OUR AGRARIAN QUESTION 7 



assured if we are to be secure against blockade 

 and consequent starvation. But for agricul- 

 ture these circumstances are favourable. If 

 our land was worked to its utmost capacity 

 our home demand will always exceed our 

 possible home production ; and those engaged 

 in agriculture are assured that all they produce 

 can be absorbed at home without having to 

 resort to outside markets. 



A more propitious outlook it would be hard 

 to find ; and it is difficult to imagine any great 

 question arising which could seriously affect 

 the prosperity of an industry so fortunately 

 placed. 



Yet we have an Agrarian question — a ques- 

 tion that is alarming as it is complex — that is 

 as difficult of solution as it is important that 

 a solution should at once be found. Our 

 country-side appears to be suffering from all 

 the symptoms of a wasting disease. For over 

 a quarter of a century land has been steadily 

 going out of arable cultivation. I^ack of em- 

 ployment has placed the wages of oiu- rural 

 workers at a sum that is quite inadequate in 

 many cases for tliem to live upon. Country 

 cottages are in a dilapidated and insanitary 



