Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-03-08
''Private Ownership in Land. >


constant reader Of your paper, I fre-
quently see it and read it, and have
formed a very favorable opinion of its
editor, though having met him but
once. The land question is one of
great Importance to the people of the
United States, at least I view it as
such, and am glad to see that some
one else thinks SO. The time was
when the United States had an almost
unlimited public domain, but now
the public land has almost all been
taken up by actual settlers or by cor
porations of one kind or another, both
alien and nonalien. enquirer
seems to be very forcibly struck with
the paragraph which he quotes from
the Champion and appears to have
recently discovered that such men as
'fRack-renF' Scully have obtained a
foot hold in our fair land, yet his
holdings are but a pigmy in compar-
ison to some of the alien land holders
in this country. Foreign land hold
ers have greater possessions in this
country than they have in England.
1 have in my possession partial list
of alien land holders in the United
States list of thirty persons-and
if the holdings of Rack-rent Scully
are a shock to Enquirer, what will he
say to the possessions of the ''Holland
Land Co." which owns 4, 500, 900 acres,
sof the English syndicate No. 3, whose
holdings amount to 100000 acres;
Sir Edward Reid and a syndicate,
holding 100000 acres; another Eng
fish syndicate holding ], 100000 acres;
and so on down the list till we come
to the British Land Company, which
owns $4,000 acres in our own fair
state, and yet Alexander Grant owns
/ $4,000 acres in Kansas. I said I had
a list of thirty alien land owners and
fsae least of these is Sir I. S.. Kay. of
Yorkshire, England, who owns 5000
acres. I also said that the alien land
ownings were greater than any land
holder in England. In a recent work
entitled Gland and Labor in the
United States" by William @. Moody.
The author on page 88 gives a list of
English land holdings in ENGLAND
a list Of nineteen-the greatest is that
of Duke of Northumberland, who
owns 101, 480 acres. There are but
three in the whole list that reach 100
600 acres, while the most of the others
run from 81, O85 to about $4,000 acres.
I said that the least of United States
alien land holdings is 5000, while
there but three in the list of thirty
that fall below 10000 acres and the
most Of them are from 100000 up to
| 100000 like that of the Holland
Land Company. Enquirer" asks,
''Has not wrong been inflicted on
mankind by reason of this system of
allowing individual ownership in
land?" Undoubtedly he touches the
key note IN the land question when
he asks that, for, without doubt, a
wrong and grievous wrong, has
been done by the system. But to
leave the article Of Enquirer with its
salient points and they are almost
'1egion," I wish to notice a remark of
yours You say you shave thought
some on the questions mentioned by
Enquirer and the first remark is
t'Our blood has boiled after reading
accounts Of the wrongs of Ireland"
Whoes does not? But, Mr.. Editor,
do we have to go across the Atlantic
Ocean to find grievances to make our
''blood boi1?" It is all right to sym
pathize with Ireland in her troubles
with her Rack-rent ScuIlies, but 1 say
have we not cases In our own country
to make our ''blood boiI?" Do we
forget the Des Moines river cases,
where this winter families have been
thrown out IN the highways to do the
best they can or perish In the cold?
Do we forget the Mussel Shoal affair
of a few years ago? Do we forget
the evictions Of Colorado now In
progress? Do we forget our own
state, how In Allen county men and
women, after years of toll to make
homes for themselves have to aban-
don all and begin anew. Do we for
get O'Brien county, Iowa, where but
a few short months ago, aged women,
little children and inyalids were
dumped into the highways as so much