SHORTCOMINGS OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 19 



cellor " as he was popularly called, Dr. Delbriick, joined 

 him, likewise resigning on this particular issue. 



The new policy entered upon in 1894 — when incidentally 

 Protection was aggravated — undoubtedly made a difference 

 in the output of German Agriculture. But that increased 

 output was not earned, but dearly paid for with public 

 money in a serious crisis. 



However, coming back to " our muttons," the decisive 

 step, the step which really initiated progress and laid down 

 the lines upon which German Agriculture has since grown 

 up as a lusty tree, sending its root downward and spreading 

 its branches upward, bearing fruit richly, was taken in 

 the late 'fifties and the early 'sixties, as I can testify from 

 personal observation. It was then that the " new era " 

 set in, following closely upon our own " golden age," as 

 Mr. Prothero has called it, and obviously stimulated by that. 

 As will still be shown, the Germans saw in the remarkable 

 advance of our British Agriculture at that time a direct 

 consequence of our new policy of Free Trade, which had 

 put our farmers " upon their mettle." Such was the inter- 

 pretation given in Germany by all the leading authorities 

 to our advance. And German observation of this fact 

 became the turning point in the development of German 

 Agriculture. It was our Free Trade Agriculture which 

 fecundated German soil. 



Protection, on the other hand, when it came, had in 

 truth in Germany this decidedly adverse effect upon Agri- 

 culture, that it made the principal raw material of that 

 industry — that is, land — appreciably dearer. The expected 

 higher price to be obtained for produce was at once clapped 

 on to the price of the land. And accordingly the price of 

 land shot up. That benefited the owners of land at the 

 particular time, to the detriment of those who were to 

 follow after. And what gain there arose from that, German 

 landowners were foolish enough to fritter away most reck- 

 lessly. The nominal advance in the price of land encouraged 

 borrowing. And debt incurred fostered improvident and 

 extravagant li\ang. It is the consequences of that, that 

 all too many German landed proprietors are now suffering 



