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 L I E) RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 ^3 
 
 THE 
 
 LABOUE DISPUTE IN KENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 LABOUR IS HONOURABLE, 
 IDLENESS is DETESTABLE.
 
 ** Labour is honourable, 
 Idleness is detestable." 
 
 The prominence given to the Agricultural Labourers^ 
 Strike in Kent by a considerable portion of the Metro- 
 politan papers, has invested it with an importance far 
 in excess of its actual extent and proportions, as 
 affecting agricultural operations : The Kent and 
 Sussex Labourers' Union contains about 15,000 
 members : it is doubtful whether at any time 500 
 men have been receiving pay from the Society: 
 Agriculture in the two counties during the last few 
 weeks has been in its normal state, and while some 
 local centres have been agitated, and the scene of 
 angry and spirited disputes, the preparations for 
 Christmas beasts, and tilling the ground for the 
 usual crops, have been uninterrupted. 
 
 The movement in favour of reduction by the 
 farmers was rather hurriedly initiated. A small 
 number held a meeting and announced their 
 determination to the labourers: others followed, 
 and at the same time naturally enough the labourers, 
 almost without exception, in the local lodges de- 
 clared that this was ^'pinching the women and 
 children " for the luxuries of their employers, and 
 the proposal, in the face of the falling market, 
 
 A 2
 
 was to be resisted; the public was to be appealed 
 to for aid for these poor creatures ; philanthropists, 
 members of parliament, and others, perhaps least of 
 all competent to pass judgment on farmers, were to 
 come to the rescue; a procession of men to London, 
 '' destitute and evicted," was to be organized ; and 
 with the aid of meetings at Woolwich, Maidstone, 
 and Exeter Hall, a great moral victory was to be 
 achieved over the tyrannical despots who were 
 grinding down these poor slaves — the wretched 
 examples of Shelley's modern '' men of England.'' 
 The banners and the procession of men through the 
 streets of the metropolis did not evoke that degree 
 of compassion in the minds of the members of the 
 Metropolitan Trade Societies so as to draw largely 
 from their funds ; they were too astute for the sen- 
 sational nature of the appeals made to them. Though 
 unfamiliar with agriculture, they must have felt the 
 case was overdrawn and exaggerated. To those 
 with a knowledge of the real state of the case, the 
 only one aspect of the parade was the ridiculous. 
 One inscription borne aloft, to anyone acquainted 
 with the process of hop-drying, was certainly amusing : 
 " Although we dry the hops, we mustn't drink the 
 beer." A gallon of ale and as much small beer as 
 they can drink in the twenty-four hours is the com- 
 mon allowance for many driers, and as much as two 
 gallons of porter in the same time has been quoted 
 by one of the notable Maidstone hop-growers. 
 The great majority of the men have regarded 
 all this demonstration as pure folly and ostentation. 
 
 u,uc
 
 Though they read of the proceedings of Messrs. 
 Herbert and O'Donnell, in their sleeves they half 
 laugh and half condemn the men who went to 
 London. Rumours have reached them that they 
 stood looking half foolish, half tipsy on the plat- 
 form, and that they would have gladly exchanged 
 so obnoxious a task as turning a mix en for the 
 experiences of the "morning after" in Fleet Street 
 and the Strand. 
 
 It is often difficult to analyze men's minds, but 
 they are usually full of inconsistency and paradox. 
 There appears to be no exception in the present 
 instance. Nothinof would induce them to reveal to 
 outsiders the precise grounds which induce them to 
 give the Union their support ; but of sincere attach- 
 ment to their masters, there is equally no doubt. 
 Though the magnetism of the Union is power- 
 ful, they still entertain a secret, indefinite feeling 
 that it is deluding and beguiling them. They 
 at once regard their superiors with dishke and 
 are ready to idolise them in the same breath: 
 they will attend the Union meeting and listen 
 to the denunciations of the employers with grim 
 satisfaction, and then cheer them to the echo when 
 regaled at Christmas or the Harvest Home, with beef 
 and pudding. Amongst the farmers an almost similar 
 state of things is noticeable. They entertain un- 
 disguised sentiments of repugnance towards the 
 Union ; they desire also to recognize the inevitable 
 and to scratch along as they may best, under ad- 
 verse circumstances, while they also are not as a rule
 
 wanting in kindness to their labourers. If the 
 reduction of wages, however, was hurriedly initiated, 
 no other course was open to the tenant farmers. 
 They have been in many cases rightly and justly 
 supported by the landlords, while it can also be 
 recorded, to the credit of the labourers, that though 
 they belonged to the Union, they acted in opposition 
 to the resolutions passed in the local committees, 
 and understood fast enough that with wages at 155. 
 a week and wheat at 38<s. to 455. a quarter, they 
 were no worse off than when the price of wheat was 
 at 505. to 605. and their weekly wages at I65. in 
 previous instances. 
 
