Land Problems and National Welfare 



"Agriculture had, however, suffered too much 

 to be able to recover quickly ; it ahuost ap- 

 peared as if the nourishment of the increasing 

 home population was an aim impossible for it 

 to attain. Farming seemed so unprofitable 

 that productive capital stood aloof from it, 

 debts were contracted and the land decreased 

 in value. Even the money necessary to carry 

 on the intensive method of farming was diffi- 

 cult to obtain, and only the tenacity with which 

 the landowner clung to the soil he had in- 

 herited gradually produced better conditions. 

 A general improvement set in, the price of corn 

 rose to a height which made the intensive 

 method of cultivating it seem profitable, and 

 the value of the land increased ; capital could 

 again be obtained easily, and the prospect of 

 the agriculturist was once more a fair one. 

 German agriculture has now almost reached its 

 goal ; last year Germany exported more bread- 

 corn than she imported, and the import of meat 

 is reduced to a minimum. Such is the develop- 

 ment of German agriculture ; it has risen out 

 of a struggle against terrible odds and against 

 want, but it would have been lost without pro- 

 tective tariffs. 



" The agricultural conditions in England are 

 somewhat different. Three factors have contri- 

 buted there to reduce agriculture to its present 

 position : the system of ownership, the total 



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