."'i^.;
RER
/
BlUTxVIN FOR THE BRITON
BEITAIN FOE THE BRITON
CO-OPERATIVE WORKING OF AGRICULTURE
AND OTHER INDUSTRIES A NECESSITY
AN EARNEST APPEAL FOR
LAND, INDUSTRIAL, ECONOMIC AND OTHER
VITAL REFORMS
BY
SIR WILLIAM EARNSHAW I^^OOPER, CLE.
AUTHOR OF
"SOCIALISM AND ITS PKUII.S," "THK MIRDER OF AGIIICULTIRE,"
"A PLEA FOR AGRICILTURE," "ANOTHER PLEA FOR AURICULTLRE,"
" DRINK AND THE BRITISH PEOPLE," ETC., ETC.
1 > J i t
\\j ^■:;' .. ,,
>
c
vLlJ:, ;•
»
LONDON
SMITH,
ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE
1909
All rights reserved
. -y vi
g.fEREN
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWKS AND SONS, LIMITKD,
LONDON AND BECCLES.
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CONTENTS
CHArTF,:
I.
II.
III.
C/9
IV.
V.
>-
CO
3
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
CO
XIII.
XIV.
'XV.
XVI.
XVII.
^ XVIII.
§
XIX.
a
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
Introduction .........
The birth of agriculture .......
Uow British agriculture was destroyed — Its incompatibility with
manufactures — What Free-traders contend ....
How agriculture might have been saved — The contentions of
anti-Free-traders ........
What anti-Free-traders think of Free-trade and of the phe-
nomenal poverty and growing imemployment
Poverty not a necessity — Contrasts in home and foreign statistics
— The people's error and the people's responsibilities
More auti-Free-trade objections — Loss of agricultural wealth —
Shrinkage in taxable area — Heavier burdens on tax-payers
What onlookers think of Free-trade .....
What onlookers think of Free-trade {continued')
The pauper question m England and iu Germany : A comparison
— Free-trade economists fail to explain cause of increasing
destitution .........
Problem for the British tax-payer — Pauperism unnecessary — Will
they continue to support it ? — How to deal with vagabondage .
National pauperism and taxation — Colossal amount of private
charities — How philanthropists unconsciously bolster up Free-
liilQC ••••••••••
Shortage of work in our trades and manufactures — Increase in
manufacturing wealth means loss of agricultural wealth — In
other words, Class Legislation !.....
How our public men miss the way — Pauperism and unemploy-
ment a result of existing conditions — A proper appreciation of
cause and effect essential .......
Unemployment — Congestion' in trades, professions, and industries
— Cause and effect — Who and what are to blame?
The "Cheap" Loaf cry — Price of bread — England and other
countries — How the people have been misled
Tariffs do not affect the price of bread — The German " black "
bread fallacy exposed .......
Old-age pensions in England and in Germany — A comparison —
A contributory scheme sound — Non-contributory scheme a
State charity .........
The sacrifice of agriculture — The burden falls upon all classes —
How Great Britain can grow all her own food supplies .
The sacrifice of agriculture (continued') — Great Britain can grow
all her own food supplies .......
How war would intensify poverty — Grave peril to the nation —
Our food supplies at the mercy of enemies' agents," comerers,"
and speculators .........
The fallacies of economic science — Its inapplicability to agri-
culture ..........
Discouragers and pessimists — The part they play iu the agri-
cultural question — Under similar conditions, agriculture can be
as successful as manufactures ......
XV
3
II
17
22
;^o
39
46
56
66
72
85
9i
104
120
136
146
155
168
177
191
205
217
384815
VI
CONTENTS
rHATTKR I'AGE
XXIII. The iuseusatc '• Party" system in Parliament — Cogeut reasons
for drastic reform — A bar to reform and a menace to national
interests ........•• 228
XXIV. Land tenures — A present jumble of inconsistencies — What they
have resulted in — Comparison with other countries . . 'il-t
XXV. Land tenures (conU'nned) — Why no delinite constructive scheme
is put forward — Better purpose served by showing how textile
industries would have failed if run on agricultural system of
tenures .......... -53
XXVL Land tenures {continued) — What the people should do — A
Scheme of tenures outlined — A great agricultural loan needed. 206
XXVH. Land tenures (r'o?ic?t<*/ed) — Occupying ownerships and compulsory
sale of land necessary — Landowners should take the initiative
before it is too late ........ 277
XXVIII. A brief exaniin<ation of Free-trade i)riuciples — Adam Smith's
famous aphorism- — Wrong interpretation by Free-traders . 2'J3
XXIX. A brief examination of Free-trade principles {continued) — Cer-
tain concrete examples showing Free-trade fallacies — Cobden's
fundamental blunder ........ 300
XXX. A brief examination of Free-trade j)rinciplcs {continued) — More
concrete examples showing Free-trade fallacies — The race for
the world's trade — IIow Britain is being outdistanced . . 315
XXXI. A brief examination of Free-trade principles {concluded) — Some
categorical replies to Free- trade questions .... 3i53
XXXII. A synopsiB . . . . . . . . .371
INDEX TO SUBJECT-HExVDINGS
Abuse of the Party system, the
Adam Smith's dicta : adages, not commercial laws
Agriculture and other industries should co-operate
Agriculture dies slowly .....
