PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xxvii 



have not named and shall not name any proposals for 

 coddling or for forcing an Industry which cannot stand 

 alone, without State grants or, what is the same thing, 

 contributions by the general taxpayer out of duties 

 upon imported produce." 



This statement shows a hopeless failure to grasp 

 the real position of agriculture in the general economy 

 of a nation. That position is illustrated in a striking 

 manner by a distinguished statesman, M. Jules 

 Mdine, formerly the French Minister of Agriculture. 

 " The public prosperity," he says, " is like unto a tree : 

 agriculture is its root, industry and commerce are its 

 branches and leaves : if the root decays the leaves 

 fall, the branches drop off and the tree dies." 



The British farmer has no wish to be "coddled": 

 he desires only fair play — to be put on a level with his 

 foreign competitors. He now pays every year from 

 ten to fifteen per cent of the value of his output for 

 the support of national and local government. The 

 foreigner pays nothing, but has our market open to 

 him free from any toll whatever. It is he who is 

 "coddled," and protected in an unfair competition 

 with the home producer. 



In the present edition I have not thought it 

 necessary to make any alteration in the statistics 

 contained in the first issue ; for although there is 

 some variation from year to year in matters to which 

 these statistics refer, that variation does not affect in 

 the slightest degree the arguments which the figures 

 are employed to support. 



It may be noted, however, that the land is still going 

 steadily out of cultivation, and that the process of 

 rural depopulation is as steadily going on. The report 



