A s^j'icullnral Strikes 



259 



that, be they ever so industrious and stead\^, 

 they may at any time have orders from 

 Leamington, or some other centre, to strike 

 from work on the estate, and thus defeat 

 the purpose for which they have been 

 accepted as tenants. We must also bear in 

 mind that in every great movement the 

 Executive distant bodies of agitators and 

 vv'ould-bc controllers for ever discover that 

 local agitators in connexion with them are . 

 very apt to take the reins in their own hands, 

 and act with an independence which is im- 

 patient of all advice or restraint from head- 

 quarters. 



It needs little thought upon this vexed 

 subject to see that '"union" rule will not 

 '^"ly have its own difficulties, but that it 

 must beget, in the case of the agricultural 

 labourers, a penalty they may not yet have 

 contemplated. So long as these " strikes " 

 are supported from "without" by a great 

 deal of voluntary sympathetic aid, it may be 

 conceded they are in a condition to dictate 

 their own " terms," and wait the effect upon 

 the employers of the suspension of work. 

 Is this a source of aid on which they can 

 depend ? I am of opinion it is not. 

 Sympathy with popular movements is of a 

 very agueish character; it has a very cold 

 stage following the hot. The "trades" v^dll 

 be heavily taxed to hold their own combina- 

 tion in any real abiding strength., but they 

 will do it; their position with their employers 

 has little analogy with that of the farm 

 labourer and his employer. 



I think it well for those who seek to rule 

 "the Agricultural Union" to consider the 

 direct action it will have, not only on the 

 labourer's domestic well-doing, his advantages 

 as gained from the kind interest the owners 

 of land and the higher orders of his parish 

 may take, have as yet so often taken in his 

 welfare, and that of his children ; but also in 

 some other important respects. In con- 

 sidering the question of relief at a Board 

 of Guardians, the question of " earnings " of 

 the family always arises, also does the ap- 

 plicant belong to " a club," and what does 

 he receive from it? In practice, as I have 

 known it for many ye?n;, it has been the 



habit to count only half of what is received 

 from the club in the calculation of what is 

 to be granted for the relief of destitution by 

 the board, this being held to be an en- 

 couragement of the labourers to belong to 

 clubs. Is it in human, in ordinary guardian 

 nature, not to also now demand, or, at all 

 events, seek information as to what- is paid 

 to "the Union?" If a "strike" is on in 

 one county, or part of it, and known to be 

 levying weekly pay from all the rest, will 

 not the knowledge of this fact tell heavily 

 on applicants for relief from the poor-rate, 

 to say nothing of how it may tell on local 

 charitable associations supported by em- 

 ployers of labour? It must be borne in 

 mind also, that the difference of 2s. a-week 

 in wages will, in far the largest proportion 

 of cases, excliuU the applicant from " relief ^^ 

 altogether. Take the common case of a 

 parish where the squire or squires employ 

 a good many men as labourers in their gar- 

 dens and grounds. Is it not the fact that 

 the wages of these are, as the rule, 2 s. 

 higher weekly than those of the farming men ; 

 because it is so, it is rare for them to re- 

 ceive any parish relief except in very special 

 circumstances ? If all the wages are raised 

 to this level, we may rest assured a very 

 large amount of relief will be refused whicli 

 is now for ever granted. 



At present the farm staff are, as I have 

 said, of local breed; they have worked where 

 their forefathers worked, just as many of 

 their employers live and rent where theirs 

 did. So gradually do men drift into age and 

 infirmity that, just as boys are but too often 

 kept on boys' wages when they have become,, 

 as to their working power, men, so men are^ 

 on the other hand, stiU paid as men when 

 real power to do strong man's work has long 

 left them. To pay in future the union scale 

 for piece work, day work, according to union 

 measures and hours, will at once entail the 

 raising all the wages of those who are al/le 

 to do such 7i'or/:. If such a covenanted prin- 

 ciple of labour be carried out to the letter, 

 what is to become of the " ancients " of the 

 farm ? Do " the unions " expect that they 

 will be kept on through winter and summer 



