The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-10-19
Parliament Wants TO Relieve Congested
Districts by Sending the Poor Here,
But It's Envoy Is Informed that Uncle Sans
Gates Are Locked Against All Who Are
Liable to Become Charges on the Public.
PAUPERs NOT WANTED.


since the Parliament or Great Britain
passed law in aid of the Irish tensntry,
and looking to the relief of the congested
districts of Ireland. Under the provisions
of that act five commissioners have been
appointed In Ireland to seek out measures
of relief for the destitute poor OF Ireland.
One of the commissioners. Hon. Horace
PIunkett, has been detailed to the United
States for the purpose of inQuiring into the
immi igration laws Of this country. and es-
pecially why the late immigration law was
passed, which is so strongly prohibitive OF
the poor classes of the old world coming in
to the United States, and to inquire into
the demands of labor in this country. and
the opportunities of securing homesteads
in the United States Mr.. Plunkett is &C
companied in his travels by the Earl of
Fingall. They have made a tour of the
United States. travelling along the Union
Pacific railroad, passing through Colorado.
and large section of our Western terri
tory, looking into labor matters and the
land question. and were on the 14th inst. at
the Treasury Department in consultation
with the Superintendent of immigration.
Mr.. Plunkett says that Ireland has lost
Oue-UalI OI UcE popuiotioh Ah VIC Aooe my
years, and yet sections of that country are
so taken up with baronial castles and the
preserves of the lords, that the land left
to the labor men, and out of which the
tenantry must make q living, is SO limited
In quantity and SO sterile in it's soil that tits
hardly possible for these people to raise
crops that will so much as pay the rents.
On the western shores OF Ireland dwell
half million of people on holdings where
the soil is exhausted, They are confessedly
unable to raise sufficient to meet family
needs, and are relying on the poor rates of
the country. The proposition under the
new law is to combine four. five or six OF
these holdings into one. so that one family
will be able to maintain itself proftably;
but the trouble arises as to what will be-
come of the four OF five families thus dis
possessed. There is no place in Ireland for
them to 60 to; Englend won't have them,
and Mr. Plunkett and the Earl are In
America seeking on interpretation OF our
immigration laws that Will permit these
people to be transported to America.
NO WORK IN THE FACTORY DISTRICTS.
The manufacturers of Ireland are so
limited that the people disposessed of lands
are unable to earn living. They cannot
90 to the iron factory districts for employ
ment. and they cannot 60 to England. for
the factory districts in England are now
on the verge of bread riots. Mr. Plunkett
hoped that 1t would be po ssible to pre-
empt large sections Of land in the far
West, and locate his people there or to
find sections OF the country where there
was great scarcity of labor. and ship these
people to those sections, with arrang ge-
ments made with contractors so that they
could be given employment at once and
not become public charges. Dir. Plunkett
frankly stated that the hitherto unsatis-
factory condition of the people of Ireland
was rapidly approaching that of real want,
and neccessitated governmental action on
their behalf; that there was no place for
them on the continent of Europe, and no
place for them in England, their mother
country refusing to accept them, or TO let
them set up housekeeping so they could
have their own homes; that south America
could offer no inducements to feed them IN
their condition. and the United States
presented the only possible hope for them
on the globe.
that thirty years ago the people of this
country sang that Uuncle Sam was rich
enough to give us all farm" and that 1t
was believed the territory OF the United
States was practically iuexhaustible. but
the building of three railways across the
continent had resulted IN towns every few
miles along these roads. and splendid
cities in many instances. Branch roads
were projected from the main lines, until
the whole country was now pierced and in
terlaced with railroads. until what was
twenty years ago q desert. is to-day popu-
lated region. An empire OF people now
live beyond the Mississippi river: and the
rush of American people for free home
steads in the United States. where the
rapidly developing country enhan ced the
value of lands and afforded opportunities
for money making. had been so great that
the public land is now practically con-
sumed, so that q few months since, when
the President of tine United States de-
clared eleven thousand homsteads in Okla
homa open to entry for whoever should
first settle on them after - o'clock Oh u
gwen day there were five times as many
men on the border line at IL O'Clock that
day, awaiting the stroke of the clock TO
rush into that land, as there were holdings.
The result was many conflicts, and in some
instances bloodshed, and four men out of
every five were disappointed.
THE PEOPLE WOULD PROTEST.
In the Commissioners opinion the ma
tional OF even the municipal effort on the
part of foreign people to come to this coun-
try and coloDze large section of the pub
lie domain would result in an emphatic
protest from the American people. He said
there was demand for labor in many Sec
tions of our country, yet the Commissioner
of Labor recently reported more than half a
million of men in the United States out of
labor. This Is because We are SO rapidly
developing as q country that we are not
yet able to equalize our supply and de-
mand; but when our laborers could be di-
verted to the fields of demand, the proba-
bilities were that we had sufficient people
in our country to supply all our labor
wants
The superintendent said there was a ris-
ing protest III this country against immi-
grafton: that the law passed last winter
sought to divide the desirable from the un-
desirable. and let the desirable in and keep
out the undesirable; that when the Bureau
of immigration was fully established he
believed this end would be achieved, but
there was a strong sentiment in this CONN.,
try for more restrictive legislation than
this law, and what Congress might do this
coming winter could only be matter of
conjecture Personally. he believed that
every man who was dissatisfied with the
conditions of the old world and came to
| America TO escape those conditions. and
with a determined purpose to build home
| IL the new country and become one of its
! citizens in deed and in fact. should and
would have no hand of opposition raised
| against him. but ne was satisfied that If the
| people of Ireland, or elsewhere. sought to
] move their congested districts by whole