CHAPTER III. 



THE POSITION AT HOME. 



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 : — 



In the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Report on the 

 Agricultural Output of Great Britain (1912) — dealing with 



