Page:Speeches and addresses by the late Thomas E Ellis M P.pdf/135

 fact is that stewed tea, Amlwch tobacco, and tinned meats, are the three deadly curses of Welsh physique. They threaten to weaken the fibre and lower the stamina of Welsh manhood, and disfigure the comeliness of Welsh womanhood. They work for greater havoc than the influenza, and the recovery from their sinister effects will be an even slower process. I often think that it is much more urgent to press our people to revert to porridge, to oatmeal cake, to "brwes" and "cawl," to brown bread and to home-cured bacon, than it is to alter the incidence of taxation, or establish parish councils, or even to settle Welsh orthography. Be that as it may, the social welfare of Rural Wales is of the most vital concern to the future of our race and nation. The greater the migration from rural Wales to industrial Wales and to England, the more necessary it is that our country districts should receive the benefits of wholesome thought and fruitful activity. For the city is always recruited from the country. Emerson, in a passage which I have quoted before in addressing this Society,