1906.J Decline in Agricultural Population. 531 



family earnings, and this combined with other changes about 

 that time paved the way for the agitation of the early " seventies," 

 when for a time capital and labour on the farm organized their 

 forces and came into open, and in some districts bitter, conflict. 

 From this period dates a change in the relationship of masters 

 and men. Agricultural labour attained economic freedom, and 

 if it did not acquire at once quite the same degree of mobility 

 as industrial labour, it became, in the economic sense, fluid, 

 The use of labour-saving machinery spread from the pioneers 

 to the main body of farmers, woman labour was largely 

 diminished, child labour practically disappeared, and a general 

 levelling up of the standard of efficiency pressed hardly upon 

 the casual labourers and the " odd men " of the villages. 



At this time —in the " seventies " — farming was prosperous. 

 But from 1879 onwards British agriculture entered upon a 

 new era. Farmers in their struggle with adversity naturally 

 attempted to curtail their labour bill, and became more exigent 

 n their demands upon their men. On both sides the old easy- 

 going attitude disappeared. Masters became more exacting, 

 and men less amenable. Under these circumstances it might 

 have been expected that the differences between capital and 

 labour would have led to a renewal, with even greater intensity, 

 of the fight over wages which characterised the early " seventies." 

 This, however, has not been the case. Small local contests there 

 may have been, but, generally speaking, there seems to have 

 been on both sides a tacit understanding that no substantial or 

 violent change in the level of farm wages was within the field of 

 discussion. Wages have of course fluctuated, though within 

 narrow limits, and slowly but steadily there has been all along a 

 tendency in the direction of increase. 



The Cause of Decline. — There is a very large degree of con- 

 sonance in the varying tones of the reports. The causes assigned 

 naturally fall into two categories, viz. : — {a) those which occa- 

 sion a diminished demand ; and {b) those which account for a 

 reduced supply. 



Diminished Demand. — Dealing first with the causes assigned 

 for a smaller demand for labour on the farm, the compulsion 

 put upon farmers to reduce their expenditure by reason of low 

 prices and diminished capital is very commonly referred to. 



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