AGRICULTURE FOR GERMANY
The German nation derive a considerable portion of their food from importation of foreign food-stuffs. Before the World War we managed to pay for these imports with our industrial exports, our trade, and our deposits of capital abroad. The outcome of the War put an end to this possibility.
To-day we are paying for our imported food mostly with the help of foreign loans, which drive the German nation deeper and deeper in debt to the international financiers who provide credits. If things go on as they are, the German people will become more and more impoverished.
The only possibility of escaping from this thraldom lies in the ability of Germany to produce essential food stuffs at home. Increased production by German agri¬ culture is therefore a question of life and death for the German nation.
Moreover, a country population, economically sound and highly productive, is essential for our industry, which will in future have more and more to look for openings in the home market.
We also regard the country population as the bearer of the inheritance of health, the source of the nation’s youth, and as the backbone of its armed strength.
Maintenance of an efficient agricultural class, increasing in numbers as the general population increases, is an essential plank in the National