THE LAND AND TARIFFS. 191 



tion will fall under two heads : Would a pro- 

 tective tariff be of advantage to the agricul- 

 turist ? Would a tariff on food articles cause 

 such an increase in the price of food that it 

 would more than counterbalance with bad results 

 the good that would be effected by increasing 

 the area under agriculture ? 



Supposing that the first question be answered 

 in the affirmative, it might yet have to be decided 

 that agricultural protection would be unde- 

 sirable if it would lead to an intolerable increase 

 in the cost of living to the poor. 



The mere facts, that practically every country 

 in the world protects its agricultural industry by 

 tariffs, that in several countries rigid agricul- 

 tural protection is enforced in spite of the belief 

 of the industrial population that it does cause 

 food to be dear, suggest at the outset a strong 

 case for agricultural protection as a benefit to 

 the land cultivator. Those facts also have a 

 cumulative effect in urging that Great Britain 

 should fall into line. Since Great Britain is 

 practically the only Free Trade country as 

 regards agricultural products, the British farmer 

 has to face the concentrated competition of all 



