274 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



" In Yorkshire farmers attend all markets and sales, even if 

 there is one every day. A good number have their motor cars, 

 whilst many are buying their farms. The yearly and half- 

 yearly hiring is still in operation, though a good number were 

 engaged by the week last Martinmas." 



Mr. Aldous was himself victimised for his activities on 

 behalf of his fellow workers, and modestly refers to his lack 

 of education, thus : 



" I am still at school, though over thirty years of age. I 

 have not the education to write as I should like, having been 

 a farm worker until 1918, and much time that ought to have 

 been spent in reading was not allowed to us when we used to 

 work on the land." 



The concluding paragraph of his letter is significant, 

 illustrating the demand by the agricultural labourer for a 

 fuller intellectual life: 



" One thing that I have not mentioned is that a number of 

 branches have sent to the Fabian Society for the box of books 

 which should prove helpful." ^ 



The taunt that the organisers of farm workers are towns- 

 men unaccustomed to farming becomes an ill-placed gibe, 

 when we find an organiser jumping off his bicycle to doctor 

 a cow belonging to a distressed farmer, as an incident in 

 the following letter illustrates : 



Mr. W. B. Whittle is the district organiser in Lancashire 

 for the N.A.L.U. " The Union," he writes, " came into being 

 in the Ormskirk district in 1911. In 1913 the memorable Lan- 

 cashire strike took place. The outbreak of war suspended trade 

 union activities. In 1915 a new start was made and right 

 through up to the present the growth is wonderful. 



"In S. and S.W. Lancashire the minimum wage has been 

 left behind, and at present the majority of practical farm hands 

 are ranging from 485. to 503. a week, whilst in the case of first 

 or leading hands 555. is given. In other parts of Lancashire 

 (notably east) wages are not so good, and as the larger parts 

 are in the dairy interest, workable conditions are more difficult 

 to arrange. Men are not so independent as in the S. and S.W. 

 and naturally do not strike one as being of the same calibre 

 regarding trade unionism generally. 



" Regarding R.D.C. contests, one stands out very promin- 

 ently where only last week (September) a branch secretary 



