242 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



ance of our landed gentry from the private 

 ownership of their estates would at one blow 

 deprive them of all the social and political 

 influence which now attaches to the possession 

 of land in this country. The initial control 

 exercised in some cases over the political 

 attitude of tenants and labourers, the claims 

 put forward on the ground of a special " stake 

 in the country," the social futility of people 

 " belonging to the county " when the county 

 no longer belongs to them such considera- 

 tions, however trivial they may appear in the 

 eyes of a detached student of economics or 

 urban politician, will stimulate the land- 

 owners of England in their last and unavailing 

 resistance to democratic progress. Nor must 

 one overlook the enormous extent and influ- 

 ence of sport in rural life in England. Against 

 any sudden assault on the private ownership 

 of land a solid wall of prejudice would be 

 erected by appeals to the sport-loving instincts 

 of our countrymen. The importance of hunt- 

 ing and shooting in the eyes of some country 

 residents is amazing : in some cases they 

 absorb the main energies of a man's life- 

 time and provide almost the entire material 

 for the record of his career. The desire to 

 secure good sport frequently acts as the 

 strongest safeguard against the sale of agricul- 



