A BUSINESS PROPOSITION. 57 



Others which might be given first place, and which would require 

 quite different policies and bodies of management, are : (a) 

 The profit of the owner of the land ; (6) the home production of 

 all food ; and (c) the maximum agricultural population. 



I venture to suggest to the Chairman that he should call on 

 exponents of these policies to test the effect of giving them first 

 place and see what offers they could make to other interests. 



I turn now to specific proposals to be incorporated in a business 

 policy, which would first and always secure a reasonable profit 

 to the farmer, and give due consideration to all other claimants 

 for admission into reorganised business. 



For this purpose we need in front of us a profit and loss 

 account to guide us in examining the effect of the claims of 

 the parties at interest, and I have constructed a rough state- 

 ment of this character. (Tables I, II and III.) 



The first criticism against farm management is on the part of 

 the State. The State claims, with justice, that the output is 

 an ill-balanced and sparse diet for over 35,000,000 people, 

 about 3 10 s. worth of food per capita per annum at farm prices, 

 and part of that goes to city horses and for brewing. The 

 balance required has naturally to be made up by imports, 

 of which it is estimated that perhaps 200,000,000 (1913 values) 

 could have been raised on English farms. 



I will not further labour the point that the first task is to 

 form a body of farmers, with paid executives, for the purpose 

 of preparing and supervising a plan to produce this additional 

 food. The possibility of transforming the Food Production 

 Department into a Farmers' Association at the close of the 

 war is a Heaven-sent opportunity which should not be missed. 

 The flexibility necessary to success can only be secured by the 

 industry itself. I have seen this year chalk hills ploughed up 

 at a great expense, when half the cost expended on more fertile 

 fields within a mile would have produced in extra crops much 

 more than the total yield of the chalk hills. And such examples 

 could be multiplied indefinitely. 



The price to be charged, and the general character of the 

 organisation to secure this increased production, belong to the 

 commercial side of the industry, and these I have discussed, 

 but the methods of its production belong to the technical phase, 

 and I shall therefore pass to the next business question -Who 

 is to get the benefit of the increased production ? For this I 

 am compelled to present another table (II). Here I have 

 assumed that the output of 1907 is doubled, that is, an addition 

 of 127,000,000, which I understand is well within the realm 

 of possibilities. I have made arbitrary additions to the 1907 

 figures, keeping within the amount of imports, on each item. 



In the distribution of the proceeds I have assumed that the 



