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SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



ductlon of a given crop, e.g., the potato, as grown in the chief indus- 

 trial countries of the world, it will be found that the cui-ve of production 

 coincides closely with that of density of population. 



From these facts we may take comfort, for they indicate that as a 

 population increases so does the intensity of its cultivation : the tide 

 which flows into the towns may be made to ebb again into the country. 

 The rate of return, however, must depend on many factors : the proclivi- 

 ties of peoples, the relative attractiveness of urban and rural life and of 

 life at home and abroad, but ultimately the settlement or non-settlement 

 of the countryside must be determined by the degree of success of the 

 average intensive cultivator. The abler man can command success ; 

 whether the man of average ability and industry can achieve it, will, 

 I believe, depend ultimately on education. He can look for no assistance 

 in the form of restricted imports. He must be prepared to face open 

 competition. Wherefore he should receive all the help which the State 

 can render; and the measure of success whicli he, and hence the State, 

 achieves will be determined ultimately by the quality and kind of 

 education which he is able to obtain. 



