172 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



Some suggested slight palliatives. One 

 agent for a large estate and farmer on his 

 own account said on this point : ' The taxa- 

 tion on land is very burdensome. But, then, 

 landowners have come to consider their business 

 as a gigantic charity, and I see no hope of ever 

 getting actual justice for the land. But we 

 might be spared these constant political cam- 

 paigns. They make for unrest. Capital be- 

 comes uneasy about all agricultural land invest- 

 ments. So the unrest makes dear money. The 

 farmer is cut at in two ways : his taxation goes 

 up, and the rate he has to pay for his capital 

 goes up. Farming with lack of capital is the 

 most hopeless of pursuits in England. But 

 politicians are doing their best to drive away 

 what capital is invested in farming land. The 

 agitation for the taxation of the ' unimproved 

 value ' of land would have a quite different 

 result from what is anticipated if it were fairly 

 administered. As a matter of fact, very little 

 agricultural land in England has a ' site value ' 

 at all. The value of an agricultural estate rarely 

 exceeds the value of the improvements." 



A landlord who cultivates some two thousand 



