THE LAND AND TARIFFS. 211 



practically every country to counteract the 

 tendency of men under the conditions of our 

 civilization to leave the tilth of the soil for 

 the attractions of city life. Whilst every 

 country is seeking to attract capital and 

 labour to the land, Great Britain is working 

 in the opposite direction — to drive capital 

 and labour out of the agricultural industry." 

 " I despair of seeing agricultural pro- 

 tection in Great Britain, since it has been 

 identified — wrongly identified — with dear 

 food. There are at present, I calculate, 

 about 800,000 people interested as land- 

 owners in the prosperity of the agricultural 

 industry ; the rest are interested in low 

 food prices, and have been taught that 

 that interest of cheap food must be antag- 

 onistic to a prosperous British agriculture. 

 Compare 800,000 with the total adult male 

 population, and you can understand the 

 politician's view. The British landowner 

 has to put up now with Free Trade rates 

 for his products, and Protection rates for 

 his taxes. He is taxed more heavily than 

 any of his competitors in Germany, France, 



