t industrialism which
adds nothing to the world's true riches, and the re-establishment of
the people in their true heritage, the land. But the Government {77}
proposes to reinstate a handful. There is no sign that the politician
has as yet realised that agriculture is the noblest of industries, a
nation's true wealth. And there is no realisation of the only method
by which this can be done. It is the magic of ownership that alone
will restore to the people the joy in the land. The rent system is
doomed to failure. In the words 'my own' there is a glamour which
turns even sand into gold. When to the masses that have been despoiled
there is again restored the privilege of designating a little portion
of the land of their fathers, their own, then, and only then, will the
country places once more waken to life, and the desolation of
generations be at last removed. A nation for which millions have been
found ready to die must surely provide for the living such social
conditions as will enable them to live joyous and clean lives. In
kingdoms teeming with riches, no heart must be starved of beauty, no
life starved of bread, and no soul starved of God.

[1] A hundred years ago there were 5 deer forests in Scotland, now
there are 200. Since 1891 the acreage in Scotland under deer and
devoted to sport increased from over 2 1/2 millions of acres to over 3 1/2
millions of acres. This process of increasing the area devoted to
sport has gone on even since the war began. This land, to the extent
of two millions of acres, can be reclaimed for human use. Scotland has
talked of afforestation for a generation--and done nothing! During the
last twenty-five years, while the politicians pursued their game, the
people of Scotland lost an additional million of acres so far as food
production is concerned!

{78}

CHAPTER IV

THE MAN IN THE SLUM

The countrysides have been laid waste, but what of the men and women
who were thus driven from the wide, wind-swept spaces to stony streets
and airless barracks? What did it mean of happiness and well-being to
them? Let us try to present the contrast to ourselves.

I

In no sphere is there such an opportunity of happiness as that of work
in the open air, when men have learned to love the sights and the
sounds of the wide sky. The pleasantest sight in the world is to watch
a ploughman driving straight his long furrow, or resting at the furrow
end crooning to his {7