WHAT OF THE HARVEST? 301 



of eight hours ; with proportionate overtime rates for the 

 various classes of workers. 



It will be observed how far the minimum rate fixed by 

 the Board fell short of the wages awarded here. This was 

 the first victory won by the farm workers for a forty-eight 

 hours week. 



Employers openly confessed afterwards that they admired 

 the manner in which the strike was conducted, and an 

 incident occurred which confirms the statement. On 

 Sunday, January 13, all the strikers went to church in 

 the afternoon, when the curate congratulated the men 

 and the Workers' Union on the way in which the strike 

 was being carried on, and he brought a similar message 

 from the Vicar, who was indisposed. 



On the previous night at an open-air meeting one of the 

 two men who addressed the meeting was the leader of the 

 Salvation Army, and the other a local nonconformist 

 preacher, while the chairman was a local publican. 



Whilst ominous clouds were gathering over the fenland 

 district of Chatteris, battalions of darker clouds charged 

 with electricity were massing over the whole countryside. 

 The cost of living, instead of going down, as the Prime 

 Minister assured the workers it would after the Armistice, 

 steadily rose. Since January i, 1919, it had risen twenty- 

 four points. 



Finding that the newly elected Coalition Government 

 did nothing to control profiteers effectively and that relief 

 from such a source seemed hopeless, the strike fever began to 

 rise in the veins of the torpid south as well as in the fiery 

 north. Soldiers returning to the land from the War found 

 that the New Earth which had been promised them was 

 very much like the old, old earth ; that 303. a week pur- 

 chased no more than 133. or 145. had before the war and 

 it should always be remembered that the 303. included 

 " allowances." Things were better in one respect : their 

 hours of labour were curtailed and payment for overtime 

 could be legally enforced. 



But it was felt, and rightly felt, that a workman should 

 be able to maintain himself at a reasonable standard of 