 The labourer is entitled to sympathy: he has a 
 hard struggle for life; his tastes are domestic, in 
 no sense vicious, and those who live in the rural 
 districts of England can readily testify to their 
 virtues, struggling as they often do with great 
 hardships and severe privations. To particularise a 
 little: Some parts of the county of Kent, tracts 
 between Folkestone and Dover, or again near Can- 
 terbury and the long woods leading away to 
 Ashford and Maidstone, where the soil is sour, the 
 neighbourhood desolate : in these districts there is a 
 poverty-stricken population ; the habitations are often 
 miserable ; till within very recent days there were 
 no means of education, and in many places are to 
 be seen signs of distress and misery. " Prima facie " 
 reduction to the inhabitants of such as these, except 
 under the direst necessity, seems downright cruelty. 
 These, however, are not the class under whose
 
 auspices the strike was either commenced or con- 
 tinued; they were mainly in the hop and market 
 garden villages, near country gentlemen's houses and 
 residences, where, through the summer, they had 
 enjoyed considerable advantages. It must not be 
 supposed in saying this, that these people are merely 
 selfish and wilful — they are victims of misguided 
 impulse. The worst to be urged against them is 
 that ignorance deprives them entirely both of judg- 
 ment and of reason. Their generosity is as surprising 
 as their incapability of deciding the balance which 
 must determine the fair share of remuneration for 
 their labour due to them. When, according to their 
 own statements, they are almost starving, their purses 
 at once fly open for others in misery and siiflfering. 
 
 That they often act generously to others in distress 
 or difficulties, I give an illustration of charitable aid 
 contributed largely by labourers. I have subjoined 
 a tabulated statement of an offertory summarised 
 for six years in one of these parishes, which is fairly 
 representative, in which the population does not 
 exceed 150 persons. It proves that they are not 
 all quite the unfortunate and destitute persons they 
 have occasionally been represented. 
 
 
 
 Number of 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amouiit of Offertory. 
 
 Coins in each year 
 
 
 £ 8. d. 
 
 less than U. 
 
 1873 
 
 95 18 10 
 
 849 
 
 1874 
 
 82 2 U 
 
 723 
 
 1875 
 
 73 16 8 
 
 
 1876 
 
 78 9i 
 
 98D 
 
 1877 
 
 . . 103 6 61 
 
 830 
 
 1878 
 
 89 7 3 
 
 881
 
 8 
 
 It is a fact that in many cases the men, with 
 their wives and children, have earned an average 
 of from I85. to 255. a week, and there is an in- 
 dividual case known where a labourer earned as 
 much as £80, with his wife, from Michaelmas 1877 
 to the same period in 1878. Not long since, passing 
 near a farmer's house, the farmer and his son were 
 observed feeding their sheep ; the farmer remarked, 
 in reply to " Good morning," " Well, Sir, you see I 
 am obliged to turn shepherd myself. My shepherd 
 ds dn strike. " How much do you suppose he has 
 earned with his wife, in the last twelve months? 
 I have been going over my books, and I see their 
 average through the year has been 335." These are 
 instances. But there are many others which could 
 be readily verified, and confute the misleading state- 
 ments — such, for instance, that weekly wages are being 
 dragged down to II5. or 125. It is a grave and 
 astonishing error for men to strike under such circum- 
 stances ; but there is nothing in it very unusual ; all 
 familiar with industrial disputes know the men never 
 strike when in positive degradation; it is the first 
 beginning and paring down of the wages which is 
 the hardest struggle. These disputes arise not be- 
 tween men and masters where they feel that as the 
 case may be either in wealth or poverty their in- 
 terests are identical, but at that particular point where 
 both are in a degree of affluence which is ascribed to 
 selfishness or motive, and both are at cross purposes.
 
 But was the course taken inevitable for the 
 farmers? There can be little doubt that it was 
 inevitable. There are few farmers who have found 
 agriculture profitable in the last three years — hop 
 growers, perhaps, alone excepted — and the last year 
 was unfavourable even for these. We are in the day 
 of adversity becoming gradually a more sober people, 
 in proof of which witness the consumption of spirits 
 and of beer, as shown by the revenue returns now, 
 and in the inflated times of 1873 and 1872. On 
 light lands in the recent years farmers have been 
 losing money, and many have had a severe struggle, 
 if not actually with hunger at least with penury. 
 
