Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-09-12
ENGLISH FARM LABOR.
It's Failure and the Causes Thereof.

Its Fatlure ana the Causes Thereot'
The strike which has been going on
during the summer among the farm
laborers in England, says the New
York Times, has not been wholly
thrown away. 1t has, on the contrary,
thrown light upon several things which
otherwise would not have been thought
of. For the purpose for which it was
begun it has failed, but it is more in
structive in its failure than it could
have been in its success. 1t will be re-
memhered that Mr.. Arch paid hur-
ried visit to Canada and the United
States, with view to promote the emil
grafton of farm labolers, and to find q
suitable place for their settlement.
When Mr.. Arch returned home, he ad-
dressed meetings of farm laborers in
various places, told them of their serf-
dom, set forth the tyranny under which
they were laboring, counseled a general
strike throughout the country directly
the time for active farm operations
should arrive, and promised to bring
about the establishment of q Laborers'
Union 10 maintain the men while on
strike, or to remove them to this coun-
try or to one of the colonies. In many
places the men accepted his advice.
They struck. Mr.. Arch meanwhile full
filled his promise. The union was
formed, some of the laborers were sent
to New Zealand, and the rest received
moneys from the society. ..
The farmers were neither dismayed
nor Respondent. Mr.. Arch advised his
followers to wait till harvest, and then,
he promised them, they should see the
great things they had done. He also
constituted band of itinerant labor
ers, who were to go as propagandists
through the country, and try to rouse
their fellow laborers to join in the
crusade against despotism. ALI this
they did. But presently the time of
harvest came, and still the farmers were
not alarmed. The strikers were
amazed to see the crops disappearing
from tie field without their interven-
tion, and all the work proceeding, per-
haps little more slowly, but with all
the certainty of former years. And
what is the condition of affairs now ?
The men who struck are still unemploy-
ed. The union, seeing that the cause is
hopeless, has announced that no more
funds can be forthcoming to support
them, and thus the agitators are hold
ing up the terrors of starvation to their
dupes. The farmers are contented and
unmoved, and there is moral certainty
that the crops will be we'll harvested by
the third week in August, which is a
fair average period.
1t may fairly be asked how such a
result came about? Considering how
much we hear of the depression of the
agricultural interest in England, and
!, especially of the miseries of the Eng
lish farm laborer, the question is full
,. of interest. To some extent it must be
attributed to the greatly increasing use
of machinery in agricultural operations,
which leaves the farmer in o state of
considerable independence of manual
, labor, and it is not improbable that the
, strike will have the effect of still further
showing them the advantages of ma.
chinery. There appears, however, to
have been also store of labor behind
: that in general employment on the
. farms, and quite sufficient to meet any
q requisite demands. But above all it is
very evident that the condition of the
average farm laborer, Notwithstanding
his apparently low wages, is not so bad
. as people have been told. AS rule, he
4 has constant employment, his money is
/ certain and regularly paid, and his ex
penses of living are small. He has also
many privileges and in case of sick
ness, either in his own person or among
any of his family, all his wants are
, supplied without any cost to himself.
9 At any rate, it has now been proved
s that whenever any one of these people
yielding to the advice of Mr.. Arch and
his friends, gave up their positions as
laborers on farm, there were plenty
ready and anxious to obtain the advan,
s tages of the same place. 1t has also
r now ccme to light for. the first time
= that many of the farmers throughout
4 the country have long been giving oc
. cupation to a larger number of laborert
q than they actually required. They had
/ not reduced them in proportion as they
Z might have done, with the introduction
of machinery ; SO that in this way the
a strike has been an actual advantage tC
! the farmers, by relieving them of thu
responsibility of dismissing hands thai
they really did not want, but whom
. they retained from considerations o
Z another kind. t'l