LORD THURLOW ON DEPRESSION.

Western Star, Issue 346, 24 April 1880, Page 6 (Supplement)

LORD THURLOW ON DEPRESSION.

I cannofc agree with th« gloomy fore* bodings of the Duke of Richmond and

Lord Salisbury and Huntley in'Hheir recent speeches on agricultural depression (says Lord Thurlow, in a letter to the London .Times), and I will endeavor to explain 1 why I, frir one, still venture to believe in the future of British agriculture. ' ' • : ’ ' ' , .

. In* the first place, when it is talked of , tendant farmers abandoning tenant, farm-. . ing as no longer affording adequate return ’’ , for their capital arid skill, I believe by far 'l the largest class of tenant farmers is altogether lost sight Of-—I mean those who . practically cannot abandon their profession, and whose skill constitutes their main capital., A very large majority of the tenant farmers of this country have originally commenced they are their fathers or grandfather—with little or nri capital; and have crept up into their present apparently ; opulent position by irii- ; perceptible degrees, arid by the exorcise of the great-virtues of thrift arid self-deV nial, spread over rnany generations and greatly aided by a system of temporary cash advarices from local banking firms These are the real children of r the soil; and they carinot liquidate, if I may use the term, at this -moment of degression with- ! out ! 'sacrificing a- great portion of their" , writhing capital in -the process, and will ’ therefpre not do so, but will cbntinue to"/; farmtheir holdings; which they and .their 3 ancestors have in many cases farmed frir/:; centuries; without' a :: line of a lease or; J written agreement at reduced rents; no v doubt—arid, like their landlords, await their turn ; qf agricultural prosperity.' ; ; ~ For theft -misfortunes our riliiriate Is V really more : to blame than America ini- . poirtations, without which we should at j ; this moment be starving; though the evils'. caused 1 by the One no 'doubt iminensely aggravate the % a rdships irifl icted On' cer - tain classes Iby the other, and the; two causes becoming confused, men naturally dwell upon the one that is under human';^ ■ But; as a-matter Of fact, prices' have; not- ruled low these last*; twelve ; -months,’ and “corn arid-beef /have sold at 1 * rates that it?would perfectly pay to prri- •! : ducriat iri'this country, if Only s the earth ‘ : brought for its farmers had ' it to sell in itsVformer' ; abundance ; arid - this is the case more especially under tho - ; circumstances tOwards 'whioh we are no# drifting. I - mean cheaper labor, labor* ? sa'nng machines, rind a readjustment of the burdens to which land is subject, based upon a new* rental of the country, ; and- the common sense view of taxing per- ; r sorial property for the maintenance arid ’’ security of the state, under whose protect , : tiori it is enjoyed; and- when all these eome to the* farmer tenant -arid-his' laridiord will he no worse for- ; - ■ merly. Certain articles v of production will, undergo a change; Wheat will be more sparingly grown; and in its stead s -paore oats and barley:; feeding-stuffs will be more studied'; and possibly new plants, like ’ camfrey- -introducedpoultry- and - dairy produce will will re-assert them- s selves 1 ; rind ievenn vegetables’ will; receive increased attention. In the vicinity of *'■ large .towns r and : on ■ ifine land, nlike the "i Lbthirins; farmers will contiriue to grow ?<■ gambling crrips of potatoes, rind often; as forinerly, in a good year, succeed in pay- r ing their entire rent off one field. In Kent the same may hold good with hops; ini while Devonshire and Cheshire will doubtless continue;to produce their respective 0® specialities. iif frirmera require, is good weather arid a settling/down of prices after their 5 ; recqnt rude disturbance. It is really a ■ period of agricultural transition that wo : •-■ arej passing through, arid farmers hava> in pr: my! opinion, already realised their great; : losses in; the fall in value of their stock., . "I From my own experience 'on a farm • of- ;600 acres, I know that ’ last spring I sold out fat cattle in soirie cases, fordess money than X brought them in at; as lean.:; stock six months before. But thia will not: recur this year, as I find my neighbors, have bought in our: feeders at a price cat culated, to leave the same margin of profit as; formerly. If a farmer can buy in young cattle rat L 9 a head in October, 1879, and sell them tp the butcher or grazier at LIT in April, 1880, he is really better off than ; when he used to buy them in at Ll2, and' r sell them at L2O. What happened in U 1878-9 was this : —-Farmers, bought in at : the high; rate, and sold out at the low. These. figures are taken from my own bpoks, and represent actual transactions ; on the 100 head of cattle that I turn over annually; But the farmer of to-day must not only grow one thing—-say beef or corn ; mixed' ? agriculture is the kind that pays ; he must sell everything—beef, lambs, colts, pigs, poultry, butter, hay, grain, and possibly straw, under certain conditions. My experience of such a system of farming ■ 1878 9 shows a profit of L3OO on a farm of 600 acres, after payment of rent, in- . , terest on capital, and every other proper charge, and this, notwithstanding, the very unfavorable outturn of cattle, which was, however, fully compensated for by unusually large sales pf grain of the sburid~ ant harvest, of 1878, Under these circumstances, and letting alone exceptionally heavy hands, of which, unfortunately, I rilso possess some expert-

: ®nce, and’ which l remain-a pfdbleih K fdrf . future solution.' aal ventured# 160& -W IhC) ilhture.of agriculture' in this 'Country -in 'the' that when, the period r of {rapid nMftifS-j lions in price is over things ■ will-settle down into their former relative p6sitioh, ; leaving fair margin for profit, as formerly, to fall classes dependant: on the land for their means of subsistence. Neither do I despair of the future of small estates, or peasant proprietors, as they are called, and, I even look to the present moment, when land is rather less fashionable than it was, as a golden opportunity for the introduction of the systenu Many of the estates now in the market could be cut up to suit ; small purchasers 5 titles are now comparatively cheap, and I trust that the gloomy predictions of the Duke of Richmond and of,Lord Salisbury and Huntly will not deter those who believe irr the magic of freehold properit]? from experimehtalism in a direction that would do more to strengthen the basis of our; ; social fabric than any other innovation. : ..v.v/..’ 5 i.;. v ’_ U-un*- 5;