THE FALLACIES OF ECONOMIC SCIEXCE 215 



This is the only practical way to take with the great land 

 industry ; a ])olitical slip took place over half a century ago 

 which impeded the natural ilow of tlie tide of agriculture, and 

 the only way to effectually deal with the matter is to — remove 

 the (him. 



It is regrettahle that in all these years we have never tried 

 to remove the dam, hut rather to explain and justify its exist- 

 ence. We deliheratoly huilt up a great harrier against the 

 natural flow and development of agriculture, and thus interfered 

 with the operations of a natural law ; and, instead of frankly 

 recognising our error and remedying the evil by removing the 

 obstacle, we have foolishly, ever since, been invoking the aid 

 of economic science to justify our position, i'or all the good 

 it has done we might as well have trusted to the old cabalistic 

 Abracadabra of the ancients. 



The simple task before the British people is, then, to 

 cultivate the land in the same simple manner tliat the peoples 

 of all other countries in the world cultivate their lands. 



In agriculture, as in all other industries, where a number 

 of things are either manufactured or grown, you cannot always 

 pick and choose your way. In business you must take the 

 good with the bad, the profitable with the unprofitable ; if it 

 were otherwise it follows that every person engaged in business 

 would become exceedingly well-oif, if not vastly rich, and, in 

 many cases, disproportionately so in comparison with the 

 capital invested. 



How Manufacturers remove the Dam of Economic 



Science 



Your coal manufacturer, your woollen and cotton goods 

 manufacturer, your furniture makers and the rest of them, 

 who turn out many lines of goods, will all tell you they make 

 more profit on some lines and less on others, while some hardly 

 pay at all ; and your railway managers will tell you that third- 

 class passenger traffic pays better than first, yet they are 

 obliged to maintain the latter. In every industry in the 

 world it is the same, some things pay better than others, but 

 all must be carried on together — heeausc they arc i/i separable. 



Because the land plays a more important part in the 

 economy of human life than anytliing else, it necessarily offers 

 a wider scope for the vagaries of political economists than 

 manufactures or other industries ; and we should therefore 

 be exceedingly circumspect in regard to many of the con- 

 clusions arrived at by economists, because political economy. 



