28 Agriculture and the Community). 



sioners, studied by committees, written up by journalists, 

 explained by authors, and discovered by politicians. All 

 sorts of people have been afflicted with the itch for doing 

 something for him, but most of them seem desperately 

 afraid that he will do something for himself which may 

 not fit in with their pet schemes. He has been taken in 

 hand, but the desire is strong that he will be kept well in 

 hand. It is not surprising that after a century of neglect 

 he is rather bewildered by the multitude of counsellors. 



It is not my intention to add to the highly coloured 

 pages describing his harrowing lot. Rather would I enter 

 a caveat against much that has been written. Most writers 

 have dealt only with the agricultural worker in the Mid- 

 lands and South of England, where farming has been 

 least progressive and the conditions of the workers have 

 been worse than in other parts of Britain. The result has 

 been that an unbalanced picture of the conditions of the 

 farm workers has been generally presented. Nor is it 

 wise to compare wage rates in agriculture with rates 

 obtaining in industrial occupations, unless the very 

 different social conditions are kept in mind. Above all, 

 we should be very sceptical of the studies of " Hodge." 

 Some are written by sentimental people in search of the 

 simple life ; others are merely the literary exercises of 

 writers in search of a fresh subject ; few are the work of 

 writers with any understanding of the people they write 

 about. The rural worker is reserved and uncommunicative 

 and does not lend himself to providing material for ready 

 writers hurrying to catch a public while the boom is on. 



The picture we are often invited to become tearful over 

 is that of a home-loving people rooted in the soil, driven 



