2 THE STATE AS FARMER 



honoured maxim that ' we must not swop 

 horses when we are crossing a stream ' ; 

 so this vital need, involving the country's 

 safety in certain circumstances, is not to be 

 considered in any radical sense by anyone 

 until the State has been saved for the time. 

 Can we afterwards keep the interest awake 

 long enough to get the pressing danger pro- 

 vided against once for all ? 



The question has not been discussed in 

 the past largely because it is a commonplace 

 commercial matter. We know that we are 

 a nation of shopkeepers, and the instinct of 

 the class is to keep the land for certain 

 individualistic operations. It is a mistaken 

 view, but interests are involved which would 

 be incommoded, if not injured, should the 

 necessary changes be made. The war will, no 

 doubt, cause this simple factor of military risk 

 to be included in all future calculations. The 

 idea that it would pay us to keep our labourers 

 well fed in view of calls upon their strength, 

 never seems to have entered into the heads 

 of those who were concerned in this industry. 

 I think it has reached that centre of thought 

 now ; and when we preach the gospel of 



