66 POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTS 



justification for such drastic measures is the critical 

 situation into which the nation has drifted and the im- 

 perative necessity of developing the production of food 

 on our own soil, but these measures cannot be adopted 

 until the State is ready to manage the land itself. 



In this connection there is an urgent call for the 

 special education of our rising generation of landowners. 

 If we consider the land-owning class in this country 

 from any broad general standpoint we must recognize 

 that they have accepted certain public obligations as 

 attached to their receipt of rents. They have endea- 

 voured to be just and liberal to their tenants ; they 

 have not pressed for the full measure of the value of their 

 land ; they have given freely both of their time and 

 their resources to the community. The one thing they 

 have lacked has been technical knowledge ; only in the 

 direction of pedigree stock-raising have they advanced 

 the national agriculture ; they have not treated land- 

 owning as a career nor qualified themselves to give a 

 lead to their tenants. Nor have their agents brought a 

 more enlightened outlook to their profession ; the best 

 of them have managed the business of rent receiving, 

 the letting of farms, the carrying out of the owner's 

 obligations in the way of buildings and repairs, carefully 

 and soundly. They have acted as considerate and well- 

 informed intermediaries between the owner and his 

 tenants, but with a few exceptions they have not 

 attempted the development of the industry upon the 

 land under their charge. They have taken the system 

 as they found it, and have thought, perhaps, more of 

 the ease of the tenants than of the pockets of the 

 owners. But this, I submit, is not enough. The 

 landowner, if he is to retain his position, must become 



