CHAPTER III. 

 THE POSITION AT HOME. 



/ 

 f 



IN order to appreciate more fully the significance for our- 

 selves of the agricultural organisation movement which is 

 thus spreading throughout the world, it is desirable to obtain 

 a clear idea of the position that agriculture still occupies 

 among our national enterprises, notwithstanding all that has 

 been said concerning agricultural depression, the decline 

 of agricultural population, and the comparatively greater 

 advance of textile and other industries. 



AGRICULTURE AS AN INDUSTRY. 



As regards persons employed in the United Kingdom, 

 figures given in the Board of Trade (Labour Department) 

 Abstract of Labour Statistics [Cd. 6228] show that in 1901 

 the premier position was still occupied by agriculture, the 

 total number of persons employed therein, as compared with 

 the figures for various other leading industries, being as 

 follows : 



Agriculture 



Conveyance of men, goods and messages 

 Metals, machines, implements and con 

 veyances 



Textile fabrics 



Workers and dealers in dress 

 Building and works of construction 

 Food, tobacco, drink and lodging 

 Mines and quarries 

 Professional occupations 

 Commercial occupations 



2,262,000 

 1,498,000 



1,475,000 



1,462,000 



1,396,000 



1,336,000 



1,301,000 



944,000 



734,000 



712,000 



In the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Report on the 

 Agricultural Output of Great Britain (1912) dealing with 



