Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-07-31

LANCASTER. PA. July 81, 1880.
Oar Land Question.

IN this country that quest1ons oi the
most vital importance often assume
gigantic proportions before they are
fully perceived even by the advance
guard among thinkers. Among the |
many examples of this truth, none is
more striking than the land question.
Do our intelligent farmers, especially |
those who vote the Republican ticket |
year after year, know what this ques- |
tion means? DO they understand its
bearing upon their vocation and upon
its future? Do they know where to fix
+ the responsibility and whom to blame
We fear not. So long and 80 persistent
has been their struggle In the meshes Of
the net formed by the hard conditions
surrounding them--high prices for all
they purchase, low prices for all they
tell, and heavy taxes upon all their pos
sessions--that they have had no time
for the study of such questions.
Let us, then, briefly review some of
its phases, for such a review may not
prove valueless even to the political
student. To begin with facts which are
most familiar, all newspaper readers
have seen the statement which has been
recently appearing in different forms
that the population of many of our
country districts here in highly favored
Lancaster county has been decreasing
that the census shows that 1t Ia less to-
day than IL was ten years ago. Have
our farmers asked themselves why this
IL true? HSPe they demanded an ex-
planation from the politicians for whom
theyAfcte every year, and who promise
10 consider first of all the interests of
agriculture and the protection Of the
farmer?
But this Is by no means local phe
nomenon. Farms have been deserted
by owners and tenants for more than
decade In New England, in New York
and throughout all of the Middle states.
Why should this Ike under system of
protection which the politician, when
speaking to the farmer, declares was in
stltuted for his especial benefit, and
when addressing the laborer, swsars was
Invented solely for his Why IL 1t that
when the hat is passed round for cam-
paign expenses, the largest contribu-
tions come from the manufacturer, to
whom no elaborate arguments are ever
addressed Perhaps it is because the
man who makes millions every year
when times are good " needs no other
argument.
Again, large farms all over the land
are increasing in number while small
farms are relatively decreasing. The
last CENSUS shows that in the decade be-
tween 1870 and 1880, farms under 100
acres Increased In number only 10 per
cent; farms Of more than 100 and under
500 acres increased 200 per cent; of over
500 and less than 1900 acres, 500
per cent; while those of over a
1000 acres increased in number
not less than 500 per cent. This
carries with it the necessary conclu-
sion that the number of tenants and
farm laborers are increasing out Of all
proportion TO the increase of small land
& owners. And the justice of this conclu.
sion is demonstrated by the tenth cen.
sns, which shows that ten years ago one.
fourth Of our farmers were already ten
ants. As natural corollary, farm lands
Z have everywhere fallen in value, so that
II the improved farm lands of the whole
country were put under the sheriff g
hammer to-day they would not sell for
twO-thirds of their value twenty-five
years age. Half century ago, farm
mortgages were rare in this country
while to-day the nnmortgagedr 2,srm i,
the excePt,,sss,i1. ceP,ss1. .~'" '
.v.sssf. ID estimated that the Western farm
mortgage business alone has already
reached the vast sum of $50, 900, 900 an
IA ;ata Of
land hold mortgages on S33 per cent. o
her farms. The New York state agen
reports that 80 per cent. of her farais ar
Amortgaged on an average of S6s per cen.t
~ their estimated value. And 80 II 1
throughout the entire ,ce1gt.ry.
nhe Republican, party while in con
,of the general government, fostere'
stili fosters by every law 1t has en-
UPON the subject Of the pull
hands, the growth Of monopol
,ndlerdism, 1t has squandere
rs Of our vast public domain
Sway corporations, or allowe
uto the hands of great capita
and spectators. 1t has nc
ded that America shall b
ms in this true aud onl
.y;I, nr.ne phrase, but has allowe
IONS 81 acres to become the privat
property of rapacious foreign landlord.
the nobility of England and continents
Europe, who have no interest in Americ
except to draw from the pockets of thei
American tenants millions of dollars /
rent every year. Twenty-nine allie
" absentee landlords " already own 20
SAT, 600 acres in this eountry-an e,
panse of territory as large as the whol
Of Ireland. And they possess MOI
power here than in tyrant-ridden Ir,
land. For if the Irish tenant fall int
arrears and can prove that his rent
tdo high to afford him fair living, I'll
landlord cannot eject him, but the Ian
courts will lower his rent and grant hil
4 . term of years in which to pay tn,
which has accrued. But in free Ameri,
the absentee landlord not only remov
the tenant and his family from Il
premises, but under his ironclad agre
s lnent, seizes upon his furniture, sto,
and tools and sells them to satisfy d
debt, Just as British Landlord Scully h
done to hundreds of his tenants in il
f nois.
When shall a halt be called upon Il
mats Of reducing our farmers to te
and day laborers, of mortgagi
ting great estates, al
{. a..ssam Hs.. system of foreign Ian
& lordism Is ii not time that our farm,
should awake to the study of this qu
s<at aionp