Rural Depopulation

It is clear from the diagram that the proportion of cultivators in Great Britain is altogether too small. The same comment applies to the British empire; the temperate parts of the empire suitable for white habitation have an area of 7,000,000 square miles; yet including the motherland, there are only 3,500,000 white cultivators in this vast area. In contrast, European France, on one thirty-seventh of that area, employs nearly 9,000,000 tillers of the soil.

The conclusion seems to formulate itself : while no longer necessary to maintain a ratio of : 1 : : i between rural and urban populations, a ratio of : i : : 5 is exaggerated, and something be tween the two should be the objective.

Physical Deterioration.

So far the economic point of view has been considered briefly : how many cultivators are required to feed the rest of the nation? But the rural population has a second and most important function to perform ; the physical standard of the race depends largely upon it.

All evidence points to the fact that the physical standard of the urban population deteriorates unless there is a constant in fusion of fresh blood from the country; the birth-rate of the third generation of townsmen falls off noticeably, and American tests show that the country-born or their children produce more leaders of men than do the succeeding generations of townsmen. In the case of Great Britain, there is an added need for a high pro portion of rural folk in that they provide the type of settler most needed in the oversea parts of the British empire—people possessed of a "land sense" and capable of developing the agri cultural resources of its dominions and colonies.

It cannot be disputed that, taking a long view, stability— moral, social and economic—rests upon an adequate rural popula tion. Indications are not wanting that the rural population of Great Britain is not only inadequate, but dangerously so.

Causation.

It is now time to examine the main causes of the drift to the towns. First may be put the love of excitement and adventure ; enterprising youths wish to see the world ; but there is little doubt that by the time they reach 4o many would gladly return to the country had they the facilities for doing so. Secondly, there is the higher wage attraction, often chimerical, since the urban wage in many cases is little higher than the rural when all pros and cons are weighed. A third reason is the

alleged dulness of the country-side ; but the advent of motor transport and wireless, and the great increase in village clubs with their social halls, have already wrought so great a change that this cause of depopulation is fast disappearing. A fourth cause, which, although important, figures more largely than the facts of the case warrant, is the increased use of machinery in agriculture; this may have some effect where cultivation is extensive, but not where cultivation is intensive. For instance, in Denmark more agricultural machinery is used than in Britain, yet twice as many cultivators per i,000 acres are employed.

Great Britain has certain causes of rural depopulation which are peculiarly its own. Perhaps the most basic is that with the development of steam power, and with world conditions par ticularly favourable to British industry during the first half of the 19th century, the nation's whole attention was concentrated upon urban industry. The very future of the race was deemed to depend upon industrial development, its civilization was to be an urban civilization. This may be regarded almost as the idee fixe of the past century, not only of economists and politicians but of the whole nation; in consequence the rural side was neglected. Other nations, for various reasons, did not suffer to the same extent from this complex, they did not lose sight of the importance of the rural side, and they definitely en deavoured to keep a just balance between urban and rural de velopment.

Secondly : the primary rural industry—agriculture—is under capitalized. (The working capital per acre in Great Britain is much lower than it is in other great European countries.) It is an axiom that population follows capital. A third point is the lack of organization among the rural population ; even a cursory study of European countries brings to light a strong contrast in the degree of organization. A highly organized agriculture not only keeps people in the country, but definitely attracts them to the country. This is only a natural consequence, since members of an organized industry earn more profits, and are more secure of those profits than members of an unorganized industry.