The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-09 00:00:00

FARMING AND AGRICULTURAL
LABOURERS' WAGES.

The following letters on the above subject are taken
from The Times:—
Sir,—Without at all desiring to enter into the controversy
as to whether or not the farmers of Bent and Sussex are
justified in lowering the wages of their labourers, I wish,
with your permission, to suggest a few considerations to
your readers among the former clams.

Landed property may, at the present day, be bought to
pay, perhaps, from four to five per cent , though I have little
doubt that in many cases the return is, when all outgoings
are taken into consideration, considerably below this figure.
I think, therefore, that your correspondents, "Retired
Farmer" and "Tenant-Farmer," can hardly in fairness ask
their landlords to still further reduce this very moderate
return on their invested capital.

Let us now consider the ei.se of the farmer; I think few
landed proprietors would object, other conditions being
satisfactory, to accept as tenant a man who could show
that he was possessed of capital at the rate of £2O for each
acre of the farm he proposed taking. The farmer, then,
undertaking a holding of, say, 400 acres, proposes to bring
to its working the sum of £B,OOO. His rent is to be, let us
say, a low one—£soo a year ,• to this has to be added a con-
siderable sum for local and Imperial taxes, and possibly
tithe and other outgoings. He has also to live himself,
and in the great majority of cases to support a wife, and
Possibly a family, together with the necessary household.
Nor will he be content if he cannot put by something for
the future, and all this is to come out of £B,OOO ; and yet
here is a case of an exceptionally well-endowed farmer,
one whose capital amounts to sixteen times the yearly rent
he pays his landlord. But how many of us accept as
tenants men whose capital is, it may be, only some four or
five times their rent? And yet these men expect their
capital invested in farming to repay them an interest in
farming it could never bear in trade. The facts of the
case must be recognised, and they are these: that as the
ownership of land is more and more coming to be regarded
as a luxury in which only the wealthy can afford to indulge,
so also, though in a very much modified degree, must its
occupation, and that our farmers must bring more capital,
more science, and a determination to be content with
smaller returns to the business of farming. That this will
eventually be recognised I cannot doubt, and I find support
for my belief in the sentence in "Retired Farmer's" let-
ter :—" My landlord knew well that if I left my farm there
were plenty to take it; and he Was right."—[ am, Sir,
your obedient servant, LANDLORD.

Sir,—Your correspondent, "Retired Farmer" says, "If
landowners, instead of allowing their tenants to cut down
labour to the lowest point," etc. Ile seems to assume that
landlords have this power of "allowing" or " disallowing "
their tenants to. cut down wages, which is obviously an
absurdity; they never had, and never can have, such a
power. Agricultural wages will find their level in despite of
anything that may be written on the subject, as will be the
case witn agricultural rents, which I believe have seen their
maximum for some time to come, for this, to my mind,
cogent reason. The price of grain and meat in this
country in the future will be its price in the United
States with cost of transport added. Now, this cost of
carriage forms the greater portion of the price of American
grain in this country, this grain travelling by rail or sea
6,000 miles ; and as we now find that railway rails
are now sold at £7 per ton, made of steel which lasts twice
as long as iron rails, sold a few years since at £.12 a ton, it
follows that this ingredient of, carriage is reduced to one-
fourth of its former cost. Then for coals for sea carriage,
mechanical appliances have immensely reduced the quantity
necessary for the production of a given amount of steam.
power ; so that it may almost be st.id that we have brought
the great continent of America very much nearer to our own
shares. The effect is almost as though we had found by
circumstances the great exuberantly-productive continent of
America moored alongside of Great Britain in open competi•
tion with the more moderate quality of the soil of these
islands. Will not the effect of this be disastrous to many of
those interested in British agriculture 7—Yours truly,

