The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-06-20
The Landlord Blight in Illinois.

CHICAGO, ILL.,, Feb. 26.--Fully one
hundred and twenty-five, and possibly
one hundred and fifty families, num-
herring in the aggregate at least five
hundred people, will take their per-
manent departure frdm Mclean coun-
ty, this state, between this date and
April Is next. One laAge party started
on February "a and wal be followed by
Others They have chartered whole
trains and will join in a general hegira
to northwestern Iowa in search OF
cheaper lands. The GREAT majority OF
those who will joinI the exodus are
farmers who. most of their lives, have
been renters. Many Of them, it seems,
have been living in Mclean county
from fifteen to thirty Wears, and during
all that time, in which they have cult
waited one of the richest soils under the
sun, they have been uhable to acquire
homes which they coul Id call their own.
Mclean county is known as the breast
pin of the great commonwealth of Hi
nois. In point of population it is the
sixth county in the State. 1t is noted
for its rich soil, itd resources and
beauty. 1t is the pride and boast of the
whole state Few counties in the
United States possess so many advan-
tages. 1t is the county to which great
orators point as evidenfe of the nobility
of husbandry. But i'll appears that al
last this magnificent garden spot and
breastpin of one of the foremost states
in America is blightedl by landlordism,
for the exodus about to take place is
due to the fact that farming lands are
too high to be probably cultivated,
and, therefore, cheaper and perhaps in
ferior lands are in great demand.
According to the testimony of gen
tleman from Mclean, with whom
have just had conversation, the city OF
Bloomington, the seat Iof Mclean coun-
ty, is very largely populated by class
of men who are known there as retired
farmers. Many of them live in luxury
and ease, and still many others count
their fortunes by thd million. Its big
landlords, its is said, hre equal in Their
exactions to the noted Lord-Scuily,
whose thousands and thousands of acres
lie across the border from Mclean
county. Many of this distinguished
gentleman's serfs haEe escaped from
his acres and cast Il leir lot with the
landlords of McLean county, hoping
thereby to secure greater profits for
their labor from American" landlords,
secure in the belief tnht the methods OF
the English tyrant wdre not practiced
by the latter. In this they were sadly
mistaken, as they have learned to their
sorrow, after having pabored for many
years in developing thu richness of the
great county OF Mclean They found
that the American landlord was quite
as avaricious as Lord Scully, taking
from them al that their labor produced
except bare SUBSISTENCE. Early in the
history of the county the Funks, the
Gridleys, the Brokaws, the Stevensons,
the Orendorffs, the Ewings, the Van.
ordstaands, the Kenhedys and others
probably to the number of hundred,
rot hold of the lands ih this promising
country and by wise forethought and
business sagacity" kept them until ne
cessiy compelled thousands to live
upon them at terms profitable to the
holders
After all these year4 Of toll. and after