6o Hozv to Pay for the War 



educate, and insure, and downright pamper the working 

 men and the lowest classes here, whilst the Government 

 so far has done nothing for the tropical planter abroad 

 — has done nothing, and does not seem ashamed of the 

 omission." 



Temponi mntantnv, nos et mutamuv in illis (Times change, 

 and we with the times). In the old days the prodigal son 

 went abroad and rioted, and then came home and ate the 

 fatted calf that had been carefully tended by the steadier 

 folks at home. To-day it is the prodigal who stays at 

 home, and wastes ouys, not his substance, and it is the 

 tropical planter who goes abroad to help make the fatted 

 calf (now a golden one) for the prodigal at home to 

 gloat over and glutton at, and to give nothing in return. 

 "This year will be, I anticipate, the most glowing year 

 that British trade has ever known," Mr. Lloyd George, 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, and therefore Prodigal-in- 

 Chief {pro tern.), told the House of Commons on Budget 

 night (April 22), and on the strength of that statement 

 presents a bill oif ^195,000,000'^ for this country to pay,-' in 

 which not one farching is to be voted to establish agri- 

 cultural colleges in the Tropics or to further consolidate 

 and assure the work of the London and Liverpool Schools 

 of Tropical Medicine. What money these necessary 

 institutions will get must come in the form of charity, i.e., 

 out of the pockets of everyone but the general public, who 

 to-day cannot possibly exist without the Tropics, for as 

 Europe and America develop their industrial enterprises 

 agricultural pursuits must be, and will be, driven more and 

 more elsewhere, i.e., to the Tropics and sub-Tropics. Had 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer voted (as he would do if 



' See Indian Tea Association Notes, p. 86, column 2. 



- Long ago we warned our readers of the certainty of £200,000.000 

 Budgets, even in times of peace ; see, for instance, p. 55 in our March 

 (1910) issue, when we said: "This country must have more money for 

 revenue purposes. This means that more of us must go abroad to extend 

 the irade of the Empire. To-day we grumble at £/jo,ooo,ooo, in a few 

 years we shall want £200,000,000. Let us therefore change our edu- 

 cational methods. Let us teach the children we can get control of to 

 become agriculturists and colonizers." 



' If the Tropics fell out of existence, how much of this amount could 

 be raised? Of course, it must be remembered that the experienced and 

 educated man who has invested his all in the Tropics has no vote. The 

 working man, be he industrious or a waster, helpful or a hindrance, has a 

 vote, hence, we suppose, he takes all for himself, and gives none to those 

 who equally need and deserve it, if only because they send food and work 

 for the voter who stays at home. 



