96 THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE 



on because of the apathy of Governments and the 

 ignorance of the people. 



It has been truly said that: 



"It is the people who really make the laws of the 

 land; so it is the people who have first to be influenced, 

 and then the necessary laws will come into being." 



Convince the people that pauperism, as we know it, 

 is nothing but a foul growth on the body politic; that 

 poverty even is preventable, and the country will soon 

 witness a wonderful change, not only in our Poor Laws, 

 but in the attitude of the people themselves towards the 

 entire question. 



Poverty, in an acute form, is no more a necessity than 

 drunkenness is a necessity, and it is time we recognised 

 this fact. 



We can prevent poverty and kill pauperism with the 

 greatest possible ease, but we must first of all discover 

 the source from which poverty and its attendant horrors 

 spring, before we may hope to cut off the evil. We have 

 looked for, and are still looking for, the source of these 

 curses to our country in the wrong directions, and we 

 have failed to find it. 



Statesmen, writers on politica economy, publicists. 

 Members of Parliament and Ministers of Government are 

 all seeking for the solution of the problem in unlikely 

 spots, trying to unlock the door with a key that will not 

 fit, and they might just as well abandon the task. 



Mr Balfour, in speaking against the second reading of 

 the Small Landholders (Scotland) Bill, April 30, 1907, 

 is reported to have said : 



