i6 THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE 

 Rational France employs and supports about three-fifths of its 

 population, Germany about one-third, and Hungary 

 about two-thirds by the land industry ; and if we choose 

 to follow their example by introducing a common-sense, 

 rational system of agriculture, a universal system of 

 small holdings by occupying owners and reasonable 

 land tenures all round, we should be able to employ 

 and support at least one-third oi our population, or, say, 

 10 to 14 millions of our people on the land. 



But there is really no necessity to push the matter to 

 extremes, and this is only intended to show what our 

 land is really capable of. 



There is, however, every necessity for the people of 

 this country to be awakened from that deadly lethargic 

 sleep into which they were plunged by the preaching of 

 a false prophet. Cobden and his disciples were fervid 

 refonners, strenuous in their efforts, sincere in their 

 convictions, and completely successful in their cam- 

 paign. They fought long and well for what they con- 

 sidered to be a good cause, and they carried a large 

 section of their countrymen with them. 



They won the battle, but in winning it they destroyed 

 agriculture, and in killing the land industry they mur- 

 dered the people's best friend and greatest ally. 



The deadly effects of the campaign were not felt at 

 once; the great land industry was hard to kill, and it 

 survived for a time. 



Here is what Ernest E. Williams, author of The 

 Imperial Heritage, Made in Germany, The Foreigner in 

 the Farm-Yard, etc., has to say on the subject in 

 Our National Peril. 



