g6 Agriculture and the Community. 



as private individuals. If they engage in these pursuits 

 because they hope to serve their own ends, they must 

 accept the risks. They are not entitled to ask the com- 

 munity to bear their losses if their ventures do not succeed. 

 All they are entitled to claim is that the community should 

 not dispossess them without reasonable compensation if 

 they are conforming to the standard laid down by the 

 community for the use of the national resources in the 

 land. 



The view here expressed will appear the rankest heresy 

 to the landowners and farmers. They are accustomed to 

 think of themselves as the agricultural industry and that 

 they have a claim upon the community because they are 

 the food producers. They have been more clamant in 

 their demands upon the State during the past few years 

 because the dependence of the community on home- 

 produced food during the war was greater than it had 

 been for half a century. There has been much talk by 

 farmers about agriculture saving the nation, but what was 

 really meant was that the farmers had been the saviours. 

 What they forget is, that even in the stress of war con- 

 ditions they were not prepared to forego their own 

 commercial interests. They were prepared to serve the 

 State on terms. No one need blame them for exacting 

 terms. They are in the industry to make a living or to 

 make money, just as other capitalists invest their capital 

 in various industries. Such service as they give to the 

 community is dependent upon their own personal and 

 private ends being served, and they are quite prepared to 

 sacrifice the public interest in seeking their own gain. So 

 long as the community accepts the present basis of 



