The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-01
E11q1ish Farm Hands Haze Hard Time OF 1t

ONDON, May 31.-(SpeciaL) )-Thirty
years ago Jesse Ceilings, who Is
- still member of the British par
lament, reused the sluggish intellect of
agricultural England with his war cry
of three acres and a cow for every
farm hand. With this policy he prom
ised to change the face of the country
side and to make the agricultural laborer
from sweated serf into a Seif-respectins'
Independent cultivator His policy was
taken up by Joseph Chamberlain and with
notifications Incorporated III the latter's
protective tariff scheme. There is
doubt that had Chamberlain not broken
down much would have been done for
the laborer on the English land, but his
disappearance from politics threw the
tory party back a generation, and until
recently the liberal party was SO much
concerned with the fate of the workers
in the towns that it had no time or
thought to spare for the countryman.
Now, however, Lloyd-George, the driv-
ing force of the liberal party has come
forward with his proposal of "a cottage
and a quid." which promises to sweep
the country workers into the liberal
ranks. 1t should be explained that "quid
is the British workmans slang term for
a sovereign, the gold coin which is worth
s5 in American money, and that Lloyd
Georges proposal is for legal minimum
wage for the agricultural laborer of IS a
week with cottage and a plot of land
The fact that this proposal should be
hailed by the laborers themselves as the
portent of a new heaven and a new
earth and by the employing farmers as
little short of revolutionary confscation,
is strong evidence of the sweated condi.
ton of agricultural labor in England to-
day.
Nothing is harder for the townsman
who knows nothing of country condition
to find out than the true condition of
the farm laborer in this country. If one
is to believe the farmer he IS extremely
well paid and looked after and in many
cases is better off than the philantropist
who pays his wages. If one Is to be-
lieve the laborer himself he never has
enough to eat and is compelled to work
until he drops in the field. The truth is
somewhere between these two extremes.
but the fact that over 70 per cent of the
rural laborers of England die in the
workhouse is proof enough that they
never receive enough wages 10 make any
provision for old age. 1t is expected that
the old age pensions act which is now In
full working order will reduce this per-
centage a good deal. although it is hard
to see how a pension of s125 week will
keep an old man or an old woman with
out relatives or other resources out OF
the workhouse. -t
The reason for the difficulty in arriving
at true estimate of the country labor
er's condition lies in the fact that 50
much of his payment is in kind. In Amer
lea and in the British dominons oversee
the farm hand as a rule is paid so much
In cash a month and receives his board
as we'll. The value of that board is
easily fixed and there is no difficulty In
reducing the reward of his labor to a
cash basis at once. The English farm
laborer is never boarded by mis- employer
He is hired, usually at the Michaelmas
fair, for year at so much a week In
cash. In addition to this he receives a
cottage on his masters farm. so many
faggots of wood sometimes an allowance
of coal. so many pounds of bacon and
so much milk day. Sometimes the milk
is whole and sometimes it is SKINNED.
Sometimes the bacon Is good home-cured
stuff, but oftener it is the cheapest for
eign meat specially bought for the farm
hands. Sometimes if there are woods
in the neighborhood the laborer is allowed
to pick up sticks for his fire and occa-
sionally he is allowed few oabbages o.
turnips from his masters fields. If he
is a shepherd he can usually reckon on
"lamb money in addition to his wages.
This means that he receives or 3 cents
for every lamb alive after a certain age.
If he is carter he may get tourney
morey,'' which means 10 cents or so for
every journey of about 10 miles or more