Iditarod pioneer., 1916-11-18
LANDLORDISM IN ENGLAND
 TO RECEIVE HEAVY BLOW
1.-The OutlOokl

4 dispatch from London announces that the Rt. Hon David Lloyd George has pro posed scheme for the acquisition of land by state compulsory purchase for cutting up into small farms This is the most radical proposal yet made for the freeing of England from landIordism.
 The solution of the land problem in any country underIies all other economic prob Iems The land is our mother We are primarily dependent upon it.
 Nowhere is the need to make the utmost possible use of the land more imperative than in England, This Is not more evident in consideration of the grain crops than jt is in consideration of forest crops The land commission appointed by the present government recently reported that there were no less than eight and a half million acres in England, now practically waste lands, which could be forested. Commenting on this, Mir, Lloyd George said:
 This is a very important matter for the state Take Germany. Every acre of land of that sort in Germany is covered with
 the most magnificent forests providing en- ployment for a population population, not workmen !-permenent employment for " population of over q million and occa- Sonal employment for a good many more. The German states are deriving every year
 from these forests a net profit of over seven
 millions sterling (S35 100000 from land which we treat as perfect waste tl another place Mr. Lloyd George said
 "The land system of Great Britain is ghastIy thing The percentage of culti~
 vated land is lower than in any other coun-
 of Tb;. toto Cf atfoir- iy l,Ic. to the fatuous and unbusinessGke methods of the landlord,'
 Many game preserves occupy areas which ought to be devoted to the production of
 food or timber This Is the first evil of i landlordism in England and Scotland. But there IS a second evil rents. The
 large farms are, in the main, fairly rented l This Is not true, however, with regard tc the small farms, and 1t Is to the creation of small holdings that MT. Lloyd George latest reform is directed
 It Is true tbat the agricultural holding
 act of 1918 improved the position of the tenant farmer, particularly because 1t pro vided that dispossessed farmer should be adequately recompensed for the permanent improvements which he had made in the farm he had rented But the act did not
 go far enough. The reform now needed k to get away from renting to owning. As MT. Lloyd George says, with regard t" changes of view among landlords:
 "The mere fact that the landlord wants, to change his investments IS no reason for
 turning man out of the farm which he has cultivated If a notice to quit is served ii should be for the seller to compensate the farmer, not merely for his improve
 ments, but to give him substantial com pensation for turning him out" Hence Mr Lloyd George, who has already proposed to revaEue the great holdings and to tax unused lands, such as game pre- serves and parks, at the same valuation a> tiled lands, now proposes to acquire lands by state compulsory purchase for cutting up into small farms.
 If such reform has the success in Eng land, Scotland and Wales which it has al ready had in Ireland, 1t will transform the wretchcGly paid landless toilers of mod crn land monopoly into men who will feel inclined to stay at home instead of cmlgrat-
 ing to Canada and Australia.
 It will also convert England from her
 present position of dependence on foreign
 countries for her food supply into one Of
 far greater independence.