Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-07-03
THE FERMENT IN ENGLAND AND
ITS MORAL.


and travelled on the railways and the
smooth turnpikes, were struck with the
finely cultivated estates, the fields fat with
growing crops of corn, grain and hops adj
mired the beautiful lawns, and the prince
" residences of the rich and the noble, are
wont TO remark that the land Of Richard
Golden, John Bright and William E.
Gladstone, overlooking with the milk and
honey of Free Trade, must be most adj
mirably governed and the soil cultivated
to its utmost capacity, and the farmers
and the farm laborers as prosperous and
happy population as there is in the
world. But careful scrutiny of the con-
tracted, miserable dwellings in which the
tillers of the land shelter and rear their
families, the miserable pittance they re-
ceive for wages, the immense pauper list
in the kingdom, the large tracts OF land
that are held for the hunting and pleasure
grounds of their lordly owners and fur
nish no bountiful harvest to feed the needy
population-this careful grouping of the
real facts prove that all is not aceU.
At the present time there is much fer
ment among the farm laborers, the farm
ers and the landowners. The contest is
q somewhat triangular one, and it remains
to be seen which side of the triangle is
the strongest. That the interests of the
two former are to a certain degree COM
mon, would seem to be obvious. yet not
sufficiently SO perhaps to make them act
together without serious friction. Until a
comparatively recent date the farm labor
ers have been kept quiet, not living in
thickly populated centres like the manu-
featuring laborers, and without the neces-
sary leaders to organize them and make
them know and assert their rights. But
the immense draft on the British laborers
caused by the high wages and cheap lands
in the United States. has finally made its
influence felt on the farm laborers, and
the increased cost of living has rendered
their extremely limited wages unequal to
their necessities. They have at length
found those among them who can boldly
express their wants and direct them how
to seek redress. They demand more wa
ges. This being refused, large bodies of
them in different counties refuse work.
The farmers would increase the pay of
their laborers, but they rent their lands OF
the landlords on such severe terms that it
is impossible for them to give the demand
ed increase to their workmen. The land
lords have been generally inclined to
stnbbonly resist the decrease of their
rents to their farming tenants. The agi-
tation and collision of interest and passion
have finally reached such height and ex-
tension as to cause the most thoughtful
Englishmen to earnestly seek a solution.
Careful investigators say that the soil of
England is not producing more than half
what it is capable of producing, and that
in order for the farmer to retain the labor
ers they must produce more crops. and to
do this they must have such arrangements
with the land owners as will enable them
to make better and more permanent Gull
ture. To use the expressive language Of
some of these investigators of the problem
-'the farmers must till the soil with a'sil-
yer plow"-they must plant more money in
the land. The persons who have careful
~ studied the subject, declare that the
soil of England could absorb hundred
millions of gold and return for it mag
nifcent percentage. Mr.. Mech, one of
her best agricultural writers, says that the
land Of England is not ''half cultivated"
The farmers are plainly told that nature
is the politician who can best settle their
difficulties with their workmen if the falm-
ers will give her capital, but to enable
them to do this ''the landlords must grant
fixity of tenure or certain compensation
for unexhausted improvements.
But it is exceedingly doubtful ifthis pro-
posed remedy of filling the contracted soil
of England "with the silver pillow" is TO
quiet the many thousands of farm labor
ers who have at last found out that there
are vast tracts of virgin land in the new
world which they can have for a trihe-
that in the United States the wages are so
high that they can earn enough in few
months to purchase rich acres sufficient
for farm. This tremendous draft which
the policy of this country for the last ten
years has been making on English labor,
certainly cannot be otherwise than benef-
cial to the land which obtains the living
army of bone and muscle, more numerous
than that which Xerxes led into Greece.
If we would raise more bread for exporta-
ton. build more ships to carry it, and what
is better, build more manufacturing cities
whose teeming myriads would increase
our home markets, we shouldinot be In a
hurry to swing open the democratic gates
of Free Trade and allow foreign manufac-
turers, who pay none of our Town, State
or National taxes. to come in and under
sell. cripple, crush out, and extinguish the
causes which arc now bringing a continu-