76 

 FOURTH SESSION. 



THE POSITION OF THE RURAL 

 WORKER IN INDUSTRY. 



By ARTHUR W. ASHBY 



(Late Research Scholar in Agricultural Economics under the 

 Board of Agriculture). 



Agriculture is still our greatest industry, but, strange to say, it is 

 yet organised on the small-scale system. Further, it has been to some 

 extent in a state of decline, and the prevailing conditions made it 

 necessary to run businesses on a system of low costs. Thus its em- 

 ployees have suffered from all the disadvantages of a small-scale 

 industry, while enjoying few of the supposed advantages of such a 

 system. During the last thirty years the employees of most farms 

 have not obtained opportunities for becoming craftsmen or developing 

 craft skill and ideals in any greater degree than most factory employees. 

 On a few farms where high class live-stock has been bred or reared, 

 or where vegetable and fruit growing has been developed, and on a 

 few dairy farms, or yet a very few mixed farms on which the 

 manager retained some ideals of cultivation, opportunities for developing 

 craft knowledge and skill have been open ; but even on these farms 

 remuneration has not always increased with skill and knowledge. 



The prevailing sizes of English farms are indicated by this table : 



Average Proportion 



Size. Number. Total Acreage Size to Total 



in Acres. Acreage. 



50 to 100 acres 59,514 4,340,952 72 16.01 



100 to 150 31,860 3,940,343 123 14.53 



150 to 300 37,615 7,848,424 208 28.95 



Over 300 acres 14,413 6,698,221 478 24.70 



The number of employees varies with the type of business, but on 

 an average 4.8 persons, including farmers, are engaged on one hundred 

 acres. 



Excluding farmers and their relatives, and women, approximately 

 three men per 100 acres are employed. On the smaller farms the 

 relatives of the farmer supply a much larger proportion of the labour 



