towards his country ?
They would reap a present reward in increased
interest in the land which would more than com-
pensate, if they are the right sort of men, for a
diminution in the bag of game.

Again I do not think that landowners feel, as
it is essential that they should feel, the transition
that has taken place and the changed attitude
of the people at large towards the land and
landowners.

Although many of my readers have un-
doubtedly read Herr von Zelter's most interest-
ing articles in the " Morning Post," I reprint them
here by permission, as it is interesting to learn
the point of view and the criticisms of a foreign
landowner and practical agriculturist.

"In Germany 17,500,000 people are employed
in agriculture, in England 980,000. The area of
the land devoted to agriculture is, of course,
greater in Germany, but it is not large enough
to account for this difference in numbers. The
German agriculture feeds a nation of 62,000,000
people, produces furthermore 20,000,000 double
cwts. (about 2,000,000 tons) of sugar, and alcohol
enough to dominate the world's markets. The
English agriculture furnishes only one-seventh of
the food required by a population of 36,000,000,
and, notwithstanding the fact that the consump-
tion of sugar is greater per head of the population
in England than in any other country, does not

39

Land Problems and National Welfare

produce one single hundredweight of sugar. I
will give what I believe to be the reasons why
agriculture flourishes in Germany and is declining
in England.

" German agriculture owes so much to England
— to mention only the improvement of the land
by drainage and the systematic breeding of
cattle and cultivation of wheat, which we learned
from England — that I should be glad if these
articles contributed towards discharging even a
very small portion of the debt of gratitude. In
my opinion the development of the German
agriculture has been favourably influenced by
four forces; namely, a suitable division of owner-
ship, the abandonment of the extensive method
of cultivation for the intensive method with the
help of science, the combination of agriculture
with industry for the production of sugar, alcohol,
and starch, and finally protective tariff" legisla-
tion. Two-thirds of the land in Germany used
for agricultural purposes is owned by peasants,
the other third is in the hands of the great
landowners.

" By far the greater portion of this land is
farmed by the owner; only a small portion is let to
tenants, and this little is mostly owned by the
State or by public institutions which endeavour
to leave it as long as possible in the hands of
the same tenant or his family. The result of
this division of ownership is a great stability ;

40

The Landowner

the vocation and the home are one, while love
for his birthplace and for his possession acts as
a final incentive to the farmer to retain for him-
self and his family the property he has inherited
from his father. This is only possible, however,
if great industry is exercised and many of the
joys and pleasures of life are foregone. In many
cases it is possible only when the entire family
works conjointly, and when the individual sacri-
fices his existence to serve the whole. In the
middle of last century Germany produced more
corn than was requisite for its own needs. From
that time onwards, however, the production of
corn did not keep pace with the rapid increase
of the population ; the importation of cheap
American wheat rendered the cultivation of grain
here unprofitable, and agriculturists realised that
attempts must be made to get more out of the
land in order to maintain its value by increasing
the production. Agriculture struggled upwards,
and from being a handicraft became a science.
Through the application of artificial manure,
through the improvement of the land by means
of drainage and subsoil-ploughing, and through
the development of new and more productive
kinds of corn, the yield was almost doubled. An
improvement of the stock was accomplished
simultaneously by the importation of better
animals for breeding purposes ; milch cattle
were imported from Holland, and large numbers

41

Land Problems and National Welfare

of sheep and pigs were brought over from Eng-
land to supply the growing demand for meat.

" And yet the cultivation of corn remained
unprofitable, for the increasing American export
inundated the country, unprotected as the lat-
ter was. Germany still held fast to the tradi-
tion of Free Trade. The German farmer, too,
was a Free Trader. The only branch of agri-
culture that paid at all was the cultivation of
sugar beet and potatoes. The fact was soon
discovered that by alternating corn and root
crops the land yielded far more corn ; sugar
factories sprang up all over Germany wherever
the nature of the soil permitted it ; and on
nearly every estate smoking chimneys showed
where starch and alcohol were being produced
from potatoes. Agricultural industry alone en-
abled the farmer to obtain some, though a
small, return from his land. But the fight
against foreign competition became gradually
harder ; Russia sent us cheaper rye than the
soil of Germany could produce, in spite of every
effort; America sent its superabundance of
wheat and meat, Australia its wool, while even
the Argentine and Canada seemed about to
become exporting countries. It looked as if
German agriculture would succumb under the
pressure of these circumstances ; the loss re-
sulting from corn-growing swallowed up the
profit made from the cultivation of roots, and

42

The Landowner

the peasant proprietor, who had adhered more
closely than the great landowner to the cultiva-
tion of grain, began to feel very insecure.

" Then came protective legislation as the
saviour of German agriculture. The fact was
realised that if agriculture were allowed to go
to rack and ruin half of the population would
be impoverished, that immense sums invested in
agriculture through the adoption of the inten-
sive method of farming would be irrevocably
lost, and that neither industry nor our Colonies
were able to absorb the starving crowds. The
result would have been an efflux of the most
robust element of our people to other countries,
which would mean an irreparable loss to our
nation and to our defensive force. The idea of
protective duties had, however, not taken root
among our people, and it was only with great
difficulty that the Government got the Reich-
stag to accept a duty which was so insignificant
that it contributed but little towards relieving
the growing needs of the agriculturists. It ac-
customed the people, however, to the idea of
a protective tariff; it did not, as had been
prophesied, react to the detriment of industry,
and it facilitated a raising of the duty which
soon afterwards proved to be necessary. Ger-
man agriculture was by this means enabled to
withstand the competition of countries produc-
ing cheaper corn.

43

Land Problems and National Welfare

"Agriculture had, however, suffered too much
to be able to recover quickly ; it ahuost ap-
peared as if the nourishment of the increasing
home population was an aim impossible for it
to attain. Farming seemed so unprofitable
that productive capital stood aloof from it,
debts were contracted and the land decreased
in value. Even the money necessary to carry
on the intensive method of farming was diffi-
cult to obtain, and only the tenacity with which
the landowner clung to the soil he had in-
herited gradually produced better conditions.
A general improvement set in, the price of corn
rose to a height which made the intensive
method of cultivating it seem profitable, and
the value of the land increased ; capital could
again be obtained easily, and the prospect of
the agriculturist was once more a fair one.
German agriculture has now almost reached its
goal ; last year Germany exported more bread-
corn than she imported, and the import of meat
is reduced to a minimum. Such is the develop-
ment of German agriculture ; it has risen out
of a struggle against terrible odds and against
want, but it would have been lost without pro-
tective tariffs.

" The agricultural conditions in England are
somewhat different. Three factors have contri-
buted there to reduce agriculture to its present
position : the system of ownership, the total

44

The Landowner

lack of an agricultural industry, and the want
of protection by the State. Most of the land
in England is in the hands of great landlords ;
very little of it is owned by farmers. The
great estates are divided into separate farms,
which, with insignificant exceptions, are let to
tenants, and it is the tenant farmer who makes
agriculture his vocation.

" This peculiar system of ownership has
proved to have many advantages and many
disadvantages,

" When the agricultural crisis set in in Eng-
land after the repeal of the Corn Laws it laid
the burden on the less powerful shoulders ; it
was responsible for the rapid decline of English
agriculture, but it has preserved the State from
a baneful catastrophe. Low corn prices re-
sulted in a reduction in the value of the land,
which means in England that lower rents can
be obtained from the farmers ; they reduced as
a matter of course the area of the arable land,
for only the best class of soil can, by means of
its greater productive quality, compete with the
new countries. The result was a permanent
falling-off in the production of corn and a
drifting away of the population.

*' The crowds of workers found new remunera-
tive employment in industry, while the farmers,
who were now without means of livelihood,
found new homes and better conditions in the

45

Land Problems and National Welfare

Colonies. They settled on the fertile plains of
Canada and on the pasture land of Australia,
and laid the foundation-stone for the World-
Empire of Great Britain as it exists to-day.
The tenant was able to shift the burden on to
the shoulders of the landlord. Natural inclina-
tion and the peculiarity of the system of letting
the land pointed to cattle-breeding. The Eng-
lishman is a great lover of animals. A tenant
will always apply his energies to the improve-
ment of what belongs to him ; he will not invest
more of his capital and of his work in land
which is not his own than is absolutely neces-
sary, but he will use every endeavour to raise
the quality of the live stock that is his own
property. Hence, therefore, the tiller of the
land became a cattle-breeder, who found his
pride and his joy in breeding the most perfect
animal ; and in this domain the achievement of
English agriculture has been magnificent. The
English breed of horses is still to-day unrivalled,
and the creation of new races of oxen, sheep,
and pigs, bred for their meat-giving properties,
is a model for the rest of the world.

" Cattle-breeding, even when carried to per-
fection, denudes the land of people. Intense
cattle-breeding and intensive cultivation of corn
are antitheses ; the one takes away the op-
portunity to work, the other provides the op-
portunity. Intensive tillage of the land, which

46

The Landowner

seeks to flourish in close connection with the
agricultural industry, thus became an impos-
sibility. It might have proved to be a remedy ;
not a thorough one, it is true, but it would have
sufficed to retard the fall in the value of the
land and to check the depopulation of the
country districts. I firmly believe that even
to-day it is capable of breathing new life into
English agriculture. I could not discover that
the sugar beet is grown anywhere in England,
and in reply to my question why it is not grown
there, I always received the answer : The sugar
sent us by Germany is so cheap that we cannot
compete with it. This I cannot understand.
The bounty system which formerly provided
England with such cheap sugar was given up
long ago ; the soil of England is for the most
part more fertile than that of Germany ; the
ground rent is less than in Germany ; on
similar soil the German farmer grows sugar
beet with success, and pays double the rent
that the English farmer does. There seems to
be no reason why the cultivation of sugar beet,
which is possible in Germany, should not be
successfully carried out in England. The
English land system is particularly favourable
to it ; the farmer could grow the beet, and the
landlord could run the factory in which the
sugar is extracted from it. Both parties could
be bound by long contracts, and both thus have

47

Land Problems and National Welfare

an interest in the profits ; the dependence of
each party on the other would facilitate the
introduction of the change and would ensure
the supply of material to the factory from its
own neighbourhood.

" I see only one difficulty in the way, namely,
the dearth of workers. Even this, however,
is not insurmountable ; it will have rather a
favourable effect than otherwise, in that it will
prevent a too rapid growth of the sugar produc-
tion, and enable Germany gradually to dispose
otherwise of her production. A factory which
is to prosper requires the produce of at least
2,000 hectares (about 5,000 acres), which means
that it must be surrounded by an area of at
least 8,000 hectares (about 20,000 acres). A
trained workman can attend to i to i^ hec-
tares of beet, which requires attention during
6 to 8 weeks in the spring and 3 to 4 weeks
in the autumn ; the employment of machinery
reduces the work required to be done by
human beings by 30 per cent. A farm of the
size mentioned above, devoted to the cultiva-
tion of sugar beet, thus needs from 1,400 to
2,000 workmen. A further difficulty arises from
the fact that the cultivation of sugar beet pro-
vides work for human beings only for a short
period of the year, but even this is not insur-
mountable. The residue from the beet sugar
factories forms excellent fodder ; the sliced beet

48

The Landowner

from which the sugar has been extracted is,
when dried, an excellent article of food, which
remains good a very long time, and is easily-
transported. In connection with the leaf of the
beet, which can be given to the cattle either
green or dried, this provides almost as much
fodder per hectare as turnips do, so that there is
no need to reduce the quantity of cattle kept.
The cultivation of sugar beet greatly benefits
the land. The subsoil farming which it requires
increases the productiveness of the soil, and the
advantage thereby accruing is as great for the
tenant as for the landlord. I believe that the
introduction of sugar beet growing into England
would prove very advantageous to English agri-
culture, and not disadvantageous to German
agriculture. I consider that it is impossible to
extend the cultivation of the sugar beet in
Germany ; the demand for sugar is increasing
with the growth of the population and the advance
of the general well-being of the people. The
export figures must and can decline without af-
fecting the German sugar industry detrimentally.
" The third of the factors which have been
harmful to English agriculture is the total lack
of protection accorded by the State by means
of tariffs. When the corn duties were repealed
the price of corn sank ; lower corn prices mean
declining rents, and result in a diminution of the
area of cultivated land. On the other hand, a

49 t'

Land Problems and National Welfare

protective duty of course produces a rise in the
price of corn and increases the value of the land ;
it is therefore perfectly comprehensible that
English agriculturists strive for protective tariffs.
" The question whether they will have Protec-
tion or Free Trade must naturally be solved by
the English themselves. Would the adoption of
protective duties, however, bring English agri-
culture nearer its aim ? Would it thereby be
enabled to nourish the population of the British
Islands ? What would be the probable conse-
quence of the adoption of a duty on corn ? An
augmentation of the value of the land, a better
livelihood for the tenant in occupation, and, of
course, also an mcrease in the area of the land
devoted to the cultivation of corn. The cultiva-
tion of corn, however, would soon reach a limit,
owing to the scarcity of agricultural labourers ;
there is little probability of workmen returning
to the country from the towns, for work on the
land has no charms for the townsman. The
prospect of possession, on the other hand, is
alluring to him ; the wish to own a piece of land
is inborn in every man. If, therefore, protective
duties are to be beneficial they must be accom-
panied by an internal colonisation on a large
scale. An endeavour should be made to create
afresh a peasantry, and a new class of land-
owners occupying an intermediate position
between them and the great landlords. Tenants

50

The Landowner

should be enabled to obtain possession of the
land they rent by paying off its price in instal-
ments. These innovations would assist the
protective duties, and the empty fields would
once again be peopled with industrious men and
women eager to remain on the land. Further-
more, the odium that they enrich one section of
the population at the expense of another would
not attach to protective duties, and this is a
feature calculated to be serviceable in the
political fights.

'* I may sum up my ideas as follows : there is
no question as yet of legislative measures for
the protection of the cultivation of corn ; and
English agriculture should therefore endeavour
to improve its situation by introducing agricul-
tural industry. Should this succeed, time will at
least have been gained to prevent further
retrogression. If, however, the English people
should adopt the idea of protective duties, the
introduction of these should be accompanied with
an agrarian reform that has other ideals than
the augmentation of the ground rents. Then
English agriculture will once again flourish."

51

CHAPTER II

THE FARMER

ii

NOTWITHSTANDING all this pro-
gress as measured by historical
standards, agriculture is not com-
mercially as profitable as it is entitled to be for
the labour and energy that the farmer expends,
and the risks that he assumes, and that the
social conditions in the open country are far
short of their possibilities. We must measure
our agricultural efficiency by its possibilities
rather than by comparison with previous con-
ditions. The farmer is almost necessarily
handicapped in the development of his busi-
ness, because his capital is small and the
volume of his transactions limited ; and he
usually stands practically alone against or-
ganised interests. In the general readjust-
ment of modern life due to the great changes
in manufactures and commerce inequalities and
discriminations have arisen, and naturally the
separate man suffers most. The unattached
man has problems that government should
understand.

52

The Farmer

" The reasons for the lack of a highly-
organised rural society are very many, as the
full report explains. The leading specific
causes are :—

" A lack of knowledge on the part of farmers
of the exact agricultural conditions and possi-
bilities of their regions.

" Lack of good training for country life in the
schools.

" The disadvantage or handicap of the farmer
as against the established business systems and
interests, preventing him from securing ade-
quate returns for his products.

" There are two great classes of farmers —
those who make farming a real and active
constructive business, as much as the success-
ful manufacturer or merchant makes his effort
a business ; and those who merely passively
live on the land, often because they cannot do
anything else and, by dint of hard work and the
strictest economy, manage to subsist. Each class
has its difficulties. The problems of the former
class are largely those arising from the man's
relation to the world at large. The farmer of
the latter class is not only powerless as against
trade in general, but is also more or less help-
less in his own farming problems. In applying
corrective measures we must recognise these
two classes of persons." — Report of U.S.A. Com-
mission on Country Life.

53

Land Problems and National Welfare

The landowner and the labourer play
important parts, but it is the farmer who
makes the agriculture of England, and it
is the average farmer, and not the exceptional
man, who sets the standard. I am glad
that my lot in life has led me to have deal-
ings with farmers, and they have ever been
pleasant dealings, the natural result of having
to do with practical men who make their living
off the soil — once the source of livelihood for
the majority of the sons of men, and which still
provides the best and happiest of all occupations.

The chief curse of our present civilization is
that it tends to separate man from the land.
Conversely, land is the greatest palliative of
all the evils this civilization suffers from. This
is not properly understood in England.

In this chapter I shall have to criticise — I
should not be an honest well-wisher to the
cause of agriculture if I did not criticise ; but I
offer my reflections in a most friendly and
sympathetic spirit. My interest is in agriculture
as a whole ; it is the cause of the agricultural
industry that I would make every effort to
advance, and not merely the wellbeing of land-
owner, farmer, or labourer apart from the whole.
It will be necessary for each section of the
industry to make some sacrifice before the con-
solidation of agricultural interests can be accom-
plished, but was ever a good cause furthered

54

The Farmer

without some sacrifice ? The landowner must
be ready to give up some of his sporting
amenities ; the very large farmer, in some dis-
tricts, must resign a portion of his farm for
smaller holdings ; and the labourer will have
to take his share by paying the rates on his
cottage, and by making himself a more efficient
cultivator.

Labourers cannot expect farmers to be willing
to give up land to men obviously incapable of
properly managing small holdings. There are
too many instances where the labourer has
proved himself to be anything but a competent
cultivator.

I have studied the farmer in many different
countries, in the New as well as in the Old
World; and one of the features that impress me
most strongly in English agricultural condi-
tions is the difference that exists between the
exceptional men and the average run of farmers.
Each county has its quota of show men, the
stars of their industry — men who can make
money whether agriculture is depressed or
whether it is prosperous.

In the past the English stage suffered much
from its star actors, brilliant exponents of their
art, made to appear still more brilliant by the
shortcomings of the rest of the cast, and the
whole play suffered; but this has been realised
and to a considerable extent remedied during the

55

Land Problems and National Welfare

last few years. There are now theatres in which
the average standard of acting compares favour-
ably with the continental average. As the star
actor was detrimental to the English stage as a
whole, so I maintain that the " star " farmer
has an injurious effect upon the agricultural
industry. In the first place he is cited as the
typical English agriculturist carrying on farm-
ing operations on a large scale and in a manner
superior to any farmer in the world. But he is
not typical — he is exceptional. I willingly
admit that his farming, qua the large farmer,
is about the best in the world. Alas ! it is also
far better than that of his neighbours.

I have compared 500 acre farms, as nearly
alike as possible in soil, buildings and market
facilities, and I have found the first-class farmer
producing perhaps ;^I2 worth of foodstuff per
acre — that is, the gross yield, the total amount
received for stock, corn, etc., divided by the
number of acres on the farm ; while other
farmers, the average men, had very different
results to show, ^7, £6, £4, and £;i per acre,
and some even less. Now the advanced farmer
would be a great power for good if his neigh-
bours would follow his lead and adopt his
methods ; but any observer with practical ex-
perience will, I think, agree that this is not the
case, but, rather that he has a discouraging
effect. The average man feels that Mr. So-

S6

The Farmer

and-So has reached an entirely different plane
of farming, and that it is useless to compete
with him or to emulate him ; his beasts
always take the prizes at the local shows, and
this does not encourage the average man to
exhibit his animals. We have what really
amounts to a class of professional breeders of
professional prize-winning stock.

And it is this handful of men, in each county,
exporting first-class stock to all parts of the
world, who have earned the reputation for the
English stockbreeder.

English stock has improved much during the
past hundred years ; but, although the average
run of beasts throughout our land is probably
superior to that in any continental country
there is still great room for improvement. The
system of shows and the original efforts of Coke
of Norfolk and the like, which had so great an
effect in the first half of the igth century, seem
now to have lost nearly all power to reach the
ordinary farmer and to improve the ordinary
stock on the ordinary mixed farm.

It is to my mind regrettable that farm statistics
are not given in terms of so much per acre, as
this method affords the best and clearest basis
for comparison.

The total amount of foodstuff produced
annually in Great Britain is in value about
;f 200,000,000 ; this, divided by the total area

57

Land Problems and National Welfare

under cultivation, (grass and arable), gives a
yield of a little under £\ per acre, which is a
low yield, considering the richness of our soil.

The first function of the land is to feed the
people of the country: in other words, to produce
as much foodstuff per acre as possible. And if
this is not being done under existing methods
and economic conditions, then conditions more
favourable to the land must be created — con-
ditions which will make it once more so decidedly
remunerative to cultivate arable land that the
12,000,000 acres of poor and unprofitable
pasture will be won back to the nation.

I have quoted the receipts per acre of six
large farmers, to show how enormously these
receipts vary ; it is not necessary ta go abroad
to make comparisons. Do not the figures which
I quote show at a glance what would be the
effect upon the food supply of the nation if the
average yield per acre were raised, I will not
say to approximately that of the show farmer,
but to that of the second on the list, making
an average of {j or ^8 per acre instead of ^4 ?

The test of true patriotism for the farmer is
the amount of foodstuff he can raise. His duty
to his country is to feed the people ; his duty
to himself and to his family is to make a fair
living off the land, and provision for his old age.
In Denmark those farmers whom I questioned
informed me that in from 30 to 35 years they

58

The Farmer

counted on saving enough money to retire upon.

So the test of the business capacity of the
farmer is the clear profit he makes per acre,
provided that at the same time he keeps his
land in good heart and his hedgerows and
headlands in proper condition. One often sees
the latter a perfect scourge to neighbouring
farmers. And surely it is only common sense to
argue that the greater the gross yield per acre
the larger is the margin of profit for the culti-
vator ? This is not invariably true, but in
general terms it is indisputable. How can a
man, paying los. per acre and obtaining a gross
yield of say ^^3 per acre, do his duty to the
country, to his family, to his landlord, or, most
important, how can he do justice to the land
itself?

In dealing with farm budgets I think the
most satisfactory way is to ignore tenant-right
valuation; thus violent fluctuations due to the
seasons need not appear in the farm books, and
taken over a period of years this valuation is
fairly constant. Study the gross receipts of a
farm over a period of years and you have the
amount of foodstuff which the farm is producing
for the nation. Compare current receipts and
current expenditure for a similar period and
you have the farmer's profit or loss. Included
in expenditure should be interest on working
capital and all depreciation under respective

59

Land Problems and National Welfare

headings ; but the valuation proper, (stock,
horses, etc.), which should of course be made
annually by a professional valuer, should be
kept apart fronn the current account.

The valuation, once a farm is in proper
working condition, should vary very little over
a period of years ; and whatever variation there
is would be entered as profit or loss on the
capital account.

It is a great misfortune that accounts have
not usually been kept in such a way as to show
the profit and loss on the different departments
of a mixed farm : i.e., the profit and loss on the
arable land, the grass land, sheep and cattle,
under their respective heads. We are sadly in
need of definite data as to the profit or loss on
arable land. To arrive at this requires by no
means an impossible amount of book-keeping, if
proper labour and foodstuff sheets be used.

I think it is best to consider each crop b}''
itself. Let us take for example wheat : on the
one side the total cost of cultivation, of arti-
ficials, harvesting, rent, rates, and the interest
on apportioned working capital ; on the other
side the receipts from the sales of wheat, the
value of home consumed wheat and of the
straw. The same system would hold good with
barley and oats, as also with mangolds, in their
instance selling them to the sheep and cattle at
fair market value. With a fair crop a profit

60

The Farmer

should be shown. Turnips and swedes present
the most difficuh case : here the cost of pro-
duction must go on the debit side, and the food
value to the sheep — not the cost price — on the
credit side. The loss on the root crops should,
in my opinion, be charged against the whole
rotation of the arable land, for their employ-
ment is one of the methods of keeping the
arable land clean and in good heart. By
following the above plan it would be possible
to arrive at the real profit and loss on the
arable land.

The Royal Agricultural Commission has pub-
lished hundreds of most instructive farm budgets,
which will repay careful study.

The question of the amount of foodstuff
grown in the country is of such great importance
that I cannot leave it yet. I think that perhaps
in the case of sheep farming the English
average is as high as possible ; though better
management of our second-rate grass land
would lead to its carrying a greater number of
sheep. But this certainly is not so in the case
of stock. A far higher head of stock could be
carried than is seen in England to-day, and
that not only without decreasing the amounts
of produce of other kinds, but actually while
increasing them. Everyone knows that during
the past twenty years the head of stock of all
classes has not increased in proportion to the

6i

Land Problems and National Welfare

amount of land laid down to grass, a process
which in many cases is synonymous with the
land in question going out of cultivation.
A very good grass land farmer told me quite
recently that whenever he took a farm he
counted on doubling or even trebling the
amount of stock it had carried under the pre-
ceding tenant. If this process of doubling the
amount of stock could be carried out on a large
scale the annual ;^45,ooo,ooo worth of imported
foreign meat could soon be reduced to a smaller
figure.

Before leaving this subject, and as a matter
of interest rather than for the sake of com-
parison, I will append tables showing the total
amount of home-grown foodstuff in several of
the leading agricultural countries.

DENMARK

Area of cultivated land, about 6,973,000 acres.

Value of home-grown foodstuff, ^^40,000,000.

This gives an average yield of just under ^^6
per acre.

Note. During the past 10 years the amount
of home-grown foodstuff has increased by 30%.

Average yield of wheat per acre is 40 bushels.

The average land in Denmark is of much
poorer quality than that in England, and the
climate is more severe.

62

The Farmer

BELGIUM

Area of cultivated land, about 4,000,000 acres.

Value of home-grown foodstuff, ^80,000,000.

Average yield per acre, f^zo.

Note. M. Vuyst, inspector general of Agricul-
ture, is the authority for the above figures.

For years Belgium has far exceeded all other
countries in its yield per acre, yet it cannot be
said that its agricultural population is as flourish-
ing as that of Denmark. The principle of sub-
dividing the land has undoubtedly been carried
too far, and agricultural labour is still wretchedly
paid.

Though some of the land is very rich indeed,
the soil of the whole province of Flanders is
poor ; and yet, from the great skill and labour
bestowed upon it, its produce per acre is equal
to that of the rest of the country. The fact
which the English agriculturist should most
take to heart is that while the proportion of
permanent grass in the cultivated areas of
Denmark and Belgium is very small, yet the
head of live stock per acre is much higher than
in Great Britain, or even in England and Wales
alone. In this comparison 8 sheep are taken
as equivalent to one beast or horse. This
number of sheep would be too high in the case
of the large Lincoln or Leicester sheep, but
taking the small Welsh and Scotch into ac-
count it is probably about right.

63

Land Problems and National Welfare

The following table gives an interesting

comparison of the total number of live stock

per square mile of territory in the respective

countries.

Live stock per sq. mile Milk Cows per sq. mile

Belgium 180 Belgium 76

Denmark 160 Denmark 71

Gt. Britain 133 Germany 50

England and Wales 160 France 36

Scotland 76 Gt. Britain 30

Germany 117

France 95

In one respect in particular Belgium affords
a better comparison for England than does
Denmark, in that she is a highly developed
manufacturing country, and yet has expanded
her agriculture beyond all rivalry.

These figures are from Mr. Rowntree's splen-
did book, " Lessons from Belgium."

FRANCE

Cultivated area, 90,000,000 acres.

Total production of foodstuff, ^^500,000,000.

Average yield per acre somewhat over £^ gs.

Note. Much land is cultivated in France
which in England would be considered too poor
for cultivation.

In igog the French produced 45,000,000
quarters of wheat as against the 6,000,000 odd
produced in England.

The consumption of wheat per head in France
is much higher than it is in England.

64

The Farmer

The French budget allocates ^f 1,200,000 a
year to the French Department of Agriculture.

The English Department receives ^^i 56,000 a
year ; and to my mind it is astonishing to see
the amount of good work which that depart-
ment does on so small a sum of money.

GERMANY

Cultivated area, 79,580,000 acres.

Total production of foodstuff, ;f4 17,000,000.

Yield per acre, ^^5 5s.

The above figures are taken from the State-
ment of German Agriculture specially prepared
for the Paris Exhibition of 1900, with such up-
to-date corrections as could be obtained.

In Germany less wheat is consumed than in
England, and more rye. Taking the continent
generally, more cereals are consumed per head
of the population than in England ; at least
double the amount of milk and of eggs ; and
about three times the amount of vegetables.

In England the consumption of meat is great
— the large consumption by the upper classes,
however, accounts to some extent for the higher
figures. (According to Mr. Rew's report).

English labourers consume 87 lbs. of meat
per head per annum.

English artisans consume 107 lbs.

The corresponding classes on the continent
65 G

Land Problems and National Welfare

consume from 73 to 80 lbs. per head per annum,
excluding horseflesh.'

I give this short precis of figures after having
studied every available publication on the sub-
ject. There is such diversity of conditions that
comparison is extremely difficult, and must at
best be wanting in complete accuracy. Also,
many of our English statisticians have, I
think, approached the comparison of foreign
and English conditions from the fiscal point of
view rather than from the purely agricultural
one. Further there do not seem to have been
any careful comparisons of international statistics
within the last 12 years or so, during which time
the home produce of the continental countries
undoubtedly has considerably increased.

In each case the total amount of foodstuff
produced at home means the annual amount of
meat of all kinds, milk, poultry, eggs, market-
garden produce and grain grown to feed
human beings. The estimated value of grass
and hay is not included, as these in the main go
to produce meat or milk.

In the above comparisons I have laid par-
ticular stress on the total amount of foodstuff
produced per head of the respective popula-
tions, because, as a rule, comparisons are made
between the yield per acre of wheat, barley or

• France produces /'13 of foodstuff per head of her population :
Germany £•] 10 o : England £^ 14 o.

60

The Farmer

oats in England and in other countries, and
the results are all in favour of our own. This
is misleading, and causes superficial observers
to assume that we are producing more than any
other country — that there is no farming like
ours, and that all is well with us; whereas careful
study of the conditions under which cereals are
grown in England and on the continent makes
it clear that the main reason why continental
yields do not show a higher average is because
the thrifty foreign peasant farmers grow oats and
barley, and especially wheat, on land that we
should scarcely cultivate at all. And if the
yields of our average wheat land were com-
pared with that of similar land in France or
Germany the result would not be in our favour.
I have one more grievance against the " star"
farmer : not only does he tend to discourage
other and less advanced farmers, but he blinds
the eyes of the public and even of agriculturists
themselves to the true standard of average
farming in England. And I fear that he is not
infrequently guilty of to some extent blocking
general progress for fear of its causing a diminu-
tion in his own personal profit. I do not for
one moment suggest that our splendid farmers,
the cynosure of all the world, should be abol-
ished or reduced in number : a levelling up
is what is required and not a levelling down.
But it is necessary that the present state of

67

Land Problems and National Welfare

affairs should be clearly recognised before it is
possible to begin to raise the standard of agricul-
ture ; and to this end we must further consider
the traits in the character of the English farmer,
and the various tendencies at work which have
not been beneficial to our agriculture.

I must mention Free Trade here and enter
into more details in a subsequent chapter.

English agriculture in comparison with that
of Germany, France or any other protected
country is penalised twice over. Firstly, because
it has been accorded no assistance, by means
of a tariff, against the competition of new
countries where land is cheap and rates and
taxes are low. And secondly, because it has
been entirely denied those abundant facilities
which have been so carefully created for agri-
culture on the continent — such as highly de-
veloped agricultural education, co-operation,
systems of marketing, and cheap transport.

The competition of new countries was, un-
doubtedly, the chief cause of agricultural de-
pression throughout the whole of the old world.
It created a crisis that had to be faced.

This unforeseen competition — Cobden, at all
events, did not foresee it, and Peel only agreed
to Free Trade because he thought it impossible
for wheat to sink below 45s. per quarter — was
met on the continent in one way, and in
England in a way entirely different. And

68

The Farmer

there is now Uttle doubt that the EngHsh
method was not the best, and that it has
proved most disastrous to agriculture.

The fiscal aspect is not now at all under
consideration, but only the manner in which the
farmers themselves dealt with the situation.

The English farmer met this competition, and
the resulting depression, by reducing his ex-
penditure on the land, by cutting down his
labour bill, by largely diminishing the tillage,
by ploughing four inches deep instead of six, by
working the soil less and by putting less into the
soil in the way of manure ; also, alas ! in many
cases by neglecting the hedgerows, ditches and
drains : in short he so reduced the expenditure
on the whole operation of cultivating the land
as in many cases to starve the soil, so that now
it will not even pay for the decreased amount of
care and money spent upon it.

To reduce expenditure is praiseworthy if it
can be accomplished economically, but starving
the soil is false economy.

On the continent the leaders of the agricul-
tural industry acted in the opposite way.

" How is this competition from new countries
to be met ? " they asked. By making each acre
produce more than heretofore, by spending
more on the land, above all by teaching the
cultivator better methods and showing him how
to increase his expenditure economically, i.e., to

69

Land Problems and National Welfare

his own best advantage as well as to that of the
land and the country at large. Recognising
that no country can flourish long if its agricul-
ture is in a bad condition, every continental
country has created a system of education
beneficial to agriculture, which is available
for the sons of all tillers of the soil ; and this
system of education has done more than any-
thing else to check the disastrous flow of
population from the rural districts to the towns.
Education was the basis of all agricultural
reform ; it was followed up by the creation of a
complete scheme of co-operation, which natur-
ally carried with it improved conditions of
marketing, and by a carefully developed system
of cheap transport.

But it is unnecessary to go into further details;
the development on the continent is now fairly
familiar to all interested in land, and I have
drawn attention to it here only to lay stress
upon the contrast between the two ways of
meeting the new world competition : the one
— an unwise reduction of expenditure below the
minimum required to keep land in good con-
dition ; the other — sound and economic increase
of expenditure on land to make it yield more
food for the nation and a larger margin of profit
for the cultivator.

As education is the basis of all reform, the
first step that should be taken in England is to

70

The Farmer

provide facilities suitable for farmers' sons —
sound, generous, general instruction, />/ws special
instruction in the elementary schools, and
still more directly agricultural teaching in the
secondary schools.

Wherever a young farmer of average ability
has taken a college course the results are the
same — he is ready to admit that he has learnt
better methods, has improved his powers of
organisation, and that he feels that his time
at the college was well spent. Even better
testimony comes from the father, who regrets
that there were no colleges available in his
day.

There are a few exceptions to this rule — I
have heard of fathers complaining that the
higher college instruction was worthless ; but in
these cases on careful enquiry it became fairly
obvious that the students themselves were
worthless — this being a point, however, that
could not be pressed in discussion. That a
very general feeling exists, at any rate among
Lincolnshire farmers, as to the usefulness of
college instruction is shown by the fact that
the Lincolnshire Farmers' Union have unani-
mously passed a resolution praying the Kesteven
County Council to contribute to the support of
the Midland Agricultural College.

On the question of co-operation, a subject of
almost equal importance with education, the

71

Land Problems and National Welfare

Farmers' Union does not speak with so certain a
voice.

In its earliest days one of the chief objects of
the Union was to induce farmers to co-operate,
and it is regrettable that it should find itself
more and more obliged to dismiss the subject.
There is not the slightest doubt that co-opera-
tion on a large scale would do more for the
immediate benefit of agriculture than any-
thing else — the farmer would reap advantage
in his sales and in his purchases and in a
thousand other ways, by belonging to a highly
organised instead of an unorganised industry.

In Denmark, where the average price of farm
produce is lower than it is in England, I think
it could be proved that a very considerable
proportion of the farmer's profits are due to his
working entirely in co-operation with his fellow
farmers.

But the theory and practice of co-operation
grows slowly in England, owing chiefly, I think,
to the following reasons.

First, the English agriculturist does not wish
to co-operate. There is the natural indepen-
dence of the Englishman ; he would rather
make a little profit entirely by his own effort
than a larger one in co-operation with others, —
the individualism we hear so much of. But is
not this individualism a myth rather than a
reality in the case of the majority of smaller

72

The Farmer

farmers ? Their " individualism " is largely
under the control of the local tradesmen to
whom they owe money, and in their individual
dealings with professional buyers and sellers
they often come off second best.

Co-operation gives full play to individualism,
but co-ordinates it for the good of the group.
It is only by educating the rising generation
to understand the benefits to be derived from
mutual aid, that the general antipathy to co-
operation can be overcome.

In the second place there are undoubtedly
many farmers who would join in the co-opera-
tive movement if they could; they are prevented
by the fact that they are so much in debt to
local tradesmen that they cannot support a
scheme towards which in many cases these
tradesmen are hostile. It would seem, there-
fore, that the first step must be to release this
class of men from their bondage by the creation
of credit banks ; and surely even Englishmen
would co-operate to obtain money. With a
large system of credit banks once in working
order co-operation in other branches would
follow.

Thirdly and lastly, the large and successful
farmer fails to see how he can benefit by co-
operation. He says, " I buy on such a large
scale and settle my account so promptly that I
get practically wholesale prices ; I should gain

11

Land Problems and National Welfare

nothing by joining a co-operative society."

For the moment I will grant that it is so, but
the large farmer would not lose financially by
joining a properly-worked co-operative society;
and even though his personal inclination might
be against it, is this not an opportunity for some
small degree of personal sacrifice for the good of
the community at large ? And it will not prove
to be altogether sacrifice, for it is unsound to say
that the large farmer has nothing to gain by co-
operation. A large farmer may be able to buy
and sell to the greatest advantage so long as
things are running smoothly ; but the moment
the merchants combine to raise the cost of a
commodity, or the dealers form a ring to lower
the price of farm produce, then the farmer,
however large, can do nothing if he stands alone.

Further, the Eastern Farmers' Co-operative
Societies and the Midland Farmer's Society are
composed to a great extent of large farmers.
Both are strong and flourishing associations,
and they give a concrete example of the benefit
of co-operation even to farmers on a large scale.

Some years ago the manufacturers of basic
slag were about arbitrarily to raise its price ;
but this attempt was frustrated by the threat
of various co-operative societies to import large
quantities of basic slag from Germany.

Every practical farmer must know of many
cases where rings have got control of the market

74

The Farmer

and have hindered the free and open sale of
the farmers' stock.

In a properly developed system of co-operation
the auctioneer's profits are divided among the
producers; and the danger of connivance
between the auctioneer and the professional
dealer is reduced to a minimum.

To pass on to other sources of loss.

English agriculture loses a considerable sum
annually owing to the wasteful and unscientific
way in which farmyard manure is treated. The
majority of farmers do not realise the very
great value of the liquid from their manure.
Too often, instead of being stored in tanks, it
is lost through the improper construction of the
yard bottoms, and it is even sometimes pur-
posely allowed to escape in the ordinary drains.
It is all the more regrettable that this careless-
ness exists, as the larger the amount of money
that is spent on cake in feeding the animals,
the greater is the relative richness of the liquid
excreta to that of the solid dung. Manure
should be regarded as capital, and so long as it
is anywhere except on the field it is intended for
it is capital lying idle, bringing in no interest.
The liquid ammonia now being lost in the drains
should be enriching the land. That the value
of this liquid manure is fully realised in
Denmark the tables below clearly show. In
America many farmers spread their manure

75

Land Problems and National Welfare

each day, little bedding being used; this method
secures the highest possible yield from a given
weight of manure, and it is astonishing what a
difference it makes to the crops.

The accompanying tables shew the respective
cost of building manure tanks for a varying
number of cows, as well as the total amount of
manure saved.

The tables are based upon the calculation
that each cow produces 660 lbs. of liquid and
1,500 lbs. of solid manure per month, the value
of the liquid manure being 7/- and of the solid
manure 3/6 per 1,000 lbs.

Stall-fed 6 months.

Stall-fed 10 months.

Number

Liquid manure

Solid manure

Liquid manure

Solid manure

of

Cows

Value of

Cost

Value of

Value of

Cost

Value of

liquid

of

solid

liquid

of

solid

manure

Tank

manure

manure

Tank

manure

10

fM

/30

£^5

/23

/35

;^25

25

35

45

38

5«

55

62

50

70

80

75

116

too

125

75

105

"3

115

175

140

187

100

140

145

150

232

175

250

Next we may make mention of a widespread
fallacy that has held sway for many years. I
refer to the belief very generally upheld by
farmers all over the country that it does not

76

The Farmer

pay to grow wheat, but that it does pay to
raise and fatten beasts.

Let us deal first with the case of wheat.
Many persons will doubtless say off-hand that
if the practical men, making their living from the
soil, declare that wheat-growing does not pay
their opinion must be correct. I should be quite
willing to accept their statement myself if I knew
that it was based upon well-kept accounts which
would show even roughly which departments of
the farm pay and which do not. As it is, I
prefer to accept the opinion of practical men
who back it with carefully worked out figures.
For instance, Mr. Hall of Rothamsted has held
for years that there is more money to be made
in corn growing than in rearing live stock. (Of
course the rise in the price of beef during the
past few months will, while it lasts, affect the
case as far as beasts are concerned).

I will now give a short account of Mr. Prout's
farm near Sawbridgeworth, which has been a
wheat farm for forty years. For a more de-
tailed account I must refer the reader to Vol. 66,
page 35 of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural
Society (1905): *' The world-famed experiments
of Lawes and Gilbert, carried out continuously
from 1843, had thrown much light on the re-
quirements of corn crops, and had shewn that
if regard be had to these requirements their
growth year after year on the same land, and

Land Problems and National Welfare

by the use of artificials alone was a possibility.

" However, what was needed was someone
who would take up the work from the side of
practical farming and demonstrate whether it
was possible to carry out such a system and
make it pay. If this were feasible, it was evident
that a wide area of strong land eminently suitable
for wheat growing could be remuneratively
cultivated. Mr. Prout, senior, working in con-
junction with, and under the expert guidance of
Dr. Augustus Volcker, set about making this
demonstration in the year i85i."

I think Mr. Prout affords almost the only
example of an English farmer working a large
farm under the direction of a great scientist ; it
is a distinction to be proud of, and his son, the pre-
sent Mr. Prout, has carried on the same system.
Many of our most intelligent farmers follow the
advice of agricultural experts regarding this or
that particular crop; the Scotch farmers are
availing themselves more and more of expert
assistance with their dairy cows, but I think I
am right in saying that there is no case so com-
plete as that of Mr. Prout. The more ignorant
agriculturists often say, "Oh, science don't do
any good for farming ; " yet these same men are
availing themselves of the discoveries of scientists
like Gilbert and Lawes every time that they dress
their roots with superphosphate, and they would
be better advised if they would respect the con-

78

The Farmer

elusions of present-day scientists more fully in
regard to the chemical treatment of their grass!
The two questions that the practical farmer
will ask in regard to Mr. Prout's demonstration
are, firstly, Can the land be kept clean and in
good tilth ? and secondly. Has the soil de-
teriorated under this system of cultivation ?
The present Dr. Volcker shews in the volume of
the Royal Agricultural Society already referred
to that it has not deteriorated. Mr. Prout's
farm is 450 acres in extent, the soil is cold heavy
clay. He owns his own land and so has complete
freedom of cropping. It is situated near Saw-
bridgeworth and commands a good market, con-
sequently the straw can be sold easily and well,
— this is certainly an essential when the price of
wheat is low. But Mr. Prout's is not the only
heavy clay farm within easy reach of a good
market, and much more might be done by baling
straw, where the marketing conditions are not
so favourable. In general terms Mr. Prout's
methods of cultivation are to get as much land
as possible under wheat in the autumn, — such
fields as he finds it absolutely impossible to sow
in the autumn he sows in the spring with barley
or oats, though it is not good land for either.
After six or seven consecutive corn crops Mr.
Prout interposes a crop of trifolium or red
clover, selling the hay. After such a crop the
wheat does not receive its artificial dressing, so

79

Land Problems and National Welfare

that 25s. per acre is saved.

This artificial manuring consists of 4 cwt.
mineral superphosphate and ij cwt. nitrate of
soda.

Mr. Prout ploughs largely by steam and keeps
no stock save eleven horses for farm work. He
puts his cost of production as follows : —

EXPENDITURE

Per acre

Steam ploughing, los. ; coals, 2s. ; man and

horse, is

£

13

0

Dragging and harrowing 4 times ...

4

0

Drilling ... ...

2

Sowing artificials

I

6

Rolling

I

6

Hoeing

4

6

Harvesting and thatching

16

0

Threshing

8

0

Marketing

5

0

Seed ...

6

6

Artificial manures

I

5

0

Rent

I

5

0

Tithes, rates and taxes

7

6

Interest on capital

8

0

^I

8

0

RECEIPTS

35 bushels of wheat at 31s. gd. per quarter £Q) 18 10

2 loads of straw at 25s. ... ... ... 2 10 o

Total 9 8 10

Deduct cost of cultivation ... ... ... 680

Net profit per acre £■>, o 10

80

The Farmer

As the farm is owned by Mr. Prout the rent
charged (which is above the average of the
locaHty) represents the interest on the capital
value of the land, and it is a very fair interest.
The other item of 8s. per acre is the interest
at 4% on the capital spent in preparing the
farm for the new system. So we see that after
receiving fair interest on the capital sunk in the
enterprise, Mr. Prout has a handsome sum
over for the remuneration of his personal work.

