72 THE MINORITY REPORT 



required at the present time in view not only of the 

 obligation of the State to the ex-Service men, but of 

 the highest interests of the Nation as a whole. 



" One of the most important lessons learnt from the 

 War is the extent to which the defensive power of a 

 country is strengthened by its capacity to produce food 

 for its inhabitants, and the developments of modern 

 warfare have emphasised the danger of an undue depend- 

 ence on foreign sources of food supply. There is also 

 general agreement that, on economic grounds, it is a 

 matter of the greatest importance to increase the pro- 

 duction of food in this country, and so reduce the 

 amount which has to be imported from abroad. 



" Apart from the economic reasons for increasing 

 the rural population there is, we think, a general 

 consensus of opinion that it is also most desirable to do 

 this on social grounds. The stability and physical 

 strength of a nation depend largely on those classes 

 who have either been born and brought up in the 

 country, or have had the advantages of country life. 

 It is certain that the physique of those portions of our 

 nation who live in crowded streets rapidly deteriorates, 

 and would deteriorate still further if they were not to 

 some extent reinforced by men from the country 

 districts. The recruiting returns show a much larger 

 proportion of men rejected for physical reasons in the 

 large towns than in the country districts. If, therefore, 

 we desire a strong and healthy race we must encourage 

 as large a proportion of our people as possible to live 

 on the land. We fear that the growing tendency to 

 move to large centres of population, a tendency which 

 is not confined to this country, is likely to be more and 

 more stimulated by the development of town attrac- 

 tions and facilities of locomotion, and can only be 

 counteracted by a revival of agriculture, together with 

 an improvement in the existing conditions of rural life. 



