The Irish standard., 1892-06-18

existed or does exist, whether IN Asia or
Enrope. the result has been Identical
excessive poverty, hatred of classes, the
creation of castles and the aggrandlze-
ment of individuals at the expense OF the
great masses of the people. Wherever 1t
has been abolished prosperity has fol-
lowed and great independent, self-re-
liant, patriotic middle class has grown up
But what right have we to compel the
legal owners of the soil to dispose OF 1t?
By the natural law that permits individual
ownership of the soil Because the land
of country belongs to the whole people
of the country and is unlike all other
property which may be increased by in
dustry.
The main cause of Irish poverty is not
to be found in over population or IN any
want of energy or economy on tho part
of the Irish people, but in system OF
land tenure imposed by imperial con-
quest It has blasted the hopes, ruined
the homes, and destroyed the lives OF
millions of the Irish race. 1t has stopped
the social, political and Industrial growth
of Ireland as effectually as if the country
had been in state of perpetual civil war.
Six hundred thousand tenant farmers in
Ireland, representing with their families
three million persons, have no security
in their homes, but are dependent upon
few thousand persons-the lords OF the
soil. Now, as the interests of the COM
mercial and trading community are de-
pendent upon the industry Of the farmers,
the result is that the fate and fortune OF
five million people are in the hands OF
few thousand.
I do not believe that any system OF
government, even one endowed with all
the attributes of political freedom, could
rescue people whose social condition is
a condition of slavery. They are the vic
Tins of system clearly Incompatible
with civil rights and industrial freedom.
What can be more opposed to every prin-
ciple of well-doing than a system which
paralyses industry, which puts a premium
on idleness, which fosters improvidence,
which generates servility, hypocrisy and
ignorance, which shuts ont every CLEAN
of hope of rising in the world, which en-
tails perpetual drudgery and social de-
pendence, and even invades the sanctity
of the home? It is not in the nature OF
things that the tenant who is liable to be
evicted at any moment should be as In
dustrious as the proprietor who is in I'M
disputed possession Of the land he tials.
There is nothing so we'll calculated to
make a man reckless aud improvident as
uncertainty in his position. MIR. Mill
we'll characterized the tenant-at-will sys-
tern when he said "that the Irish tenant
was the only person in existence who had
nothing to gain by increased industry
and nothing to loose by increased idle
ness" A system which so far taxes the
industry of the people as to compel their
children to work in the fields when they
ought to be at school is responsible for
more than the physical misery which 1t
iphicts. 1t generates ignorance and there
fore deprives the people of one OF the
most potent means of self--advancement.
Under the present system it ID the interest
of the tenant to put as little into the soil
andto take as much out of it as he possibly
can. Under system Of tenant proprle-
torship the farmer would nurse his land
because he would feel 1t TO be to his In
terest. What mockery Of all received
ideas OF political economy to see fertile
lands going out of cultivation in Ireland.
and the Irish at the same time leaving
their country in search OF employment.
This is not the result Of supply and de-
mand, for it is we'll known that the Irish
are warmly attached to their native land.
and would never quit it in large numbers
if they could manage to live at home. 1t
is She result of landlordisnl, which blights
the industry of the whole country and
which has during the last thirty years
banished three millions OF the Irish race
for ever from the land that bore them.
The advantages of a peasant proprietor
s'slp over the system Of landlord and ten
ant are too evident to need proof. The
industry and thrift of small owners in
France, Belgium, Prussia, Holland,
Switzerland and Norway challenge the
admiration of all who are acquainted
with rural life in those countries. If we
would see the brightest examples of
cheerful, accomplishing toll we must
visit those lands in which the husband
man is to be found with his sons and
daughters cultivating his patch in the
security of independent ownership.
CHAuNoEY NJ. DEPEw in nominating
Harrison deprived Blaine of every honor
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