Comparisons may be odious, but they are
generally useful, so I now give another budget,
one of the few that I have been able to obtain
from farmers. This example is of a mixed
farm of 800 acres of medium land, rental 15s.
per acre, working capital ^^5,000.

On an average the farmer in question cleared
;^5oo per annum, which may be divided thus:

4 per cent, on ^5,000 capital ... ... ... ^200

Remuneration for personal superintendence ... ^300
Otherwise 7/6 per acre.

This is by no means a bad example, and yet
what a contrast it affords !

Mr. Prout undoubtedly spends a good deal
more than the ordinary farmer on his produc-
tion of wheat, and I am not sure that on an
average mixed farm, using leguminous crops to
the full, the cost of production need be so high,
especially when a rotation is adopted in which

81 H

Land Problems and National Welfare

two or even three white crops are grown in
succession.

Mr. Prout's figures are not estimates ; they
express actual results, averages over a period of
years : even taking the bad years, or rather a
group of bad years with low yields and poor
prices, a profit is still shown on wheat.

It is noteworthy that Mr. Prout never sold
wheat at 17s. a quarter, or at 15s., as an old agri-
culturist with much pride told me he had done ;
from which unique experience he argued that
wheat could never pay again ! The question of
wheat-growing is of such vital national import-
ance that we must consider every possibility of
increasing the amount produced at home.
Wheat is the all-essential from a defence point
of view. If we were growing at home every
ounce of foodstuff required, except wheat, it
would avail little ; the masses of the people de-
pend upon wheat, and last year we grew only
sufficient for about one-fifth of our population ;
or, to put it in this way : last year we grew
6,000,000 quarters of the 32,000,000 quarters of
wheat required. I shall now show that it would
be possible for us to grow a much larger quantity
of wheat than we actually produce. I shall put
the case in three different ways, and I think
even the most sceptical will accept the first case.

(i) Mr. K. J. J. Mackenzie, of the Agricultural
Department at Cambridge, works out the fol-

82

The Farmer

lowing interesting statement : —

" The whole arable land in England comes to
10,600,000 acres : under a strict 4-year rotation
one-fourth should be in wheat, on some land it
might be one-third, on other only one-sixth,
etc., but in my opinion it could average one
fourth over the whole area. This would give in
a single year 2,600,000 acres growing wheat
instead of the 1,600,000 odd actually devoted
to wheat last year. Now I believe that if wheat
was at a respectable price each acre could
easily be got to yield an average of 4^ quarters,
i.e., with wheat at 35s. to 40s. per quarter.

" We could afford to use more nitrate and give
our dung more to wheat than to roots ; we could
hand-hoe wheat, etc. As a conclusion we
arrive at —

.•. 2,600,000

X 4-5
= 11,700,000 quarters

to be grown in England.

" This, instead of being one-fifth of the
32,000,000 quarters wanted, is nearly two-fifths.
As we now get over 500,000 quarters grown
in the rest of the United Kingdom, this gives
12,200,000 quarters produced at home.

" My point is that instead of growing, as we
now do, less than one-fifth of the wheat we
require, we ought to grow nearly one-half, and
that without breaking up any grass land.''

83

Land Problems and National Welfare

(2) This is really a corollary to (i). Taking
the same area, but supposing two white crops
in succession instead of one, we should then
get 2,300,000 quarters more, or a total of
14,500,000 quarters.

(3) I shall now approach the problem some-
what differently and consider the acres that
were formerly under wheat in England.

I do not suggest for one moment that it
would be profitable or wise for us to return to
the whole area devoted to wheat when it was
fetching fabulous prices. I believe that we once
had some 9,000,000 acres under wheat, and, con-
sidering our total area, it is obvious that a large
proportion of that land was never at all suitable
for wheat growing. But the converse is true
to-day that we have much land under grass
which would do better under wheat, and which
would come under wheat again if the farmer
thought 40S. or 45s. per quarter could be
maintained.

My point is that it would really pay the

farmer to bring much of this land under wheat

at a much lower price than 45s. ; for myself, I

would put the price at 35s. or even at 30s. per

quarter. Taking the cost of production on an

average mixed farm at £^ per acre :

4 quarters at 30s. ;^6 o o per acre.

Value of the straw i 10 o

£7 10 o^:

Leaving a margin ol £2 10 o for profit.

84

The Farmer

In time it should be possible to work the
yield up to 4.5 or even 5 quarters (which is the
Danish average) per acre.

I contend that we could go back to the area
under wheat in 1850, when the whole nation was
practically fed on home-grown stuff. The area
then was 5,000,000 acres; this at 4 quarters to
the acre would give us 20,000,000 quarters, or,
if more than one white crop were grown in suc-
cession, over 24,000,000 quarters : in either case
the danger of starvation in time of war would
be removed.

As a practical man I am well aware that it is
impossible to make the farmers view the matter
in this light so long as the present conditions
exist ; it is therefore necessary to alter these
conditions sufficiently to induce the farmers to
return to arable land.

It is very easy to see how this belief in the
unprofitableness of wheat arose. It was only
natural that a class of men who so little
utilise the guide that good book-keeping affords
should at once jump to the conclusion that it
could not possibly pay to raise a product whose
selling price had dropped suddenly from 50s. to
30s. per quarter.

In connection with wheat-growing. Professors
Wood & Biffin of the agricultural department
at Cambridge are doing most important work.
They are producing a new wheat by crossing

85

Land Problems and National Welfare

English with Canadian corn, and have obtained
a wheat which has the Jiigh starch percentage of
the Canadian wheat while retaining the heavy
yielding qualities of the English.

It is time now to deal with the other half of
the fallacy that we are endeavouring to combat:
that "feeding" stock pays.

We will admit that the pedigree stock of the
star farmer pays him well ; that the grazier
possessing good grass land generally makes a
fair turnover on stores or on half finished beasts
that he buys at a reasonable price ; we grant
even that the average mixed land farmer may
make a small profit on any yearling beasts
that he sells for over ^f lo each. But on this
class of farm — and it constitutes a large pro-
portion of the land of England — there is a
heavy loss on every three-year-old beast sold.
The ordinary method in vogue is that one cow
shall spend her whole time in rearing one calf.
That cow in one way or another, and counting
the percentage of cows that miscalve, costs at
least £g per annum to feed and maintain. This
being the case, how can that wretched calf show
a profit at any period of its career ? I hear the
practical man who has not studied accounts
say that the manurial value must not be lost
sight of. Well, there would be still more manure
if each cow were made to bring up from 4 to
6 calves per annum, and there would be far more

86

The Farmer

chance of the calves showing a profit as stores
or two-year-olds. I know a very good farmer
who practises this method, and his beasts pay.

Naturally, calves reared in this fashion will
not have quite the bloom that the entirely
suckled calf has; still much depends on how
the thing is done, and, financially, quantity will
more than atone for some slight loss in quality.

I know well the objection there is to buying
in strange calves, and the difficulty in many
places of getting them ; and the only possible
way that suggests itself to me, by which the
one -calf -per -cow system of raising bullocks
could be brought to pay, is by making lucerne
the chief foodstuff for the cattle of all ages. I
believe this to be one of the cheapest forms of
fodder for cattle, but I would like to see my
impression confirmed by careful experiment at
several agricultural colleges.

As things are, there is little doubt that dairy
cows are the class of cattle that pays best.
But in England, we are years behind the times
both in our treatment of cows and in our sub-
sequent dealing with the milk. Even in dairy
districts milking cows are kept which have de-
plorably low yields of milk. It costs little more
to keep a cow yielding 800 to 1,000 gallons of
milk a year than one giving 300 or 400 gallons
— but the difference in profit is enormous. It is
no exaggeration to say that in a few years' time

87

Land Problems and National Welfare

the yield of milk per cow could be doubled
throughout the country if careful records were
kept of each cow's yield, if heifers from the
heavy yielders only were put into the herd, and
if pedigree bulls of milking strain were used.
In other words, milk-control centres, such as
exist in Denmark and in the south of Scotland,
should be created all over the country.

Little attention has been paid to the scientific
feeding of cows (or of beasts either) ; and the
enormous difference in the cost of foodstuff per
gallon of milk is shown in the September (1907)
number of the Journal of the Board of Agricul-
ture. It seems hardly possible that one farmer
should produce milk for 2jd. per gallon, while a
neighbouring farmer (and a successful man too)
spends an amount on foodstuff for his cows which
works out at yd. per gallon.

In France farmers can afford to sell milk for
4Jd. per gallon, in Denmark for 4d. and 5d.
There would be an unlimited market in England
for milk at such prices.

Our poorer classes, even in the country,
hardly know what milk is ; there are large dis-
tricts where labourers' families can rarely get
even skimmed milk. And the price, I2d. to i6d.
per gallon for fresh milk, prevents a large class
of the population from using anything like an
adequate amount.

The dairy farmer who sells his milk to the
88

The Farmer

milk dealer gets 6d., yd., Sd., and gd. per gallon,
according to the district and to the time of year.
The milkman retails at I4d., i6d. and even i8d.
per gallon. This is a tariff of loo per cent. —
for the cost of distribution and for the middle-
man's profits.

In Denmark the work of distribution is done
for 30% of the original cost — and this includes
the profits of the milk company as well.

In Danish cities the milk is handled with far
greater care and cleanliness than is the rule in
England, glass bottles hermetically sealed be-
ing common instead of our bad system of tin
cans. English milk is exposed to such insani-
tary conditions that a very large number of out-
breaks of scarlet fever and diphtheria have been
directly traced to contaminated milk. The
Danish dairy herds are now nearly free from
tuberculosis owing to the systematic way in
which badly afiected cows have been killed,
and those slightly affected strictly isolated.
The government of Denmark considered the
question to be one directly affecting public
health, and therefore gave the farmer com-
pensation for the cows which had to be killed
for the public good.

I have seen dairy farms in America where
600 cows in milk were carried on 1,000 acres ;
another of 500 acres with 400 cows in milk.
Much the same ratio is to be found in

Land Problems and National Welfare

many districts on the continent ; one small
farmer in Denmark carries 50 cows on his 50
acres, and I believe the highest ratio of all
is to be found in our own island of Jersey.
The reason why these farms can carry so large
a head of cows is that the farmers put their
trust in arable land, and not in grass land, for
providing the food for their cattle. This con-
stitutes one of the great differences between
the English and the foreign farmer: the former
considers grass land the chief source of food-
stuff for his cows, and to a great extent for his
beasts as well ; the latter looks to his arable
land to give his cows and stock home-grown
food of every kind.

Grass land is not an economical source of
food supply, except in certain favoured districts.
I have seen it estimated that in Holland and
Belgium farmers produce four and five times as
much food per acre for their cattle as we do in
England, that is, comparing the yields of the
heavy fodder, root and straw crops with our
average yield of grass, hay, roots and straw.
The chief advantage is gained in their use of the
fodder crops.

Nothing can be more deplorable than the
way in which the grass land is neglected in
many districts in England, and almost as a
general rule the land laid down to grass during
the last 40 years has been so poorly sown, and

90

The Farmer

subsequently so little cared for, that it is now of
low value. And yet that its potential value is
considerable even as grass is clearly shown by
the experiments at Cockle Park, where by wise
and absolutely economical treatment grass land
originally worth 5s. per acre rose in a few years
to 30s. per acre in annual value. Most of the
facts I am recording are, I think, quite well re-
cognised in England ; but they are lost sight of
to a great extent, from the fact that there are a
large number of persons — chiefly politicians —
who go about assuring the farmers that all is
well and that there are no men in the world
like English farmers. I agree : they are splen-
did men and they have been shamefully treated
by these same plausible gentlemen, who want
their votes, and in consequence have not the
courage to point out to them any short-comings.

I shall now shortly summarise the different
points I have endeavoured to make clear, which
appear to me to be adversely affecting English
agriculture ; and then I shall try to form an
estimate of the extent to which agriculture
(and the nation) would benefit if these defects
could be remedied and the industry could be
re-organised.

(i) Defective system of agricultural educa-
tion.

(2) Consequent want of organisation in farm
operations.

91

Land Problems and National Welfare

(3) The lack of a widely extended system of
co-operation.

(4) The deleterious effect of the star farmer.

(5) The absence of systematic book-keeping
on most farms.

(6) The wasteful treatment of manure.

(7) The fallacy that growing wheat does
not pay, but that raising three-year-old bullocks
on average mixed farms does pay.

(8) The undue dependence upon grass land
instead of arable for the source of cattle food.

(g) The widespread neglect of grass land. —
If there is to be grass land let it be the best
possible.

(10) The low milk yield of the English
dairy herds.

(11) The extravagant feeding of beasts and
cows ; this certainly makes manure richer in
nitrogen, but it is not an economic way of
applying nitrogen to the soil.

If these shortcomings could be surmounted, I
am sure that the average farmer would derive
far greater profit than now from his operations
on the land ; and if agriculture could be trans-
formed into a highly-organised industry, and the
waste of our cultivated land reduced to a
minimum, I think the agrarian population would
reap advantage under the various headings and
to the extent which I now suggest in detail.

;f 122,000,000 worth of foodstuff (not includ-

92

The Farmer

ing maize, rice, cattle food or the products of
tropical countries) was imported from foreign
countries in igo8. Vide Board of Trade Report.
Of this total I estimate that the following
amounts might well be produced at home by
our own agriculturists :

(I)

Butter

/"ao, 000,000

(2)

Cheese

1,325,000

(3)

Eggs

7,000,000

(4)

Poultry

900,000

(5)

Meat (Beef, Pork, Mutton)

20,000,000

(6)

Horses

442,000

(7)

Wheat and Flour

26,000,000

Barley

3,000,000

(8)-

Oats and Oatmeal

2,400,000

'Rye, Peas, Beans

1,110,000

(9)

Apples ...

900,000

(lo)

Small fruit

1,400,000

(lO

Vegetables (raw and preserved)

1,300,000

(12)

Potatoes

1 ,400,000

(13)

Tomatoes

£^600,000

(H)

Lard and lard imitations

4,000,000

Total ^91,777,000

The ;f32,ooo,ooo worth of foodstuff — the
difference between the ^^g 1,000,000 arrived at
in the above table and the total amount im-
ported from foreign countries — should be trans-
ferred to our Colonies. The chief item in this
;f 32,000,000 worth would be meat of all kinds,
the total importation of meat being some
^^48,000,000.

93

Land Problems and National Welfare

For the sake of completeness I append the
following table.

Imports of foodstuffs from British
possessions

^3,821,000

5.35y.ooo

28,000

11,930,000

118,800

13.895.000

1,112,000

211,000

135,000

415,000

87,800

78,000

14,000

706,000

25,175

5,072,000

294,000

60,000

Total A3.371.775

Under the re-distribution and guiding of the
sources of supply I suggest that some ;^30,ooo,ooo
worth of foodstuff now brought from foreign
countries should be purchased from our colonies.
And such tropical fruits as bananas, oranges,
lemons and nuts ought to come entirely from
British possessions : yet we purchase ^^6,492,000

94

(i:

Butter

...

(2

Cheese

...

(3:

Eggs

...

(4:

Meat

...

(5]

Horses ...

...

(6j

Wheat and Flour

...

{?:

Apples

...

(8]

Bananas

...

(9]

Small fruit

...

(10]

Lemons, Oranges

and Nuts

("

Pears, Plums and

various

(12:

Hay

...

(13

1 Hops

...

(14

Lard and Margarine ...

(15

1 Poultry, Game, Onions, etc

(16]

Potatoes

...

(17:

Tomatoes

...

(18.

Various

...

The Farmer

worth annually from foreign countries. I have
not so far enumerated all the advantages which
might accrue to England from scientific organi-
sation. I have put the possible increase of
home produce at ^fg 1,000,000. I shall proceed
to indicate other sources of possible profit,
though the figures now will have to be more or
less conjectural.

^g 1 ,000,000

5,000,000

5,000,000

(1) Total suggested increase in home pro-
duced foodstuff

(2) The milk supply of the country ought
to be developed to yield a further ...

(3) If the loss from badly-handled manure
were reduced ...

(4) If English railway rates were as low
as on the continent

(5) If a complete system of co-operation
were created this would necessarily involve
the reform of the present system of marketing.
I have heard shrewd farmers belonging to a
strong co-operative society say that this as-
sociation stood them in half their rental. A
complete system all over the country would
do much more than this — would, I am con-
vinced, benefit the farmer to the extent of
his whole rent.

This would at once mean some ^40,000,000
annually.

Total benefit to British Agriculture ^101,000,000

Some statisticians have worked out the amount
of foodstuff produced per agriculturist. This is
interesting, but not, to my mind, the right way

95

Land Problems and National Welfare

of estimating the produce of the land. For
instance, on virgin soil with up-to-date machinery
one man could look after a large number of
acres and produce a prodigious amount of food-
stuff, qua " man-production," but the yield per
acre would be small This is actually the case
in America.

Again, if the present school of economy
maintains, I can almost picture the day when
there will be but one British Agriculturist left —
zealously watched over by the Government as
an object of historic interest. This engaging
object might beat the record of production per
man, but he would not do much to feed the
nation.

Mr. Crawford, in a paper read before the
Royal Statistical Society some twelve years
ago, estimated that if we grew at home all the
foodstuffs we imported, we should want in the
United Kingdom an increased area of arable
land amounting to 23,670,000 acres apportioned
as follows :

For Wheat ... 5,900,000 acres.

4,000,000
2,200,000
4,640,000
6,930,000

23,670,000 acres.

Beef

IMutton

Dairy Produce ...
Feedins: stuffs for animals

In my table of suggested increase of home
produce I do not mention imported cattle food,

96

The Farmer

which reduces Mr. Crawford's total by nearly
7,000,000 acres, leaving some 16,000,000 acres as
the amount required. I further suggest that we
should continue to buy foodstuffs from our own
possessions to the extent of some ^70,000,000
annually. This will still further reduce Mr.
Crawford's 16,000,000 acres.

Finally, we have the 12,000,000 acres of poor
grass land to which I have already referred,
and this area would go far towards producing
the extra foodstuff which I maintain that we
could provide.

At present this area is giving a first-class
example of the law of diminishing returns ! I
do not advocate universal " spade cultivation "
but I deprecate the widespread waste of land.

It is said that " Every bushel yielded be-
yond a certain limit is unprofitable." This is
quite true, but uncertainty reigns supreme
amongst average farmers as to where that
limit is, and if the margin cannot be profitably
extended in one way, this might quite possibly
be done in another. In Denmark the yield
of wheat has been raised some 25% during the
past few years ! I rather believe in the law of
"increasing returns:" it is at any rate a healthy
dogma to embrace. Take, for instance, the
development of our milk supply : if this were
organised as it is in Denmark, our farmers would
not be forced to endure the fear of having milk

97 I

Land Problems and National Welfare

left on their hands; they would feel more inclined
to go in for heavy milk yielders instead of light,
and the head of cows would steadily increase, —
and the more cows, the more manure. Cows
kept on grass land do not help to increase the
yield of rotation crops to so great an extent, but
when they are kept entirely on arable land the
yields of all crops go up, so that we have more
cows, more pigs, more manure, more corn, man-
golds and seeds to the acre.

Turnips would be the crop which would have
to be most materially reduced under the new
system, and signs are not wanting that these are
already beginning to decline in favour.

I am glad to think that it will not be necessary
for us to emulate the overworked Belgian, who
indeed wins a prodigious return from the soil,
but at too great a personal cost.

The development I am advocating is one
that is quite possible ; one, moreover, that will
not run counter to the character of English
agriculturists when once they are organised.

I am not for one moment claiming that every
individual farm now yielding, say, ^^3 per acre
gross return, could be made to yield double
that amount with economic advantage ; but I
do claim that by paying special attention to the
development of the production of those articles
of food for which the demand largely exceeds
the supply, and by generally adopting intensive

98

The Farmer

methods of cultivation — particularly on the
220,000 small farms now existing in England —
the total quantity of home-grown foodstuff
could finally be increased two-fold. To secure
this end great changes are necessary : more
small farms and small owners must be created.

But I hear the commonplace platitude being
thrust at me : the English system of land tenure
is the best in the world, and the relations between
landlord and tenant are so happy that tenants
would not become owners even if they could.
No one more than I would deprecate the destruc-
tion of the system of landlord and tenant, but
— like the House of Lords — the system wants
mending and not ending. Evils have crept in —
to a great extent during the period of acute
agricultural depression — and must be eradicated;
and, a matter of even greater importance, the
system needs bringing up to date to meet the
requirements of the times.

Quite recently, at an important meeting of
the Farmers' Club, Mr. Anker Simmons read a
paper upon the question of Ownership versus
Tenancy.

He said that the question was in reality an
economic one, and that it was deplorable that
it should be made a political matter at all. He
then proceeded to argue in favour of the system
of tenancy as opposed to that of ownership.

The paper was most carefully prepared, and

99

Land Problems and National Welfare

the conclusions were sound and logical from
one standpoint — that of the large tenant farmer.
They were conclusions to which practically all
those who were present could agree, for nearly
all were large tenant farmers.

But unfortunately the point of view is too
narrow. The tenure of land is a national
question, and as such it must be a social and
political question as well as an economic one.
And every year it will enter more and more
into all social and political questions, and this
fact tenant farmers should clearly recognise.

But even from the purely economic point of
view, though the present system of land tenure is
undoubtedly a satisfactory one for the tenant
farmer, I think I have made it quite clear in
preceding pages that it is by no means as satis-
factory to the average run of rural landowners.
The net rental received does not represent a
fair interest on the landowner's capital, so that
it is only a question of a few years before land-
owners will be forced from business considera-
tions (quite apart from social or political
pressure) to take steps to put their finances on
a sounder basis. It is for this reason that it is
expedient for farmers to support a comprehen-
sive land purchase bill, which would provide
machinery that could be used when land was
changing hands or on any other occasion when
it would prove a boon to the tenant farmer.

lOO

The Farmer

I am well aware that from the tenant's point
of view his capital is better employed as work-
ing capital on a rented farm, than if sunk in
the actual purchase or part purchase of the
land itself. But the tenant would not be asked
to sink his capital in the purchase of land — he
would have it as at present for stocking his
farm ; and the land bank (or its equivalent)
would supply the purchase money on easy
terms.

Even with the most perfect arrangement I
know that the idea of maintaining buildings in
repair fills the mind of many a tenant with
alarm ; — that many average men could hardly
find an extra ;/^20 a year to spend upon repairs.
But when our agriculture is organised there will
be credit banks to help in such matters — though
the man who is working on such a narrow
margin that he fears that he cannot pay for
necessary repairs is clearly under-capitalized for
the size of his holding, and cannot at the
present moment be doing his full duty by the
farm.

Mr. Simmons, to support his contention that
the present system of land tenure was the most
satisfactory possible, cited tbe case of a man
who began life with two hundred acres and was
now farming twenty-two thousand acres. It is
some consolation to reflect that fortunately
there are not many such men in England, for

lOI

Land Problems and National Welfare

it is depressing to think of the number of
smaller farmers that such a man necessarily
deprives of good homes and holdings. The
tenant farmer must take a wider view of the
land problem ; he must realise that the land
must be put to the best use for the nation ; that
it does not exist simply to fatten farmers of the
twenty-two thousand acre class. Above all, the
large farmers, who form associations and meet
together in clubs and who consequently are
most in the public eye, must remember that
one half of the total number of the farmers of
England are men who hold less than 50 acres
of land ; they must realise that it is the average
men who set the standard of agriculture in the
country, and so they — these large farmers —
should feel themselves morally bound to aid all
measures that will benefit the average farmer.

Sixty or seventy years ago the Danish system
of land tenure closely resembled ours, but now
82% of the occupiers own their farms — the re-
maining 12% being tenants, chiefly very large
farmers. All classes of agriculturists seem to
be satisfied and content — the farmer, whatever
the size of his farm ; the landowner, who has
retained as much land as he wants ; and es-
pecially the labourer, who has generally a small
holding of his own.

In England only 12% of the farmers own the
holdings they cultivate. This is altogether too

102

The Farmer

small a proportion, much smaller than it was
in the good old days of English agriculture,
before the sturdy yeoman disappeared.

Just as it is an evil for the landed estates of
England to fall into the hands of a few, so is it
an evil for the large tenant farmer to lay farm
to farm until he holds several thousands of
acres. In the interest of the agricultural indus-
try as a whole, no landowner should own more
than 20,000 acres (of average agricultural land)
at the outside, or should have more than one
large place ; and on the other hand it would
be well were it impossible for a tenant to hold
more than 1,000 acres. Land of average
agricultural quality is here referred to. The
absentee farmer is really more injurious to
the industry than the absentee landlord.
The farm on which the farmer himself lives
will always produce more per acre than the one
which he runs with a foreman.

A first-class farmer on 500 acres will get as
much produce from each acre as he possibly
can ; he will also be making a good living, but
to ensure this he must do his best by the farm.
The case is quite different when this man takes
a second farm of 500 acres — there is not the
same incentive to do his best by the new farm,
for it is not necessary to obtain his entire
living from it. If he makes a profit of only £100
net this sum will pay him, for it will add an

103

Land Problems and National Welfare

extra hundred to the income he is making from
the old farm on which he lives.

The very large tenant farmer came into
existence, or at all events increased in numbers
to a great extent, during the period of agricul-
tural distress, at a time when only the good
business man with large capital at his disposal
could take the larger farms at all, and even he
would take them only at a much reduced rental.
The poor landowner was not master of the situ-
ation— he was thankful to get rid of his farms
at almost any price. But, although times have
now greatly improved, the area cultivated by
these very big farmers still tends to increase.
It is a practice harmful to the industry and
unjust to the agriculturist at large. It is not
a sound argument to say that because this class
of farmer makes his business pay he should
be allowed without let or hindrance to swallow
up farm after farm. It is clearly a case of a
very small class of men doing harm not only to
their industry, but to the nation. If a large
farmer with, say, 500 or 1,000 acres wants to
increase his income, let him farm his land more
intensively — double the yield per acre instead
of taking new farms. Thus he would benefit
the country as well as himself, and he would
not be preventing others from obtaining land.

It is seriously wrong for a farmer to hold 5,000
acres in a district in which a hard-working and

104

The Farmer

capable man can make a fair living off 25 acres.

And from a national point of view small
farmers of the 25 acre type are much more
valuable and useful citizens, and lend a far
greater stability to the social fabric, than the
labourers who work for the large farmer and
who have no direct interest in the land. Yet I
know many land agents who still follow the
practice of letting a neighbouring small farm to
the large tenant, instead of on principle keeping
it for a small farmer. These very large farmers
are hostile on the whole, I fear, to small hold-
ings— it is in human nature that they should be
so ; but in many districts the only land available
for the creation of small holdings is held by
these men. Naturally, in the effort to create
these I should be strongly opposed to any direct
injustice being done to the very large farmer ;
he must be treated with every consideration,
and in case of disturbance must be given fair
and reasonable compensation. But the right of
access to the land must not be denied to the
many, simply because the process causes some
inconvenience to a few men in possession of
uneconomically large holdings.

I would rather see the required land taken
from the very large farmer than a single field
from a man with under 300 acres — which should
have been the minimum named in the Small
Holdings Act. Depriving such a farm of a

105

Land Problems and National Welfare

single field— even when full compensation is
given — upsets all the farming operations far
more than the taking of loo or 200 acres
from a 1,000 acre farm. Of course, however,
the best method to pursue, when possible, is for
the Small Holdings Authorities to take farms
as they come into the market, and so cause no
disturbance at all. But quite apart from any
consideration of the requirements of the Small
Holdings Act, it would be far better for the
country if the 1,000 acre farms were divided
up into 300, 400, or 500 acre farms.

There may be a few districts in England
where the 1,000 acre farm is the economic
holding, but generally speaking this large farm
was originally held in several separate farms.

I have heard more than one hard-headed
Yorkshire farmer say that in his opinion no
farmer should hold more than 300 acres of
average good land. And I have heard many
of the older generation of farmers complain
that the number of the smaller farms has been
so much reduced that young men have not the
same opportunity that formerly existed for ac-
quiring suitably sized holdings upon which to
begin their careers ; and that, in consequence,
the ladder by which such men might rise
has now lost many rungs. There seems to be
a very general inclination amongst the average
run of farmers to take larger farms than they

106

The Farmer

can either properly capitaHze or manage. This
tendency must also be put down to the influence
of that period of depression when landowners
were forced to lower the amount of capital
required per acre ; with improving agricultural
conditions landowners will doubtless be able
to remedy this. But nothing can be worse for
the land, the landlord, or the farmer himself
than an under-capitalized farm.

Before ending this chapter I must deal with
the question of land purchase. The tenants on
the majority of large properties are undoubtedly
content to remain as they are ; but the case is
different on many of the small estates of under
4,000 acres, which are not paying concerns, and
which must in consequence disappear, or at all
events must become the property either of men
who can make them pay or of men to whom
it is immaterial whether they pay or not.
In these cases it would certainly be better for
the tenants themselves not only to have the
opportunity, but to be afforded facilities for
purchasing their farms, when the estate comes
into the market.

And even in the case of large rural estates —
say those over 10,000 acres — the proprietors who
depend entirely on the land for their livelihood
are finding more and more that they are far
richer in capital than in income — in other words
that their capital is not well placed, and that it

107

Land Problems and National Welfare

can be better invested by removing it from the
land and putting it into securities. This Hne
of action has also the further advantage
that it enables the landowner to place at all
events a portion of his capital beyond the reach
of socialistic legislation. As I have said before,
I sincerely hope that we shall always see land-
lords and tenants in England ; but at the same
time it is essential that machinery should exist
whereby the tenant would be able to purchase
his own holding should it be to his advantage
to do so.

Much capital is being made by certain poli-
ticians of the Land Holdings Act of 1907.
Undoubtedly this has some good features, and
I have not heard of its affecting adversely
the relations of landowner and tenant, as some
feared it would do. It secures to the farmer
great latitude of cropping, or at least it is sup-
posed to do so ; but in this respect I fear the
Act is somewhat nullified by the narrow-
mindedness and want of elasticity on the part
of many of our valuers.

With this increased freedom of cropping a
much greater degree of inspection on the part
of the land agent will be required to see that
the land is not let down ; but this will be
no drawback. It is to be regretted that the Act
does little to protect the small farmer from
excessive damage by game. It provides, in the

108

The Farmer

case of a farmer with land adjacent to coverts,
that reasonable compensation shall be paid for
damage done by pheasants; but in the event
of rabbits coming out of the said coverts in
their thousands and devastating the surround-
ing fields, the farmer can put in no claim — the
Ground Game Act is supposed to afford him
sufficient protection. It does not however do
so. Take the case of a small farmer whose
whole time should be given to the cultivation of
the soil : how can he find opportunity to snare
rabbits, or to shoot them ? On the first shot the
rabbits all retire to the wood, where he cannot
follow them. A large farmer can employ a
rabbit catcher ; this a small farmer cannot do.

The branch of Agricultural Reform that rests
entirely with the individual farmer is that of
cheapening the cost of production ; we are not
an economical race, and there is room for
enormous saving in this direction amongst the
general run of farmers.

Co-operation would materially help to this
end. English farmers must remember this
indisputable fact : that without unity they will
never be in as strong a position as the highly
organised foreign farmers ; the advent of a
tariff, even were it double the amount any
government would dare to impose, could not
alter this fact.

I have endeavoured in this chapter to point
log

Land Problems and National Welfare

out the various shortcomings that exist in our
system of agriculture in the hope that my
criticism may lead those most concerned to
give these shortcomings their serious attention.
It is too often said that all that English agri-
culture wants is protection — but Tariff Reform
by itself will not regenerate the industry if the
other evils I have referred to are left un-
remedied. And let those men who maintain
that nothing can be done to mend English
agriculture, so long as the present low prices
prevail, remember this — that the Danish agricul-
turists, wisely backed by their Government, have
effected the complete organisation of their
agriculture in spite of the fact that over a long
range of years the prices of farm produce have
been some 20% lower in Denmark than in
England.

There is one important point that I must
not omit. In the chapter dealing with land-
owners, I said that they ought to see either that
a portion of their subscriptions to party funds
should be ear-marked for the purpose of
advancing the cause of agriculture in Parlia-
ment, or that a separate fund should be started
with this object ; and I must repeat the same
words in connection with the farmers. They
should ensure that a certain number of tenant
farmers are returned to Parliament, so that
when questions affecting land are before the

no

The Farmer

House, men shall be present who make their
whole living out of the land.

The first thing necessary is a special Parlia
mentary fund.

About 170,000 farmers occupy farms of over
50 acres in England and Wales : if each man
could be induced to subscribe 2s. per annum to
such a fund an income of ;/^i7,ooo would be
provided — not a very large amount, but sufficient
to begin with and to do much good to the cause
of agriculture. Or, better still, if every occupier
of agricultural land — there are 450,000 — could
be induced to give is. per annum a fund of
^22,500 would be provided.

I should be grieved if this chapter gave the
impression that I am belittling English farmers
as a whole. I think it is wonderful how they
have stood up against adversity — how, disunited,
they have nevertheless withstood the com-
petition of new countries, and that in spite of
the fact that they have been more than neglected
by their own government, while their foreign
brothers were given every possible aid. Further,
they have had to pay more than double the
railway rates paid by continental farmers.

Yet with all this the standard of comfort and
style of living is certainly much higher in
England than amongst the continental agri-
culturists, with the sole exception of Denmark.
This does not however preclude the fact that

III

Land Problems and National Welfare

there is still room for much improvement. As
the beginning of the igth century saw a great
movement amongst farmers, due to a large ex-
tent to the efforts of that wonderful man,
Coke of Norfolk ;* so it is to be hoped that the
early years of the 20th century already see the
beginning of a movement which will in the end
secure the complete organisation of our greatest
industry.

Practical farmers who read this chapter
may not agree with all my criticisms, but the
staunchest upholder of existing conditions can-
not escape from this main fact, that it is the
duty of the farmers to feed the nation, and that
they are feeding at the present time barely
one-half of the population, and, in the case of
wheat, only one-fifth.

If it is the duty of the farmers to feed the
people, it must be made reasonably profitable
for them to do so ; and clearly it is the duty of
those who rule the country so to alter agricul-
tural conditions that it will be possible for the
cultivators of our soil to perform their duty
and feed the bulk of the population, as the
cultivators of the soil are now doing in con-
tinental countries, whether protected or free.

* Note. Mrs. Stirling's " Coke of Norfolk " (John Lane) is so in-
structive and, in my opinion, so important a contribution to agricul-
tural literature that one may hope to see it republished ere long in a
cheap edition to enable it to reach a large public, including practical
farmers.

112

CHAPTER III

THE RURAL LABOURER

IN my chapter on education I shall try to
make clear how unpractical is the training
given in our elementary schools, and in no
class is this more evident than among the
sons of the rural labourers.

It would not be reasonable to expect a child
— considering the conditions — to get home
training of any value in our overcrowded cities ;
but in the country conditions are somewhat
different, and one feels that there should be
more opportunity than there is for the children
to learn at home. That they do not, is largely
due to the fact that the present generation of
parents, themselves products of our modern
education, are not capable of teaching them.

Many persons connected with local education
still oppose the introduction of certain types of
instruction into the school, contending that this
instruction is best given in the home. This con-
tention may be true in principle, but the attitude
is harmful, nevertheless, to the very cause which
such persons have at heart.

113 K

Land Problems and National Welfare

It is wiser to recognise the sad fact that the
wage-earner's children of to-day are usually
taught nothing in their homes ; and, instead of
wasting time in vain regrets, it would be well
to see what steps can be taken to supply in
school hours the needed practical instruction.
And if practical manual instruction were to be
embodied in the school course, it may well
prove that 20 years of such education might
recreate those conditions which would again
make home instruction possible.

Consider the case of the ordinary rural
labourer. By far the greater number have no
land to cultivate for themselves; very many,
even of the married men, make a change of
home almost yearly; and when the labourer is
lucky enough to have an allotment this is often
so far away from the cottage that the family
can do little work on it. The children of these
men have clearly little chance of learning any
practical agriculture at home.

Now the Education Authorities can do much
in giving the right bias to education, by pro-
viding continuation classes, farm schools, etc. ;
but the fact remains that the best training for a
country lad is to work with his father on his
own plot of land, so that the development of
small holdings has also an important educational
value.

Access to land must also be the chief induce-
114

The Rural Labourer

ment offered to the more intelHgent youths to
encourage them to stay upon the land.

In times past common lands were to be found
all over the country, and the majority of the
labouring class had certain common rights.
These commons furnished good runs for the
labourer's poultry, keep for his few sheep, and
even for a cow or two.

Access to this land was of great value
educationally for the reasons I have pointed
out, and also as a means of supplementing the
low agricultural wage ; above all, as a means for
working on to better things.

It is sorrowful to have to say it, but the
labouring man does not now possess the oppor-
tunity that he had in days gone by to improve
his condition. His wage may have increased
somewhat, but all his interest in the land
has been removed by the enclosure of the
common lands.

As the agricultural labourer was deprived of
direct interest in the land, so he became less
intelligent, and a less good worker.

The incentive to effort produced by holding
even a small allotment is most striking, pro-
vided that the land is situated in a suitable
place. It is astonishing what a large sum a
good labourer will succeed in putting by, before
he reaches the age of 30, if only he can get
hold of a piece of land.

115

Land Problems and National Welfare

From the point of view of scientific cultivation,
perhaps, the common land was not being put to
the best use, but an effort might have been
made to improve its treatment. It was not
necessary to dispossess the labouring class.
Had the government of the day possessed fore-
sight they would have stayed their hand and
not have allowed a large class having no con-
nection with the land to come into existence,
thus increasing that great danger to the stability
of society, a landless proletariat.

But apart from this point of view the policy
was of itself an unrighteous one, for it was the
robbery of the poor legalized by Acts of Parlia-
ment.

It is remarkable that during the period in
which this disastrous policy was pursued in
England, a contrary course was being adopted
in many continental countries, and peasant
ownership was created or increased. In Prussia
the great landowners made an attempt to
swallow up the small proprietors, but the king
and his great minister. Stein, were too wise
to allow the movement to make headway.

We do not study as we should the history of
land and of the tillers of the soil. In the
ordinary history courses too much attention
is given to long strings of facts which are
soon forgotten, and not sufficient time is
allotted to the lessons which these facts teach,

ii6

The Rural Labourer

or to the history of social conditions and to the
great part that land plays in the development
of every nation.

Wat Tyler's rebellion, for example, is re-
corded in most histories as a mere rising of
peasants, but to understand its inward meaning,
and the feeling that actuated these rustics, it is
necessary to read such a book as Mr. Jesse
Collings' " Land Reform," a volume which
should become a national classic.

Land provides us with our whole means of
subsistence and it is well to know something
about it !

No reference to the condition of the rural
labourer would be complete without some short
mention of that veteran champion of the cause
of agriculture and the betterment of the rural
labourer, Mr. Jesse Collings, the member for
the Edgbaston division of Birmingham.

For years his has been the only voice raised
in favour of land reform ; he has reiterated in
season and out of season, in the House of
Commons and outside it, the demand that
Parliament and the nation at large should pay
more attention to the condition of the agri-
cultural industry and that of the rural labourer.
Himself the son of a labourer, he has been a
strong advocate of the policy which he believed
would most benefit the labourer and agriculture
as a whole — the creation of a class of small

117

Land Problems and National Welfare

freeholders. Though the interests of agricul-
ture have always been nearest his heart — believ-
ing as he does a flourishing agriculture to be
essential to the welfare of the nation — he has
ever shown himself an imperialist in the truest
and best sense of the word ; he has consistently
put the welfare of the people before the interests
of party.

At last, after a hard struggle of upwards of
half a century, he has lived to see the Unionist
Party definitely accept his policy for facilitat-
ing the purchase of land by occupiers of all
descriptions.

The old proverb says, " Better late than
never," but it yet remains to be seen if the
Unionist party have not delayed too long in
listening to Mr. Collings' advice.

It remains to be seen if the nation at large
will now give the time to carry out a policy of
land reform which ought to have been begun
years ago ; or whether the Liberal party, with
their counter policy of nationalizing the land,
will not upset the Unionist schemes.

The condition of the rural labourer was
possibly at its lowest ebb during the years
immediately preceding Joseph Arch's move-
ment. Rural labourers were then so wretchedly
paid that foreign writers used to point to the state
of the farm labourer as a disgrace to England.
The wages of urban workmen had been rising

ii8

The Rural Labourer

steadily, thanks largely to the efforts of the
Trades Unions, but it seemed impossible to
induce the rural labourers to combine — circum-
stances were all against their doing so.

Still, when the right man — in the person of
Joseph Arch — appeared, he succeeded in obtain-
ing a greater amount of cohesion than has been
known before or since, and his union had the
most practical result of raising the wages of
farm labourers throughout the kingdom, — East
Anglia, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, varying
in degree according to the local strength of
Arch's Union. Thus began the improving of
the general condition.

Unfortunately, this improvement is not at
all uniform, and there are still many counties
where the wages are deplorably low. Thirteen
and fourteen shillings a week is not enough upon
which to bring up a family — even admitting that
the house rent is low.

In Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Northern
counties generally higher wages prevail, averag-
ing about 1 8s. per week all round: and it is safe
to assume that i8s. per week in the country is
fully equal to 22s. per week in a city, while, over
and above the question of hard cash, the country
man has undoubtedly in many cases a consider-
able quantity of garden produce, which makes a
great difference to the healthy feeding of the
family. It is fairly safe, I think, to conclude

119

Land Problems and National Welfare

that most families of rural labourers have, under
normal conditions, sufficient food to keep them
in a fit condition, which, alas ! is not the case
with a large percentage of the families of urban
unskilled workmen.

It is regrettable that more weekly budgets
are not available to show the household ex-
penditure of the rural labourer. I have only-
been able to find one or two, which I tabulate
below ; and for the sake of comparison I in-
clude in the tables some examples of urban
labourers' household budgets which I have
taken from Lady Bell's instructive book, " At
the Works."

I also quote various paragraphs from Mr.
Seebohm Rowntree's work, " Lessons from
Belgium," as bearing on the subject before
us.

" The Belgian small-holders are quite as
well fed as even the highest class of town
workers."

The next paragraph applies to urban work-
men and not to country labourers.

" The Belgian workman devotes a larger
proportion of his income to food; he can do this
because his rent is less, 117% of total income
as against 18% in York."

It is a very important fact for rural workmen
to realise that, in spite of the possibility of
higher wages in towns, there is actually a large

J20

The Rural Labourer

proportion — Lady Bell shows it to be 30% in
Middlesborough, Mr. Rowntree 25% in York —
of workmen, who from one cause or another
cannot provide their families with enough food
for the maintainance of full physical efficiency.

" The Belgians eat less meat, but more fish,
twice as much butter, but only one quarter as
much dripping."

" The English eat six times as much sugar."

" The Belgians eat 40% more bread ; more,
and a larger variety of vegetables."

" In Belgium families with an income of
14s. 6Jd. per week are, as a whole, better
nourished than families in York whose average
income is 19s. 8d."

The former choose their food much better,
and whereas is. buys 240 grains of protein and
7,124 calories, is. only buys 179 grains of protein
and 5,585 calories in York.

" The Belgian working class spend much less
on clothes than do the English, chiefly because
the standard of dress is decidedly lower."

The foreigners are sensibly and sufficiently
clothed, but they do not like putting more
money than is necessary into clothes or furni-
ture, as the money so sunk becomes unpro-
ductive capital. This study of the cost of
living is most important — " because it may
help thoughtful employers to determine whether
the wages they are paying constitute a living

121

Land Problems and National Welfare

wage, and enable us to say whether any given
families possess a margin of income available
for thrift, or whether, in expecting them to save
money, we are expecting what can only be done
at the cost of physical deterioration."

AGRICULTURAL LABOURER

Income 14s. per week
(Number in family not stated)

s.

d

Rent of cottaf^e

I

9

Bread

2

6

Firing

2

6

Meat

3

0

Ale and Tobacco

I

3

Tea, Sugar, Soap

2

6

^r

6

In addition there was the produce from the
garden.

The average income of a labourer's family,
assuming that the man is in regular work (losing
3j weeks from bad weather, work on allotments,
and holidays), and that there is no other bread
winner, is as follows : —

40^ weeks' labour at 13s. i^d.

4 » M )> 1 6s.

