SMALL OWNERS 43 



tenant, and how this risk is entirely ehminated 

 when he becomes an owner. 



Small owners were to be found in England 

 a hundred and fifty years ago, and the rem- 

 nant of them are still present. The " states- 

 men " of Westmoreland were famous for their 

 hard-working and thrifty characters ; the Isle 

 of Axholme in Lincolnshire is still entirely 

 divided into small freeholds. But throughout 

 the county as a whole they were never very 

 numerous, and the disappearance of the few 

 who did exist was inevitable. The small 

 tenant suffered to a like degree. The inde- 

 pendent small farmer was an economic de- 

 velopment before his time, which the great 

 upheaval of the last century was bound to 

 crush. Their holdings became consolidated 

 into the properties of large owners or holders 

 of land who alone were in a position to await 

 the turn of events. With the close of this 

 crisis agriculture entered upon a fresh epoch 

 in its history, and in its relation to national 

 economy. The importance of its position in 

 the social structure of our country has been 

 enhanced a hundredfold with the growth of 

 industrial centres and with the increase in 



