Rural Depopulation 175 



reign of Victoria, there was relatively little 

 improvement in the condition of the ordin- 

 ary agricultural labourer. His wages were 

 low, and in many ways his life was de- 

 graded. But in the present generation a 

 great advance has been made, and the 

 most remarkable feature in this advance 

 is that it has been made in spite of the 

 depression of agriculture from the point of 

 view of the landlord and the capitalist 

 farmer. In former ages there would have 

 been, under the same conditions, a great 

 fall in wages, supposing that wages were 

 sufficiently above the minimum of bare 

 subsistence to admit of a fall. There is 

 still, no doubt, much room for improve- 

 ment before the agricultural labourer is on 

 a level with the skilled artisan. If, how- 

 ever, agriculture in England passes, as 

 before, with success through the period of 

 transition — and there are signs that the 



