The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 86
Parish Councils
Parish Councils.
We want Parish Councils for the sake of the Agricultural Laborer, to whom the County Councils are of no use. At present, with his eleven shillings a week, and his enforced servility to the parson and to the farmer or squire, who have four-fold power over him as his employer, his landlord, his poor-law guardian, and his magistrate, he keeps down the standard of comfort for unskilled labor to the lowest point. In a recent London strike, the employers defeated the men by sending to the country for a body of agricultural labourers to take their places; and one of these poor blacklegs, on being remonstrated with by a "picket," said "You can go where I came from and have my one and sixpence a day if you like." This shews how important it is for the town workers to help the country workers to better their position, so that they may no longer be tempted to crowd into the towns and lower wages by competing for work there. The first thing to do to help them is to establish a democratic council in each parish to administer the public schools and the public provision for the aged, the sick, and the orphans; with compulsory powers to acquire land for allotments and for building cottages on; and with power also to engage in co-operative farming, so as to enable the laborer to get his living and his homestead by working for a public body controlled by his vote and those of his fellow workers. He would find this a good deal pleasanter than living in a sty and touching his hat at every turn to the men who profit by his starvation and squalor.