The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-05-09 00:00:00

THE LOCK-OUT OF FARM LABOURERS.

The Times of Tuesday published the following letter
from their Special "{grader, writing from Bury St.
F.ll:::nul'g, Monday :

Rumours are current that the enol of the lock-out is near,
but I can find no ground for them. It is true "hat the
Es, entice id the Lincolnshire Labour League are considering
the I,ropriety of withdrawing the three Rules to which such
Wrong objection was taken here. But by far the greater nom-
ber of the (atonic!e in this olistrict lb . not recognise nice distil.>
lie,, I•etween the two Lal snorers Unions, and point to the fact
that outside subseriptions fro im Unionist sympathisers are
divio led equally between the two Unions. little two Leamies
are treated as though they were equally entitled to pliblie
impport, the farmers arvie they are equally entitled
to treat them as though they were on the same foot-
ing, and had sulretaulially the seine objects, This is the
language held by members of the West Suffolk Defence Asso-
ciation, the labourers in whose district belong both to the
National anolthe LineolnshiresUnions. But around Newmarket
the lalanirers belong almost exclnsively to the National
Union, which is free from the objettionable rules. Yet the
farmers is that district are determined to persist in the lock-
out In shoot, it is idle tou uhieciunicce that, in their present
temper, the farmers both of West Suffolk and od parts of
Cambridgeshire are rosolvell, if possible, 5 they say, to
break tile !leek ' of tu,iu,oista Branch committees are tuning
formed in each district of West Suffolk, a few general
Rules are being drawn up, mid in ninny cases of intimidation
or violouee towards labourers not in the Union the prune.
eshl,nin ill he undertaken by the solicitor and he conducted
at tile espeioe of the Association. I fear the farmers w ill
In .5 now lie appeased by a mere modification of the Rules
p, tog; to ano form wage of ISs, and hinting at the plans
fon. ;at:irking eniployers in detail, and for leaving them at
shirt notice w bets labour is most wanted.

