Political Economy and the Land 



come. I know that many ardent reformers 

 look upon the suggestion of a Royal Commission 

 as a subterfuge of weak reformers and free 

 fooders ; but I do not think that this follows, and 

 I do not see how a tariff is to be imposed wisely 

 and scientifically without a Royal Commission. 



There are still Tariff Reformers who fear to 

 impose a tax on foodstuffs sufficient to help the 

 producer. If agriculture is the most important 

 industry, not only from the financial point of 

 view, but also from that of the social and 

 physical well-being of the whole people ; if also 

 it be admitted that agriculture has suffered 

 more than any other industry from Free Trade; 

 then it is clear that in formulating any fiscal 

 policy the greatest effort should be made to 

 benefit agriculture, and that a tariff" on foodstuffs 

 should be the starting point. But it is, I fear, 

 hopeless to expect Tariff Reformers to make that 

 practical and logical concession — for most of 

 them are entirely commercialists, or at all events 

 commercialists before they are agriculturists. 

 By the term commercialist, 1 mean a man 

 who derives his income from some industry or 

 from commercial securities — in short, the man 

 who is not mainly dependent on the land for his 

 livelihood. 



There are, I suppose, two main objects in im- 

 posing a tariff : 



J. The raising of revenuf. 



