PERHAPS THIS PLAN WOULD WORK

THE leaders of this country seem to be afflicted with hypermetropia, i.e., " a disease of the eyes such that only things at a distance are seen clearly." The. woes of Jews and Arabs, of Czecho-Slovakia, of every place under the sun except our own country, draw a plaintive note from the golden heartstrings of our politicians.
This note usually takes the form of a bank-note. The woes of over two million unemployed Englishmen, and of several million more of their dependents are passed over as being a problem too vast for mere humans to solve. In order that farmers abroad should be kept in comfortable affluence by being able to dump their produce in this country, the farmer in England is called upon to live on fresh air and Marketing Boards. The problem has indeed become so acute, that there is dire necessity for a man of sufficient courage to take into his hands the responsibility for changing the whole policy of this country with regard to Agriculture.
The agricultural problem began to arise when the first burgeonings of industrialism called men from the land, and concentrated them in towns, and when landlords were allowed to fence in and claim for themselves the land which hitherto had been the property of all.
It would be interesting to find out what proportion of the two million unemployed is made up of those who in more recent times have been compelled to quit the land, in order that the towns should provide the support of them and their families, support which their
former employers, the farmers, found themselves unable to provide, because of foreign competition which should never be allowed.
Divers Schemes
There are in existence several private schemes for settling men back on the land, but the mere fact that they are of private origin imposes a stranglehold on these schemes, and restricts the extent of their working.
Even the success which they have achieved, which is small only through the lack of opportunity and not through any failing in the scheme itself, should make it clear to those whom it should concern that in a small way the unemployment problem has been lessened.
I have a case in mind at the moment of a man and his family who availed themselves of a scheme inaugurated by the local County Council. This man gave up his work in the factory in order to take a livelihood from the land. His place was taken by one who had been unemployed.
If this could work successfully in one case, why not in a far greater number? The system of land settlement does not imply that unemployed men would be provided with two acres and a cow, but I do not think it would be rash to say that the operation would work as in the case I have mentioned. Those who would be prevailed upon to use the opportunity presented to them would not be confined to the ranks of the unemployed, but would be found also amongst those who already by God's goodness are in work. Their places would be taken by those now unemployed who did not feel the urge to return to the land. This, in very broad outline, is my contention, and I fail to see how such a plan could not be assured of success if it had the backing of the Government.
The primary object, of course, of the various land schemes is production for use, but it is inevitable that a man thus settled should raise more than his own needs demand. In this case, a market for his surplus could be guaranteed him, as it is under • the County scheme I mentioned, through the help of the Co-op. Cut down the foreign quotas, and this guarantee becomes easy. This country can absorb, all such surplus which would be produced, if she were not so concerned with the welfare of the farmers abroad.
What would be the cost of such a plan? Would the amount of capital necessary for this be anything like that amount which this country has loaned abroad during the last ten years?
These things could be provided on the basis of a short-term loan, free of Interest. There would at least be the certainty that the loan would be repaid. Under the scheme I have mentioned, each man is loaned £350 at the start. Then, while he continues to draw unemployment benefit, plus a small recognition of the fact that he is working, after the produce is marketed, and working expenses deducted, the residue goes to the County Council, until each man has repaid £150. Then he works on his own. This means that the Council has given him £200. There is Government backing for this, of course, so that when the £150 have been repaid, the man ceases to draw benefit, and is no longer a drain on the national Budget, so that what is temporarily lost on the swings Is made up a hundred-fold on the roundabouts.
It would, at least, help
The nation-wide adoption of this plan, I contend, would help to solve the unemployment problem.
This course of action would mean a definite break away from the things to which this generation has become accustomed. It might be said that those who had come to look on the cinema, the tramcar, the 'bus, as a necessity would find the new conditions impossible.
But how many are there who have reached this state? Is it not that the mass of unemployed turn to the "pictures," the cheap afternoon " matinee " as a means of forgetting for a time the drabness of their existence? Would they not soon get accustomed to being without these
things? Indeed, would they not welcome conditions which made them unnecessary? If a man were prepared to work, even though things were hard for a time, there is opportunity for him here. The life would be no harder than he is called on to live now. In fact, there would be the certainty of his prospects, for they would depend not on the whim or goodwill of another, but on the man's own industry. He would have something to look forward to, and not only that, something to leave as a heritage to his children.
Non-compulsory Plan
I have tried to point very briefly the success with which land-settlement schemes are meeting in various parts of the country, and have tried further to show that there is no intrinsic reason which would militate against the success of the venture if operated on a nationwide scale. It would be no exaggeration to say that the new Minister of Agriculture has in his hands the power to settle, not only part of the agricultural problem, but also the entire unemployment question in this country. Let him establish these small-holdings throughout the length and breadth of the country, cut down all foreign quotas, guid give the home market to the home producers. Take such men as want to go, away from the slums and give them a chance to show the stuff they are made of. Their needs will create an honest demand for commodities which employ men in really useful work, instead of having to be dependent for a living on the necessity for Rearmament.
There will be some who will take the opportunity because they are willing to try anything once. Maybe after a time the situation will begin to pall, and they will realise that they are not cut out for such a life. The door is always open to them to return to the town. There will be others who take the thing up as a last resort. These in time will come to realise the manifold advantages of their new surroundings, and will encourage themselves to put forward the endeavour to make a success of it. God bless them, and speed the day on which this opportunity will be given to all who want it. When that day comes, this country will have said good-bye to a problem which has tormented men since the time when England broke away from obedience to Almighty God and His Church, the Unemployment Problem.
V. C.