48 THE POLICY OF THE PLOUGH 



for wheat are probably over. The standard of living, 

 and consequently the power of consumption, has risen 

 rapidly all over the world. 



It is far from being an improbable outcome of the 

 proposed legislation that the obligation on the farmer 

 to pay a certain wage would of itself cause him to dis- 

 cover the real productiveness of the soil. It has been 

 said that the best top-dressing for a field is a good 

 stiff rent, and though the maxim may easily be abused 

 it embodies a profound moral truth. On the same 

 principle a great deal of intellectual harm has been 

 done to the average farmer in the past by his escape 

 from Income Tax. If he had been compelled to pay 

 the tax he would also have been compelled, greatly to 

 his profit, to keep accurate accounts. 



Whether we could become a self-supporting com- 

 munity by a great agricultural development may be a 

 doubtful point. Some think that virtually we could. 

 Mr. A. D. Hall is more cautious. But it is at all events 

 certain that we could rise above the danger point. 

 Every advance in the direction of self-support is an 

 advance towards national security. Mr. Hall's examina- 

 tion of a programme which he believes to be practicable 

 is particularly well worth reading.^ He estimates 

 that an extra 10,000,000 acres could be ploughed at 

 an annual cost in bounties of £5,000,000. That is 

 to say, for an annual sum equal to the cost of building 

 and maintaining two battleships we should secure our 

 food supply. In war the saving would be great, and 

 even in peace a large proportion of the created wealth 

 would probably find its way back to the State. 

 1 Agriculture after the War, pp. 121 et aeq. 