Agriculture the dominating factor .
Agriculture in France .....
Agriculture incompatible with growth of population
Agriculture necessary to support other industries
Agriculture sacriticed to class interests
Agriculture tested by its capabilities
Agricultural loan productive and prolitable
Agricultural paradoxes .....
Agricultural population largest in all countries .
Agricultural protits lost to the country
Agricultural wealth. Appalling losses
All farms may be " State " aided .
All industries must be fed with brains and capital
All sporting estates to be brought under cultivation
Ample area for corn growing ....
Ample land for food production
Ancient agricultural countries
Another example. Flight from England
Another revelation .....
Anti-Free-trade party described, the
Anti-Free-traders misrepresented .
Augean stable, the .....
Awakening of landowners, the
Awakening of the public mind to compulsory afforcbtation,
the
Balfour's (Mr.) extraordinary contention
Balfour's (Mr.) contentions measured by general results
Balfour's (Mr.) "only possible mode'' fails
Baneful effect of Government mis-statements .
Batteries of science and agriculture, the .
Benefits shared equally by all nations
Better scheme to compare England with other countries
Big farm system a failure .....
Blatchford, Mr., on agricultural croakers .
Blatchford. Mr., on the necessity for British agriculture
Board of Trade misleads, the .....
Bread dearer for thirty years after Free-trade than before
Bread the " staff of life""
Britain can easily feed her population
Britain the laughing-stock of P^urope
Britain losing her leading position ....
Britain sorely pressed by competitors
Britain's dependence upon foreign countries for her food
Britain's trade pre-eminence a delusion
British agriculture supports smallest head of population in Europe
vii
I'AGB
2-28
o08
41
ISG
243
6
15
17
26S
173
275
2r)2
:io7
351
42
273
2.58
274
34U
344
(>
109
142
19
18
78
281
281
113
101
99
149
218
55
255
289
178
177
148
138
5
339
338
319
322
:J83
317
249
Vlll
INDEX TO SUBJECT-HEADINGS
British farmer reduced to shifts and stratagems
British-grown ■wheat paid for in British manufactures
British industrial workers opposed to agricultural reform
British landowner failed in his duty
British products in demand, irrespective of source of food supply
British soil the most productive
British system imperfect
Carpet trade a concrete example, the
'• Cheap Loaf" cry a mockery
Cheap loaf, the, a Free-trade sham .
Cheap wheat means loss of health and life
Christian offerings to agriculture
Class interest the bottom of Free-trade
Clay can be easily fashioned, the
Clever appeal to human cupidity
Clever defence of Cobden's false position
Cobden's boast tested by time
Cobden's plea for agriculture .
Cobden's strenuous efforts
Collings, Mr., on the need for agriculture
Coimuon dodge of Free-traders, a .
Comparative agricultural results. Great Britain and other countries
Comparative poverty of England and Germany
Comparison with Belgium
Concrete example demonstrated, a .
Crass ignorance regarding agricultural failure
Cricket and football as a result of Free-trade
Cynical indifference to facts .
Damning proof against the British system
Danger of dealing in abstract principles, the
Danger of implicit beliefs, the . .
Dawning hope of better times, a
Decadent trade supremacy
Deep injustice to the great middle-classes
Demand creates supply in all industries .
Did we count the cost ? .
Difference of opinion, a .
Difhculties of '■ back to the land " overestimated
Disease too deep-seated to yield to palliatives
Disobedience of natural laws .
Dissipation of valuable political power
Dissipation of working-class electoral power
Do men gather grapes of thorns ?
Drink trafhc produces £35,000,000 to revenue
Drink traffic question used for political purposes
Each one of us gives something for charity's sake
Each party afraid to tackle the '■ tithes '' question
Economic incongruities of Free-trade, the
Economic platitudes ....
