March i, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
OLD SERJEANTS' INN. LONDON. W.C. 
Telephone HOLBORN 2828. 
THURSDAY, MARCH I, 1917 
CONTENTS 
PAGE 
rriitli, Made in Germany. By Louis Raemaekers • i 
A GocxI Beginning. (Leader) 3 
The Ancre Retirement. By Hilairc Belloc 4 
Fighting and Voting. By L. P. Jacks n 
Agriculture and Parliament. By The Editor 13 
Industry and Education. An Literview by J. Thorp 14 
The Value of Kut. By Sir Thomas Holdich 16 
Books to Read. By Lucian^ Oldershaw 17 
The U.J.C. Literary Fund. By a Correspondent 18 
The Golden Triangle. By Mamicc Leblanc 20 
The West End 25 
Kit and Equipment 
.\i 
Tl 
A GOOD BEGINNING 
HE great lesson that this war has taught every 
one in this country holding any position of 
authority is that the basis of national defence 
is an assured food supply." So Sir Herbert 
Matthews, Secretary of the Central Chamber of Agri- 
culture wrote in Land & Water over four months ago, 
and events in the intervening period have driven home 
this truth in the most convincing manner. Last Friday 
the Prime Minister, in his speech to the House of Commons, 
gave what might almost be called a new charter to British 
agriculture ; he li.xed a minimum wage for farm labour, 
and for farmers a guaranteed minimum price fqr wheat 
and oats over a period of si.x years. At the end of four 
years this price will come up 'for review, but by that 
time it may be reasonably anticipated agriculture will 
have made such strides forward in these i.slands and will 
have so thoroughly justified the policy now inaugurated, 
that measures which at the moment appear to some to 
be experimental will then be accepted as essential to 
the general well-being of the nation. 
The first thing to be done is to get as much land as 
possible under cultivation with such labour as is left 
at the disposal of the farmers. They start with a clean 
slate ; " they can forget the disastrous experiences of 
1880 and i8()0 to which Mr. Lloyd George alluded ; they 
can work with a certainty of reasonable profit, for the 
inequitable risks which landowner and tenant were 
called on to face in the past, no longer exist. This 
is a good beginning, and the minimum wage gives 
them assurance that on demobihsation men will retiirn 
to the land. By degrees it is hoped ownership will 
increase. There is no occasion for dispossession ; every 
year in the natural course of events, a comparatively 
large acreage finds its way into the open market, and 
with fixity of minimum prices and an assurance of 
labour, there will be strong encouragement for tenant- 
farmers to become their own landlords. As was pointed 
out in these columns on a previous occasion, " OM-ncr- 
ship settles all diificulties of land tenure, rernoves all 
sense of insecurity, gives absolute freedom of cropping 
and destroys all friction due to alleged damage by 
game.". It also imparts new life and vigour to the old 
yeoman ^.tock which has been in serious danger-of dying 
out during the last generation. 
When the Prime Minister, rising from his seat at West- 
minster, publicly confesses that the State has . shown a 
lamentable indifference to the importance of the agri- 
cultural industry and to the very life of the nation, and 
that it is a mistake which must never be repeated, he 
jjlaces outside the bounds of discussion the political 
errors of the past. Agriculturists are now concerned 
with building up a new industry based on scientific 
knowledge and sound economic principles. At the 
outset, as we have said, the abnormal conditions conse- 
c[uent on the war will render things difficult, but this is 
temporary. They have to reahse that in many respects 
they themselves have been to blame ; the fault has by 
no means been all on the side of Government. As we 
point out on another page, even in the political arena 
they have displayed a curious apathy towards their own 
interests. There have been difficulties in the way, but 
these difficulties can be overcome. They must realise 
that all interested in agricultnare — landlord, farmer, 
labolirer — form one class ; their interests are identical, 
not antagonistic. They have to regard their problems 
with a broader mind, and they ha\'e tx> bring to their 
work a higher standard of education than has been the 
rule in the past. " There is no other industry than 
agriculture " wrote Mr. Christopher Turnor in these 
columns last autumn, " which can go on for ever pro- 
ducing values out of nothing — to be correct, create 
wealth with raw material of which 90 per cent, is obtained 
from the atmosphere ; and one cannot but admire 
(iermany's wide outlook and wisdom displayed in con- 
ceiving the vast possibilities of an agriculture industrialised 
on a scientific basis." By our great stores of munitions 
of war we are beating the Germans on the fields of France, 
and by equal great stores of munitions^ of peace, pro- 
duced from the fields of England, we can secure ourselves 
against: i aggression for all time. 
It has been well said that education is as essential as 
capital if this country is to hold its own. " ,The owner 
of land, when letting a farm, ought to be as careful to 
ascertain the prospective tenant's technical capabilities 
as he is to determine his ability to pay the rent. In fact, 
a diploma from an agricultural school or college should be 
more carefully scrutinised than a bank-reference." But 
education has not been the farmer's strong point hitherto ; 
he is apt to regard it with suspicion and to blind 
himself to its achievements in other countries. 
And a better system - of elementary education is 
needed for the agricultural population; they must be 
taught to discover a happier outlook in rural life. The 
moment is propitious. There was a Saturday at Bedford, 
not four years ago, when men would as soon have thought 
of beholding an Archangel in Whitehall as of seeing Mr. 
Prothero at the Board of Agriculture on the appointment 
of Mr. Lloyd George. But this has come to pass, and 
it is striking testimony to the bold way iii which we are 
knocking off old fetters and seeking new freedom of 
thought and ideas. And with Mr. Fisher at the Board 
of Education, there is good reason for the hope that our 
schools in the future will approach the basic industry 
with a deeper understanding of its true significance. 
A wiser system of elementary education will elevate the 
agricultural labourer, who has had small mercies to be 
thankful for in the past. His condition has been inferior 
to practically every other class of manual worker, and it 
is not perhaps altogether surprising that so many people, 
who are ignor.ant of agricultural ^conditions, should 
regard him as unskilled. The sooner it is possible for 
him to draw his 25s. in cash each week, the better it will 
be. He wiJl then have to pay an economic rent for his 
cottage and possibly to forego certain perquisites which 
he has come to look on almost as a right. He may not 
like it at first, but his character will gain in strength 
when these last relics of serfdom are abolished. British 
agriculture is at the beginning of a new epoch ; whether 
it*is entering on a golden age will depend on itself. A 
good beginning has been made, but the future is mainly 
in its own hands. 
