254 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



unfortunate fact that a civilized community 

 must organize its national life partly on the 

 presumption that at one time or another it 

 may have to fight for its existence, as the wild 

 beasts of the jungle fight. But it is a fact, and 

 has to be faced. In this particular regard it is, 

 perhaps, not altogether a bad thing that to 

 reinforce the argument already existing under 

 peaceful conditions there is an inescapable argu- 

 ment from the possibility of war conditions to 

 urge us back to the neglected fields. A nation 

 may continue for some time while peace reigns 

 an unwholesome existence without a fair pro- 

 portion of farmers. On the outbreak of war its 

 risks and expenses are so desperately increased 

 by the lack of a local food supply that its sur- 

 vival of a great and long-continued shock would 

 be impossible. 



