CAN THE FARMER SAVE HIMSELF $-11.
FARMING AND POLITICS.
IT is a proof of the underlying confidence which farmers have in the good will of the nation towards them that upon every occasion of agricultural difficulty their leaders make a fresh appeal for public sympathy and help. The appeal, of course, is usually accompanied by the assurance that nothing of any consequence has yet been done by any Government of modem times to help the farming industry. Each political party in turn— so we read in a recent pamphlet—has made agriculture its catspaw. And remembering the history of the Corn Production Act—the high hopes raised at its passing and the ignominious haste of its repeal—it is not unreasonable that farmers should regard politicians with some sus- picion. But this unhappy experience would seem to have had the effect of stimulating rather than abating the farmer's political zeal. Did Mr. Lloyd George betray 'us? We turn with fresh hope to Mr. Bonar Law. Was Mr. Bonar Law difficult and unyielding ? We shall now approach Mr. Baldwin. If the last General Election did not give us all we wanted, let us prepare with still more vigour for the next. Whatever disappointments farmers may have had, their confidence in the attitude of the nation towards them remains unshaken, their interest in politics as a means to economic advancement is unchanged.
Nor is this confidence—this underlying confidence— altogether without justification. Nothing, we believe, is more evident in modern English politics than that the nation as a whole recognizes the high importance of its agriculture, that it is well disposed to the farming interest, and that if a reasonable policy for assisting it can be devised, such a policy will secure general support. This is not, of course, to say that Parliament would per- manently consent to have agriculture placed on what is called a social and political basis, by which is meant that it should be subsidized by the State as a kind of " kept" industry. The history of the Corn Production Acts seems to show that no such policy can stand. Nor is it safe to assume that in the event of the reversal of the Free Trade system, the farming industry, which employs less than 10 per cent. of the population, would find itself placed in an advantageous position. On the contrary, it is pretty certain that farmers when they advocate, as so many of them still do, a return to Protectionist duties are advo- cating a very dangerous policy. But within these limits there is evidence of a general desire, irrespective of party differences, to see farmers' legitimate grievances removed, and their industry restored—if by any means it can be done—to a state of prosperity and success. The notion that agriculture is neglected and despised, that it cannot count on fair treatment from the Government as com- pared with other industries, is a notion that seems obviously untrue.
In a pamphlet*, however, that has recently appeared, with a preface by Lord Bledisloe of Lydney—" a manifesto to all who live on or by the land of England "—a very different view is taken. The troubles of agriculture arc there entirely attributed to politics. "The decline in agricultural prosperity," we read, "is simply and solely due to our national policy," and landowners, farmers and labourers are urged with passionate emphasis to con- centrate all their energies on political action, as the only possible means of escape from the disaster that awaits them. For "the real division," we are told, "lies be- tween cities with their commerce and the countryside with its agriculture " ; and labourers must be taught to realize—what farmers and landowners have already • Where Are We Going By Christopher Tumor and Bernard Gilbert. With a Preface by Lord Bledisioe of Lydney. London : Cecil Palmer, Chandos Street, W.C. 2. Ess. Od. net.] learnt—that "the towns are the real enemy" (p. 70). There is a well-known story of a child brought up in a great Whig house who tremblingly asked its mother whether Tories were all born wicked or did they become so. To which the answer came, stern and uncompro- mising : "They are born wicked, and they become worse." It is thus apparently that these writers feel about city folk. Their wickedness at times is almost incredible. When things are bad in the cities, as they sometimes are, "the city folk strive desperately to make them better at the expense of the countryside. It was not by accident that the farmer's prices were the first to fall. Not a bit of it ! " (p. 87). It was due, as we gather, to the desperate striving of the city folk. " Agriculture," we are told, " has neither voice nor power, and therefore suffers first and most."
What, then, is to be done ? Appeal to the Conservative Party ? The authors of this book would scorn to do so. They have stood too long in the position of poor relations of that party. They have been treated with a neglect amounting to contempt. From the point of view of the countryman there is not a pin to choose between the three parties. They are all dominated by city folk ; but we observe that the writers' bitterest invective is reserved for the Conservative Party. Once at least that party knew better—we presume in Lord George Bentinck's days—but now "lusting after strange gods it has com- pletely lost its foothold." It has "trimmed its sails to the wind to purchase power." Such a party "invites and deserves destruction." " Of what use to agriculture," we are asked on page 41, "are the House of Lords or the rural Conservative Members ? " And the answer comes with crushing force : "None whatever " Even the National Farmers' Union, who are free at least, so we hope, from the taint of the city, are not entirely free from criticism. "They have too restricted a vision " (p. 52) ; with the unhappy consequence that "their candidates as a rule fall wretchedly between two, or three, stools." It would seem that they do not see clearly where the stools are.
In these circumstances, so we read, there is only one hope—the formation of a Rural Party ; a Party that will some day sweep away the present nick of time-servers, hypocrites, slaves, puppets and delegates ; a Party which exists already, as we gather, in embryo, and of which the main object of this manifesto is to hail and hasten the birth. But the birth, as we learn on page 49, is already upon us. "The present depression, the repudiation of the policy of the Corn Production Act and the organization of the farm-workers have put the last touches to the situation, and the Rural Party, being forced to appear, is about to step forward."
As to the objects which this party will achieve, or try to achieve, comparatively little is said, for it is not a cut-and-dried plan that the authors would put forth : their aim rather is to unfurl a banner. But one or two items are mentioned. A revision of railway rates, the abolition of the monstrosity of summer time, and the introduction of some policy of Protection that will restore prosperity to agriculture—" whether it be a sliding tariff; a guarantee of prices, a stabilization of prices or what not "—these arc some of the legends that will float on the banner of the Rural Party.
