CHEAP AGRICULTURAL CREDIT. 127 



the continued existence of the landed industry 

 mainly as the result of benevolence and family 

 pride could be guaranteed ; if, indeed, the 

 progress of the industry under those conditions 

 could be assured, that would not constitute a 

 sound basis for national safety. We must have 

 agriculture on a business basis. Of course I do 

 not suggest a ' holy war ' against the non- 

 commercial landholder, nor would it be wise 

 to attempt an absolute " commercializing " of 

 the landed industry, a stripping from it of all 

 the personal traditions between landlord and 

 tenant which have made much for the gracious- 

 ness of English life, and leaving it to rest solely 

 on a basis of dividends. But the cultivation of 

 the land must be made a commercially profit- 

 able investment. It must afford livelihoods, not 

 merely be a luxury. It must engage the industry 

 of a far larger proportion of the population than 

 at present, and there should be a great increase 

 of small holdings to give the landed interest a 

 broader basis in the national life. (An industry 

 in which only a small group of the population 

 is interested will never, under democratic govern- 

 ment, get fair attention.) 



