CHAPTER II. 



THE QUACK AND THE LAND WITH A 



" HORRIBLE EXAMPLE." 



It is not possible to give any attention to a 

 study of land conditions in England without 

 encountering frequently some landlord, farmer, 

 or land agent who holds himself absolved from 

 giving a serious opinion on the problem of the 

 land by pleading " the uselessness of speaking 

 when you know anything at all about the sub- 

 ject : you are only listened to if you are some 

 roguish loafer with a glib tongue and no ex- 

 perience or knowledge." 



The enraged bitterness which the practical 

 man feels as he notices the eager hearing given 

 to the sophistries of people who are devoted 

 only to the cultivation of constituencies is com- 

 prehensible enough ; but it is not wise. It is 

 analogous to the attitude of those soldiers who 



