THE RURAL EXODUS 98 



labour due to emigration pour in from even 

 comparatively well paid counties like Kent. 

 Returns from only 88 of Devon's 461 parishes 

 show that in the past twelve months (1912-13) 

 no less than 2,114 have emigrated to Canada, 

 Australia and New Zealand. Most of the 

 emigrants are young men. The young villager, 

 conveyed by a " cheap trip " to London or 

 some other big city, gazes upon the wonderful 

 window-dressing of the Canadian and Aus- 

 tralian Agencies. The sheaves of heavily 

 eared wheat, the samples of fine fruit, the 

 models of well-built homes and waving 

 cornfields are all the visible signs of an 

 independence and prosperity easily within 

 the emigrant's reach, but beyond the 

 extremest hopes of a man who stays at 

 home. 



There is one privilege denied to his fore- 

 fathers which the labourer possesses he 

 can leave the land when he likes. And so it 

 comes to pass that with or without an articu- 

 late excuse he turns his back on the village. 

 He packs up his scanty goods, and silently, 

 without consultation, without murmuring, 

 he rises up and goes. And it is this which in 

 the course of time will bring salvation to him 

 and his class. The agricultural labourer is 

 indispensable; the nation cannot prosper 



