The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in EuropeWashington, Booker T.
History
The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe
Washington, Booker T.
Poor -- Europe; Working class -- Europe
In Scotland the opportunities for the small farmer to obtain land
are even less than they are in England. Some years ago, it is said,
twenty-four persons in Scotland owned estates of more than 100,000
acres. The Duke of Sutherland owns a tract stretching, I was told,
clear across Scotland from coast to coast.
In no country in the world is so small a portion of the population
engaged in agriculture as is true in England. For instance, 68 per
cent. of the population of Hungary, 59 per cent. of the population of
Italy, 48 per cent. of the population of Denmark, 37.5 per cent. of the
population of the United States are engaged in agriculture. In England
and in Wales in 1901 only 8 per cent. were engaged in agriculture.
Not only is it true that a larger proportion of the population of
England than of other countries has removed from the country to the
city, but in England, also, the distance between the man in the city
and the man on the soil is greater than elsewhere. For example, in
Italy the distinction between the agricultural labourer and the
labourer in the city may be said hardly to exist; the man who, at one
part of the year, finds work in the city, is very likely to be found at
work at some other time of the year in the country.
In Germany also I noticed that a great many of the manufacturing
plants were located in the country, where the factory labourer had an
opportunity to cultivate a small patch of land. To the extent that he
has been able to raise his own food, the factory hand in Germany has
made himself independent of the manufacturers and the market.
In Hungary I was told that in harvest time the public works were
deserted and many of the factories were compelled to shut down, because
every one went away to the country to work in the fields.
Now, the thing that interested me in observing the vast dislocation of
the rural population of England, represented by this vast labouring
community of East London, was the extent to which the English
labourer, in moving from the country to the city, had lost his natural
independence.
In losing his hold upon the soil the English labourer has made himself
peculiarly dependent upon the organization of the society about him.
He can, for instance, neither build his own home nor raise his own
food. In the city he must pay a much larger rent than it would be
necessary for him to pay in the country. He must work more steadily in
order to live, and he has to depend upon some one else to give him the
opportunity to work. In this respect, although the English labourer is
probably better paid and better fed than any other labourer in Europe,
he is less protected from the effects of competition. He is more likely
to suffer from the lack of opportunity to work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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