The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-12-07

small farms, ignorance and natural shiftless.
meas and inaptitude for improvement; and they
gHns to the greater Of the Scotch
people Of Ulster are undoubtedly better off
than those of the other provinces, they are far
from being rich, or what an American would
gent. hard.working, temperate, saving, careful
people. They have about all they can do to
fairly make ends meet" after paying the
the north Of Ireland is peculiarly adapted to
the growth of fax, and 1t 10 to the production
and manufacture of this staple Ulster owes
fiaa crop that saved the farmers Of Ulster from ON
the horrors of the famine of lS46, for the sale
of it enabled them to buy bread. 1t ia by the
manufacture man of flax into linen that Belfast
Ireland that 10 not at q standstill or decayipg.
But the poverty of Ireland cannot justly be
attributed to oyerpopulation. In 1s45 she
1871 she contained only 5,4O2, 759, being a de
| crease of nearly forty pr cent in twenty-six
years At present loud complaints are heard
population that causes poverty and misery.
Previous to the famine of 1886, caused by
the universal blight of the potato crop, there
were 1000 600 farms in Ireland, averaging but
10 acres each. Now the number is reduced to
GOO, 900; and with the large additions of re-
claimed end idle land since made the average
of each holding is now "a acres, or double
rot of 1876 produced social and economical
revolution in Ireland. It drove some millions
of people to tho other side of the Atlantic and
by sheer starvation it broke up to q great xe-
tent the small farms; it set hundreds Of thous-
ands Of men at work making turppike-roads,
digging bitches, draining wet lands, retaining
marshes and mountain land, planting out
forest trees, building railroads, etc.; it created
the Land-Improvement act and brought into
existence the encumbered estate court for the
sale of the estates of bankrupts; and it
changed the system of farming from the uni
versaf potato crop into cattle and sheep raising
and grein.growing But notwithstanding all
those changes and seeming improvements, the
relations between tho landlords and the far,
mers continue, ID is doubtful if the condition
| of the latter can improve
Rent-universal rent-is the cancer that eats
out the vitals of Ireland. Before the famine
year the rents paid BY 1000. 900 of farmers
aggregated $4O,OOo,O00 to $5O,OOO,OOO. Six
hundred thousand farmers no rs now pay an aggre-
people pay $4,000, 900 more-mnking one hun
dred millions year of rent drained out of this
island and spent In Great Britain. The i'm
high price of cattle and sheep, have not Injured
to the benefit of the cultivators of the soil but
to the landlords Everything that has added
to the profits Of farming provoked the levyinng
high no extravagance is INDUCED in by the
people, who live simple, frugal lives, and work
hard and continually, but still make little or
no Roadway.
To my eyes, the cause of the poverty is OBJ
ivus.
It 10 the rent that brushes the heart of the
matter how hard he and they labor, or how
carefully they rear their stock and cultivate
their little fields. NOR how much they pinch,
" Of tssv 'h 1srs
have O shilling left whom the rent is paid. If
| any farmers, by better methods of cultivation
and drainage, SO increase their crops aud cattle
as to make . little money, it is quickly per-
ceived by the landlords or their hawk-eyed
agents, and up goes the rent sufficiently to ab-
sorb the surplus earnings in the future. Thus
! synonym for higher rent"
| Under such o system of oppression the habi-
tations of the people are just what might be
in mud huts with thatched straw roofs. These
| humble babitations are usually about 20 to 25
feet long by 10 to IA wide, and to- high. One
little window Of four panes of glass and some
two apartments A ladder in the corner leads
up to the garrett, or bed chamber, through q
trap-door. The front and only door is 80 low
| that adult persons must always stoop to enter
| the habitation. The floor is of cement OF CLAW
and never carpeted.
The greater part of these habitations have
been built for more than q century, and com.
| paratively few within this generation. When
spoke to farmers about the universal absence
| of tenement improvements, and asked for the
| reason, tno usual reply was, Gnot the people
had no money with which to defray the cost of
better buildings; and that, when it had been
done, 1t was always followed by an advance in
rents, if the terms of the lease permitted.
They said that any improvement Indicating
| the possession of money, or profits, or surplus
income, other symptoms Of prosperity, rem
dered them liable to demands for higher rents;
and that tenants were generally afraid to make
improvements any display Of comforts, least
it excited the cupidity of the landlords agent !;
and resulted in an increase of their heavy
| burden.
The rents of Irish farms have, for two
centuries, kept even pace with the ability of
of the farmers to pay them.
Occasionally careless landlord may be
found who does not watch the profits OF his
tenants so closely as described; but, where
there 10 one such, there are ten who are ever
on the alert to increase the income of their
estates to the highest point the tenants can be
squeezed.
A vast number of farmers are merely tenants
Mt will. So long they pay promptly what
ever rent is demanded, they are allowed to
remain on the land. But, when there is trouble
in collecting it, eviction is pretty sure to fol-
low, or notice is given, requesting them to
sell their holding to some one else and clear