PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
times we have had. It means that few farmers are occupying the same farms they were occupying in my young days. And what has it meant as regards the labourer? The labouring classes are probably in a better position to-day than ever they were, but how many labourers have had to leave Sussex in the last thirty years in search of employment? I remember, it is not so many years ago—about fifteen—that the lake at Normanhurst was made by my father, chiefly to give employment to the men who were out of work. When you are thinking of the condition of the labourer to-day, remember that many a lad has had to leave this neighbourhood to earn a livelihood elsewhere. The decline of our agricultural population is not merely a question of local interest. It is one of the most serious national importance, because the increasing proportion of children which year by year are brought up under the unhealthy conditions of town life is beginning to have its effect on the physique of the people and the stamina of the race. One of the greatest, if not the greatest, statesmen of last century said: 'I look upon the decline in agriculture as the greatest danger to our permanence as a race.' It is in my humble judgment one of the strongest arguments in favour of the policy outlined by Mr. Chamberlain that it will tend to stop this decline, and for this, if for no other reason, I think you will agree with me. I beg to give you the health of 'The Tenant Farmers of East Sussex.'
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