1888 AND 1912 COMPARED ^ 395 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 CONCLUSION. 



1888 and 1912 : political agitation then and now ; the situation contrasted 

 and compared ; the position of landowners ; of titheowners ; of tenant- 

 farmers ; tenant-right as a defence against sales ; agricultural labourers, 

 their slow progress between 1834 and 1884, and their Unions ; their 

 improved position in 1912. The problem of the future ; the reconstruction 

 of village life : the necessity of an agricultural pohcy : the prospect of 

 increased burdens on agricultural land. 



Many persons cannot conceive it possible that, even in this century 

 of rapid changes, any serious alterations in the existing systems of 

 the tenure and cultivation of English land are really imminent. To 

 them it seems incredible that EngHsh farming can be destined, on 

 any extensive scale, to revert towards conditions out of which it 

 finally emerged in the Victorian era. They may be right or wrong 

 in their views. On that point no opinion need be here expressed. 

 The task of sketching the story of " Enghsh farming past and present" 

 ends with the present day. Conjectures as to the future of farming, 

 or programmes for its reconstruction, belong rather to prophets and 

 poHticians than to chroniclers. Yet the existing conditions of farm- 

 ing are already disturbed by anticipations, whether true or false, of 

 coming change. In order to complete the sketch of Enghsh farm- 

 ing doTVTi to 1912, it is, therefore, necessary to attempt a summary of 

 the present position of landlords, tenants, and labourers. 



By way of contrast or comparison, fom' passages may be quoted 

 from the first edition of this book, pubhshed 24 years ago under the 

 title of The Pioneers and Progress of English Farming. At the time 

 when the book appeared, agriculture was still suffering from severe 

 depression. It was a middle period between the disasters of 1874- 

 1885 and those of 1891-1899. Some signs of revival had appeared ; 

 but the outlook alike for landowners, tenants, and labourers was- 

 still gloomy. 



