166 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



more in value of sugar, tea, coffee, spices and 

 tropical fruits than we export of wheat and 

 meat. While we will always continue to ex- 

 change our products for those to which our soil 

 and climate is not adapted, the cost of that which 

 we import must steadily rise. 



These dangers are not of to-morrow or of 

 the day after, but the time has come when we 

 must develop a policy and plan for national 

 growth which will preserve the balance between 

 agriculture and industry. This policy must in- 

 clude every factor bearing on our national life 

 and our relation with other nations. History 

 has shown that only those nations who have 

 given large attention to increasing the food sup- 

 ply in keeping with the increase in population, 

 either through scientific production, such as 

 Germany practised, or through trade as Eng- 

 land has done, can expect to maintain a position 

 of leadership. 



The first plank in this platform must be the 

 recognition by the entire nation that the soil 

 is the foundation of all real wealth and only 

 through fostering continued production from the 

 soil can national growth be assured. 



As a nation we have thus far spent compara- 

 tively little in recent years on the development 



