New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-23
IRISH LANDLORDS.

HOW THEY SQUEEZE POOR TENANTS.
| THE 1p1sH DEFINITION OF RENT-IANDLORDs WHO
NEVER VISIT THEIR IRISH POSsEssIONs-LORD
sIIGO's CLOSE DEALING.
rpRoN THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUEE'l
| CORK April 4-Rent America is another
name for q moderate rate of interest on
money invested in houses and lands that
have been honestly bought by their own
ers Rent in the West of Ireland is an arbitrary tax
on land unimproved by the owner, mostly inherited
bv titled receivers of stolen goods, anu the
amount of that tax is every shilling that the
tenant can be forced to pay over and above what IS
necessary in good seasons, to keep his family III
condition of the abjectest poverty ana "retcheu-
ness. In bad seasons it means every shilling ne
possesses his COW and calf. and his cabin ITSELF
the cabin that he himself has built Irish land
lords not only see their tenants fed by foreigners
without blush, but swear that their rights are IN
vaded if these pauperized tenants are unwilling to
be turned into the roadside They should be made
to feel the scOrn of the human race.
One of the inspectors of the Duchess of Mar
borou0hs committee reports with singular compla'
cency that credit was the curse Of the tenantry
Let ms see The landlords exact their rents semi
aunually-in November and May. The November
rent is paid easily enough. if there is good season.
because the crops have been gathered; but AT the
same time all their other dcbts-tO the grocer ana
meal merchant-bave to be paid BY the first OF May
they are poor again, if there is no work gong
IN outsidc of their little farms. They must borrow
money on the first of May to pay the
! landlord, otherwise they are never sure OF
| keeping their own roof over tlelr hcaus
| Then, they must live on credit during the SUMNER
when they are working on their farms. The land
lords will not advance provisions to them. lie wont
let his May rent 20 over to November. The poor
! lie Ol
CRATE. But how can he emgratei The young men,
by hard work and prudence, can raise the money in
! \ few veals hut men with " long families " are
rooted m the soil. And yet. because they don't go
INTO exile the landlords blame them, both at home
! and abroad. Instead Of the landlords being the
real friends and the shOpkeepcrs the real enemies
of the small tenants, just the opposite is true OF
both classes.
There are only 10000, 900 Of acres in Ireland (;
744 men own nearly halfo it. Onc-half OF the land
lords in all Ireland are a5scntecs Ills Is not 4
general estimate, hut n statistical return. Lort'
Sligo. whose tenants visited is never III Ireland.
The Marquis of Conyngham owns over 13GOOO
acres in Donegal and takes $3.50 900 rent for it, and
never shows his face among his most wretched ten
ants. The MARQUIS of LansdOwne owns over goo
acres and is never seen. in the county, although
he collects 81 20 900 of rents from It, Sir Richard
| Wallace owns over CT 900 acres and scoops III
1870, 900 from it. His father spent his life III Eng
land, and so does he. Hardly one of his tenants
has ever seen him. The Marquis of Ely OWNS
nearly 49, 900 acres, but it is reported of hm That
he has no sympathy for anything Irish "-eNccpt
! his rent OF course, for lie sympathzeS WIN II III
that line to the extent of 100000 a year. lie
never visits his estates in Ireland. And 80 they 60
| A POPULAR NOTION DIsPEILED.
| Every American has notion that whatever other
fanlts the British nobility may have, they are not
capable of downright meanness. have spoken so
mueh about Lord Sligo that perhaps the judcious
reader NAV have guessed that | do not regard him
as a model landlord. But was obliged to ask my
self one morning. at the gate OF his noble park Is
there no limit to this fellows grasping ayarce and
shameless meanness ?" Remember that he takes in
the form of rack-rent every shilling that poor
tenant can force out of tho soil except
inc starvation living for his family
that lie evcted hundreds of households
after the last great famine, because the impOvcr-
isbed heads of them could not paw his rack rents
rromntly: that he has raised the rents just often
rs his tenants have improved the lands by their own
unaided toll; that he has even claimcd MS ms own
! property the seaweed that grows ON the rocks I'M
| der The higl-water mark, IN order 10 cOnpcl inc
vretched farmer to pay 80 a load Tor 1t, althOugh
the MANURE was intended TO be carried by them INTO
| shaking Dogs and mp steep hlllsIdcS, I'D oIuer 10
| bring his own land into state OF fertility. ,
| Having done all these despotic acts, one would
|
| he AS the owner OF the ground on which the town
of Westport is built, IL seems that he can exact Il
| foil from everybody who comes into 1t to sell any
| country produce. SO. by proxy half beggaT half
f1otpad Inc sits at the gates of the town. and over
his head is painted board with this inscription :
"Schedule specifying the tolls, customs and
duties claimed by the Marquis of Sligo
on the several articles brought into WestpOrt."
And then follows the list of articles on which, with
ont rendering any service 10 the town, he eXacts
toll They are printed in two parallel columns.
but to save space shall present them in para
graph:
Pedler's stand, pence; bakers do, Id; hardware
do Id; shOeinakers do, Id. lea her MAKERS do, 10;
| mich cows per head 3D.; drJ COWS and Dnl-
locks Id horses, g.; colt, or mule, 1d sheep
alive ld sheep slaughtered, 3D. live pgsper load Id;
goats Id kids, Id: loads Of peat I'd. butter, I'd;
potatoes per sack Id cabbage per load ID onions per
| load, Id; vegetables, Id; cOOpePs ware ID
And so on; blackmail is levied on hay, straw, her
rings-everything that the poor people sell III the
| market. For paying this tax they have the plivi-
ege of selling their goods in the public streets and
the citizens of the town are permitted by my Lord
| Sligo to pay the entire expense OF putting these
| streets in order after the far. A similar impost
exists have been told in most of the inland towns
| IN Ireland 1t is surprising bow long nuisance
will last in country where there are no political
boards of health with power to remove them
| JAMES REDPAIH.
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