The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-12-31
The Labor Movement in Ireland.

tlonal League, rs distinguished from the
superseded Land League, is the prominence
given to the claims OF q large and hitherto
neglected element OF Irelands population
the agricultural laborers. That the leaders
OF the movement are sincere Ia demonstrated
by the fact that, in spite Of threats OF prose-
cution on the part Of the British Government,
they continue to firmly admonish the tenant
farmers that no attempt must be made to cut
of men poorer than themselves from share
OF the benefits procured by agitation.
One Irish patriot has already been
arrested for uttering warning Of
this kind, and other efforts will doubt
less be made to SOW distrust and ami
mostly between tho tenants and the still
more luckless men who work for them. 1t Is
well, therefore, that the friends Of Ireland in
this country, whose sympathies are not con-
fined to any class or section Of the Irish peo-
pie, but go out to oil the victims Of the
Ubiquitous land system. should be made
acquainted with the details Of the unhappy
situation in which at least half q million
Irish families are placed. To that end VIC
have recourse not to assertions made on
Irish authority, and which might in some
quarters be taxed with exaggeration, but to
Nineteenth Century.
The Irish agricultural laborcrs arc defined
as farmers without farms. But to what cause
is attributable the existence of such vast
body OF men whose sole vocation is the tillagc
of the SOIL yet who have no soil to till 1t
is only during the last half century that this
landless class has acquired such huge pro-
portions and, according to the Nineteenth
Century, it is direct outcome of the appall-
ing famine of 1917 s and of the merciless
evictions by which scores Of thousands of
bankrupt tenants were driven from their
holdings and forced to occupy the position OF
hired laborers.
Has the pressure Of their hard lot brought
about tiny deterioration Of mind OF character
in the men who now till for others the fields
which their fathers rented and cultivated for
themselves? On the contrary, they are pro-
nounced fully equal to the majority of ten
ant farmers as far as education intellect,
generosity, and integrity are concerned.
Disinherted and destitute as he is, the Irish
laborer has at least as high a sense of hon
csty as his employer. He would rather
starve than pilfer his neighbours or employ
er's goods, and his first impulse is to help
his fellow lahorcr in times OF sickness or
death. That his intellectual aptitudes are OF
a high order is attested by the remarkable
extent to which his children profit by educa-
ton when they are fortunate enough to OBJ
tain some instruction. The proofs, indeed,
are overwhelming that the Irish laborer de-
serves all that justice and sympathy have
given or promised to the Irish tenant. Now
let.us see what he gets.
Therearc, it seems, three classes OF agri-
| cultural laborers. In the first category be-
long those who are employed by landlords,
but these are few in number, and they are q
! little better fed and lodged than the rest. To
the second group are referred those who are
| engaged by the year by tenant farmers
| They are generally unmarried, and receive
| part OF their pay in food and shelter and part
| in money These also may be regarded as a
| privileged body, for their lot is less wretched
| and precariouS than that of tho majority OF
| the landiess cultivators BY far the largest
and neediest part of the laboring class con-
sists of married men, who have large fami-
lies, and live in miserable mud cabins, and
who work on the neighboring farms for
wages which seldom rise above SO per week
and are frequently much lower.
| Let it not be supposed, however, that the
laborer can count on receiving the small
weekly stipend specified in money through
out the year. For the wretched hovel
which he occupies the tenant compels
him to pay rent in the shape OF service
usually sixty days work in the year, to be
given when called for. AS a matter of fact,
this service is almost always exacted at
harvest time. when wages are highest, and
the only rebate allowed on this account is
| npo ppnnl n tav TT in addition N HE lint
the laborer desires little plot Of ground in
which to raise potatoes, he is obliged to SUBJ
rent 1t Of the tenant, paying for it at rate
sometimes twelve times larger than that paid
to the landlord. Moreover, in case OF illness,
care is taken to deduct for absence from work.
Such are the deplorable circumstances in
which the agricultural laborer finds himself
as regards the power OF gaining livelihood
even in good years, when he may reasonably
expect employment nearly all the year round.
What, then, must be his plight this winter in
the western counties OF Ireland, where he
can find no work to do, because the tenants
| themselves are threatened with famine
One Of his resources has been to add some
thing to his earnings by crossing over to
England at harvest time, and as much as
10 per cent. OF the laboring population in
Connaught has taken part in such periodical
migrations. But, of late, English farmers
have themselves passed through period OF
depression, so that the relief derived from
such long journeys in search OF work has
been materially diminished.
We again rccur to our English authority
for light on the physical conditions in which
the Irish laborer lives, even when he is able
to earn the wretched plttance above men
toned His mud cabin would have beer
scorned by our Southern negroes under the
slavery regime. 1t is rather wlgwam thar
q dwelling. The roof Is Of sOds of earth OF
rotten thatch, utterly inadequate to keep out
the rain or the cold. A hole in the mud wal
serves as window, which, being usually
stuffed with straw or an old garment, ex
cludcs the light, but not the biting Marcel
winds, The rude chimney allows the dense
pungcnt peat smoke to fill the hut whenever
fire is kindled. In this cramped and wretch
ed howell are huddlcd together the labore
and his family, his goat or pig. and his fowl
| ,,Nlt No f,r ho, ic of a