4 >» »' »' 24s.

Profit on allotment, garden, pigs,
Charities, gleanings, etc.

Equals i6s. 4d. per week.
122

£

S.

d.

26

II

6f

3

4

0

4

16

0

7

0

0

18

0

A2

9

6f

The Rural Labourer

The following is the yearly expenditure of a
labourer with a wife and four young children.

£

s.

d.

Rent (landlord pays rates, etc.) .

3

i8

0

Coal

2

12

0

Faggots

12

0

Bread and Flour

7

l6

0

Bacon

6

12

0

Light

9

0

Sugar

I

0

0

Ditto for preserving and fruit

15

0

Rice and Tapioca

16

0

Tea

4

0

Butter

10

0

Lard and Suet

6

0

Washing Materials

6

0

Cheese

5

0

Blacking and Black lead

2

6

Salt and Pepper, etc. ...

4

6

Vinegar for pickling ...

3

6

Sick Benefit Club

I

0

6

Clothing Club

13

0

Writing Materials and Stamps

13

0

Boots (mending not included)

2

5

0

£z^

8

~6

URBAN LABOURER
Mrs. A.'s Budget
Income iSs. 6d. Family Three

s. d.

5. d.

Summary

Rent ...

... 5 6

Yeast

I

Coals ...

... 2 4

Milk

3

Insurance

7

I box Globe Polish

I

s. d

Clothing

... I 0

I lb. Soap

3

Rent ... 5 6

123

Land Problems and National Welfare

Meat ...

I St. Flour

J St. Bread meal

I lb. Butter ...

^ lb. Lard

I lb. Bacon ...

4 lb. Sugar

f, lb Tea

s. d. s. d.

I 6 I packet Gold dust

I 5 3 oz. Tobacco ... <

Summary

4i
I

9

J St. Potatoes
Onions
Matches ...
Lamp Oil...
Debt

Insurance
Coal ...
House
Food ...
Clothing
Tobacco
Debt ...

i8 6

i8 6

Mrs. B.'s Budjret
Income £i i o. Family Three

s

d.

s. d.

Summary

Rent

5

6

I Tin of Milk

ii

Coals

2

2

I lb. Soap

3

Gas Coke ...

3i

I lb. Starch

4

Insurance ...

7

3 oz. Tobacco

9

s.

d.

Clothing

I

6

I box Globe Polish

I

Rent ...

5

6

Meat

I

8

I box Zebra Polish

I

Insurance

7

I St. Flour ...

I

5

Firewood

4

Coals and

J St. Bread meal

4i

Blue

oi

Coke

2

5i

Yeast

I

Lamp Oil

2

House

I

3i

I lb. Butter ...

I

2

Matches & Candles

2

Food ...

7

7i

1 lb. Lard ...

2|

Debt

O

Clothing

I

6

I lb. Bacon ...

9

Cat's Meat

I

Tobacco

9

^ lb. Tea ...

9

J St. Potatoes

3

Debt ...

I

o

4 lb. Sugar ...

S

Bath brick

I

Firewood

4

£^

oh

£^

oh

Mrs. C.'s. Budget
Family Seven. Income ^i 6 o per week

s. d.

5 o Summary.

I 6
3

Rent

Sick Club and Insurance
Coals, Light, Firewood
Tea, Sugar, etc....
Rice, Peas, and Barley...
Butter, Lard and Bacon
Flour

Food
2 5 Rent

6 Insurance
2 C Coals and Firing
2 lo Clothing ...

124

s. d.

12 II

5 o

1 6
3 o

2 6

The Rural Labourer

s. d. Summary s. d.

Butcher's Meat ... ... 3 6 House 6§

Soap, Soda and Blue ... 6^ Sundries ... 6

Milk I 2 £\ 5^^ii

Boots and Clothing ... 2 6 Balance to credit o\

Sundries ... 6 o z-j 7 I

;fi 5 "i
Balance to credit o^

ix 6 o

The condition of the rural labourer and its
amelioration is a very large subject ; but the
following would seem to be the chief points to
consider :

(i) How best to give back to the rural labourer
that direct interest in the land which he had
before the millions of acres of common land
were enclosed.

The provision of small holdings for the
labouring class, with a view to turning as many
labourers as possible into small farmers, making
their entire living off their holdings, will do much
in this direction. This policy has been carried
out successfully in many continental countries,
and farmers need have no apprehensions on the
score of shortage of labour, as the sons of these
small holders will provide a most excellent type
of worker.

Further provision must be made for men
who will not make their entire living off their
holdings, but who will work, say for 150 days in
the year, for some neighbouring farmer.

125

Land Problems and National Welfare

And allotments must be provided tor the
regular rural labourer on which he can work in
his spare time, aided by various members of his
family.

Allotments have been available for many
years past, but they have been by no means
generally successful ; in many cases they have
gradually got into the hands of one or two
men — usually village tradesmen. I think this
want of success is often due to attempting
entirely unsuitable croppings. I remember one
man who would persist in growing wheat on his
one acre, hiring a labourer to do ploughing,
harrowing, etc., and naturally at the end of the
year he had little profit to show. Undoubtedly
it often pays to grow a little barley for the
pigs, but I believe most in potatoes and other
vegetables, as, even where there is not a good
market for them, these supply the family with
wholesome food that could easily represent
^8 or £io in value. I believe that the model
allotments run by the Oxford County Council
are doing much to improve the cropping and
treatment of allotments generally in that county.

A specific capable of general application
is undoubtedly that of providing more good
cottages with gardens for the married men, and
thus reducing the floating rural population ;
and though this pre-supposes a landowner with a
good deal of capital wherewith to build cottages,

126

The Rural Labourer

still I think much more could be done in this
direction than is being done. I do not believe
it is sufficiently realised on what easy terms
money can be obtained through the Board of
Agriculture. In the case of the ordinary mixed
farm, one cottage per loo acres is about the
usual ratio ; but I know of large farms where
the ratio has within recent years been raised to
one cottage to every 50 acres, thus benefiting
the landowner, the tenant and the labourer.
In such a case the labourers are nearly all
married men, who do not flit at the end of the
year as is generally the case with unmarried
men.

Another and most important means of
directly interesting the labourer in the re-
sults of farming operations would be by ex-
tending the system of profit-sharing. A few
men, I believe, are doing this, with good
results, and Lord Rayleigh even goes so
far as to encourage his men to invest their
savings in the farm, thus securing a share in
the farm capital and a limited voice in the
management. I think this is an excellent ex-
periment and might prove most successful
where a landlord is farming, but it is hardly to
be expected that tenant farmers will follow this
lead.

There is another development of the profit-
sharing system which I tried on one of my large

127

Land Problems and National Welfare

farms, namely, that of giving a bonus to the men.
I cannot speak very definitely as to the result,
as it was in vogue for one year only before the
farm was let, but on the whole it seemed to
work satisfactorily. The bonus given to the
men did not wholly depend upon the farm mak-
ing a profit, for it seemed unfair that they
should receive no benefit for extra good work
simply because the farm showed no profit owing
to circumstances which the labourer could not
control. So, of the bonus, 25% was affected
by the profit or loss on the farm, the other 75%
was given as the reward of merit, for general
willingness and obedience, capacity and atten-
tion to work. For instance, a man would lose
marks for neglecting machinery, horses, etc.

This bonus worked out in most cases at about
5s. per month and was paid monthly, and the
men seemed to like the extra bit of pocket
money they received ; any act of carelessness
was brought home to them forcibly when only
3s. or 4s. or 4s. 6d. was given instead of the full
5s. and this course proved a means of fixing
responsibility.

I mention this experiment for what it is worth.
It would be interesting to see it tried by several
people and over a period of years.

(2) How to make the rural labourer realise that
he is an integral and important factor in the
agricultural industry, and that what benefits the

128

The Rural Labourer

industry should and must inevitably benefit
himself.

The provision of small holdings, as touched
upon earlier in this chapter, will also apply
here, for the more the labourer produces the
more he will be interested in seeing fair prices
maintained for agricultural produce.

Doubtless the adoption of a system of profit-
sharing would also help. I have heard a labourer
suggest that there should be a minimum wage,
and that the increase should vary with the price
of wheat ; but this would not be practicable, and
the question of how to reach the rural labourer
and bring him into the agricultural movement
still remains a difficult problem deserving of the
most careful attention, for numerically the
labouring class is the most important in the
agricultural community. To this end the
development of small ownership, if not unduly
forced, will certainly greatly help.

One must clearly recognise the existence of
an apparent divergence in the interests of farmer
and labourer before it is possible to suggest
measures which would tend to minimise that
divergence. The labourer unduly magnifies the
difference of interests. The farmer wants low
wages and high prices ; the rural labourer
wants high wages and low prices.

The difference in the attitude of farmers and
labourers towards the question of the cost of

129 L

Land Problems and National Welfare

food will disappear as the labourers themselves
more and more become producers. And farmers
will not cavil at the rate of wages if a really-
capable race of workers can be turned out by a
more practical education and improved con-
ditions, particularly if the pursuit of agriculture
can be made more remunerative to the average
farmer by the scientific organising of the in-
dustry.

Taking things just as they are, the attitude of
the labourers towards the price of foodstuffs
would be much affected if they would combine —
for example, if they would run co-operative mills
and bakehouses. The wheat would be bought
wholesale from the farmers and the tariff of
the middlemen saved, and there would be the
offal to divide amongst the members.

This is a suggestion that was made to me by
a labouring man, and I believe that it could
be carried out in many districts. This man
further maintained that, as bread is the chief
item of food for the labourer's family, this would
mean a saving of 20 or 30% in the yearly food
bill, taking wheat at 35s. a quarter as the basis.

Landowners also could do a great deal more
than now to make the labourers realise the part
they might and should play in the general
advance of agriculture. There is no doubt
that the practice, which obtains on some
estates, of the landowner retaining possession

130

The Rural Labourer

of the labourers' cottages instead of letting
them to the farmers, acts most beneficially.
I know that there are great difficulties in the
way, and I realise particularly how hard it
might be to originate the practice; still it could
be done by degrees. And I believe that
labourers would be willing to pay direct to
the landowner a higher rental than now pre-
vails, especially if a good garden were in-
variably attached to the cottage ; and thus
cottage finance might in time be put on a
business basis.

Further, on principle I think it is derogatory
to the labourer not to pay rates, and if it be
constitutionally wrong for a man to pay taxes
and have no vote, so is it wrong for a man to
vote and pay no taxes ; but in practice there
are many difficulties in the way of making all
cottage holders pay their rates.

(3) How to secure to the labourer better
wages, especially in those counties where little
increase has occurred. Again, as in the two
preceding problems, must small holdings be
referred to. If small holdings become avail-
able to the extent their advocates would wish,
and a smart labouring man can make a living
equivalent to ^60 a year off his 20 or 30 acres,
that man will not work for another man for ^45
per annum. The development, therefore, of
small holdings on sound lines should affect

131

Land Problems and National Welfare

beneficially the wages of the labourers as a
whole. This is a very important point for
the labourers themselves to understand. I
fear, however, it will be a long time before
small holdings can be developed to such an
extent as to attain this end. Meanwhile, a far
quicker way would be for the labourers them-
selves to combine as they did in the days of
Arch, though carefully avoiding any hostile feel-
ing towards the other members of the industry.

The point which I hope farmers will re-
member is that high wages do not necessarily
mean dear labour. In Lincolnshire, Yorkshire
and the North generally, wages are much higher
than in the Southern counties, yet labour is no
dearer, for the labourer is a better man owing
to his better food, clothing, etc., and more than
repays by his intelligence and capacity the
extra amount given him in wages.

(4) How to secure to the rural labourer in-
creased opportunities. The answer to this ques-
tion really constitutes a summary of what has
gone before. By " opportunities " is meant op-
portunities of earning better wages, of obtaining
land and a home of his own — either as out-and-
out owner or as tenant with absolute security of
tenure,* and of the provision of better education

* The rural labourer should clearly understand that at present the
amount which he pays to the County Council for any holding he
takes, pays for the purchase of the land, — not for his own possession,
but that it may be presented as a free gift to the County Council.

132

The Rural Labourer

for his children.

It will perhaps be easiest to illustrate my
meaning by roughly outlining ideal conditions
in which all these opportunities would be pro-
vided for the rural labourer, an ideal at all
events not impracticable, and one which has
been found capable of realisation in other
countries.

This ideal, in fact, only sketches out what
it is possible to do by scientifically organis-
ing the rural population and the agricultural
industry.

Education is the basis.

The type of instruction given in rural schools
has been remodelled ; it has become more
practical, more manual ; it expresses itself in
terms of daily life. Facilities for continuation
classes exist, farm schools have been created,
every encouragement is given to the scholars
to improve themselves.

The teachers, seeing that access to land has
been made easy, and that, in consequence, the
country youth has something to look forward
to, spare no pains in instilling into the minds
of their pupils a love of the country and of
country life. They teach them that the
country is the natural and most healthy habitat
of man, and that life in the country is cheaper
than in the town. Further, that if they settle
in colonies, and as the country population in-

133

Land Problems and National Welfare

creases, amusements will be possible that are
now little dreamed of.

Agriculture has been industrialized, and every
possible subsidiary industry encouraged; sugar
works, tar works, wood pulping mills, potato
spirit distilleries are giving employment to
thousands.

Landowners and farmers benefiting by the
organisation of the agricultural industry are
willing to pay higher wages, especially to those
youths who have taken advanced courses of in-
struction and proved themselves of superior
intelligence.

It is better understood that even in the agri-
cultural industry it is true economy to pay for
brains. These labourers will give the best of
their energy to the farmers for say lo, 15, or 20
years, working well and putting by every possible
penny to achieve the goal before them — a nice
small holding with cottage and buildings com-
plete.

From about 40 or 50 years of age the
labourer will be working on his own account ;
perhaps finding it necessary to do a certain
number of days of outside work in the course of
the year, but preferably working entirely for
himself. In either case he would help to provide
labour for the farmer, in that he would be bring-
ing up sturdy sons under the most favourable
conditions for turning out efficient workmen.

134

The Rural Labourer

With reasonable luck and with the assistance of
fully developed co-operation, a system of credit
banks, etc., this naan should have all haunting
fear of the workhouse removed, and should know
that he will end his days peaceably under the
roof that for so many years has given shelter to
himself and his family.

That small holdings, where extended on
sound lines, work to this end is amply proved
by studying the results in Worcestershire and
other counties in which they have been properly
developed.

OD

T

CHAPTER IV

EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURE

- - - HE subject of paramount importance
in our correspondence and in the
hearings is education. In every
part of the United States there
seems to be one mind, on the part of those
capable of judging, on the necessity of redirect-
ing the rural schools. There is no such unan-
imity on any other subject. It is remarkable
with what similarity of phrase the subject
has been discussed in all parts of the country
before the commission. Everywhere there is a
demand that education have relation to living,
that the schools should express the daily life,
and that in the rural districts they should
educate by means of agriculture and country life
subjects. It is recognised that all difficulties
resolve themselves in the end into a question of
education.

" The schools are held to be largely responsible
for ineff"ective farming, lack of ideals, and the
drift to town. This is not because the rural

136

Education and Agriculture

schools, as a whole, are declining, but because
they are in a state of arrested development and
have not yet put themselves in consonance with
all the recently changed conditions of life. The
very forces that have built up the city and town
school have caused the neglect of the country
school. It is probable that the farming popula-
tion will willingly support better schools as soon
as it becomes convinced that the schools will
really be changed in such a way as to teach
persons how to live.

" The feeling that agriculture must color the
work of rural public schools is beginning to
express itself in the interest in nature study, in
the introduction of classes in agriculture in high
schools and elsewhere, and in the establishment
of separate or special schools to teach home and
farm subjects. These agencies will help to
bring about the complete construction of which
we have been speaking. It is specially important
that we make the most of the existing public
school system, for it is this very system that
should serve the real needs of the people. The
real needs of the people are not alone the arts by
which they make a living, but the whole range
of their customary activities. As the home is
the center of our civilization so the home subjects
should be the center of every school.

"The most necessary thing now to be done
for public school education in terms of country

137

Land Problems and National Welfare

life is to arouse all the people to the necessity
of such education, to co-ordinate the forces that
are beginning to operate and to project the work
beyond the schools for youth into continuation
schools for adults. The schools must represent
and express the comnnunity in which they stand,
although, of course, they should not be conhned
to this community. They should teach health
and sanitation even if it is necessary to modify
the customary teaching of physiology. The
teaching should be visual, direct and applicable.
Of course, the whole tendency of the schools
will be ethical if they teach the vital subjects
truthfully ; but particular care should be taken
that they stand for the morals of the pupils
and of the communities.

"The education motive has been taken mtoall
kinds of work with the people, directly in their
homes and on their farms, and it reaches mature
persons as well as youths. Beyond and behind
all educational work there must be an aroused
intelligent public sentiment ; to make this
statement is the most important work immedi-
ately before us. The whole country is alive
with educational activity. While this activity
may all be good, it nevertheless needs to be
directed and correlated, and all the agencies
should be more or less federated.

"The arousing of the people must be accom-
plished in terms of their daily lives or of their

138

Education and Agriculture

welfare. For the country people this means that
it must be largely in terms of agriculture." —
Report of U.S. A . Commission on Country Life.

Before I deal with education as it affects
agriculture I must briefly touch upon its past
history, leaving out as far as possible any
reference to subjects that are at all controversial.
Previous to Mr. Balfour's Education Act of igo2,
the " dual system " existed in full force, that is,
there were the board schools, and the denomina-
tional schools, and of the latter by far the greater
number were in the main under the control of
the Church of England.

Our system of education had grown in a
most haphazard way into its then condition.
The church did her utmost for many years
to fulfil educational requirements, but our
population increased too fast and the task
became too great for her ; and more and more
board schools were created.

On the whole the standard of education was
on the up grade, or, perhaps, viewing the prac-
tical results, it would be more accurate to say
that the cost of educating each child steadily
increased, till the Church of England could no
longer stand the financial strain. This is the
important point to remember, — the church
schools could no longer keep pace with the
board schools in the race for so-called educa-

139

Land Problems and National Welfare

tional efficiency.

Just before the Act of igo2 less money was
bcingexpended perchild in church schoolsthan in
board schools, and according to many authorities
the standard of teachers was lower, a natural
consequence of their being paid less. There was
every indication that the system of voluntary
schools was no longer workable, and that a great
national system of schools under one control
was necessary if England wished to keep her
place in the world of education.

Mr. Balfour's Act provided this single control,
and greatly improved the administrative side of
our system, but it is regrettable that it did not
boldly put an end to every vestige of the dual
system. On the contrary, it attempted to prop
up the voluntary schools, and herein is to be
found the root of the evils from which we are
now suffering.

When the church schools were really voluntary,
though assisted by State grants, in practice very
few Nonconformists objected to the religious
teaching being Church of England in character ;
but their attitude changed at once when they
had to contribute directly by the rates for the
support of church schools, and actively to sup-
port the religious teaching in which formerly
they had only passively acquiesced.

Hence the country is suffering from a religious
and political dispute, which is carried on by the

140

Education and Agriculture

extreme Churchmen and by Nonconformists to
the great sorrow of all moderate men, who are
anxious to see this question settled, so that
the necessary development of our educational
system may go on unimpeded by questions that
are largely outside the sphere of education.

It is my great fear that the continued fighting
over the religious question will in the end make
moderate men on both sides, from sheer weari-
ness of the contest, acquiesce in secular educa-
tion. And nothing could be more disastrous for
the future of England than to have the Bible
banished from the school.

All who feel this to be the case should strain
every nerve to secure suitable Bible teaching
of a given standard throughout the country.
Committees could be formed in every district
whose business it would be to see that the
Bible teaching came up to this given standard,
and that no atheist or improperly qualified
teacher was permitted to give this instruction.

Having made these preliminary remarks I will
now turn to the question of education itself,
and then to education and its bearing on agri-
culture.

The first requisite is a strong public opinion
to demand a far higher type of instruction
than is now being given. By higher instruction
I mean instruction which shall be more manual,
and shall have a practical bearing on the pupil's

141

Land Problems and National Welfare

future life, and which moreover shall be carried
on in some form to a more advanced age than it
is at present. Although latterly there have been
some encouraging signs, still it has to be admitted
that so far this much-desired public opinion is
practically non-existent. And such interest as
there is, is rather in the question of how to
reduce the cost of education, than in that of
raising the standard of that education and
making it effective to the fullest extent.

Millions of money have been spent on educa-
tion, and yet the present race of artisans is not
strikingly superior to the past generation — in
fact, there are many indications that the
contrary is the case. The class of unskilled
labourers has not improved, and I have no
hesitation in maintaining that the rural labourer
is not as good as he was. The defects of the
system are still more glaring in the rising gene-
ration of girls and young women, who no longer
receive that valuable home training which used
to be so important a feature, and further are
given no practical instruction at school to make
up for this loss. The consequence is that
they leave school with a smattering of book-
learning, but unable to help their overworked
mothers, incapable of properly tending their
younger brothers and sisters, and incapable of
looking after homes, husbands and children of
their own. Many of those persons who take an

142

Education and Agriculture

active part in educational reform do not study
as they should the way in which the poor live.
Everyone cannot get this information at first
hand, but all interested in the subject can
read such books as, "A Poor Man's House," by
Stephen Reynolds, " At the Works," by Lady
Bell, " The Town Child," by Reginald Bray,
and "An Englishman's Castle," by Miss Loane.
As a nation we are not of a scientific turn of
mind : when we endeavoured to formulate our
educational system there was no solemn conclave
to consider what should be the ultimate aim of
education, what type of citizen would most
benefit the country. When it was realized that
something must be done, the old dame school
was taken as the basis, patched, altered and
added to, till what we are pleased to call the
present system of elementary education was
built up — a mode that until recently could
hardly be recognised as a system.

But things have gone on thus for so long that
we must now accept this kaleidoscopic medley,
and must hope that in the continued turning of
the kaleidoscope will result the resolution of all
the separate parts into a homogeneous whole.

Our methods of education are steadily im-
proving, slowly in some directions, faster in
others. The outlook is encouraging, but the
progress would be much faster if it were recog-
nised that expenditure on education is really

143

Land Problems and National Welfare

the best investment of capital and should not
be looked upon as merely absorbing so much
of our national income. The return on that
capital will be high if the standard of the rising
generation is raised, and the consequent wealth-
producing power increased.

And we must not think only of the money-
making side of the question ; it is in itself im-
portant, but " we should not grudge expendi-
ture to secure in our children a dynasty of
liberty, freedom and uplift," as Dr. Robertson,
the Canadian commissioner of agriculture, so
rightly said when urging the importance of the
moral and ethical side of education.

Cut-and-dried text book instruction is cheap
from the accountant's point of view, for teachers
can deal with much larger classes than is the
case when the instruction requires more in-
dividual attention, and the advocates for this
academic instruction put forward the formula —
" We must have generous general education."
In many cases it is neither generous nor general,
and it is really costly, because it turns out an
altogether undue proportion of children who
can use neither their hands nor their brains.

Probably the most expensive elementary
school in the world in cost per scholar is the
one in connection with the University of Chicago;
Mr. Dewey created it and gives a full account
of it in his excellent work, " The School and the

144

Education and Agriculture

State." Its methods are the very antithesis of
those which still prevail in England. In this
school the teaching is from the concrete to the
abstract — through the hand to the eye to the
brain. Manual instruction is the basis of the
whole system ; for instance, in carding wool and
in weaving the children learn the history and
geography connected with that important in-
dustry ; they use crude instruments and not
only are encouraged to, but actually do invent
improved methods of handling the material ;
they cook their own meals ; in the class room
the pupils are allowed to discuss the lesson as
much as they please, as such discussion rightly
guided is of great educational value, and books
are resorted to only as the need for them is
realised by the children themselves.

This school has been in full work for a good
many years and the results are, I believe, most
satisfactory.

The cost of giving this instruction works out
at something like ^20 per child per annum.
Though interesting and valuable as an ex-
periment the high cost makes it impracticable
as a system of education for all elementary
schools ; even in America neither the public
purse nor public opinion would endure so high
a rate of expenditure on any large scale. But
such an example should be invaluable to those
who direct the education of our country, and

145 M

Land Problems and National Welfare

should incite them to try to embody as much
of that type of instruction as is compatible
with economy, common sense, and the oppor-
tunities afforded.

County Councils have now the practical
control of education. Some councils are doing
their work most admirably, striving for effici-
ency, and avoiding the pitfalls of unwarrantable
extravagance on the one hand, and ruinous
parsimony on the other; but all County Councils
do not work with this wisdom. There are many
which, while they own the letter of the law, are
dead to the spirit, and it is safe to say that the
majority of county councillors are more con-
cerned in keeping down the education rate than
in developing education. They are content to
let the Board of Education set the standard,
and only move when that Board compels them.
It is right for them to be careful in their
trusteeships of public money, but surely it is
still more their duty to see that the country
gets its money's worth ; and above all, that
the instruction given is educating the pupils to
be the most useful citizens possible.

The education of each child costs about
;^3 7s. and if, by wisely spending an extra 5s.,
los. or 15s. per child. County Councillors can
make the original expenditure of ^^3 7s. vastly
more effective, will they not be fulfilling the
spirit of their trust far more truly than by

146

Education and Agriculture

adhering to the hard and fast principle of *' keep
down the education rate " ?

In America {p per child is the average annual
cost of education ; I do not say that it will ever
be necessary for us to pay as much as that sum,
but we shall have to face a decidedly higher rate
per child than at present exists, before we can
get our education into a satisfactory condition.

It is fair to County Councillors to admit that
in many districts, even if the County Council
were ready to spend more upon education, the
rates have already reached their limit, and
further revenue from this source is well nigh
impossible, but this does not constitute a valid
excuse for inaction.

It is to be hoped that the Development fund,
if properly administered, will do much to secure
that rural development which County Councils
quite naturally would be loth to undertake if
the expense thereof had to be borne entirely by
the rates.

Even as things are, I believe it is possible to
make considerable alterations in the type of in-
struction given, alterations which would cost
little to effect and would yield most important
results.

I am referring to the place which manual
training holds in the curriculum.

Everyone now agrees that there must be more
manual training in the elementary schools.

147

Land Problems and National Welfare

This principle has been advocated for some
years, but it is taking a long time to put into
practice, and so far the chief development in
this direction has undoubtedly been the crea-
tion and growth of school gardens, which though
excellent in itself does not go far enough. The
greater number of children in the elementary
schools will have to make their living by the
use of their hands, therefore they should be
taught to use their hands intelligently during
their school life. This does not mean that
they should be taught a trade at the elementary
school, which would be both impossible and
undesirable ; it means that in training the child
to use his hands intelligently, he will neces-
sarily also be taught to use his brain intelli-
gently.

Seeing then the great and admitted import-
ance of this manual training, is it too much to
ask that so many hours a week shall be definitely
earmarked for such instruction ? To my mind
the objective to aim at is that the morning
should be devoted to the literary side of educa-
tion and say three afternoons a week to manual
training, but anything approaching a hard and
fast rule must be avoided. The point is this,
that book work (much of it to do with books of
little value) has become so completely the body
and soul of our system, that manual instruction
will still be kept out, or at all events not allowed

148

Education and Agfriculture

&'

to play its proper part, unless it is definitely
decreed that such and such hours be given to
manual teaching.

An interesting experiment is now being made
in the Lindsey division of Lincolnshire with a
group of 24 schools of varying sizes, situated
both in town and country, the chief object of
which is to show that far more manual instruc-
tion than hitherto can profitably be given in
schools of all sizes, whether they be under
a master or mistress ; and that this important
alteration in the curriculum can be effected
without involving the local authority in any
great extra outlay.

In the case of some of the small schools the
manual instruction will have to be very simple:
cardboard work, the Judd system of woodwork,
for instance; still, though simple and elementary,
most excellent hand and eye training can be
given by their means.

In the case of the large schools, a higher and
more varied type of manual instruction can be
provided without difficulty, gardening occupying
an important part in all schools that can obtain
a piece of land.

The whole success of such an experiment
must rest with the individual teacher, therefore
it is necessary to proceed with great caution.
The suitable group of schools being chosen, the
teachers should then be invited to confer with

149

Land Problems and National Welfare

his Majesty's inspector and the County Edu-
cation officials, and to discuss the details of the
curriculum and the necessary variations for the
respective schools. I think local authorities
should confer with the teachers more often than
they do ; it is regrettable to look upon our
school teachers as servants, simply because the
County Council is the channel through which
their salaries are paid. Theirs is a national
work, and, as the care of the rising generation is
entrusted to them, they deserve consideration
as a most important class of citizen, and further,
their splendid and disinterested service in the
past merits every recognition. I am sure that
when any important change in the curriculum
or methods of instruction is proposed, it could
be most quickly and satisfactorily effected by
means of informal conferences with the teachers,
bringing them into the movement and making
them understand the object in view.

Too often education authorities send out cut-
and-dried instructions to which many of the
schools cannot give effect, or tabulate lists of
questions or ask teachers to draw up schemes on
certain given lines ; and the results are generally
disappointing. Could it be otherwise ? It is
not part of the duty of the teacher to be able
to devise a scheme on new lines, though un-
doubtedly some could do so; but at a conference
all intelligent teachers would help to guide a

150

Education and Agriculture

new scheme into the most practical form.

For instance, to refer again to the experiment
I have mentioned, a difficulty arose as to what
to do with the small children while the teacher
was giving manual instruction to the older ones;
one of the local schoolmasters suggested that
they should be allowed to stay in the room and
watch the elder children, as this would rouse
their interest in the work. This certainly com-
mends itself to me as a better plan than the other
course of appointing a temporary monitress.*

I cannot leave this subject without saying a
word as to the sympathetic attitude of the Board
of P2ducation, which, far from blocking the ex-
periment, were most encouraging ; in fact they
have complained (vide Mr. Runciman's address
to the Deputation on Rural Education, Nov. 4.
igog) that local authorities so rarely come for-
ward with suggested experiments.

I still come sometimes across the statement
that a radical change of attitude is necessary at
the Board of Education ; it seems to me that
people who say this do not realize how greatly
the Board has changed in the last 4 or 5 years.
I can only testify that in my personal dealings
with the Board I have found a commendable
absence of red tape and a keen interest in any
suggested experiment for increasing the amount
of practical manual instruction. Probably there

* This is the case of a very small school.

Land Problems and National Welfare

exists still a certain number of inspectors who
may damp rather than encourage local initia-
tive, but such men certainly are not missionaries
of the true spirit that prevails at the Board.

It is naturally most important that harmony
should exist between the central and the local
authority, otherwise it will be hard to achieve
the * strength that lies in concentration of effort
and co-ordination of aim " that Mr. Bray so
ably contends for in his excellent work, " The
Town Child."

A most important point is how to induce
local education authorities to concentrate their
effort and co-ordinate their aim. The local
authorities do not keep sufficiently in touch with
each other ; a certain amount of esprit de corps
is right, but in a question of such national
importance as the development of our system of
education, there ought to be more co-operation
than at present there is amongst education
authorities. Every experiment to make our
education more practical should be carefully
watched by all local committees and either
adopted or adapted as soon as it has proved
successful.

The County Councils Association is supposed
to be the chief means of keeping County
Councils in touch with each other, and it at-
tains this object, but not sufficiently, particu-
larly in the department of education. It is
hard to see how to remedy this defect ; possibly

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Education and Agriculture

by inducing the respective Councils to send to
the meetings of the County Council Association
in London, as well as their chairman and
secretary an acknowledged educationalist who
would endeavour to keep his own council in
line with the general movement. It might be
possible in fact to have two meetings a year
definitely given up to the consideration of how
best to deal with formulative schemes. The
discussions should be more or less informal and
members should be encouraged to describe any
experiments that had come under their notice
and to outline possible developments.

At present the meetings of the education
committees, both of the County Council Asso-
ciation and the respective Councils, are so over-
weighted with the ordinary routine business that
there is little time to consider properly the for-
mulation of new schemes, and in consequence
many alterations and reforms are delayed that
would otherwise be accepted unanimously.

As the committees of the County Council
Association evince much diffidence in issuing
direct recommendations to the County Councils,
for fear of wounding their susceptibilities, per-
haps the best method will be to endeavour to
make the Rural Education Conferences, which
are now to be held half-yearly, fulfil this function,
and thus secure increased uniformity of action.
Also the nature study exhibition held at the

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Land Problems and National Welfare

Royal Agricultural Society's shows should
prove more and more a valuable " co-ordinat-
ing agency," in respect to rural subjects.

Though the two conferences on rural educa-
tion held during the summer of igog were most
interesting and may have attracted some atten-
tion, I cannot say that they show any definite
signs of having helped to increase " the concen-
tration of effort and co-ordination of aim " in
the work of the County Councils throughout
England.

It is to be hoped that, as education authorities
recognise that it is one of their most important
functions to formulate schemes and make ex-
periments and alterations in our system of
education, they will feel the practical need of
these conferences as affording a means of com-
paring notes and exchanging ideas.

Before leaving the subject of general educa-
tion I must refer again to Mr. Bray's " Town
Child." Every one interested in education
should read it and give heed especially to his
chapters on "The Child and the School," and
"The Child and the World."

He deals most admirably with what should
be the aim of school life ; and to the funda-
mental question, "What is Education?" Mr.
Bray makes the " Man in the Street " give the
answer, " The object of education is the forma-
tion of character."

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Education and Agriculture

I think the average man in the street would
say, " I dunno," but the superior M. I. T. S.
would probably make answer as Mr. Bray
suggests !

And yet in either case one wishes that the
teaching of Herbert Spencer upon education
had permeated the average mind more deeply ;
in my opinion his answer to that question is
the true summing up of the aims of education,
namely, to train the child to think for himself
and think correctly, or, to give a more up-to-date
variation to this definition— to make a child do
something and do it well.

Any system of education, worthy of the name,
must form character : it is an inseparable and a
necessary result.

Again quoting from Mr. Bray — " A child must
acquire regularity of habit during the years he
passes at school, for force of habit is the greatest
palliative to the drudgery that is the lot of
men," but a right habit of thought is the best
habit of all, for it is the parent of all other
minor habits. The power of thinking for one's
self is at the basis of all interest in life, alike
for the child as for the grown-up; it is also the
greatest incentive to imagination ; and finally,
the power of thinking correctly is the most
valuable tool of life with which the child can
be equipped.

The development of our education during the

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Land Problems and National Welfare

past 30 years has not been directed to fostering
this individual thought among the scholars ; in
fact one has sorrowfully to admit that its effect
has been decidedly the opposite ; I have my-
self heard a teacher rebuke a child for a really
intelligent answer, because, forsooth, it was not
quite in accordance with the textbook !

We are improving, but we have still great
leeway to make up, and it would be well if the
inspectors could show that they value the
evidence of individual thought more than a
display of cut and dried knowledge. " In-
spectors must direct attention to the interest
displayed by the scholars in their work, and
must think less of the am.ount of knowledge
exhibited." (" Town Child.")

And again in reference to a definite subject of
the curriculum, drawing — *' Art teaching for the
few who have talent in this direction is useful,
but for the many it is worse than useless." I
feel most strongly on this subject, and my
technical training as an architect qualifies me
to assert that, taken as a whole, the time spent
on drawing is unprofitably spent ; freehand
drawing on smooth paper with a hard pencil
is not freehand, though if coarse brown paper
and charcoal were used it might serve as a
means of testing which children had the power
of expressing themselves on paper. A sufficient
knowledge of scale drawing to enable a child to

156

Education and Agriculture

understand a plan and also to make a simple
one would certainly be useful ; but with all the
time now spent on drawing it is obvious that
this instruction is not effectually given, for,
taken as a whole, English workmen, even intel-
ligent ones, are slower at understanding a plan
than workmen of other nationalities. In a
furniture factory which I went over a few years
ago, I found one or two French or Italian work-
men employed to translate the drawings to the
English workmen, who seemed unable to un-
derstand the relief of a panel of carving, for
instance, from the light and shade shown in
the drawings, though when once started their
work was equal, if not superior, to that of the
foreigners.

It is only now, after having written many
pages upon the general aspects of the problem,
that I feel I can approach that special phase of
it which concerns or should concern itself with
the training of those who are going to work
upon the land — in other words, with Rural
Education.

One or two preliminary statements must be
made, for though probably they are no longer
necessary, it is well to be on the safe side.

It is still sometimes said of those who are
endeavouring to reform rural elementary educa-
tion, that their aim is to produce cheap labour
for the farmer. It is also said, as a sort of

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Land Problems and National Welfare

corollary, that it is likewise their aim to keep
the education in the country of a lower standard
than in the town.

I fear that at one time many of the teachers
themselves had misgivings on these two points ;
whether or not there was originally any ground
for such misgivings I am unable to say, but I
think that there are few teachers to-day who still
harbour such apprehensions. Certainly these
accusations can only be brought forward by
persons who have studied most superficially
the movement that is at present going on.

Since I have been concerned with rural
education, I have come across no one actively
engaged in assisting the work who was not
anxious to see a higher (and therefore better
paid) type of labourer produced by our country
schools, and who did not demand that the
standard of instruction given in the rural school
should be as high as that given in towns.
And even such purely agricultural organisa-
tions as the Central Chamber of Agriculture and
the Farmers' Union have been emphatic in
their demand for a sounder and more practical
type of education in the rural schools.

There are, as in every other class, reactionary
farmers who are against education of any type,
but these are few and far between. Most
farmers clearly realise that the type of labourer
now being produced by our rural school is not

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Education and Agriculture

satisfactory, and that the present day labourer
is not nearly so good a man as was his father.
They would welcome any alteration in our
system of education, if once they were con-
vinced that it meant giving them youths who
could use their brains as well as their hands.

On the other hand, the farmers who declare
that reformers are trying to teach agriculture in
school, and that it cannot be done, have much
more ground for their assertion. I fear that
even amongst so-called experts it is not always
clearly understood that agriculture cannot be
taught in school. No trade or industry can be
taught at any elementary school. But such
instruction can be given that the boy will be
prepared to take up and become proficient in
any industry.

And that is the object which those who now
demand radical alterations in the type and
method of instruction given in elementary
schools have in view.

Practical manual instruction must be given in
all schools; that will be the best preparation for
specialization at a later date. But that manual
instruction should take its bias from local con-
ditions— agricultural, if agriculture be the main-
stay of the surrounding population, just as its
character would be affected by mining or cotton
spinning, or any other industry closely related
to the lives of the neighbouring people.

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Land Problems and National Welfare

The steady growth of school gardens and
of nature study is most satisfactory, in that gar-
dening, properly taught, provides an excellent
method of manual instruction, serviceable for every
scholar, whatever his future avocation. It is
particularly suitable for the rural school, because
it interests the children in handling the soil —
the soil which provides a livelihood for the bulk
of the surrounding population.

The school garden is not meant to turn out
expert gardeners. In some cases it may in-
cidentally do so, but the school garden properly
used is the best blackboard ever invented, the
only fully satisfactory way of co-relating nature
study with the general work of the school, for it
affords the most intimate examples of plant life,
ready at all times to be used by the skilful
master ; it can play an important part in practi-
cal arithmetic, doing away with the old-fashioned
hypothetical problem.s and substituting problems
that occur in everyday life ; it offers interesting
subject matter for the school reader and for
lessons in composition. And what more excel-
lent exercise could there be than for a scholar
to keep, unaided, a record of the history of his
garden plot ?

Finally, as much science as the elementary
scholar requires can be taught in the garden,
just a few practical principles to explain the
causes of certain effects.

1 60

Education and Agriculture

For years science has been more neglected
in English schools than perhaps in those of any
other country ; now the tide is turning more and
more in favour of its teaching, and on the whole
rightly so. But with us there is always the
danger of too great a swing of the pendulum,
and if the teaching of bookish, dry, and spurious
science is introduced into elementary schools
the effects will be disastrous.

A master with a smattering of science is
generally very much pleased with himself and
wants to bring in as much " science " as pos-
sible. Unfortunately, a smattering of science
is often only of the abstract sort, and if school-
masters with this smattering try to introduce a
modicum of abstract science, it certainly will
neither interest nor profit the children.

Before leaving the subject of school gardens,
I must lay further stress on their value in train-
ing the powers of observation, and in making
the children think for themselves. School
gardens have only within the last four or five
years been brought into prominence, and yet
cases are not wanting of manufacturers and
merchants deliberately choosing to employ boys
who had been to a school provided with a
garden, because they considered that the
powers of observation and general intelligence
of such boys were greater than in others who
had not enjoyed this advantage.

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Land Problems and National Welfare

I have referred to school gardening and
nature study, but I do not mean to suggest that
nature study cannot profitably appear in the school
curriculum unless there is a garden ; it is only
necessary to see the splendid way in which
instruction in nature study is given in some of
the London schools, to realize how successful it
can prove even without a garden — but the con-
verse is not true ; the garden without nature
study does not justify its existence.

The exhibition of nature study, now held
annually in connection with the show of the
Royal Agricultural Society, is intensely inter-
esting, alike to those actively engaged in the
subject, and to the casual observer. The story
of the habits and construction of plants and
flowers is often astonishingly well told, and the
child's unaided delineation from nature is some-
times truly delightful ; but what horrors result in
those cases where, under the influence of an
" artistic " master, the child has been con-
strained to contort the simple outline of some
flower into the design for a tile ! It is not the
business of a school teacher or his pupils to
design tiles.

Nor does it come within the scope of nature
study to concern itself with a little case of
neatly packed samples of artificial fertilizers,
and to specify in a crude and inaccurate way
the uses to which they should be put. But

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Education and Agriculture

time will certainly cure such mistaken applica-
tions as these.

Still, it must be kept clearly in mind that the
development of school gardens and of nature
study is not sufficient to create the full rural
spirit that should exist in every country school,
or to bring children into sympathetic touch
with the conditions surrounding them ; the
bias must be given in all grades of instruction,
and, as I have already said, the school garden
and nature teaching are most valuable means
to that end, but if school gardens are not
rightly handled and nature teaching is not pro-
perly given, they are far better left alone. It
is remarkable what a number of teachers have
already qualified to give this instruction, but
no teacher who is not properly qualified should
be allowed to attempt it.

For this rightly rural spirit in the school is
the beginning of all things. It will in no way
hinder the progress of those who intend to fol-
low other avocations than tilling the soil, and it
will so stimulate those who mean to remain in
the country, that they will be interested in
land itself, and will be ready to avail them-
selves of every opportunity (such as evening
schools, continuation classes, &c.,) of acquiring
advanced instruction with a direct bearing upon
agriculture.

But, above all, let us be logical and recognise
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Land Problems and National Welfare

that there is no use in providing continuation
classes, farm schools, agricultural colleges, etc.,
if this necessary interest be not first aroused
in the elementary schools.

The objective must be a complete sequence
in agricultural education, leading from the
elementary school to the agricultural college ;
a ladder with its full complement of rungs must
be provided, but this ladder will be used wholly
only by the exceptionally bright scholars. We
should aim at having as many exceptionally
bright pupils as possible, for it is unsatisfactory
to make a ladder and then to have few to climb.

At the present time, according to the Report
of the Departmental Committee (CD4207), we
have a sufficient number of agricultural col-
leges ; and yet these are not playing the part
that they should in agricultural education, and
are not attracting farmers' sons in large numbers,
undoubtedly because of the want of the right
school atmosphere in the first place, and the
lack of a complete chain of instruction leading
up to the college.

In the whole of England not more than two
hundred or three hundred farmers' sons avail
themselves of college instruction in any one year !

Youths intending to emigrate, to become ex-
perts, county council lecturers, or land agents,
form the bulk of the scholars who attend these
colleges ; their demand should be satisfied at the

164

Education and Agriculture

fe'

universities and other special institutions, but
the agricultural college proper should be for the
sons of the practical farmer. Farmers hesitate
to send their sons to associate with other youths
who have been brought up more extravagantly.

That rural atmosphere in the elementary
school which I contend is so necessary, exists
in a remarkable degree in Denmark and Bel-
gium, and in fact on the continent generally.

The interest in land aroused in the pupils
by the right school atmosphere must not be
allowed to drop when the elementary school
course is done — on the contrary it must be
fostered and developed by every means of con-
tinuation instruction, until the youth will find
himself at the age of eighteen equipped with such
practical knowledge that he will be able to lead
the most useful life possible. The majority of
people in this country are giving expression
to far less than their real potential usefulness
simply because they have not been rightly
taught.

Following the elementary school of the right
sort we want a system of continuation instruction
which, I am inclined to think, should be com-
pulsory,— though it must be remembered that
owing to the sparse population of rural England
(Denmark has twice and Belgium three times
the rural population per square mile), there are
many isolated families whose children could not

165

Land Problems and National Welfare

attend continuation classes.

