10 THE INDUSTRIAL RISE 



Small Holdings in 1890, the compensation received 

 in the form of a small freehold could be parted with, 

 and might pass out of the small-holding class ; 

 whereas * the continuous existence of common 

 rights was a continuous stimulus to the creation 

 and maintenance of small holdings in the neigh- 

 bourhood.' 



It has been shown how the original small holder 

 was put into the position of a wage-earner ; for the 

 future, therefore, he was at the mercy of those 

 various economic causes which were to affect the 

 rate of agricultural wages. 



The great boom in agriculture due to the high 

 prices received for produce during the continental 

 and American wars just preceded the industrial 

 rise. There being no competition in any other 

 form of work, the large number of agricultural 

 men who had been thrown on the labour market, as 

 described above, kept down the rate of wages to 

 such a degree that they in no way shared in the 

 prosperity of the classes above them. Labour being 

 cheap, tillage was doubly profitable to the larger 

 farmer, and acres upon acres of old pasture land 

 were brought under the plough. Then came the 

 gradual growth of our manufacturing towns, and 

 with it the demand for labour, drawing men away 

 from the country districts. Collaterally with this 

 movement the small village tradesman and artisan 

 found their work superseded by town manufactures. 

 The village shoemaker and tailor, the wheelwright 

 and the smith, became less and less able to hold 