 There can have been no libel more unjust than 
 to brand the farmers as a body with selfish habits 
 or luxurious tastes ; writing to the Times^ not long 
 since, a correspondent quoted the following verses in 
 proof that a great change in the farmers habits had 
 of late years taken place ; — 
 
 Father to tlie plough, 
 Mother to the cow, 
 Daughter to the sow, 
 Son go and mow. 
 
 Now, however, instead, it was — 
 
 Father Tally ho. 
 Mother piano, 
 Daughter silk and satin, 
 Son Greek and Latin. 
 
 Of course, as in every profession, there may be some 
 farmers whose lives may be fast and whose pursuits
 
 10 
 
 are amusements rather than business. There are 
 greater facilities than formerly for periodical visits 
 to the Metropolis, for closer acquaintance with the 
 Masic Halls and Theatres, for trips to the Derby, 
 Goodwood, or Ascot; but to say the farmers as a 
 class are pleasure-seekers is libellous. A farmer rises 
 early, and after superintending his men and directing 
 their work, in nine cases out of ten goes to work with 
 them himself. In his leisure moments he overlooks 
 his accounts and books — of late years to farmers a 
 very unenviable task ; many employ their leisure in 
 the public service as parochial guardians, way- 
 wardens, or small parish officers. There is the simple 
 charm of rural life; but a farmer's, and especially a 
 small farmer's, existence during the last few years 
 has been so full of want of confidence and anxiety, 
 that many would gladly exchange their frugal life and 
 uncertain incomes for the fixed wages of the class 
 by whom the land is brought actually under tillage. 
 
 The farmers should do more to identify their 
 feelings with those of the labourers. It is hard for 
 a rich man to understand the feelings of a poor one ; 
 such is the case not merely between the very rich 
 and the very poor, but also in every phase of social 
 life. There has, perhaps, been amongst some of 
 the labouring poor a drifting towards socialism. 
 They are incapable of appreciating nice distinctions of 
 rights and property, the attributes of every civilized 
 community; we see a restless '''' pejichant^^ for more 
 equality. It has been encouraged by a great deal 
 of legislation in all industrial undertakings on the
 
 11 
 
 part of the State, and a restless desire to advocate 
 more assistance from the State, to the detriment 
 of the great principles of self-help. Hardly anyone 
 can wonder at it. Of late years there has been an 
 ever-widening chasm in the gulph which separates 
 the rich and poor — on the one side, purple and 
 fine linen; on the other, straw, rags and sacking. 
 Again, daily and more frequent libations of cham- 
 pagne and turtle, contrasted with jorums of skim 
 milk with lumps of bacon swimming in them — on the 
 one side greater privations, and on the other greater 
 luxuries, with supposed panaceas to be found in Acts 
 of Parliament. 
 
 But, together with this, it is to be regretted that 
 the advance of science and the general progress of 
 the last fifty years, has made little impression upon 
 the labourer. Nothing has been more odious to them 
 than the introduction of machinery into agriculture, 
 and in some places the machines are still looked upon as 
 enemies. "This 'ere machine," not seven years ago 
 observed a labourer to the present writer, " is taking 
 the bread out of our mouths." And in all similar 
 questions — the laws of rent, the first principles of 
 supply and demand — the labourer's mind is in a con- 
 dition of impenetrable darkness. Some still maintain 
 the landlords are at fault, and point to munificent 
 benefactors, who on the rent days have remitted the 
 tenants 10 per cent., and observe, '' landlords must 
 live at lower rents." But is it fair that there should 
 go forth a decree that landlords are to be arbi- 
 trarily taxed, when the merits of each owner may
 
 12 
 
 be extremely different? There still exists in Kent 
 a yeoman class, unhappily becoming less, and what 
 to a great landlord may be a flea-bite or matter 
 of indifference in such cases, may become the depri- 
 vation of the education of some child, or some one 
 equally in need of assistance. Reduced rents must 
 be a private negociation, but to apply a screw of 
 public opinion extorted by those often the least 
 competent to form one, merits the sternest reproba- 
 tion. Any landlord if he desires to be just, ought to 
 make allowances to a tenant, reduced by misfortune, 
 accident, and distress, and try to give effect to the 
 principles of " live and let live," on which alone all 
 classes can obtain an adequate competence. The 
 farmers have made a great mistake in attributing all 
 their troubles to the Unions, and in not discerning 
 that nothing more than the old vice. Idleness, lies at 
 the root of all the clamour for short hours and hio^h 
 wages. Some have carried things to such lengths, 
 as actually to decline employing a labourer upon 
 the Union books, and have thus encouraged the 
 leaders of the Unions to make their parishes and 
 farms the centre of the most lamented disputes, and 
 the gulf which yawns between the two, is not even 
 bridged over, but becomes wider and wider. On 
 both sides are engendered angry altercations and 
 hostile remarks, which gradually dissociate the 
 links of the chain by which the interests of the 
 landlord, tenant, and labourers are absolutely bound 
 up and cemented.
 
