n6 DEPENDENCE OF ARABLE FARMING 



bering how this war has shown us that their men and 

 our men are one people. But English land offers opportu- 

 nities as good or better than the land beyond the seas ; 

 it also can carry men if only equal access is given to it. 

 Are we, again, prepared to face the discontent of the 

 unemployed and the scantily-paid, who see the land 

 comparatively unused and earning profits only for the 

 few ? A good many men who have served in Flanders 

 or France have been led to think about the universal 

 tillage they see there, and to wonder if English land is 

 not amenable to similar development. Such discon- 

 tent may easily lead to violence, or at least to hasty 

 legislative action that will have small regard to the 

 interests of owners and present occupiers. Now is the 

 time for preparation ; the State must frame its policy 

 before the pressure comes upon it. 



I submit that such a policy must be based upon two 

 fundamental propositions : first, that the land must be 

 made to produce more food for the nation ; secondly, 

 that the labourer must be paid a living wage. To 

 effect this we cannot trust to private enterprise alone, 

 i.e., to the prospects of individual profit. We have 

 every reason to conclude from experience that arable 

 farming on which increased food production depends 

 may not lead to increased profit, farmers and the land 

 system being what they are, and considerations of 

 personal profit alone make in general for low wages, 

 however much the few may perceive that the ultimate 

 efficiency of the labourer is conditional upon his being 

 adequately paid. 



The State must intervene to bring about progress 

 and not decay, and to secure that the opportunity the 

 national crisis affords is turned to national uses. We 



