LAND TENUllES 269 



by the people of all countries on earth, too well known, as the 

 chief source of universal employment and universal wealth, to 

 ])Q made the sport of Governments, the puppet of a coterie of 

 manufacturers, the plaything of political parties, a theme for 

 silly polemics, and a subject for " scientific " economists to 

 probe and cut up as a vivisector dissects, with cold-blooded 

 interest, the quivering body of his hapless victim. But, in 

 spite of this, the British people, in all the years that have 

 elapsed since Cobdeu won his fateful victory, have permitted 

 their chief industry to become entirely subordinate to these and 

 other malign intluences, with the inevitable result — widespread 

 and growing unemployment, social degeneration, intense political 

 unrest, and a mass of aggressive pauperism which the State 

 cannot check, nor public and private charities satisfy. 



People should demand Occupying Ownerships 



With this necessary warning, the question of land tenures 

 can now be considered. It is a very simple one, namely, 

 that of Occupying Ownekships. 



Great Britain must now make the most of her splendid 

 lands as other nations have done, and the only way to do it is 

 to "ive every man who tills his iield the right to become its 

 owner. Little will be gained by going minutely into the 

 question of present holdings, for the reason that there is not a 

 reliable statement on record as to how many there are in the 

 country. 



In a return presented to the House of Commons in 187G 

 the number given was 972,830, but of these 703,289 were 

 owners of less than one acre each.* 



The "Statesmen's Year Book" for 1906 gives the agri- 

 cultural holdings in Great Britain at 520,100, and Ireland at 

 545,102, but whether these be accurate or the reverse is of 

 small consequence to the larger issue involved in the question. 

 It is known that more than half the area of the whole country 

 is owned by 2500 people ;t and that the landlords (of more than 

 10 acres) number only 176,520, owning ten-elevenths of the 

 total area : :j: and these facts alone constitute the gravest charge 

 against the British system of land tenures. 



The " cultivated " area of the country is given at 49,000,000 

 acres in round numbers, while there are about 16,000,000 acres 

 of cultivable land which could be soon added to this vast area, 

 once universal agriculture were established. 



* " Land Reform," p. 85. 



t Chiozza Money, " Kiches and Poverty," p. 75. 



X Mulhall, " Dictionary of Statistics," p. 3i. 



