The Irish standard., 1888-08-11
A GLANCE AT IRELAND
DR.. Albert Shaws Letter to the Min
neapolis Tribune, from
Limerick,
A HORRIBLE STATE OF AFFAIRS.

Why Tenants Cling Desperately to Thei
Forlorn Homes and Resist Bailiffs
and Military.
LIMERICK. Ire, July l4.--It is "on
the wing" that send this letter from a
political tour OF Ireland. Irish scenery
is not to be despised--the whole face OF
the country is green and beautiful, the
coasts are picturesque, the harbors are
unccmmonly fine, the towns are quaint
and interesting, the Kerry mountains
and Killarney lakes form region of
largely attractive scenery, and there are
nere and there some ruins Of historic
note; but to my mind the political and
social state Of the country is best worth
observation. I write in haste and
under difficulties, and cannot attempt
All adequate description Of the condition
OF Ireland under ]andlordism and CO.
ermon. shall hope to write of these
things more carefully at another time
Certainly it would take many long chap
Sels to give in detail the results Of the
observations we (ny companion is
Prof. Macy, OF Iowa,) arc making. The
best possible facilities have been ac-
corded us by the Irish members Of Par
lament, the general and local officers
Of the National League, the editors of
newspapers and others, to get at the
facts. Vne story of bleeding Ireland"
is not new; but it remains an unfinished
story and it's pathos and interest seem
to be reaching something like q climax,
My own Interest in the lyish question
is not altogether recent, and was pre-
pared to find that landlordism had
brought the country to g deplorable con-
tlition; but this really beggars all the
descriptions had ever seen and all the
previous impressions [ had ever been
led to form.
NO country on earth ever rested under
% more blight1ng curse than that Of
landordjsm in Ireland, This is no
place FIR an essay on the subject. Suf
ice to explain that in times past the
land nearly all came into possession Of
E. comparative handful of men, chiefly
non residents. Each great estate was
divided into farms, averaging perhaps
rs acres each. All Improvements
houses, barns, drainage, walls and
hedges, removal of stones, fertilization,
etc, have been made by the tenant
farmers at their own expense. AS
RAPIDLY as the land was rendered more
productive and slightly by the thriftand
energy of the farmers, the landlords
have been accustomed to advance the
rents This process of ''rack-renting"
kept the country drained and impover-
ished. The landlords themselves were
lavish in their expenditures st London
and elsewhere, and saw no impending
retributiou. But the system has in
evitab|y undermined Irish thrift and
left the people to fall pray in the most
terrible manner to temporary misfor-
tunes, such as bad crops or depression
in prices. They had no reserve re.
sources to fall back upon. The large
importations to the United Kingdom of
American grain and meat have reduced
the prices of Irish products by half.
Irish farmers who are paying $25 an
acre yearly rent and from SIS to $40 an
acre more for taxes, could not success
fully compete with American farmers
whose land cost nothing. The landlords
fooljsbly continued their scale of liv-
ing, although compelled to make some
reductions of rent. They treated the
situation as temporary, and put heavy
mortgages on their farms. Protracted
depression had ruined nearly all of
them. The real value of the lands had
shruuk to less than the amount OF the
mortgages, in many cases; and lands
are largely in the hands of trustees for
the benefit Of the money lenders. In
the interest of these sharks, the utmost
harshness and severity has been used to
compel the payment of rents. A true
and graphic description Of the means
used to extort from the farmers more
than the farmers could get from the
land, would arouse Indignation in the
most prejudiced mind.
From the thoughtless and the misin-
formed the question is continually
asked, "Why do not these wretched
people leave the farms, if the rent IS too
high?'' It should be remembered that
in any fair view of the matter, the ten
ants are the real owners, and the absen-
tee landlords simply have the legal right
to extort heavy tribute from them.
Tenantship is on very different basis
here from that in the United States.
The same family holds a farm for gen.
erations. Everything the family owns
is absorbed in the imprts 53ements Of the
place. 70 60 away is to leave every q