100 BELGIUM - MISCELLANEOUS 



casional factory hand from the country who only travels because the count- 

 ry does not jneld him enough to live on, but returns thither as soon as he 

 can : 2nd., the industrial workman Hving in the country and leaving it dai- 

 ly, who will not again return to work there, but whose home remains in the 

 village ; 3rd. , the half-agricultural, half -industrial workman, who travels 

 in winter, but continues to cultivate a piece of land, to which he gives his 

 time and the necessary attention, at convenient moments ; 4th., the work- 

 man by profession, detached on service by his master for work at a 

 distance, and not an emigrant at all; 5th., the half expatriated, that 

 is, the workman who leaves home week by week and is only attached 

 to the village by a very feeble tie and often ends by removing from it com- 

 pletely ; 6th., finally, the town workman who returns to the country, deliber- 

 ately separating himself from the urban or industrial mass, so as to have 

 a healthier and cheaper home (i). The daily emigration has certainly its 

 good side ; the workman gets better wages, but it would be a mistake 

 to imagine his position as far more advantageovis than that of the agri- 

 cultural labourers remaining at home. The railway fare is, it is true, 

 ridiculously low, as the season ticket makes the daily forward and 

 return journey only cost i fr. 50 per 20 kms., and 3 fr. 15 for 100 kms., 

 but expensive habits are contracted and, in the end, the net profit is less 

 than if the workman had contented himself with modest wages in the 

 country. The industrial workman has more spare time than the agri- 

 cultural labourer, but this is not true in the case of the daity emigrant 

 who, when his town companions have finished their work and return to 

 their homes, has still, sometimes, in addition to his railway journey, a 

 long distance to walk to his house. 



From the moral and intellectual point of view, town residence has its 

 advantages, but again the daily emigrants do not enjoy these. 



The disadvantages of rural exodii^, it is not to be denied, are very many ; 

 for those leaving the village with no hope of return there are all the draw- 

 backs of congested cities, the housing difficulty... (2) ; for those who come to 

 the towns for the day there is unaccustomed debilitating work, there are 

 long and uncomfortable journeys. Workmen who, on account of the di- 

 stance of their homes from their place of work only return there once a 

 week, and are separated from their family during that time, sometimes com- 

 municate to them the most serious diseases. In the Liege valley, neo-mal- 

 thusianism has made very great way and finds active apostles among the 

 migratory labourers of certain agricultural regions. 



The fatal consequences for rural economy of the dearth of labourers 

 is above all felt in the neighbourhood of towns and industrial centres. 

 " Were it not for the Flemish season labourers, " said a Walloon farmer, 

 " we could not go on farming. " Some farmers have been obliged to a cert- 



(1) Mahaiin, Report quoted, pag. 7, 



(2) See Philippen and F. Ma.theu5SEN : Het vraa!,stuk der Stadsinwyking. Brussels, 

 16 me des Paroissiens, 191 3, page. 26. 