Economic science a dam. How to remove it
Economic science tested by its own fallacies
Economics fail to explain the situation
Eleventh-hour repentance a necessity
Eloquent private charity statistics .
Emasculating British manhood
Emigration to avoid starvation
Employers satisfied
England dependent upon foreign countries for food
PACK
257
355
221
279
354
345
18
328
59
378
179
4
358
285
302
310
309
260
12
179
137
24(5
«3
174
348
259
15
356
250
349
143
160
133
166
226
39
326
284
118
37
68
35
343
235
233
88
233
373
69
214
210
70
36
89
167
187
163
195
INDEX TO SUBJECT-HEADINGS
IX
English scheme ii legalised State charity, the .
Eaonnous pauper taxation ....
Enormous savings of German workpeople
Establishment of dairies and poultry farms compulsory
Europe recognises necessity for up-to-date agriculture
Even fixed rents unsuitable ....
Evil effect of Party system. A concrete example
Exact " science " even fraudulent .
Exhausting emigration .....
Extent of hospital charities ....
Fact versus Fallacy .....
Failure of Cobden's scheme ....
Failure of industries to employ and support the peopl
Fallacies of economic science, the .
Familiar fallacies ......
Familiar " waste '" land .....
Famous Free-trade dictum ....
Fatal results of class interests ....
Fewer sheep means higher agriculture
Fight the fallacy by explaining it .
Financial State aid necessary ....
First law of nature, the .....
For good or for evil .....
For the rest — work and plenty
Foreign duties less burdensome than ours .
Foreign States regard pauperism as unnecessary
Foreigners buy from us less than they sell
Free-trade banner unfurled, the
Free-trade " fiddle," the ....
Free-trade Government sacrifices principles to pocket;
Free-trade idiosyncrasies ....
Free-trade : its fundamental errors .
Free-trade Moloch, the .....
Free-trade opposed to successful agriculture
Free-trade postulations .....
Free-trade '' reciprocity "'....
Free-trade vowed to destroy agriculture .
Free-traders blame everybody but themselves
Free-traders fail to demonstrate their own propositions
Free-traders minimise evil effects of Free-trade .
Fundamental blunder about the land, the
Fundamental error, a .... .
Fundamental error in economics
Fundamental error, the .....
Fundamental simplicity of agriculture
Further evidence against Free-trade cheapening bread
Further proof of tenancy system failures .
Futile parliamentary measures
Futility of proposing definite land-reform scheme
German agriculture .....
German scheme ......
Geniian scheme contributory and compulsory .
Germany's powerful squadrons
Germany's prosperity synchronises with Protection
Glutted labour markets .....
Goods must be paid for by goods
Government Free-trade principles not clearly defined
Government knows, but is afraid
Grave debates degenerate into Party wrangling
FACE
158
73
V,i
274
102
27l»
229
212
53
8G
209
40
94
383
209
171
301
360
247
342
272
335
33(J
83
312
31
352
13
296
298
310
386
334
307
333
297
263
324
362
323
371
344
21
205
185
139
262
27
254
r-
/
155
162
192
65
29
347
298
291
239
INDEX TO SUBJECT-HEADINGS
Graver danger even than war
Great Britain punished b_v witless man .
Great Britain stands ah)ne ! . . .
Greatest of our many charities, tlie
Greatest pessimists, the .....
Grim fateful dictum of economics .
Growing our own corn unaffects carrj'iug trade .
Hard times. Nobody satisfied
Harm done by well-meaning enthusiasts .
Help the poor, not injure them
High incidence of trade per head of the pojiulatiou a delusion
Higher standard of comfort shared by all nations
How agriculture ramifies among the people
How Britain emasculates her manhood
How •' cheapness " may prove a curse
How economic '• science " can be manipulated
How economists ignore facts ....
How manufacturers remove the dam of economic science
How neglected agriculture affects the people .
How other countries do it .
How public men miss the way
How textile industries would fare under a rental system
How the Opposition " engineered'' the " Confiscation " Bill
How the power of steam was derided years ago
How they should demand it .
How to raise the money
How to redeem the wrong
How trade unionists miss the way .
How vested interests killed the '' Confiscation " Bill
How we have blundered
Human fallibility , . . , .
Hmnan scum .....
Hungary— prosperous agriculture .
Ignorance rules the situation
Imports consist largely of food supplies .
Increase of able-bodied paupers
Increase of industrial wealth means but little
Increased cost of living
Independent opinion ....
Individual dole multiplied by 24,000,000 .
Industrial interests attacked ,
Industrial hmniliation ....
