20 FOREIGN COUNTRIES 



between 1891 and 1900 agriculture lost 

 24,660 persons out of a total population of 

 2,358,000. This brought the proportion of 

 occupied persons down from 49.6 per cent, to 

 41 per cent., the largest drop recorded in any 

 country. 



Our Great Industrial Rivals. 



We now come to the countries in which a 

 relative but not an absolute decline has taken 

 place ; and these include our greatest indus- 

 trial rivals. In Germany between 1895 and 

 1907 agriculture dropped from 37.5 per cent, 

 to 35.2 per cent, of the total occupied ; but 

 the number of persons occupied in agricul- 

 ture increased by 1,590,000. In the United 

 States the figures are curiously close to those 

 for Germany. Between 1890 and 1900 

 agriculture dropped from 38.0 per cent, to 

 35.9 per cent., but rose numericall}^ by 

 1,886,000. In Belgium during the same 

 period the drop was from 22.9 per cent, to 

 21. 1 per cent., but with an actual increase of 

 48,120. In Holland, Sweden, and Hungary 

 also a numerical increase with a small 

 relative decrease was recorded. None of 

 these countries, in which the agricultural 

 population is still increasing, can be said to 

 be in the same category with Great Britain, 

 though some of them may be on the way 

 towards it. 



