Rural Depopulation 169 



mobility of labour on the one side, and 

 on the other, the changes in the character 

 of agricultural production and in the trans- 

 port of agricultural produce from foreign 

 parts, mark the end of the nineteenth 

 century as a period of transition. And in 

 the past, as we have seen, there have been 

 similar transitions even more sudden and 

 revolutionary in character. In such periods 

 of transition, the distress has only been 

 increased by attempts to cling to old 

 methods and worn-out traditions. The 

 first requisite is to understand the trend 

 of the economic forces of the age. From 

 the time of the Black Death economic 

 forces have dominated the progress of 

 agriculture. 



In the course of this progress in this 

 country the functions of landlord, tenant, 

 and labourer have become more and more 

 sharply differentiated. As regards the 



