Professor Rogers aftd the La7id Lazvs 



85 



primogeniture ; to restrict within the narrow- 

 est limits the power of tying up land ; to 

 claim, for the benefit of the State, the inter- 

 ception by taxation of the future unearned 

 increase or rent of land ; to promote a policy 

 of encouragement to co-operative agriculture 

 through the purchase by the State from time 

 to time, of estates which are in the market ; 

 to promote the acquisition of land in a similar 

 manner, to be let to small cultivators ; all 

 lands now waste, or requiring an Act of 

 Parliament to authorize their enclosure, to be 

 retained for national uses ; that while it is 

 expedient to bring a large portion of the 

 present waste lands under cultivation for the 

 above purposes, it is desirable that the less 

 fertile portions, especially those within the 

 reach of populous districts, should be retained 

 in a state of wild natural beauty, for the 

 general enjoyment of the community; to 

 obtain for the State the power to take posses- 

 sion, with a view to their preservation, of all 

 natural objects or artificial constructions 

 attached to the soil, which are of historical, 

 scientific or artistic interest. 



If our readers have not lost their breath, 

 after scanning and trying to understand this 

 tremendous programme of the Land Tenure 

 Reform Association, their lungs must be made 

 of bellows leather. A more revolutionary 

 scheme it would be impossible to conceive, 

 except in a revolutionary hot-bed. It is sim- 

 ply coming back to a redivision of the soil ; 

 and, as the land of this country, and of every 

 other country, is the basis of stability, we are 

 invited to have a fresh start in wealth, — in 

 which, of course, the race shall not be to the 

 strong and the able. We are to have a 

 paternal Government, which is to make a 

 rough sub-division of the soil, because the 

 soil belongs to the people ; and, that being 

 so, the people will all turn farmers, and be 

 merr}' ! There is one small difficulty in 

 realizing this millennium. The State of course 

 is omnipotent; but, then, who makes or con- 

 stitutes the State ? If we all become gentle- 

 men farmers, then we must form the State. 

 We cannot in that case very well look after 

 ploughing, seeding, mowing, and harvesting, 

 considering especially that we are all to be 



landed proprietors. How delightful it would 

 be to come down from the State on to a 

 hay-mow ! 



Professor Rogers lets us see this sweet po- 

 sition. In speaking in support of the pro- 

 gramme which we have given, he says that 

 "if anything could bring about a serious 

 fundamental change in the condition of this 

 country, that change would be in consequence 

 of the system of land laws under which 

 this country lived and worked." Seeing that 

 this country is somewhat prosperous, we 

 cannot quite see that any fundamental change 

 is needed. The Professor, over and over 

 again, tells the descendants of the old dame 

 of Banbury that he will prove all this ; but, 

 then, he turns to Sir Wilfiid Lawson's Per- 

 missive Bill (which he condemns), and next 

 enters into the history of England from the 

 Conquest. "Land," he says, which is "a 

 valuable instrument, ought to be sold as free 

 as any other article, in order that it might be 

 easily and conveniently acquired by those 

 who wish to purchase it." Surely those who 

 desire to buy land can do so, though not 

 with the same facility as they could 

 buy a bit of cheese. There are such 

 things as titles and boundaries to be looked 

 after ; and there is that little distinction that 

 the land is always there, and can't be eaten, 

 though there is always plenty to be bought by 

 those who have the power and the will to buy 

 it. There is, therefore, no difficulty in agree- 

 ing with Professor Rogers, "that it is almost 

 impossible for a poor man to get possession 

 of land at all,"— except that it is impossible 

 altogether, and not merely almost, for a poor 

 man to buy land any more than he should 

 buy a ship or a coal mine. " Some of the 

 landowners," says the Professor, " are up to 

 their ears in debt." Is this a specially excep- 

 tional position to be in ? If the land laws of 

 the country are to be blamed for this assinine 

 predicament, what shall be said of the com- 

 mercial laws ? " Go to the hotel in any town, 

 and the landlord will tell you that the county 

 gentlemen are not worth 20s. a-year to him. 

 They put their horses in the stable, and go and 

 buy a twopenny bun." Oh ! county gentle- 

 men ! If you buy buns at all, why don't you go 



