WHAT OF THE HARVEST? 277 



members. Before the war there were not 500 members." 

 He considers that the greatest stride that the farm workers 

 have made has been in the shortening of the hours of 

 labour and in the fixing of overtime rates. He finds 



" The farm worker is not the docile creature he was twenty 

 years ago. More intelligent, he has now more initiative, 

 greater capacity, and desires a higher standard of comfort 

 better houses, more furniture, musical instruments, a good 

 class of literature . . . how many embryo Miltons and Shake- 

 speares have human society pounded back to the earth again : 

 their latent genius and talent buried without opportunities of 

 development ! 



" With regard to my own experiences as an organiser I think 

 every organiser will agree with me that our life is not exactly 

 on a bed of roses. We are moving about every day from village 

 to village in all kinds of weather. With strange lodgings almost 

 every night, and correspondence following us about which has 

 to be dealt with under great difficulties very often not able to 

 secure a diet to keep one fit and well. 



" We are regarded by the farmers mostly as firebrands who 

 are bent on stirring up discontent where previously nothing but 

 content existed. Even by the most business-like farmers 

 we are regarded as a beastly nuisance and one that has to be 

 tolerated." 



Mr. S. Box, the Workers' Union organiser in Hereford- 

 shire is one of a family of ten, and was left an orphan at 

 eight. He has been at work since he was nine, his school- 

 ing consisting of three years at a national school. He has 

 been a farm labourer all his life, and before me lies a pam- 

 phlet containing verses written by him descriptive of the 

 life of the labourer. 



He says that wages remained practically stationary in 

 Herefordshire from 1872 to 1912, when he, Mr. W. Palmer 

 and two others began to start a union of labourers for the 

 county. The Workers' Union came to their assistance, 

 resulting in Mr. Box being appointed organiser. 



" The work was highly successful," he adds, " but met with 

 intense opposition from the farmers of the county. The farmers 

 circulated a canard that Joseph Arch had collected enough money 

 to purchase a mansion and live in retirement and had become 

 Sir Joseph Arch. Even many labourers believed this and speak 

 of him as Sir Joseph. 



