THE SACRIFICE OF AGRICULTURE 181 



shares the general advantages of tliat reform is but an incident in 

 its operation." * 



" In these pages the subject lias been treated, however im- 

 perfectly, as a national one, with the object of bringing home to 

 the minds of all members of the coinmunity, whatever their position 

 and whatever their occupation, the (act that they have a living 

 interest in agriculture, and that their happiness and well-being 

 depend upon it." t 



" Agriculture (in its widest sense) is held up as the parent 

 industry of the world, of which trade and commerce are but 

 the offspring and handmaids. | 



" Taken as a whole, therefore, if tlie agrarian policy here 

 advocated were vigorously carried out, and Mr. Chamberlain's 

 proposals were adopted in connection with it, the whole condition 

 of English rural life would soon be changed. Employment would 

 be eiiorniously increased, not only for those immediately connected 

 with the soil, but also for those engaged in subsidiary trades, such 

 as the blacksmith, carpenter, miller, instrument maker, saddler, 

 wheelwright, etc. Our villages and market towns, now in decay, 

 would again become peopled and prosperous." § 



As this phase of the subject is intensely interesting, one 

 more example may be given of how it is viewed by men of all 

 shades of political thought, and although the -writer we will 

 quote is not a compatriot, and the vast majority of the British 

 people would not, perhaps, care to follow the fervid creed of 

 his politics, yet his economics may be unimpeachable. 



What Prince Kropotkin says 



Whatever Prince Kropotkin's politics may be, he is a warm 

 friend of the people of this country, and as the good of the 

 commonweal is what we are chiefly concerned with in this 

 work, his view of the situation will be the more acceptable and 

 valuable because it is untainted by that malign party influence 

 which is so inimical to the people's interests. 



" Land is going out of culture at a perilous rate, while the latest 

 improvements in market-gardening, fruit-growing, and poultry- 

 keeping are but a mere trifle if we compare them with what has 

 been done in the same direction in France, Belgium, and America. 



"The cause of this general downward movement is self-evident. 

 It is the desertion, the abandonment of the land. Each crop 

 requiring human labour has had its area reduced ; and one-third 

 of the agricultural labourers have been sent away since 1861 to 

 reinforce the ranks of the unemployed in the cities, so that, far 



* " Land Reform," p. 309. The Right Hon. Jesse Colliugs. 

 t Ibid., p. 394. X Ibid. § Ibid., p. 303. 