This continuation instruction would be given
by a gradually developing system of practical
farm schools, winter schools and evening
classes.

There are some authorities who hold that
practical farm schools are not suitable to English
conditions ; and while I quite agree that it would
not be advisable to develop them to the extent
that they have been developed in France, still
I maintain that there is scope for a considerable
number of farm schools. We are giving a rural
bias to many of our country grammar schools,
and this is all in the right direction, but there
should be the practical farm school as well.
This would serve as the grammar school for
the farmers' sons and would be so attractive
to the practical agriculturist that he would
gladly send his son for an extra two years of
instruction, though he might not feel inclined
to send him to the agricultural college.

The farm school should never come as a
wedge between the elementary school and the
college but should attract pupils who would
have no prospect of going to an agricultural
college, and it should also prove a most valuable
recruiting centre for the college itself. A well
managed farm of from loo to 300 acres should
be attached to this school.

On the whole it is probable that the winter
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Education and Agriculture

continuation school would be found most suited
to English conditions — it would be an all day
school open for the 4 or 5 winter months, the
pupils doing ordinary labourers' work for the
remaining months. These schools ought also
to have a farm attached, and in certain districts
the farm should be run as an experimental small
holding.

Evening classes, where practical, form a
valuable means of continuation instruction, but
often they are only classes a little lower in type
than the higher standards of the elementary
school, and, as such, far from being of practical
use they are only a means of wasting public
money.

For the wise development of this secondary
agricultural education it is absolutely necessary
for every county to have its own Agricultural
Organising Instructor. Quite a number of
counties already have such an officer, and in
Belgium, a country where agricultural instruction
is greatly developed, this organiser is looked
upon as the most important unit of the system.
It is impossible for the ordinary official staff
of a local education authority properly to
supervise secondary agricultural education with-
out such a man.

The recently passed Development Act ought
to prove a great incentive to County Councils
to formulate schemes for improving secondary

167

Land Problems and National Welfare

education beneficial to agriculture, and doubt-
less many farm schools and winter schools will
be started ; but while such development is very
desirable it is ever necessary to insist upon the
fact that the net results are bound to be dis-
appointing and unsatisfactory so long as the
creating of the rural atmosphere in the country
elementary school is neglected.

Our teachers undoubtedly look upon life in
the country with far greater favour than in
former years when their influence was all
directed towards inducing the brighter boys to
go into the towns ; and they are beginning to
recognise, at all events in those counties where
better wages prevail, that a youth with i6 or i8
shillings a week is really better off in the
country, from hygienic, moral and physical
points of view, than he would be in the town,
with, say, 22 shillings per week. Should he be
earning even 30 shillings per week in the town,
and thus securing a financial advantage, the
country life would still maintain its superiority
from the other points of view.

Still, though the attitude of the general body
of teachers is good, there are many who say,
and rightly, that the rural labourers' children
have little chance of bettering themselves in the
country ; and these are just the keenly intelli-
gent men who would be the best advocates of
the principle of " Back to the land," or rather,

168

Education and Agriculture

" Stay on the land," if they were convinced
that serious efforts were being made to increase
the future opportunities for their scholars. It
rests largely with the landowners and farmers
to see that these opportunities are increased ;
the landowners should provide more cottages,
and both they and the farmers should give
preferment to those youths who have done well
at school and have shown keenness in subjects
bearing upon a life on the land.

We are a wonderful people for systematically
reversing the right procedure whenever we deal
with a problem ; we have made new codes,
altered school conditions in every way, but we
have left the foundation — the training of the
teacher — to the last.

I see that I have myself written many pages
about education, and yet have not touched
upon the basis of education — the teacher. If
once we get the right type of teacher and
give him a free hand, a sound system of educa-
tion will almost evolve of itself; at all events,
it is certainly impossible to evolve a satis-
factory system if the training of the teacher is
not right.

Just as the present training of the elementary
school child is not sufficiently practical, so is
the training of the teacher too academic. Our
training colleges often seem to exist chiefly with
a view to prepare candidates for the Oxford

i6g

Land 1 Problems and National Welfare

and Cambridge examinations, instead of to turn
out teachers versed in the art of teaching. The
instruction given at the training colleges has
undoubtedly improved greatly within the last
ten years ; at the time of Mr. Scott Coward's
report the education given was very deplorable
indeed. It is to be regretted that there is but
little up-to-date information available in regard
to training colleges — new ones have been built
of late years, but the training college accommoda-
tion must still be far short of the requirements.

Training colleges should be national — that is
the only satisfactory system ; and all teachers
should be trained in a college and not permitted
to enter the profession by means of pupil teacher
centres and other back-door methods.

Though the ideal arrangement is for the
would-be teacher to spend two years at a train-
ing college, and then to go out and do practical
school work for the next year or two, and after
that to return to the training college — it must
not be forgotten that during the first two years
he should receive sufficient practical instruction
in the art of pedagogy to make him a thoroughly
useful teacher when he leaves. Yet I find that
many capable headmasters, whose opinions are
worthy of attention, consider that a large
number of teachers fresh from the training
college do not know how to handle their classes
and are not so good at pedagogy as those who

170

Education and Aericulture

&'

have qualified as pupil or supplementary teachers.
This is certainly a serious defect. Again, though
it is well to encourage country teachers who re-
turn to college for their third year to specialize
in agricultural subjects, it is also most desirable
— nay, necessary — that in the two preliminary
years a certain modicum of instruction bearing
on country life and land as the source of our
supply of food should be given to all teachers,
whether destined for town or country.

Far better provision for instruction in special
subjects at all training colleges is essential,
so that the rural teacher could obtain the
special knowledge that a rural teacher has need
of; though there is no reason why in certain
agricultural colleges the two functions — of
training teachers, as well as farmers' sons —
should not be developed together, as has been
so successfully done at the Macdonald College
at St. Anns, near Montreal. But in that case
the college has two carefully distinguished de-
partments— the Normal Department for train-
ing teachers, the Agricultural College proper
for farmers' sons ; so that, if the principle is
to be maintained, either certain of our present
training colleges ought to develop a clearly
agricultural side, or certain agricultural colleges
create a distinctly Normal Department.

Until we have such a system we must per-
force utilize our agricultural colleges (Wye and

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Land Problems and National Welfare

Swanley College are recognised by the Board
of Education), as far as possible, for giving this
instruction in special subjects, and encourage
rural teachers to take a third year's course in
subjects bearing upon country life. It is re-
grettable that more teachers and students are
not availing themselves of the opportunities so
afforded, and I think local authorities should take
definite measures to induce teachers and students
to make use of this instruction. But the agri-
cultural college as it is at present constituted
is not meant to train teachers : it is meant to
inculcate practice with science in the minds of
those who are actually going to make their
living off the land, i.e., farmers' sons.

During the period of transition, and in order
to reach as many as possible of the teachers
now at work, no means must be left untried in
the way of Saturday classes, holiday courses at
agricultural colleges, travelling instructors, etc.
But it is necessary for local education com-
mittees to exercise great care as to whom they
nominate to attend these courses ; it is a matter
of much difficulty for a committee, and it can
only be dealt with satisfactorily if the inspector,
or secretary, or someone who knows the qualifi-
cations of the individual applicants, is allowed
to guide the committee. When an adequate
normal system has been evolved, the next step
should certainly be to develop a plan of steady

172

Education and Aericulture

fc>'

promotion, and in this way small village schools
would be able to secure a succession of good
teachers. Surrey, I believe, has already in work-
ing order a scheme of registering and promoting
the teachers in the council schools, but this as
yet cannot be extended to the church schools.

I have touched in a most cursory manner
upon the question of the training of the
teachers, but space precludes its fuller develop-
ment.

In considering education as it affects the
agricultural industry, it is most important to
remember that, in the past, agriculture, more
than any other industry, has suffered from the
want of directly beneficial instruction. Techni-
cal instruction beneficial to mining, engineering,
in short to mechanical industries of all kinds,
has been developed at great expense, but in
very few counties has a reasonable and fair pro-
portion of the Whiskey money been allocated
for practical instruction beneficial to agricul-
ture— such as farm labour classes, bee-keeping,
farriery, farm hygiene, hedging, thatching, drain-
ing classes, etc., providing instruction in those
subjects in which the rising generation of
labourer is so deficient.

It is strange that in entirely rural counties
the farmers did not insist from the outset upon
a fairer share of that ear-marked money being
spent on instruction which the practical farmers

Land Problems and National Welfare

themselves said was excellent and beneficial.

In some counties even less is spent to-day on
this class of instruction than was allocated to it
6 or 7 years ago. The money was filched to
create pupil-teachers' centres — of all undesirable
uses to put it to !

In my own county — an entirely rural one — the
amount spent on practical instruction beneficial
to agriculture had decreased by one half until
quite recently, when a decided step in advance,
by reviving some of the farm labour classes,
was taken, and it is to be hoped that a course
of systematic development has been entered
upon.

If this advance is to be maintained and made
as effective as the needs of agriculture demand,
far more financial assistance must be forthcom-
ing from the Treasury. The movement has in the
past suffered from the overlapping and friction
which existed between the Board of Education
and the Board of Agriculture. Though this con-
dition of things was strenuously denied by the
officials of the two Boards, it was sufficiently
evident to local authorities who had the practi-
cal arrangements to make. However that may
be, a new inter-departmental committee (the
necessity for which the Central Chamber of
Agriculture and other societies urged so strongly)
has been created recently, and the results must
work to the benefit of the cause, so that from

174

Education and Agriculture

this time forward local authorities should find
less difficulty in connection with grants, and in
regard to the exact limits of the spheres of the
two departments.

In general terms, all higher technical educa-
tion is now clearly under the Board of Agricul-
ture, which has a paltry ^25,000 a year at its
disposal with which to give grants to our colleges,
etc. — a sum which in the United States would
be considered an insufficient grant for a single
college.

Special instruction with a rural bias, if given
in the elementary schools, comes under the Board
of Education, and can earn a grant from it, as
also certain practical classes in hedging, ditch-
ing, draining, etc., which it is difficult to rank as
clearly elementary, can earn a grant from the
Board of Education. This Board has far larger
funds at its disposal than its sister Board ; as a
keen agriculturist wishing to see practical
agricultural instruction developed to the full, I
care little from which Board the aid comes, so
long as the money is spent to the practical
benefit of agriculture.

From the official figures at present available
it is difficult to arrive at the total amount of
money spent on agricultural instruction, but
including grants from the two Boards and the
allocation from the Whiskey money it does not
appear to be more than ^f 110,000, a wretchedly

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Land Problems and National Welfare

small sum considering the interests at stake ;
and far less in proportion than the amount so
expended in other countries.

In writing about education, almost uncon-
sciously one deals with boys rather than girls.
Also, in making changes and reforms, boys
certainly receive more consideration than girls ;
and yet, if the type and method of instruction
given in our elementary schools during the past
thirty years has been bad for boys, it has been
worse still for girls. For girls — though the
future mothers of the coming generation — are
taught nothing at school to prepare and fit
them for their first duty in life — motherhood ;
they are not even taught to be passable house-
wives. Now there is not the slightest doubt
that girls during their years at the elementary
school could be taught some of those practical
guiding principles that would make them capable
housewives and efficient mothers.

The three or four " home-making " centres
which have recently been started show what can
be done in this direction. The girls in the two
highest standards are transferred, in classes of
14, for a given number of hours' work per week to
the "home-making centre," which has its habitat
in a separate building near the school, where a
kitchen, bedroom, sitting-room, all of the cottage
type, are provided, and the girls work there
under as nearly home conditions as possible.

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Education and Agriculture

These home-making centres should be deve-
loped throughout the country with as little
loss of time as possible. The ideal is certainly
to have the home-making centre in a separate
building, but much of the practical work done
there could be carried out in an ordinary class-
room.

Extreme Socialists maintain that in the present
development of civilization the family system
has failed, that, as a whole, parents are not
capable of looking after their children properly,
and that therefore the State must step in and
more and more assume the role of " over parent."
They advance as evidence of their contention
the statement that 14 out of every 50 babies
are stillborn, and that only about 13 of the 50
are brought up in ways in the least fitting for
the future citizens of the country.

A disastrous wave of socialism is bound to
come, unless it can be shown that it is possible
to reform the evils that have crept into the
"family system" with the development of the
present civilization. And there is only one
way of reforming the " family system " — by
teaching the girls the duties and responsi-
bilities of motherhood and training them to be
efficient housewives.

A large class of children is now brought
up in a greater or lesser degree by the State.
I refer to destitute children — some 235,000 in

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Land Problems and National Welfare

number. The present system of dealing with
them is far from satisfactory. They are brought
up with the stigma of pauperism, since they
are under the control of the poor law authorities;
they are brought up in the way most calculated
to make them of as little use to themselves and
the State as possible — to perpetuate the race of
paupers. It is altogether unwise to educate
children in institutions : some institutions must
exist, but they should be reduced to the mini-
mum, and should always be situated in the
country, and even in the colonies.

It was my great privilege to know that most
splendid of all our painters, G. F. Watts, and I
used often to listen with the greatest interest to
his opinions on the social conditions of the
country: his insight and judgment were most
convincing. He arrived at his conclusions from
his own observations, even in subjects with
which he had practically nothing to do. I re-
member hearing him outline the ideal method
of instruction for children, and I thought he had
just read Dewey's " School and State" but on
enquiry I found that he had never heard of it.
He was ever wont to urge the advantage that
would accrue if reformatories and institutions for
teaching destitute children were placed in the
colonies, and had large areas of land attached ;
it certainly would mean that the children were
placed in the best surroundings for themselves,

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Education and Agriculture

and the public purse would be saved the un-
necessary expense of buying costly sites within
city limits, as has been the general practice in
the past.

From the point of view of economy, the right
way to educate pauper children is, as far as
possible, in the ordinary elementary school
under the supervision of the local education
committee, and the best way of housing them is
to board them out with respectable families.
In England some 6,000 of the total 235,000
are so dealt with and the evidence is all in
favour of it. As a contrast in Austria, there
are some 30,000 children boarded out. And
it is noteworthy that existing legislation in
Austria relating to children was brought in by
a Conservative Government, and not by
Socialists or Radicals. The Government was
guided by two main principles — first, that
children are the country's chief asset : second,
that every child has a right to develop into
the best possible type of citizen, with the
corollary that therefore the State has the power
to step in and remove the child from condi-
tions unfavourable to its development. Surely
reasonable people cannot take exception to the
soundness of these axioms ? The results in
Austria are most satisfactory; there the authori-
ties seem able to make parents contribute more
than is the case here, so that the net annual

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Land Problems and National Welfare

cost to the public is only ;^6 1 5s. per destitute child.

With us the authorities have, it is to be feared,
no such clearly formulated principles for guid-
ance ; the State interferes where destitution
is glaringly patent — interferes with results that
are often deplorable, and at an annual cost of
up to l^o per child in the country, and up to
^54 per child in the towns.

It is because the Minority Report of the Poor
Law Commission so clearly recognises these
three guiding principles, that to my mind it
merits support.*

I do not see how a satisfactory condition can
be created unless the present poor law system is
done away with in toto. And, as a practical
worker on the County Council, I should be glad
to see the whole question of the allocation of
local work carefully considered. The County
Council should be the supreme financial auth-
ority for all things local ; if the burdensome
care of the mentally infirm were transferred
from County to Imperial Authorities, there is no
doubt that the Councils could cope with the poor
law work. Practically all the necessary com-
mittees now exist, and the local education com-
mittees could deal with the destitute children of
their districts. In the country — and my remarks
are confined to rural districts — this is not a very

• And above all that it is based on the principle that prevention is
better than cure.

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Education and Agriculture

serious matter, as the numbers would not be great.

One remark more as to destitute children and
the land. The land of the United Kingdom
and the colonies is crying out for population ;
and if there be one class of children that the
State has pre-eminently the right to guide as to
the choice of their work and place — where they
can best serve the empire — surely it is the
children of the destitute brought up entirely at
the expense of the State ? Particularly is it
disastrous to let these children drift back into
the cities after their schooling is done, and I
am sure that a system of practical farm schools
which would carry the technical education of
this class on to the age of eighteen would be
of great value.

I bring this chapter to a close by printing
certain extracts from Monsieur Vuyst's book,
" L'enseignement agricole et ses methodes," in
which he so ably describes the atmosphere, in-
struction and methods that should exist in all
rural schools; and I further append the circular
of the County Council Association for the sake
of showing the line of development which that
body advocates for the rural school.

RURAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE

The Conference Committee have had their
attention drawn to a publication by M. de Vuyst,
Chief Inspector of Agriculture to the Kingdom

iSi

Land Problems and National Welfare

of Belgium, entitled " L'enseignement agricole
et ses methodes," which contains a great deal of
information as to the methods of agricultural
instruction in different countries, and much other
suggestive matter. The following extracts may,
it is thought, prove serviceable to the Con-
ference : —

" To secure a full and complete education for
the boys and girls who elect to live upon the land,
it is necessary that they should receive a general
instruction which will secure the necessary
development of all their faculties as well as
specific instruction in agricultural subjects."

" While the elementary school should remain
true to its first duty of giving general instruc-
tion, it must develop as far as possible the
practical side. If this be not done the resulting
education will be theoretic and abstract and not
only discouraging to pupils but practically use-
less to them in after life.''

" It must not for one moment be thought that
because we advocate this development of the
practical side we wish to see rural elementary
schools turned into agricultural schools. This
would be essentially wrong, for the same reasons
that it would be wrong to transform them into
industrial schools. We maintain that our rural
schools should have an agricultural atmosphere,
not an exaggerated but a carefully thought out
and planned agricultural bias, at the same time

182

Education and Aericulture

ti'

shewing the pupils an attractive perspective of
further and more scientific studies which they
can take advantage of."

" Those whose mission in life is to give
agricultural instruction should not be content
with merely insisting upon the economic and
social importance of the industry, but should
clearly demonstrate the superiority of the agricul-
tural calling from the cultivator's point of view
— healthy surroundings, the constant variety
that the intelligent cultivator can enjoy and the
pleasure of being in touch with Nature call
for the continual exercise of the intellectual
faculties."

" Everyone should have the spirit of observa-
tion and initiative strongly developed, but above
all the properly trained agriculturalist ought to
have these invaluable qualities developed to the
highest degree ; he lives with ever changing sur-
roundings and his work varies with the seasons,
so a forethought unnecessary in most industries
must be his if he is to be successful."

" In the elementary school the object is
simply to give the child ideas about agriculture
to stir his interest in it, because this information
is essential to the success of a pupil's general
education, whatever his future vocation may be,
for as everyone must have a minimum know-
ledge of geography, mathematics and history,
so should he possess a minimum knowledge of

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Land Problems and National Welfare

the rudiments of agriculture. Agriculture sur-
rounds us all, it is the greatest industry of the
nation; it supplies our daily food and it is there-
fore only logical that instruction in its rudiments
should form part of the scheme of any code or
schedule of education. This principle has been
accepted by France, Germany, Spain, and the
United States."

" Starting with the principle that the instruc-
tion in an elementary school should be influenced
by the requirements of local conditions — and
this applies to boys and girls alike — it is impos-
sible to have a hard and fast schedule for the
whole country. The authority can, however,
most usefully issue a memorandum that will
serve as a general guide to teachers who will then
be able to make out specific schedules from it.

We now give a suggested scheme of studies
which divides itself into three groups, or rather
concentric circles —

(i) Children from 6 to 8 years old.

Theoretic — Study of wild and cultivated
plants, trees, insects, and animals.

Practical — Planting a few common plants in
the garden.

(2) Children 9 to 11 years old.

Theoretic — Observation and comparison,
weather, soils, plants, trees, animals, insects,
their manner of life, uses, etc.

Practical — Garden work, observing different
184

Education and Agriculture

conditions of weather, soils, crops, etc.

(3) Children 12 to 14 years old.

Theoretic — Observation, comparison, expres-
sion of opinions, the same instruction as in
Class 2 more developed, suitable books to be
used, experiments, visits to model farms.

Practical — The different varieties of corn,
fruit and vegetables ; grafting, budding, etc. ;
certain principles in regard to domestic animals.

It is of the greatest importance that the above
three classes of instruction should be so co-
ordinated as to make a continuous and complete
scheme."

THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER

" The preparation of the teacher is of vital
importance — the master makes the school and
the school makes the pupil. In normal schools
very practical instruction in agriculture should
be given. Work in field and garden ought to
form a large part of the manual instruction
given. If special mention were made in diplomas
of the agricultural qualifications of the teachers,
it seems to us that it would prove a strong in-
centive to pupils."

" Most countries now clearly recognise the
necessity of including agricultural instruction in
the curriculum of the training college."

" Further, in many countries, much care is
taken to keep the teachers up-to-date in their

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Land Problems and National Welfare

agricultural knowledge : —

(i) Conferences are held to discuss the best
subjects to teach and the best methods of giving
the instruction.

(2) At these Conferences careful records
should be kept and published in book form.

(3) Holiday classes for teachers."

THE LESSON IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

" The teacher will fix upon the subject matter
of the lesson and then prepare the necessary
objects, pictures, scale drawings, etc., for demon-
stration. The teacher should carefully prepare
the lesson himself beforehand, and, as a guide to
this preparation, model lessons and books for
teachers could well be used, on condition that
an intelligent and not a servile use be made of
them."

" The clever teacher will generally proceed as
follows : — First question the pupils about the
preceding lesson if it had a direct bearing on
the one about to begin. Then develop the new
subject matter. Next a concise resume, and
finally exercises on the subject of the lesson.
Great care should be taken not to swamp the
essentials in a host of needless detail."

" Wherever practicable, and as often as pos-
sible, the teacher will give practical demonstra-
tions as he proceeds with the lesson, and, above
all, as much instruction as possible will be given

186

Education and Agriculture

in the garden itself."

" Children must be made so to enjoy the
garden work as scarcely to know that they are
being given a lesson, and nature study should
never be presented to the children as a dry
science. They must be made to understand and
love Nature."

" Excursions, when properly and methodically
conducted, are most useful in nature study
training."

"In rural schools the teacher should not limit
himself to dealing with questions of nature
study only during the nature study hour : he
should aim at co-relating his work, hygiene,
domestic economy, gardening, and nature study
being all interdependent. No method of teach-
ing nature study is satisfactory which does not
teach the child to express clearly in his own
language the knowledge he has acquired."

RURAL EDUCATION

Reading. — While most of the reading should,
no doubt, consist of history, geography, and
general literature, lessons should, so far as
possible, be based upon the facts of the
immediate neighbourhood ; for instance, geo-
graphy should commence with the physical
features of the district, history with the events
associated with some local battlefield, ancient
church or castle, and the reading should deal

187

Land Problems and National Welfare

mainly with matters of rural interest.

Writing and Composition. — The subjects of
nature study and manual work, which have
been occupying the attention of the pupils,
should frequently form the subjects for com-
position. Nature study especially will be very
incomplete unless the children are able to
express clearly in their own words the informa-
tion and knowledge they have obtained.

Arithmetic. — Introduce as much out of door
measurement of land, crops, stacks, cisterns,
etc., as possible, and also ascertain by weighing
and measuring, the weight of wheat, barley and
oats per bushel, etc.

In the class room the problems should bear on
rural life and work, such as : — Household ac-
counts, the value of local produce in local markets,
a profit and loss account on the school garden, in-
terest on savings bank deposits, value correspond-
ing to cost of cartage per mile, cost of cultivation,
number of hurdles to a sheepfold, number of
cabbage plants required per acre, area of surface
exposed by round and rectangular hay stacks,
cubic yards of earth removed in land draining,
gallons of water in a cistern of known dimen-
sions, gallons of water per acre from x inches
of rain, trusses of hay in a hay stack, amount of
timber in a tree, etc.

Nature Study. — The work of the children
should consist of, for example : — Making collec-

i88

Education and Agriculture

tions of plants to illustrate some particular
feature, e.g., the way in which they propagate
themselves by seeds, runners, etc., or the way
in which they climb. Collecting and naming
the grasses found locally, and classifying them
into useful, useless, and injurious common field
weeds, and mounting them and describing them
with a view to studying why they are so pre-
valent, and what would be the best means for
eradicating them. Observing the germination
of seeds in school or out of doors, and study-
ing the conditions favourable to plant growth.
Collecting leaves, fruit, bark, wood, etc., of
common forest trees, with a view to recognition.
Studying injury to plant or animal life by
insects, and studying the life history of these
insects. Keeping a nature calendar. Making
a collection of farm and garden seeds ; deter-
mining the percentage of germination and
purity of samples. Studying the habits of birds,
and especially poultry, and keeping records.
Making a scrap book of different breeds of farm
stock, studying the local physical geography,
with especial reference to the soils, their depth
and character, and the crops and wild plants
that grow upon each.

Drawing should be of two kinds : —
I. Nature Drawing. — The careful drawing of
the flower, leaf, root, etc., of a plant, the open-
ing of a bud, etc., and afterwards colouring it, is

189

Land Problems and National Welfare

essential to nature study.

2. Geometrical and Scale Drawing is essential
to practical arithmetic and to handicraft. The
boys should be able to naake a scale drawing of
a field, garden plot, building, box, implement,
etc., and, in gardening and carpentry, work from
such drawings. (Freehand done with pencil
should be generally omitted, and modelling in
clay and a certain amount of charcoal drawing
substituted).

Manual Work: —

1. Gardening. — The cultivation of a plot with
the ordinary vegetables. Either a common
garden for the whole class, or a plot of about
one square rod in size for each boy, or a com-
bination of these systems may be adopted.
Two objects must be kept in view (a) to study
the growth of crops in relation to the soil (which
will be as useful afterwards in farming as in
gardening), and {b) to obtain skill in the opera-
tion of gardening. School gardens worked on
somewhat similar lines to those now existing in
several counties might be resorted to. Flower
culture, bee-keeping, and especially fruit culture
should be associated with gardening.

2. Handicraft should consist either of {a)
Woodwork designed to make useful things, such
as hen-coops, garden frames, bar frames for
bee-hives, egg-boxes, etc. The boys should also

190

Education and Agriculture

learn to mend a gate by a model. The proper
use of the various tools and their construction
should also be taught, (b) Other Handicrafts,
such as making baskets, net for covering fruit-
trees, mats for covering frames, and (for younger
children) cardboard work.

3. Domestic Subjects, (a) Needlework, which
should always be designed to make and repair
useful things ; (6) Cooking, which should include
not only cooking the food, but also buying it,
laying the table, and washing up. In some
districts baking bread should be included ; (c)
Household Management ; (d) Elementary Hygiene.

SUGGESTIONS

FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION

(a) The importance should be recognised of
the study of nature and rural economy for all
children.

(b) Elementary and continuation school
gardens should be provided wherever practic-
able.

(c) Further facilities should be obtained for
enabling teachers to be trained in rural subjects.

(d) Teachers might be stimulated by the
offer of prizes to become thoroughly acquainted
with their environment by asking them to write
descriptive accounts of their respective parishes.

(e) Arrangements might be made for the
formation of Boys' Agricultural Clubs, Boys'

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Land Problems and National Welfare

Gardening Clubs, and Junior Naturalist Socie-
ties, which would give boys practically the
same education as continuation schools and
classes under other and more attractive names.

Note. — Boys' Agricultural Clubs were first
started in Illinois about six years ago, and have
now been formed in several States of the
American Union. Their aim is the definite
improvement of agriculture by enlisting the
interest and co-operation of the young farmer
and farm lad. Seeds, for instance, are distri-
buted amongst the members of the club to
begin with, and prizes are offered for the best
results. The idea of a school, as such, is alto-
gether absent, but the members are gradually
brought into direct touch with educational
activity, and these receive such instruction as
would be provided by a well-organized inter-
mediate agricultural school. The distinguishing
feature of the movement is that it is a voluntary
association of young men concerned in the
cultivation of the soil : they are encouraged to
help themselves, and the demand for opportuni-
ties to learn emanates from the members, as
they realize more and more that success in
farming depends upon knowledge as much as
upon manual skill. An account of the Clubs
may be read in " School " (John Murray) for
January, igo6, and in the Year-Book of the
United States Department of Agriculture for

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Education and Agriculture

1904 at page 489.

(/) Much might be done to improve the
school museum by making it an actual collection
of the natural history of the district.

(g) Local authorities might organize ex-
hibitions of their own shortly before each of
the large agricultural shows for the purpose of
selecting the most appropriate material for
exhibition. This might be done in connection
with local agricultural shows.

193

CHAPTER V

POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE LAND

THE title of this chapter may not be
quite satisfactory but I use it as being
the largest and most comprehensive
term that I can employ.
I shall have in it to touch upon the questions
of Free Trade and Protection — I wish I could
have avoided so controversial a subject ; but writ-
ing as a keen agriculturist, as one who believes
that the land must receive its due, that vastly
more wheat must be grown than now, and that
it is essential that the price should never be
allowed to fall below 30s. a quarter, it is im-
possible for me to omit the consideration of this
subject which is so closely connected with the
welfare of the industry. I approach it from a
non-party standpoint, simply giving my views
on the fiscal problem as an agriculturist.

There is a striking difference between the
continental systems of political economy and
the English ; the French system may fairly be
regarded as typical of the continental schools.
In the continental schools land is taken as the

194

Political Economy and the Land

basis, while in England it is not ; here it is
neglected, and the development of factories
forms the basis of the English school.

Though our greatest authorities in political
economy were fully aware of the all importance
of land, the school of political economy as it
exists in England to-day has worked for the
development of our factories and urban in-
dustries at the cost of our agriculture. In spite
of all neglect agriculture still remains the
greatest industry in the country, with its gross
sales amounting to ;^200,ooo,ooo per annum.
It is even from a monetary point of view twice
as important as the shipping trade, which gives
an annual return of ^100,000,000. What our
agriculture would be worth to-day if it had not
been neglected and penalized is a matter de-
serving careful consideration.

France provides us with a most helpful ex-
ample of the results of a political economy
strikingly in contrast to our own. The French
deliberately fostered and developed their agri-
culture throughout the nineteenth century ; they
may have done this even at the cost of their urban
industries : it will therefore be instructive to
compare briefly the growth of national wealth
in the two countries during that period.

One cause of the great growth of wealth in
France is that the French are essentially a
thrifty people. Granted; but a population living

195

Land Problems and National Welfare

on tlic land and having a direct financial in-
terest in the land is always more saving than an
urban one — where the surroundings are con-
ducive to extravagance.

The following figures I take from the paper
which Mr. Harris read to the Royal Statistical
Society some years ago. " During the first 20
years of the 19th century France admitted
wheat free of duty. After that date she began
taxing imported corn and definitely fostering
her agriculture perhaps somewhat at the cost
of other industries, just as we by the repeal of
the corn laws and the introduction of Free
Trade definitely fostered our urban industries
at the cost of agriculture.

" It is interesting to follow the results of the
two policies in two nations so closely connected.
In 1841 Great Britain was vastly richer than
France, both as regards total wealth and in-
dividual wealth, the latter being ;^2o8 per head
for Great Britain, and ^"93 for France.

" By 1865 France had caught us up, and by
1869 was far ahead, having added at the rate of
^240,000,000 per annum to her national wealth
during the period of 1865-69.

" In 1870 came the Franco-German war which
reduced the annual increase of wealth for the
period 1869-73 to barely ^40,000,000 per
annum. Between 1873-85 the increase per
annum was ;f 190,000,000 in spite of the great

196

Political Economy and the Land

destruction to the vines by phylloxera.

" During no period of the nineteenth century
did the English national wealth show so great an
annual increase as the French between 1865-69."

In considering the question of fiscal policy it
is important to remember that it is only a
branch of the reigning school of political
economy, and this problem should be treated
as a whole, because then the fiscal question will
be kept in its proper relation to the rest of the
problem. If the fiscal question be divorced from
the other component factors of the right policy
towards land, there are two great dangers to
apprehend ; first that land will be again neg-
lected, even in fiscal reform ; second, that
from not giving due heed to the other necessary
factors (education, transport, organisation of
the industry) the agriculturists may look to a
tariff to work a miracle for agriculture, and
lose sight of the fact that they must actively
organise their own industry, and only regard
the tariff as one of the chief means to that end.

Unfortunately, in practical politics there is
little doubt that the question of Free Trade
versus Tariff will receive all attention, and the
larger question of Political Economy and land,
embracing as it does the important considera-
tion of the attitude of the nation towards the
producer and consumer, will be neglected.

In the days of the Roman Empire the pro-
197

Land T^roblcms and National Welfare

ducer was neglected, and the consumer so
unduly pampered that at last he was fed at the
State's expense ; and how disastrous to the
empire ! The idea that low prices of agricul-
tural produce contribute largely towards
national prosperity is clearly negatived by the
following figures.

Between the years 1865-70 the increase in
national wealth was ^39,000,000. Wheat was
under 40s. Between 1870-75 the increase was
;^ 1 26,000,000, yet during that period wheat was
at 54s. 7d. — as high as it had been for the
10 years preceding the repeal of the Corn
Laws.

In modern times nearly all countries have
pursued the policy of wisely fostering the
producer, as the most important element in
the social comity. And the producer of food
has been regarded as the most important of all
producers, and in consequence has been safe-
guarded against unfair competition ; he has
been taught how to be a good producer; he
has been shown the advantages of co-operation;
home products have had the benefit of cheap
transport, also in exporting to neutral markets
the producer has ever had ready to his hand
all the organisation of expert knowledge pro-
vided by an intelligent and painstaking Govern-
ment. Land — considered one of the nation's
chief assets — has always been for the wise

198

Political Economy and the Land

government an object of special care and at-
tention.

Agriculture and all the other industries have
prospered : Germany, France, Holland, Den-
mark and to an exceptional degree Belgium,
have demonstrated how agriculture and manu-
factures can be developed side by side. Yet,
in spite of these notable demonstrations I have
heard cabinet ministers and ex-cabinet ministers
declare that it is impossible to be a great
agricultural nation as well as a great manu-
facturing one.

How different is the picture presented by
England — the producer left to himself to
struggle as best he can against unfair dumping
from all quarters of the globe !

The agricultural producer has not been pro-
vided with the best possible education ; no
national attempt has been made to induce him
to co-operate by giving the incentive of a
system of credit banks ; he has had to contend
against unduly high railway rates, only reduced
in favour of his competitors ! If the producer
be the keystone of the social fabric, Free Trade
England has not done much to wisely foster
and encourage him.

Though I am emphasizing the importance of
the producer, because it seems to me that
he has been unduly neglected in England, it
would be disastrous to lose sight of the main

199

Land Problems and National Welfare

principle that the fair balance must be kept
between consumer and producer. If there be
no demand there can be no supply, but it is
just this balance that has with us been dis-
astrously upset by the over-development of
urban interests at the cost of rural. As this
policy has attracted too much capital and too
many people to certain urban industries, so has
it forced these industries in many cases to over-
produce. Here I must refer the reader to M.
Meline, who deals admirably with the subject.

If land be one of the nation's greatest assets,
then Free Trade has reduced the capital value
of that asset by ^/^ 1,500,000,000.*

This huge sum must in fairness be deducted
from that increase in our manufactures which
Free Traders claim as the result of their policy,
but which was chiefly caused by the big head
start we enjoyed through our position during
many years of manufacturing supremacy.

One of the chief claims advanced for Free
Trade by its advocates is that it gives the
people cheap food — but does it ? We must not
forget the middleman, and particularly the
enormous development of that class in England

Several different authorities have worked out this figure.

According to Sir Inglis Palgrave the loss is made up as follows : —
Diminution in Owner's Capita' £1,000,000,000
,, ,, Farmer's Capital 100,000,000

,, ,, Farmer's Profits 500,000,000

Total £'1,600,000,000

200

Political Economy and the Land

and the heavy toll it levies on every commodity
passing through its hands. It is more accurate
to say that it has been left to Free Traders to
evolve a policy which in the first place is not
free trade or fair trade (an unavoidable plati-
tude), a policy which has neglected the producer,
a policy which may have benefited the con-
sumer to some extent in certain directions, but
pre-eminently a policy which has favoured the
middleman ! And the middleman makes his
living out of the producer and consumer alike.
To digress for one moment, it seems to be
impossible to write about Tariff Reform without
referring to Cobden 1 But really the views of
that worthy man have little to do with the
present issues before the country, conditions
having so completely changed. It is necessary
therefore to consider things as they now are.
I am only making mention of Cobden as an
excuse for quoting Mr. G, F. Watts. Shortly
after Mr. Chamberlain had launched his great
scheme of Tariff Reform, I asked Mr. Watts
what he thought about it. He replied that he
was too old a man to go into the question of
a Tariff as opposed to Free Trade, but that he
had a great admiration for Mr. Chamberlain,
as a man with pre-eminently that most valu-
able characteristic so generally lacking in
Englishmen — elasticity of mind.

And further, in regard to the introduction of
20 i

Land Problems and National Welfare

Free Trade, he said he could never place
Cobden or Bright on a very high pedestal,
for he remembered that Cobden was a cotton
manufacturer and wanted cheap cotton, and
that both Cobden and Bright voted against
Lord Shaftesbury's factory acts, which have
done so much to improve the condition of the
urban labourer.

But to return to the subject before us. Be-
fore considering whether or not a tariff should
be imposed on all foodstuffs that can be pro-
duced within the United Kingdom, and if
imposed, what the effect would be on the
consumers — and in regard to foodstuffs, all non-
agriculturists must class as consumers — it is
necessary to ascertain what tariff is now paid
by every consumer who enters a shop and buys
from a retail dealer. In other words, what is
the amount of the tariff imposed at the present
moment by the middleman, and by our wasteful
methods of marketing ?

I shall take one by one some of the chief articles
of consumption, and as far as possible show the
difference between the price the British pro-
ducer is paid for the articles and the price the
consumer has to pay.

Tariff of
(i) English grown meat. Middleman.

Mutton. Price paid by butcher for a 64 lb.
sheep, £1 17s. 4d. ; net amount realised by
butcher after paying cost- of distribution,

202

Political Economy and the Land

Tariff of Middleman.
£7. 7s. 8d. Butcher's proht, 104. 27 °'i^

Beef. Price paid by butcher for a 50 stone
bullock, £10 ; net amount realised by butcher
after paying cost of distribution, /'23 7s. 5d. 16^ %

Of course cheap colonial and foreign meat
is available for the poorest classes, but as sold
in many parts of London it is black, unpalat-
able stufif that few foreign housewives would
buy.

(2) Milk.

The farnjer receives 6d., 7d., 8d., and
gd. per gallon for his milk, according to
district and time of year. The retail dealers
charge i/-, 1/4, 1/6 and sometimes 1/8 per
gallon. The distribution of milk is much
more effectively carried out in Denmark
(from a public health point of view) for a
sum only 30 % in excess of the amount paid
to the producer. 100-120 °l^

(3) Bread.

When wheat is at 30/- and the 4 lb. loaf at
5d., 16,8 is the amount charged for turning
one quarter of wheat into the corresponding
amount of bread. 34 •^, ^

(4) Peas, beans, cauliflowers, carrots,

turnips, etc. 100-130 %

(5) Small fruit of all kinds. 100-150 %

On the other hand imported groceries are, on
the whole, cheap in England, such imported
articles, for instance, as tea, coffee, sugar — all,
by the way, articles which we are told are more
or less injurious to health but which the people

203

Land Problems and National Welfare

consume in increasingly large amounts.

If, then, the above figures prove that a tariff
exists at the present moment, a tariff of the
most unscientific kind, uncontrolled by Govern-
ment ; the next question is how and to what
extent this tariff of the middleman can be
lowered, and a portion of it, at all events, trans-
ferred to the Government. It is a question of
immense difficulty, and it does not appear to
me that the imposition of a 5% or 10% tariff all
round in any way meets the case, especially if
the expression " all round " does not include all
foodstuff — yet this is the proclaimed policy of
Tariff Reformers* ; a policy which I believe was
originally formulated by the present Lord
Tennyson and one or two other colonial
governors, and finally accepted by Mr. Cham-
berlain. Mr. Chamberlain has, by the way,
been attacked by Free Traders for not having
in the earHer stages of the Tariff Reform
campaign a cut-and-dried policy : this to my
mind is far from being a reproach — so important
a pohcy ought to be formed by slow degrees.

The unofficial Tariff Reform Commission did
good work, but a Royal Commission will be
necessary ; not to enquire into the question of
whether or no Tariff Reform should come, but
solely with a view to deciding how it should

• Save of course such foodstuff as cannot be produced within the
United Kingdom.

204

Political Economy and the Land

come. I know that many ardent reformers
look upon the suggestion of a Royal Commission
as a subterfuge of weak reformers and free
fooders ; but I do not think that this follows, and
I do not see how a tariff is to be imposed wisely
and scientifically without a Royal Commission.

There are still Tariff Reformers who fear to
impose a tax on foodstuffs sufficient to help the
producer. If agriculture is the most important
industry, not only from the financial point of
view, but also from that of the social and
physical well-being of the whole people ; if also
it be admitted that agriculture has suffered
more than any other industry from Free Trade;
then it is clear that in formulating any fiscal
policy the greatest effort should be made to
benefit agriculture, and that a tariff" on foodstuffs
should be the starting point. But it is, I fear,
hopeless to expect Tariff Reformers to make that
practical and logical concession — for most of
them are entirely commercialists, or at all events
commercialists before they are agriculturists.
By the term commercialist, 1 mean a man
who derives his income from some industry or
from commercial securities — in short, the man
who is not mainly dependent on the land for his
livelihood.

There are, I suppose, two main objects in im-
posing a tariff :

J. The raising of revenuf.

Land Problems and National Welfare

2. The encouragement of the producer.
It would not be hard to say which of these
two objects would be given the precedence by
the average politician.

The imposition of a tariff of 5% or 10% on
foodstuffs will certainly produce revenue; Mr.
Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain have publicly
given their solemn assurance that it will not
increase the cost of food to the consumer, but
how will that 5% or 10% benefit the producer ?

I am not carping — but this deserves serious
discussion ; and personally I am more interested
in the effect of tariff upon the producer than
its effect upon the imperial exchequer.

If the impost of 2s. per quarter on imported
wheat helps to keep the price above 30s. per
quarter it will to that extent help the producer.
And the is. on Colonial wheat would have
been in the same way an encouragement to the
English producer. An imperial loaf is a good
thing, but an all English loaf is a better : it is,
therefore, most regrettable that the Tariff
Reform League and Mr. Balfour decided upon
giving up the is. on Colonial wheat.

Of course, until we can grow wheat with the
high proportion of starch which is characteristic
of American and Canadian wheat we shall be
obliged to import about one-fifth of the amount
we consume : that would mean 25,000,000
quarters English grown and 5,000,000 quarters

206

Political Economy and the Land

from Canada, a perfectly workable ideal !

But in general terms it seems to me that a
5% duty, in the case of many articles, will
simply mean transferring 5% of the middleman's
tariff to the Government, where it will be under
more scientific control and will be used to the
benefit of the whole nation and not to that of
one class only.

But let us suppose that a 15% tariff were
imposed instead of a 5%, even then it appears
to me that so long as our present system of
marketing — of exchanging goods — remains as
it is, the agricultural producer would not benefit
to any great extent. For though the middle-
man would most probably forego 5% of his
tariff from considerations of general expediency,
he certainly would not forego 15% thereof.
And by far the simplest way for him to meet
the situation would be to raise the price for
the consumer. Theoretically any impost of
15% ought to increase the producer's prices
hy I5/0, but in practice the middleman's tariff
interposes so large a " nonconductive " zone
that the 15% would certainly be greatly reduced
before it reached the producer.

All this surely points to the necessity of re-
organising our system of markets at the same
time that we reorganise our fiscal system.

The whole class of middlemen would un-
doubtedly rise in wrath to resist such a whole-

207

Land Problems and National Welfare

sale reorganisation of the system of exchange
— with which most of them have every reason
to be satisfied.

The question is, how far would politicians
dare to interfere with the interests of the middle-
man, and how far would they be able to do so ?

From the standpoint of political economy,
the middleman, the distributer, is not as useful
a citizen as the producer. Distributers there
must always be, but, as has been pointed out.
Free Trade has unduly fostered this class, till it
has become harmful to the nation at large and
too numerous for the welfare of the middlemen
themselves. Amongst all its other benefits
Tariff Reform will do much for the nation if it
tends to decrease the number of middlemen
and increase the number of producers, and the
transition will not be a hard one for the thousands
of small rural middlemen, who are already, in
part, producers.

