SOME OTHER REMEDIES 211 



would be as great as is commonly assumed. 

 It seems probable that if he can resist the 

 landlord's very natural demand for higher 

 rent he would in many cases derive some more 

 or less substantial benefit from the new 

 fiscal system. Arguments, however, from the 

 analogy of foreign farmers are not altogether 

 reliable in this connection. Enormous influ- 

 ence is, it is true, exerted in Europe by the 

 " agrarian parties " in favour of food tariffs, 

 but we are apt to lose sight of the vital fact 

 that on the Continent the vast majority of 

 farmers are their own landlords, and the extra 

 profits flowing from tariffs remain in their 

 own pockets. 



In any case the only absolute security for 

 increased gains by farmers under Tariff 

 Reform would be provided by the establish- 

 ment of Courts which would furnish some 

 check on the landlords' demands for increased 

 rent. Such Rent Courts find a precedent in 

 Ireland, and, quite apart from the Free Trade 

 controversy, are eminently desirable as long 

 as the land of England remains in private 

 hands. 



But even if the large majority of our farmers 

 succeeded in improving their incomes through 

 Protection, the Free Trader, whatever may be 

 his personal sympathies with a class of men 



