The Industrial Revolution

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1027928145

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-159926

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Cunningham, William http://d-nb.info/gnd/128907487

Title:: The Industrial Revolution

Place of publication:: Cambridge

Publisher:: The University Press

Year of publication:: 1922

Scope:: xxii S., S. 404-886

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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ENCLOSURE AND THE LABOURERS 711 efforts of public spirited and philanthropic men to remove all AD Je obstacles to the increase of the area of tillage. } 261. There were improvers who saw with alarm that the With the readiness to rely on imported corn was a hindrance to the To Sey development of our own agriculture to its highest capacity, bok: and viewed this trade with regret!; and a general consensus of %/ opinion had been reached as to the necessity of doing away with the wasteful methods of cultivation in common fields, and facilitating the enclosure of land. The Board of Agriculture, under the presidency of Sir John Sinclair, moved earnestly in the matter, and it was fully discussed by Committees of the House of Commons in 1795, 1797 and 1800. The chief obstacle to carrying out this improvement lay in the heavy expenses, parliamentary and legal, which had to be borne, as well as the costs of obtaining surveys and erecting fences. It appeared that if a General Enclosure Act were passed, it Cri 3 would cause a considerable saving in the outlay involved”. on. This would be an encouragement to proprietors to proceed with schemes of the kind; while it was also believed that, if she expenses were reduced, the real gain, which sometimes accrued to the cottagers®, would be more generally realised. 1 The Committee of 1797 on the Cultivation of Waste lands endorsed the view shat “nothing can more clearly exemplify the advantages resulting from agri- sultural industry, than the flourishing state of this country, for many years sosterior to the Revolution; during which period, with but few exceptions, con- siderable quantities of Corn were annually exported. By means of that exporta- jon, large sums were brought into the kingdom, yet the price was steady and iniform, and in general rather low than otherwise. The farmer, however, was satisfied, because he considered himself under the special protection of the egislature, and had a reasonable prospect of having his industry rewarded. But since importation has been relied on, the consequences have been of a very spposite nature. The prices have been often high, and always unsteady. High orices occasion public discontent. With unsteady prices, it is impossible for the andlord to know what he ought to demand, nor the tenant what rent he ought to say. To persons of small or even moderate incomes, also, such a circumstance is sxtremely injurious, When prices are high, they can scarcely procure for them- selves and their families a sufficient supply of wholesome provisions; when low, ;hey are too apt to run into a system of expence, which it is not easy afterwards :0 relinquish ; whereas, when the price is steady and uniform, they can make their sxpenditure tally with their income. The system therefore of encouraging agri- sulture, and promoting the exportation of a surplus on ordinary occasions, which in unfavourable seasons can be retained at home, is the only mode of securing the somfortable subsistence of the great body of the people.” Reports, Ix. pp. 224-5. ? Reports, IX. 230. 3 Davis, Oxford Report, quoted in Reports, 1X. 204 n.

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