E. KING FoRDHAm, an occupier of 600 acres and Vice.
Chairman of Royston Board of Guardians.

Sir,—l farm about 450 acres, not in Devon. I wish I did,
for it is mostly grass, and though at high rents where good, it
is not much cost otherwise. lam here for a time, but
my land lies a good way off. It would not be right to
name the property, but everytning goes easily to London.
The soil is good, but heavy, and wants labour. The rent is
about £2 6s per acre. This includes great tithe, which is in
the owner's hands; otherwise, as the tithe has been so high
for years past, I should have had to pay 4s. to ss. per acre
more. I cannot complain of the rent, for much of it is
about the beat wheat land in England, and I have known
such tithe-free land let at £2 10.3. to £.3 per acre, and a few
years back it certainly paid the tenant. It gave him much
more than his living and the 5 per cent, for his money, which
I see a " Retired Farmer "speaks of in The Times of yester-
day : and if the labourers are reduced, say, is. 6d per
week, to those who have 10 or 20 men it is only 15s. or 30s.
a week. Since 1874 I have been losing heavily. I cannot
say what till I come to valuation on giving up; but if we
are to go on with wheat, &c., at the present prices, which
seem to get worse and worse, the landlords may reduce
heavily on rents and cut down their servants, &c. ; but it
will be a bad day for England, and I doubt our getting
on. Farms near mine fall in mostly in 1880; one or two, I
think, next year. The old tenants by this time should have
been trying to take them on, as usual there, but they have
not done so, being afraid. For 30 years I have seen
that what luck we have had has been independent of Free
Trade and had nothing to do with it. We lost heavily when
it began, but we are more afraid now, believe we must find
a better country, and are sorry for this and the landlords,
who are often liberal and kind. They will not get on alone.
Seasons have been bad, but Free Trade has been worse. If
any more unreasoning Free Trade goes on, all will go wrong.
Look at the sugar-bakers ruined to let Frenchmen sell sugar
cheaper in London than in Paris. Everybody is suffering.
Look at the large and increasing number of servants out of
place. We have been great fools; but that we need not re-
main so is the hope of your obedient servant, J. H.
Torquay, Oct. 31.

Sir,—lf a farmer has a word to say upon this question, he
Is not unnaturally regarded with suspicion by many of your
readers as "an interested party ; " but, if you will be good
enough to insert the following extract which I take from a
very able paper upon "British Agriculture," by Mr. James
Caird, I feel sure that the great weight and authority which
attaches to his name will make the words powerful in the
columns of The Times Speaking of the Agricultural
Labourers' Union, Mr. Caird says, "To their efforts much of
the natural effect of other aauses in producing a rise of wages
has been ascribed. It is worthy cf note that the increase
of agricultural wages has been greatest in Scotland, where
labourers' unions have not taken root." And then Mr. Caird
goes on to say :
"The general condition of the agricultural labourer was
probably never better than it is at present. Compared with
that of 300 years ago, in the time of Elizabeth, wages have
risen sixfold, while the price of bread has only doubled. Two
centuries later, in 1770, the farm labourer's wages were is. 2d.
a day, when the price of wheat was 465. a quarter. In 1816,
immediately before the repeal of the Corn Laws, wages were
is. 7d., when wheat was 53e. At the present time wages have
risen 60. per cent,' while wheat has not increased in price. In
other words, the'labourer's earning power in procuring the
staff of life cost him five days' work to pay for a bushel of
wheat in 1770, four days in 1840, and two and a half days in
1870. He is better lodged than he ever was before, thoughin
many parts of the country there is still much room for im-
provement in that respect. Compared with the labourer in
towns, his pc sition is one of greater comfort; he lives in a
better atmosphere, he is more free from anxiety, and has a
closer and more friendly relation with his employers, and
with the schoolmaster and clergyman of his parish."
Turning to another matter—viz , the rent of farms—l
most cordially agree with your correspondent, "Tenant-
Farmer ;" we must combine and ask for a considerable re-
duction. In a few instances the landlords appear to realize
the gravity of the present state of things, and I could men-
tion one case where ten per cent, was returned throughout
the estate, although the tenants have liberal covenants and
long leases. I quoted this as an example, and surely it is
needed; for on an estate in the same county where the
tenants have no leases a young man has been employed to
re-value the property, and has actually proposed, in these
depressing times, an increase of rent amounting in some
Instances to more than 30 per cent. The whole of the
tenants have notice to quit, and some of them intend
leaving their farms rather than submit to such an enor-
mous increase while others, whose families have been.
connected with the estate for several generations, seem in-
clined to struggle on rather than leave their old homes. A
farmers' association should be at once formed, having for
Its object not only a reduction of rents, but also the general
adoption of leases. Why, Sir, only a short time ago I heard
a conversation between a solicitor and a landowner with
regard to a proposed reduction of rent upon one of his
farms. The landlord at last consented, but significantly
observed that if farming prospects improved in a few years
the tenant must understand that the reduction must not
continue. What an encouragement to good farming am,
Sir, your faithful servant, A BEDFORDSHIRE FARMER.