CHAPTER V 



POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE LAND 



THE title of this chapter may not be 

 quite satisfactory but I use it as being 

 the largest and most comprehensive 

 term that I can employ. 

 I shall have in it to touch upon the questions 

 of Free Trade and Protection — I wish I could 

 have avoided so controversial a subject ; but writ- 

 ing as a keen agriculturist, as one who believes 

 that the land must receive its due, that vastly 

 more wheat must be grown than now, and that 

 it is essential that the price should never be 

 allowed to fall below 30s. a quarter, it is im- 

 possible for me to omit the consideration of this 

 subject which is so closely connected with the 

 welfare of the industry. I approach it from a 

 non-party standpoint, simply giving my views 

 on the fiscal problem as an agriculturist. 



There is a striking difference between the 

 continental systems of political economy and 

 the English ; the French system may fairly be 

 regarded as typical of the continental schools. 

 In the continental schools land is taken as the 



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