AGRICULTURAL DRA^L\TIS PERSONS 47 



of capital. Estates in the future will have to be run on 

 strictly business lines. And the owners must become 

 more and more interested in the actual production of 

 food, and so become eftcctive leaders in the organization 

 and development of the industry. Years ago the Danish 

 landowners realized these two points, and to-day their 

 position is unassailable. 



THE LANDOWNER FARMER 



Force of circumstances will compel owners to charge 

 such tenants as remain to them rents that will more and 

 more approach the economic rent of the land. If I am 

 correct in my forecast of an upward tendency in rent 

 (and I believe this will be the case whether land remains 

 under private ownership or passes to the State) then one 

 result will be to squeeze out the indifferent farmer and 

 the medium-sized farm, say, of 300 or 400 acres. These 

 will be replaced by capitalists and syndicates, and by the 

 owners themselves farming much more than they do at 

 present. And this will be all to the good if the Govern- 

 ment sees that the right proportion of smallholders is 

 maintained — national stability demands this, as also 

 does justice to the legitimate desire on the part of labourers 

 to have access to the land. 



But if the landowner is to farm more hind than in 

 the past, he will have to rej^ard landowning as a pro- 

 fession and train for it. Even then it will not follow 

 that landowners as a class will make successful farmers ; 

 as a rule they have too many other duties and distrac- 

 tions — and farming is a great occupation, and an exacting 

 one. 



There can be no doubt that every owner should have 

 a thorough understanding of " land economics," and so 



