IN CONCLUSION. 275 



the small proportion of the land which is 

 used than any other nation. 



No attempt to turn aside the discussion to 

 other facts more favourable to our national 

 peace of mind should be allowed to get atten- 

 tion away from these facts. We have certainly 

 a huge manufacturing greatness. But so have 

 other nations, and their rivalry comes nearer to 

 us every year. And no other nation is killing 

 its agricultural industry as part of its policy of 

 encouraging manufactures. We alone are com- 

 mitting our greatness to the doom of standing 

 upon one leg. 



There is a call in these central facts to wake 

 any one to reform — our four-fifths of imported 

 bread ; our poor one million of workers on the 

 soil ; our beggarly 2 per cent, of national income 

 coming from the land. But the policy of reform 

 must be wise, well-considered, various, if it is 

 to be efficacious. Party cries inspired by ignor- 

 ance and class animosity must be put aside. 

 It is nonsense to say that the land is held up 

 by monopolists, and that the remedy is to tax 

 it down to a reasonable value. English agri- 

 cultural land to-day is sold at half the price of 



