THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION 129 



shire, to give special consideration to the relief of the 

 poor. Recommendations were then made for securing 

 a definite wage for working people, and these recom- 

 mendations were not only adopted in that county, but 

 in the course of the next forty years spread, with 

 modifications, right through the counties of England, 

 excepting only Northumberland and Durham. The 

 scheme adopted at Speenhamland was as follows : 

 A scale of wages was drawn up, varying according to 

 the price of bread. For example, when the gallon loaf 

 of seconds flour weighing 8 pounds u ounces cost is., 

 a man was held to be entitled to receive 35. a week 

 for himself, is. 6d. a week for his wife, and the same 

 for each child. Such a man would, therefore, when 

 the gallon loaf cost is., be entitled, if he had a wife 

 and four children, to IDS. 6d. a week and, if the price 

 of bread was higher, the wages went up in proportion. 

 Who, then, was to see that the man received his due 

 wage? The responsibility was placed on the parish, 

 and the labourer who was out of work had to apply 

 to the overseer, whose duty it was to secure him 

 employment. Sometimes the men collected on Satur- 

 days and were put up for auction amongst the 

 employers, going to the highest bidder. Sometimes 

 they were sent from house to house, ' on the rounds,' as 

 it was called, asking for work. The farmers who secured 

 the men paid them a low wage, perhaps 6d. to is. a 

 day : the balance fell on the parish rates, out of which 

 the wages were supplemented to make the total amount 

 up to the scale figure. The introduction of such drastic 

 new regulations without the need of special legislation 

 is an astonishing instance of the power of the justices 

 of the peace. 



This system was naturally accompanied by a con- 



10 



