| Population. | Increase of Population. | Excess of Births over Deaths. | Loss by Migration. | ||
| 1891 | 1901 | ||||
| 112 Registration Districts entirely Rural | 1,304,827 | 1,330,319 | 24,492 | 150,437 | 124,945 |
| 222 Registration Districts which contain urban districts with populations under 10,000 | 4,176,219 | 4,215,326 | 39,107 | 414,816 | 375,709 |
| Total of 334 Registration Districts | 5,481,046 | 5,545,645 | 64,599 | 565,253 | 500,654 |
It will be seen that in a rural population of nearly 5½ millions, the natural increase by excess of births over deaths was, in 1891-1901, 565,253, but in the same time 500,654 persons left these districts either for urban England or for places abroad, so that the total increase in population was only 64,599.
Turning to the number of persons employed in agricultural operations of all kinds, the table on page 239 shows the decline which has occurred.
This extension of the table given in "Riches and Poverty," Edition 1905, p. 223, modifies it somewhat. The reduction of agricultural labourers is not so great as the crude totals suggest. It is the women and boys who have chiefly disappeared from British agriculture, and it should be observed that 248,500 wives and daughters disappeared in 1871 as compared with 1861 merely by reason of the fact that they were enumerated at the earlier date but not at the later one. According to Lord Eversley's careful analysis ("Statistical Society's Journal," 1907), the actual decline of male agricultural employment (men and boys) in Great Britain was from 1,657,000 in 1861 to 1,236,000 in 1901, or, in England and Wales alone, from 1,449,000 in 1861 to 1,079,000 in 1901. This is a serious decline, but not as great as is commonly supposed.
Nothing is commoner than the belief that the trend to the towns is only to be observed in the United Kingdom. As a matter of fact it is confined to no country and is, indeed, a world-wide phenomenon. Between 1851 and 1906 the urban population of France increased from 25.5 per cent. to 42.1 per cent. of the whole. Between 1871 and 1905 the urban population of Germany increased from 36.1 per cent. to 57.4 per cent. of the whole. In both cases the population classed as "urban" is that contained in towns with at least 2,000 inhabitants.
ENGLAND AND WALES: PERSONS EMPLOYED IN
AGRICULTURE, 1851-1901
| Census of— | Adults (Aged 20 and over). | Young Persons (under 20). | Total, all Ages. | ||||||
| Men. | Women. | Total. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | Males. | Females. | Total. | |
| 1851 | 1,141,000 | 336,000 | 1,477,000 | 328,000 | 100,000 | 428,000 | 1,468,000 | 436,000 | 1,905,000 |
| 1861 | 1,119,000 | 301,000 | 1,420,000 | 323,000 | 60,000 | 383,000 | 1,442,000 | 361,000 | 1,803,000 |
| 1871 | 972,000 | 122,000 | 1,094,000 | 277,000 | 52,000 | 329,000 | 1,249,000 | 175,000 | 1,424,000 |
| 1881 | 884,000 | 50,000 | 934,000 | 254,000 | 11,000 | 265,000 | 1,139,000 | 61,000 | 1,200,000 |
| 1891 | 816,000 | 40,000 | 856,000 | 237,000 | 6,000 | 243,000 | 1,054,000 | 46,000 | 1,099,000 |
| 1901 | 750,000 | 43,000 | 793,000 | 186,000 | 9,000 | 195,000 | 936,000 | 52,000 | 988,000 |
I remind the reader of these facts because it is necessary to distinguish between what is true and what is untrue in the arguments used in support of the cry "Back to the Land." As a general rule the stationariness of the rural population is attributed to cheap imports, or to land tenure, or to want of housing accommodation, or to the attractions of town life, or to the higher wages offered in industrial pursuits. All these things are causes of migration to the towns, but one of the most potent causes is rarely considered. It is the application of machinery and improved methods to agriculture. To produce a given quantity of food, far less labour is required than of old. Therefore, even in a country like France, which is almost independent of imported food, it is obvious that there must be a trend townwards as the labour displaced from agriculture seeks other employment.