THE STATE AS FARMER 143 



sorrow and sometimes with indignation — 

 that they cannot pay a higher wage or provide 

 more decent accommodation for the rural 

 labourer. This being the case, they must 

 stand aside. We need these men and women 

 in time of peace to produce for us as much 

 food as they possibly can of the best quality. 

 And in war we need them, not only to keep 

 working at this more urgently necessary work, 

 but also to contribute some of their most 

 active and smart workers to the general fund 

 of fighting men. 



To make the land produce as much as 

 possible we require more workers on it. It 

 is not easy to conceive of production so 

 successful that we can feed ourselves without 

 imports. But it is possible that we might 

 so improve the total that under extreme 

 pressure we might preserve our existence 

 temporarily without help, whereas it would 

 be impossible to do so under present condi- 

 tions. The problem will have to be solved 

 some day, because we cannot to an unlimited 

 extent reckon on a succession of virgin wheat- 

 lands beyond the sea to save us from famine 

 for ever. It is wonderful what the land can 