 13 
 
 It is a great pity that they have not done 
 more towards developing the resources of the land 
 which they have cultivated. There may be a con- 
 troversy as to large or small holdings, but farmers 
 have done next to nothing to develope the system of 
 mixed farming combining '4a grande" with "la petite 
 culture," for which the French peasantry have shown 
 such great aptitude. No essential difference exists 
 in the character of much of the soil on either side of 
 the Channel, between France and England, but in the 
 process of food-production small sources of supply 
 have been much neglected. The Kent plough fairly 
 represents the standard of their opinions, and no 
 amount of argument or persuasion will persuade them 
 to walk out of the beaten track marked oiit by their 
 predecessors. Any one may read with advantage 
 Mr. Mill's chapter, in his " Political Economy," 
 on Peasant Proprietors. To this system of land 
 tenure there may be many objections, but the system 
 of culture as described in Rhenish Germany, Belgium, 
 France, and the Channel Islands, might have a 
 trial on the soil of Kentish landlords. There is 
 in the town of Deal a considerable factory for the 
 preservation of tinned vegetables and fruit. A 
 large trade is carried on within a limited area 
 and at no great cost. Why should not such under- 
 takings in conjunction with farm enterprises be 
 further developed ? The minds of the labourers 
 have been kept in a low state of ignorance by the 
 want of energy and slowness of the employers, and 
 without some attempt to encourage the natural
 
 fertility of the soil, both will flounder in the shifting 
 quicksands of the labour difficulties. Nothing can 
 be more prejudicial to many, than what may be 
 termed their traditional habits of living. The same 
 objection applies equally in the cases of the men, the 
 horses, and the cattle. The great idea has not been 
 bone, fibre, and muscle, but how to get the biggest 
 belly full. Would that some one would persuade 
 the farmers of Kent that oatmeal is a more whole- 
 some diet than lumps of fat pork, and that no real 
 strength is given to horses by feeding them off 
 chopped straw in the middle of the night. 
 
 We feel, however, bound to say that these small 
 improvements, though likely in the aggregate to 
 produce large benefits, must be followed up by 
 legislation calculated to give due security to the tenant 
 farmer's capital. This may be done in two ways. 
 The more natural and obvious method is that adopted 
 by the present Government of allowing compensation 
 for improvements ; but alas ! that Act has proved a 
 dead letter, because, scared by the phantom of free- 
 dom of contract, its framers feared to introduce the 
 word " compulsion" into any of its working clauses. 
 It remains, and will remain, a dead letter, a laughing 
 stock, in its present form. 
 
 But if we grant (for the sake of argument) that 
 there is force in the Government objection, and that 
 it is unjust to compel a landlord to make a bargain 
 which he dislikes and may not be able to fulfil, we 
 then assert, it is absolutely necessary to give him, 
 under all circumstances, the legal power voluntarily
 
 15 
 
 to part with land to which he is unable to do justice. 
 It is asserted that if estates are not thus kept by- 
 long entails together, the old families would soon die 
 out. We hope and believe the simple effect of such 
 an enactment would be, to make them look better 
 after their affairs, and place their families in a position 
 of greater affluence. A capital of £100,000 laid out 
 in land represents an income of £2,500 a-year — in 
 money, £4,000. It is surely hard upon the possessor 
 of land to force him to retain his estate for the sake 
 of aristocratic pretensions, when he might be parting 
 with it to a richer man — benefit first himself and 
 his family ; secondly, the tenant farmer, who, under 
 present arrangements, has to put up with bad build- 
 ings, or to do without improvements necessary to 
 enable him to carry on the business ; thirdly, the 
 labourer, who is deprived of those augmented wages 
 which always accompany improved cultivation and 
 agricultural skill. 
 
 Also there has been the terrible opposition which 
 public opinion is gradually overcoming against all 
 learning. The farmers have faintly abused education, 
 and have often striven insidiously to thwart its ends 
 on every possible occasion ; they have consented re- 
 luctantly to half measures; the result of this has 
 been that usually the children of the poor have only 
 got a smattering — so often the worse form of ignor- 
 ance; this would not have been their lot had the 
 movement in favour of schools been met with down- 
 right antagonism. The children are often unduly
 
 16 
 
 pressed, their instruction scamped, the earnings of 
 the family diminished, and a system inaugurated 
 which is preparing the way for future difficulties. 
 
