PROTECTION 87 



they have managed to keep and to strengthen 

 their small freeholders. How is this ? One 

 reason is that agriculture has been protected, 

 which means that it has been politically 

 strong enough to protect itself. But it has 

 not yet an^^vhere had to meet the same 

 pressure as in this country. If it had — if the 

 other interests had been as overwhelming as 

 they were here, and the demands of the urban 

 population had been equally insistent — we 

 may surmise that events would have followed 

 a somewhat similar course, though not an 

 identical one, because other conditions differ. 

 The signs now gathering in some Continental 

 countries, and notably in Germany, suggest 

 that agriculture will not be able indefinitely 

 to maintain the bulwarks it has set up for its 

 own protection, and that large changes are 

 in prospect. 



This factor, however, is only one, and the 

 case of Denmark shows that some branches of 

 agriculture at least can be successfully carried 

 on by small freeholders without it. The 

 secret is co-operation, to which protected 

 agriculture has also had recourse in other 

 countries. The remedy for individual econo- 

 mic insecurity is combination, as we said in 

 the previous chapter in connexion with small 

 holdings ; and it applies to small owners 

 even more than to small tenants. 