In a few instances I hear that, while discharging thei
Unionist hands, they have raised the wages of non-Unionists
froni Itts. to Its. This increase Is meant as an encourage-
ment to the labourers who have remained on the farms, hut
it will operate also as a temptaton to their comrades to
leave the Union for the sake of the extra shilling. The more
general feeling among the fanners, however, is that in the
face of a reduction of wages in the North to the amount of
..r iii per cent., ali.l of a serious fall in the value of fano
this is a must inopportune time for any increase In
wages, especially as there is a prospect that agricultural
produce will be much lower before next Christmas. Then.
too, there has hardly within living memory been a
season hi which farm with was so advanced ; if a dearth
of labour exists, no farmer at all eveets will OV/11 ti It.
1 have hail applications fri.in Dursetshire," writes one West
Suffolk farmer to me, "to till my men's places. I am not
sure whether all may men will have me, but if they do, 1 feat
confident that I shall be able to work my farm to better ail-
vantage, as I shall no longer feel any delicacy in not employ-
ing nom who have, perhaps, lived in the parish all their lives.
Whatever will become of the old men I cannot imagine.
1111 e thing is certain-- henci forth. they will never ears with
the fanners what they have been accustomed to cacti,
although tor certain pile they are equal to the best melt.
The more I see if this agitation the noire certain I
feel that it will benefit the fanner to the injury of a
certain settion td litheurers. Hitherto, even when farmers
hat e used machinery in the harvest field I\llll for other
perposes they have scarcely made any reduction--
certainly they have made lot proportionate reduction—ill the
number of halals. Thus machinery has not reduced the
fanners' expenses suit might have done and ought to have
done ; anal on the other hand, it has tended to make the
men lazy. But this is the sneers' fault." The writer is a
practical agriculturist. who farms altogether about 1,000
ticres, and farms high, using the best machinery. He tells
Om how some of his nom left him just before the livst harvest,
and complains that, in the court of public mobil. li, men
:tint toasters do not seem to be tried by the same standard.
Ingratitude on their part pnaluces no impression, and
leads to 114, 1•111)1h, 0411111111 f, But what would have been
said of me and other employers had we acted towards
our men as mine acted towards me ?" It is unnecessary to
enter into the merits of this particular dispute, but I find
generally among the fanners a belief that they are misrepre-
sented, or at least misiinderstmid There is lot class of men,
they say, whose skill and capital yield So small a return as
theirs, awl two exposed to risks so entirely beyond !lonian
control. They are satisfied to work with this moderate re-
turn, sometimes because they have been brought up to the
• tiling, sometimes became they enjoy the fresh air, time in-
dependence, the healthy exercise, and country life They
can make no great gains. ho ever beard of a millionaire
fanner, or inie who 111111195P11 by farming even the. .weutieth
part of a million ? " (live me neither poverty nor
riches " ninst be the farmer's utmost aspiration. The
soil lie tills may he unkindly. Th.. se,isons he cannot regu-
late, and in bail seasens the half-yearly relit day Seems to
ceme thrice a year. Ile cannot einobine, like the coal
is tier, to raise prices ; or work half-time, like the mann-
nature's, to di 11l hash production nor has he, like them,
large reserves of accumulated profits which will carry him
triuniphantly through 3 series of 1.a.1 years. All this time,
iii producing his chief crop, he roust compete, not mile with
other British farmers, but with tin, while of Europe and great
tort if America, not to mention other conegnoving coun-
tries, here the soil is richer or the climate more genial.
surely, the fanner argues, when these are the difficulties in-
separable from his calling, the labourer must cast in Ids lot
with the farmers upon the like conditions, content with
moderate wages iii return for fresh air and a good
garden, a (generally) comfortable cottage, and work
which is healthy and not exhansting. In the towns the
labourer will earn cede wages. but will spend more. 111 A
food niel his lodgings will run away with his surplus • his
elk will not be able topractise the small economies which are
pos-ilde in a village ; and the latter end of that man will be
orse than 1114 hegilllllll. At all events, if Trades' Unions
are hi ml.l to their difficulties (the farmer conti 111 l es). men of
vandal a ill not risk that capital in farming, they will prefer
to invest it at 5 per cent n ithout risk. Msteail of attempting
b. gain 11 prvearious S per vent. out of the laud.
Such ia the sketeh drawn by the farmer, of their own posi-
tion. As far as it goes, it is a truthful sketch, though,
perhaps, we see in it too little of the laboorer, who likes to
draw a picture front his its point of view. Leaving this
liov.ever. I may say 11 W.,1,1 upon the many instances
told nie of labourers whi hare rens ned to their villages
after migrating northwards. seek stories maybe exceptional.
lint I !eve no reason to dould their accuracy. Sometimes
the nien have complained of Ow !.I.l,4ings in which they have
been foreed is.• I.lg With alt ot ..ther people in a common
balging-nein, " paying Out. before they were allowed to net
had inside." Femetinies they complained of the violence
end gre...l of the nien with whom thyy were work-
ing. who would not let them have a moment's rest when
they had a shilling or two In their poekets till it was speiit in
drink." iiiten the work was far harder than they were used
to I have heard of repeated instances in which agricultural
Ids meets have gone to the copr.dite diggings on the borders
of the fens, where they could earn • Ili 11111 la of ISs. weekly.
(tint have smin returned to their nominal wages of 13s. and
to easier sr irk In other eases, who-re the men have gone
to distant towns, higher wages did not niece • larger in-
come, on m, mat if the larger outgoings which were in-
evitahle in a town life. in one village, out of nine
men Wllll went away, eight returned, " and the ninth would
have heen glad to do no. but had a warrant out against
him." In another ease men walked back to their village, a
distance of 150 reilee, and came home shoeless, having sold
their watches to support them on the way. The farmees say
that these men are now at work as contentedly as possible,
have given up the Union, and are much the better for their
experiences. They found their is a by dearly earned by
the hard work and rough life these wages int:idol, and
when they came back they were the Steadiest workers
In the village, and the lea.st disposed to ennoble. I dare say
there are many eases in which men may have impniveil heir
condition by migration to low/visas well asloyemigration ,bu it
Is well to bear in mind that a considerable proportion of he
! agricultural labourers, after trying town life with high ewes,
, and country life with smaller wages, deliberately prefer the
latter.

Though there seems no probability at present that the
Cambridgeshire mid Suffolk farmers who have resorted to
size lock-out will give way, recent attempts to extend the
firaS 4 the lock-out have failed. Thus the Norfolk farmers
have forma.l3 Defence Association, but are satisfied to stand
on the defensive. The Bedfordshire farmers are adopting the
genie course. and on e.....turday the farmers who belong to the
Huntingdonshire Defence Association rejected a resolution
which sought to pledge the mombers to lock out Union
labourers at the request of any similar association. The
objection nary reasonably taken to such • revolution was