 The last nostrum to remove depression, one 
 in favour of which signs of the times are not want- 
 ing, is an attempted effort to revive the idol of 
 protection. Free Trade has conferred so many 
 blessings on every nook and corner of this land, 
 that movements condemnatory of Free Trade are not 
 openly attempted, but are masked by an insidious 
 guise of false pretences. As a single illustration, 
 at a meeting held on the 28th of November, to 
 consider agricultural depression, at Maidstone, under 
 the presidency of Lord Holmesdale, Mr. Norton pro- 
 posed the following resolution : — '' That this meeting, 
 viewing with apprehension the general depression of 
 agriculture and commerce through the country, and 
 being of opinion that this depression is largely caused 
 by the protective tariff adopted in foreign countries, 
 considers the time has arrived when, in fairness to 
 British interests, the duties levied on foreign produce 
 should be revised." If many movements Hke this 
 are initiated or continued, no matter how exalted 
 the promoters, class alienation and class rivalries 
 must be as industriously promoted ; commercial 
 interests, instead of being united, will become more 
 and more divergent and disconnected. These meet- 
 ings are significant of feelings which cannot be 
 seriously meant. Free Trade, as part of our public 
 poHcy, is immutably fixed. Once having gone for-
 
 17 
 
 ward, we shall never return to the false principles of 
 the past. 
 
 If the farmers have done wrong in supposing 
 Unions to be the source of all their difficulties, 
 equally are the men foolish and blameable for 
 regarding these combinations as a dawn of day 
 for their fortunes, and the promoters as their 
 saviours. Much can be said in extenuation of 
 the system of Trades Unions. It is necessary 
 that men of the same habits and thoughts 
 should coalesce to discuss their individual interests, 
 and in case of injustice that they should act and 
 work together. The faults of selfishness should not 
 be more ascribed to them, than to the. rich and 
 miserly capitalist, only absorbed in the accumulation 
 of worldly possessions ; but it is painful to see how 
 often the labourer is led astray by a mere stranger 
 who pleads his case in the newspapers; to ''''keep 
 up collections every meeting night " is the main feat are 
 in his manifestoes; while men are neglected, who 
 at their doors have often spent time, money, and 
 energy in striving to improve the condition of their 
 poorer neighbours. 
 
 With no desire to impute mismanagement, there 
 can be no doubt that the Statements of the Union 
 finances may be severely criticised. Those for 
 1876-1877 are here appended.
 
 18 
 
 KENT AND SUSSEX LABOURERS' UNION. 
 
 Balance-Sheei for Twelvemonths, from April 15, 1876, to April, 1877. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 £ 8. d. 
 
 Balance, April 15, 1876 3317 15 3 
 
 Interest on ditto 70 10 
 
 Donations, as acknowledged weekly in "Kent and 
 
 Sussex Times " 14 5 6 
 
 Amounts received from Branches — being fort- 
 nightly contributions, entrance fees, fines, &c., 
 as per list marked ''A" .... 4761 8 8 
 
 £8163 10 3 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Stamps, post cards, stamped wrappers, &c. . 
 
 Parcels to Branches by trains, carriers, &c. . 
 
 Expenses of two Delegate Meetings (April and 
 October, 1876) 
 
 Cost of members' cards ...... 
 
 Assistance to locked-out men and members dis- 
 charged by reason of their connection with the 
 Union, &c 885 19 
 
 Expenses of Executive Committee meetings . 
 
 Reports of delegate meetings and Union balance 
 sheets 
 
 Assistance to members migrating .... 
 
 Salaries — Central Office ..... 
 
 Delegates (H. Howard, £47. 16^. 3d.', 
 
 G. Neame, £47. Us. 3d.) . . . 95 12 6 
 
 Delegates' travelling expenses (H. Howard, 
 
 £39. 195. \\d. ; G. Neame, £15. Os. 9d.) . . 45 8 
 
 Telegrams ........ 141 
 
 Contribution books and cash books for Branches 
 and stationery and printing supplied for use of 
 Branches 38 18 3 
 
 80 
 30 13 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 138 15 
 17 10 
 
 9 
 6 
 
 885 19 
 56 18 
 
 9 
 3 
 
 15 11 
 126 4 
 145 16 
 
 9 
 
 6
 
 19 
 
 Stationery for Central Office . . . 
 
 Post-office orders, cheques, and registered letters 
 
 Assistance to members emigrating 
 
 G-eneral printing ....... 
 
 Parcels of various newspapers .... 
 
 Advertisments in newspapers .... 
 
 Legal expenses incurred in protecting members of 
 the Union 
 
 Trustees' and Treasurers' expenses 
 
 Audit expenses ....... 
 
 Contribution to Newcastle Trades' Congress . 
 
 Expenses of delegate attending Newcastle Trades' 
 Congress 
 
 Costs attending the holding of public meetings, &c., 
 in connection with the Union, including hire 
 of rooms, railway fares, &c. . 
 
