216 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



sooner or later be invited to sanction the use of 

 imperial taxation, 75 per cent, of which accrues 

 from towns, in order to provide better accom- 

 modation than his own for distant villagers 

 in whom he has no personal interest. To 

 such a man, the additional burden of more 

 costly food would surely appear as mere 

 quixotic altruism. He is also quite unmoved 

 by the fervent appeals of great landowners who 

 demand from the urban populations " willing 

 sacrifices " for the benefit of flourishing 

 colonies, whose people are, man for man, far 

 better off than ourselves. 



A more subtle reason frequently underlies 

 the opposition shown by urban employers to 

 protective duties on food-stuffs. Starting 

 with the axiom that low wages are essential 

 for commercial success, they realise that, in 

 the event of an artificial raising of the price of 

 food commodities, an irresistible demand will 

 be made by organized Labour for a corre- 

 sponding increase of wages a serious handi- 

 cap on industry. Food taxes may, it is true, 

 be endured by the industrial populations of 

 European countries whose citizenship is still 

 incomplete, or of new countries where the 

 general prosperity is so great that the burden 

 of higher food prices is comparatively less 

 noticeable. But the fundamental antagonism 



