HOMES AND WAGES 159 



living during the last twelve years the economic 

 position of the labourer has grown worse. 

 While practically no change has occurred in 

 his wages a rise of 3 per cent, at the outside 

 the price of provisions has risen by 10-15 per 

 cent. The real wages are to-day lower than 

 they were in 1900. 



A minimum wage for agricultural labourers 

 must be secured by legislation. The principle 

 of this has already been admitted by the 

 Government and has found practical expression 

 in the case of our miners, apart from the 

 changes effected in the case of certain sweated 

 industries under the Trades Boards Act. 



It is indeed difficult to resist the claim of our 

 farm labourers in this matter, or to refuse them 

 in their poverty a privilege accorded to our 

 much better paid coal miners. At any rate, 

 it is no valid argument against such a policy 

 that it is impossible to fix one wage for the 

 labourers of, say, Norfolk and Durham. 

 Nobody has ever suggested this ; all that is 

 required is the fixing of the wages in different 

 parts of Great Britain by a Central Authority 

 in accordance with local conditions hi the 

 county or other administrative area. Mem- 

 bers of West End Clubs, lounging in arm- 

 chairs, tell you that agricultural wages are 

 fixed by the economic laws of supply and 



