772 = 506 
The Agricultural Labourer. 
Agricultura 
Labourers' 
Union of 18 
71. 
Its effect in 
transferring 
surplus laboii 
and on the 
relations of 
farmers and 
thoir men. 
In 1871 an Agricultural Labourers' Union was formed for 
avowed purpose of increasing wages. In a short time it 
extended its organisation over the whole of the country. Foun ji0f 
on the principle of trades'-unionism, the object was fair in itsR 
but a very aggressive and dictatorial tone was unfortunaiy w 
adopted by the leaders of the movement, which naturally d i 
the effect of incensing the farmers, who (whatever the rate pf I 
wages) had hitherto lived on the best of terms with their n i, | 
and in many cases had done them a thousand kindnesses wb i i 
could scarcely be replaced by an extra shilling or two a week, v i 
degrees it became clear that the old relations between these > 
classes were no longer practicable. The labourers were exhoi 1 
to strike, and to take the opportunity of the most critical seas s 
— hay-time or harvest — for so doing. Seldom had the n 1 
population of southern England been more agitated than i 
1872 and 1873, when meetings were continually held, and 
principles of the new Union were propagated. 
Advantage was taken of the movement by the agents of Brit 
and other colonies ; and the legitimate plan of emigration j 
other countries, or to the manufacturing districts of Engla 
was so successfully urged upon the men, that in a short time 
scarcity created by these withdrawals had sent the price f 
labour up by 30 per cent. The immediate effect of this was > 
extensive substitution of machinery for inferior hand-labc . 
The farmer was thus enabled to recoup himself in some deg • 
for his increased outlay ; but it may easily be conceived 1 1 
to a class accustomed hitherto, without much difficulty, to m; ? 
their own bargains the new state of affairs was somewhat ( - 
tasteful. 
The relations of master and man, which up to this time 1 1 
certainly been of a far more cordial and sympathetic chara( r 
than those engendered by the manufacturing system, have tt , 
lately, received a rude shock, and one from which it may i 
doubted whether they will ever recover. The effect in 3 
long run will, probably, be advantageous to both classes ; but i 
the meantime a certain soreness has manifested itself on ■ 
part of the farmer, and a certain dogged intractability and su ■ 
independence of control on the part of the labourer, which ) 
not augur well for the return of the old friendliness in thr 
future relations. It is not, however, unlikely that these di- 
culties may initiate a new career of independence on the pari f 
the labourer, in which case they need not be regretted. 
Thus stands the question of British agricultural labour t 
the moment at which I write. The determined resistance of 
East Anglian farmers in the spring and summer of 1874 to 
demands of the Union led to a protracted lock-out, which td 
