New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-11
THE VILLAGE PROBLEM.
DRIFT TO THE CITIES" IN ENGLAND.
From The London Spectator

DRIFT III Tile CIllES' IN ENGLAND.
From The London Spectator.
The Daily News" is to be congratulated on IN
Village Commissioner" the writer Whom II hss
condition of the laborers and the reasons which
are inducing them 70 desert the countryside Hs
is man wholly free from iie r'ncor which ~
frequently impairs the judgment of such com
missiOners." lie is indignant, Of c0ure, at NAM
OF the facts which he describes, and full Of pitt
for sufferers; but he can see other facts, ard 10
Is not full also of hatred for thOse who do rot
suffer. lie can see an employer happy and A
laborer miserable without assuming thit the ha,-
piness is n robbery and the misery consciously
inflicted wrong. The parson who Is Tory and
pesJ9ist does not strike him as a eort Of monster
but as a worthy old gentleman rather bclated IA
bis views; and when the clergywoman compk
her parishoncrs to pack their loaned blankets Ia
sealed canvas bags he understands while condemn
ing such excessive interference, that 1t is dictated
by sanitary wisdom rather than mere meddlesome.
ness. That is the temper which produces conf.
dence i'm q writer's testimony, and it is therefor.
with keen regret that we read letters which, from
the literary Point Of view ought to inspire only
firms completely the impression which any ore
must derive from the reports Of the censustaken
The village laborer is going away from the vllagr
and no other laborer takes his place. The stronf
to the towns, leaving behind them only the Old
the weddings, and the few who for one reason
or another, cannot afford to depart. Good"
village or bad" village, village with rotten and
picturesque cottages or, village Just rebuilt AZ
endless expense by the landlord, the story is al
ways the same. The indraft Of the towns is IL.
reslstible and usually in silence, but with decl
sion, and for good" the capable young mea
abandon country labor. IL they arc blaeksmts,
or whcelwrights. or thatchers-that Is, in fact.
skilled artisons-tbey may stop but they will not
plough, or dig, or reap, or make roads Willingly
any more. They go, and there are none TO take
their places: so that there ere parishes vhes
and where. by the testimony Of both farmers AID
men. the regular supply Of labor is hopeleSsly IN.
sufficient. 1t really appcars rs If u. few yean
more, when the generation which still unwilllnry
remains on +" the land' has passed away, the feds
must either be left untitled or must he cutivatedon
some system Of which as yet none OF the immense
Glasses interested in the problem have so much as
thought.
For we cannot believe in the panaceas in which,
if We understand the inner DRIFT OF his remarks,
the cpmmissio ner puts his trust. Grant that the
serfage" of which he complains-that Is, the In
cessant over-supervision Of the lower class 10y tho
higher, which no doubt still fingers in village
lfe-has, owing TO the change in mems tcmpen
and in their ideas of the beiltting, become pure
tempt Iaborers to remain. they are not half 50
much interfered with as servants and servants
stay and If they dslilled the system, they could
abolish it without departing. They have only 70
1t would end. There would be no serious re-
sistancc to a clear demand to be let al"1e, as
artisans are let alone and, indeed, in the Villages
without gentry the laborers often are let alone
most completely. There are villages in the Metro
politan counties where feudalism' is as dead n
the worship Of jupiter yet labor in the farm.
ers sense of the word is almost unprocurabie, ara
the young are slipping away faster than from vi:
lagos OF the older kind where the influence OF
habit and the fear of the unknown are mon
strongly felt. Grant, again, what we fully be;
lieve. that the people have recently awakened
to new sense Of the badness of their cot
tages, and that this badness does constitute
Sn that We can race ecUecs the Of @
years ago, when dilapidation was the rule and
nobody cared-its removal, though an immense
benefit to the people; would not, we fear, induce
them to stay on. They glide away, as the CON-
missioner admits, from the restored villages
just as much as from the rotten ones We know OK
village where every poor man has cottage the
curate might live in with comfort and still the
population is decreasing, the young, rs we qles.
toned them, declaring with one voice, There
hope in the towns" And finally, grant that wages
laborer's ideal Of comfort, and that, allotments
add to his happiness in life-and We believe both
propositions, with the reserve that the labor Is
almost as bad as the pay, and that y CiccesS.
full allotment is " most exhausting prlvilege-and
still we doubt whether the grant Of higher wages
in any proportion that the land can AFFORD. %
induce the laborers to stay. They do not st'y
as freeholders The drift toward the towns q
strong in the countries where the laborer Is
owner, in France in Germany, in the Eastern
States of the Union, as in England. There is no
serfage" in Massachusetts,, the houses are good
enough for all purposes of comfort though
whole of what the land Yields; and still the coun.
try districts grow deserted and the generation
hocks toward the more crowded scene.
The truth is that wages for wages, the majority
of hand workers like the town better. 1hey ae
full of the gregarious instinct which produces
clubs statute holidays, and O'Clock teas, and hate
the comparative solitude of the countryside Tie
noise Of the town, its crowdng, rs
competition. it's breezeless air. all the
things which disgust the refined. are 70
them enjoyments, give them sense of fuller lie
sible and pleasant chances They often, suder
quite terribly at first from want Of steady pay,
and from the great curse Of modern cities, inc
extravagant proportion borne by rent TO wages;
but they never go back They are like people in
the gallery Of theatre, overpacked, In bad ar,
and harassed by incessant noise, yet conscious all
the same of an enjoyment, fulnesS OF interest
and mental movement not to be found at home.
We are by no means sure, either, that a feeling
which we see constantly appearing also in Ameri'
can and French literature, is not apparent also 10
England THAT is, positive disgust In country
folk for the country kind of laborin9 life. which
for them means, not country air." but exposure
to all weathers: not rural peace. but deadly
mOnotony Of toll not the absence of hurry
but the presence of slowness in the production OF
results Nature being of all manufacturers the most
dilatory and exasperating They have, too, one adj
vantage in towns which the country can never
share. be the social changes what they
getting fairly and finally out of the la5orers
condition which is we should say ,Ss
educated enough TO have abstract desires at all
The young have all reached that point. and the
young therefore will not voluntarily remain upon
the land"
Is, then, the country to be deserted, restored
to the wilderness, as parts Of Massachusetts, are,
or laid down throughout in grass. The process
which each census shows 10 be slowis going on
in England? Probably not; ut least, no suea
calamity is yet recorded of any fertile land IN:
devastated by conquest, GrOuth or famine; bN
the remedy may not be any OF those us yet sue.
gested 1t may be found in total change OK
tenure such as would attract TO the soil ell those
TO whom independence and a certain inexhaustins
sameness of life seem more than comY.lsattois
for the feverish life of cities IL may he thSS
owing 10 some changes in the course Of trade, our
cities will decay, and become as unattractive -
the peasantry as the decayed cities OF Bcigium ~
North Holland now are. IL may be that tie new
motive-power, now almost in sight, may dispeire
instead Of concentrating labor. and 50 Dss'ow on