The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-05-18

@18SeVuD W8Vws3 - SSvosS
vsxation 70 The tenant hist ~ should
b called aWay from the work Of bic own hold
Inc to DO the lords Labor. u b plain nom
walter Dc Hehlsy's statement that The bailin
had NO little trouble In getting the duo quota OF
work from the tenant. Hence. n the lord could
get fair money com pensAtion for tho labor.
he could spare the cost OF the bailif's super.
vision over unwilling laborsrs. Those commu.
tstlons would b. entered on the manor rental
and would tsnd 70 assimilats the tenure Of the
ssrf. now Increasingly called tenant By COPY
or custom. with that Of the freehoidsr who sas
ct fec farm rent besides familiarisin9 all
parties with the redemption OF those contin.
gensiss which affected the statue Of serL
Ultimately the money payments would DO
deemed nxed and determinsts liabilities. the
satisfaction Of which was dlsohargs Of aR the
old labor renta. and the prefer Of which was
tender which tho steward was bound TO 90
cept"
The process Of Communication was accelerated
and the general improvement In the position
Of the English workiDgmsn Was immensely
furthered By the pesttience known a. the
Black DEATH" which wasted England In l346.
and BY which. ~ Mr.. Rogers 10 convinced By
careful survey Of ell the evidence. ct least .
third Of the population Was destroyed. tho loSs
being specially noticeable among the adult and
able. bodied members Of the community. From
the resultant scarcity Of labor there ensued
great appreciation in wages. most Of which
was lastinGly maintained. and this. b It OBJ
served. was . genuine riso. there being no
change at all In the prices OF tho necessarles OF
life. Tho rise In agricultural labor BY reason
OF this national catastrophe was" says Mr..
Rogers. all kinds OF mons work being taken
together. about 80 per cent. and OF women's
work fully 100 per cent. When taken together
the rise In tho wages OF artisans labor 10 almost
exactly the same - that effected In the case
OF the husbandmen. The result ID marked. uni
versal. permanent. and conducive" He adds
that tho popularity Of the industrial crisis Ia
such that. whilo no kind OF Agricultural produce
experiences any rise. everything to which labor
adds ita principal value is proportionately ex-
Allied" All at once. then. and a. by one stroke.
the lsborer. both peasant and artisan. becomes
master Of the situation In England. Tho lord
Of the manor found on all sides stationary and
even q retrcgrade market for every kind OF
produce In which he dealt a. seller. and
raDldly advancing market for everything he
needed as buyer" His Old rights Of exacting
labor service had been committed as o rulo for
even less than the old ratios Of wages. while for
the work which he still needed for the tillage
OF his demesne lands he must pay the greatly
advanced rates. His position was desperate.
and his FIRST impulse was to sock remedy In
the violent abjuratlon OF tho bargain made
with his serf tenants and In the reassertion Of
his right to labor payments 1t was this at
tempt that led to the unparalleled uprising
In 1881. known Is Tylets insurrootion.
which almost at blow gained possession Of
London and Norwich. the two chief cities Of the
kingdom. Such an uphsaval obviously was the
outcome OF q wde-reaching and deep-laid
organization. tho agents OF which Mr.. Rogers
finds In tho so-caled Poor Priests. the dis
clples Of wiklif. who wore allowed to preach
tho religious and social doctrines Of Loilardy
without much Interference. until the Govern
ment detected In them tho instrumentalities Of
the dangerous instruction. They who draw
their notions from the ordinary histories might
infer that tho uprising with which the name OF
Tyler il connected failed Mr.. Rogers shows
that. as . matter OF fact 1t gained evory-
| thing 1t asked for. Tho peril had been
90 great and the success OF the insurrec-
ton was 80 near that wise mon saw 1t was
better to silently grant that which they
| stoutly refused In Parliament to conoede.
| That the claims Of the SORTS were conceded. or.
II you please. the claims Of the landlords ito
exact labor servicesl were dropped. IA absolutely
certain. Tho Parliament cried. No surren-
der and began to surrender Immediately.
Snap resolutions we're no doubt passed ten
years or less aiterward. but the Government
evaded them and declined to give effect TO tho
petition tof tho landowners represented In tho
| Houses Of Parliament Tho custom Of COM
muting the old labor rents for money payments
became universal: the serfs became copyhold-
ers. and the rebellion OF Tyler. once terrible
memory. became In tho later annals tho mere
| outbreak OF mob. or. "a one Of our later phi
| losophcrs has described II. the outcome OF an
age In which social inequality was over keenly
| felt The wiser contemporaries Of the move
mont agreed to abandon Its rrovocations."
As early as the middle Of the reign Of Edward
Ill. . so.called Statute OF Laborors was passed.
by which IN effort was maie to reduce the
wages OF labor to the old standard. But al
though repeatedly reenacted. It remained IN
operative until a combination Of maleflcent
events enabled landowners to enforce analo-
gous regulations in the latter half OF the six
tenth century. But we are now in the four
teenth and what. 1t may DO asked was the
landlord to do In presence OF the economical
| Quandary2 He could no longer afford to till his
| demesne land himself. and. accordingly. no
gave up trying. the first expedient being what
may be called u land and stock lease. In which.
In confederation OF "a rent payable for life or n
| term OF years. tho demesne land. with the live
stock and farming implements. was turned
over TO tenant. This system proved unsatis-
factory. and was before long superseded either
| Dy renting tns Rnu NIOne 10 cUVltnnht tenunt
able to provide hs own stock. or by transform
ing the arabic land belonging to tho lord OF the
manor into sheep farm.
Before leaving the clysan epoch OF English
labor let US glance ut some eloquent statistics
which 1t will be important to bear In mind rs
wO follow the working,nan along tho down ward
path upon which he is about to enter. In the
year 1495. the very year in which Henry VII
I unavailingy resnacted tho Statute OF Laborers
the average wages OF m artisan In the country
wore three shillings q week; OF a laborer 10
husbandry working by the day two shilings q
week. The day. let us remember. was eight
hours. and. moreover, men got just rs good
wages in the fifteenth century whether they
were employed for day or year. The laborel
In harvest time received tho same wages as the
artisan. and at harvest time the wages OF the
women laborers were only little less thar
those OF the mon. Now. the price OF wheat II
1895 was shillings md fsrthings quarter
that OF malt. %. AID. and that OF oatmeal. 81
III. An artisan. therefore. earned nearly Z
bushAl Of WHEAT nv dav'a labor anf