PROTECTION AND CURRENCY CHANGES 63 



Further, Professor Foxwell and the ablest ad- 

 vocates of bimetalHsm obviously think it either im- 

 practicable, or hazardous, or both, to start a bimetallic 

 system without concerted action by the great commercial 

 nations. 



If this is a sound view the whole question is at once 

 relegated to the metaphysics of the agricultural future, 

 and has no practical or immediate bearing on the 

 problem of dealing here and now with the present 

 phases of agricultural depression. 



What the present inquiry is concerned with, and what 

 our reference invites us to deal with, is to ascertain what 

 are the immediate readjustments and remedial measures 

 which can be applied at the present moment to the wants 

 of agriculture, to minimise economic loss and friction, 

 and to restore such prosperity to farming as is humanly 

 possible under conditions which practical men admit 

 cannot be altered by a stroke of a wand. 



We have, therefore, to see what can be done now for 

 agriculture without attempting to raise prices artificially 

 by protection or bimetallism. 



