CHAPTER XXV 



DO THE RAILWAYS HELP THE 

 FARMERS ? 



IN his review of the present position of 

 British agriculture, the German authority 

 whose paper thereon I dealt with in the pre- 

 ceding chapter, makes no reference at all to 

 that subject of railway rates which is so often 

 advanced as one of the chief reasons for the 

 adverse conditions from which British farmers 

 have suffered of late years. That he can have 

 been unaware of the complaints made on this 

 point is scarcely probable, for when German 

 experts undertake an investigation into any par- 

 ticular subject they are essentially "thorough"; 

 and the only conclusion one can arrive at is that 

 in the opinion of this impartial critic the back- 

 ward condition of British agriculture is so far 

 due to other causes that the question of railway 

 rates does not constitute a sufficiently important 

 matter to be introduced into his line of argu- 

 ment. 



J27 