 Contribution to Maidstone Trades' Council 
 ,, Eochester and Chatham ditto 
 
 ,, Gravesend ditto 
 
 Eent of Central Office .... 
 
 Balance of amount devoted to Newspaper Fund 
 
 Ledgers for Central Office use 
 
 Printing revised rules .... 
 
 Donations to Dartford silk-weavers 
 
 Special assistance to needy members of the Union 
 
 Union almanacs (by resolution of delegate meeting) 
 
 Fixtures for Central Office 
 
 Expenses of series of mass meetings on County 
 Franchise 
 
 Expenses of County Franchise petition to Parlia- 
 ment 
 
 Donation to Mr. Odger's Widow Annuity Fund . 
 
 Expenses attending action to prevent employment 
 of soldiers in harvest fields .... 
 
 Cost of prosecuting Petham Secretary for defraud- 
 ing the Union 
 
 Purchase of plot of land for member to remove his 
 own cottage to (to be repaid the Union) 
 
 £ 8. d. 
 
 18 9 9 
 
 14 18 
 
 24 5 
 
 61 9 
 
 12 
 
 3 4 
 
 30 15 4 
 1 1 6 
 
 6 11 
 10 
 
 7 10 
 
 64 2 
 
 2 4 
 5 
 
 10 
 13 
 
 240 
 
 1 2 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 39 7 6 
 
 15 
 
 9 9 
 
 69 1 11 
 
 8 9 4 
 
 10 6 
 
 3 2 f^ 
 
 4 14 7 
 54 18 2
 
 20 
 
 Legal fees paid in continuation of action in Sheppy 
 assault case ....... 
 
 Numerous small items 
 
 Balance in favour of Union 
 
 Examined and found correct, 
 
 Charles Stevens, 
 Alfred E. Hickmott, 
 Thos. H. Candy, B.D. 
 
 £ 
 
 *. 
 
 d. 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 16 
 
 9 
 
 2433 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 5730 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 £8163 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 BALANCE-SHEET OF THE "UNION LAND AND 
 COTTAGE FUND," 
 
 From April, 1876, to April 1877. 
 
 Eeceipts. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Balance last audit 138 15 4 
 
 Share subscriptions received from members . . 535 12 3 
 
 Repayment on Lenham Heath, appropriation . 2 
 
 £677 7 7 
 
 Expenditure. 
 Appropriations — 
 
 Edward Wells and others, Lenham Heath . 200 
 John Poole, Headcorn (this being the Erant 
 appropriation, obtained by John Poole by 
 
 purchase) 200 
 
 Expenses attending three Branch baUot meetings . 15 6 
 
 Printing 3 13 1 
 
 Postage 3 5 
 
 Office assistance 19 10 
 
 Stationery for Central Office 2 12 
 
 Members' Cards (proportion of) . . . . 4 10 
 
 Eules 1 10
 
 21 
 
 Contribution Books (proportion of) 
 Committee meetings ,, ,, 
 
 Delegate meetings ,, ,, 
 
 Audit expenses ,, ,, 
 
 Balance in hand . 
 
 Liability — £100 upon Wainseott Branch Appropriation. 
 
 Examined and found correct, 
 
 Charles Stevens, 
 Alfred E. Hickmott, 
 Thos. H. Candy, B.D. 
 
 £ 
 
 8. 
 
 d. 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 454 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 223 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 £677 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 KENT AND SUSSEX LABOUEEES' UNION SICK 
 
 AND EUNEEAL EUND. 
 
 balance- Sheet from April 16th, 1876, to April 9th, 1877. 
 
 Eeceipts. 
 
 £ «. d. 
 
 Balance, April 15, 1876 2313 9 11 
 
 Interest on ditto 57 9 8 
 
 Amounts of Contributions, Entrance Fees, and 
 Fines, received from Branches, as per list sent 
 to Branches marked ''B" .... 6427 3 5 
 
 Donations 17 4 
 
 Balance remaining from '' The late Treasurer's 
 
 Stupidity Fund " 4 11 1 
 
 £8804 1 5 
 
 Expenditure. 
 Amounts paid to sick members, as per table sent to 
 
 Branches 4519 13 11 
 
 121 4 
 
 563 7 6 
 
 116 
 
 434 
 
 Paid to fathers of Branches, as per table 
 Death allowances (57 members) 
 Death allowances (29 members' wives) . 
 Members' wives' confinement allowances
 
 22 
 
 Proportion of H. Howard's (delegate) salary 
 
 ,, travelling expenses 
 
 G. Neame's (delegate) salary . 
 
 ,, travelling expenses 
 
 Salaries — Central Office 
 
 Proportion of Executive Committee meetings 
 
 General j^rinting .... 
 
