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THE CASE OF AGRICULTURE
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others, are Protectionists. But at the present time they are the more incited to seek Governmental aid in the form of tariffs, bounties, remissions of rating, etc., because the recent political campaign, to which Mr. George was seeking to commit the country before the war, was causing them serious alarm. If they were to be called upon to raise agricultural wages to a decent minimum, to assist in the creation of "free" cottages, and the establishment on a large scale of small holdings, and to assent to other means of raising the independence of the labourers, they were impelled more urgently to demand from the Government some simple guarantees that their rents and profits shall not be swallowed up by these improvements of the conditions of labour. They must be secured against the incalculable inrushes of foreign foods into our markets. Prices of food must be kept at a level which will make farming possible, and give the farmers sufficient security of outlook to "do their best by the land." To