214 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



wages of comparatively new and " unfilled " 

 countries like the United States and Canada 

 and New Zealand as proof positive that pro- 

 tective duties involve a better return for 

 labour. One might just as well argue that the 

 heavy tariffs existing in Russia or Italy are 

 the direct cause of the miserably poor wages 

 which prevail in those countries. Moreover 

 the memory of our own Corn Laws has not 

 vanished from the villages of England, and 

 the rustic politician points to the fact that 

 when wheat was selling at 60/- a quarter or 

 even more, his grandfather's wages stood at 

 7/- to 8/- a week. Between 1820 and 1837 

 no fewer than five Government Enquiries took 

 place on the subject of agricultural distress. 

 Farmers, we are told, were crushed beneath 

 burdensome rents and labourers' wages were 

 appallingly low. " The condition of the 

 farmer," said Mr. Chamberlain, " was never 

 so hopeless and the state of the labourer 

 never so abject as when corn was kept up at a 

 high value by a prohibitive protective duty 

 when it was 64/- or even rose to 120/- a 

 quarter." It is of course said, and honestly 

 said, that no such treatment of British 

 labour would be possible in the twentieth 

 century. This dictum would be more con- 

 vincing were it a fact that any strong union 



