12 Large and Small Holdings 



whereas the price of wheat rose by 130 per cent 1 This inadequate 

 rise of wages led, as is well known, to the introduction of the allow- 

 ance system, by which the parish bound itself to make up from the 

 poor-rate the amount by which a labourer's wages might fall short of 

 what was necessary to his existence. Wages-scales were established, 

 which regulated the necessary income according to the price of bread 2 . 

 If the labourer did not earn the ideal wage thus fixed, the "allowance" 

 made up the deficiency. The extent of the claims on this allowance 

 in the period of rising corn-prices is shown by the enormous increase 

 in the poor-rate in the years 1801 to i8n 3 . 



Under these conditions the lot of the labouring classes became 

 worse with every decade. The extensive enquiries of Sir Frederick 

 Eden showed how miserable their condition was even as early as 

 I795 4 . There was universal complaint of the inadequate rise of wages 

 in face of the exorbitant price of bread 5 , not only in regard of indus- 

 trial workers, or workers in the towns, but also in regard of the 

 agricultural labourers. Even the landed interest, which is seldom in 

 the course of history found objecting to low wages, was obliged to 

 recognise the seriousness of the fall in their purchasing power. Arthur 

 Young, strongest of representatives of this class, admits it 6 . He did 

 not, however, admit that it was a disadvantage. He took the view 

 that low wages meant more work done, and that therefore the 

 deterioration in the position of the agricultural labourer was rather 

 good than bad. Another writer justified the fall of real wages by 

 saying that "the present high price of wheat being, it is hoped, only 

 temporary,... an advance of wages in the above proportion would 



1 For further particulars see H. Levy, Die Not der englischen Landwirte zur Zeit der 

 hohen Getreiilezblle, Stuttgart, 1902, p. 28. In addition to the authorities there quoted see 

 C. D. Brereton, Observations on the Administration of the Poor Laws, 3rd ed. p. 77. 



2 Cp. Levy, op. cit. p. 27. 



3 Porter, op. cit. p. 90. The poor-rate rose in these ten years by about 2% millions. 



4 Sir F. Eden, The State of the Poor, 1797. See Vol. I, p. 404 and passim. 



8 E.g. N. Kent, A General View of the Agriculture of Norfolk, Norwich, 1796, p. 173. 

 In 1801, when wheat was at nor. d. per quarter, the Rev. A. Jobson wrote in the Annals 

 of Agriculture, Vol. xxxvn, p. 33: "Some farmers now pay their labourers only 9*. a 

 week ; some pay IQJ. 6</., which is the common rate ; and some few farmers allow 12S. per 

 week. Even the iis. are found insufficient to provide bread for a small and numerous 

 family." 



6 Young, The Farmer's Letters to the People of England, 1771, Vol. I, p. 704 : "Some 

 years ago they could buy bread... much cheaper than they can at present, while their earnings 

 were the same." Cp. also Sir Spencer Walpole, History of England, ed. of 1902, Vol. i, 

 p. 157; and Duncumb, Herefordshire, p. 136, and pp. 155 f., where Duncumb expresses 

 a desire to see a law passed similar to the statute of Richard II which regulated wages 

 according to the price of bread. 



