LAND TENURES 267 



interests have necessarily been subordinated to class 

 benefits. 



6. Agriculture being handicapped by impossible land tenures 



— which, while originally intended to serve the land- 

 lord interest, arc now maintained to serve the selfish 

 l)olicy of the Manchester Scliool — lias never liad a 

 chance of assuming its rightful position as the chief 

 industry of the peo])le, the chief labour-employer, 

 and tlicrcforc the chief solvent of the UNKMrLOVED 

 problem, and the dominant factor in tlie social and 

 economic conditions of the country. 



7. The time has now come to realise the true position of 



agriculture; the predominant part it ought to play 

 and must play in the national life, and to consider 

 the creation of a system of tenures which, fur the first 

 time in the history of the country, ^^•ill enable agri- 

 culture to assume and maintain its position as the 

 primal industry, the main source of employment, and 

 the chief wealth-producer and wealth-distributor. 



What the People should demand 



Bearing these cardinal points in mind, the British people 



will be able to voice tlieir demands in no uncertain tone. 



British agriculture is to be placed in the very forefront of 



British industries, and no consideration must be permitted for 



a moment to interfere with this object. Class-interests, political 



intrigue, political economists, the timidity of some Governments 



and the trickery of others, have all played their part in keeping 



the people out of their National Inheritance — the great land 



industry — but the titne has come for them to claim their own. 



They must, however, beware of furtlier trickery ; they must 



stoutly refuse to allow this question to be made the subject 



of further discussion ; it must be removed once and for all from 



the field of polemics and dumped right down in the arena of 



established facts. Successful and universal agriculture is just 



as simple of accomplishment in the United Kingdom as it is 



in any of the countries of Euro})e where it constitutes the main 



source of the people's wealth and provides the chief national 



pabulum ; but the question whether it shall or shall not be 



established in this country must neither be submitted to the 



Manchester School for opinion, to Free-traders for advice, nor 



must it be thrown, like a bone to a dog, for " Scientific " 



economists to worry over. Vested interests must not be allowed 



to bar its progress further ; nor must Governments be permitted 



to use it fur crooked political purposes. 



