New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-08
BACK TO THE LAND
A FagGry of Free Trade PoIfies-
German Experience
London. NInroh o.

benefit, yet when the land laws have bean 4,-r
cred, allotments systematized and acrio-,.-.
holdings rearranged ne is always at the -
of Parliament asking to have sOmethfn~, 49,
for him. Continuous as the decline az b..
fish agriculture has been with the steady iner.a-'
OF imported food and the reversion Of -
ground to pastuTage, labor has been scaresr va.
by year at seed time and harvest, and svsrr..s
workers have come over from ireland - 80
better wages than they could receive AZ ro,s.
The Irish peasant has been the pampers5 ~.
OF legislation. while poor Hodge and the Br,.',s
tenant farmers have been sent away with zra,s
doles and empty promises. When land pyrc5...
has been ordered in Ireland. with liabilities -
E1O0O00.OO0 in fresh issues OF eonsols. tha ar.
''Back to the 1and?' is raised IN England a.,
Scotland Why the surplus population oa ,E,
towns should be emptied back into the couuf-v
when agriculture is admitted to be ruined ara
Impoverished interest, is not understood el,ts.
by the rural laborer or by the small tenant farm.
er. Yet social reformers are convinced ira,
something must be done 70 minimize what A.,
described as the necessary effects Of Free Trad.
and revision Of the system OF rural taxation
and multiplication Of small holdings ana allo..
ments seem the only practical measures.
A bill for Scotland has already been iatr,.
duced. II is designed to apply compulsory POW.
ers to the CrofteTs Act and the Congested Dis
tricts act and to create a system Of dual owner.
ship for the benefit OF tenants with holdings less
than fifty acres and rentals under $50. Farms W.T.
be compulsoriIy divided and subdivded and a
land commission will be empowered to fix fair
rents. The bill has been sharply criticised IN
the first stage by Mr.. Balfour. and win Is
strenuously opposed. It will be followed BY a
similar measure for England and Wales. b.
which compulsory purchase and leasing Of land
by local councils may be authorized If ths
reformeTs' plans are carried out either this year
or at the next session. the Board Of Agricultus
will appoint commissions for considering ap.
peals for land and devising means for granting
two forms OF holding and forcing sales OF leases
for public benefit. There viii be allotments not
exceeding four acres for laborers working On
large farms or estates: and there will be hold
iugs ranging from ten 70 seventy acres for
a better class of occupiers. So complex a sys-
tenn does not require critical examination until
the legislative proposals are laid before ths
Commons; but it is evident that farmers and
land owners are 10 be forced TO lease or sell to
the local authorities a certain percentages OF
their land. They may have the privileges Of
selecting the portions OF their holdings which
are 20 be disposed Of; but they will be entitled
20 equitable compensation in rentals OF puF-
chase. This implies an extension OF borrowing
powers and an increase OF local Indebtedness.
The surplus unemployed population Of the In
dustrial towns cannot BE- sent back TO tbs
land without expense to taxpayers.
Land reform on these Iines-and advanced
Liberals and the Labor party advocate IL as
one OF the most important questions before the
country-cannot be accomplished without e
necessary sequence. This is the housing ques-
ton, with more borrowing powers. larger en-
penditures and increased levies from the local
rates. The unemployed IN pOpulous towns can
not be sent out TO live without cover in the
fields. They must have cottages and these ars
not likely TO be found on such portions OF large
farms or estates as the owners may be pre-
vailed upon TO lease or sell for public good.
The land operations OF the councils under the
proposed legislation will have to be supple
mented by building enterprises on a large scale
or they will be ineffective. It is as important
for the homeless unemployed to have houses as
it IS for the landIess to have land; and when
each want has been supplied there will be the
urgent necessity for rendering agriculture profit
able Reformers stop short az this point for
they are suddenly reminded that they are and
must ever be Free Traders. They are eager to
send the unemployed back to the land" and
are willing to house them at public expense;
but their interest lapses when the question -
raised that something should be done 70 enable
them 20 make living out of their new Occupa-
ton. They acknowledge that agriculture has
steadily declined decade after decade since the
adoption OF the Free Trade system. and that
the rural population has been drained on into
the swarmins manufacturing towns. They as
sert that this was the inevitable effect OF the
abolition of the Corn laws. and that it has been
a beneficial result. since farming is at best
poor occupation, and that the phenomenal
growth OF manufacturing at the expense Of
agricultural industries was necessary since
otherwise England could never have had
worldwide empire. The recovery of agricultural
prosperity they regard hopeless; vet they
are advocating complex system Of land pur-
chase and housing for the sake of enptying the 1
unemployed out Of the overcrowded towns in q
the country.
These equivOcal methods Of assisting Ell
cultural laborers and small tenants and OF III n
ing back the urban swarms into the country
markedly different from those adopted in
many. Manufactures and commerce have Zen
greatly stimulated there but agricultural Ter
ests have not been neglected. The sugar dus-
try was created and rapidly developeS anu
when the production became stationary "a con-
sequence Of reduced exports to Amefca and
other countries the home market waf secured
for German breadstuffs and meat supplies as
necessary expedient for keeping the agricultural
population employed. There. as IN America
agriculture has been saved from the rum
wrought in England and Ireland by Free Trads
and legislative neglect. While the manufae'-
urlng towns have grown with extraordinary
rapidity, there has been no displacement Of pop
ulatiOn such as has been witnessed in Ensiane
from the draining OF OF rural workers. WINE
manufacturing and trading have been carried
a long way. agriculture has remained a great ma