THE RURAL EXODUS 63 



families he found only two youths still at 

 home, and his general conclusion is that in 

 general only about 5 per cent, of the boys 

 elect to stay in the parishes where they were 

 born. The migration of the village girls is still 

 more marked ; for economic and other reasons 

 they flock to " service " in towns and the young 

 men follow these playmates of their boyhood. 

 This phenomenon of rural depopulation is 

 not confined to Great Britain. The rural 

 inhabitants of countries so diverse as, to go no 

 further, Germany, Italy and the United States, 

 are gradually migrating to urban centres or 

 distant lands across the sea. In the New 

 England States there were a few years ago, 

 according to Mr. Pratt, no less than 26,000 

 derelict farms. The influence of the agrarian 

 party in Germany is enormous, nevertheless 

 there has been a steady diminution in the 

 rural population. In 1830, 80 per cent, of the 

 people worked in the country ; in 1895 the 

 proportion had sunk to 35-7 per cent. During 

 the last twenty years, while emigration from 

 Germany has diminished, increasing numbers 

 of men are attracted from the rural districts 

 by the vigorously developed industries of the 

 towns. More than one-fifth of the entire 

 population now live in towns of over 100,000 

 people. Italian statesmen complain that 



