204 LAND REFORM 



by the cultivators of the soil than by any other class 

 in France. Mr. Richardson states : " Within the last 

 twenty years fund-holders in country places have in- 

 creased more than tenfold." No official information 

 as to the proportion held by these classes at the 

 present time appears to be available, but in France 

 it is generally accepted as a fact that the peasant 

 proprietors own an immense part of the government 

 stock. The fact is continually referred to as a great 

 proof of the wide diffusion of wealth, and as a 

 guarantee for the stability of the nation. 



M. Tisserand, President of the Agricultural Society 

 already referred to, states that the French look upon 

 the soil as the true source of wealth, and on agriculture 

 as the chief industry, " on the prosperity of which the 

 fortunes of the country depend." Their thriving and 

 numerous rural population, he adds, " is one of the 

 most solid pillars on which social order rests," and their 

 savings "constitute the financial power of France." 



These statements are not flights of oratory, but are 

 based on sad experience. It was the rural population 

 that pulled the country through its darkest national 

 troubles. If France, when worsted in her conflict 

 with Germany, had had nothing but trade and com- 

 merce to fall back upon, ruin must have followed. It 

 was her multitude of thriving cultivators that enabled 

 her, not only to pay off so quickly the 200 millions 

 mulct imposed by her adversary, but, after the devasta- 

 tions of a great war, to recover her position and pros- 

 perity in such a rapid and marvellous manner.^ 



' The indemnity at first demanded was 240 millions. The English 

 Ministry made friendly representations to the German Government as to 

 the excessive character of this demand, and the amount was finally 

 reduced to 200 millions. For particulars see Parliamentary Papers, 

 "Franco-German Vv'ar," No. 3 (1871). 