Innutritiousness of white bread
Insane " party " system ....
Insult to foreign peoples
Insurance scheme for workers, not wasters
Interested merchants, bankers, and manufacturers
Intolerable strain of present situation
Invention and discovery not due to Free-trade
It costs £i:5a,000,000 annually in charities to buttre:
JcsTiFiABLK Contempt .....
Justification for grave charges
Knaveby of electioneering dodges . ,
Labour Congress remedy an economical error .
Labour difficulties increase proportionately to industrial expansion
Labour question sorely misunderstood
Free
trade
FACE
196
335
9
87
220
334
353
11
184
75
318
329
180
32
53
32(1
348
215
186
175
106
256
234
361
268
274
125
110
235
51
293
32
8
221
318
74
9G
40
47
92
58
56
1.52
160
331
157
219
49
20
375
183
25
144
129
126
122
INDEX TO SL'BJECT-HKADINGS
XI
Landowners' oblif^ations to their country .
Landowners weighed and found wantin^^ .
Land reform will save agriculture .
Land tenures condemned by Cohdeu
Laud tenures : their importance to the nation
Less than 7 per cent, cultivated for nuin-food
Licence in Party politics has engendered abuse
Lloyd-George, Mr., and the Gennan Pension scheme
Loss of agricultural wealth ....
Loss of agricultural wealth means much .
Loss of trade not due to British inefficiency
Loss of virile power .....
Love of gain the chief aim of life .
Man's chief consideration ....
Manufacturing wealth no compensation for loss of agricultural w
Men are sick of insensate party strife
Middle-class apathy .....
Middle classes to the rescue ....
Mighty power of charity ....
Millions spent on poverty ....
Mischief of crass ignorance ....
Misconceptions about agriculture
Misplaced charity .....
Mistake of the " Hungry Forties," the
Money value of what we do not grow, the
Monstrous fallacy, a .... .
More agricultural training schools necessary
More grotesque lieliefs .....
More '• scientific " fallacies ....
Much " waste " land as good as the best .
" Mutatis mutandis ".....
Mutable basis of trade, the ....
N.\TiONAl. Statute Book, the ; what it doex show
National Statute Book, the ; what it should show
Navy and unemployed, the ....
Necessity for political independence
Network of fallacies . . ' . .
New manufacturing industries find no lack of labour
No apology made for " rubbing it in "
No employment. People must emigrate or starve
No glimmering of the truth in any direction
No hope for the people if their rulers ignore facts
No hope from " business " men
No intention to minimise industrial importance
No lack of employment in Germany
No man derides real science ....
Non-contributory scheme best
No pauperism in Germany ....
Nostrums even from trades unions .
Nostrums for the unemployed
OccuP"XiNa ownerships .....
Old age pensions an additional State charity
Old age pensions, but not charity .
Old, infirm, blind, cripples, the, only, to be recipients of S
One hundred and six Peers gathered when Lord Roberts
Defence .......
One hundred millions in private charities
Onlookers deny advantages claimed by Free-trader< ,
ealth
State aid
poke on National
PA OB
278
270
2(J4
2G1
386
1(;9
242
it;i
:j71
07
32.')
:jo(;
?.03
134
97
2.S9
3(5
51
88
28
1[)7
223
73
304
175
3GI
273
225
346
172
295
134
231
231
108
58
3GG
227
249
112
111
118
48
102
G2
36'.)
1G3
67
129
127
173
379
167
81
236
91
54
Xll
INDEX TO SUBJECT-HEADINGS
Ouly oue answer .
Only way. the
Opposers of land refonn.
Other organised charities
Overt action necessary .
Wiiy they object
PAGE
37
14
253
86
242
Parliamentary windbags . ...
Party system an impossibility, the .
Party system up for trial, the
Patient taxpayer, the .....
Pauperism — unemployment a result of Free-trade
Paupers become prosperous citizens
Peaceful rivalry in agriculture
Penalty of not "growing our own corn, the
Pensions a right, not a charity
People are awakening, the ....
People must fight this party demon, the .
People must first be convinced, the
People should demand occupying ownerships, the
People should fear " comerers " and speculators, the
People to the rescue, the
People's error, the
Phenomenal poverty
Plain duty of landowners
Plain facts about economic science .
Platitudes of the public .
Policy of anti-Free-traders, the
Poor "law incubus, the .
Poor laws. Mistaken generosity
Poverty no respecter of persons
Poverty the heritage of tax-payers .
