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1,269,371 in 1871 to 951,674 in 1901, though by 1911 it had again risen somewhat, to 1,002,743.

This reduction of the agricultural community was not to be viewed with equanimity. A population dependent entirely upon manufactures gives rise to an unstable State, subject to violent fluctuations of prosperity because the causes that determine employment are apt to affect all industries simultaneously. Politically a country population is more sober and cautious, just as it is healthier and more reproductive and both physically and temperamentally better fitted for steady enduring work. It was these two motives then that led to the legislation under review the desire to ensure a greater production of food and the better cultivation of British land, and the desire to increase the rural population, neither of which could be attained if the old laissezfaire policy were persisted in.

New British Policy. What had been the origin of the danger- ous situation in which the nation found itself in 1914? Taking extent of the arable land as an index, the high-water mark of English agriculture was reached in 1872. The later seventies were marked by bad seasons culminating in the disastrous ex- perience of 1879. At the same time rapid progress was being made with the opening up of the American prairies for corn- growing and with the cheapening of ocean freights. This was a period of immense expansion in the new lands of the world; it saw the growth of the Middle West both in the United States and Canada, the agricultural settlement of the Argentine and other South American lands, the development of Australian wheat-growing areas and the commercial exploitation of southern Russia. As a consequence, prices of the great agri- cultural commodities, corn and meat, fell rapidly and con- tinuously during the eighties and nineties. Wheat from an aver- age of 543. 8d. per qr. in 1871-5 fell to 223. lod. in 1894; the average return per acre on an arable farm for both corn and meat, estimated at 1653. in the first period, dropped to about iocs, between 1894 and 1900. As the rate of wages rose during the period and no great compensating factor was at work (other than the perfecting of the self-binder, which had made wheat- growing for export possible in the new countries), British farm- ing was unable to adjust itself with sufficient rapidity to the vastly diminished returns. The great depression resulted in the ruin of a large proportion of the old farmers, in a wholesale loss of capital, and, worst of all, in an entire loss of confidence in an industry that had ceased to control the prices of its main prod- ucts. The industry met the situation by a drastic reduction of expenditure and the conversion of arable land into grass on which the labour bill was small. The process was aided by the continued development of the milk trade. From 1900 onwards the course of prices turned upwards the world's population was growing up to the food supply, and the new farming adjusted to the changed conditions began to become steadily prosperous. But the memory of the great depression remained, confidence was small and capital mistrustful. Men hesitated to adventure their money in a business which was liable to a break of prices such as had occurred within all too recent a date. Such were the conditions that had led to the dependence of the nation upon foreign food and particularly upon foreign corn; hence the object of the policy was to give the arable-land farmer security that he should not in future be subjected to a devastating break in prices such as had occurred in the eighties and nineties of the last century. With this security in the background it was thought the current conditions would be favourable enough to bring about an extension of the arable area.

As the Prime Minister said in his famous speech to agricultur- ists in Oct. 1919:

" The Agricultural industry is the greatest industry in the State. It ought therefore to be a primary concern of every Government and of every Statesman to do what in them lies to promote that industry. I regret to say that in no civilized country has the State done so little during the last generation to foster agriculture. I hope that record will now be rolled up and that there will begin a new era in the relations of the State with the greatest and the most important of its industries . . . The question is ' Are we going back to the dismal pre-war conditions or are we merely going to maintain the progress which has been made?' Are we not going further? There can be but

one answer from every man who loves his country. We must go forward. How is it to be done? You must have a settled policy with regard to agriculture. The first condition is security to the cultiva- tor : security in the first place against ruin through the violent fluc- tuations of foreign agriculture."

Acts of igij, i gig, 1920. The method by which this security was given in the " Corn Production Act " of 1917 and the " Agriculture Act " of 1919 embodies a novel principle. Instead of a protective duty, which enhances the price to the consumer, a bounty was given to the producer if the average market price of wheat or oats fell below certain guaranteed figures. In the Corn Production Act certain guaranteed prices were set down for six years ahead, but at that time it was vain to make forecasts of the trend of prices, and actually none of the guarantees then given ever came into operation. By the Agriculture Act of 1920 basal prices of 68s. for wheat and 465. for oats were taken for the year 1919, and commissioners were appointed who were charged to determine from year to year how far the average costs of production of wheat and oats had changed in that year from those of the basal year 1919, whereupon the guaranteed figure of 68s. or 465. was varied in like proportion. If for example the commissioners found that in 1923 the cost of production of a quarter of wheat was on the average 20% less than in 1919, the price guaranteed by the Act would become 545. sd. Should then the average price actually obtained by farmers, as ascertained by the official corn market returns from Sept. i to March 31, amount to 525. nd. and thus leave a difference of is. 6d. per quarter between the guaranteed and realized price, the Govern- ment would be liable to pay is. 6d. per quarter on all the wheat produced. But since the verification of the actual quantities grown presents great administrative difficulties the crop is assumed to be 4 qr. to the acre, and the undertaking of the Act was to pay four times the difference between the average realized price and the guarantee on every acre of wheat grown, five times the difference in the case of oats, on the assumption of an average crop of 5 qr. to the acre. It will be seen .that the pay- ments made to any individual were independent of the actual price he happened to obtain for his particular sample. The nor- mal course of trade is not interfered with and the grower gets the benefit of any superiority of quality or favourable market con- ditions he may possess.

The guarantees were confined to wheat and oats, not so much to increase the specific production of those cereals as to en- courage arable farming, since one or both of these crops formed an inevitable part of every rotation in the United Kingdom.

Inevitably the State was involved in a considerable liability in any year in which a break in prices might occur after harvest but in which the costs of production had not been affected. These are, lowever, precisely the occasions dreaded by the farmer mindful of the past, and the Act was designed to give the farmer such assistance as might save him from ruin, though it would not provide a profit. The State, however, only accepted this liability in order to bring about an increase of production ; it recognized an obligation towards agriculturists, but on the other hand it required that the land should be put to proper use. In the Corn Production Act the Board of Agriculture was given power to enforce proper cultivation where the rules of good husbandry were being neglected and also to dictate the mode of cultivation or the use to which the land should be put for the purpose of increasing the production of food in the national interest. In case of failure to comply with the directions the Board could cause the owner to terminate the tenancy, or, if the occupier were the owner, could enter itself and cultivate.

These somewhat drastic provisions, which were exercised under the Defence of the Realm Act during the war, were strongly opposed by both owners and occupiers and became greatly modified when the Agriculture Act of 1920 replaced the Corn Production Act. Prac- tically under the new Act the powers of the Ministry of Agriculture were limited to the enforcement of cultivation according to the rules of good husbandry.

Where an estate is grossly mismanaged to such an extent as to prejudice materially the production of food thereon or the welfare of persons engaged in the cultivation of the estate, the minister may, after holding a public inquiry, appoint some person to act as re- ceiver and manager of the whole or a portion of the estate, an appeal being allowed to the High Court. The Ministry's powers were dele- gated to cultivation sub-committees of the agricultural committees of the county councils which had been set up by the Ministry of Agriculture Act of 1919.

There was, however, another public interest to be considered