Political Economy and the Land 



that they at all events will not be exposed to a 

 similar danger. . . So that wherever one looks 

 one sees a decided reaction on the part of 

 governments and parliaments in favour of agri- 

 culture, a reaction which is assuming such 

 vast proportions that one cannot consider it an 

 accident. Rather, it is one of those great waves 

 of feeling which at certain times stir the minds 

 of men and break down all barriers. The idea 

 is beginning to take root in England, and if one 

 tries to fathom the inner meaning of the 

 great economic revolution set on foot by Mr. 

 Chamberlain and pushed by him with a mastery 

 and tenacity of conviction that nothing could 

 discourage, one understands that it is nothing 

 else than a return to the land — a determination 

 to foster the agricultural industry which England 

 has neglected for the last thirty years." 



Thirdly, there is the statement that tariff will 

 increase labourers' wages. It will undoubtedly 

 increase employment, but does a tariff affect the 

 rate of wage ? If so, why the great variation of 

 wage in protected countries ? Why also the varia- 

 tion in Free Trade England ? There is a difference 

 amounting to nearly 50% in the rate of wage of 

 rural labourers in different counties. If low 

 wages are given little work is done in return ; 

 it seems, therefore, to me that the rate of wages 

 depends more on the standard of the workman 

 than on the existence or non-existence of a 



225 R 



