Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-04-16
The Landlord Blight in Illinois.

CHICAGO, Ill, Feb 26.-Fully one
hundred and twenty-five, and possibly
one hundred and fifty families, num-
bering in the aggregate at least five
hundred people, will take their per-
manent departure from Mclean coun-
ty, this state, between this date and
April Is next. One large party started
on February "a and will be followed by
others. They have chartered whole
trains and will join in 4 general hegira
to northwestern Iowa in search of
cheaper lands. The great majority of
those who will join 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 years, and during
all that time, in which they have cult
waited one of the richest soils under the
sun, they have been unable to acquire
homes which they could 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 it's rich soil, it's resources and
beauty. 1t is the pride and boast of the
WnOlt SldUc. rev COunIlcS Ill Vic
United States possess so many advan-
tages. 1t is the county to which great
orators point as evidence of the nobility
of husbandry. But it appears that at
last this magnificent garden spot and
breastpin of one of the foremost states
in America is blighted by landlordism,
for the exodus about to take place is
due to the fact that farming lands are
too high to be proftably cultivated,
and therefore, cheaper and perhaps in
ferior lands are in great demand.
According to the testimony of gen.
tleman from Mclean, with whom l
have Just had a conversation, the city OF
Bloomington, the seat of 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 the million. Its big
landlords, its is said, are equal in their
exactions to the noted Lord Scully,
| whose thousands and thousands of acres
| lie across the border from Mclean
county. Many of this distinguished
gentleman's serfs have escaped from
| his acres and cast their lot with the
landlords of Mclean county, hoping
thereby to secure greater profits for
| their labor from american" landlords,
secure in the belief that the methods of
the English tyrant were not practiced
bv the latter In this they We're sadly
mistaken, as they have learned to their
sorrow, after having labored for many
years in developing the richness of the
great county of Mclean. They found
that the American landlord was quite
as avaricious as Lord Scully, taking
from them all 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 Kennedys and others
,obably to the number of hundred,
p hold of the lands in this promising
soS- " and by wise forethought and
-o".'" sagacity" kept them until ne
business mpelled thousands to live
cessfy "a at terms profitable to the
upon them
holders. 4>.1 avn oe.o
.: - @i- e wonderful development
Of Mclean con MY, these 'eaiA',
at last realize, l Ihas 'ney mus no
cheaper lands n. nc 1J n ", 80 49,,
in great droves to =, 1,1;,,o;s
are cheaper than f,;and
-, ,rds who will not
charge them for house - ~ e..
than a dollar or two do,
.he use of land"
- So - I'D for single
: -, C.I illinois, and
'-N ..1,1 The five
- ,,ca.,lo - ady deter.
$50 a. e ,ae 80, go. of Iowa