THE LIBERAL LAND POLICY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
own and occupy a small-holding, and at the present time not less than one-half of the farmers in Cornwall, and so far as I know in England, own their holdings. The rest of the farmers are cherishing the prospect of purchasing their holdings in the near future. Under these circumstances what justification exists for the Liberal Party to raise the question of nationalization ? We cannot understand why Mr. Lloyd George, after his denunciations of Socialism at the last election, is now ardent to make the farmers its first victims.
There are few farmers indeed who would care to have the State as a landlord. We know too well the fondness of Government offices for red-tape and circumlocution ; any farmer working in a place that he owned would toil cheer- fully from 5 A.m. to 10 P.M. and get more improvements made and more produce than would four under the galling control of the. State or County Councils.
From a standpoint of simple economy it would be a vast addition to the expenses of this country ; the civil servants required would be an extra burden on the land that does not exist when the farmer is owner. They could not possibly do the farmer the least good ; they would be a hindrance to the free control of his land ; he could not build a house or even a pig-sty without an elaborate process of form-filling and delay.
For the love of a plot of land that a man can call his own our kindred leave their native land and live in the desert and make it blossom as the rose. When you put people in chains to the State you destroy their free will. The farmers bitterly 'resent the proposed measure ; worse still, their confidence in the stability of this country is being shaken, and already they talk of going away. This is not a time to outrage con- fidence which the country needs badly. I myself have decided to settle in the United States as soon as I am able, for in that country the Constitution forbids Socialism and pre- serves individual freedom.—I am, Sir, &c., The Hive, Redruth, Cornwall. W. J. FARMER.
P.S.—A Liberal leader assures me that the Liberal Party will not adopt this scheme. I hope he is right, but we never know what doctrinaires will do.
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