THE TRUTH ABOUT 

 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Decline of British Agriculture. 



The Commission, presided over by the Duke of 

 Richmond, brought together an immense volume of 

 evidence illustrating the initial stages of the great decline 

 in British agriculture, which has been in progress now 

 for nearly twenty years, in the parts of the country worst 

 affected. The reports of the Assistant Commissioners 

 appended to the evidence of the Richmond Commission 

 gave a systematic review of the position of agriculture in 

 typical sections of the country, which is of the utmost 

 value for purposes of comparison with the state of things 

 disclosed by our own inquiry, and by the reports of the 

 present Assistant Commissioners as to the same sections 

 of the country in 1894 and 1895. 



In the main it will be found that the tendencies at 

 work from 1875 to 1882 and the results, either general 

 in all parts of the country, or locally limited, which are 

 noted in the earlier inquiry are, broadly speaking, iden- 

 tical in character with what has been brought before us 

 in the present inquiry. The general symptoms of de- 

 pression In the years 1892 to 1895 were but the more 

 acute development of what was recognised in the years 

 1879 to 1882. 



But there are some essential differences between 

 the agricultural situation now and the agricultural situa- 

 tion fifteen years ago. At the former period farmers 

 were, some of them, swept off their legs, and many of 

 them getting into difficulties, from a succession of cold, 



A 



