The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1890-07-26
WAVERLAND.
a tai. Of Our comIas L.adlords.
BY SARAH MAsIE BnIGHAm.
cnArrEn xnI. coNrlsuEp.

well. sir, can tell you the trouble He
could choose his own time for selling his
grain. and he received one dollar per
bllshcl for his wheat and twenty-five cents
a bushel for his corn had 70 sell when
Lord sanders agent demanded the rent,
and got sixty cents per bushel for my
wheat aud fifteen cents for corn. On the
two you can see quite a margin for free.
,lom: yes. freedom. | am bound under an
iron clad lease almost IA binding a a bill
Of sale used to be in slavery timesr'
But you need not stay here II the terms
20 not suit you remarked the duke.
That's true. But here have shelter:
say wife and child are quite comfortable.
II should leave here l might do even
worse. Some OF the tenants on Lord san.
ders' estate have terrible struggle 10 get
along One day last winter when the
thermometer was twenty degrees below
zero, went 10 a tenants house, and there
they were boiling whole corn 10 keep them
from starving. Their fire was made of
roots dug from the earth ten miles distant
and brought home 10 burn 10 keep them
from freezing. oh, ! could tell you tales
Of sufferings that would make your heart
ache II there Is any more suffering I'm
Ireland than right here on Lord Sanders
estate. God pity them Here ia this beau
tif"l country where everything grows In
abundancel went round to the different
families and gathered up provisions TO
keep one family from starving to death
What made the people 80 poors" asked
the duke.
Because they had to sell all they could
raise 10 pay the rent, that the greedy land
lords may live In ease and luxury in some
foreign city, where he cannot see or hear
OF the misery he causes. While the thrifty
farmers. like neighbor Jones. who have
their own homes, must pay their own law
ful taxes AMI "A portion for my Lord san
'ders beside"
why man how do YOU make that out'n
asked the duke. Your neighbor has i'm
proved his lands, while Lord Sanders has
not, that makes the difference"
THAT Is just where the injustice comes
in. III Lord Sanders had TO pay taxes on
that naked land and not OH the improve.
ments, nc would soon be willing to sell
some Of his hundred thousand acres. But
while he can shirk out Of the taxes and re
ccivcs a good rent, he will not sell any OF
his broad fields, though offered five times
their real value
you are rather hard on the land
owner" sail the duke III You could
carry your theory into practice you would
make fine mess Of the finances OF your
country. II might benefit the small farm
ers, but Il would bc hard on the landlords
who hold large estates"
well, sir, we would be willing they
should suffer little. They have bled the
people long enough. Beside, the lands of
this country were intended for the many,
not for the few. | would Ike TO see the
man who owns the lands live on them and
use them himself, and not have the power
TO grind the life out OF the unfortunate
man who has not been blessed with rich
relations, FAT offices or lucky opportunities,
by which he can buy or steal titles to lands
that God made free as the air we breathe,
for all 10 enjoy and use. not to monopolize
and abuse
Then you would make null and void all
titles % Iandss" asked the duke.
las means OF wealth aud speculation
would, but not as means Of life be.
lieNe laws should be made, by which titles
20 lands would be granted for use and oc.
cupation only. And that all taxes should
be levied on land values, but nothing on
improvements. Why, as II is now. there
IS premium offered TO the man who can
hold the most land and make the least i'm
provements As IL is now, IL You build
house you are taxed for a.. II you plant
tree or shrub, or do anything TO add beau-
~ TO your home. YOU must pay FOR the lux
ilry IN additional taxes Lords Sanders
knows how that g. He will not even put
a coat OF paint on that old shanty or dig
avell for fear OF hls taxes being heavier
Are there many OF your opinion in this
settlement asked the duke.
Eyes, sir. nearly all the tenants and
farmers generally believe as do. But we
tenants are not free 10 vote ~ we please.
We must follow an unprincipled agent
and vote with him or be cvictcd Talk
about freedom and progress, We are not
free, but We belong Ia class of serfs and
slaves. We are slaves Of the foreign land
lord all because he has been allowed 10 in
vest his wealth In American soil But IL
will not always be so. said the man with
warmth These foreign landlords he
continued, think they are riding an MSS,
but they may yet find the beast TO be an
enraged tigrcss instead. They cannot bind
us body and soul forever. The Farmers
Alliance clubs that meet In almost every
county In this state aud la the United
States are putting new thoughts into our
heads and new impulses into our hearts,
which inspire Us with new hopes. IL we
only unite In our efforts we will yet crush
out this great land monopoly and defeat
the foreign landlords The Alliance sends
good reading into the tenants homes and
children will learn that the greatest crime
OF the nineteenth century n this alien
landiordisml | say God bless the Farm
er's Alliance. And may he send us wiss
law-givcrs 40 that just laws shall be enact