86 LAND OWNERSHIP 



derived from the ownership of lands fell 

 steadOy, from an average of £59,418,844 in 

 1876-81 to £42,272,403 in 1906-11. It only 

 began to show some signs of recovery in 

 1910-11. The real meaning of all this is that 

 through the medium of landowners who 

 possessed other resources than land the 

 agricultural population has got back from 

 trade and industry some portion of that 

 which it was forced to sacrifice in their 

 interests. It got back just enough to exist 

 by ; but for that it would have perished 

 wholesale. This condition may have been a 

 necessary stage in the economic evolution of 

 the country, but it is not sound and cannot 

 be permanent. 



The Coming Change. 



We seem to be now on the eve of another 

 large change in which an expansion of owner- 

 ship may again play an important part. But, 

 it may be asked, what chance can small 

 proprietors have if the view just indicated is 

 correct ? Will they not be liable to be swept 

 away again ? Their economic insecurity is, 

 indeed, one of the arguments urged against 

 any attempt to promote them. But here we 

 may find an answer on the Continent and in 

 one part of the United Kingdom. Continental 

 countries, as this chapter began by showing, 

 have not undergone the same transformation; 