I will not go into more details about our
system of marketing, because with Mr. Wilkin's
kind permission, I append at the end of this
chapter certain extracts from his pamphlet.
He describes far better than I could do the
defects of our present system. I do not know
that I entirely agree with his policy of state
markets, but the choice lies between that and
a fully-developed system of co-operative buying
and selHng. With co-operation the producer

208

Political Economy and the Land

can to a large extent fix the price of his
commodity — at all events he is not entirely
in the hands of middlemen ; without co-
operation, it is the dealer who says what the
price shall be, and plays off one producer
against another. When the reorganisation of
London markets is undertaken, perhaps some
plan of establishing a large market in connec-
tion with each railway terminus will be found
feasible. Such an arrangement would obviously
do away with the hopeless blocking of incoming
produce which now exists.

If the ideal conditions of exchange are those
in which the producer and consumer are as far
as possible brought into direct communication,
then surely it behoves those who introduce
such a measure as Tariff Reform, which vitally
affects the conditions of exchange, to review
the whole situation and deal with it com-
prehensively.

Here again we are brought back to the need
of a Royal Commission to deal properly with
the subject — a commission whose guidings
would be promptly acted upon and not relegated
to regions of oblivion.

I am insisting on the interests of the agri-
cultural producer, because I feel that there is
great danger of these interests suffering, and
being subverted to some extent by the imperial
side of the question, which is indeed the most

209 Q

Land TVohlcms and National Welfare

important part of all, but to which full effect
cannot be given unless the reform is intro-
duced on sound lines, i.e., by not only accepting
the proposition of taxing the food supply of
Great Britain, but of taxing it in such a way
as materially to benefit our primary indus-
try. The imperial side is so well given in
"Constructive Imperialism," by Lord Milner,
who has an equally firm belief in the import-
ance of the agricultural industry, and a thorough
grasp of the reforms needed to improve the
social condition, that every one interested in
the question should read it, if he has not
already done so, without delay.

The taxation of foodstuffs, then, should be
the starting point for the new tariff, and this
would be extended as speedily as possible to
other industries which have been severely
damaged or practically exterminated by unfair
foreign competition. There are many industries
that would come into this category — glass-
making and bleaching, for instance, the first
two which present themselves to my mind.

But there are other industries where the
tariff should be imposed only after careful
examination, and any industry that is in a
very flourishing condition should be left alone,
at all events for the time being ; for the advent
of a tariff would necessitate a certain amount
of readjustment in the placing of the articles

210

Political Economy and the Land

manufactured, as well as disturbance of capital.

This I know causes considerable apprehen-
sion in the minds of some important manu-
facturers.

Another very important subject for the
consideration of the Royal Commission would
be the sources of supply of foodstuffs.

The Empire could and should be self-
supporting; the Mother Country should in the
first place produce as much food as she pos-
sibly can, and then import the rest required
from her dominions over the seas. In par-
ticular— to cite one instance only — we import
about ;^45, 000,000 worth of meat annually,
only some ^^8, 000, 000 worth of which comes from
our colonies. In another chapter I have
pointed out how at least ^20,000,000 worth
more beef might be produced at home — the
remaining ^25,000,000 worth should clearly
come from our colonies. Imported foodstuff
is either given in exchange for English manu-
factured goods, or sent as interest on capital
invested in other countries, and it is therefore
necessary to guide capital into those channels
most beneficial to the empire at large. Such
an idea is naturally repulsive to the mind of
the out-and-out Free Trader, who probably
sticks to the tenets of that derelict school of
political economy which emanated from
Manchester.

211

T.and Problems and National Welfare

But that the Government can to a great
extent guide capital to the benefit of the whole
country, is evident from the course pursued by
the majority of continental countries for many
years past, and more recently by our own
colonial governments, in encouraging the in-
vestment of capital in desired directions.

In spite of enormous international trade,
the tendency of modern industrial development
is for each country to become more and more
self-supporting. Italy, Spain, Russia, India,
etc., which 50 years ago bought entirely from
us, are now creating great manufacturing
centres of their own.

In most countries the importance of the home
market is preached by all politicians.

In Italy, statesmen, having first encouraged
the creation of the great manufacturing dis-
tricts of northern Italy, further influenced the
flow of capital by pointing out to the manu-
facturing classes that the best way to invest
their money was in developing the agricultural
population around them, by teaching them to
make more out of the land and so to be more
prosperous and thus bigger purchasers of goods
made in the cities. These country people sur-
rounding the towns constitute the best and
nearest market, said the Italian statesmen.

In England, our leaders of commerce not
only thought in hemispheres, but for many

212

Political Economy and the Land

years supplied the wants of the populations of
hemispheres ! This fact, I think, has caused the
importance of the foreign market to be ex-
aggerated out of all proportion and to the com-
parative neglect of the home market, but when
figures are consulted it is clear that 75% of our
total output is taken by our home market, and
25% exported. So that measures that will in-
crease the purchasing power of our home
population to the extent of 5% will benefit the
nation as much as a 15% increase in the export
trade.

But the importance of the home market will
undoubtedly be forced upon us more and
more by the huge development of American
manufactories.

There the output is not limited by the unwise
regulation of Trades' Unions to the extent that
it is in England.

According to Mr. Peirse in his book on "Free
Trade for America," there are just 5,000,000
operators employed in the American factories as
against 5,200,000 in England; yet the former,
owing to freedom from restraint, the incentive
of high wages, and the use of every possible
labour-saving machine, produce annually just
twice as much as their English confreres ! And
the limit to their productive power is not yet in
sight.

The advent of this tremendous industrial
213

Land Problems and National Welfare

power was not foreseen by those who brought
in Free Trade in England; and, apart from every
other consideration, I believe that a measure
of Protection will be forced upon us simply to
safeguard the very existence of many of our
industries, and that it will be a case of only a
few years before this necessity is recognised by
Free Traders themselves. How much wiser
then to be beforehand in devising a policy to
meet the requirements of the times !

It is interesting to note that the highly pro-
tective tariffs which exist in Canada are
maintained by the Liberal and " Free Trade "
party, who have been in power for so many
years ; they, too, recognised that a protective
wall was the only way to safeguard Canadian
industries from American competition.

Free Traders lose few opportunities of point-
ing out that whatever else Protection may do it
certainly increases the cost of living.

This is too large a question to go into in detail,
but I will begin with the United States, because
I am actually in that country at the time that I
write these lines.

The cost of living has gone up enormously, it
has increased at a greater rate than the wages of
the labouring man. But in this connection it
must be remembered that the average wage in
America provides and always has provided a
much larger margin over and above the living

214

Political Economy and the Land

wage than has ever been the case in England.
I have visited and kept house in the States
from time to time over a period of many years :
the cost of living has at least doubled. Yet
taking the country at large, the people have
plenty of money to spend, both in town and coun-
try; the money that clerks and the like have at
their disposal is quite astonishing and can only
be realised by going to places which they fre-
quent ; living may be high — double the cost of
living in England — but their income is three or
four times that of the same class in England.

I am not in the least trying to gloss over the
fact that the increased cost of living in the
United States is a very serious matter, and one
which will have to be dealt with by the Govern-
ment in the near future. But the relevant
question here is — how much of this increase is
due to Protection, how much to other causes ?
I see, in current papers and magazines, that the
causes commonly mentioned are: — i. Tariff; 2.
Trusts ; 3. Gold output.

One of the causes mentioned that evidently
must affect the living in all countries, irrespective
of fiscal policy, is the greatly increased amount
of gold in circulation. Everyone feels — even
without studying the question — that money does
not go so far as it formerly did. Coins are but
tokens, the fewer in currency the more articles
will they buy, and the higher the proportion of

215

Land Problems and National Welfare

tokens to articles the dearer must all com-
modities be. But this cause alone will not
account for the great rise of prices in America ;
there is little doubt that the main cause is to
be ascribed to the action of the giant trusts
and to the tariff they impose.

Last winter the grocery trust decided to raise
the cost of all groceries by 30% throughout the
Southern States — and it was done !

The American farmer, quite as much as the
English farmer, is in need of co-operation, for
he is entirely at the mercy of these trusts, and
they are a great evil in the country, injurious to
the producer, consumer, and middleman alike.

Taking all circumstances into consideration,
it seems quite arguable that the adoption of Free
Trade in the United States would at this stage
greatly benefit the country. Protection may by
now have played its part, at all events it is only
a question of a few years before the States will
be in a position to defy all competition ; they
produce all the foodstuffs they require, and they
can manufacture nearly every article of com-
merce more cheaply than can be done in any
other country — I am quoting Mr. Pearce.

Elasticity is necessary in fiscal policy as in
every other.

And further. Free Trade might prove the
most effective weapon with which to fight the
power of the trusts.

216

Political Economy and the Land

How splendid a part Protection has played in
the development of the United States, even
admitting that the tariff has in some measure
increased the cost of living, and also that the
nation at large has been taxed in favour of the
manufacturing classes, is shown by the results
achieved. A 5oo% increase on the output of
manufactured goods between the years i860
and 1900 ! I was in Kansas and other middle
western States just before the McKinley tariff
came into force ; the land was occupied by a
sparse population of struggling farmers, wretch-
edly housed and heavily in debt, with no market
for their produce. The McKinley tariff gave a
creative impetus to manufactures in that area,
and, when I visited it four years later, large
manufacturing towns stood on the sites of
former straggling hamlets, big markets were
provided for the farmers, who in that short
period had responded to the changed condition
to such an extent that they had been able to
clear themselves of debt and build comfortable
homes as well.

In this case the chief benefit accrued to agricul-
ture from the way in which the tariff influenced
capital, guiding it through factories to the land.

Before leaving the American farmer, I must
quote a paragraph from the report of the
American Department of Agriculture, and the
comments thereon which appeared in a con-

217

Land Problems and National Welfare

temporary journal.

** Most prosperous of all years is the place
to which 1909 is entitled in agriculture. The
value of farm products was $8,760,000,000 (or
;f 1,752,000,000), a gain of $869,000,000 over
the preceding year." (^f 173,800,000.)

" The sum is one that challenges the American
imagination ; these virtually nine billions pene-
trate into every form of commerce, art, industry,
society.

"It is their fructifying magic that bulges bank
balances, that makes possible daring exploits
in the realms of development and general
expansion.

" It is their influence that supports the money
markets of the country, that keeps international
trade on the right side of the ledger, that largely
provides employment for millions of factory
operatives and an army of domestic and foreign
salesmen.

" In the case of cotton, the agricultural product
of a single section lays a tribute upon farthest
civilization and heathendom.

" It is the motive power that drives hundreds of
wheels in England."

In the United States it is clear that, in spite
of the vast industrial development, the supreme
importance of land is fully recognised.

The mention of cotton again raises forcibly
the question of the sources of supply : every ounce

218

Political Economy and the Land

of cotton used in English factories should be
grown within the empire, and there is no doubt
that this could be done.

Free Traders say that we can get all the raw
cotton we require from America and send the
manufactured article back to that country, and
to the neutral markets. Quite apart from any
question of placing of capital and encouraging
industry within the empire it would be well for
Free Traders to realise that there is a growing
feeling in America that it is unprofitable to send
raw cotton to England, that it would be more
advantageous to send the finished article direct
to the neutral markets and even to England her-
self! Now to make a short comparison between
the relative cost of living in the United Kingdom
and any of the protected continental countries,
I cannot agree with the contention of Free
Traders that living in England is altogether
cheaper. Take a family with /^200 a year,
and that sum will go further, say, in Florence
or Dresden than it will in an English town of
similar size ; for half-a-crown one gets a better
dinner in Italy, France, or Germany than one can
at even a French or Italian restaurant in London.

But the really important comparison is that
between the relative cost of living of the work-
ing classes in the respective countries. And I
have no hesitation in saying that the French,
German, or Italian housewife can, say on 12s,

219

Land Problems and National Welfare

n week, place before her family a more plentiful,
wholesome and nourishing diet than it is pos-
sible for the English housekeeper to provide on
a similar amount.

Meat and groceries are cheaper in England,
but milk, eggs, bread and vegetables are cheaper
on the continent.

Further, the continental working-classes eat
bread of a much more nourishing kind than the
wretched white bread in general use in England.
And in Germany the consumption of bread is
much higher per head of the population than in
England. I have carefully studied the Board of
Trade Bluebook on the comparative cost of living
in Germany and England, and, though its figures
are undoubtedly correct on paper, it does not do
to judge a diet by its monetary value as shown
in an official report, but by its nourishing and
appetizing qualities as it appears on the table.

I venture to express a grave doubt if the pains-
taking gentlemen who compiled the Report in
question were also good housekeepers — could
themselves make puddings — and yet no one un-
versed in the art of making puddings should
have had the temerity to offer comparisons
between the cost and quality of the food in
different countries.

There are many Free Traders and also, I
think, some Tariff Reformers, who fear that
trusts may follow the introduction of Protec-

220

Political P2cononiy and the Land

tion, but this is not a necessary sequence ; many
of the continental countries are quite free from
that evil, and the existence of trusts in America
must be put down to other causes than tariff.

Reference has been made to various fallacies
put forward by Free Traders, but even with-
in the Tariff Reform camp there are some
enthusiasts who in their very eagerness for the
cause make public statements as to what
Tariff Reform will do — statements that I fear it
would be hard to substantiate. This is regret-
table, because the cause for Tariff Reform is so
strong that it is unnecessary to strain a single
point.

First there are those men who say that
Tariff Reform will cure everything,. Now for
farmers to think that Tariff Reform will bring
in an agricultural millennium, without organisa-
tion and effort on their own part, is worse than
folly. No universal panacea for evils has yet
been found, and even superficial study of the
problems before us is sufficient to show that
fiscal reform can only be fully successful,
even in its own sphere, if it be wisely married
to other much needed reforms, such as land
reform, improved education, improved housing
of the poor, etc. And even from the point
of view of party tactics, many wavering voters
would support a tariff if they knew that they
were also voting for other reforms dear to

221

Land T'roblcms and National Welfare

their hearts. I am glad to see that Professor
Hevvins, in writing to the " Morning Post " after
the general election of January igio, said that in
his opinion many votes were lost in the northern
counties because the voters were generally
interested in questions of reform, and sufficient
prominence was not given in the Unionist pro-
gramme to the various social reforms needed.

Secondly, there are Tariff Reformers who
proclaim that a tariff will so benefit all our
industries that agriculture will enjoy in its
turn great advantage through the improved con-
dition of our manufactures.

As one ever on the outlook for the promul-
gation of any doctrine injurious to the interest
of agriculture, I strongly protest against this
view. It is one that has been put forward by
several leading Tariff Reformers, and yet very
little consideration is sufficient to show that
it is unsound. In the first place our cities are
large enough, in all conscience, and afford
already so huge a market that the home pro-
ducer is at present able to supply only one half
of the foodstuff required.

A few pages back I pointed out how the
McKinley tariff had benefited farmers through
encouraging the creation of factories in the
middle western states, but there the conditions
were very different ; there were no markets
available for the farmer at all. But in England

222

Political Economy and the Land

the reverse is the case — we want to benefit the
manufacturer by directly enlarging the purchas-
ing power of the rural population, and by in-
creasing the rural population itself to ease the
congestion in the urban areas.

As any tariff is bound to exert a powerful in-
fluence on capital, it will therefore be the most
valuable means at the disposal of the Govern-
ment for guiding capital into those channels
which will most benefit the nation. Guiding
capital is a very delicate operation, and must
be undertaken with the greatest care. And my
chief objection to the proposition of an all-
round lo per cent tariff is that it is altogether
too crude a way of dealing with the matter.
Can any one deny that many industries are
already over-capitalised, and that one effect of
a tariff on such industries will be to attract to
them still more capital ? And population follows
capital, so that we should see still more workers
attracted to the already overcrowded centres
of industry. Also more capital devoted to in-
dustries which have already sufficient will be
capital lost to agriculture — capital that might
have been used to help to replace that
;^i, 500,000,000 lost to the agricultural industry
through a harmful fiscal policy.

Agriculture is almost the only industry which
it is impossible to over-capitalize, but this sub-
ject is so well treated in M. Meline's book, " Le

223

Land Troblcnis and National Welfare

Retour a la Terre " that I must refer the reader
to it. I will, however, quote an interesting com-
ment he makes on Mr. Chamberlain and his
policy. I wonder if the Right Hon. gentleman
has read it ?

" The call of the land resounds from one end
of the earth to the other. . . This universal
agricultural movement is not to be explained
by purely economic reasons — by the need of
opening new fields of work to the labouring
populations. It is due to a much deeper cause
— to the instinct of self preservation which
moves nations as it moves individuals, which
arouses in them a presentiment of certain danger.

" Can there be a greater danger for a nation
than to be entirely dependent on foreigners for
its food supply ? yet this is the unenviable
situation of England to-day. Though a great
and powerful country it must be a source of
deep and real anxiety. If she were ever en-
gaged in a great war the slightest naval reverse
would be sufficient to interrupt the food supply
and bring starvation to her crowded population.
Even without going as far as that, a declaration
of war would suffice so to raise the price of food
that the Government would find itself with an
almost insurmountable internal embarrassment.

" This great danger to England has proved a
valuable object lesson to other European govern-
ments who have determined in consequence

224

Political Economy and the Land

that they at all events will not be exposed to a
similar danger. . . So that wherever one looks
one sees a decided reaction on the part of
governments and parliaments in favour of agri-
culture, a reaction which is assuming such
vast proportions that one cannot consider it an
accident. Rather, it is one of those great waves
of feeling which at certain times stir the minds
of men and break down all barriers. The idea
is beginning to take root in England, and if one
tries to fathom the inner meaning of the
great economic revolution set on foot by Mr.
Chamberlain and pushed by him with a mastery
and tenacity of conviction that nothing could
discourage, one understands that it is nothing
else than a return to the land — a determination
to foster the agricultural industry which England
has neglected for the last thirty years."

Thirdly, there is the statement that tariff will
increase labourers' wages. It will undoubtedly
increase employment, but does a tariff affect the
rate of wage ? If so, why the great variation of
wage in protected countries ? Why also the varia-
tion in Free Trade England ? There is a difference
amounting to nearly 50% in the rate of wage of
rural labourers in different counties. If low
wages are given little work is done in return ;
it seems, therefore, to me that the rate of wages
depends more on the standard of the workman
than on the existence or non-existence of a

225 R

Land Problems and National Welfare

tariff. This is an important point for those who
have to put Tariff Reform before the minds of
working men.

There is one more doctrine, held by Free
Traders, that I must comment upon before bring-
ing this chapter to a close.

It is very commonly said that a large excess
of imports over exports is a sign of the wealth of
a country. This is undoubtedly true, but it is
not a sign that the capital of the country is in-
vested to the best advantage of the nation or of
the whole empire. The excess of imports
represents interest on capital invested abroad,
undoubtedly as a rule to the benefit of the
financier, but by no means necessarily to the
benefit of the empire : millions go to develop
foreign countries while our colonies are crying
out for more capital.

On paper England is still the richest country
in the world in proportion to her population, but
the money is not well distributed. If ten square
miles in an entirely rural district in England
were compared with a similar area in France or
Germany, there is no doubt that the average
wealth of the people in such an area would prove
far higher on the continent than it is here.

The wealth of England has become too much
centralized in the small class of financiers living
in the great cities, and one of the best methods
of securing a better distribution of money

226

Political Economy and the Land

throughout the country is to win back for agri-
culture that ;f 1,500,000,000 of capital taken from
it.

There is one point in connection with the
taxation of foodstuffs which Free Traders should
bear in mind, and that is, that the great Fathers
of political economy all admit that it may at times
be necessary to protect an infant industry. And
I would here make the most of this admission,
because — I say it in all seriousness — agriculture,
reformed as we would see it, must be classed as
an infant industry and must be protected against
the adult and vigorous growth of organised
agriculture on the continent.

Once more, Tariff Reform by itself cannot
solve the problem of the land, but it must be
the starting point for other reforms ; it must
furnish the sinews of war — money. A certain
definite proportion of the receipts from the food
taxes ought to be ear-marked for the develop-
ment of agriculture — for education, banks, co-
operation, transport.

I firmly believe that a tariff on foodstuffs,
coupled with a diminution of the tariff of the
middleman and with improved conditions of
marketing, will not raise the cost of living ; but
even if it did the agricultural industry is so
essential to the nation that it must be made to
flourish, and money spent to this end will be
well spent. The great cities that are always

227

Land Problems and National Welfare

increasing in size must realise that either they
will have to aid in restoring prosperity to agri-
culture, or they must supply free food to a
vast and increasing army of degenerates within
their borders.

I have met several Liberal Free Traders who,
though they would hear of no tariff on manu-
factured goods, were so keenly alive to the im-
portance of agriculture that they would agree to
a duty on foodstuffs. And I end this chapter
by expressing the hope that that excellent type
of Liberal may increase and multiply with the
utmost rapidity.

Excerpts from Mr. Wilkin^ s pamphlet.

LONDON MARKETS

" Is it true that you have great complaints to
make of the London wholesale markets ?

" Yes, it is quite true that they are unsuitable
for small men. Notwithstanding the enormous
growth of trade, induced by the railways, there
appears to be no greater number of markets in
London than there were two or three centuries
ago. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 14,
page 829, gives the names of the eleven markets
existing in the time of Stowe the Chronicler,
which correspond nearly with the eleven at
present existing, and continues, ' Since the re-
moval of Hungerford market to make way for
Charing Cross Station, Covent Garden has

228

Political Economy and the Land

remained the only vegetable and flower market
of importance in the Metropolis, although
vegetables of a cheap kind are sold at the
Borough and Spitalfields, also at Farringdon
Road and the Great Northern Railway ; ' and
again on page 828, vol. 14, * In 1328 a charter
was granted to the Corporation of London by
Edward III., conveying to it the sole right to
establish markets within seven miles circuit of
the city. The system, though now broken up —
even in regard to provisions, so far as the retail
trade is concerned — remains intact in regard
to the vending of certain provisions, wholesale.'

" What statesman shall win immortality by
breaking up the rest ?

" Are not the London markets the biggest and
best markets in the country?

" Do other people complain of them ?

" Is there any prospect of success in promot-
ing retail markets ?

" ' The return they (London markets) make to the toiler
is a scurvy one.' Sir John Rolleston {Financial Review).
" * If we send things there we get nothing for 'em.'

— Small Holder.
"* Gluts are the most ordinary things in the world.'

— Salesman.

" Empty carts block the way so that waggons
loaded with produce cannot get in. Space is
insufficient. Prices are generally low and un-
profitable. These markets are a real hindrance

229

Land Problems and National Welfare

to trade, because they make trade unprofitable
for the growers. How long shall they block the
way ? Buyers are driven away by bad deliveries,
and sellers by bad prices. They discourage
English growers, and encourage the sale of
foreign fruit and vegetables in large lots, to the
immense detriment of home-grown produce.
Thus, being wholesale and glutted with cheap
foreign produce in busy times they are no use
to the small holder. The home counties are
computed to lose ^100,000 per annum in these
bad markets. They send up their best produce
under the delusion that they are dealing with
the merchant princes of the best market in the
world, whereas in reality they are only supplying
the lowly costermongers with job lots at half
price. Covent Garden market, especially, mono-
polises the most valuable market site in London,
because of its proximity to the West End, but
it is meanly managed, cribbed, cabined and
confined. Outside the market, in the dirty
narrow streets, waggon loads of choice produce
wait for hours and lose their market. Hundreds
of empty carts bar the drivers' way to the sales-
men's stands, and the drivers fiercely contest
every inch of room. The writer himself has gone
through this experience, from 4.30 to 7.30 a.m.

" After urgent remonstrances he has had to
wait on the top of the waggon and then see his
precious peas divided amongst the costermongers

230

Political Economy and the Land

at half-price. This market, however, has a
redeeming feature, namely : if a small holder can
get in he may hire a square yard or two of
flagstones in the open, on which to pitch his
produce, and stand there and sell it to passers-
by at retail prices for ready money, and thus
save probably 30 per cent, at the least. This
ought to be possible in every corner of London.

" It is no exaggeration to say that the condition
of the markets is deplorable, from the market
gardener's and the small holder's point of view :
they appear to be conducted in the interests of
privileged individuals, who constitute a monoply
disastrous to the welfare of the workers on the
land.

" From the point of view of the State, the
markets of London and the country, if well
organised with adequate root and branch re-
form, could have immense possibilities of wealth
for the State, and be well calculated to settle
spontaneously upon the land the large rural
population in comfort and prosperity.

"Why are the home counties poor?

" It has been stated that they lose ;^ioo,ooo
per annum by trading with their astute friends
in the London wholesale markets.

" Let us see what ground there is for such
an assertion. Take the example of one crop,
concerning which a definite estimate has been
published, namely, the strawberry crop, valued

231

Land Problems and National Welfare

at ^1,500,000 sterling (whether that is too much
or too little matters not for the purpose of this
illustration), the wholesale and retail prices are
well known, and it is practically certain that at
least ^^500,000 value, that is, one-third of the
estimated total, has gone through the retail
trade for immediate consumption, the remainder
being dealt with by the jam makers or other
wholesalers. Our computation in a precise
form is as follows : The retailers received from
the public ^500,000, selling the fruit at the rate
of 2d., 4d., 6d., 8d., averaging 5d. per pound.
In some districts none was sold under 6d. per
pound. The growers only received from the
wholesale market salesman ^250,000. How is
that known ?

" Thus: — The daily returns of fruit sold whole-
sale are at the rate of id., 2d., 3d., 4d., averag-
ing 2|d. per pound ; very few have had a return
at 4d., nor made a better average than 2d. per
pound, but let it go as 2^d., as that is the price
of the published estimate referred to.

" From these figures it is deduced that in
certain circumstances, as detailed, the growers
have received only half out of ;f 500,000 received
by the retailers.

" Where has the rest gone ?

" It is lost to the country producer in the
double marketing which he ought to avoid
if he can. He has laboured at his task 12

232

Political Economy and the Land

months, and then gets only half the value of his
labour, whilst the middlemen between them,
for a few hours' work, receive half his property!
Are the middlemen partners of his, or servants ?
He, poor man, being not on the spot, has spent
50 per cent, in marketing, while the large retail
traders, like the London Stores, require only 15
or 16 per cent, for expenses of trading and
profit over the whole year. Why are the
home counties poor ? This is why : they are
condemned to sell in one out of three wholesale
markets which are engineered entirely to the
profit of Londoners and entirely to the loss of
countrymen !

"The grievance may be put in a few words : —
The rural producers get less than half of the
price which the public pay. Moral : ' Serve the
public' You cannot ! The State defends the
chartered markets."

233

CHAPTER VI

SMALL HOLDINGS AND AGRICULTURE

THE sound development of small hold-
ings lies at the root of land reform,
just as land reform must be the basis
of all social reform.
If the social evils from which Great Britain is
suffering are to a significant extent caused by
so large a proportion of the population being
divorced from the land : if a landless proletariat
constitutes, as Disraeli pointed out years ago, a
grave national danger, then the remedy must be
to recreate a large, well-educated and financially
sound rural population.

For upwards of loo years Parliament passed
Acts which legalized the enclosing of common
lands, and gave its sanction to the systematic
withdrawal of land from the people. It is not
here a question of whether land in the form of
commons was put to the best economic use, or
no; a larger subject is before us — that of national
welfare, which demands that the greatest possible
number of people shall be directly connected
with the land.

234

Small Holdings and Agriculture

Parliament has taken away the land ; it must
now reverse the process, and by careful legisla-
tion increase the number of men on the land.
The few efforts of politicians in this direction
during recent years have not on the whole been
remarkable for their success ; the hearts of the
workers have not been in the work. Unionists
and Conservatives have been altogether wanting
so far as a land policy is concerned — there was
no sign of such a policy until quite lately, when,
immediately before the election of January 1910,
Sir Gilbert Parker hastily sketched out a scheme
based on suggestions of Mr. Jesse Collings'
which Unionists for years had refused to adopt.

This policy has been formally endorsed by
the Unionist leaders — and we agriculturists
must, I suppose, be thankful for small mercies
and hope that it will finally develop into a
working scheme worthy of adoption.

To my mind the Unionists would have been
wiser in adopting the policy suggested by Mr.
Pratt. It is more elastic, and it combines all that
is good in the system of ownership with that of
tenancy ; above all, it suggests the soundest
of all methods of developing small holdings, i.e.,
by letting farms to co-operative societies. Mr.
Pratt is one of our best practical men, and he
has devoted years to the study of land problems ;
yet he was not listened to, nor, as far as I know,
was his scheme even carefully considered.

235

Land Problems and National Welfare

The Small Holdings Act of 1907 is the most
comprehensive of modern Acts dealing with land,
and it has certain very good features.

It is erroneous to suppose that the main pro-
visions of this Act emanated from the extreme
Radicals, Socialists and nationalisers of land.
There was only one group of reformers in readi-
ness with a definite scheme for developing small
holdings when the present Government came
into office. I refer to a little society which
had come into being some three years before,
through the energy of Mr. Charles Roden Buxton,
and which had commissioned Mrs. Roland
Wilkins (nee Miss Jebb) to undertake a scientific
investigation of the circumstances that had
actually contributed to the formation of exist-
ing small holdings in different parts of England.
The results of the investigation, never before
attempted on these lines, were naturally invalu-
able as a basis for legislation ; and when the
Government turned their attention to the
question they took over almost in their entirety
the suggestions of this little society. Mr. L.
Harcourt introduced the Bill and Mr. John
Burns made it his special care, watching over
it in its committee stage, until it finally became
the fully-fiedged Act as we know it.

Though the Liberals have no official land
policy, I honestly think that during the past few
years they have shown a greater interest in land

236

Small Holdings and Agriculture

than have their opponents. Whether that
interest is altogether good and sound is quite
another matter.

If the Liberals have no formulated land policy
they have at least an unofficial one held by an
ever-increasing section of the party — the nation-
alization of land.

The nationalization of land is too large a
question and too far removed from practical
politics to be dealt with here. England is not
ready and for years to come will not be ready
for even the discussion of the advantages or
disadvantages of such a policy : that being the
case it is unjust that the cost of nationalizing
inconsiderable bits of land should be thrown on
the shoulders of struggling small holders.

Yet this is the effect of the Act of 1907 ; by
its provisions the small holder purchases his
holding by instalments, not for himself, but for
the County Council.

It would be well if politicians could be made
to understand that a Small Holdings Act
developing small tenancy, or a Land Purchase
Bill developing small proprietorship, does not
constitute a land policy. And that is the chief
objection to the Act of 1907 : it does not con-
stitute a policy. It may deal with part — an
inherent and important part of the land problem ;
but because it provides only for part, and is not
associated with measures dealing with the other

237

Land Problems and National Welfare

sides of the problem, it is necessarily to a great
extent ineffectual.

Wherever small holdings have been actively
developed on the continent, reform of rural
education has always preceded the movement,
and the creation of credit banks and encourage-
ment of co-operation has come hand in hand
with the placing of people on the land.

So much for general criticism of the Act.

Let us consider for a moment the execution
of the Act.

Most Ccounty Councils, I think, honestly do
their best to carry out the intentions of the Act,
but it is only a small percentage of members of
Small Holding Committees which at all believes
that it is possible to make these small hold-
ings pay. The rest wholly doubt the eventual
success of the movement, and, worse than this,
though they will admit in theory that more
people than now should be settled on the land,
theydo not realise that every authority concerned
must for the good of the whole country increase
the number of small holders, and that if one
line of action does not answer, another must
be tried.

The County Council is now the supreme
local authority. It does not exist merely to give
effect more or less heartily to legislation passed
by parliament ; it has a higher duty to perform,
for it has now the power to devise measures for

238

Small Holdings and Agriculture

the benefit of the inhabitants of the district.
It has a duty not only towards the new race
of small holders that is springing up, but also
to the old-established small holders who often
have a hard enough time through not knowing
how best to treat their holdings.

Is it universally realised that about one half
of the agriculturists of England who are not
farm labourers are farmers of under 50 acres ?

This is just the class that of itself can do
least to improve its condition — the class that
wants most help.

County Councils have Whiskey money to spend
on technical education, yet they have been slow
in devising means of putting beneficial technical
instruction within the reach of this class. They
should not deny to the struggling agriculturists
the benefit of their fair share of this money.
And it is to be hoped that when County Councils
draw up plans for utilizing the grants from the
Development Fund, they will remember that
these grants should be considered as supple-
mentary to that proportion of Whiskey money
which for years past they should have been
spending on education beneficial to agriculture.

County Councils have worked very hard since
the passing of the Act ; the amount of work
done has been out of all proportion to the
results obtained. The transfer of land is need-
lessly troublesome, and the whole process should

239

Land Problems and National Welfare

have been simplified before bringing in any
Small Holdings Act; but of course a party
which is practically pledged to the nationaliza-
tion of land does not want to simplify its trans-
fer, but rather, as shown by the Budget of
igog, to make the process more difficult. From
an administrative point of view the chief evil
has been in having to deal with so many indi-
vidual applicants for holdings ; in a large number
of districts the original applicants have dis-
appeared before the holdings were ready for
them. Moreover the continued dealing with
scattered individuals will be a frequent source
of trouble and expense to County Councils.

Again, it is to be feared that in spite of every
precaution on the part of the commissioners
small holdings will be started in unsuitable
places; the mere fact of their being started all
over England, in every County Council District,
makes it impossible to avoid this pitfall.

I remember in this connection Prince Kro-
potkin's answer when I asked him his opinion as
to the best way of developing small holdings.
*' Begin by developing small holdings in districts
where they already exist — do not try to create
or manufacture them in districts where there is
no natural tendency towards small holdings."
It seems to me that this principle lies at the
root of success: in time, with the development
of the movement, small holdings would naturally

240

Small Holdings and Agriculture

be started in all counties as a real and not a
manufactured demand arises.

But putting people on the land in a country
like England, where, in general terms, a small
holding tradition does not exist, is a very difficult
proceeding. There is only one way in which
success can be achieved on a large scale, and
that is by settling the small holders in colonies,
or, better still, by letting the land to co-operative
societies. Nothing that I have seen in the
practical working of the Small Holdings Act
leads me to change or modify that view.

In the early stages of development the
colony system should have been adopted almost
to the exclusion of finding small bits of land
for scattered individuals. Most of the opposi-
tion and bad feeling created amongst sitting
tenants has been due to the forcible taking of
land from larger farms for individual appli-
cants, whereas when once the movement is well
on foot it will be time enough for County
Councils to satisfy one or two applicants in
each parish. But even at this stage it is not
too late to adopt the colony system. The
colonies should be founded in really suitable
places. A whole farm or farms should be
taken and divided up, and then the small holder
must go to the place where he can get his
holding ; this of itself would form a valuable test.
In America men will go hundreds of miles to

241 s

Land Problems and National Welfare

take a farm in a district where small farms are
being developed in colonies. Why should they
not do the same in England ?

This method would be of great advantage to
the County Council, because it would simplify
its work in every way ; and it would be of equal
advantage to the small holders because it would
place them in a better position to co-operate
and to receive instruction in the best methods
of cultivation.

Mr. Pratt puts the scheme so well in his
article in the " Standard " on the advantages
of the taking of land by co-operative societies,
that I quote at length —

" I realise that what I have stated in my
previous article may seem very discouraging to
those Unionists who have been looking to
peasant proprietary as their ' Bulwark against
Socialism,' but I have thought it my duty to
state the facts as I have found them and to
offer what seems to me right guidance and
direction in a matter less of theorizing than of
hard, practical fact, in which the interests of
those of our fellow-countrymen whom it is
desired to send ' back to the land ' must be
regarded as paramount.

" So I come to the question — ' What should
the Unionists do ? ' and thereon depends in the
first place the subsidiary question, * Should they
abandon their aim of creating a larger body of

242

Small Holdings and Agriculture

peasant proprietors ? '

" My answer to this is that they need not
necessarily adopt this course. I consider that
without seeking to force unduly the principle of
ownership and creating a possibly artificial
demand for it (in the same way as the Finance
Bill would force on the market land not yet
* ripe for building purposes '), they should
certainly afford greater facilities for the owner-
ship of small holdings, so that cultivators, or
would-be cultivators, who did wish to purchase
could realise their aspirations more easily, and,
if possible, at less expense in the matter of fees
and costs than at present. The acquisition of
land and the re-sale thereof in case of need
under fair conditions should approach as nearly
to the buying and selling of other kinds of
property as circumstances will permit.

*' The fact that comparatively few persons
took advantage of the purchase clauses of the
Small Holdings Act of 1892, which gave power
to County Councils to buy land and resell it
in small lots, is attributed by Unionists to
' some radical defects ' in the details of the
measure. For these defects the Unionists
have, it is declared, sought in vain during the
present Parliament to secure a remedy. Here,
then, a Unionist government in search of a
land policy could begin by curing the defects
in question, and by making such amendments

243

Land Problems and National Welfare

of or additions to the existing legislation on
small holdings as would give to cultivators
really desirous of purchasing a holding every
reasonable opportunity for doing so that they
could desire. This procedure would supply the
means of meeting an actual want and give the
principle of ownership at least a better chance
of development where or when it might be
adopted with advantage.

" I cannot but conclude, therefore, that while
every reasonable facility should certainly be
afforded for meeting any genuine desire for the
ownership of small holdings, the development
of a system of co-operative tenancy on the lines
I have indicated would be of great assistance
in facilitating the settlement of more people on
the land, and that not only would it offer still
greater prospects of economic success, but it
would also, in effect, prove quite as strong a
bulwark as peasant proprietary against the
advance of Socialistic ideas. There is, in any
case, room for both systems, and a Unionist
government could not do better than let the
small holders have their choice.

" In a concluding article I propose to deal with
co-operation, credit, and the revival of rural life.

" But, in view of the considerations already
presented, a Unionist Government should, I
think, go farther than this and encourage also,
as an alternative system, the co-operative rent-

244

Small Holdings and Agriculture

ing of land, either direct from a landowner, or
through a local authority.

" Under this system the landowner or the
County Council deals not with a number of
individual units, but with a group of small
holders formed into a registered co-operative
society. The society rents a farm as a whole
and sub-lets it by mutual arrangement among
the members, on such terms as will cover the
rent which the society must pay, plus a small
charge for expenses. The landowner or the
County Council thus receives the total rent in
a lump sum from the society, and is relieved both
of the trouble of collecting from all the tenants
and of any risk of loss. A committee formed
by the small holders themselves can collect
the rents with less friction than an agent or an
official could do. The fact that the members
of the society are jointly and severally respon-
sible gives them an incentive to bring moral
suasion to bear on defaulting neighbours, while
the Board of Agriculture requires that such
land-renting societies should have a share
capital, called or uncalled, equal to three years'
rent of the land it takes over, or, alternatively,
should pay six months' rent in advance and
have uncalled share capital equal to the amount
of rent for another eighteen months.

" The main advantage to the small holders
is that they can get the land at a lower rent.

245

T.and Prol)lcnis and National Welfare

A landowner will not only deal more readily
with such a society than with a number of
individuals, but he can afford to let the society
have a farm of, say, loo, 200, or 300 acres at
the same rental as he would charge to a large
farmer, whereas he would have to ask more,
in proportion, from 20 or 30 persons among
whom he divided the same amount of land in
separate tenancies. The local authority, again,
is saved the salaries of rent collectors and the
risk of bad debts while the members of the
society can save various fees and expenses by
themselves undertaking work that would other-
wise have to be paid for.

" Then, as the small holders forming the
society may suffer loss through the inability of
one of their number to pay his rent, and their
own obligation to make good his default, they
generally have a feeling of good fellowship with
their neighbour and are ready to help him out
of a difficulty, whether in giving him advice
based on their collective wisdom, assisting him
with his crops, relieving him of some of his land,
should he have taken more than he can work,
or allowing him time in which to pay his rent.
On the other hand a sense of the responsibility
assumed will make the society careful not to
admit to membership undesirable persons likely
to neglect their land or who are regarded as
financially untrustworthy ; while if, in spite of

246

Small Holdings and Agriculture

this precaution, an individual holder should
neglect his land the committee of the society
will speedily call him to account.

" In these and other ways not only are
efficient economic conditions maintained, but
good moral influences are exercised as well.
Mutual interest among groups of individuals
well acquainted with one another, is, in fact,
found to be a far more powerful agency than
official supervision in maintaining industry and
integrity.

" Still another practical advantage for the
small holder is that transfer from one holding to
a larger one can (when the land is available) be
readil}^ arranged by the society. If, alternatively,
a holder should give up his holding, it falls back,
not on the landowner, but on the members of
the society, who must make good his rent, or,
failing another applicant, add the vacated land
to that of one or more of their number."

The two main objects to be attained by the
creation of a large system of small holdings are,
first, to get the people back on the land, and
second — (sadly little notice is taken of this) — to
put more land under intensive culture and so in-
crease the supply of home grown food.

There is the very probable danger that many
scattered applicants who are now being provided
with little bits of land taken, perhaps, from a
good farmer, will not only fail to put the land

247

Land Problems and National Welfare

to its best use, but actually to treat it as well
as did the larger farmer. The failure, or partial
failure, of one small holder does incalculable
harm to the movement, and far more than
effaces the good that loo successful examples
should produce on the public mind.

In most continental countries where small
holdings have for years formed a striking feature
of the agricultural system, and where the culti-
vators have long been accustomed to the idea
of intensive farming, a more or less perfect
system of disseminating expert knowledge exists
— actual schools for small holders are to be
found.

In England, where no tradition in respect of
small holdings or intensive cultivation exists, no
schools, and no expert knowledge are provided
either for the newly-created small holders, or to
improve the methods of the thousands of long
established small holders. It is to my mind
extraordinary that those who have been most
active in advocating the development of small
holdings have so little insisted upon the neces-
sity of starting simultaneously demonstration
centres for small cultivators, as well as a system
of credit banks. They seem to have thought
that access to the land will be all sufficient,
failing to recognise that access to capital is of
equal importance.

In the days of private banks the cultivators
248

Small Holdings and Agriculture

of the soil found it much easier to borrow money
than it is now ; joint stock banks have for the
most part swallowed up the old banks, and they
will not advance money on the personal qualities,
or, indeed, upon any security that the indi-
vidual tenant farmer can give. Admitting the
new financial conditions it has become necessary
to find a security that will be accepted and this
needed security is provided by the mutual
guarantee of a group of individuals which forms
the basis of a credit bank system available
alike for tenant or owner.

In the Small Holdings Act I know that pro-
vision was made for the creation of credit banks ;
but practically no steps have been taken to give
effect to these provisions, and even now there is
no guarantee that the matter will be taken up
and dealt with in a comprehensive way.

The framers of that Act seem to have thought
that the practical knowledge of husbandry and of
country life in general on the part of the appli-
cant constitutes a sufficient guarantee that the
holding will be well cultivated. They do not
appear to have taken into consideration the
fact that most of the newly created small holders
will be either semi-tradesmen or labourers from
large farms where extensive cultivation is in
vogue.

How can such persons without expert guidance
put the land to the best use ?

249

Land Problems and National Welfare

This is the crux of the whole problem. There
is no use in dumping people on the land and
leaving them to shift for themselves : if this is
to be the " policy " then all that can be said is
that a system of tenancy will prove less disastrous
than a system of ownership.

If the people freshly placed on the land are to
succeed they must be shown how to make the
utmost out of the land. And how can these
newly started small holders be expected to make
the utmost out of the land, when even old-
established small holders in such ideal centres
as Spalding and the Vale of Evesham are not
doing so ?

At Spalding, though the land is about the
richest in England, the average yield per acre
does not equal the average for the whole, good
and poor land alike, of Belgium — because the
small holders (having been left to shift for them-
selves) do not practise the best methods of
cropping and because they do not co-operate.

At Evesham the introduction of a French
gardener by Mr. John Idiens gave a practical
demonstration of how much more produce could
be obtained per acre by the adoption of new
methods.

If the whole question of small holdings could
only be dealt with as one entirely outside party
politics there would be some hope of a satis-
factory solution. There seems, however, little

250

Small Holdings and Agriculture

prospect of such a course being adopted :
already the counterblast to the Radical system
of developing small holding tenancies has ap-
eared in the Unionist policy of small holding
ownership.

It is clear that every facility should be provided
to enable any suitable person to buy land ;
especially is it essential for every sitting tenant
irrespective of the size of his holding to have
the opportunity to purchase that holding should
the occasion arise.

In some parts of the country there is a desire
for ownership, in others that inclination is
entirely wanting.

In any case, it is clearly better that the small
holder should begin his career as a tenant; even
if he purchases the holding later on he should
find his legs as a tenant — ^just as a child must
learn to walk before it can run. A safe guiding
rule would therefore be " through tenancy to
ownership."

The case is quite different of a man well versed
in the art of cultivating a small holding, as he
could in most instances without difficulty pay the
purchase money instalments ; and there ought
to be special financial machinery for providing
loans for the purchase of land which would be
quite distinct from the credit banks that are
meant to provide short loans to act as the
tenant's working capital.

