FRUIT AND FAILMERS.
It is not often that people quite refuse to spend money given freely on the understanding that it shall be spent ; but such perverse economy was practised by the Overseas Settlement Committee, and now by the Empire Marketing Board. Now the chief reason why the Empire Marketing Board did not spend all the cool million given them was the obstructive lethargy of British farmers. That is the fact ; and it would be harmful as well as dishonest to conceal it. This Empire Marketing Board has shown a good deal of constructive—and, indeed, artistic—imagination, in sharp contrast with the pawky timidity of the Overseas Settlement Committee, which did not spend, chiefly because it was afraid of making mistakes. The Marketing Board has had great successes ; and in regard to fruit has proved, in a most salient manner, that the feeding habits of a people may be profoundly affected by skilful and sensible propaganda. The order, "Eat More Fruit," was obeyed ; and fruit will henceforth, so far as we can see, form a bigger proportion of the diet of our people, and a bigger proportion of the crops of the Empire, including England.
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