182 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



hours of labour are indefinite. They are picturesquely des- 

 cribed in England as "all the hours God gave," and more 

 succinctly in France as " from dawn to dusk." I need hardly 

 give illustrations from English experience. Every one knows 

 that except in winter, when work is slack and light is deficient, 

 the hours were long, seldom less than 60 a week, and often longer. 

 Nor is it necessary to relate how they have been reduced by 

 degrees to a normal 50 in summer and 48 in winter, with occa- 

 sional spells of overtime. The maximum hours are not fixed 

 by statute or by regulation, but a more powerful influence has 

 been at work which has brought about a standard day, namely 

 the pressure of economic law. I am unable, however, to ascer- 

 tain which party is the chief instrument in bringing about the 

 change. The farmers say that their men are so well paid that 

 they will not work overtime. The workers say that the farmers 

 are so stingy that they will not give their labourers a chance 

 of doing so. The result, at any rate, has led to a shorter day, 

 and probably to greater efficiency. Every one knows that 

 cheap labour is inefficient labour, and, as long ago as 1791, Arthur 

 Young pointed out that the badly paid French farm worker 

 was less efficient than the English labourer, though even the 

 latter was not paid any too well. These long hours have passed 

 away, and milk-maids in Scotland no longer rise at two or three 

 o'clock in the morning to provide customers with warm milk 

 for breakfast. Farm servants in Cumberland are not likely to 

 work up to eleven o'clock at night getting in the hay. But hours 

 are not uniform everywhere yet. In England the normal 

 total is 2,564 a year, while in some parts of Scotland the total, 

 by agreement, is 2,817. I n Holland they range from 2,500 to 

 3,200, and in Germany the authorised number is 2,926, and in 

 Denmark the estimated number is exactly the same. In France, 

 however, much longer hours are still worked, and in an agree- 

 ment made last July between the employers and workers of a 

 part of the Department of Seine-et-Marne the number of hours 

 was settled at 3,380 for the year. Although this appears very 

 high it is not incredible, for we read in the same authority that 

 gives us the text of the agreement that in some districts the 

 hours are from 5 to 7. In all of these countries, therefore, the 

 normal hours of labour are longer than in England, even assum- 

 ing that overtime is worked here to a larger extent than is 

 generally admitted. It is difficult to say what the usual hours 

 in America and Canada are, but it is generally admitted that 

 they are longer than here. Italy appears to be the sole country 

 where an eight-hour day has been introduced, and the conditions 

 in that country are in many respects totally different to those 

 of countries with a temperate climate. 

 Cash wages and shorter hours are, however, of little value in 



