The evening times., 1899-05-29
The Nation Becoming Alarm.
ed Over a New Danger.
General Agitation Begun to Check
the Rush to the Cities.
Rider Ha&Eard Prominent i'm the
MOvement-A Recent Address
Made by the Novelist.

England Inc cry OF distress from tne In
poverished agricultural classes of Great
Britain has become so familiar in the pub
lie ear that it is scarcely heard, or il heard
is regarded as a hopeless complaint i'm
possible to remedy. But the conditions
have grown worse SO steadily and for SO
long a time that at length the situation
demands the attention of all publicists,
however lacking in sympathy they may be
as far as the immediate victims are con-
ers in the eastern counties of England,
for instance, has decreased fully IL per
cent in the past twenty years. The gem
eral population of these counties has also
shrunk considerably in that PERIOD al
though the population of England and
Wales as a whole has increased more than
100000 in the same time. 1t is even true
that the population of many rural villages
is smaller today than it was in the Mid
die Ages.
The abnormal makeup of the present
population of rural England is strikingly
revealed by recent statistics. The number
of marriages is more than 80 per cent be-
low normal, while more than so per cent
CT the deaths are Of persons more than
sixty years of age. The latter fact might
be taken to indicate high longevity and
very healthy climate. but the truth is
that ii is accounted for by the absence OF
residents between the ages Of twenty and
sixty.
The latest champion oc the agricultural
interests OF Great Britain is Rider Hag
gard, the novelist, and he is taking a
prominent part in the agitation which is
pretty sure to force the subject upon the
active attention Of one or both political
parties in the near future. He discussed
the subject the other day before the Nor
folk Chamber of Agriculture in a manner
TO impress its Importance upon all public
spirited hearers and readers. He scarcely
mentioned the evil which more than any
other oppresses English agriculturists,
namely, the prohibitive railway rates,
which make it impossible to develop Eng
land into great market garden for the
feeding of town populations. II the cost
of transportation was reduced TO the aver
age scale within a radius of 100 miles of
the principal cities OF the Eastern States
in America the agricultural problem in
England would be well advanced toward
solution. The farmer could then abandon
the cultivation Of cereals wherein he can
not compete with the soil and methods OF
American and Russian grain fields. and
could devote himself to supplying the over
grown cities with products from his land.
Rider HaEgard's Discussion.
But this is a local condition, and Mr..
Haggard devoted himself chiefly to the
discussion of more general factors Of the
problem which have some application to
the same question in other countries He
mentioned, for instance, the arguments
that the spread OF education makes labor
on the land distasteful to the young, say
ing that ''one would think that, other
things being equal, true education, the ed
ucation which teaches us how great and
good thing il is to be in daily contact
with nature and to breathe the pure air
undefiled by the reek Of cities. might have
led to different conclusion; that the
housing Of labOrers is in many cases insult
fcient-though here / may remark that
the housing of similar classes in large
towns is not all that could be desired and
the rent is very much higher: and that the
desire for music halls and other forms OF
entertainment draws the young from dull
country places. which is doubtless true
such are some Of the reasons, but I
maintain that the true first cause of this
emigration is purely economic; that the
laborer leaves the land because the land
cannot pay sufficient wages to keep him on
it; and that il it could pay him sufficient
he would soon get over his longing for the
music halls or his dislike of labor in the
fields, or even the insuffciency of house
accommodation in his neighborhood This
can be easily proved. If any one of us
wants groom or a keeper, or an under
gardener. there is no lack of applicants
for the post. because the work is compar-
atively light and the pay a few shillings
a week better.
1T may be taken as proposition beyond
reasonable doubt" Mr.. Haggard went on
to say, that the laborer is leaving the land
because in the present depressed state of
the great agricultural industry in our part
of England the cultivator of the land can
not by any possibility manage to pay him
a better wage and live himself Into the
vexed question of whether or no the young
fellow who thus departs to find employ
ment elsewhere really betters his position
at the far end l have no time to enter
at length. Still, 1t must be remembered
that Is shillings or Ell a week always
sounds good deal better than IL shillings
or IA shillings, and, however the thing
may work out at last, the young man who
strives to secure the higher wage is actuat-
ed by very proper and laudable ambition
We cannot expect him to stop here and
turn himself into a plowman If he thinks
he can do better elsewhere. He has his
own interests to consult, like every indi-
vfdual among US. and he must not be
blamed for consulting them.
We'll. as this emigration is going on,
and II some way is not found to check
1t fs likely to go on, 1t may be worth
while to glance at its probable results
As regards the land they seem to be that
within the next twenty years or SO
gread deal Of the poorer soil-the very
heavy and the very light-will go out Of
cultivation; the grass area will be largely
increased, while such; lands as remain
arabic will have to be cultivated by ma
chinery directed by few highly paid
mechanics. This, in its turn, would mean
that small fields must be done away with,
since steam plows, ETC., cannot be used
in them to advantage. You can form your
own opinion as to whether the prospect
is pleasing to agriculturists or advantage
GUS to the villages and small country
towns which are in process Of desertion.
Effect ON Large Towns.
1.-The next question is: What will be the ,
effect on the large towns toward which
this migration flows, and especially on
London? have from time to time been
credited with some powers of Imagination,
but confess that they fail me when l think
Of this England Of ours, spotted over with
huge overgrown cities, surrounded each
Of them by market gardens and beyond by
great stretches Of what in Africa we should
call veld-that is, unimproved or scarcely
improved country, broken here and there
by the mansions Of rich colonial or city |
men encircled by their areas OF sporting
lands. Yet appalling and in some ways al |
most ludicrous as is the picture, It is one |
that human eyes may see unless the coun- |
A Pleasure and a Duty.
I cons,der it not only pleasure, but duty l |
owe to my neghbo-s to tell about the wonderful |