Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-01-01

pay the present rentals, arranged when
wheat was Cos q quarter, now that it has
fallen to 34s. The baker says he cannot
sell bread cheap because he gave such
high prices during the late war,
| and he must now make it up, Then
the laborer comes to the ground be-
tween the two stools; and the poor farm
er is not better off, because he is called
upon to pay his old rent. Everything
else rises and falls with commercial
tides, but the price of land never does.
Land IN Kent, on an average is worth
tlOO per acre, taking the fertile and
the barren. To an American there is
no reason fol the fancy prices; but SO
curlously has been mixed up the pos
session of land with the possession of
polltlcal power and social prestige, that
It has obtained 8 fabulous value through
genteel people who cannot afford to
buy, but VINO hope to get into country
society by becoming gentlemen farm
ers; and thus the real farmer has to pay
an artificial rate of rental, which he
can only do by screwing down his la
borers' wages. During the last year or
two, his chief difficulties have been the
enormous quantities of cheap corn and
the large Quantities OF beef coming into
the country. OF course, on the other
hand, he has mad the benefit of the inn
ports of cheap feeding stufs
and fertilizing agencies =" Anoth-
er drawback to the farmer is
the fact that he is tied down by ancient
covenant as to the way in which he
shall cultivate his land. Helis not al
lowed to make the most OF everything.
He must SOW, for example, wheat
this year, barley the next, rye
the year AFTER. and-so-forth. Al
though his fields, may beoverrun with
rabbits, and his crops are being destroyed
under his nose, he dare not, with few
exceptions, lift a gum He cannot, sell
his straw, or hay, or roots, but must
Iced 1t all himself and return it to the
soil These are few Of the farmers
grievances. n,rer.. tcnoi.ri
Some of the tenants Of the Duke of
Newcastle, / see, have refused to re-
new their holdings and the duke will
thus be driven to farm his own land, or
let 1t at lower rents than he has hitherto
done. The duke-who by the way, was
not long ago bankrupt, andHwas sold
Oft tor the benefit of his credtors-must
live like a duke. He must have. all
the luxurles Of life, and, as he has the
advantage of being the tenant Of an en-
tailed estate, he is able to do so, provided
he can get adequate rentals from his
tenants. He is one of those who pro-
pose to further reduce the laborer. In
Kent and Sussex, among the large pro-
prletOrs who have descended to reduce
the wages of the laborers Cd day, are
Lord Darnley, with an annual rental of
t63, 900; Sir William Hart Dyke, who
draws from his rents G1SOOO annually,
and Lord Soudes, Withan estate netting
him, t26, 900 every twelve months.
You understand that the purchase Of
land is almost an imDOsslbllty in Eng
land. The presenttroublelh has renewed
the discussion of the laws of primogen-
lture and entail, and it il, not unlikely
that before long another attempt may
be made in parliament to upset the stat
utes upon the subject and substitute
others which will be the means of divid-
ing up this little island, now owned one
might say, by very small federation Of
landlords.