 Members' cards . . . . 
 
 Reports and balance sheets 
 
 Rules ...... 
 
 Books and stationery for Branches . 
 
 Stationery for Central Office . 
 Printed forms — Declarations ''on" and ''off," 
 various medical certificates, deaths, and con- 
 finement certificates, &c., &c. 
 Ledgers, «S:c., for Central Office 
 Rent of offices (part of) ... 
 
 Audit expenses 
 
 Proportion of delegate meetings' expenses 
 Postage expenses ..... 
 Parcels, books, &c., to Branches . 
 Post Office orders, registered letters, and cheques 
 
 Balance in favour of Sick Fund 
 
 £ 
 
 8. 
 
 d. 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 119 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 18 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 56 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 29 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 6163 15 10 
 2640 5 7 
 
 £8804 1 5 
 
 Examined and found correct, 
 
 Charles Stevens, 
 Alfred E. Hickmott, 
 Thos. H. Candy, B.D. 
 
 Looking over these balance-sheets, the items maybe 
 open to objection in a few details, but as they appear 
 they are a perfectly legitimate way of disbursing the 
 Society's Funds. There is, however, no capital 
 account, and there is nothing to show that the 
 Secretary receives anything for the trouble of
 
 23 
 
 management and other services. In matters of 
 business, experience is not favourable to unpaid 
 agents ; and it would in no way diminish confidence 
 in their Secretary and his coadjutors, could it be 
 shown conclusively to the labourers, that they help 
 those who help them, with the pecuniary assistance 
 to which they have a strong moral, as well as legal 
 claim. One of the Auditors appears to have taken 
 part in the business proceedings of adopting the 
 report, and another, in favour of the franchise which 
 immediately followed. Without casting the smallest 
 imputation upon the accuracy or competence of the 
 Auditors, might it not be well for all parties that 
 the accounts of a body of this character should be 
 audited and tabulated by gentlemen, one way 
 or another, quite independent, and outside the con- 
 troversies which have developed in connet^tion with 
 the labour difficulties. 
 
 It is a mistake to mix up sick benefit with 
 the purposes of trade organizations. According 
 to the rules of the Kent and Sussex Labourers' 
 Union, the Executive are the body to whom the 
 widest powers are entrusted; they can do any- 
 thing with regard to the management of the 
 Society's finances. According to Rule 19, it is deter- 
 mined — " That whenever a dispute arises as to wages 
 or hours of labour, an effort shall be made to settle 
 such dispute by arbitration. The Executive Com- 
 mittee shall have power to take charge of all such 
 disputes between employers and labourers, to make
 
 24 
 
 arrangements for supporting members when out of 
 employment in consequence of a demand made by the 
 Union, or by reason of a member obeying the Rules 
 of the Union, to fine not exceeding 2l5., suspend or 
 expel any member who may violate the Rules of the 
 Union, and shall also possess such other powers as 
 may be requisite to accomplish the objects of the 
 members.'' It was reported that those who accepted 
 the reduction in spite of the resolutions to the con- 
 trary ; the Union Committees had passed, were to be 
 adjudicated upon in accordance with this rule, and 
 according to the decision of the Executive these de- 
 faulting members were to be suspended from the 
 advantage of such pay for three, six, or twelve 
 months, should they become entitled to it, according 
 to circumstances. This, however, so far as is known, 
 has not been carried into effect, for the simple reason 
 that the largest proportion of men belonging to the 
 Union have consented to be reduced, and so arbitrary 
 a proceeding might have led into the sphtting up of 
 the Society's ranks. But that such a power should 
 be even put in question is a warning that Trades' 
 Unions are not the best Banks in which the labour- 
 ing classes should invest their savings. 
 
 It would be far better were the labourers to place 
 themselves beyond the reach of these complications 
 and annoyances, by belonging to the Foresters, Odd 
 Fellows, or County Friendly Societies, whose fame 
 is established, whose credit is unquestioned, and who 
 have never been interminorled with this hio^orlino- over
 
 25 
 
 wages. Much also remains to be done by increasing 
 facilities for the appointment of agents in each parish 
 for Post Office Savings Banks at such hours as the 
 working classes may find most convenient for making 
 their deposits, and by the establishment of Penny 
 Banks in connection with National Schools, to en- 
 courage habits of saving. It would also be well 
 could the meetings in pubHc-houses be discontinued, 
 as these seem of all places the most fertile sources of 
 crime and pauperism amongst the labouring classes. 
 
