The Failure of Agrarian Capitalism: Agrarian Politics in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA, 1846-1919

305 Pages·1994·1.675 MB·English

by  Koning, Niek

THE FAILURE
OF AGRARIAN
CAPITALISM
Agriculture is a highly sensitive industry. Throughout our century national
governments have intervened in and protected agricultural sectors. The problems
of competition in agriculture have been continually illustrated by disagreement
over the European Community’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and, more
recently, by attempts to reform farming policy in the last round of the GATT
negotiations. The Failure of Agrarian Capitalism presents a comparative analysis of
agrarian policies in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA from 1846–
1919.
The author examines the evolution of agricultural policy and factors that
motivate it. These factors are discussed in the context of the repeal of the Corn
Laws to the First World War. This period was crucial in the failure of agriculture
to establish itself as a profitable industry independent of government.
Dr Niek Koning is an agricultural sociologist with particular interest in farming
policy and economics. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural
Economics at Wageningen Agricultural University.
What, then, does the proposed creation of a State Department of Agriculture portend? Does it
imply that our system of large estates, with their corresponding duties and obligations, has collapsed?
Does it mean that English landlords are forced, by want of money, to abdicate their position as
agricultural leaders? . . . Is it the first step towards a legislative creation of that class of small
peasant proprietors which are the justification of similar institutions in other countries? . . . here as
well as abroad, State assistance, State direction, State intervention are part of the price a nation
pays for a peasant proprietary.
Rowland Prothero, ‘Is an Agricultural Department desirable?’ 1889
THE FAILURE
OF AGRARIAN
CAPITALISM
Agrarian politics in the UK, Germany,
the Netherlands and the USA, 1846–1919
Niek Koning
London and New York
First published 1994
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© Niek Koning
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Koning, Niek, 1948-
The failure of agrarian capitalism: agrarian politics in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands
and the USA, 1846–1919/Niek Koning.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–415–11431–4 (Print Edition)
1. Agriculture and state–Europe–History–19th century.
2. Agriculture and state–United States–History–19th century.
3. Agriculture and state–Europe–History–20th century.
4. Agriculture and state–United States–History–20th century.
I. Title
HD1918.K66 1994
338.1’84–dc20 94–3979
CIP
ISBN 0–415–11431–4 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-203-03124-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-15698-6 (Glassbook Format)
CONTENTS
List of figures vii
List of tables viii
Preface and acknowledgements x
1 INTRODUCTION 1
Agricultural price support and the social scientists 1
Plan and method of the study 5
2 AGRARIAN CAPITALISM: GROWTH AND MISCARRIAGE 11
Agricultural markets in the age of the first Industrial Revolution 11
Growth of agrarian capitalism 14
Changes in the age of the second Industrial Revolution 19
Decline of large farms 25
Effects on the demand for farm policies 29
Agrarian politics and the general political evolution 37
3 MID-1840s TO c. 1873: THE LIBERAL YEARS 40
Agricultural growth in the Railway Age 40
Farm structures and technical progress 43
Liberalizing tendency in farm policies 50
Wealth-controlling rural classes and the liberalization of
agricultural trade 56
Institutional bases of farm progress 59
Few reasons for indulgence with small farmers and farm labourers 62
Agrarian capitalism and the rise of classical liberalism 65
4 c. 1873 TO LATE 1890s: THE WATERSHED 71
Agriculture and the ‘Great Depression’ 71
Repercussions on farm output and productivity 74
Set-back for large farms 81
Government intervention along diverging paths 84
United States, the Netherlands and the blessings of comparative
advantage 90
v
CONTENTS
United Kingdom, Germany and the determinants of free trade or
protection 96
Bourgeois fears, defence of ground rents, and the turn to land
reform 103
Agricultural crisis and the decline of liberalism 107
5 LATE 1890s TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR: AGRICULTURE
