xxiv LAND REFORM 



bad trade and dearth of employment, the people 

 generally will more and more realize the extent to 

 which their well-being depends on the cultivation of 

 the land in which they live. 



The danger is that, by delay, this great national 

 question will become one of party politics, and that 

 time and energy will be wasted by the advocacy of 

 impracticable schemes, supported by those specious 

 party cries so often heard on platforms, to which the 

 terms "land" and *' landlords" so readily lend them- 

 selves. 



In the history of social and political movements, 

 in this and in other countries, one thing is clear, that 

 wild and unjust demands could have been almost always 

 forestalled and prevented by the timely adoption of 

 reasonable reforms.^ 



J. C. 



Edgbaston, Birmingham, 

 October^ 1905. 



1 The plan adopted in the arrangement of the contents of this book 

 is first : to describe the provisions of the Land Purchase Bill and of 

 the Agricultural Education in Elementary Schools Bill ; then to dis- 

 cuss tlie merits of the latter measure ; after that, to consider the origin 

 and growth of our present land system ; and lastly to set forth the argu- 

 ments for and against the proposals made for a reform of that system. 



jSJote. — This work was finished in 1905, and arrangements were made 

 for its appearance in the first week of January, 1906, but from causes 

 which could not be avoided the publication was delayed for several 

 months. This explanation is necessary to enable the reader to rightly 

 understand certain references that appear throughout the book which 

 could not be corrected without re-writing the text. As examples, the 

 expressions "present Government" and "this Parliament" mean the 

 Government and Parliament of 1905. The term " last year" means 1904, 

 the "present year" 1905, etc. For the same reason official and other 

 reports dealing with the year 1905 are not used. They were not avail- 

 able at the time of writing. 



