Anniversary Address. 205 



by money. The consequence is, that only the most 

 suitable land is kept in corn crops, and as few hands as 

 possible are kept to work the farms, hence still further 

 decreasing the number of men who can earn wages in 

 the country. 



It seems to me that no man who has spent his 

 life in a town, could earn his livelihood by selling 

 what he produced by his own labour in the country, 

 even supposing he were started with a house 

 and land free ; and he would not be content, as the 

 peasants in France are, to eat what he produced. He 

 would soon try to get back to a town to get better 

 wages and regular employment, with shorter hours of 

 work and more amusements. Landowners and farmers 

 are the real sufferers from the present low prices of all 

 kinds of food, but the nation is the gainer. At present 

 it is fed with the best food that the whole world can 

 produce, brought from countries that can produce it 

 cheaper and better than we can. As long as this is 

 the case, and employment can be got in the towns and 

 manufacturing districts, I cannot see why working men 

 in the towns should seek a home in the country. 



Should trade decline and wages come down, the British 

 farmer could employ a few more hands, and farm at a 

 profit ; and should food increase in price, by foreign 

 countries being able to consume their own produce, Great 

 Britain would have to raise as much food as possible, 

 and many more agricultural labourers would be wanted 

 than at present, and good times would come for tenants 

 and landlords, though, perhaps, not for the nation ; but 

 these times seem far off. The prices of food may still 

 come down, better methods of preserving meat may be 

 discovered, and the transport of meat and grain still 

 further reduced in price. 



As to the artificial planting of the poor and paupers 

 of the towns in the country, I believe it has been tried 

 in Holland, and bad to be given up as a failure. 



