THE LAND AND TARIFFS. 209 



as the first essential of a stable and prosperous 

 agricultural industry. Here are some of the 

 various views on the subject, each paragraph 

 representing the statement of a different 

 speaker : — 



"It is unfortunate that the question of 

 agricultural tariffs has been confused so 

 much with the matter of the cost of food. 

 British Free Trade in food products did not 

 make food cheap until the very cheap 

 exports of lands new to the plough came 

 along. I honestly believe that if the agri- 

 cultural industry of Great Britain had been 

 given some shelter during the last half 

 century, and had been preserved to supply 

 a reasonable proportion of the local con- 

 sumption, food prices to-day would be lower 

 in Great Britain. Further, I believe that a 

 moderate food tariff now, bringing some 

 more local land into cultivation, would be 

 the best precaution against future increases 

 in food prices." 



" No other great country but Great Britain 

 attempts to carry on without an agricultural 

 tariff. Those very lands from which our 



