WCP2628

[1]¹

Reform Club.

Pall Mall. S. W.

Dec[e]^m[ber] — 4 — [18]81²

A. R Wallace Esqu[ire]

Godalming

Dear Sir

M^r Crop³ of Glasgow asks me to reply to your letter ^{to him} of 26^th Nov[e]m[ber] regarding the state of farm servants in Scotland.

My experience is rather limited, but I am confident there is a great improvement in their position since 1870. [2] The great demand for labour in towns advanced wages very much — about 50% in three years & of course so far as farmers could do it[,] better wages were supplemented by better accommodation — In Aberdeenshire & Forfarshire — a married farm servant gets about £30 per annum & in addition as much oatmeal, milk & potatoes as will keep a family [3]⁴ & of course house accommodation free — with perhaps⁵ a small garden included.

The unmarried men get about £25 — £30 with as much meal & milk as will keep them & lodging in addition — that is the bothy system. The men seem to like it for a few years but naturally tire of it like bachelors generally. Much remains to be done to improve the Condition of the farm labourers as of artisans in towns⁶ [4]⁷ but speaking I think impartially I believe their position is not relatively [sic] in Scotland more than any other class — This is evident from the physique of the men & by the healthy appearance of the children[.]

The farm labourers in Scotland are a very intelligent class — I sh[oul]d not think there is a single labourer[']s cottage or farm kitchen where there is not at least [5]⁸ one good newspaper taken weekly.

Then the men readily move from place to place & from country to town⁹ so that the rate of wages for town work & country work is very [sic] closely equalised very quickly.¹⁰ Women used to work a good deal out, but that has fallen off very much — women [6] have got scarce. The wages they get in harvest & at turnip hoeing — the almost the only work they are now employed at [sic] — is about 1/- p[er] day & kept [sic] —

Young boys are not prematurely set to work & it is very rare to see a boy under twelve on a farm — Even at 12 to 14 they are seldom employed except herding cattle in summer — [7]¹¹ Such in a general way are my opinions of the position of the farm labourer in Scotland. It is very different From the English labourer I have met in Kent[,] Surrey & Sussex.

Some years ago I compared the cost of labour on my farm in Aberdeenshire with that of C S Read¹² in Norfolk — Our farms [8] were about the same size & involved about the same quantities of labour —

My wages per man were about 50% above his, but his labour bill for the farm exceeded mine by I think 50%^13,14.

The explanation which occurs to me is that the best of the agri[culture]al labour is drawn away by the higher wages in towns — & only the worst left — the reverse process of natural selection —

Yours very truly | James. W. Barclay [signature]