Through the influence of the greatly increased popular vote, which
resulted from the Third Reform Act (S600), the farm laborers made
themselves felt in the House of Commons. They secured the passage of
the Small Agricultural Holdings Act (1892). This gave those who
worked on the land the privilege of purchasing from one to fifty
acres, or of taking it on lease if they preferred.[2] But,
notwithstanding the relief granted by this measure, the agricultural
problem is to-day one of the most serious England has to solve. Just
as New England now depends in large measure on the West for its food
supply, so the British Isles depend in great measure on America for
breadstuffs. Thousands of acres of fertile soil have gone out of
cultivation in the eastern half of the island, mainly because the
farmers cannot compete with foreign wheat.
[2] The Small Agricultural Holdings Act enables the County Council
(S600) to acquire, by voluntary arrangement, suitable land for the
purpose of reletting or reselling it to agricultural laborers and men
of small means. Under certain safeguards the Council may advance up
to three fourths of the purchase money.
The Royal Agricultural Commission, in a report made a number of years
ago (1897), could suggest no remedy, and believed matters must grow
worse. A leading English journal,[3] in commenting on the report,
said, "The sad and sober fact is that the English farmer's occupation
is gone, or nearly gone, never to return."
[3] The Bristol _Times and Mirror_, August 5, 1897.
The continued agricultural depression ruined many tillers of the soil,
and drove the rural population more and more into the already
overcrowded towns. There they bid against the laboring men for work,
and so reduced wages to the lowest point. If they failed to get work,
they became an added burden on the poor rates, and taxes rose
accordingly.
Should no remedy be found, and should land in England continue to go
out of cultivation, it is difficult to see how the majority of
proprietors can resist the temptation to break up and sell their
estates. The tendency of an important act of Parliament (1894) is
believed by many to work in the same direction.[1] It imposes an
inheritance tax on the heirs to landed property, which they find it
hard to meet, especially when their tenants have abandoned their
farms rather than try to pay the rent.
[1] The Consolidated Death Duties Act.
To-day a few thousand wealthy families hold the title deeds to a large
part of the soil on which more than forty millions live. Generally
speaking, the rent they demand does not seem to be excessive.[2] It is
an open question whether England would be the gainer if, as in France,
the land should be cut up into small holdings, worked by men without
capital, and hence without power to make improvements.
[2] This is the opinion of the Royal Commission; but Gibbins's
"Industry in England" (1896), p. 441, takes the opposite view.