AGRICULTURAL WAGES. 223 



Supposing, then, a sincere desire to raise agri- 

 cultural wages by legislation, it would be — well, 

 should be — accompanied by provisions that 

 would give the agriculturist such a sure ex- 

 tension of his market as would enable him to 

 pay the wages without ruin to himself ; and 

 there could be, if necessary, further provision 

 against any damage to the interests of the 

 consumer. Very troublesome and complicated ? 

 Yes : but not impossible. 



It is with regret that I have found myself 

 forced, in discussing this question of agricultural 

 wages, to bring up again the issue as between 

 Free Trade and Protection. But it is from a 

 settled conviction — a conviction, by the way, 

 held by the rulers of every civilized country of 

 the world — that an agricultural industry cannot 

 nourish under Free Trade conditions.* If an 

 attempt is made to enforce such a wage rate 



* There is to be welcomed as a first sign of the recognition of this 

 fact by the Liberal Party in England Mr. Lloyd-George's recent 

 refusal to stamp out the infant industry of beet-sugar growing by 

 exposing it to Free Trade conditions. Great Britain imports some 

 £25,000,000 worth of sugar annually. The local production of even 

 half of this would bring many thousands of acres back to cultivation, 

 employ many thousands of hands, and possibly cheapen meat by 

 providing a cattle food as a by-product. 



