Arizona republican., 1896-11-17
FAMINE FOR IRISH FARMERS
Wet We ather Will Cause Gres |
 Suffering.
The Hay and Potato Crops Have Been Failures, and There Is Misery In Store for the ArgicuI- tural Classes.

DUBLIN, Nov. 16-The two topics 1 uppermost in the minds of the Irish 1 people are first the impending disaster to the crops, which means untold hard ships and misery among the peasant ry and agricultural classes, and sec ond the bright prospects of union of the Irish political parties for the purpose of making one more grand eff fort to achieve the legislative inde- pendence of the country. A correspondent to the Freeman's Journal writes of the distress due to bad crops from the west of Ireland. He says: "The state of things oecasioned by the wet season has become very seri- ous. There has been nothing like the rainfall since August for many years. September, which, it is now ascer- tained shows the highest rainfall re- corded since the commencement of the authentic records of Greenwich in 1S41, has been followed so far by the worst October for ten years back.
 '"The result is that the land in most of the western counties is literally soaked. The oldest Mayo man can not remember the River Moy which flows into Loughs Cullin and Conn, so swollen as it has been during the pres ent month. At many places it has overflowed it's banks and in the poorer districts where this has happened it would be impossible to exaggerate the hardships it has occasioned. At one place large hay crop was clean swept away, and from reliable reports the hay is everywhere lying half routed in the fields. AS for the potato crop it has realized the worst anticipations.
 t'The guardians in several unions have been obliged to call the attention of the government to a condition of things which forecasts a winter of great suffering. If the potato crop was bad only in districts here and there the guardians might be relied on to cope with the distress, but that is not what has happened.
 ''The failure is general, and even where the potatoes are dug out sound they quickly rot in the places where they are stored. Add to all this the prices of stock, some idea of which was seen at the Ballinasloe fair A To- cal paper, writing on the subject, per tinently says: If farmer, as hap pened in one instance, buys cattle, feeds them and cares for them for sev- eral months until they are in prime condition, and if he only makes five shillings head by the transaction, how can he be expected to pay rent at the rate of e2 an acre? We trust that great and startling facts like this will not be buried out of sight by means of the ingenious system of average prices which prevails in the land con- mission office It is only an eye wit ness of the condition of things which the unprecedentedly wet season has brought about who can realize the wholesale impoverishment with whicE the poorer class of farmers in Con naught are now face to face"
 The various branches of the Irish Ma tional federation throughout the coun they have taken up the subject of tn, impending famine, and resolutions have been adopted at largely attended public meetings everywhere, callin, upon the landlords to withhold the col lection of rents until the condition o things improves.