Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-07-18

And I'm one of HIS tenants again. left
Ireland and came to free America 10 get
me homer
Every tenant we visited was discomfort
ed and eager for change. But they did
not dare to leave for fear they would not
find another place as good. Hard as it
seemed and discontinued as they were,
they all realized that there were plenty Of
other men waiting to get even a chance on
place. Nearly all were hopeful that
times would sometime be better, and that
they could then make something for them
selves. Some even thought that law
might be made, whereby my lord would
be forced to sell his lands, and then they
expected chance to purchase. They
needed the stimulus of hope. Want and
encouragement was visible in every home
we visited. The shanties and cabins were
as clean as possible, yet the one room,
summer and winter, must hold the whole
family, whether few or many. These
shanties were always cheap, rough and
implanted. They were uniformly exposed
to the chilling winds of winter or the broil.
ing sun, without the kindly shelter of tree
or shrub.
AS we left the little settlement, with on
~ few farmers who had any show Of
comfort said;
IL see the same conditions here that we
have in Ireland, except that here we find
intelligent people who make an effort to
improve themselves with some hope of the
future"
"And," said the duke, eff the people are
forming into unions and clubs to work
against us we will soon find ourselves as
the man said, in a den of tigers instead OF
among herd of asses"
"Do you believe the Irishman's story,
that he is working for the same landlord
here that he was under in Irelandf"
lit may be true. Lord Sanders once
owned the estate Sir Wren now owns in
Ireland"
"Why, was he the man Sir Wren told
me had three hundred tenant farmers
evicted because he wanted to make the
whole estate into tenant farm'"
II presume he Is the man." said the
duke
"Well, he did not have a very pleasant
time of it. Sir Wren said that the enraged
tenants would drive off his stock as fast as
he could buy it in spite of all the dogs and
agents he could procure"
''That was his reason for selling. He
told me he was very thankful for the
change; that putting his money into pro
perty in America had added thousands of
dollars to his wealth. Ii was through his
good success that was tempted to put so
much money into lands in the new West.
If the people are beginning 10 think and
inquire il may not be so safe trusting TO
cowboy force and barb wire-fences to hold
these lands as we were thinking. In max.
ing my last purchases l have had that in
min6, and have been very careful in get
ting bona .fde titles to the lands pur-
chased. But here is another trouble that
may annoy us as the farmer said if they
should establish law TO levy taxes on
land values and not on improvements, 1t
would soon change our profits into losses.
Yet it will be a long time before that will
come to pass Only few have thought of
that yet, and the people of this country
have to be educated into any change"
said the duke.
CAS- l understand it, from those / have
talked with, the object of the Farmers
Alliance Club is to educate the common
people on this very subject. The people,
mean the masses are being educated in the
one grand principle of equality There are
unions, clubs and orders devoted entirely
to this subject. The people are power in
this nation, when once thoroughly aroused.
And" l continued, when men like these
tenant farmers groaning under the in
justice of unfair rents and unjust taxes
finally band together for mutual protection
and just laws, they will create force that
even money cannot controlp'