251

Land Problems and National Welfare

I think many people make too strong a point
of the indebtedness of the continental peasant
proprietors. In England it is fatal for a small
holder to run into debt if he is only getting about
half of the potential value out of his holding,
but where small farmers are doing really well
indebtedness is by no means a bad sign ; it is
quite good business to borrow capital at 3% if
the farmer is pretty certain that he will make
10% on the amount borrowed.

The great obstacle in the way of the exten-
sion of small holdings is the cost of equipment,
an obstacle formidable alike to County Councils
and to landowners. By far the easiest and
most practical way of overcoming this difficulty
is to let the small holders do their own equipping
and even when possible build their own houses.
Of course they can do this only if they combine
and form co-operative societies ; if they will
adopt this course then equipment and buildings
will be secured at the lowest possible cost —
for the men will by degrees do much of the
work themselves.

That all this is within the scope of practical
politics is shown by the fact that the Agricultural
Organisation Society has already 11 1 branch
societies organised for the purpose of acquiring
land.

County Councils could do much more than
they have done in the past to encourage the

252

Small Holdings and Agriculture

creation of these societies, but apparently it
will be necessary first of all to persuade not
only agriculturists, but County Councillors also,
of the advantages of co-operation.

It seems hardly possible that the essential
advantages of co-operation could be misunder-
stood by any County Councillors, but I have
actually heard it said in more than one County
Council — when the letting of land to a co-
operative society was before the committee —
that such a proceeding would be dangerous in
the extreme, as the men would combine to pay
no rent. This objection was in each case taken
quite seriously

Co-operative societies for taking land will
probably be formed most easily in the neigh-
bourhood of towns ; for instance, one has been
doing very well at Leicester for some years.

In the development of the movement a
certain amount of method should be observed
in the situation chosen for small holdings.

Economy in transport is a very important
consideration, so that each large city ought
to be surrounded by an inner circle of very
small holdings, market gardens producing the
vegetables and small fruit ; and then an outer
circle of larger small holdings producing milk
and dairy produce, the farms getting larger as
the distance from the market increases.

Naturally this cannot becom.e a hard and

253

Land Problems and National Welfare

fast rule, but I have often noticed how such
distribution has been effected, probably without
conscious forethought, on the continent, most
of the cities getting all their supplies from
the immediate neighbourhood. The reverse is
largely the case with us, and fields of grass, roots
or corn are often found almost within the city
limits, while the main supply of common veget-
ables, such as cabbages, comes from the south
of Spain, for instance.

Talking of cabbages : a few years ago I was
wandering amongst the market gardens in the
suburbs of Bayreuth, and fell into conversation
with an old German who had lived in England.
"You English are funny people," he said, "you
don't care whether your cabbages are fresh or
stale, whether they travel one mile or i,ooo
miles. Now we Germans are fond of cabbages,
they are to us a necessity ; our tariff would
make them a luxury if we did not grow all we
wanted, but we do, and they are cheaper than
they are in England."

But it will not always do to endeavour to
develop the very small holdings quite near
large towns : there are many cases where the
land would be too costly, and as long as it
rests with County Councils to provide small
holdings the question of initial outlay will be
a most important one. In fact, in my opinion
County Councils have not gone sufficiently into

254

Small Holdings and Agriculture

the question of providing motor transport from
the outset. Of course this could only be done
for groups of small holders — the colony system
again.

But there is no doubt that in many cases it
would be economically sound to settle a colony,
say seven miles from the market or station, if
by so doing suitable land could be obtained at
a greatly reduced price ; and to devote public
money to starting a motor service. The small
holders would naturally pay a fair rate for
transport, and the venture should cost the
County Council nothing — should, in fact, even
prove remunerative ; but for some reason there
seems to be a strong feeling against putting a
comparatively small sum of public money to
such a use — even though it were the means of
saving thousands of pounds of purchase money.

Again, to help this rural development as
directly as possible, every County Council
should have its agricultural organiser or adviser
— corresponding to the "Agronomes" who play
so important a part in the rural development in
Belgium. They and their staffs would get into
close touch with the small holders, visiting
them on their holdings, telling them what seeds
to buy, the names of the best firms, the best
variety of manures, the best way of marketing
their produce.

I hold that demonstration farms could be

255

Land Problems and National Welfare

made to serve a useful purpose ; but it would
be essential that these demonstration farms
should be financially successful — and many
people think, and possibly quite correctly, that
no County Council holding would ever pay!

Still, demonstration farms in other countries
are successful — all depends on the man who
runs them. The right man ought to be found
and then be given a free hand. It is most im-
portant that small holders should be shown, for
instance, the highest number of cows that could
be maintained on an arable holding of a given
size. I have already referred to the Dane who
keeps 50 cows on 50 acres ; few in this country
realize that such a thing is possible. Of course
the said Dane buys in cake and concentrated
food. Another demonstration was made by one
of the American colleges, where the question was
asked how many cows is it possible to keep en-
tirely on 20 acres of arable land without buying
any foodstuff? Only two crops were grown on
the 20 acres, maize and lucerne ; the maize was
made into silage, the lucerne into hay. The
silage provided the moist food, the hay the dry.

At the beginning of the experiment, some
years ago, 6 cows were kept, but latterly 16
cows have been kept on the 20 acres.

All this work is so important that it should be
done, somehow. If we are afraid to see County
Councils create demonstration farms we might

256

Small Holdings and Agriculture

at least utilize the experience of some of the very
successful and intelligent holders, and have sub-
sidised illustrations, paying the said intelligent
holders so much per annum to crop their land in
certain specified ways and to allow parties to
visit their holdings. We have plenty of these
brilliant examples if we look for them. What
we want is to make the average holders realise
what can be done and what actually is being
done in their own district. I here give as an
example the achievement of a small holder
near Spalding, a tenant of 6^ acres. He sold
off his holding corn, potatoes, pigs and poultry,
as follows :

Corn.

Potatoes.

Pigs.

Poultry, Eggs.

Total.

£

£

£

£

£

1907

44

13

66

34

157

1908

47

-

56

4H

144*

1909

33i

-

74

35

142^

;^444

These sales he booked ; probably a few small
sales were missed. The average would not be
less than ;f 150 per annum. He expended dur-
ing the three years ;^200 upon purchased feed-
ing stuffs, and consumed part of his home-grown
corn, pigs, potatoes, etc., valued at ^35. His net
income averaged ^^80, the equivalent of a wage
of over 30/- a week.

I can deal with the question of small hold-
ings only in a most cursory fashion, because

257 T

Land Problems and National Welfare

not only could a whole book be written on the
subject, but already several most excellent
books have been written by Mr. Pratt and Mrs.
Wilkins. In Mrs. Wilkins' book there is a most
interesting account of the effect produced by
the development of small holdings in a certain
neighbourhood on the local poor rate.

Land reform is very closely related to poor
law reform, and I am sure that what is seen on a
small scale in that district would prove to be
the case throughout the country — that with the
successful development of small holdings will
come a great reduction of the poor rates ; in
fact, the sound and wise extension of small
holdings should prove one of the most effective
means of grappling with the whole problem of
poor relief.

258

CHAPTER VII

AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION

IF the interests of the agricultural industry
are ever to be successfully consolidated,
Agricultural Societies and Unions, in
short associations of all descriptions, must
play a much more important part than they have
in the past. In other words, agricultural organi-
sations must be supported far more strongly
than now by agriculturists. Every farmer should
belong to some effective society or other ; at
present it is only a small percentage of farmers
who belong to any society.

I will give a short resume of the history of
agricultural organisation and of the older
societies before considering the newer ones, and
the tendencies at work which have called them
into existence.

The leading societies of the older type are —
The Royal Agricultural Society, The Central
and Affiliated Chambers of Agriculture, Lord
Winchilsea's Agricultural Union, and the
Agricultural Organisation Society ; this last,
though not itself an old society, is the outcome

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Land Problems and National Welfare

of Lord Winchilsea's movement, and so can be
classed with the older societies.

The Royal Agricultural Society is the organisa-
tion most in the public view. It issues the best
of agricultural year books, and it holds a great
annual show, which attracts the attention not
only of the United Kingdom but of agriculturists
throughout the world. This association has
done splendid work in helping to bring English
stock up to the high level at which it stands,
and in putting before the cultivator who visits
the show the most up-to-date machinery of all
sorts. But to my mind the moment has come
when it should make a new departure, and
actively concern itself with the practical educa-
tion of agriculturists of all classes.

I believe one or two of the county agricultural
societies have already shown some interest in
practical farm classes, and if all county societies
whose finances permit would aid the local educa-
tion authorities to develop this kind of work
much good could be done. I do not know if
it would be possible for the executive council
of the Royal to send out a recommendation on
this point to the county societies.

The Royal Agricultural Society takes no part
whatever in politics, and therefore does not come
into the category of those other agricultural as-
sociations which I wish to describe in some detail
— associations which are consciously or uncon-

260

Agricultural Organisation

sciously endeavouring to consolidate the interests
of the agricultural industry. It is as essential
that such associations should be intensely
political as it is that they should be entirely
non-party in character.

The first association of this type to appear
was the Central and Associated Chambers of
Agriculture formed in 1865.

Though at one time the Tory element may
have dominated to some extent, any impartial
observer will, I think, admit that the debates at
the monthly meetings in London have been for
years non-party in character, or at all events
that both political points of view have received
a fair hearing. Those who founded this society
undoubtedly hoped that it would become repre-
sentative of the whole of the agricultural interests
of England. That it never attained to this posi-
tion is undoubtedly due entirely to the attitude
of landowners and that of the farmers them-
selves— to their apathy and failure to understand
the absolute need of combination. The monthly
meetings of the Central Chamber are certainly
impressive gatherings of agriculturists, and might
indeed be termed the Farmers' Parliament if
only the membership of the Chambers were
100,000 instead of 25,000.

The Royal and many of the County Agricul-
tural Societies have large sums at their disposal ;
shows are attractive, prizes tangible — there is

261

Land Problems and National Welfare

a large class of professional prize takers — and
so money pours in.

The work of the Chambers is of a quieter
description : much useful work is done almost
unseen, and farmers are apt in consequence to
question its usefulness, so that this associa-
tion has never had an income at all equal to its
potential power for aiding agriculture. Yet in
spite of all difficulties the United Chambers
have done much. The monthly meetings held
in London are, as I have said, most excellently
supported, and they are of practical use in
keeping agricultural topics to the front in the
press.

Further, the work done by the committees
in reporting on and criticising all Bills affecting
agriculture is excellent ; but when we come to
the work done in Parliament there is a different
tale to tell.

The chief problem for the agriculturist is
how to make the agricultural influence a power
within the House of Commons ; how to make
the members of the House — ever most prodigal
at election time in regard to pledges — fulfil
those pledges and give the heed that it deserves
to the opinion of the agricultural voter.

The guiding- principle of the Chambers has
been from the first to unite landowner, tenant
and labourer into one society, undoubtedly the
right ideal, but alas, it has not been realised ;

262

Agricultural Organisation

the landowners have not played their part, and
though many good tenant farmers belong, they
are for the most part large farmers, and so the
interests of the small farmer do not receive
sufficient attention, and when it comes to the
labourer the failure is complete, as there are no
labour members.

The next important movement with a view to
the organising of agriculturists was set on foot
by my kinsman, Lord Winchilsea, a man who
worked himself to death for the cause of agricul-
ture, and to whom, more than to any other in-
dividual, is due that general stirring of the dry
bones of agriculture that is now so noticeable.
It is sad that he did not live to see that keenness
aroused ; too often he had but dull apathy to
bear with, or even active opposition.

His scheme was on lines similar to that of
the Chambers of Agriculture, viz., the formation
of a society uniting landowner, tenant and
labourer — a three-fold cable. His association
took its beginning in 1893 under the designation
of " The National Agricultural Union." It
differed from the Chambers of Agriculture in
that it made a determined effort to bring in the
rural labourer, and the amount of success in this
direction was quite sufficient to prove that the
rural labourer can be drawn in — can be interested
in the general movement if the right measures
are taken. Though this organisation at one

263

Land Problems and National Welfare

time numbered some 400 branches it did not
long survive in its original form; it had not been
working years enough to continue by itself with-
out the guidance of its moving spirit.

The immediate outcome of Lord Winchilsea's
Association, or rather its child and successor,
is the Agricultural Organisation Society. This
is non-political, and its chief aim is to organise
the business side of the agricultural industry.
It is the great propagandist body for co-
operation among agriculturists and is doing
excellent work. A society whose aim is to
organise agriculture for business purposes — the
industry above all others in need of organisa-
tion— ought to be recognised as one of the most
important bodies in existence, and it should
have unlimited funds at its disposal. But,
needless to say, it has not. At the present
stage of development of the agricultural move-
ment money could not be more patriotically
spent than by assisting this society.

I wish some millionaire would study the
question of agriculture and what its prosperity
means to the nation, and then would inform
himself how essential a part co-operation must
play in the work of agricultural reform, and what
good work the Agricultural Organisation Society
is doing ; and having realised all this, that he
would subscribe, say, ^^10,000 a year to the
funds !

264

Agricultural Organisation

Other societies and causes are supported by
large sums of money, but agriculture remains
a Cinderella, a poor Cinderella that has yet to
find her shoe !

The Agricultural Organisation Society has
300 branches, of which 134 are societies formed
for the purpose of acquiring land to be divided up
amongst its members in small holdings. Thus
it is directly encouraging the soundest of all
methods of increasing the number of people con-
nected with the land. It has also started a
system of credit banks which it is to be hoped
will grow speedily and flourish, and it is the
business of politicians, local authorities and
landowners to see that they do so. Especially
it is to be hoped that local authorities will
utilize this society when practical steps are taken
to organise and develop the co-operative move-
ment throughout the country; it is the only
body capable of doing the work effectively.

For their work in connection with small
holdings I am glad to say the society receives
practical recognition from the Board of Agri-
culture in the form of an annual grant of ^1,200.
It seems almost incredible that this small grant
from the Government should apparently have
the effect of making some people think it is no
longer necessary for them to subscribe to the
society — it ought rather to make them give
more, for the Board of Agriculture contributes

265

Land Problems and National Welfare

one pound for every pound subscribed.

I have roughly sketched out the leading
features of the older order of Agricultural
Associations.

I do not think I should have to go on to
describe the new class at all if the local
Chambers of Agriculture had displayed the
vitality which is conspicuous in the Central
Chamber in London. But alas ! in many dis-
tricts of England landowners ceased regularly
to attend the meetings of their Chamber, and
business dealings got more and more into the
hands of tradesmen ; it became hard to find
farmers capable of acting as branch secretaries
or willing to give up the time; and so a sense
of dissatisfaction grew among a large number
of farmers who felt that something had to be
done and that the Chambers were not doing
it.

This is undoubtedly the cause of the stir and
movement among farmers which has been so
noticeable during the last few years ; this wish
and determination to do something has found
expression in quite a galaxy of agricultural
societies. The leading spirits have very gene-
rally felt that attempts in the past to unite
landowner, tenant and labourer in one body have
failed, and that therefore the new associations
must be composed of farmers with no landlord
members at all.

266

Agricultural Organisation

By far the most important of these new
societies is the Farmers' Union, founded in
1904 as the Lincolnshire Farmers' Union ; but
so rapid has been its growth, so marked the way
in which the movement was taken up in other
counties, that only four years after its founda-
tion it was found desirable to form the National
Farmers' Union, with offices in London and a
membership of over 15,000.

I have been closely connected with this Union
from its start ; in fact, I believe I am the only
landowner member (I am a member in my
capacity of farmer of my land in hand). I
have always been greatly interested in the work
it is doing, and I can assure any landowner who
looks with disfavour on an agricultural body
which does not permit landowner members, that
I have seen no sign of incipient hostility or of
any feeling other than goodwill and the wish
to co-operate in the general movement to benefit
agriculture.

Seeing that the attempt to combine land-
owners and farmers into an effective powerful
society has so far proved unsuccessful, it seems
to me only natural that there should be a strong
demand for a farmers' association, one holding
meetings composed entirely of practical men
who make their whole living out of the soil —
meetings at which there should be complete
freedom, a thing not always possible when

267

Land Problems and National Welfare

landowners attend !

It does not seem possible to devise any single
society which is attractive to all agriculturists.

There are still many farmers who hold that
the Chambers are working on the right principle
in including landowner and farmer : well and
good — let them join the Chambers. And there
is the National Farmers' Union available for
those who hold the opposite view. To meet
these diverse sentiments it is necessary to have
various societies that will appeal to different
individuals.

The first essential is, as I have already said,
that all farmers should join some society ; and,
when the combined societies have a membership
of 150,000 or 200,000, agriculturists will indeed
be a power in the land. At present all the lead-
ing societies. Chambers of Agriculture, National
Farmers' Union, North Eastern Counties Fede-
ration (including the Darlington Farmers' Union),
Yorkshire Farmers' Clubs, to mention the most
important that occur to me, lumped together
have barely a membership of 40,000, and there
are over 400,000 tenant farmers in England.

The second essential is that harmony should
exist between the various associations, and a
perfect co-operation.

The National Farmers' Union, besides being
a strongly political body of the non-party order,
is also a farmers' defence society and has done

268

Agricultural Organisation

good work in helping its members with legal
advice, even taking up the cudgels for them when
necessary.

Though I think I have made it clear that I
welcome the advent of farmers' associations,
there is, I must admit, one point that causes me
some apprehension.

The farmers sitting on committees of the
Farmers' Union, or any similar body, are for the
most part men little versed in public affairs;
they may know what they want, and it may be
a good plan to claim rather more than one is
likely to get, but it is not wise to ask for the
impossible, to make demands which no Member
of Parliament, however loyal to the cause of
agriculture, can take up with any hope of
success.

I have heard as criticism of the Chambers
of Agriculture, that the interest of the large
farmer predominates and that the rural labourer
is unrepresented. The same holds good, I am
sorry to say, in the case of the Farmers' Union
and kindred bodies.

Though the qualification for membership of
the Farmers' Union is as low as possible, being
only two acres for small holders, yet labourers
with allotments hardly support it at all. In
some districts small farmers have joined, but
it is the large farmers who carry weight in the
councils.

269

Land Problems and National Welfare

When the Farmers' Unions of Lincolnshire
and other counties united into the National
Farmers' Union a new phase of existence was
entered upon, the work of organisation and
administration was greatly increased, and this
must increase still more as the Union grows. I
sincerely trust that it will prove itself equal to
the occasion ; any society which can get to-
gether 15,000 farmers in four years is doing a
great work for the cause.

In 1907 a further development in the agricul-
tural movement took place — the Central Land
Association was formed. While farmers were
cordially welcomed, the main object was to
create a society which would appeal to land-
owners and make them combine. This society,
like the Chambers of Agriculture and Farmers'
Union, is political and non-party in its character.
It is the very antithesis of such a society as
the Land and Property Defence Society. Its
object is to combine landowners, not for defence
qua landowners, but for the advancing in every
possible way of the interests of agriculture as an
industry. The majority of landowners are not to
be found in the Liberal ranks, and the president
and chairman of the C.L.A. are prominent
Unionists, yet in spite of these circumstances I
think that any impartial critic will admit that
the society has dealt with Bills affecting
agriculture on strictly non-party lines. It grew

270

Agricultural Organisation

slowly, feeling its way and working out its line
of action by degrees. In its second year Lord
Onslow was fortunate enough to persuade my
old friend Mr. Charles Bathurst to become
secretary ; he was the right man in the right
place at the right moment. He succeeded in
prevailing upon every landowner in his own
county of Gloucestershire to join the association.
Above all, he made the Central Land Associa-
tion an influence within the House of Commons
to a greater degree than had been achieved by
any former agricultural body. During the
time of Mr. Bathurst's secretaryship he suc-
ceeded, I think, in convincing other agricultural
bodies that the Central Land Association, far
from poaching on the preserves of other
societies, exists for the purpose of aiding all
other societies in their work as far as possible,
and that it is especially anxious to secure
unity and concord among them.

The Central Land Association has now about
I, GOO members, i.e., about one-fifth of the total
number of landowners of over i,ooo acres; but a
larger proportion than this ought to be enrolled
in the society in order to give it real weight.
We want 3,000 or 4,000 members, and though I
happen to have mentioned men owning over
1,000 acres there is no qualification required.
Agents, farmers and all persons interested in the
welfare of agriculture are welcomed ; in fact, I

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Land Problems and National Welfare

think it is a good thing, for as many men as can
afford it, to belong to a Chamber of Agriculture,
Farmers' Union and the Central Land Asso-
ciation, as such joint members would work for
harmony between the different societies.

I have pointed out that quite a number of
agricultural associations already exist. Too
many separate societies are an evil, and it is to
be hoped that no more are about to be born; but
certainly no one type will appeal to all agricul-
turists, and therefore we must acquiesce in the
necessity of having several societies, and must
make every endeavour to secure their har-
monious working.

I think it is also evident from the study of past
attempts that it is difficult to unite landlords,
tenants and labourers in one great association ;
we must therefore accept the other alternative
of organising each class into associations of its
own, retaining a separate entity, but working
in close touch with the other societies.

The outlook is decidedly hopeful for agricul-
turists, but much remains to be done; the various
societies must be ready to co-operate, and a sense
of the importance of agriculture must be forced
upon politicians in a way never heretofore
attempted.

The consolidation of agricultural societies and
their development into a real power in the House
of Commons, and with the Conservative and

272

Agricultural Organisation

Liberal Associations, is the immediate problem
to be solved.

I hope that the Central Land Association will
prove a most important means for effecting the
necessary co-operation amongst these societies.

But to accomplish the essential in the realms
of politics I must still harp upon the string I
have touched before — the Chambers of Agricul-
ture, Central Land Association, Farmers' Union
must all increase their membership ; power lies
in numbers, and the simple duty of men living
in the country is to join one or other of the
leading societies. If each existing member
would solemnly undertake to get one new member
in the course of the year the numbers would soon
be greatly increased.

It is most necessary that a clear understand-
ing should be reached between the different
societies, and that the spheres of work and
influence should be more or less allocated, so
as to prevent not only undue overlapping but
even the expression of diverse opinion on
subjects concerning which there should be unan-
imous agreement in the agricultural world.

Before agriculturists can bring to bear upon
politicians that influence to which they are
morally entitled, they must be united and their
interests consolidated. Unfortunately, it is im-
possible to be blind to the fact that jealousies
exist between certain societies, and for myself I

273 u

Land Problems and National Welfare

believe there is only one way of overcoming
this great hindrance to the full consolidation of
the different societies; that is by meeting in
conference and discussing common grievances,
and then clearly allocating the spheres of work
for each society, thus preventing overlapping,
while at the same time securing individual
freedom to all.

Though I fear the time is in no way ripe for
such a scheme I cannot help thinking that the
rough plan of organisation which I drew up some
time ago would be most useful were it possible
to carry it into effect. The provisions would in
no way curtail the individual or independent
efforts of any one of the societies concerned, and
I hold that if the general principles contained
in these suggestions were adopted much needless
work would be saved to the respective societies.

1. That with a view as far as possible to
prevent overlapping in the work of the various
agricultural organisations Round Table Con-
ferences should be held in London at least four
time a year.

2. That the Committees of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture be recognised as the
best bodies for examining in detail Parliamentary
Bills affecting agricultural interests, and that the
findings of these committees be transmitted to
the various associations in the country.

3. That delegates from the various societies

274

Agricultural Organisation

shall attend the Round Table Conferences
prepared to discuss the reports of the committees
of the Central Chamber, and to suggest any
alterations or additions which they might con-
sider advisable.

4. That the Central Land Association,
through its Parliamentary Committee, shall
take such steps as may be necessary to represent
the views of the Round Table Conference in
Parliament, either by initiating legislation or by
proposing the amendments agreed on by the
conference.

5. That the present Parliamentary pro-
gramme of the Farmers' Union be adopted and
supported generally, and that further programmes
be submitted to the Round Table Conference.

6. That such organisations as the Farmers'
Union, Darlington Farmers' Protection Society,
etc., be recognised as the special associations
for doing local work.

' 7. That these associations endeavour by every
means in their power to induce parliamentary
candidates of both parties to join the Central
Land Association. (This is a most important
point, as some measures must be devised to
keep members of Parliament more closely in
contact with the expressed opinions of agricul-
turists.)

8. That the chairman of the Round Table
Conference be chosen in rotation from each of

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Land Problems and National Welfare

the different United Associations, or that some
suitable person, unconnected with any of the
societies, be asked to preside.

The consolidation of the agricultural societies
being effected in a greater or less degree, the next
problem is, how to increase the power of the
agricultural industry in Parliament ?

The first requirement — one might almost say
the sole requirement — is money. Every farmer
who subscribes to an agricultural society should
also subscribe to a parliamentary fund, managed
by an executive resident in London and chosen
from the respective societies.

Secondly, we must have agricultural candi-
dates. I am not advocating the formation of an
independent agricultural party, but I insist upon
the necessity of the rural constituencies being
represented by practical agriculturists, or, at
least, by men who have studied land problems,
and not, as now, by townsmen unversed in the
needs of the country, or by eldest sons who take
no interest in land.

But until a parliamentary fund can be created
little can be done in this direction ; the party
leaders and whips will continue to dismiss
agriculturists with goodly words, in their hearts
accounting them but men of straw.

With a parliamentary fund of even ^15,000
a year and proper local organisation things would
be very different ; the attitude of political associa-

276

Agricultural Organisation

tions would change, and the agricultural interests
in a rural constituency would be strong enough
to secure the nomination of a man who would
put land before party. It would be desirable
to choose candidates in pairs — one Unionist,
one Liberal — mild specimens of each, so as to
secure a non-party character for the move-
ment. At present the party whips are quite
willing for an agricultural candidate to fight an
enemy in a rural constituency, but they do not
at all recognise the principle that rural con-
stituencies should have members chosen for
their agricultural qualifications.

This plan would secure a group of champions
of agriculture among the supporters of which-
ever party happened to be in power ; it is the
system followed with much success by the
National Union of Teachers.

Thirdly, the consolidation of the agricultural
societies would do much to strengthen agricul-
tural interests in Parliament; but the parliamen-
tary work of even a society like the Central
Land Association would be much more effective
if the rural constituencies were represented by
men who were indeed agriculturists.

I have written about associations of farmers
and landowners and have said no word, so far,
about the rural labourer, except that he is
practically left out of consideration by all.

I am glad, however, to say that there is one
277

Land Problems and National Welfare

association for him, Mr. Jesse Collings' Rural
Labourers' League. This is not quite in line
with the other agricultural societies, in that it is
decidedly party in character, for it works hard
for Unionist candidates in all rural constituen-
cies. Its chief object is to develop small owner-
ship, and it is most strong in those parts of
England where there is a demand for owner-
ship. This league has succeeded in attaining a
membership of some 10,000, which is good when
one thinks of the great difficulties in the way
of persuading country labourers to join any
society.

There is one other society, a definite union
of labourers this time, still more "party"' in
spirit, being strongly Radical, if not Socialistic,
and its aim is to raise the labourer's wages. I
say nothing against that, but it also teaches the
labourer to seek his own interests as apart from
those of farmer and landowner, and it is to be
hoped that the Norfolk Union will not spread.

To consolidate satisfactorily the agricultural
interests it is essential to bring the labourer
into the movement. It is necessary to organise
him into unions — analagous to the Farmers'
Union — which must needs be non-party in
character.

The agricultural movement requires the
labourer's vote — at present, his main object in
many districts is, alas ! to vote the opposite way

278

Agricultural Organisation

from the farmer. The one thing that can cure
this tendency is to make the labourer reahse
that he plays a most important part in the
agricultural industry, and that what benefits the
industry benefits every individual connected
with it ; especially he must see that in this
movement of agricultural reform the interests
and just aspirations of the labourer are clearly
recognised.

The great difficulty lies in the organisation of
Labourers' Unions. Personally, I have some
hopes that the co-operative societies now being
formed for the purpose of acquiring land may
develop still further and assume a political
character. I do not know at all how the ex-
ecutive of the Agricultural Organisation Society
would take such a suggestion, — not well, I
fear.

There is no blinking one's eyes to the fact
that the other agricultural societies, though they
may profess a willingness to see the labourers
united, take no practical steps to set a move-
ment on foot to this end. This is regrettable,
because if the labourers cannot be united to
aid forward the agricultural movement, I fear
they will be united by Socialists or Labourites
against it. Naturally the rural labourer is the
hardest man to induce to combine, but it is
only a question of time before the leaders of the
labour movement will make an attempt to

279

Land Problems and National Welfare

enrol the country labourer. Many old-fashioned
farmers have said to me that it will be time
enough for us to begin to influence him when
we see Socialists carrying on an active campaign
in the counties ; but they are wrong — it will
then be too late.

I have now arrived, I think, at the stage when
I can outline an ideal scheme for consolidating
the agricultural interests, whereby landowner,
tenant and labourer might each play his
part.

Taking the county as the unit, the majority
of landowners would belong to the Central
Land Association, whose chief work would
be in London, but there should be sufficient
local organisation to get together meetings if
the need should arise. These landowners would
at the same time belong to their local Chamber
of Agriculture, provided that it was an active
one worthy of support, or that there was room
for the existence of an effective Chamber without
establishing one in direct opposition to any
society already doing good work. The Chambers
would go on as at present in districts in which
there might be a demand for an association of
the kind, and their main endeavour would be
to increase their membership.

The Farmers' Unions, etc., would do like-
wise, so that the majority of farmers would in
the end belong to some society.

280

Agricultural Organisation

The labourers would be organised into a
society of their own which would naturally
differ a good deal in its composition from the
preceding societies. In the first place it would
have to be more parochial in character, for
labourers could not go to the market town to
attend meetings, although they could attend
parish meetings.

Further, the labourers' society would be
obliged to concern itself with the question of
wages to this extent, that the society should
endeavour to secure a rise in the wages of its
members as soon as possible after a boom in
agriculture, and delay a decrease, if decrease
should ever be necessary, as long as possible ;
this is recognised as a perfectly legitimate
object for an association of labourers.

Each society would meet when it liked, where
it liked, as it liked ; but harmony and con-
tinuity of purpose would be secured by the
constant interchange of opinions largely through
correspondence, and also by means of regular
organisers who would go from meeting to meet-
ing. These men would be instructed to put
not only the organising of the industry as a
whole before the meeting, but also specific cases
as need might arise, and thus would agricultural
thought be most speedily methodised as it is
methodised in other countries.

Finally, there would be joint conferences —
28 1

Land Problems and National Welfare

two, three, or four times a year as occasion
mifj^ht demand.

These combined societies acting in concert
would constitute the best way of furthering
the interests of agriculture in the country —
whether dealing with the County Council or
the local political associations.

The final organised expression of agricultural
opinion would be given by Round Table
Conferences held in London as suggested in
my former scheme for consolidating existing
societies.

There is nothing in the scheme I have just
outlined that would preclude any single society
from being national or central, and having its
headquarters in London.

I do not put forw^ard the scheme as being
the best way of achieving the desired end — the
consolidation of the agricultural interests ; I
am quite content to think of it as a temporary
scheme biding the arrival of a better, but I do
not hesitate to put it forward — for the one
reason that it is comprehensive ; it deals with
the three agricultural classes and with all existing
societies. It may not be workable, on account
of lack of money to carry out any large plan
of organisation ; it may not be practicable,
owing to inter-society jealousies; but I am
convinced that the complete organising of the
agricultural interest will be impossible until

282

Agricultural Organisation

some comprehensive scheme is devised to
bring landowner, farmer and labourer into
the movement of organisation.

283

T

CHAPTER VIII

POLITICS AND THE LAND

U /■ I >HE English party system is in the
melting pot." Such was the sum-
ming-up of an intelligent German
critic after the last election.

And within our own boundaries one hears
on all sides that the Conservative party is no
longer conservative in the old sense of the word,
and that the Liberal is no longer liberal.

Undoubtedly the state of transition has
existed for a long time; when it will end, or
what it will end in, time alone can tell. Even
during the period of quiet, signs of transition
were not wanting ; signs which, if the Unionist
party had read aright, should have induced them
to formulate a comprehensive policy of reform
— Reform of Land, of the Upper Chamber, of
Education, of the Housing of the Poor, of the
Poor Law, of Licensing, etc. — reforms which
have been carried out to a greater or less degree
by Conservatives in such countries as Germany
and Austria to the great good of the people

In those countries statesmen for years past
284

Politics and the Land

have seriously studied social problems, with a
view to remedying or minimising the evil
tendencies of the present phase of civilization —
the desertion of the land, and the neglect of
children, to mention two fundamental questions.

In England politicians have ever endeavoured
to put aside the consideration of social problems,
and where they were not to be avoided they have
been dealt with in a perfunctory way ; a problem
as a problem is of little interest to the average
Englishman. This feature, to my mind, really
amounts to a national characteristic.

Then arose the pernicious Manchester School
that burst upon the nation with its pleiads of
false doctrines. They came at a moment when
England, supreme in the manufacturing world,
was increasing her wealth by leaps and bounds.
Is it surprising, then, that generation after
generation of politicians, fortified by apparent
results in their belief in the soundness of the
Manchester doctrines, were led to neglect the
land and the social welfare of the home popu-
lation and to think only of factories — of foreign
trade and foreign relations — and to leave the
people to muddle through somehow ?

But our people as a people have not muddled
through : all medical authorities are unani-
mous as to the physical degeneracy that has set
in among our town population. All sanitary
authorities agree that the housing of the poor

285

Land Problems and National Welfare

is deplorable — the housing in our towns is far
worse than it is in Germany or Austria; and
those who study social conditions are appalled
at the poverty that exists in England and at the
number of children who grow up on insufficient
food and without legitimate opportunity to
develop into useful citizens.

English people may not like to concern them-
selves with problems, but a vague sense of
dissatisfaction has been spreading throughout
the country, a feeling that all is not well, and
that something should be done. This feeling,
which has been simmering during the long period
of quiet transition, found sudden expression in
the election of 1906. This election marked a
new period in English political history ; the
country definitely abandoned the Conservative
party, Labour for the first time became a power
in Parliament, and the Liberal party became
socialistic. It is essential to recognise this great
change that has swept over the nation, if the
whole social and political situation is to be
clearly understood. It is futile to repeat the
old clap-trap as to the swing of the pendulum —
it does not account for the present condition
in the political world.

That fewer Labour Members and fewer
Liberals were returned at the last election does
not to my mind affect the case. The people
may be turning from Free Trade to Protection,

286

Politics and the Land

they may be pausing before accepting the
socialistic diet spread before them by the pro-
gressive Radicals, but they are not returning
to the support of the Conservative party. There
has been a reaction, but it is a reaction of a
character entirely different from the normal
reactions which took place when Lord Salisbury
and Mr. Gladstone were the leaders of their
respective parties.

There is only one way in which all moderate
politicians can meet this vague feeling of dis-
satisfaction, and that is by formulating a
comprehensive policy of reform.

The necessary premiss is that the Government
must directly interfere, to a far greater extent
than in the past, to secure the improved con-
dition of the people. The people of themselves
have been unable to solve the social problem ;
therefore as the alternative it rests with the
Government to see what wise organisation and
scientific guidance can do to improve the social
welfare of the nation, to raise the average
standard of the home population so that we may
in truth attain to that happy condition which
George Meredith considered as a first essential
to empire.

" Let us have an imperial people at home,"
he said.

There should, then, be but one objective for
Unionist politicians, the creation of a policy

287

Land Problems and National Welfare

of reform ; and unless moderate politicians raise
the standard of reform — real and effective reform
that will assuage that feeling of unrest — then
there can be but one alternative, and that is
reform brought in by the Socialists.

Socialist reform involves a greater degree of
destruction than most moderate men feel to be
compatible with the best interests of the country,
but it is fatuous to oppose Socialism by anti-
socialist leagues. Many Socialists are pains-
taking students of social conditions, and a
large number of their suggested remedies con-
tain much that is good and deserving of careful
consideration on the part of all conscientious
politicians.

Socialism should not be met by a blank
negative, but by a counter policy of constructive
social reform.

There is just now much clamour against
Socialism on the part of people who are ignorant
of social problems or who have given them only
superficial consideration. Most of these people
do not really know what Socialism means. It
would be well for them to take to heart the
words of a great man and clear thinker.

"Many people think it possible to conduct a
victorious campaign with the single watchword,
* Down with Socialism.'

" Well, I am not fond of mere negatives ; I do
not like fighting an abstract noun. My objec-

288

Politics and the Land

tion to anti-Socialism as a platform is that
Socialism means so many different things.

" I will wait before I denounce Socialism till
I see what form it takes. Socialism is not
necessarily synonymous with robbery. Cor-
rectly, the word only signifies a particular view
of the proper relation of the State to its citizens,
a tendency to substitute public for private
ownership or to restrict the freedom of indi-
vidual enterprise in the interests of the public.
But there are some forms of property which
we all admit should be public and not private,
and freedom of individual enterprise is already
limited by a hundred laws. Socialism and Indi-
vidualism— I am not fond of these terms.
These are opposing principles which enter in
various proportions into the constitution of every
civilised society. It is merely a question of
degree. One community is more socialistic
than another. The same community is more
socialistic at one time than at another. This
country is more socialistic than it was 50 years
ago and for most of the changes in that direction
the Unionist or Tory party is responsible."

It is to be hoped that all who read this
will give heed to Lord Milner's advice on the
subject.

We have had recently an exhibition of social-
istic principles as applied to finance, of which
Lord Milner, in common with all moderate men,

289 X

Land Problems and National Welfare

has expressed the strongest disapproval. I
am not referring so much to the specific instance
proved by the last Budget, but rather to the
general policy of ultimate land nationalisation
by means of taxing the rural landowner out of
existence.

I am not here concerning myself with the
question of the nationalising of the land, but
with the financially unsound procedure of over-
taxing one class of persons connected with the
most important industry in the country. Land
reform cannot be achieved by taxing the land-
owner out of existence, and such a course would
very speedily ruin the industry. It rests with
moderate politicians to carry through a policy
of land reform which shall be thorough and
beneficial, not only to the nation, but from
the very outset to the agricultural industry
itself.

The bringing of the words "Socialism" and
"Socialist " so much to the fore is doing untold
harm. Thousands of English voters oppose,
and I fear will more and more oppose scientific
and constructive reforms, because in their ignor-
ance of social economy they think that the pro-
posed reform smacks of Socialism.

There is also a large class of persons who
improperly call themselves Socialist because,
being interested in social questions, they deem
it necessary to proclaim themselves Socialists.

290

Politics and the Land

The Church cannot be sociaHstic : it is harmful
for her to pretend to be so ; but she should be
deeply interested in social problems, and I am
glad to think that a large number of the clergy-
are concerning themselves with the solution of
these problems, though I am sure they would
do more effective work and carry greater weight
with the bulk of churchmen if they would avoid
the appellation of " Socialists."

There is another body that I wish would not
proclaim its Socialism so loudly : I refer to
the Fabians. Some of their pamphlets are, I
admit, written by Socialists of the "jingo" type,
but their official pamphlets are often excellent
summaries of existing evils and contain most
sound suggestions for reform. Their *' Facts
for Socialists " ought to be called " Facts for
Politicians " if not indeed " Facts for the Man
in the Street."

As the " laisser faire " principle weakens the
principle of State interference must grow stronger,
but its growth needs scientific guiding. This
will be impossible if a large proportion of
people, while allowing State interference in
this or that specific case, still refuse to consider
the whole question of how the State will be
obliged to intervene to secure the remedy of
admitted evils. This is eminently a subject
upon which the opinion of such experts in the
art of administration as Mr. and Mrs. Sidney

291

Land Problems and National Welfare

Webb ought to carry the greatest weight with
politicians.

Mr. and Mrs. Webb have devoted many years
to the study of the principles of government
and their practical administration ; and though
they are the founders of what I think may be
termed the leading society of scientific Socialists
in the world, they are so unsocialistic in the
ordinary acceptation of the word that they are
fully alive to the danger of creating a class of
petty officials — mere Jacks in office — than which
nothing could be more harmful to a country.
They also strongly advocate the encourage-
ment of voluntary work in every direction, and
of private experiment — for in the realm of social
reform a private individual can do his most
useful work by experiment. If the experiment
is really successful the individual must, however,
expect the State to step in, take up his work
and extend it throughout the country as only
the State can do : and he should feel no jealousy
of the so-called interference, but rather should
rejoice that the highest seal of approval had
been placed upon his enterprise.

The greatest danger is undoubtedly that of
falling under the sway of officialdom, and great
care must be taken to avoid it. But regarded as
a whole we have a really splendid type of per-
manent official — probably the most un-official
official in the world ; and the high tradition

292

Politics and the Land

that now exists will be a safeguard for the
future, provided that proper care is taken in
the selection of officials for the ever increasing
number of posts.

One word more about Socialism : if the form
or principles of government advocated by the
Fabian society, as expounded by Mr. Wells for
instance, could be brought about wisely and
scientifically as the Fabians wish it to be ac-
complished, and if the moderate man anxious to
improve the condition of the people could in any
way satisfy himself that this mild and intelli-
gent Socialism would be, in fact, the Socialism
adopted in the hour of social strife, then I think
that Socialism would have fewer bitter opponents.
But in the hour of revolution the high in-
tellectual leaders go to the wall and the advo-
cates of violent agitation take the lead ; in such
an hour the populace will give more heed to
the voice of the stump orator than to the subtle
arguments of the scientific Socialist ; it will, in
fact, class him as an aristocrat of intellect, and,
as such, a few degrees more odious than the
landed aristocrat.

The scientific Socialist may be a great power
in times of peace, but when the social war is upon
us the violent Socialist will be supreme — the
Socialist who has given up all hope of securing
reform under existing conditions, and who in
consequence demands the destruction of existing

293

Land Problems and National Welfare

society as preliminary to the creation of a new
social era. This new society might in the end —
after years of evolution — be better than our
present society, but during many years almost
certainly it would be far worse, for a long period
of chaos would be inevitable. Whether or not
the out-and-out Socialist party will ever be in a
position to attempt a social revolution may be a
moot point, but every one feels that the uncom-
promising Socialist is becoming more and more
a menace to society. A grave responsibility
therefore rests with all moderate politicians.
Unless they remedy without undue delay those
crying evils which do violence to all feelings of
justice and humanity they will drive into the
Socialist ranks many who at present do not
wish to destroy but to reform.

But though I am a strong advocate of social
reform within the existing order of society, I feel
that it would be deplorable if reforms were in-
troduced only as a means of fighting Socialism ;
indeed, were this the case they would prove
effective neither as reforms nor as the weapons
for which they were intended.

Putting aside all consideration of Socialism,
and hearkening rather to the demands of
humanity and justice, politicians must set them-
selves the task of remedying the more glaring of
the social evils — not only the most obvious,
such as unemployment and sweating, but the

294

Politics and the Land

more extended evil of the under-payment of a
large proportion of unskilled labourers. Even
where employment is regular and the family
sober, the wage earner is often not paid enough
properly to keep his family or efficiently to feed
his growing children.

Again, if we are to prevent a ruinous degeneracy
of race from setting in, it must be possible for
mothers and those about to become mothers to
receive a far greater degree of care than is the
case at present ; it must be made practicable
for them to avoid work during the critical time.
This is particularly needful in the towns, where
the recuperative power of the human being is
less than it is in the country.

It should not be difficult to devise public
kitchens to supply food at moderate charges to
households where the housewife should not be
at work, and any such plan might be supple-
mented by a staff of cook-charwomen who could
actually work so many hours a day in the house
for a small fee. These are only passing sugges-
tions and space does not permit me to develop
them here. But it is a most important question
affecting not only the mother, but the death-
rate among infants and the standard of health
of those who survive.

Then, as affecting the health of millions of
our people, there is the housing question, which
in turn hangs on the land question ; cheap land

295

Land Problems and National Welfare

must be provided for the housing of the town
populations, either by the taxation of land
values in some form, or by giving municipal
authorities compulsory powers to acquire the
needed land at a reasonable cost.

The question of poor law reform is very
much to the fore ; further reform is undoubtedly
needed in our licensing system.

The whole method of handling milk is most
unsatisfactory and the supply altogether in-
adequate.

I am only mentioning in a cursory way such
evils in need of reform as present themselves
to my mind; each must be judged on its own
merits, and in nearly every case it will be found
that the land is connected with any sound
scheme of reform. The land should play an
important part in the solution of the questions
of unemployment and poor law reform. It can-
not be divorced from the housing of the poor.
One would think that it could scarcely be dis-
sociated from the question of defence, yet so
clever a writer as Mr. Blatchford makes no
reference to land, or in other words to food
supply, in his study of the question of defence
against a possible invader.