 Emigration is advocated. To look before you 
 leap is common-place advice, but before they leave 
 this country it is to be hoped they will fully under- 
 stand what they will obtain by quitting -it. There 
 can be no greater delusion than to suppose that a 
 man landed in a colony will be the better off for a 
 large free grant of land ; it is only when the scheme 
 of Colonial emigration is systematised and conducted 
 under men of sagacity, experience, enterprise, and 
 above all personal knowledge of the social conditions 
 of the country to which the colonists set forth, 
 that an exchange to better things abroad for 
 penurious life in the land of their birth may be 
 expected by English labourers. 
 
 One more word in conclusion. The men are often 
 ignorant. They are suspicious of their employers, 
 sometimes of men who have Hved in their parishes 
 or counties almost for generations. Ignorance begets 
 suspicion and this again jealousy. Can nothing be 
 done to overrule these passions? It needs a stronger 
 
 c
 
 26 
 
 effort to rule the spirit than to take the city. The 
 man who approaches these subjects in a true spirit 
 of self-control and humility, has a harder struggle 
 than the private who hurls himself against the for- 
 tresses of the enemy, ever ready to surrender his 
 life for the service of his country in foreign lands. 
 But together with this suspicion and perhaps jealousy 
 there is one feature in the labourer's thoughts in 
 direct antagonism to these feelings ; they have the 
 most imlimited credulity in their own press, and 
 nearly everything that appears in its pages is readily 
 swallowed up and believed by its hungry readers. 
 A free press is one of our greatest privileges. 
 National gratitude is due to those who removed the 
 taxes upon knowledge. But it is to be most earnestly 
 hoped that implicit faith in, and the infallibity of 
 their own organ, is not to be a future dogma of the 
 labourers. £240 is the balance of the amount to 
 their press fund and appears last year as one of the 
 items of the Society's expenses. It is a serious question 
 sometimes whether the Press is not becoming a 
 fourth state of the realm, and whether its gigantic 
 and tremendous powers are discreetly exercised, 
 when for purely party purposes direct encouragement 
 is given to thoughts which may too easily lead to 
 violence and bloodshed. To descend to a smaller 
 area, has an exclusive organ, in which they read 
 only what is acceptable to their passing feehngs, been 
 an advantage to the labourers? 
 
 Time alone will show how far they have been
 
 27 
 
 following their own convictions; one matter shows 
 improvement, namely, that beyond words no signs 
 of violence have been manifested to the employers. 
 There has been no crime, no machine-breaking, no 
 outrage, nothing beyond hard words and " hair- 
 brained chatterings." In time hard necessity will 
 bring home to the labourers the impossibility of com- 
 binations to raise wages. The sun is just as likely 
 to move backwards. If the real truth were 
 known, it was a belief that such was the power, and 
 that it will still be a power, is the secret reason of 
 the circumstances under which the movement known 
 as the Labourers' Union originated. It is far more 
 likely that the labourers have been led* astray by 
 such notions than by men known as agitators, whose 
 motives, unless proof can be adduced to the contrary, 
 should be respected. Combinations to keep down 
 wages will break down; equally those which 
 strive to raise them to an artificial standard. 
 It would be well could both parties under- 
 stand that profit and loss, rent and wages, 
 are all settled by laws outside these contro- 
 versies. They would all be the better for reading 
 Dean Dawes' simple lessons in " The Phenomena of 
 Industrial Life, and its Conditions of Success," in 
 which, after speaking of the utter failure of strikes 
 and lock-outs to increase wages or profits, he truly 
 states, that ''neighbourly feeling, mutual sympathy 
 and attachment, and all the kindher impulses of our 
 nature, coincide with intelligence in recommending
 
 28 
 
 the avoidance and discontinuance of efforts such as 
 these, fraught as they must ever be with bitterness, 
 disappointment, and misery. In exploring the con- 
 ditions of agricultural success, and tracing them 
 through all the complications in which at times they 
 may seem involved, there are certain great facts of 
 which we should never lose sight. The average 
 share of wealth falling to each member of society is 
 determined by the quantity of wealth divisible 
 amongst all the members. Where that average share 
 is insufficient for well-being, no relief for the present 
 is to be found except in resignation and kind con- 
 sideration for the wants of others; nor for the 
 future, except in improved industrial capacity to 
 produce more than is consumed. The increase 
 of production will be distributed amongst capi- 
 tahsts and labourers, and the reward of each will 
 be in proportion to the efficacy with which he con- 
 tributes to the general good. Let, then, two means 
 of amelioration be resolutely arrived at — resignation 
 to the present privation, which is unavoidable, and a 
 stern resolution to observe and act up to the condition 
 of industrial success — so that there may be less call 
 for resignation in the future. After a few years of 
 such thoughts and conduct, there will be little tempta- 
 tion and less disposition to engage in combinations, 
 strikes, and lock-outs." 
 
 December 31^ 1878.
 
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