CHAPTER IIITHE YORKSHIRE IMMIGRATION.Yorkshire is grouped as one of the six northern counties of England. Jackson Wray calls it "one of the bonniest of English shires." It has an area of 6,076 square miles, making it the largest county in England. Its present population is a trifle over three millions. A coast-line of one hundred miles gives its people a fine chance to look out on the North Sea. The old town of Hull is the largest shipping port. Scarboro, on the coast, is the great watering-place for the north of England. Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Bradford are the largest towns. It is the principal seat of the woolen manufacture in Great Britain. The people are self-reliant and progressive. In Yorkshire to-day are to be found the oldest co-operative corn-mills and the oldest co-operative stores in England. The practice of dividing profits among purchasers in proportion to their trade at the store was first adopted by a Yorkshire society. This is just what might be expected from the people who, in 1793, passed the following resolution: "Resolved, that monopolies are inconsistent with the true principles of commerce, because they restrain at once the spirit of enterprise and the freedom of competition, and are injurious to the country where they exist, because the monopolist, by fixing the rate of both sale and purchase, can oppress the public at discretion." Another resolution passed by the same corporation, but earlier in the century, shows our ancestors in a somewhat different light. A day of thanksgiving was appointed for the success of the British forces. The corporation attended divine service in the parish church, after which it was agreed to meet at Mrs. Owen's, "at five of the clock, to drink to His Majesty's health and further good success," the expense of the evening to be at the corporation's charge.
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