230 Agriculture during Two Great Wars. [june. 



most is not the wage- earner. He has a substantial rise in wages 

 but remains beiow £250, which is to be the Hmit of exemption 

 from Income Tax. The load falls most heavily on the citizen 

 who cannot increase an income which, though small, is Hable to 

 taxation. Between the two millstones of taxation and prices 

 he will be ground " exceeding small." His life will be a 

 struggle against real privations, embittered by the contrast 

 with former comforts and by the use of those pitiful subter- 

 fuges that are necessary to maintain appearances. 



The different pohcies pursued in respect of taxation, both 

 during and after the French and the German wars, are signili- 

 •<:ant of a profound change in the spirit of the 20th century. 

 Another illustration of the same change of feeling can be traced 

 throughout the agricultural history of the two periods. 



Changres in Agriculture.^ — During the period 1793-1815 Great 

 Britain was passing from an agricultural to a manufacturing 

 nation. The transition began before the outbreak of war ; 

 it continued some years after the peace. A third of the people 

 were still engaged upon the land, and from the land was, in 

 1814, derived a third of the gross assessments to Income Tax. 

 But the population was rapidly increasing ; it was with- 

 drawing from agriculture, and shifting from the South to the 

 coal and iron fields of the North ; rural industries hitherto 

 carried on in country cottages were being supplanted by 

 textile machinery, and concentrated in factories. The enthu- 

 siasm for agricultural progress which had been steadily growing 

 during the half century before the war, was at its full height. 

 Large farms, large capital, long leases, and the most improved 

 methods of cultivation and stock-breeding were the Gospel of 

 the day. It was practised as well as preached. The division 

 of labour was fast becoming an economic necessity. Agricul- 

 ture, like manufacture, was ceasing to be a domestic industry. 

 Both had to be placed on a commercial footing. 



At any time, the social and industrial changes which were 

 involved must have caused dislocations and required readjust- 

 ments of existing conditions. Severe hardships were necessary 

 consequences. Under war pressure, not only was the suii'ering 

 aggravated, but the food problem was compUcated. Foreign 

 supplies of corn were obstructed. If any were obtainable, 

 their prices were increased by heavy freights and insurances 

 which, at war risks, rose from 30s. to 50s. per qr. To our 

 ancestors the provision of bread-stuffs for a growing popula- 

 tion, which was fast assuming an urban character, had become 