Land, or rather easy access to land, closely
affects the rate of wages throughout the country.
The land plays a most important part in the
physical well-being of the nation, and yet no body

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Politics and the Land

of politicians has a land policy.

As I have already said, the Unionists have
taken up the question of peasant proprietorship,
and the Radicals of small holding tenancies,
with the nationalisation of land as their final
objective; but neither party has put forward a
comprehensive policy, such, for instance, as
the one formulated by the Central Land Associa-
tion which I here give in full.

CONSTRUCTIVE AGRICULTURAL
PROGRAMME

ADOPTED AT A MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE

OF THE CENTRAL LAND ASSOCIATION HELD ON

24TH NOVEMBER, igOQ,

Resolved : — That in the belief that the time
has now come for a Constructive Agricultural
Policy, the Central Land Association suggests
that immediate and active steps be taken to
secure the co-operation of all agricultural or-
ganisations and others interested in agriculture
in order to achieve the following programme : —

The provision, in all rural elementary schools,
of education having a definite agricultural bias,
and the inclusion in the syllabus of such schools
of the principles of co-operation ; and the main-
tenance of continuation classes, winter schools,
farm schools, etc., forming a continuous system

297

Land Problems and National Welfare

from the elementary school to the agricultural
college.

The assistance of occupiers of agricultural
land to attain a higher standard of cultivation by
the promotion of scientific research, demon-
stration holdings, and by instruction and ex-
periments in the science, methods and practice
of agriculture ; and by the organisation of co-
operation, instruction in the marketing of pro-
duce, and by the provision and extension of
small holdings.

The revision of local taxation with a view to
the reasonable relief of land from its present
unfair share of the expenses to be borne by the
community, especially of those incurred in re-
spect of national services.

The extension of facilities for, and the cheap-
ening of, the transport of agricultural produce ;
and the removal of any preferential treatment
of foreign over British produce.

The development of subsidiary industries
affecting agriculture.

The granting of facilities for the purchase
of their holdings by the occupiers of land.

The simplification and cheapening of the
transfer of land.

The establishment of a complete system of
co-operative credit banks.

The increase of the agricultural estimates to a
sum adequate to the needs of the premier in-

298

Politics and the Land

dustry of the country with a view to securing
the above objects.

The amendment of the Small Holdings Act
with a view to compensation being paid to
dispossessed occupiers out of the Small Hold-
ings Fund."

This scheme embodies all the main principles
which have led to the successful development of
land in Denmark; it is only to be regretted
that it makes no reference to fiscal reform, but
the committee were placed in a difficult posi-
tion, in that many members of the association
are still Free Traders. Still, no agricultural
programme can be really complete that does
not include Tariff Reform, or rather, that is not
based upon Tariff Reform, as well as upon
education and co-operation. It seems strange
that land is not one of the chief concerns of the
Unionist party, and I am sure that most agricul-
turists would gladly see that party adopt a
comprehensive policy of land reform.

There is no doubt that the Unionist party
could bring in sounder land reform than the
Liberal party. Liberal land reform must be
tainted with the doctrine of nationalisation ;
further, all the cranks and doctrinaires of the
party would endeavour to have a finger in the
land pie.

Had the Unionists been developing an effec-
299

Land Problems and National Welfare

tivc land policy during the past twenty years
there would be little fear of the Radicals doing
much in the way of nationalising the land.
But, as things are now, I think it is possible to
picture — to oneself at all events — a group of
politicians that could introduce land reforms, and
indeed all other reforms, even more effectively
than could the Unionist party.

I have referred before to moderate politicians,
and in the present condition of politics not only
are all Unionists " Moderates," but also without
doubt many Liberal Members of Parliament
and a still larger number of voters.

One hears on all sides that the party system
is moribund, that the average intelligent voter is
getting more and more tired of seeing party
tactics occupy the minds of politicians to the
exclusion of imperial and social problems ; and
therefore I ask, has not the time come when all
moderate men in politics should band themselves
together and form a National party — to solve
National problems ?

Perhaps never before in the history of the
country have so many reforms been urgently
needed as at the present time. Reform is costly,
and under present conditions either party bring-
ing in a much-needed reform will certainly see
the financial side of it so bitterly attacked by
their opponents that the reform will be made
to a great extent abortive. And it must be re-

300

Politics and the Land

membered that nothing so much strengthens the
extreme Socialist party as reforms which end in
failure.

If the moderate men in politics would com-
bine, they could bring in reforms with far greater
freedom, for though the extreme Radicals and
Socialists might not always approve of the
social principles embodied in the reform, they
would not willingly block the financial proposals,
as they are not averse to State expenditure to
secure the improvement of social conditions.

Reform is costly, but the existence and growth
of social evils is far more costly. Most reforms
can be effected out of income, but the evils of
continued neglect of land and of increasing over-
crowding in cities, (with consequent degeneracy
of the race) — to mention only two — disastrously
affect the capital of the nation, for land and the
effectiveness of the population are the two great-
est national assets.

This is a most important point for those who
deprecate State interference to bear in mind.

There are also many people who fear not
only that State interference but even the
attempt at reform will aggravate rather than
remedy many of these social evils; above all,
that the reform will be of such a character that
all sense of responsibility, of duty and inde-
pendence will be impaired.

Well, it is wrong to stand in such fear of any
301

Land Problems and National Welfare

evil as not to attempt its reform. And I am
convinced that in most cases it will be possible
to devise measures of reform which will not
impair the sense of responsibility, duty and in-
dependence, but rather even increase these good
qualities among those who are now so sadly
lacking in them.

Many of the measures of reform most needed
in England have been in effective working for
some years in various continental countries, and
it is possible to study their effects upon those
peoples : it is here that foreign example and
experiment can be most useful — not to be copied
or bodily transplanted, but to be studied as a
demonstration of the application of certain
principles ; and if the results are satisfactory
then we must endeavour to achieve similar re-
sults in the manner most suited to the condition
of this country and the idiosyncrasies of our
own people.

The idea of a National party ought to appeal
to all those who believe in the dual party system
in politics, because to my mind the formation
of a National party will prove the only way of
securing the continuance of this system. On
the one side there would be the National party
composed of all sound and moderate men, and
opposed to them the party of extreme Radicals
and Socialists.

If we do not have a National party the
302

Politics and the Land

alternative will be the "group system," with
the Socialist group ever increasing in strength.

In a former chapter I have laid stress on the
importance of organising the rural labourers and
bringing them into the movement of agricultural
consolidation. If a National party is ever to be
a power in the country it will have to win the
support of the workman, both rural and urban,
and not only so, but to give him his fair share
in the control of the general political organisa-
tion and of direct representation in the House
of Commons.

There is little doubt that neglect of the work-
ing man on the part of the Unionists accounted
in a great measure for the debacle of igo6,
and it is a lesson which should be laid to
heart.

The present state of politics and of feeling
among large numbers of moderate men through-
out the country seems to indicate that the time
is opportune for the unfurling of the banner of a
National party.

It seems to me quite possible that a National
party, pledged to needed social reform as well
as to fiscal reform, would gain the support of
many politicians who would not swallow the
Tariff Reform pill unless sugared over with
reform in other directions ; but the crux of
the whole situation is — Who shall unfurl the
banner ? who can create and lead a National

303

Land Problems and National Welfare

party? I can only repeat Mr. Blatchford's
words, " Wanted, a man."

From the agricultural point of view the most
satisfactory solution of the political problem
would be the formation of a National party — of
a party pledged to reforms and clearly recognis-
ing the immediate need of a complete land
policy, for the reason that all other reforms could
only be made effective and satisfactory by
basing them on land reform. The great danger
of the moment is that though various sets of
politicians are interested in this or that reform,
no important group has as yet stated clearly
that they recognise the fact that land reform is
the basis of all reform, or indeed that they
realise how closely land, education, tariff, poor
law and housing reforms are inter-related, and
that they are fully aware of the impossibility of
dealing with one of these without giving the
most careful consideration to the whole group.

Even at the risk of an undue digression I must
refer to Mr. Balfour's attitude towards land, as
it is of such importance to the agriculturist.

Although he has recently written a most
excellent preface to Sir Gilbert Parker's pamph-
let " The Land and the People," I cannot feel
that he has yet made the cause of land his own
— that he realises that land is the fundamental
problem of all, that a flourishing agriculture is
essential for the whole country and also neces-

304

Politics and the Land

sary to secure the continued prosperity of all
other industries; that the agricultural industry
must be organised at all costs, and the rural
population doubled if that degeneracy of race,
of which there are so many signs, is to be
effectively remedied.

I am convinced that in the present crisis we
want our leader to hold almost as a religious
tenet that the land was made for man and man
for the land, and not to listen for a moment to
the false suggestion that possibly people are
better employed in cities than in the country
because in cities there is the opportunity of
living more amusing and less monotonous lives.
Undoubtedly in cities there may be more excite-
ment— unwholesome excitement mostly, and
ruinous to health. Country life must be made
more attractive — it can be made more attractive
when the rulers of the country give their minds
to it. Agriculturists are disorganised, their
votes do not count. It is distasteful to me to
consider mere tactics for catching votes, when
such a great subject is before us ; but of this I
am full well assured — that the statesman who
makes the cause of land his own, and forces a
strong constructive policy will play the winning
game.

If a National party is not formed, then
agriculturists will have to fall back upon the
other alternative — that of increasing their power

305 Y

Land Problems and National Welfare

in Parliament on non-party lines as sketched
out in the chapter on Agricultural Organisation.

And if the group system develops — and Mr.
Balfour in a recent speech declared that it had
come to stay — then agriculturists must see to it
that they too have their own strong group
fighting for their interests. An independent
agricultural party, to my mind, seems hardly to
come as yet within the realm of practical politics,
but it must be mentioned, because many agricul-
turists are anxious to see such a party created,
and the scheme was definitely introduced into
agricultural politics at the meeting of secretaries
of Chambers of Agriculture held in Lincoln at
the Royal Show of 1907, when the following
resolution was passed :

" This meeting of secretaries is strongly of
opinion that an independent Agricultural Party is
absolutely necessary and could be formed, and asks
the Central Chamber to devote a day to its dis-
cussion, and if advisable appoint a Committee
to consider the best mode of creating and main-
taining such a party, and to send its suggestions
to the local Chambers for consideration. Further,
this meeting considers that to get as immediate
results as possible much can be done by using
the means already existing, by forming a joint
committee of Agricultural Members in the
House, composed of all political parties, which
should be in close touch with the Central

306

Politics and the Land

Chamber, its business committee and parUa-
mentary committee."

I am glad that the second clause was
embodied in that resolution, as it made it
possible to take immediate steps to strengthen
the cause of agriculture in the political world.
There can be no doubt that the agitation has
done much good to the cause, and that the
House of Commons is paying more attention to
agricultural affairs than it has done for many
years. But even the moderate proposal that
all rural constituencies should be represented
by agriculturists is not viewed with favour by
the professional politician, and when it is a
question of a full-fledged agricultural party
their hostility knows no limits.

Naturally the sound party man dislikes the for-
mation of groups, but if the dual party system
is dying, and groups are forming by degrees,
what course is left to the agriculturist save in
the end to form a group himself ?

But there can be no immediate question of
the formation of an independent party ; it costs
money to form a party — more money than
agriculturists will at present subscribe. But
that, apart from financial considerations, it
might be quite possible to form an indepen-
dent agricultural party, Mr. Matthews, the
able secretary of the Central Chamber of
Agriculture, shows in his carefully-reasoned

307

Land Problems and National Welfare

argument in favour of the independent party
which I reprint here, with his permission.

THE AGRICULTURAL PARTY

A REPLY TO CRITICISMS, BY A. H. H. MATTHEWS

Those who oppose the formation of an In-
dependent Agricultural Party in the House of
Commons ostensibly base their objections on
three grounds : — (i) That it is unnecessary ; (2)
that it is impracticable ; and (3) that it is un-
desirable, dne of the most able opponents
thinks it is unnecessary because (he says) every
possible benefit which could accrue from the
formation of a Parliamentary group is obtain-
able by drafting Bills, and by only returning
those candidates to Parliament who definitely
pledge themselves to support these Bills. I
will answer this point first.

Others say it is unnecessary, because an
Agricultural Committee already exists in the
House, and that that Committee, and the
general desire of members representing agri-
cultural constituencies to look well after that
industry, is all that is required. This will be
the second point dealt with.

Let us assume that half a dozen Bills are
drafted, dealing with as many definite subjects,
and that we are on the eve of a general
election. These Bills are to be launched at
the heads of all candidates, and only those

308

Politics and the Land

who will distinctly pledge themselves to " vote
for these Bills, the whole Bills, and nothing
but the Bills," may expect to obtain the
votes of the landlords and tenants. Now,
I ask is it possible to find any number of men
who will pledge themselves to all the points
and details which one single well-considered
Bill must contain ? And if not to one Bill,
how much more impossible to find men who
will pledge themselves to more than one. If
we are to content ourselves with only one
Bill at each general election, we shall be very
old men before we get much in the way of
reform. But supposing, say, fifty such men
were found and returned to Parliament, and by
great good luck this Bill obtained a place in
the ballot, what happens then ? It probably
passes its second reading and is referred to a
Standing Committee. But however well con-
sidered a Bill may be, it is extremely impro-
bable that it will emerge from that Committee
as it entered it, and if it does not, what becomes
of those members' pledges ? as this is no longer
the Bill to which they pledged themselves.

But we will assume still more, that the Bill
comes from Committee without more amend-
ment than these members can reconcile with
their pledges ; it then depends upon the entirely
irresponsible decision of the Government of the
day whether the Bill shall " be given facilities "

309

Land Problems and National Welfare

to proceed further. These members (under
our assumption) are only units of one or other
of the existing parties, and cannot, therefore,
be expected to take any steps in the direction
of *' putting pressure " upon their leaders in
order to obtain these " facilities." So our hope
depends upon a string of chances — first, upon
finding a number of candidates ready to pledge
themselves to all the details of a Bill ; secondly,
upon those candidates getting into Parliament ;
thirdly, upon the luck of the ballot ; fourthly,
upon the chance of the Bill passing without
amendment through Committee ; and, fifthly,
upon the decision of the Government as to
whether it shall live or die. I submit that this
is not good enough, and even this is only one
Bill in four or five years, as that may be taken
as the average life of a Parliament.

But we have not yet referred to what must
be considered the greatest assumption of all
(one fact which our opponents tell us is against
us beyond question), and that is the labourers'
vote. If it is true that the labourers will
always vote against the farmer and the land-
lord, then good-bye to any hope of returning
those candidates who pledge themselves to one
or more agricultural Bills, be they ever so
well considered. Luckily it is not true ; but
this comes more correctly under the head of
•* Impracticability," and must be deferred until

310

Politics and the Land

later. I will only add on this point that I
think the drafting of Bills is most necessary
if taken in conjunction with other steps ; it is
the best way of bringing any question forward
in a concrete form, and it is a method that
the Central Chamber has not used enough in
the past.

I now turn to the second argument. It may
be only c matter of opinion, but it is a very
general opinion that this desire on the part of
so-called agricultural Members is more imagin-
ary than real, and has proved most insufficient
in the past ; and it must be said that if this
burning desire does exist among these members
they have very thoroughly concealed it. Had
they shown it there would have been no such
proposals as are now made. It is said that the
reason why members have not been so active
in the required direction as they might have
been is because agriculturists themselves are
not organised in a way to express their opinions.
This is true to some extent, but for many years
there has been an organisation (in the Cham-
bers of Agriculture) which has been able to
voice the needs of that industry. We will ex-
amine such facts as are available to discover
how this desire to serve agriculture has been ex-
hibited ; we shall see at the same time the
use that members have made of the organisa-
tion that was at their disposal.

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Land Problems and National Welfare

In the last Parliament there were about no
M.P.'s who were members of the Central
Chamber; in the present Parliament (igo6-
igio) there are about eighty. Every year
these members have been asked to ballot for
private members' Bills at the beginning of each
session. On an average barely twenty have re-
plied at all, and of those only three or four have
promised their ballot. Quite recently twelve
members were asked to put their names on
the back of a certain Bill ; only one took the
trouble to reply. The attendance of members
at meetings of the Parliamentary Committee
of the Central Chamber is deplorable — usually
three or four out of fifteen ; yet these meetings
are always held in the House of Commons in
order to meet the convenience of members.
The late Government allowed six hours for the
discussion of agricultural questions in five ses-
sions, but the only protest came from outside the
House of Commons. This (1908) session the
Government gave a day to the vote for the
Board of Agriculture ; only one Agricultural
Member had any question to raise, and the day
was wasted on matters outside Agriculture, while
scarcely a score of members representing agri-
cultural divisions took the trouble to attend.
There have been more than 100 Acts passed
during the last thirty-eight years which increased
the burden of local taxation, but, with the excep-

312

Politics and the Land

tion of the action taken by Mr. ChapHn against
the Education Bill of 1902, they have passed
almost without protest. Nearly one hundred
M.P.'s were specifically requested (during the
session of 1907) to urge that the cost of ad-
ministering the Destructive Insects Act should
be defrayed by the National Exchequer instead
of out of the rates ; not one single member
raised the matter in the House.

This sort of example can be multiplied
indefinitely, but enough has been said on this
point, and I turn to the Agricultural Committee
already existing in the House. I have every
reason to believe that there are two such
Committees, at any rate I know there were
two, one Liberal and one Conservative. These
Committees used to meet, though one never
heard of their doing much besides electing
chairmen and secretaries. It is possible that
they occasionally met and agreed to oppose
certain Bills, or clauses in certain Bills, but this
was when they were respectively in opposition.
Even if it can be shown that these Committees
have been useful in the past, their use has
entirely vanished now. In the Southern Daily
News of 2ist December, 1907, Lord Edmund
Talbot, M.P., is reported as having said : —

" . . there was at this moment in the House an
Agricultural Committee to which he had the honour to be-
long, and which met to consider every agricultural question

Land Problems and National Welfare

which was brought forward in the House, and he believed
it would be wisest to leave this question of the Agricultural
party in tlie hands of that Committee."

But in the Hampshire Chrofiicle of 7th December,
1907, and in other local papers of that date,
Mr. A. H. Lee, M.P., is reported to have
said : —

" He had been a member for several years representing
what was largely an agricultural constituency, but he had
never been invited to the meeting of any such Committee,
and he did not know until he read this report of the Central
Chamber that there was supposed to be an Agricultural
Committee of members of the House of Commons— it had
never been brought to his notice: he had never been in-
vited to it."

Mr. Lee has always shown a sympathetic
attitude towards agricultural questions, yet he
has been kept in ignorance of the existence of
such a Committee.

I claim now to have shown that even if an
Independent Party is " unnecessary" the present
state of things is insupportable.

IT IS IMPRACTICABLE

This is a bold assertion, but it has yet to be
proved correct, and there are so many who be-
lieve it to be practicable that it will be put to
the test. Even if the Central Chamber of Agri-
culture finds itself unable to carry the matter
further, there are societies and individuals who
will take up the gauntlet.

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Politics and the Land

It is said to be impossible : — (i) Because no
Member, or group of Members of Parliament
would fairly represent the landlord, the tenant,
and the labourer. (2) Because the expense in-
curred would prove a burden too great for
Agriculture to bear. (3) Because there is no
unanimity between the units of any one of the
three classes embraced under the term " Agri-
culturists." (4) Because the labourers will never
vote the same way as their employers. (5)
Because Party political feelings are too deeply
rooted in the minds of Agriculturists to allow
them to transfer their allegiance to an In-
dependent candidate. There are others of less
importance, but these will suffice. It will be
found on analysis that some of these are
mutually destructive of each other.

NO. I.

If it is impossible for a Member fairly to
represent the landlord, tenant, and labourer,
how is it possible for a Member fairly to re-
present not only those three sections, but the
hundred-and-one other sections and interests
he affects to represent under present conditions?
No one imagines because an individual tries to
directly represent that industry which happens
to be the principal one in his division that a
perfect method of representation has been
found. But (on the theory of the greatest good

315

Land Problems and National Welfare

to the greatest number) it is held that a man
who stands for a division where agriculture is
paramount, and stands independent of the Party
whips, would be better able to look after his
constituents than the carpet-bagger who cer-
tainly represents a division but, frequently, by
no means represents his constituents. We do
not hear it said when a man is sent to West-
minster to represent the railway interest, the
brewing interest, or the N.U.T., that his division
is disfranchised as regards every interest except
that on which he depends for the funds to pay
his election expenses. Nor does that argument
hold good here. Any candidate standing in any
capacity whatever will have to give expression
to his views upon all general questions of the
day, and will be subjected to questions from
all the societies of faddists, as present-day
candidates are subject to them. Unless he can
pass through this ordeal in a way that satisfies
a majority of the voters he will not be returned.
It may be true to a strictly limited extent
that the interests of the three sections of agri-
culturists are not identical ; thus the landlord
wants as much rent as he can get, and the
tenant to pay as little as possible; or the labourer
as high a wage as he can obtain and the employer
to pay no more than he need. But these are
incidental domestic matters which fade into
insignificance beside the much more important

316

Politics and the Land

one of obtaining profits large enough to enable
each section to get a share. Why are we so
constantly being told " that there is no com-
munity of interests between the three sections?"
We do not hear the same about other industries.
It is an accepted fact that if there is no margin
of profit in any business that business goes to
the scrap heap, and both employers and employed
suffer ; the latter feel it first, and, physically,
most. However much politicians may endeavour
to widen the gulf between these sections, for
their own base Party purposes, the great truth
must prevail at last, and these three sections
will realise that they are all in the same boat.
Therefore it is not impossible for a member to
fairly represent them all.

NO. 2. — THE EXPENSE TOO GREAT

It would be intensely interesting if we could
ascertain how much of the funds which now
keep together the two of the four chief parties
comes out of the pockets of agriculturists. As
their accounts are not open to inspection, we
can only guess that if all agriculturists' sub-
scriptions were diverted into other channels
the two central Associations would find their
claws cut rather short. Why should not this
diversion be turned into a strictly agricultural
channel ? Moreover, when the ice was once
broken, there are many wealthy men who would

317

Land Problems and National Welfare

stand as agricultural candidates, and pay all
expenses, as they do now under other appel-
lations. It is asserted that the whole cost of
registration, as well as other costs, must conae
out of our pockets. If it does I maintain that
it would be the best investment that agricul-
turists could make. Incidentally it is worth
consideration whether a strong body of members
might not carry through legislation which would
materially reduce these same costs. The fact
is that this question of cost is chiefly put forward
by those who hope thereby to frighten us from
our object. But do not let me be misunderstood.
I do not wish to shirk the question ; it will be a
costly matter, and all landlords and farmers
must bear their share of it ; but I say again that
it will be money very well spent.

NO. 3. NO UNANIMITY BETWEEN MEMBERS OF

EITHER CLASS.

There is a greater element of truth in this than
in any of the other contentions. On several
points a farmer in Cornwall will differ from a
farmer in Cumberland, and a farmer in Cam-
bridgeshire will not agree with either of them.
But while that is true on certain points it is
untrue on others. There are many matters
which agriculturists desire to see settled, and
upon which practical unanimity exists. Absolute
unanimity there may not be, but will our op-

318

Politics and the Land

ponents tell me of any single question upon
which they can get absolute unanimity from any
body of men engaged in any industry ? Anyone,
having even a slight acquaintance with political
life, knows that on every question there is, and
must be, more or less compromise, some give
and take between those who are asking for
legislation. This is another point of which our
opponents are making the most. Are the Con-
servatives absolutely unanimous on any one
point ? Are the Liberals ? Are they even sure
they are Liberals or Radicals? Are the Labour
Party ? Are the Irish Party ? Are the Tee-
totalers ? Are the Church Party ? There is
quite as much accord among agriculturists as
there is among any other section of the com-
munity ; but there is less organisation. This is
to be regretted, but it does not weaken our case
The part of the industry that is organised must
look after the whole of it. If the greater part
prefers to remain voiceless, it may do so, but it
need not. There is no reason why every in-
dividual should not take his part in helping to
formulate the desires of his industry ; and if it
be said that the Chambers do not voice the
majority, or that they advocate matters which
are injurious to those not belonging to the
Chambers, let those outside come in and alter
that policy. The local Chambers are not "pocket
boroughs," and the Central Chamber is just

319

Land Problems and National Welfare

what the local Chambers make it. This want
of unanimity is only another bogey.

NO. 4 — LABOURERS WILL NOT VOTE WITH
THEIR EMPLOYERS.

This, on the face of it, would absolutely crush
out any vestige of hope that otherwise might
have been entertained — if it were true, but it is
not. There are hundreds and thousands of
labourers that, at the present time, vote the
same way as their employers. If this were not
so, how is it that Unionist candidates for rural
divisions ever succeed in getting into Parliament,
since the majority of landowners and farmers
have been on the Unionist side, but have been
vastly outnumbered by the labourers ever since
the last Reform Act ? If some of these
labourers have voted for Unionists in the past,
and by so doing have voted with their employers,
I fail to see why they should not support an
agriculturist. I believe, on the contrary, that
very many labourers would support an agri-
cultural candidate who would not vote for a
Unionist. That, of course, remains to be
proved, but I — unlike our opponents — do not
assert it as an incontrovertible fact. It is not
unlikely, either, that many labourers have got
as tired of the election promises of both Liberal
and Conservative candidates as have many

320

Politics and the Land

of their employers, and would welcome a
change.

It was a labourer who first made it clear to
me that the interests of the three sections were
so largely identical.

I also base my conclusions upon facts gathered
during several years spent in organising work
among all classes of agriculturists in nearly
every county in England. Judging from that
experience I am not surprised at Mr. Rider
Haggard holding the opinions he gave expression
to in the Times last December. But Mr. Hag-
gard judges from his own experience in North
Norfolk ; and in that particular district I found
the feeling of antipathy between the different
classes far more pronounced than (with one
exception) in any other part of England. Mr.
Haggard argues from the particular to the
general. This is not fair to the labourers.
Their interest in the welfare of agriculture is
just as great to them as to the farmer or land-
owner ; it is only a question of degree. They
are not the ignorant louts that comic and some
other papers pretend to think them, and if
treated reasonably will act as reasonably as
other people. I admit that this is the most
difficult point to argue upon in the whole of this
question ; no less difiicult for our opponents
than for us, because their main contention is
based on wrong conclusions, or, at best, on a

321 z

Land Problems and National Welfare

bald assertion ; so for the present this point
must lie in the lap of the gods. What we have
to do is to discuss all these matters with the
labourers ; reason them out calmly and dis-
passionately, not with any idea of "cajoling"
them into believing this or that, but accepting
the fact that if met properly they are as clear-
headed as other folk. But this must be done
now, not during the heat and viciousness en-
gendered by elections. It must be, of course,
a part of the policy of those who are proposing
the formation of an Agricultural Party to advo-
cate measures which will benefit the labourers
directly, as well as those which will only in-
directly touch them. No question will be more
popular than Mr. Jesse Collings' Land Purchase
Bill, and this must be one of the main planks
of our programme.

NO. 5. — PARTY FEELING TOO DEEPLY ROOTED.

In the last section the expression was used :
" Since the majority of farmers and landowners
have been on the Unionist side." I use the words
" have been " advisedly, for there are very many
men who all their lives have staunchly sup-
ported the Conservative Party in the blind
belief that they were really the farmers' party,
but who had their faith so rudely shaken by the
late Government that their allegiance is no
longer certain. Some of these might — under

322

Politics and the Land

present conditions — vote for a Liberal candidate,
many would not vote at all, but practically
every one of them, as well as those who have
never been tied to either Party, will give their
support to agricultural candidates. Moreover,
there will be many opportunities for agricultural
votes to be given to candidates who, though
standing as agricultural candidates, and free of
the Party Whips on agricultural questions, will
show a decided bias to either the Liberal or the
Unionist side. One proposal is that agricul-
turists should select their own candidates, but
that in a division where the preponderating
vote is Liberal a candidate acceptable to the
Liberals should be chosen, and conversely in
the case of a Conservative constituency.

This is another point upon which it is use-
less for us or our opponents to dogmatise : it
remains to be proved, and until it is proved
that we are wrong it is unreasonable to say that
it is impossible.

The formation of this Independent Party
may be impracticable, but we shall require more
conclusive arguments than any yet put forv/ard
to convince us that it is so.

IT IS UNDESIRABLE

The force of this opinion depends almost
entirely upon the point of view of the person
making it. I say " almost " because our oppo-

Land Problems and National Welfare

nents give as the ostensible reason for its un-
desirability the condition of things in those
Parliaments abroad where the group system
has become a recognised method of government;
and from this point of view the group system
can be shown to have many disadvantages.
But why should we take any foreign method as
the standard for emulation ? I have sufficient
faith in the good sense and freedom from panic
of the average Britisher to believe that under
the group system he will act in the way that
will be best for the country as a whole.

The Morning Post, on 6th January, 1908,
referring to the autocratic action of the present
Government with regard to the " guillotining "
methods of last Session, said :

" Was ever a House of Commons since Cromwell's day
treated so autocratically ? Of course, it may be said that
the majority of the House is to blame for tolerating such
treatment. Obviously it is, but Party loyalty is carried
very far in these days."

It is indeed — carried so far that the rights and
privileges of private members were practically
extinguished by Mr. Balfour, with his followers'
consent, during his last administration. The
reason why Members of Parliament do not
occupy the same position as formerly in the
minds of the public is entirely due to this fact.
The man in the street recognises that the
individual M.P. has become a mere pawn in

324

Politics and the Land

the hands of his leader, and values him accord-
ingly. We want those privileges restored.

But the great point in this aspect of the
question is that it does not matter in the least
whether we think the group system desirable or
the reverse. It is already with us. Apart from
the four main groups in the present House of
Commons, there are numerous sub-divisions
(held together with some difficulty by their
respective leaders) and still others in embryo ;
and the whole present tendency is in the direction
of more clearly establishing this system. It is
no use shutting our eyes to this fact, and the
sooner men realise it, and set to work to organise
their own industries, both inside and outside
the House of Commons, instead of wasting
eff"ort in a fruitless attempt to instil life into the
dead bones of the old parties, the better it will
be for them. The two-Party system is some
250 years old, it has done good work in the
past, but it has served its purpose, and outlived
its use. Its demise has probably been hastened
by over-organisation, by the too accurate num-
bering of heads, and by its destruction of per-
sonal thought and initiative. It prevents per-
sonal interest being developed in any question,
as it is so much easier merely to do what the
Whip commands : the useful knowledge which
accrues from personal interest is therefore lost,
and the units of a Party become in very many

325

Land Problems and National Welfare

cases mere automatons, useful to their leaders,
but no longer representative of their constituents.

The results are necessarily bad. No measure
is taken up until the Party in power either sees
a chance to please the mob and so to gain
votes, or fears to lose them by refraining from
action. Merely useful measures have no chance
of becoming law, there is no time to deal with
anything that does not help to make " an
attractive shop window." Time which should
be spent on well-considered legislation is wasted
over every conceivable dodge by which one
Party attempts to score off the other. Instead
of devising a rational system of decentralisation,
the legislature is choked with business, and
recourse is had to that most barbarous, dan-
gerous and unconstitutional process known as
the "guillotine." Well-considered legislation is
almost a thing of the past.

It may be undesirable to try a new system,
but it is difficult to imagine that the group
system could be worse than the one we suffer
under now.

Decefnher, 1908.

326

CHAPTER IX

THE LAND AND THE EMPIRE

The maintenance and development of our
imperial heritage should be the ideal
of every Englishman, and this con-
viction should nerve him to make
all due effort to secure the fitness of the home
population. Englishmen must be fit if they are
to carry on the work of empire. The home
population — the heart of the empire — must be
sound if the outlying members of the empire
are to be sound also.

The Englands beyond the seas are calling
aloud for men and women : the mother country
must listen to that call, but she must listen as a
wise mother and send only those suited to the
task that is waiting for them.

England must not allow herself to send out
men that she has need of at home, and equally
she must not offer the worthless surplus town
population which is useless to her.

The various Colonial governments are taking
such active steps that for some years back they

327

Land Problems and National Welfare

have been drawing away numbers of our best
men — small farmers and agricultural labourers,
just the type of men best suited to people our
lands beyond the seas, but the type of men also
who are most wanted at home.

The migrations of population must be guided
into those districts where they will do most to
develop the empire.

For years to come England should be the
reservoir of population from which our Colonies
must draw. It is therefore essential that the
reservoir be kept full. We must first colonise
the depopulated or sparsely populated rural
districts of England by creating a sturdy race of
small farmers and independent labourers con-
nected with the land, and the overflow of such
a population can with advantage be drafted to
the different colonies.

The Land, the People, and above all the
effective condition and standard of the people
are our greatest Imperial assets. Tariff Re-
formers with the true Imperial ideal before them
wish to see the bonds of Empire strengthened,
not only by a deepening of affection between
the Mother Country and every one of her
colonies, but, as practical men, they would
welcome a great Imperial Zollverein which
would bind together the commercial interests of
the Empire into one solid whole.

It is no use to shut one's eyes to the fact that
328

The Land and the Empire

the sentiment which we wish to see strong and
flourishing must have a practical basis, for it is
the duty of the rulers of every country to ensure
that their people shall have the opportunity of
the fullest national development. This I am
convinced will result if the Tariff Reform pro-
posals are properly carried out, but I could
wish that these Imperialists would go even
further than they do in their scheme of organisa-
tion. I could wish that they would realise that
behind the commercial problem is the still
greater problem of the Land and the People.
If land is one of the greatest National assets,
so also is it one of the greatest Imperial assets,
and we should clearly recognise that the Anglo-
Saxon peoples as a whole, whether in the old
or the new countries, have been so criminally
negligent of this great and important asset, that
in every Anglo-Saxon country there has been a
most disastrous waste of Land.

In the United States the squandering of land,
of forests, of water power, etc., assumes propor-
tions so gigantic that the Government, full late
in the day, have been compelled to form a Con-
servation Board to protect these great National
assets ; and now the time is fully ripe, if poli-
ticians will but realise it, for us too to have a
great Imperial Conservation Board with repre-
sentatives from all the Colonies — a Board whose
functions would be to protect Imperial Natural

329

Land Problems and National Welfare

Assets and as far as possible to guide the flow
of population to those parts of the Empire,
where population would do naost good, not only
to the country in question, but to the whole
Empire.

One of the duties of this Board shonld cer-
tainly be to check the emigration from England
of those men who are wanted to develop the
land of the Mother Country ; in other words,
to see that our own waste areas are first pro-
perly colonised, and then from the overflowing
of population of the rural districts to send out
colonists to our countries beyond the seas.

Sir Horace Plunkett, in his excellent book
" The Rural Life Problem of the United States,"
suggests that a Country Life Institute should
be created there to work in connection with the
Conservation Board. Such an Institute could
with equal profit be connected with our Imperial
Conservation Board whenever it is formed.

The duty of this Country Life Institute would,
on the one hand, be to furnish the Conservation
Board with all necessary data, and, on the other,
to create a sound public opinion in regard to
Land. As I have said before a very general
cause of the neglect of Land throughout Anglo-
Saxon countries is that our schools of Political
Economy have been unsound, ignoring Land as
the basis of all prosperity. So that the Country
Life Institute would have to undertake the

330

The Land and the Empire

great work of counteracting the influence of
this false teaching, and of creating — and adapt-
ing from foreign schools of Political Economy —
a new theory of Political Economy which would
be based on Land.

If there is no great central body to control
and guide the land development of the Empire,
and the flow of population, actual chaos will
supervene, or at all events without a shadow
of doubt one part may gain unduly at the cost
of some other part ; or a colony will gain at the
cost of the Mother Country, and this will be
harmful to the whole Empire. We want a con-
structive policy for the Empire as well as a
constructive policy for the United Kingdom.
With such a policy the solidarity of the Empire
will be secured, together with the even de-
velopment of the Empire in all its component
parts.

A preferential tariff must needs form an
important feature in any constructive imperial
policy. Imperial defence is another which I am
glad to see is receiving much attention. A third
point of vast importance is the inter-relation of
the systems of education — this also is beginning
to be taken into account.

But the basis of any great policy must be the
right dealing with land and the people. Land
is of little use without men, and too many
people without land are a menace to social

331

Land Problems and National Welfare

stability, yet these conditions actually exist in
our empire to-day.

Leaving India out of consideration — for its
peoples (with the exception of a few warlike
races) do not count as effective population in
that they could do little to defend the Empire —
we have an empire twenty times the size of
the German empire, peopled by some 56,000,000,
or 4,000,000 less than the population of the
German empire. Fifty-six millions is not a
large enough population for the vast area of our
dominions.

From the lack of any authority to guide our
population we have lost during the past fifty
years millions of our best men who have gone
to the United States. Millions of the best
citizens who now bring strength and wealth to
the United States might easily have been re-
tained within the Empire had due encourage-
ment been given them to emigrate to our
colonies instead of to the States.

Every able-bodied citizen is estimated to be
worth ;^300 per annum to the country — think
of the millions of money we have thus lost! This
national and imperial loss must be laid to the
charge of the Manchester School ; for decades,
owing to its influence, English statesmen let the
best of our artisans leave the country, and made
no effort to guide these potential units to the
younger parts of the Empire. The consequent

332

The Land and the Empire

loss of population has been put by statisticians
at 20,000,000 ; i.e., if the bulk of emigrants that
left the shores of England, Scotland and Wales
during the past fifty years had settled in the
colonies instead of in other countries, they,
together with their progeny, would have in-
creased the population of our Empire by
20,000,000.

I mention this to shew the disastrous loss
which the empire has suffered owing to want
of forethought and guidance on the part of our
politicians at home ; and it is also the strongest
evidence of the existing need for a great or-
ganisation officially recognised which shall con-
cern itself with imperial problems.

I cannot bring this book to an end without
a final reference to land and fiscal policy. I
have endeavoured to show how much more the
land of England could be made to produce than
now. A great responsibility will rest with the
politicians who bring in a tariff on foodstuffs —
the responsibility of seeing that right measures
are taken to secure the increased yield of home
grown foodstuffs, and to provide a closer and
more economic relation between the producer
and consumer.

There is a great duty which the universities
of England could perform — a duty hitherto
unrecognised ; for they could do much to make
their thousands of graduates think, and think

333

Land Problems and National Welfare

correctly, on the subject of land.

Again, a few millionaires — one single mil-
lionaire— could also do much. Doctor Robert-
son, Canadian Commissioner of Agriculture, has
spent during the past fifteen years or so a sum of
^1,000,000 provided by that patriotic Canadian,
Sir William Macdonald ; every sort of develop-
ment in rural and agricultural education has
been carried out ; schools and demonstrations
have been started which have been taken over
by the authorities when their usefulness was
proved. The greatest monument to the work
of these two men is the great Agricultural and
Normal College at St. Ann's near Montreal,
which is one of the most perfect institutions of
its kind in existence and which is attracting
world-wide attention.

We have ample room for one or two
Macdonald colleges in England. We hear of
millionaires who do not know how to spend
their money : may I recommend this way to
their notice ? Or, if this be too ambitious a
scheme, great good could be done by giving
one of our practical agricultural colleges a
sufficient income, by means of which to ac-
complish really effective work ; an extra ;^3,ooo
a year is relatively not a very large sum, but it
would make a vast difference in the effective-
ness of an existing institution.

Another lesson from America is the amount

334

The Land and the Empire

of good work that can be done by a group of
people combining to promote a common cause.
We do this for many things in England — but
not for land. In America there is an ever in-
creasing tendency for individuals to interest
themselves in the whole range of rural develop-
ment, and this in spite of the fact that their
Government spends vast sums in promoting the
same object. There must be many people who
are interested in Land and its development to
the fullest national use, and it is time that they
should lose sight of minor differences and get
together to work for the cause.

It is in the realm of politics that one feels
most hopeless ; for what can be achieved so long
as each party only, or mainly, looks upon the
development of Land from the point of view of
the party gain which can be derived there-
from ?

The conviction, therefore, is forced upon the
thoughtful observer that to secure a sound
policy in regard to Land, and the rural develop-
ment of the Empire, a National Party, to in-
clude all patriotic and honest politicians, is as
greatly needed as it is for the carrying out of
social reforms whereby a healthy and Imperial
people may be maintained in the Mother
Country.

