i 3 o THE STATE AS FARMER 



of the practical distance between the corn 

 lands of the earth has tended to equalise their 

 values. The lands which grew American 

 wheats tended to approximate in value to 

 the wheat lands at home, and naturally the 

 owners of the home lands suffered. But 

 they suffered in a bad cause. It is not to 

 the interest of the State that the popula- 

 tion of the agricultural districts should be 

 reduced to a fourth of the numbers because 

 the so-called owners choose to adopt a new 

 system of farming. I referred to this system 

 of farming at the smallest cost when I spoke 

 of the possibilities of the land. The rent 

 per acre is not the prime interest of any 

 State. Its prime interest is the number of 

 citizens it can support in comfort upon its 

 acres. The farmer is a secondary considera- 

 tion and is entitled to his comforts, too, for 

 management. But the owner, as such, is 

 useless to the State. The present owner is 

 different from his ancestors in two respects : 

 he does not perform the warlike and other 

 duties of the feudal times, and he interferes 

 more than he did of old with the economic 

 conditions of his ' fief.' 