Present bars to successful agriculture
Present scheme the result of socialist pressure
Present unsatisfactory conditions quite avoidable
Price of bread not affected by tariffs
Principle admitted, but its abuses deplored
Producing our own food a burning question
Productive industries no avail without agriculture
Progressive trade due to natural expansion
Proof of failure .....
Public attitude towards pauperism .
Public familiarised with pauperism .
Punishment to be the loafer's reward
47
230
237
43
25
207
381
15G
240
240
105
269
201
34
35
26
279
211
69
20
50
33
27
44
340
159
60
154
241
356
108
332
288
79
85
83
Question answered ....
Questionable quality of commercial morality
123
203
Rational method
Keal cause of higher standard of living
Rental system impossible in agriculture
Responsibilities of Government, the
Responsibilities of wealth, the
Result of a fundamental blunder
Result of waste, the
Results of British and Gennan agriculture
Rival labour conditions in Germany
Road to success, the
Robbing Peter to pay Paul .
Rough outline of oew land-tenure scheme
186
329
256
290
277
23
77
247
61
222
337
271
INDEX TO SUBJECT-HEADINGS
XIU
Savings of foreign workers greater than our own
Scathing conijjtirisons .....
" Science " of little use in domestic economy
" Science " ■versus sense .....
Scientific legerdemain .....
Scientists confound " laws " with " theorems " .
Seventy years' bitter experience
Shackleton's (Mr.) plan a nostrum .
Shorter hours, and no overtime, not a remedy .
Shrinkage of taxable area ....
Signs of wavering — elements of uncertainty
Simple solution of the labour problem
Simple truths appeal to the people .
Six famous fallacies .....
Slothful idleness must cease ....
Socialists and Labourites satisfied with German scheme
Some of the donors .....
Some of the losses .....
Some of the tests ......
Splendid opportunities for agriculture
Starving men not fastidious ....
State must lead, the .....
Statement of many inaccuracies, a .
Stock rearing ; how Germany beats Britain
Subsidiary interests : their beneficent effect
Success only possible to those who command it
Suitable land tenures of paramount importance .
Sylviculture. Compulsory sale recommended .
Tabiff-refobmers on " cheap bread "
Tax-payers recognise the " necessity " for poverty
Taxes on food ; Free-trade inconsistencies
Tenant-system conducive to worst possible results, the
Territorial aristocracy judged by results, the
Territorial aristocracy system a failure, the
Three hundred and sixty-eight peers killed the Lie
Treated as agriculture has been, textile industries w
Tribute of the ancients to agriculture
Truth about agriculture, the ....
Twenty millions of donors ....
Ugly comparisons .....
Ugly feature in Free-trade ....
Ugly questions requiring answers .
United Kingdom can feed 80,000,000 of peoi)le, the
Universal agriculture must come sooner or later
Unnatural course, an .... .
Uselessness of polemics in practical industries, the
War loan unproductive
" Waste " land a prominent landscape feature
Wasteful agriculture ....
We can grow all our food supplies .
What Adam Smith would have told us .
What Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge says .
What Admiral Harding Close says .
What Britain should not do .
What everybody admits
What Free-trade reformers postulated
What Free-traders claim
What Free-traders ignore
ensi
ou
ng Bill
Id have failed
PACE
830
188
2i:{
368
367
341
50
130
130
43
1G4
123
143
338
80
163
89
30(5
287
170
303
271
311
248
350
22G
244
282
l.'iO
104
2ilG
257
285
287
230
259
4
224
88
124
24
238
182
291
33G
52
275
172
1G9
174
294
1!)3
194
251
23
305
13
350
XIV
INDEX TO SrBJECT-HEADINGS
Whut Germany foresaw
"What histon- tells ....
What Holland does ....
What many people think of agriculture .
What other nations do .
WTiat other people say ....
"Wliat Prince Kropotkin says .
What Tariff-refonners say
What the agricultural loan would do
What the '• Commission " found in Germany
What the donors do ... .
What the four-acre principle means
What the German Press says .
What the Government Report discloses .
What the land can do for us .
What the people have a right to expect .
What the people should demand
What the people should realise
What the Eadical Organ reports. £53,000,000 in pensions
What the workers want
What the working man says .
What the writer knows .
What war with Germany would mean
^Vhat would happen were we at war
AVheat £9 per quarter during the Peninsular war
Who are labour's enemies ?
"NVTio form the " masses " ? .
^\Tiy Cobden sacrificed agriculture .
Widespread poverty does not exist in Gennany
Widespread poverty instead of universal riches
Will Parliament act or shirk res])onsibility ?
Will Tariff-reform alone afford full employment for all ':