THE END

INDEX

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MIDLAND, 7I

AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION, 23

AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION SOCIETY, 252. 264, 265

AGRICULTURAL ORGANISERS, 167, 255

AGRICULTURAL PARTY, 306, 307, 308

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, ROYAL, 260

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, ORGANISATION OF, 274

AGRICULTURE, CENTRAL CHAMBERS OF, 158, 261, 262, 266,

„ , DEPARTMENT OF, 65

„ , IN PARLIAMENT, 262, 27I, 276, 277

AMERICAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE'S REPORT, 2 I 7, 2x8

ARCH, JOSEPH, 118, 119, 132

AUSTRIA, DESTITUTE CHILDREN, 1 79

BALFOUR, MR., 139, I40, 2o6, 304, 306, 324

BATHURST, MR. CHARLES, 27I

BELGIUM, 63, 120, 121

BELL, LADY, 120, 121, I43

BLATCHFORD, MR., 296, 304

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, I74, I75, 265

BOARD OF EDUCATION, I46, I51, 172, 1 74

BOARD OF TRADE, BLUE BOOK, 220

BRAY, MR. REGINALD, I54, I55, I56

BRIGHT, MR. JOHN, 202

BURNS, MR. JOHN, 236

BUXTON, MR. CHARLES RODEN, 236

CAMBRIDGE, 8, 82, 85

CATTLE REARING, 46, 57, 86, 87

CENTRAL CHAMBERS OF AGRICULTURE, 158, 261, 262, 266, 273

Index

CENTRAL LAND ASSOCIATION, 2, 22, 34, 27O, 27I, 273, 280

CHAMBERLAIN, MR., 20I, 204, 206, 224

CHAPLIN, MR., 313

CHILDREN, DESTITUTE, I77, I78, 179, 180, 181

COBDEN, 68, 201,202

COCKLE PARK, EXPERIMENTS AT, QI

COKE OF NORFOLK, 57, Il2

COLONISATION OF ENGLAND, 50, 5I, 328, 33O

COLONISATION OF THE EMPIRE, 327, 328, 33I, 333

COLLINGS, MR. JESSE, 35, II7, I18, 235, 278

COMMON LANDS, II5, I16, 234, 235

CONSERVATION BOARD, IMPERIAL, 329

CONSTRUCTIVE AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMME, 297

CONSUMPTION OF FOOD, 65, 66

CONTINUATION INSTRUCTION, 165, 166, 167

CO-OPERATION, 34, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, I09, 2o8, 209, 252, 253

COTTAGES, 126, 130

COTTON, SUPPLY OF, 2l8, 219

COUNTRY LIFE COMMISSION IN THE U.S.A., V, 52, 53, I36,
137.138

COUNTRY LIFE INSTITUTE, 329

COUNTY COUNCILS AND DEVELOPMENT FUND, I47, 167
„ „ AND EDUCATION, I46

„ „ AND POOR LAW REFORM, 180

„ „ AND SMALL HOLDINGS, 238, 239, 24O, 24I,

242, 252.
COUNTY COUNCILS ASSOCIATION, 152, I53

COWS, DAIRY, 64, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90

CRAWFORD, MR., 96, 97

CREDIT SOCIETIES,, 34, lOI, 249, 25I

CULTIVATION of SUGAR, 42,47, 48, 49

DARBY, MR. JOHN, I, 2

DEMONSTRATION FARMS, 255, 256, 257

DENMARK, AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS, 8, II, 12, I3, I4, 28,

29» 36, 37> 62, 72, 88, 89, 90, 97, 102, IIO

DEVELOPMENT FUND, COUNTY COUNCILS AND, I47, 167

338

Index

EDUCATION, 113, 114, 136, 176, 177

„ , AGRICULTURAL, 70, 7I

„ , COST OF, 144, 145, 146, 147

, RURAL, 157, 164, 165, 183, 184, 187, 191
ESTATE DUTIES, 18, I9, 20, 21
ESTATES, SIZE OF, 35
EXPERTS, AGRICULTURAL, 29, 3I, 32, 33, 34

FABIAN SOCIETY, 293

FARM ACCOUNTS, 29, 30, 3I, 59, 60

FARM LABOUR CLASSES, I 73, I 74

FARM SCHOOLS, 166

FARMS, HOME, II, 32

„ , SIZE OF, 15, 16, 23, 26, 27, 28, 35, 103, 104, 105, 106
FARMERS* UNION, 7I, 72, I58, 267, 268, 269, 273, 280
FARMING, INTENSIVE, 7, lO, 30, 38, 40, 41,44, 46, 6g, 98, 248,

250
FOOD SUPPLY, 7, 39, 41, 45, 56, 57, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67,
82, 83, 84, 85, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 1 12, 296
,, , SOURCES OF, 211

FOODSTUFFS, TAXATION OF, 205, 2o6, 2IO, 227, 228
FRANCE, 64, 65, 67, 88

FREE TRADE, I94, I96, I97, 200, 20I, 204, 2o8, 214
„ , AGRICULTURE UNDER, 68, 69, 70, 205

GAME, PRESERVING OF, I7, 18, 39, I08, IO9

GEORGE, MR. LLOYD, 22

GERMANY, 4, 12, 39, 40, 4I, 42, 43, 44, 47, 65, 67, 74

GILBERT, EXPERIMENTS OF, 77, 78

GLADSTONE, MR., 287

GRASS-LAND, NEGLECT OF, 90, 9I, 97

GROUND GAME ACT, I09

HAGGARD, MR. RIDER, 321
HALL, MR., OF ROTHAMSTED, 77

339

Index

HARCOURT, MR. L., 236
HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM, 21, 22
HARRIS, MR., 196
IIEWINS, PROFESSOR, 222
HOME-MAKING CENTRES, I76, 177
HOME-MARKET, ITS IMPORTANCE, 212, 213

INCOME, FROM AGRICULTURAL ESTATES, 24, 25, 26
INCOME TAX, 22

INTER-DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE, I74
IMPERIAL CONSERVATION BOARD, 329

KROPOTKIN, PRINCE, V

„ „ ON SMALL HOLDINGS, 24O

LAND HOLDINGS ACT, I08

LAND PURCHASE, 35, 100, lOI, IO7, I08

LAND TENURE, I02

LAWES, EXPERIMENTS OF, 77, 78

LIBERALS, THEIR LAND POLICY, 236, 237, 299

LIVE STOCK, PER SQUARE MILE, 63, 64

LIVING, COST OF, 120, 121, 122, I23, I24, I30, 214, 215,

219, 220
LONDON MARKETS, 228, 229, 23O, 23 1, 232, 233

MACDONALD COLLEGE, 171

MACDONALD, SIR WILLIAM, 334

MACKENZIE, MR. K. J. J., 82

MCKINLEY TARIFF, 217, 222

MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, 285, 332

MANUAL INSTRUCTION, I4I, I42, I45, I47, I48, I49, I5I, I59,

190, 191
MANURE, LOSS ON, 75, 76, 95
MARKET, HOME, 212, 2 13
MARKETS, LONDON, 228,229, 23O, 23 1, 232, 233

Index

MATTHEWS, MR., 307, 308
MELINE, M., 200

,, „ ON ENGLAND, 223, 224, 225

MEREDITH, MR. GEORGE, 287
MILK, CONTROL CENTRES, 88

MILK SUPPLY, 88, 8g, 90, 95, 203, 296

MILNER, LORD, 2IO

„ „ ON SOCIALISM, 288, 289

NATIONAL PARTY, 3OO, 302, 303, 304, 305, 335
NATURE STUDY, 160, 162, 163, 188, 189, I9I, I92
NORMAL DEPARTMENT, 17I, 334

ORGANISATION OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, 274
ORGANISATION OF RURAL LABOURERS, 278, 279, 281
ORGANISERS, AGRICULTURAL, 167, 255
OWNERSHIP, SYSTEM OF, 40, 44, 45, 50, 99, I02, 25I

PARKER, SIR GILBERT, 235, 304
PARLIAMENTARY FUNDS, 6, 33, IIO, III, 276
PEARCE, MR., 213
PEEL, SIR ROBERT, 68
POPULATION, LOSS OF, 332, 333
PRATT, MR., 235

„ „ ON CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES, 242, 243, 244, 245

246, 247
PROFIT-SHARING, I27, 128, I29
PROTECTION, 194, 214, 215, 216, 217

PROUT, MR., AND WHEAT-GROWING, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82
PURCHASE, LAND, 35, lOO, lOI, I07, I08

RAYLEIGH, LORD, I27

RENT, 24

ROBERTSON, DR., I44

ROMAN EMPIRE, PRODUCER NEGLECTED, I97, I98

ROTHAMSTED, 7, 77

Index

ROWNTREE, MR. SEEBOHM, I20, 121
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL COMMISSION, 6l

„ „ SOCIETY, 162

ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY, I96
RUNCIMAN, MR., I5I

RURAL EDUCATION, I57, 164, 165, 183, 184, 187, I9I
RURAL EDUCATION CONFERENCES, I53, I54, 181
RURAL labourers' LEAGUE, 278

SALISBURY, LORD, 287

SCHOOL GARDENS, 160, 161, 162, 163, I90, I9I, I92

SCOTT COWARD, MR., I70

SHAFTESBURY, LORD, 202

SIMMONS, MR. ANKER, 99, lOI

SMALL HOLDINGS, 55, I25, I26, I29, I34, I35, 25O, 253,258

SMALL HOLDINGS ACT, IO5, I06, 236

SOCIALISM, 177, 179, 288, 289, 290, 291, 293, 294

SOMERSET HOUSE, I9, 20, 23

SPENCER, MR. HERBERT, I55

STEIN, 116

SUCCESSION DUTIES, 20

SWANLEY, 172

SWIFT, DEAN, II

TALBOT, LORD EDMUND, 313

TARIFF OF MIDDLEMAN, 200, 20I, 202, 203, 207, 2o8

TARIFF REFORM, 204, 205, 208, 221, 222, 223, 227

TARIFFS, 40, 42, 43, 49, 50, 51, 68, 69, 110, 202, 203, 2o6

TAX, INCOME, 22

TEACHERS, TRAINING OF, 169, 17O, 171, I72, I73

TENURE OF LAND, lOO

TRUSTS, 215, 216, 220, 221

TYLER, WAT, II7

UNIONISTS, THEIR LAND POLICY, 235

Index

VOLCKER, DR. AUGUSTUS, 78, 79
VUYST, M. DE, 181

WAGES, RATE OF, II9, I3I, I32, I34, 225

WATTS, MR. G.F., I78, 20I

WEBB, MR. AND MRS. SIDNEY, 292

WHEAT GROWING, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85

WHISKEY MONEY, I73, I75

WILKINS, MR., 208

WILKINS, MRS. ROLAND (mISS JEBB), 236

WINCHILSEA, LORD, 263

WOOD, PROFESSOR, 85

WYE, 8, 171

YIELD PER ACRE, lO, II, 56, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 98, 99

ZELTER, HERR VON, ON AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS IN
GERMANY AND ENGLAND, 39, 40, 4I, 42, 43, 44, 45

343

BOOKS REFERRED TO.

Rural Life Problem of the

United States
A Poor Man's House -
At the Works

Land and Labour in Belgium -
The Town Child
An Englishman's Castle
The School and the State
Le Retour a la Terre
Constructive Imperialism
Free Trade for America
Small Holdings
Transition in Agriculture
The Organisation OF Agriculture Pratt
Small Holders, and what they

must do to succeed - - Pratt

Sir Horace Plunkett

Stephen Reynolds

Lady Bell

Seebohm Rowntree

Reginald Bray

Miss Loane

Dewey

M. Meline

Lord Milner

Pearce

Mrs. Roland Wilkins

Pratt

344

THE WORKS OF
ANATOLE FRANCE

T has long been a reproach to
England that only one volume
by ANATOLE FRANCE
has been adequately rendered
into English j, yet outsidie this
country he shares with
TOLSTOI the distinction
of being the greatest and most daring
student of humanity living.

H There have been many diflSculties to
encounter in completing arrangements for a
uniform edition, though perhaps the chief bar-
rier to publication here has been the fact that
his writings are not for babes — but for men
and the mothers -of men. Indeed, some af his
East-era romances are written with biblical can-
doun. ** I have sought truth strennously," he
telk ne, *' I have met her boldly. I have never
turned from her even when she wore an

THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

unexpected aspect." Still, it is believed that the day has
come for giving f^nglish versions of all his imaginative
works ;is well as of his monumental study JOAN OF
ARC, which is undoubtedly the most discussed book in the
world of letters to-day.

H MR. JOHN LANE has pleasure in announcing that
the following volumes are either already published or are
passing through the press.

THE RED LILY

MOTHER OF PEARL

THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS

THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD

BALTHASAR

THE WELL OF ST. CLARE

THAIS

THE WHITE STONE

PENGUIN ISLAND

THE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNE

BROCHE
JOCASTA AND THE FAMISHED CAT
THE ELM TREE ON THE MALL
THE WICKER-WORK WOMAN
AT THE SIGN OF THE REINE PEDAUQUE
THE OPINIONS OF JEROME COIGNARD
MY FRIEND'S BOOK
THE ASPIRATIONS OF JEAN SERVIEN
LIFE AND LETTERS (4 vols.)
JOAN OF ARC (2 vols.)

f All the books will be published at 6/- each with the
exception of JOAN OF ARC, which will be 25/- net
the two volumes, with eight Illustrations.

H The format of the volumes leaves little ro be desired.
The size is Demy 8vo (9 x 5^), and they arc printed from
Caslon type upon a paper light in weight and strong of
texture, with a cover design in crimson and gold, a gilt top,
end-papers from designs by Aubrey Beardsley and initials by
Henry Ospovat. In short, these are volumes for the biblio-
phile as well as the lover of fiction, and form perhaps the
cheapest library edition of copyright novels ever published,
for the price is only that of an ordinary novel.

11 The translation of these books has been entrusted to
such competent French scholars as mr. Alfred allinson,

THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

MR. FREDERIC CHAPMAN, MR. ROBERT R. DOUGLAS,
MR. A. W. EVANS, MKS. FARLEY, MR. LAFCADIO HEARN,
MRS. W. S. JACKSON, MRS. JOHN LANE, MRS. NEWMARCH,
MR. C. E. ROCHE, MISS WINIFRED STEPHENS, and MISS
M. P. WILLCOCKS.

f As Anatole Thibault, dit Anatole France, is to most
English readers merely a name, it will be well to state that
he was born in 1844 in the picturesque and inspiring
surroundings of an old bookshop on the Quai Voltaire,
Paris, kept by his father, Monsieur Thibault, an authority on
eighteenth-century history, from whom the boy caught the
passion for the principles of the Revolution, while from his
mother he was learning to love the ascetic ideals chronicled
in the Lives of the Saints. He was schooled with the lovers
of old books, missals and manuscript ; he matriculated on the
Quais with the old Jewish dealers of curios and objets cTart;
he graduated in the great university of life and experience.
It will be recognised that all his work is permeated by his
youthful impressions ; he is, in fact, a virtuoso at large.

H He has written about thirty volumes of fiction. His
first novel was JOCASTA & THE FAMISHED CAT
(1879). THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD
appeared in 1881, and had the distinction of being crowned
by the French Academy, into which he was received in 1896.

H His work is illuminated with style, scholarship, and
psychology ; but its outstanding features are the lambent wit,
the gay mockery, the genial irony with which he touches every
subject he treats. But the wit is never malicious, the mockery
never derisive, the irony never barbed. To quote from his own
GARDEN OF EPICURUS : " Irony and Pity are both of
good counsel ; the first with her smiles makes life agreeable,
the other sanctifies it to us with her tears. The Irony I
invoke is no cruel deity. She mocks neither love nor
beauty. She is gentle and kindly disposed. Her mirth
disarms anger and it is she teaches us to laugh at rogues and
fools whom but for her we might be so weak as to hate."

H Often he shows how divine humanity triumphs over
mere asceticism, and with entire reverence ; indeed, he
might be described as an ascetic overflowing with humanity,
just as he has been termed a " pagan, but a pagan
constantly haunted by the pre-occupation of Christ."
He is in turn — like his own Choulette in THE RED
LILY — saintly and Rabelaisian, yet without incongruity.

THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

At all *imes he is ^he uMnelcntiug foe «f S«pe»s*iti©ii and
hypocrisy. Of himself he once modestly said : " You will
find in my writijigs perfect sincerity (lying denriands a talent
I do not possess), much indulgence, and some natural
affection for the beautiful aiid good."

fl The mere extent of an author's popularity is perhaps a
poor argument, yet it is significant that two books by this
author are in their HUNDRED AND TENTH THOU-
SAND, and numbers of them well into their SEVENTIETH
THOUSAND, whilst the one which a Frenchman recently
described as *' Monsieur France's most arid book " is in its
FIFTY-EIGHT-THOUSAND.

f Inasmuch as M. FRANCE'S ONLY contribution to
an English periodical appeared in THE YELLOW BOOK,
vol. v., April 1895, together with the first important English
appreciation of his work from the pen of the Hon. Maurice
Baring, it is peculiarly appropriate that the English edition
of his works should be issued from the Bodley Head,

ORDER FORM.

To Mr _ ^

Booksellen

Please send me the following works 0/ Anatole France:
THA'iS PENGUIN ISLAND

BALTHASAR THE WHITE STONE

THE RED LILY MOTHER OF PEARL

THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS
THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD
THE WELL OF ST. CLARE
THE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNE-

BROCHE
THE ELM TREE ON THE MALL
THE WICKER-WORK WOMAN
JOCASTA AND THE FAMISHED CAT
JOAN OF ARC (2 Vols.)
LIFE AND LETTERS (4 Vols.)

for whith 1 enclose ^

Namc.„ ,. _ .,

Address - ,. _ , .

JOHN LANE. Publisher. The Bodlev Head, Vigo St., London.W.

:ho tice

'Those who possess old letters^ documents^ corre-
spondence^ SVLSS.^ scraps of autobiography^ and also
miniatures and portraits^ relating to persons and
matters historical^ literary^ political and social^ should
communicate with SMr. John Lane, 'The Bodley
Head, Vigo Street, London, W., who will at all
times be pleased to give his advice and assistance^
either as to their preservation or publication.

LIVING MASTERS OF MUSIC

An Illustrated Series of Monographs dealing with
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THEODOR LESCHETIZKY. By A. Hullah.

GIACOMO PUCCINI, By Wakeling Dry.

ALFRED BRUNEAU. By Arthur Hervey.

IGNAZ PADEREWSKI. By E. A. Baughan.

RICHARD STRAUSS. By A. Kalisch.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY, By Franz Liebich.

STARS OF THE STAGE

A Series of Illustrated Biographies of the Leading
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*»* // was Schiller ivho said: " Twine no Tureath for the
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HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE. By Mrs. George Cran,
W. S. GILBERT. By Edith A. Browne.
CHAS. WYNDHAM. By Florence Teignmouth Shore.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. By G. K. Chesterton.

A CATALOGUE OF

MEMOIRS, 'BIOGRAPHIES, ETC.

WO%KS UPON ^APOLEON
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DUMOURIEZ AND THE DEFENCE OF

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Spectator. — " Without doubt Mr. Oscar Browning has produced a book which should have

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THE BOYHOOD & YOUTH OF NAPOLEON,

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Joseph Turquan. Translated from the French by James L. May.
With 32 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5^ inches).
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A CATALOGUE OF

THE DUKE OF REICHSTADT (NAPOLEON 11.)

By Edward de Wertheimer. Translated from the German.
With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 21s. net. (Second
Edition.)

Times.— " A most careful and interesting work which presents the first complete and

authoritative account of the life' of this unfortunate Prince."
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portraits, is a solid contribution to history and a monument of patient, well-applied

research."

NAPOLEON'S CONQUEST OF PRUSSIA, 1806.

By F. LoRAiNE Petre. With an Introduction by Field-
Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C, K.G., etc. With Maps, Battle
Plans, Portraits, and 1 6 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo
(9x5! inches). 12s. dd. net.

Scotsman. — " Neither too concise, nor too diffuse, the book is eminently readable. It is the

best work in English on a somewhat circumscribed subject."
Outlook. — " Mr. Petre has visited the battlefields and read everything, and his inonograph is

a model of what military history, handled with enthusiasm and literary ability, can be. "

NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGN IN POLAND, 1806-

1807. A Military History of Napoleon's First War with Russia,
verified from unpublished official documents. By F. Loraine
Petre. With i6 Full-page Illustrations, Maps, and Plans. New
Edition. Demy 8vo (9 x 5I inches). 12s. 6d. net.

Army and Navy Chronicle. — "We welcome a second edition of this valuable work. . . .
Mr. Loraine Petre is an authority on the wars of the great Napoleon, and has brought
the greatest care and energy into his studies of the subject."

NAPOLEON AND THE ARCHDUKE

CHARLES. A History of the Franco- Austrian Campaign in
the Valley of the Danube in 1809. By F. Loraine Petre.
With 8 Illustrations and 6 sheets of Maps and Plans. Demy 8vo
(9 ^ Sf inches). 1 2s. 6d. net.

RALPH HEATHCOTE. Letters of a Diplomatist

During the Time of Napoleon, Giving an Account of the Dispute
between the Emperor and the Elector of Hesse. By Countess
GiJNTHtR Groben. With Numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo
(9 X 5 1 inches). 12/. 6^. net.

*»* Ralph Heathcotc, the son of an English father and an Alsatian mother, -was for
some titne in the English diplomatic service as first secretary to Mr. Brook Taylor, minister
at the Court of Hesse, and on one occasion found hitnself very near to making history.
Napoleon became persuaded that Taylor was implicated in a plot to procure his assassina-
tion, and insisted on his dismissal from the Hessian Court. As Taylor refused to be
dismissed, the incident at one time seemed likely to result to the Elector in the loss of his
throne. Heathcote came into contact with a number of notable people, including the Miss
Berrys, with whom he assures his mother he is not in loz'e. On the whole, there is much
interesting material for lovers of old letters and journals.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc. 5
MEMOIRS OF THE COUNT DE CARTRIE.

A record of the extraordinary events in the life of a French
Royalist during the war in La Vendee, and of his flight to South-
l^ ampton, where he followed the humble occupation of gardener.
With an introduction by Frederic Masson, Appendices and Notes
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tions, including a Photogravure Portrait of the Author. Demy 8vo.
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Daily News. — " We have seldom met with a human document which has interested us so
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THE JOURNAL OF JOHN MAYNE DURING

A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT UPON ITS RE-
OPENING AFTER THE FALL OF NAPOLEON, 1814.

Edited by his Grandson, John Mayne Colles. With 16
Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5^ inches). \zs. 6d. net.

WOMEN OF THE SECOND EMPIRE.

Chronicles of the Court of Napoleon III. By Frederic Loliee.
With an introduction by Richard Whiteing and 53 full-page
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description of the intrigue and dare-devil spirit which flourished unchecked at the French
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LOUIS NAPOLEON AND THE GENESIS OF
THE SECOND EMPIRE. By F. H. Cheeth.^m. With
Numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5f inches). i6s, net.

MEMOIRS OF MADEMOISELLE DES

ECHEROLLES. Translated from the French by Marie
Clothilde Balfour. With an Introduction by G. K. Fortescue,
Portraits, etc. 5/. net.

Liverpool Mercury. — ". . . this absorbing book. . . . The work has a very decided
historical value. The translation is excellent, and quite notable in the preservation of
idiom."

JANE AUSTEN'S SAILOR BROTHERS. Being

the life and Adventures of Sir Francis Austen, g.c.b.. Admiral of
the Fleet, and Rear-Admiral Charles Austen. By J. H. and E. C.
Hubback. With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo. i zs. 6d. net.

Morning Post. — ". . . May be welcomed as an important addition to Austeniana . . .;
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followed the great battle of just one century ago, the battle which won so much but
which cost us — Nelson."

A CATALOGUE OF

SOME WOMEN LOVING AND LUCKLESS.

By Teodor de Wyzkwa, Translated from the French by C. H.
Jefkreson, m.a. With Numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo
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POETRY AND PROGRESS IN RUSSIA. By

Rosa Newmarch. With 6 full-page Portraits. Demy 8vo.
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GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO : A BIOGRAPHICAL

STUDY. By Edward Hutton. With a Photogravure Frontis-
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THE LIFE OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY

(1840-1893). By his Brother, MoDESTE Tchaikovsky. Edited
and abridged from the Russian and German Editions by Rosa
Newmarch. With Numerous Illustrations and Facsimiles and an
Introduction by the Editor. Demy 8vo. ']$. 6d. net. Second
edition.

The Times. — "A most illuminating commentary on Tchaikovsky's music."

World. — "One of the most fascinating self-revelations by an artist which has been given to

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Contemporary Review. — " The book's appeal is, of course, primarily to the music-lover ; but
there is so much of human and literary interest in it, such intimate revelation of a
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literary skill with which she has prepared the English version of this fascinating work . . .
There have been few collections of letters published within recent years that give so
vivid a portrait of the writer as that presented to us in these pages."

COKE OF NORFOLK AND HIS FRIENDS:

The Life of Thomas William Coke, First Earl of Leicester of
the second creation, containing an account of his Ancestry,
Surroundings, Public Services, and Private Friendships, and
including many Unpublished Letters from Noted Men of his day,
EngHsh and American. By A. M. W. Stirling. With 20
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from Contemporary Portraits, Prints, etc. Demy 8vo. 2 vols.
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The Times.—" We thank Mr. Stirling for one of the most interesting memoirs of recent

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before our eyes with the vividness of breathing existence the life of our English ancestors

of the eighteenth century."
Pall Ma'.l Gazette. — " A work of no common interest ; in fact, a work which may almost be

called unique."
Evening Standard. — "One of the most interesting biographies we have read for years."

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc. 7
THE LIFE OF SIR HALLIDAY MACART-

NEY, K.C.M.G., Commander of Li Hung Chang's trained
force in the Taeping Rebellion, founder of the first Chinese
Arsenal, Secretary to the first Chinese Embassy to Europe.
Secretary and Councillor to the Chinese Legation in London for
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" History of China," the " Life of Gordon," etc. With Illus-
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DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE

EVENTS. By S. Baring-Gould, m.a.. Author of " Yorkshire
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Daily News. — "A fascinating series . . . the whole book is rich in human interest. It is
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CORNISH CHARACTERS AND STRANGE

EVENTS. By S. Baring-Gould. Demy 8vo. z\s. net.

THE HEART OF GAMBETTA. Translated

from the French of Francis Laur by Violette Montagu.
With an Introduction by John Macdonald, Portraits and other
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THE MEMOIRS OF ANN, LADY FANSHAWE.

Written by Lady Fanshawe. With Extracts from the Correspon-
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With 38 Full-page Illustrations, including four in Photogravure
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*,* This Edition has been printed direct from the original manuscript in the possession
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8 A CATALOGUE OF

THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC. By Anatole

France. A Translation by Winifred Stkphens. With 8 Illus-
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THE DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XVI. Marie-

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WITS, BEAUX, AND BEAUTIES OF THE

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LADIES FAIR AND FRAIL. Sketches of the

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MADAME DE MAINTENON : Her Life and

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DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE. By

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THE DAYS OF THE DIRECTOIRE. By

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MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc. 9
HUBERT AND JOHN VAN EYCK : Their Life

and Work. By W. H. James Weale. With 41 Photogravure

and 95 Black and White Reproductions. Royal 4to. £~, 5/. net.

Sir Martin Conway's Note.
Nearly half a century has passed since Mr. W. H. James Weale, then resident at
Bruges, began that long series of patient investigations into the history of A''eiherlandish
art luhich was destined to earn so rich a harvest. When he began work liTernlinc was
still called Hemling, and ■was fabled to have arrived at Bruges as a wounded soldier.
The van Eycks were little more than legendary heroes. Roger Van der Weyden was little
viore than a name. Most of the other great Nethe7-landish artists were either wholly
forgotten or named only in connection with paintings with which t/iey had tiothing to do .
Mr. Weale discovered Gerard David, and disentangled his principal works fro7>t Mcvi-
line's, with which they were then confused.

VINCENZO FOPPA OF BRESCIA, Founder of

THE Lombard School, His Life and Work. By Constance
JocELYN Ffoulkes and Monsignor Rodolfo Majocchi, d.d.,
Rector of the Collegio Borromeo, Pavia. Based on research in the
Archives of Milan, Pavia, Brescia, and Genoa, and on the study
of all his known works. With over 100 Illustrations, many in
Photogravure, and 100 Documents. Royal 410. ;^3. 11/. dd. net.

*jf* No complete Life of Vincenzo Foppa has ever been luritten: an omission which
seems almost inexplicable in these days of over-pr>'oduction in the tnatter of bio-
graphies of painters, and of subjects relating to the art of Italy. The object of the
authors of this book has been to present a true picture of the master's life based
upon the testimony of records in Italian archives. The authors have unearthed a large
amount of new 7naterial relating to Fopfia, one of the most interesting facts brought to
light being that he lived for twenty-th7-ee years longer than was formerly supposed. The
illustrations will include several pictures by Foppa hitherto unknown in the history of art.

MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO.

Illustrating the Arms, Art and Literature of Italy from 1440 to
1630. By James Dennistoun of Dennistoun. A New Edition
edited by Edward Hutton, with upwards of 100 Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 3 vols. 42J. net.

*»* For many years this great book has been out of print, although it still remains the
chief authority upon the Duchy of Urbino from the beginning of the fifteenth century.
Mr. Huttofi has carefully edited the whole work, leaving the text substantially t/te same,
but abiding a large mimber of new notes, comments and references. Wherever possible
the reader is directed to original sources. Every sort of work has been laid under
contribution to illustrate the text, atid bibliographies have been supplied on many subjects.
Besides these notes the book acquires a new value on account of the mass of illustrations
•which it now contains, thus adding a pictorial comment to an historical and critical one.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LONG LIFE. By

Jean Finot. A Translation by Harry Roberts. Demy 8vo.
(9 X 5f inches), js. 6d. net.

■ *»* This is a translation of a book which has attained to the position of a classic. It
has already been tratislated into almost every language, and has, in France, gone into four-
teen editions in the course of a few years. The book is an exhaustive one, and although
based on science and philosophy it is in no sense absi}-use or remote from general interest.
It deals with life as embodied not only in tnan and in the animal and z'egetable worlds, but
in all that great world of {as the author holds) misnanied " inaniinate " nature as ivell.
For M. Fitiot argues that all things have life and consciousness, and that a solidarity
exists which brings together all beings and so-called things. He sets himself to work to
show that life, in its philosophic conception, is an elemetital force, and durable as nature
herself.

lo A CATALOGUE OF

THE DIARY OF A LADY-IN-WAITING. By

Lady Charlottk Bury. Being the Diary Illustrative of the
Times of George the Fourth. Interspersed with original Letters
from the late Queen Caroline and from various other distinguished
persons. New edition. Edited, with an Introduction, by A.
Francis Steuart. With numerous portraits. Two Vols.
Demy 8vo. 21s. net.

THE LAST JOURNALS OF HORACE WAL-

POLE. During the Reign of George III from 1771 to 1783.
With Notes by Dr. Doran. Edited with an Introduction by
A. Francis Steuart, and containing numerous Portraits (2 in
Photogravure) reproduced from contemporary Pictures, Engravings,
etc. 2 vols. Uniform with "The Diary of a Lady-in- Waiting."
Demy Svo (9 x 5f inches). 25/. net.

JUNIPER HALL : Rendezvous of certain illus-
trious Personages during the French Revolution, including Alex-
ander D'Arblay and Fanny Burney. Compiled by ConsTanxe
Hill. With numerous Illustrations by Ellen G. Hill, and repro-
ductions from various Contemporary Portraits. Crown Svo. 5/. net.

JANE AUSTEN : Her Homes and Her Friends.

By Constance Hill. Numerous Illustrations by Ellen G. Hill,
together with Reproductions from Old Portraits, etc. Cr. Svo. 5/. net.

THE HOUSE IN ST. MARTIN'S STREET.

Being Chronicles of the Burney Family. By Constance Hill,
Author of " Jane Austen, Her Home, and Her Friends," " Juniper
Hall," etc. With numerous Illustrations by Ellen G. Hill, and
reproductions of Contemporary Portraits, etc. Demy Svo. 21s.net.

STORY OF THE PRINCESS DES URSINS IN

SPAIN (Camarera-Mayor). By Constance Hill. With 12
Illustrations and a Photogravure Frontispiece. New Edition.
Crown Svo. 5/. net.

MARIA EDGEWORTH AND HER CIRCLE
IN THE DAYS OF BONAPARTE AND BOURBON.
By Constance Hill. Author of "Jane Austen: Her Homes
and Her Friends," "Juniper Hall," "The House in St. Martin's
Street," etc. With numerous Illustrations by Ellen G. Hill
and Reproductions of Contemporary Portraits, etc. Demy Svo
(9 X 5^ inches). 21s. net.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc. ii
NEW LETTERS OF THOMAS CARLYLE.

Edited and Annotated by Alexander Carlyle, with Notes and
an Introduction and numerous Illustrations. In Two Volumes.
Demy 8vo. 25/. net.

Pall Mall Gazette. — " To the portrait of the man, Thomas, these letters do really add

value ; we can learn to respect and to like him the more for the genuine goodness of his

personality."
Literary World. — " It is then Carlyle, the nobly filial son, we see in these letters ; Carlyle,

the generous and afTectionate brother, the loyal and warm-hearted friend, . . . and

above all, Carlyle as the tender and faithful lover of his wife."
Daily Telegraph. — "The letters are characteristic enough of the Carlyle we know : very

picturesque and entertaining, full of extravagant emphasis, written, as a rule, at fever

heat, eloquently rabid and emotional."

NEW LETTERS AND MEMORIALS OF JANE

WELSH CARLYLE. A Collection of hitherto Unpublished
Letters. Annotated by Thomas Carlyle, and Edited by
Alexander Carlyle, with an Introduction by Sir James Crichton
Browne, m.d., ll.d., f.r.s., numerous Illustrations drawn in Litho-
graphy by T. R. Way, and Photogravure Portraits from hitherto
unreproduced Originals. In Two Volumes. Demy Svo. z^s. net.

Westminster Gazette. — "Few letters in the language have in such perfection the qualities
which good letters should possess. Frank, gay, brilliant, indiscreet, immensely clever,
whimsical, and audacious, they reveal a character which, with whatever alloy of human
infirmity, must endear itself to any reader of understanding."

World. — "Throws a deal of new light on the domestic relations of the Sage of Chelsea.
They also contain the full text of Mrs. Carlyle's fascinating journal, and her own
' humorous and quaintly candid ' narrative of her first love-affair."

THE LOVE LETTERS OF THOMAS CAR-
LYLE AND JANE WELSH. Edited by Alexander Carlyle,
Nephew of Thomas Carlyle, editor of " New Letters and
Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle," " New Letters of Thomas
Carlyle," etc. With 2 Portraits in colour and numerous other
Illustrations. Demy Svo (9 x 5^ inches). 2 vols. 25/. net.

CARLYLE'S FIRST LOVE. Margaret Gordon—

Lady Bannerman. An account of her Life, Ancestry and
Homes ; her Family and Friends. By R. C. Archibald. With
20 Portraits and Illustrations, including a Frontispiece in Colour.
Demy Svo (9 x 5^ inches). 10/. 6d. net.

*

EMILE ZOLA : Novelist and Reformer. An

Account of his Life, Work, and Influence. By E. A. Vizetelly.
With numerous Illustrations, Portraits, etc. Demy Svo. z\s. net.

Morning Post. — "Mr. Ernest Vizetelly has given . . . a very true insight into the aims,

character, and life of the novelist."
AthetUEUin. — ". . . Exhaustive and interesting."
M.A.P. — '•'. . . will stand as the classic biography of Zola."

12 A CATALOGUE OF

MEMOIRS OF THE MARTYR KING: being a

detailed record of the last two years of the Reign of His Most
Sacred Majesty King Charles the First, 1 646-1 648-9. Com-
piled by Allan Fea. With upwards of 100 Photogravure
Portraits and other Illustrations, including relics. Royal 410.
105/. net.

Mr. M. H. Spielmann in The Acaiie»iy.—"lhft \'o\\ime. is a triumph for the printer and

publisher, and a solid contribution to Carolinian literature."
' Pall Malt Gazette. — " The present sumptuous volume, a storehouse of eloquent associations
. . comes as near to outward perfection as anything we could desire."

MEMOIRS OF A VANISHED GENERATION

1 8 1 3-1 8 5 5. Edited by Mrs. Warrenne Blake. With numerous
Illustrations. Demy 8vo. i6s. net.

*,* This work is compiled from diaries and letters dating from the time of the Regency
to the middle of the nineteenth century. The valtte of the work lies in its natural un-
embellished picture of the life of a cultured and. well-born family in a foreign environment
at a period so close to our own that it is far less familiar than periods much more remote.
There is an atmosphere of Jane Austens novels about the lives of Admiral Knox and his
family, and a large number of well-known contemporaries are introditced into Mrs. Blake's
pages.

CESAR FRANCK : A Study. Translated from the

French of Vincent d'Indy, with an Introduction by Rosa New-
march. Demy 8vo. ']s. 6d. net.

*4f* There is no purer influence in viodern music than that of Cesar Franck, for many
years ignored in every capacity save that of organist of Sainte-Clotilde, in Paris, but mr.u
recognised as the legitimate successor of Bach and Beethoven. His inspiration " rooted in
love and faith " has contributed in a remarkable degree to the regeneration of the musical
art in France and elsewhere. The }iow famous ** Schola Cantorum," founded in Paris m
1896, by A. Guilmant, Charles Bordes and Vincent d'Indy, is the direct outcoiue of his
influence. Among the artists who were in some sort his disciples were Paul Dukas,
Chabrier, Gabriel Faure and the great violinist Vsdye. His pupils include such gifted
composers as Benoit, Augusta Holmes, Chausson, Ropartz, and cT Indy, This book,
written with tlie devotion of a disciple and the authority of a master, leaves us with
a vivid and touching impression of the saint-like composer of " The Beatitudes"

FRENCH NOVELISTS OF TO-DAY : Maurice

Barres, Rene Bazin, Paul Bourget, Pierre de Coulevain, Anatole
France, Pierre Loti, Marcel Prevost, and Edouard Rod. Bio-
graphical, Descriptive, and Critical. By Winifred Stephens.
With Portraits and Bibliographies. Crown 8vo. 5/. net.

*»* Tlu writer, wlio has lived much in France, is thoroughly acquainted with French
life and with the principal currents of French thought. The book is intended to be a
guide to English readers desirous to keep in touch with the best present-day French
fiction. Special attention is giz'en to the ecclesiastical, social, and intellecttial problons
of contemporary France and their influence upon the zvorks of French novelists of to-day.

THE KING'S GENERAL IN THE WEST,

being the Life of Sir Richard Granville, Baronet (i 600-1 659).
By Roger Granville, M.A., Sub-Dean of Exeter Cathedral.
With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 10/. dd. net.

Westminster Gazette. — "A distinctly interesting work; it will be highly appreciated by
historical students as well as by ordinary readers."

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc. 13
THE SOUL OF A TURK. By Mrs. de Bunsen.

With 8 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.

*i-* We hear 0/ liloslem "fanaticism " and Christian '''superstition," but it is not easy
to find a book "which goes to the heart of the matter. " The Soul of a Turk" is the
outcome 0/ several journeys in Asiatic and European Turkey, notably one through tJie
Armenian provinces, down the Tigris on a raft to Baghdad and across the Syrian Desert
to Damascus. Mrs. de Bunsen 7>iade a special study of the variants forms of religion
existing in those countries. Here, side by side ixiith the formal ceremonial of the village
tnosgue and the Christian Church, is the resort to Magic and Mystery.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROBERT

Stephen Hawker, sometime Vicar of Morwenstow in Cornwall.
By C. E. Byles. With numerous Illustrations by J. Ley
Pethybridge and others. Demy 8vo. "js. 6d. net.

Daily Telegraph. — " ... As soon as the volume is opened one finds oneself in the presence
of a real original, a man of ability, genius and eccentricity, of whom one cannot know
too much . . . No one will read this fascinating and charmingly produced book without
thanks to Mr. Byles and a desire to visit — or revisit — Morwenstow."

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE. By Alexander

Gilchrist. Edited with an Introduction by W.Graham Robertson.
Numerous Reproductions from Blake's most characteristic and
remarkable designs. Demy Svo. ics.Gd. net. New Edition.

Birmingham Post. — "Nothing seems at all likely ever to supplant the Gilchrist biography.
Mr. Swinburne praised it magnificently in his own eloquent essay on Blake, and there
should be no need now to point out its entire sanity, understanding keenness of critical
insight, and masterly literary style. Dealing with one of the most difficult of subjects,
it ranks among the finest things of its kind that we possess."

GEORGE MEREDITH : Some Characteristics.

By Richard Le Gallienne. With a Bibliography (much en-
larged) by John Lane. Portrait, etc. Crown Svo. c^s. net. Fifth
Edition. Revised.

Punch. — "All Meredithians must possess 'George Meredith; Some Characteristics,' by
Richard Le Gallienne. This book is a complete and excellent guide to the novelist and
the novels, a sort of Meredithian Bradshaw, with pictures of the traffic superintendent
and the head office at Boxhill. Even Philistines may be won over by the blandishments
of Mr. Le Gallienne."

LIFE OF LORD CHESTERFIELD. An account

of the Ancestry, Personal Character, and Public Services of the
Fourth Earl of Chesterfield. By W. H. Craig, M.A. Numerous
Illustrations. Demy Svo. 1 2s. 6d. net.

Times. — " It is the chief point of Mr. Craig's book to show the sterling qualities which
Chesterfield was at too much pains in concealing, to reject the perishable trivialities of
his character, and to exhibit him as a philosophic statesman, not inferior to any of his
contemporaries, except Walpole at one end of his life, and Chatham at the other."

14 A CATALOGUE OF

A QUEEN OF INDISCRETIONS. The Tragedy

of Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of England. From the Italian
of G. P. Clerici. Translated by Frederic Chapman. With
numerous Illustrations reproduced from contemporary Portraits and
Prints. Demy 8vo. zis. net.

The Daily Tclesraph.—" \\. could scarcely be done more thoroughly or, on the whole, in
better taste than is here displayed by Professor Clerici. Mr. Frederic Chapman himself
contributes an uncommonly interesting and well-informed introduction."

LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF SAMUEL

GRIDLEY HOWE. Edited by his Daughter Laura E.

Richards. With Notes and a Preface by F. B. Sanborn, an

Introduction by Mrs. John Lane, and a Portrait. Demy 8vo

(9x5! inches). \6s. net.

Outlook.— ^^T\i\% deeply interesting record of experience. The volume is worthily produced
and contains a striking portrait of Howe."

GRIEG AND HIS MUSIC. By H. T. Finck,

Author of "Wagner and his Works," etc. With Illustrations.
Crown 8vo. 7/. 6d. net.

EDWARD A. MACDOWELL : a Biography. By

Lawrence Oilman, Author of " Phases of Modern Music,"
"Straus's 'Salome,'" "The Music of To-morrow and Other
Studies," " Edward Macdowell," etc. Profusely illustrated.
Crown 8vo. 5/. net.

THE LIFE OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN.

Translated from the Italian of an Unknown Fourteenth-Century
Writer by Valentina Hawtrey. With an Introductory Note by
Vernon Lee, and 14 Full-page Reproductions from the Old Masters.
Crown 8vo. 5/. net.

Daily Neivs. — " Miss Valentina Hawtrey has given a most excellent English version of this
pleasant work."

MEN AND LETTERS. By Herbert Paul, m.p.

Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 5J. net.

Daily News. — " Mr. Herbert Paul has done scholars and the reading world in general a high
service in publishing this collection of his essays."

ROBERT BROWNING: Essays and Thoughts.

By J. T. Nettleship. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 5/. 6^/. net.
(Third Edition.)

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc. 15
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY. A

Biography by Lewis Melville. With z Photogravures and
numerous other Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5^ inches).
2 5 J. net.

*^* In co7itpiling this biography of Thackeray Mr. Lewis Melville, "who is admittedly
the authority on the subject, has been assisted by nu7nerous Tliackeray experts. Mr.
Melville's name lias long been associated ■with Thackeray, not only as founder of the
Titmarsh Club, but also as the author of'^ The Thackeray County " and the editor of the
standard edition of Thackeray's works and " Thackeray's Stray Papers." For many
years Mr. Melville has devoted himself to the collection of »iaterial relating to the life and
work of his subject. He has had access to many new letters, and much infortnation has
come to hand since the publication of " The Life of Thackeray." Now that everything
about the novelist is known, it seems that an apj)7-opriate moment has arrived for a neiu
biography. Mr. Melville has also compiled a bibliography of Thackeray that runs to
upwards 1.300 items, by tnany hundj-eds 7iiore than contained in any hitherto issued.
This section will be invaluable to the collector. Thackeray's speeches, including sei.>eral
never before republished, have also been collected. There is a list of portraits of the
novelist, and a separate index to the Bibliography,

A LATER PEPYS. The Correspondence of Sir

William Waller Pepys, Bart., Master in Chancery, 1 758-1 825,
with Mrs. Chapone, Mrs. Hartley, Mrs. Montague, Hannah More,
William Franks, Sir James Macdonald, Major Rennell, Sir
Nathaniel Wraxall, and others. Edited, with an Introduction and
Notes, by Alice C. C. Gaussen. With numerous Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. In Two Volumes. 32/. net.

Douglas Sladen in the Queen.— "This is indisputably a most valuable contribution to the
literature of the eighteenth century. It is a veritable storehouse of society gossip, the
art criticism, and the tnots of famous people."

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, AN ELEGY;
AND OTHER POEMS, MAINLY PERSONAL. By
Richard Le Gallienne. Crown 8vo. 4/. 6a\ net.

Globe. — "The opening Elegy on R. L. Stevenson includes some tender and touching
passages, and has throughout the merits of sincerity and clearness."

RUDYARD KIPLING : a Criticism. By Richard

Le Gallienne. With a Bibliography by John Lane. Crown
8vo. 3 J. 612'. net.

Scotsman — " It shows a keen insight into the essential qualities of literature, and analyses
Mr. Kipling's product with the skill of a craftsman . . . the positive and outstanding
merits of Mr. Kipling's contribution to the literature of his time are marshalled by his
critic with quite uncommon skill."

APOLOGIA DIFFIDENTIS. By W. Compton

Leith. Demy 8vo. js. 6d. net.

*»* The book, which is largely autobiographical, describes the effect of diffidence upon
an individual life, and contains, with a consideration of the nature of shyness, a plea for
a kindlier judgment of the inveterate case.

Daily Mail.— "'^'ix. Leith has written a very beautiful book, and perhaps the publisher's
claim that this will be a new classic is not too bold."

i6 MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, Etc.

THE TRUE STORY OF MY LIFE : an Auto-
biography by Alice M. Diehl, Novelist, Writer, and Musician.
Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.

THE LIFE OF W. J. FOX, Public Teacher and

Social Reformer, 1 786-1 864. By the late Richard Garnett,
C.B., LL.D., concluded by Edward Garnett. Demy 8vo.
(9 X 5|inches.) 16/. net.

*^ W. J. Fox was a prominent figure in public life froin 1S20 to i860. From a
weaver's boy he became M.P. for Oldham {1847-1862), and he will always be remembered
for his association with South Place Chapel, where his Radical opinions and fame as a
preacher and popular orator brought hijn in contact with an advanced circle of thoughtful
people. He was the discoverer of the youthful Robert Browning and Harriet Martineait,
and the friend of J. S. Mill, Home, John Forster, Macready, etc. As an Anti-Corn
Law orator, he S2uayed, by the pouter of his eloquence, enthusiastic audiences. As a
politician, he was the unswerving champion of social refor7n and the cause of oppressed
nationalities, his most celebrated speech being in support of his Bill for National Educa-
tion, 1850, a Bill which anticipated many of the features of the Education Bill of our
oiun time. He died in 1S63. The present Life has been compiled from jnanuscript
jnaterial entrusted to Dr. Garnett by Mrs. Bridell Fox.

OTIA : Essays. By Armine Thomas Kent. Crown

8vo. 5/. net.

TERRORS OF THE LAW : being the Portraits

of Three Lawyers — the original Weir of Hermiston, " Bloody
Jeffreys," and " Bluidy Advocate Mackenzie." By Francis
Watt. With 3 Photogravure Portraits. Fcap. 8vo. \s. 6d. net.

The Literary World. — " The book is altogether entertaining ; it is brisk, lively, and
effective. Mr. Watt has already, in his two series of ' The Law's Lumber Room,'
established his place as an essayist in legal lore, and the present book will increase his
reputation."

CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET. Captains and

Men-of-War in the Days that Helped to make the Empire. By
Edward Eraser. With 16 Full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo.
6s.

THE LONDONS OF THE BRITISH FLEET :

The Story of Ships bearing the name of Old Renown in Naval
Annals. By Edward Eraser. With 8 Illustrations in colours,
and 20 in black and white. Crown 8vo. 6s.

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO STREET, LONDON, W.

UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY

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