All this is, of course, familiar enough. The proposal of a new party to supersede the older political parties has often been made. Its formation has sometimes been attempted. But in the methods by which it is suggested that the Rural Party will obtain power and overcome the time-servers, hypocrites, slaves, puppets and delegates who now dominate our political life there is a certain novelty, or at least a certain obscurity. Not by argument alone will the Rural Party work, for "in the realm of politics," we read, "reason has no sway. Only force counts. Remember that. It is everlastingly true. ONLY FORCE COUNTS" (p. 57). And a little later on the page the same motto recurs. "The city manufacturer," it seems, "only respects force. Very well. We will use force. The cap-in-hand attitude that we have had to adopt for several generations when we wanted the barest justice is as degrading as it is useless. Only force counts." Are we, then, on the eve of some new Fascist movement, with Lord Nedisloe or Mr. Christopher Tumor for its Mussolini ? It is a point that needs elucidation.
It may be thought, perhaps, that to write in this way of a highly rhetorical piece of work is to take it too seriously, and that it is useless to apply to a mere political manifesto that method of analysis and argument which the authors so frankly despise. "it is not so much a book," says the publisher, "as a torch, a banner ; a fiery cross. It is a clarion call to all whose interests are rural, and who have for so long seen themselves abandoned, threatened and ousted." In point of fact, it is nothing of the kind. It is not a clarion call but a cry of despair. It expresses the despair of men who have persuaded them- selves—quite wrongly—that the troubles of the fanner and the rural community arc solely due to national policy, and that it is only by politics and more politics—or even by the use of force—that these troubles can be overcome. It is, in fact, an interesting summary of a great deal of shallow and foolish opinion that still exists unfortunately in the agricultural world, and it is lamentable tAt writers of high authority and position, whose interest in the fortunes of agriculture is so well known, should make at this time so futile an appeal. For it is not by mere political organization however elaborate—by the running of candidates for Parliament, and the formulation of pro- grammes and policies, and the exaction of political pledges, and the making of deputations to Ministers and the passing of high-sounding resolutions, and the supply of matter to the Press, and all the familiar and well-used devices for the influencing of votes and opinions : it is not by these means alone, still less by the formation of a new party, that farmers can save and restore their industry. In the matter of political activity, farmers are already a highly organized body. In the National Farmers' Union, with its chain of county and local branches, with its endless series of monthly and quarterly meetings, with its steady income of /30,000 a year at headquarters, not to speak of the great county branches, farmers have already built up a magnificent organization—an organization by which they have gained such a political voice and influence as they have not had for half a century. Those who hold that English farmers are men of such sturdy independence that they are tem- peramentally unable to combine together would do well to study the origin and rise of the National Farmers' Union. If mere political activity could. of itself restore an industry you would expect that farmers would be already on their way to a state of high prosperity. It is, indeed, remarkable that this period of supreme political organization should coincide with one of the worst agricultural depressions that anyone now living can remember.
This is not, of course, to suggest that the organization of the Union has not been useful to farmers. On the contrary, its benefits are too widely known and appreci- ated to require any mention here. The Union has been beyond doubt of incalculable benefit to the industry.
If it were not for its existence, and great influence, the situation to-day would be even worse than it is. But for the curing of economic ills the chief necessity is economic organization, and to that side of the matter the leaders of the Union have hitherto given but little attention.
A little over a year ago the President of a great Agri- cultural Conference, in the course of his presidential address, was drawing attention to the crying need of organization in agriculture, and by organization he meant organization for economic purposes. Agriculture,' he said, needs efficient organization. It is its "chief desideratum." There is probably no worse consequence, he exclaimed, of the lack of such organization than "the extent and power of the middleman interest— unparalleled elsewhere in the civilized world—whose parasitic tentacles have slowly, yet surely, fastened themselves on the industry, and are sucking out its lifeblood to the detriment of producer and consumer alike."
The speaker was Lord Bledisloe. The Conference was the meeting of the Agricultural Section of the British Association. I am inclined to think that in impressing upon farmers the great need of economic organization he was doing a better and wiser piece of work than in urging them to devote their energies to the formation of some new political group. For it is not merely through the sucking out of our lifeblood by the parasitic tentacles of the middleman interest—to use Lord Bledisloe's sanguinary phrase—that we farmers, in our unorganized state, have suffered. We are also damaged by the competition of the well-organized trade from overseas. In fruit, in' eggs, in butter, cheese and bacon, our foreign and colonial rivals, by means of their farmers' combinations, have been steadily making inroads upon the. English market, and capturing, as they say, the pick of it. Even in the matter of fresh meat the English fanner, with his present wasteful methods of marketing, finds it difficult to hold his own. In almost every department of our agriculture—except in the raising of pedigree stock, which is supported by powerful county associations and by the great breed societies—you will find evidence of defective organization. We seem at times to take a sort of pride in our happy-go-lucky methods and pleasant easy ways. We like to think that the English farmer has a genius of his own, which makes it unnecessary for him to follow the strict business methods of other countries. Sturdy and independent fellow, he may be left to muddle through. If leading men in the agricultural world had given to this question of the marketing of produce one half the attention that they have spent on political organization in the last ten years, the state of English farming would be very different from what it is to-day. Farmers would not be agitating for Protection or subsidies, and the readers of newspapers would not be harassed with accounts of the " desperate " plight both of farmers and their men.
Already, however, amidst much controversy, you may detect the signs of change. The recent visits of farmers to Denmark, the knowledge of increased organization in America and the Dominions, and the reports that have already come from the two Government committees have not been without their effect. HILIP MORRELL.
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