THE RURAL EXODUS 65 



our cities. The typical citizen of most 

 countries is the man who tills the soil : in the 

 most fertile country of the globe, he is of all 

 classes the most insignificant and the least 

 endowed with social or political influence. 



The causes of the rural depopulation in 

 England are various and complex. The most 

 powerful of them is the poverty of the agri- 

 cultural labourer, who may be described in 

 summary as a poor man living in a poor home 

 on poor food. His wages have for forty years 

 been practically unchanged, while the cost of 

 living has actually increased in the last two 

 decades. 



When everything is included in the estimate 

 which can be harvest and hay money, allow- 

 ances for lambs and calves, grants of potatoes, 

 free cottages, and so on, the averages work 

 out as follows 



Ordinary labourers . . . . 17/6 



Men in charge of horses . . 19/- 



Cattle men 19/3 



Shepherds 19/7 



Sixty per cent, of our ordinary agricultural 

 labourers in England receive less than 18/- a 

 week, all included. 



But there is one feature in the above 

 estimate of agricultural wages which is too 



