26 THE POLICY OF THE PLOUGH 



source of perpetual national danger if we do not go 

 much further and increase the rural population far 

 beyond the old level. 



While the deadness of village life is rightly spoken of 

 as a comprehensive reason for the flight to the towns, 

 it should also be remembered that men will put up 

 with much for good wages. In thousands they leave 

 the deadness of the Enghsh village behind in order to 

 endure the more intense deadness of a Canadian prairie, 

 or an up-country sheep station in Australia, where 

 they are paid " good money," and have the ultimate 

 hope of independence. 



VII 



FARMESTG AN INDUSTRY 



Agriculture could certainly afford to pay a living 

 wage in an average year. The wealth is in the soil. 

 It has but to be extracted by scientific and careful 

 tillage. But in our underf armed country where the 

 land does not produce food to half the extent of its 

 capacity, the farmer takes fewer risks than are taken 

 in all other industries. Those farmers who have 

 industriaHsed their farms — who manage them on the 

 strictest business lines, as though agriculture were 

 comparable, as indeed it is, with any other money- 

 making concern — have prospered. 



It must be admitted, however, that a very systematic 

 industriahsation is necessary to hold out against a run 

 of bad weather and low prices. Farmers who have 

 the capital to carry on serenely through good and bad 

 times alike may survive with something in hand. 



