CHAPTER XXIV 



LAND TENURES — A PRESENT JUMBLE OF INCONSISTENCIES 



WHAT THEY HAVE RESULTED IN — COMPARISON 



WITH OTHER COUNTRIES 



The most ini])ortant question under consideration in these 

 pages is that of Land Tenures. It forms the hub of the 

 industrial universe, and is the fulcrum upon which moves and 

 depends not only the agricultural industry itself, but every 

 other industry in the country. 



This vital question should, iirst of all, be considered from 

 the agricultural standpoint, and then from that of its connection 

 with, and its influence upon, manufacturing industries, as also 

 upon the general economy of the country. 



The economical system upon which a man holds his land 

 necessarily provides, at the same time, the determining factor 

 of — Success or Failure. If a man holds a plot of ground on 

 terms which are one-sided, inequitable, and of a nature that 

 offer no inducement to " run it for all it's worth " ; or, in other 

 words, to work his ovm life into the verjj furroios of the soil 

 he cultivates, there is bound to be either — failure, or, at the best, 

 partial success of so dubious a quality as to be of no value as 

 an asset in the great life of the nation. If there be failure in 

 the primary industry this failure radiates from the point of its 

 initial motion and gradually spreads to, and subsequently 

 envelopes, all other industries. 



Suitable Land Tenures of Paramount Importance 



The system, then, on which British cultivators are to hold 

 their land becomes of paramount importance, and too much 

 attention cannot be given to the question. There are many ways 

 of accomplishing most things in life, and there is generally a 

 minimum and a maximum quality in all human effort. The 



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