New-York tribune., 1872-07-08
"HODGE'S" PROGRESS.

| FORMATION OF NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL
| UNION.
! FROM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THR TRIBUNBl
| LONDON June LIN former letter L stated
that the agricultural aborer coming to the front
lave now the satisfaction OF reporting that he maintains
his position there and likely back Meetings
| have been held in Cambridgeshire and Warwickshle
which pleasantly illustrative of the progress OF the
farm laborers question. Indeed in Warwickshire the
labores have attained the dignity of congress con
cerning their affairs. But first must relate signs OF
| their progress unexpected to me.
From bad agricultural districts good news arrives
Bucks the dismal counties for the laborer
in the parishes where Hodge" is undermost However
old agitatOrs for the Improvement OF the aooer posi-
ton are now astonshed at the improvement which
has over the farmermind. II thinks ABOUT the
laborer meditates what it really do for him; and
what Hodge" is surprised at and thinks more OF
it speaks kindly him. In the parishes near ana re-
mote TO Stowe and it, unasked has taken
place in aborers from II to Is and in some cases
| TO 16 shilngs. "Hodge" (who Mr. Dsraeh thinks
should have dignfed name gwen him, ana 80 he
ought to have, and he will have when bis wages are
generally raised and he brgitens up by better iOou'
more of 1t, and good supplementary prospectsl-
Hodge," in the dismal parishes aforesaid openeth
wide his eyes in the time, and stareh very much
at this gOdsend of additional wages-the ike OF Wmch
his father nor forefather had and OF which
there was no tradition or prophecy in his family
burrowing in damper cottages subsisng on weaker tea
and bad supplies Of substantial food existed not than
laIOrers TO be met with around Buckingham County
town. which is touched by the grand twomie avenue OF
trees leading TO Stowe, where the Duke resides AT
Gawcott a village five miles only f.om Buckingham,
strike took place some two years ago, when Mr. Bnghts
advice was acted upon and the aborers encouraged TO
emigrae. More than so able men have since lett Mr
Morley, NJ P contributed some of the means with his
usual sympathy for the helpless. Personal news have
from the district informs me five or six left last
week. Many, also, of the aborers were offered stua-
tiOns in Northumberland and Durham, and are now
mostly down This draining, however OF laborers
from OvercrOwded markets of Bucks has gone on to
very instructive extent. Lord Fz Maurice has just
had letter in The Times concerning an asser-
tiOn made by Fry, laborer, who spoke
at the Lyneham Green meeting, at which MS
lordshp pre- tsided to the effect that widows had been
turned out Of their cottages because Their sons had taken
employment at the swndon factory in that negbhor
hood There question 10 the fact but only as
to the owner Of the estate which occurred All pos
sibe terror were time set to deter the labor
OF GawcOtt and that neghborhood from leaving the
distrct but when they once set upon going they
would go and did co. until a week ago. at miserable
little village called Preston Bisset poor man died. and
there was nobody to bury him, and his nterment had 10
be delayed until evening, when the men came home
from attending the cattle The cottages of Preston Bis
sett are Of most wretchcd description. L
know them well. The difference in the
character of the laborers, where the cottages are
good and the wages sufficient TO sustain life comfort
ably is well exemphed in the pleasant little hamlet Of
ShawstOne of the most delightful spots in that part
of Bucks The cottages all good the labOrers have
plots Of ground and themselves well treated by the
lady, who is chief employer. There are no paupers
there, police not single person Is ever found
to be in the County Court and all the eloquenee of Mr.
Arch and other leaders Of the laborers movement,
foil {ndr tO
they would not attempt it, because the condition Of the
men there satisfactory These facts, however, teach
what good treatment will do in promoting contcntment
This meeting at Lyneham Green, to which have re-
ferred of the most characteristic and touching
which has been held. After two or three aborers had
given their little experiences, pretty much after the
manner Of a Love Feast meeting voice in tine crowd
cried out, "May the women speak3" Lord Edmund
Fitz Maurice who that it was a woman who made
the inquiry, answered at once, "Oh yes. certainly
What took place will be best given in the language of
verbatim report for account Of it could possibly in
crease the pathos OF the humble Oration
"a woman here made her way through the crowd and
took her stand by the side of the noble
President Of the meeting, amid the cheers OF
the company She gave her name as Anne After,
and said had eight children but three of them were
out now. Her husband used TO get nine slillingsa
week but they much better OFF now since he had
been mixer and worked Sundays he now got II shil-
upgs week. But still she felt that the poor were
screwed down too hard. They had 2S a year to pay
house rent and it had often gone to her heart when she
had only bit OF bread with nothing ont to part out
among her children. She was thankful her husband
got his p shngs week through being mixer, but she
thought the poor screwed down too hard.
fCheers No parliamentary eloquence behalf Of the
laborer could be effective than the simple speech
Of Anne After There nothing of the theoretical
speaker or female rights about this woman What
she said manesty wrung from her 1t is impossi-
BILE to disregard the condition Of the numerous families
who live in the hOpeessness and suffering Whch her
little address indicates.
Some recent facts which gather from machinists
show that agricultural laDOrer possesses an inte
gence higher than that with which he is usually accred
ied and that if he were better housed and better
treated as a rule he would soon rise in intellectual
reputation. hear from eminent agricultural imple-
ment makers that they find difficulty in getting their
machinery worked by the ordinary aborer in part
of the country very little instruction is found TO be
quite sufficient to enable him to undertake the manage
ment of implements which it used to be supposed he
! would be intirely incompetent to manage. And so
deen rooted was this conviction that at first mechanics
were always engaged to manage them when they were
first introduced into any district Now is well under
ood that the ordinary laborer is quite equal to this
| task. .,, , A., ,ioi,oa
ounons and facts that would have remained longer un
| known but for this combination and agitation. This
week the laborers have held National Congress- with
the object of founding National Union, and this has
| been successfully done The affair has been sometime
| projected, and now 1t has come of. Mr. G. f. Muntz
| (son of the former member for Birmingham OF That
name, nephew Of the present member T. H. Muntz) ana
Mr. Dixon another of the NJ P.'s for Birmingham, have
induced the Warwickshire Chamber OF Agriculture to
hold Conference with the Farm Laborers' Union At
first they refused to meet the aborers but at length
they agreed TO set the wise example OF farmers con-
| ferring with their The result has been advan'
TO both parties 1t was announced at this Confer
ence that Mr. Dixon NJ P would take the chair at the
| forthcoming National Congress, and 1t met on