The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1880-09-16
HOMES FOR ENGLISH FARMERS.

-.
The English farmers who passed
up the Sunset railway a few days
ago looking for homes in Texas,
must certainly have felt relief from
oppression when they reflected upon
the condition of the well-to-do
farmer here and the tenant-at-will
in landlord-ridden England. A
world of land greeted their eyes as
they passed onward from the gulf
coast towards the ancient city of
Texas, land enough to give homes,
at a nominal cost, to every shifting
tenant in all Britain, land as rich and
as capable of varied production as
any section ofthe globe. Here these
farmers saw cotton fields with plants
borne down with product worth
fifty dollars per acre. corn fields
yielding from fifty to one hundred
bushels to the acre. potatoe fields
growing two hundred to three hun
dred bushels per acre of the most
nourishing food known to man, and
endless pastures of the richest
grasses, upon which roam many
thousands of cattle, horses and sheep
rolling in fat, with glossy coats shin
ing in the warm and balmy atmos-
phere 'ot. Southern and Western
Texas. Like all people in new
country, lost amid the habits and
customs and usages of strange peo
pie, these English farmers may have
even amid the delightful scenes sur
rounding them, longed for an
other glimpse of native land, for the
meadows and lowing herds of Dew
onshire and Worcestershire, and yet,
when these accomplished tillers of
soil reflect upon what they left be-
hind them they should be more than
happy at the change by which they
may buy homes at nominal prices
and have all the time they may de-
sire to pay for them. They can re-
fleet that when they have lived out
their allotted time of usefulness they
may bequeathe to others an in
heritance, and they may even be laid
away beneath the stately live oak
that may belong to their children,
protected, as the homestead is by
law from execution, for generations
to come. They leave a country
where not foot of land may ever
be called their own, subject to the
everyday caprices of landlords and
the creature alone of their mercy. No
wonder there is an outcry in Eng
land against its favored class. The
laws protecting its landlords are
particularly oppressive. Tenants
have no rights which landlords are
bound to respect. In theory, all
land belongs to the Crown, and the
owner of land is only tenant in fee
simple. The tenant knows upon
taking farm that the rent is the
first claim upon his industry, and
that in competition with the land
lord oil other creditors are practic-
ally out of the field. The landlord
has the power of distress upon. the
goods of his tenant, the right to
take away his crop. his stores,
his cattle, and what is left for
the other creditors, is not
worth quarreling over.
1t is said that a tenant is safe so
long as he pays rent and observes
his agreements, and that he has re-
course to law to hold property. In
the case of non-payment of rent,
when a half wears RENTS due, and a |
lessee or tenant is about to be evicted |
he can apply to court of law under
the Common Law Procedure Act,
and the court has power to give |
summary relief by permitting the
tenant to regain or continue his
possession, but only upon payment
of the full rent and costs. Thus the
of relief is altogether
thrown upon him, and the condi-
ton is payment Another law
allows him to continue possession
by. giving security for damages and
for costs of suit, or eviction imme-
iiiately follows. These are rights
gracieusly granted by the law-mak-
ing classes of England, and vet to
people of this country they appear
but as fiimsy pretexts of protection.
Customs in some localities. il is
said, mitigate the severity of the
aw, but the tenant is at the mercy
of his landlord, either through his
leniency, or by series of
generous and mercifnl acts ON the
part Of the feudatory regime. which
have become custom. The Ulster
Tenant right is ain example. This
6 the right of continued occupancy
IF the land, or the right to compen-
'ation in case of relinquishing pos
'essieD- This right of continued
occupation has market cash value
frequently in excess of the fee
'inrpie of the land. 1t grew ont oil
he graciousness with which James
: treated his Protestant Eneiisb
ubjects who settled in the north OIL
Ireland. Lenient treatment was
them, in case Of failure ;
o pay their rent, which treatment.
n the course Of years became
'ustom, and therefore law. Twoll
'ftempts have been made in
ingiand 10 confer upon tenants
omething Of Che privileges OIL /
he Ulster Tcnsnt Right. These /
Fere the land act Of 1870, and the I
Lsriculfural Holdings Act Of 1s75. ! {