8 A UNIONIST AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



to provide every agriculturist, whether he be 

 labourer, farmer, or landlord, with the requisite 

 degree of security. In order to establish such 

 security a tariff or bounties may in the end be 

 found necessary. But substantial help for agri- 

 culture may be immediately afforded by the 

 readjustment of local taxation and the other 

 proposals with which we deal in the following 

 pages. 



III. The Need for a Full Policy 



We have shown that the agricultural problem 

 is a national problem ; and it is of the utmost 

 importance that the Unionist Party should be 

 prepared with a policy which will afford a solu- 

 tion of the whole problem. The solution is not 

 to be found in any one proposal. The diffi- 

 culties to be overcome are too complex, and 

 the needs to be met are too many, to admit of 

 a single panacea. But it is essential that the 

 statesman who attempts to solve the problem 

 should be prepared with a scheme which em- 

 braces every aspect. He must have in his mind 

 a complete scheme before he sets to work on 

 the details of any particular part. So only can 

 he hope to see the agricultural question in its 

 true proportions, and to deal fairly with the 

 different interests involved. For such a work 

 the Unionist party is peculiarly fitted by its 

 general conception of national policy, because 



