e and the fairness of the objects which we have in view of raising
this money. But there are some who say that the taxes themselves are
unjust, unfair, unequal, oppressive, notably so the land taxes. They are
engaged, not merely in the House of Commons, but outside the House of
Commons, in assailing these taxes with a concentrated and sustained
ferocity which will not even allow a comma to escape with its life.

"We claim that the tax we impose on land is fair, just, and moderate.
They go on threatening that if we proceed they will cut down their
benefactions and discharge labor. What kind of labor? What is the labor
they are going to choose for dismissal? Are they going to threaten to
devastate rural England while feeding themselves and dressing themselves?
Are they going to reduce their gamekeepers? That would be sad. The
agricultural laborer and the farmer might then have some part of the game
which they fatten with their labor. But what would happen to you in the
season? No weekend shooting with the Duke of Norfolk for any of us. But
that is not the kind of labor they are going to cut down. They are going
to cut down productive labor--builders and gardeners--and they are going
to ruin their property so that it shall not be taxed. All I can say is
this: the ownership of land is not merely an enjoyment, it is
stewardship. It has been reckoned as such in the past, and if they cease
to discharge their functions, which include the security and defense of
the country and the looking after the broken in their villages and
neighborhood, those functions which are part of the traditional duties
attaching to the ownership of land and which have given to it its title,
if they cease to discharge those functions, the time will come to
reconsider the conditions under which land is held in this country. No
country, however rich, can permanently afford to have quartered upon its
revenue a class which declines to do the duty which it is called upon to
perform. And, therefore, it is one of the prime duties of statesmanship
to investigate those conditions.

"We are placing the burdens on the broad shoulders. Why should I put
burdens on the people? I am one of the children of the people. I was
brought up among them. I know their trials, and God forbid that I should
add one grain of trouble to the anxiety which they bear with such
patience and fortitude. When the Prime Minister did me the honor of
inviting me to take