260 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



taskmasters, a branch of the Workers' Union was formed in 

 a village which shall be nameless. The farmers visited each 

 of their men and told them to hand over to them their 

 trade union cards. The men meekly obeyed ! The farmers 

 thereupon returned these cards to the office of the Union. 

 And that, for the time being, was the end of this branch. 



It may seem strange to the factory worker that men 

 should meekly obey these injunctions from their employers, 

 but a factory worker does not understand the isolated posi- 

 tion, and what has been termed the " human relationship " 

 existing between the farmer and his men. The farmer has 

 unlimited opportunities for sapping the independence and 

 undermining the courage of the labourer. He may follow 

 the ploughman across the field nagging at him ; he may 

 stand about the stable whilst the carter is feeding the horses 

 and cajole him. He may sit on the stool or corn-bin in the 

 cowshed and expostulate with the cowman as he milks the 

 cows, until the farm worker either throws up his job or 

 turns down his card. 



One or two humorous instances have been related to 

 me by trade union organisers. Oxfordshire that is 

 to say, the Oxfordshire of low-lying fields in contradistinc- 

 tion to hilly country has bred a timid race of men. Into 

 this part of the country went two organisers to hold a meet- 

 ing. As they were unable to obtain a room they held the 

 meeting on a piece of roadside waste. They spoke to an 

 entirely empty road and a deserted wayside green, but they 

 were conscious that at the back of them stood a blacksmith's 

 shop full of men secretly listening. Thus the trade union 

 orators had the strange experience of addressing an empty 

 space in front of them, whilst behind them was an audience 

 craning necks out of windows to catch the words of the 

 speakers. 



As darkness fell the men crept out of their dug-out in 

 the rear, and many had the courage to join the Union. 



In another part of the county they addressed a meeting 

 in front of a barn, whilst their listeners for the most part 

 stood behind the barn so that they should not be visible to 

 vigilant farmers passing along the road ! 



