1918] EDITORIAL. 403 



food supplies, having regard to the need for such increase in the 

 interest of national security. It has rendered a partial report which 

 illustrates how deeply Great Britain has been stirred in this matter 

 and how decidedly the events of the war have altered the attitude 

 toward the agricultural industry. 



In spite of the depleted condition of agriculture at the outset of 

 the war and the continued dependence of the country on imported 

 food, the conviction is exprcvssed that a large proportion of the im- 

 ported food of Great Britain which is capable of being grown there 

 could be produced in the islands, if a complete policy for the State 

 were adopted and consistently carried out. The report declares that 

 " the State must adopt such a policy and formulate it publicly as a 

 future basis of British agriculture, and explain to the Nation that it 

 is founded on the highest considerations of the common weal." 



The war has shown, as the report states, that methods and results 

 of land management and of farming are matters involving the safety 

 of the State, and are not merely the concern of individual interests. 

 " The agricultural land of the country must gi-adually be made to 

 yield its maximum production," and this implies a large change from 

 permanent grass to arable cultivation. While many factors are rec- 

 ognized as being involved in a scheme of agricultural policy, a basis 

 of securit}^ and stability of the conditions under which agriculture is 

 to be carried on in the future is placed at the foundation of the whole 

 structure. 



" The conditions of agriculture must be made so stable that out of 

 its profits the agricultural laborers can be assured a fair wage, the 

 cultivator of the soil a fair return for his capital, energy, and brains, 

 and the landowner a fair return for the capital invested in the 

 land." To accomplish this end, it is recommended that the State 

 should fix mimimum wages for the ordinary agricultural labor, deter- 

 mined by wage boards, and guarantee to the farmer a minimum price 

 for wheat and oats. Furthermore, if it should be found advisable 

 to adopt a tariff on manufactured goods, it is urged that one should 

 be imposed on imported foodstuffs, such as dairy produce, meat, and 

 " corn," and special consideration shown to products of the more 

 intensive forms of agriculture involving large invested capital and 

 unusual expense for labor and cultivation. Unless the farmer is 

 assured against a recurrence of the prices of 1894-95, it is anticipated 

 that the process of seeding down arable land to grass will recom- 

 mence immediately after the war, notwithstanding high prices. 



As to the method of securing efficient production, the report recom- 

 mends a general survey of the conditions of agriculture throughout 

 the United Kingdom, conducted by the boards and departments 

 of agriculture, with provision for eventuall}'^ bringing about the 

 proper use of land which is found not to be utilized to its full extent 



