CHAPTER X 

 IMPERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 



IN Chapter 1\', I dealt with production from the 

 soil of the United Kingdom and showed how 

 serious is the present situation. 

 If we now extend our view to embrace the whole 

 Empire, the conditions are still more unsatisfactory. 

 In 1 914 the agricultural population of white race (includ- 

 ing all men, women and children living on and by the 

 land) totalled 13,400,000 — out of our entire population 

 of about 62,000,000 — or only about 22 per cent. In 

 France, with its total population of 36,000,000, and an 

 area only one-seventy-fourth the size of our Empire, 

 the agricultural population is 18,000,000. One more 

 instance : the land of Germany, one sixty-fourth the 

 size of the British Empire, supported an agricultural 

 population of 21,000,000 and, incidentally, in 1914 

 yielded as much produce as we obtained from the land 

 of our whole Empire, excluding India ! Let us carry 

 the analysis of the agricultural pojiulation a step further. 

 Of the above 13,400,000, eight millions live in the United 

 Kingdom ; this leaves an agricultural population of 

 only 5,400,000 for the whole of our vast Oversea 

 possessions. Can anything be more terribly inade- 

 quate } But it is worse than that — it is a grave menace 

 to the future of our Empire. 



It is only necessary to consider these facts to realize 

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