Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-09-28

"Ulster custom" he might sell his
tenant right" at what it would bring,
as a compensation for his years of toll in
rearing n home and rendering the place
productive. but failure to take timely ad
vantage Of this privilege and default in the
payment of the rent was the precursor of
eviction and the coDtiscation Of the labors
of a lifetime. Even in the days when the
prices realized from the products of the
farm afforded the landlords claim and
comfort to the families of the farmers in
the favored counties, such as Antrim,
Down and Derry, a mere existence above
the exactions of the lord was the best that
the tenants of the rocky and unproductive
region in the west of Donegal could eX-
poet, and it was common for the farmers
of tnat section to spend portion at least
of the harvest season in the service of the
farmers of Antrim, Derry and other north
and east RI counties, and use the proceeds
OF their summers toll to liquldate the
rental On the little holdings they called
home. The better county farmers prompt
ed 10y the depression in prices and the dis
propUrtiOnate reductions in their rents,
employ less help than formerly, and have
abridged the volume of employment open
! to their poorer neighbors. 1t is still q fact
| however, that the children of the farmers
| in the west of Donegal, AS young as 10
! years Of age, are bound out to the service
of The north and eastern farmers, at a pit
! tance-as low as 30 shillingJ for half
| years service-te aid in sparing the family
| of eviction from their miserable holdings,
! for occupying which they should be paid a
| bounty rather than forced to pay rent
al.
The homes of tenant farmers N Antrim
and Derry are cOmfortat lie, out the II quir-
er learns that they were built, tt e most
! m Ideru OF them, at least "A dozen years
ago, before the foreign deluge of the prod
ucts of the farm and field had come, and
now that disprop Jrtlouatc rents prev all
on basis of the COED times gone, the bet
ter houses are a mOckery and a reminder
| to their occupants of past prosperity. They
have no money now with which they could
! build houses If they would, and having
taken lesson from the post they would
not if they could.
1t is the garden spot of the beat of Ire
land have pictured, aud while it rests
! deeply IN the shadow of the iudust rial de
preston that has provoked and keDt
at1ame the present agitation, it is an Eden
| Compared with the southern and western
Counties, and even eastern Donegal, which
! saw by tour on jauntng cars, points
| its lesson of oppression and the poverty of
the oppressed. Nile after mile through
| AIMS, every tlilaO!e inch of which is made
to do Its duty, led me by huts and novels,
| which serve rs hOm-s-nOt better than the
croter novels in the north and west of
Scotland. The lord VINO cwns the Iaud
! lives in London palace, and helps sh ape
| the laws that shave to a pAuper producing
minimum the prices of his tenants prod
ucts, and so the att1r must submit aud
pay tribute in such measure as is demand
Ell or out he goes from the home his hands
! nave reared.
The land courts, it may be said, have
circumveuted landlord eXtorton, but it is
| not true, for the Clen-well meaning men
| many of them-whO constitute the courts
know full well that if they exceed a GER
| tain limit in settling rent reductions the
Il
and when the expense that attaches to de
lay has involved the tenant perhaps in ru
III the House of Lords will reverse the &C
tion OIL even is the ruling is confirmed the
tenants loss exceeds his gain.
Some figures as to the change in prices
are significant in connection with the
troubles of the farmers. Oats aud pota
toes were long the staple Irish products &c
which flax was for a time a most lmpOr
tant auxiliary, while the cattle were profit
able requirement. Before the days of de
preston came, oats brought as high as "A
pence per stone or two cents a pound
Now they bring SIX and six and one hal
pence per stOue-l4 pounds-a drop OF
more than half, while potatoes bring les:
than half their former price and because
of other foods that come i'll duty free and
so cheaplY, are IN poor demand. FLAX wa,
Il money making crop with the north O
Ireland farmer, but Russia, France anC
Germany can produce IL cheaper and now
furnish more than half of the factory de
mands at a reduction in the price of IS pei
cent. Before the American cattle breed
ers began to send the products OF the
Western plains through the free trade por
tails of Great Britain an Irish yearlinQ
brought a. high a. $50, while $40 was ne
uncommon price. Now slS is the maxi
mum figure to De realized. The policy o
England in Ireland, rs in all her colonies
has been to crush out their home produc
ton and supply their wants in manutaC
tured goods compelling the tllerS OF tn
soil, the while, to accept the price of pau
per peasautry as the fruitage of their in
dust y. Her motives in establishing he
trade relations with a nation of prodiga
consumers such as the United States, ar
= not more kindly, and the American, be h
of native birth or foreign born, who woul'
cherish his dearest present interest VIII
combat with most potent energy the econ
omic policy that England breaches. BE
fore every other citizen of Americas adop
ton, none who know the history of thei
native land should be found to Guido tn
I sons of En- in their Jealous opposition t
, the English octopus-free trade.
w. l. DAVENNY,