238 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



land would, as now to so large an extent, be 

 unreasonably withheld from use, with the 

 speculative object of subsequently securing a 

 much higher price. Housing on a large scale 

 would be infinitely more feasible if the popu- 

 lations of our towns themselves possessed the 

 required sites for more and better houses. 



For the same reason schemes of afforestation 

 and land reclamation could be carried through 

 without any hindrance from those which at 

 present hamper such enterprise. Finally the 

 large reserves increasing year by year would 

 sooner or later be adequate not only to pay 

 interest and redeem bonds but to be applied 

 to the reduction of existing imposts or to fresh 

 schemes of public utility. 



There is of course one strong a priori argu- 

 ment which can be alleged against all schemes 

 of land-nationalization. The national owner- 

 ship of the means of production and distribu- 

 tion is in its essence a Socialist proposal, and as 

 such vigorously opposed by no inconsiderable 

 section of the public. So carefully has this 

 antipathy to Socialism been fostered from 

 various motives, good and bad, that the mere 

 description of any measure by the term 

 " Socialistic " is apparently enough to damn it 

 altogether in the eyes of many Englishmen. It 

 is simply amazing that so large a section of our 



