PART SIX 



STIRRINGS OF NEW LIFE 



1900. 



IN 1901, Sir Rider Haggard, the Arthur Young of the twen- 

 tieth century, made his famous tour 1 through the v/hole 

 of England south of Yorkshire. The picture presented 

 to us is a gloomy one : land going back to grass with the 

 labourer leaving the land is the recurring note in county 

 after county. Arch in 1897 declared that " nothing but 

 boys and old men were left." This is an exaggerated state- 

 ment, though of the young men who remained the majority 

 were not the brightest specimens of their class. It may 

 largely account for the decline and almost total extinction 

 of trade union organisation in rural England from 1896 

 to 1906. Corn prices remained low, and although farmers 

 were gradually adapting themselves to the newer conditions, 

 turning their attention to dairying rather than to corn pro- 

 duction, the upward tendency in their industry did not 

 begin until about the year 1906. 



In the meantime, silently but persistently, the inarticulate 

 agricultural labourer who had no one to speak for him, left 

 the open fields for the crowded cities. It is estimated 

 that the conversion of arable land into grass between 1881 

 and 1901 threw from 60, coo to 80 ,000 farm labourers out of 

 work, and this was accentuated later by the increasing use 

 of labour-saving machinery. 



" This is certain," wrote Sir Rider Haggard, " for I have noted 

 it several times, some parts of England are becoming almost as 

 lonesome as the Veld of Africa. There ' the highways lie waste, 



1 Rural England, by Rider Haggard. 

 VOL. II. 145 L 



