Land Labour (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Land Labour This book is written in the h0pe of contributing to the solution of the problem of poverty in Britain by throwing some light on its relation to the system of land tenure. With this end in view I set to work to ascertain the connection between social conditions and the method of holding land in several other European countries, and researches Were begun in France, Switzerland, and Belgium. But I soon found that such a task Would carry me far beyond the limits of the single volume I contemplated, ... Read More

Excerpt from Land Labour This book is written in the h0pe of contributing to the solution of the problem of poverty in Britain by throwing some light on its relation to the system of land tenure. With this end in view I set to work to ascertain the connection between social conditions and the method of holding land in several other European countries, and researches Were begun in France, Switzerland, and Belgium. But I soon found that such a task Would carry me far beyond the limits of the single volume I contemplated, since my initial question could not be answered Without intimate knowledge of all the factors that had any bearing upon it. I decided, therefore, for the present, to con centrate on Belgium, a country Whose experience is full of interest, and this book contains the results of four years' close study of all the main aspects of her social and economic life. After a brief description of Belgium and her people, the history of her system of land tenure is considered, and the system itself is described in some detail. An enquiry was made into the number of landowners and the size of their holdings. The undertaking was laborious, but quite essential to a right understanding of the problem, and I believe that there is no other country in Europe for Which similar statistics are available. Figures, also based on a special investigation, are given to show the extent of the mortgage debts of peasant proprietors. In the next section, dealing with industrial questions, the wages paid in the principal industries of Belgium and the hours and conditions of work are considered. To obtain information that was up to date, another special enquiry was made, Which showed that wages in Belgium are extraordinarily low. The reasons for this are discussed in detail, since before we can hope to raise wages we must understand the factors Which govern them, and the study of these in Belgium may help us in Great Britain. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Read Less