THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER 211



ExrwsioN AND CoNrrRAcrioN
Th^ ^vriod t"a>in iS;i to iS.'O, which witnessed such «
notable ;Kl\an*x> ii\ the political influeiTce of trade-unions,
was also marlwd b\ their rapid growth in membership and
in industrial influence. The Trades Union Cong;re<.s of
iS;j daiiiuvl to repnvsont 375axvi men; that of 1S74 repre-
sented a nominal total of i,r<)i.0Jj members. This growth
is sliown both in the j;reat increase of membersliip in
vinions of old standinc and in the spread of the mo\-ement
towards branohos of labour which had long been com-
pletely in\ori;,uiist\i. In 1S7J the movement e\>in spread
to the acncultiiral labourers, and the Agricultural
l^bour^rs" liiion. started on March io. boasted a member-
ship of ONTfr uv>,ooi^> l\v the end of the \-?ar. Considerable
increases of waj^vs wvre ohiaint\l, but the hibourers found
against them, in alniv^st perfect solidarity, the landowners,
the clorjcy and the farmers. WTiile on the one hand the
l^dy Bountifuls of the cvmntryside undermined the union
by exerting their influence o\-er the labourers' wi\-es, the
farmers \iciunist\l the leaders, and the Bishop of Gloucester
recomttiendeii that the orj^anisers should be ducked in the
honse-pond. It is not surprising, when one considers the
ixn-erty vvf the labourexs, their dependence on charitable
help in hard winters, and the isolation in which tliey li\-e
and work as ^vmpartxl with urban wvrkers. that their
organis;Uion was cradually broken down during the fol-
lowing four or tj\e ^^ars.
The same {vri^vi also showed a vigorous effort to
organise women workers, and some Sivieties then founded
ha\T continued to exist, thougli their value has largely
consisted in showing the im{^x^ssibi!i!y of dealing with the
gt*at problem of sweating merely by organisation of the
swT^ated workers.
