Social and Political Aspects 117 



not simply " in the interest of the employers," in the sense in which 

 that is a doubtful benefit to the men. The question is understood to 

 be a question of social policy. Small holdings and allotments are to 

 bring the people back to the land. The aim of the Labourers' Friend 

 Society in 1832 had been simply to improve the lot of the labourers, 

 whose wages had fallen in view of the over-stocked market for their 

 labour and the impossibility of migration. But the modern move- 

 ment aims at moderating the rural exodus, and at re-populating the 

 deserted country. 



It is very credible that labourers who are in a position to cultivate 

 a bit of land for themselves are more inclined to remain on the 

 land than the mere proletarian. There is something very attractive 

 to the labourer in the prospect of advancing from the status of 

 an allotment-holder to that of a small farmer, and of finally being 

 free from the necessity of working for an employer. He wants 

 something better to look forward to than his weekly wage on a 

 Saturday night, as Mr Winfrey put it 1 . In the most various cases the 

 provision of allotments and small holdings has proved to be favourable 

 to the increase of the population of a district, just as when they dis- 

 appeared the rural population was found to migrate if possible*. " It 

 is an established fact," says Mr Samuel, "that in the villages of 

 England where small holdings are numerous the population rarely 

 declines and often increases 8 ." Statistics too may be cited in this 

 connection. In the Census of Occupations, under the head " Farmers' 

 Relatives assisting in the work of the Farm," the numbers fell from 

 111,704 in the year 1851 to 75,197 in the year 1881, but rose again to 

 89,165 between 1881 and 1901. These noteworthy figures are probably 

 chiefly to be explained by the development of small holdings. Small 

 farming needs, both absolutely and per acre, more labour than does 

 large farming; and therefore, with the decrease in small farms between 

 1851 and 1 88 1, went a decrease in the number of farmers' relatives 

 employed. Conversely such employment increased from the moment 

 when large farming began to give way to small 4 . Therefore, also, 

 as labourers were converted into allotment-holders and small farmers, 

 the possibility of keeping not only themselves but their sons and 

 daughters on the land increased. It was this fact which first turned 



1 Report of Proceedings at the Fifth Congress of the Co-operative Alliance, 1907, p. 343. 



1 Ibid., p. 369. See also W. J. Harris's paper in Land, its Attractions and Riches, 189*, I 



p. 3*- ' 



3 Samuel, op. cit. p. 104. 



4 See also Druce, op. cit. pp. 3, 13. 