AND NATIONAL EFFICIENCY 113
Economic expansion and revival of agricultural markets 113
Evolution of farm structures 114
Farm output and productivity 121
Government and the beginnings of agricultural Taylorism 127
Increase in land reform 131
Delay in social policies for farm labourers 135
Agricultural trade policies: the United States and the Netherlands 137
Tariff question in the United Kingdom and Germany: the
struggle over national destiny 139
Ambiguities of agrarian corporatism 144
Swan song of the Old Regime 146
6 THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND BEYOND 154
Introductory remarks 154
Agriculture and food supply during the war 155
After-effects 162
7 DISCUSSION 167
Recapitulation 167
Neo-classical economics and the landlord-blame view 169
Landlord political power: need for reconsidering? 174
APPENDIX: Statistical data on agricultural development in the
United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and the United
States, 1850–1913 177
Notes 188
References 241
Index 278
vi
FIGURES
2.1 Wheat prices (5-year moving average) and farm wages,
England and Wales, 1850=100 22
2.2 Wheat prices (5-year moving average) and farm wages,
United States, 1850=100 23
2.3 Wheat prices (5-year moving average) and farm wages,
Germany, 1850=100 24
3.1 Price of gross domestic product in agriculture,
1850–1873 (1900=100) 41
3.2 Terms of trade farm/non-farm, 1850–1873 (1900=100) 42
3.3 Volume of gross domestic product in agriculture,
1850–1873 (1900=100) 44
4.1 Price of gross domestic product in agriculture,
1873–1897 (1900=100) 73
4.2 Terms of trade farm/non-farm, 1873–1897 (1900=100) 74
4.3 Volume of gross domestic product in agriculture,
1873–1897 (1900=100) 75
4.4 Land productivity, 1873–1897 (1900=100) 76
4.5 Labour productivity in agriculture,
1873–1897, (1900=100, UK 1901=100, Netherlands 1899=100) 77
5.1 Price of gross domestic product in agriculture,
1897–1913 (1900=100) 114
5.2 Terms of trade farm/non-farm, 1897–1913 (1900=100) 115
5.3 Volume of gross domestic product in agriculture,
1897–1913 (1900=100) 122
5.4 Land productivity, 1897–1913 (1900=100) 123
5.5 Labour productivity in agriculture,
1897–1913 (1900=100, UK 1901=100, Netherlands 1899=100) 124
vii
TABLES
1.1 Stages of international capitalism and some characteristics 7
3.1 Annual growth rates of direct caloric production per male
active in agriculture, 1800–1850 and 1850–1870 43
3.2 Wheat prices per quarter in England and Wales, and in
Prussia, 1815–1848 58
4.1 Annual growth rates of value added in constant prices per
man-year in Dutch agriculture, coastal and inland
provinces, 1850–1880 and 1880–1910 80
4.2 Share in agricultural area of different farm size classes in
England and Wales, 1885 and 1895 81
4.3 Share in agricultural area of different farm size classes in
Germany, 1882 and 1895 81
4.4 Numbers of land users in different farm size classes in the
Netherlands (thousands), 1883 and 1898 81
4.5 Farm labourers as percentage of active farm population in
the United States, 1870 and 1890 82
4.6 Expenditure for wage labour as percentage of gross value
of agricultural output in the United States, 1870 and 1900 82
4.7 German tariffs for important farm products, 1865–1892 85
5.1 Percentage change in the total area of crops and grass
occupied by holdings of 300 acres and over in England
and Wales, 1885–1924 116
5.2 Ratio of land users with 20 (10) hectares and over to all
land users with 1 hectare and over in the Netherlands,
1897 and 1921 116
5.3 Farm labourers as percentage of active farm population in
the United States, 1890–1920 118
5.4 Expenditure for wage labour as percentage of gross value
of farm output in the United States, 1900–1920 118
viii
TABLES
5.5 Percentage change in the share of the agricultural area
occupied by farms of 100 hectares and over in Germany,
1895–1907 and 1907–1925 121
5.6 Percentage change in crop yields in Great Britain, Ger-
many and the Netherlands, 1895–1899 to 1909–1913 125
5.7 Cattle and pig population in Germany and Great Britain,
1900 and 1913 (millions) 126
5.8 German tariffs for important farm products, 1892 and
1906 142
6.1 Food supply in the United Kingdom, 1909–1918 (billion
Calories) 159
A.1 Price of gross domestic product in agriculture (1900=100) 181
A.2 Terms of trade farm/non-farm (1900=100) 182
A.3 Volume of gross domestic product in agriculture
(1900=100) 184
A.4 Land productivity (1900=100) 185
A.5 Labour productivity in agriculture (1900=100, UK
1901=100, Netherlands 1899=100) 186
ix