The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-25
NO SHOW FOR ICELAND
HOW ENGLAND Is FORCING THE
TREELEss ISLAND TO POVERTY.
Made Living for Years by Raising
Sheep for English Market. but Now
that Is Denied Them.
Pail Mall Gazette.


what dismal one, for misfortunes have been
rife in the island of late. At the best OF
times the Icelanders have a hard fight to
make both ends meet; for, If ever there was
God forsaken land. it is theirs. Nothing
will grow there but grasses, and they none
of the best. You may so through the ISL
and from end to end without seeing single
tree. To try to cultivate wheat or barley
would be a sheer waste of time; why, even
what rye is needed must be brought from
over the seas Nor are there any rich
mines to compensate the natives for the
poorness of their soil. All the coal they
burn must be imported the petroleum, too,
and even the salt wherewith to preserve
their fish. The only thing the land yields
them is rough grass. and even this was
for the most part lost last year. for just
when the hay harvest was ready for load
ing there came a series of earthquakes, for
a whole fortnight the island trembled and
shook and nearly a thousand buildings
were wrecked. With their cottages all
tumbling about their heads the people. nat
urally enough, paid but little heed to their
crops, and the consequence was that, when
the earth settled down to rest again, most
of the hay was spoiled
A large percentage of the population has
made it's living for the last twenty years
by rearing sheep for the English market.
Sometimes they have sent as many as 10000
sheep in the course of one season, and have
received III return some quarter million
dollars. Now in that part of the world, it
must be remembered q quarter million COL
lars is regarded as a huge sum of money;
1t represents indeed, the value of about
one-seventh Of everything the island ex-
ports in year Little wonder therefore,
there was CONSERVATION throughout the
island when it became known last year that
the British Home Office had decided to pro-
hibit the entrance of live sheep into Eng
land. The result of this decree will be to
reduce hundreds of small Icelandc farmers
from comparatively easy circumstances to
poverty They are left with their sheep orr
their hands, for they have no arrangements
for Transporting them dead, and new mar
kets cannot be found at a moments notice.
The loss of the sheep trade is, however,
but small misfortune compared with an
other with which the Icelanders are now
threatened. Their one real source OF wealth.
the only commodity they have on which
they can count TO provide them with the
means wherewith to pay their way in tae
world, has hitherto been fish. Sixty-tw0
per cent of the average value Of the ex-
ports of Iceland is the produce of the fish
cries, 1t is said in the report. Fishing and
the sailing, drying and packing of fish, in
deed, is the chief work to which the island
ers devote themselves.
They send large cod to Spain, small cod
to Italy, behring's to Norway and cod,
plaice, haddock and halibut to England: for,
until within quite recent days, they have
had practically monopoly Of the finest
fisheries in the world. But, unluclily for
them this state of things is now changing.
Foreign smacks have begun to hover about
the shores of Iceland and, what is stili
worse, foreign trawlers-British for the
most part-have taken. up their station
there. Last year FAKE bay, the best fishery
district of all, was thronged with them.
This threatens TO be very serious mat
ter for the native fishermen, as the fishing
banks FAKE
tent TO afford room for both the boat fishers
and the trawlers, and the former the lee
hand lines. long lines and nets" being
weaker, must yield. When trawlers are
constantly steaming back and for
limited area of the fishing banks, it is inn
possible for the native fishers to set their
lines or nets on these banks without ex~|
posing them to the inevitable fate of being
caught and torn away by the travis Trawl-
erS and net-and-line fishermen cannot work
alongside each other and as the greater
part of the fishing banks in. FAKE bay le|
outside the three-mile limit II is impossible|
for the native fishermen to confine them
selves within territorial waters which the
trawlers may not enter. TODD so would be
the same thing as to abandon fishing en-
tirely, and this would involve. their utter.
ruin and the depopulation OF the district
Thus, look which way they will, these LUCK
less people see nothing but misfortune be-
fore them.
for they are frugal. hard working race
who strive hard to walk in the narrow path
and do their duty to their neighpors. Ineyl
are eminently law abiding. There are onlyl
two policemen in the whole country ana or
these the one is too old and delicate to pei
able to go out in bad weather, while the'
Their procedure for dealing with criminaiSI
is quaint, to say the least of It. Supp0singI
a man Is to be arrested, instead OF senuinHI
some one to arrest him, Iceland nagistratesI
dispatch to him little note calling upon
him to deliver himself up TO them at IneI
prison door by a given date. Ana, oudiyI
enough the man. as q rule, obeys the sunni
mons although sometimes, instead or doia8I
So he writes-or sends q messenger--to eN-
plain that he really cannot go to prison JUST
then, as he has other work on hand. tn|
this case, unless his crime be OF an un-'I
usually startling nature. an ARRANGEMENT Isl
entered into between the magistrates andI
himself by which he is allowed to go intoI
seclusion at the time that suits him pest;
The Icelanders pride themselves, ana wltni
reason on the humanity with Whicn tneZI
treat their poor. They never send their 0lQI
pauper folk-excepting the bedridden ana
the insane-into warehouses; or insutullohs.
of any kind, but they receive them mo-
their own homes as visitors, once year
the authorities draw up list OF the III
habitants who are weaitny enoush ~ 70 cy ~
stead of calling upon them 10 pay q po2r
rate they allot to them certain numDcH
of old men or women whom they must prod
vide with board and lodging. The amouny
Of wealth man possesses determines ak q
the number of poor he must entertain anu=
the length of time for which he must en-
terrain them. He need not necessarily p
though he generally does, receive them
into his own house, but may pay TOT tEelk
being received elsewhere. If he do SO, now
ever. he is still responsible for their well
fare and is bound to that they are Al
well cared for and kindly treated. And woe
be TO him should he neglect his duty IN this
respect: the whole community would rise
up against him in righteous indlgnaIlon
Most of the Icelanders live entirely on
fish mutton beer and rye bread, as almost
everything else has to be imported, and 4
therefore too dear for the working classes
TO buy 1t is only ne comparatively wealthy
who can afford to drink anything but milk
or water: even coffee is regarded as lux
urv to say nothing of wine or spirits. TheiKN
rough cloth, woven on hand looms. There
Is not a single railway in the country and
the roads are only what we should cal
birdie mathis Until last year only fourteen
mails a wear left the island, but now thd
number has been increased by seven, and
Droposal has recently been made to connec
the island with the rest of the world by
means OF a telegraph cable. According "a
the report It is only within the last few
years that money has been in general use
in the island before that time all trade be-
ing carried on by barter. Quite recently a
new departure has been made by the for
nation of cooperative societies, the far
mers and fishermen In the various districts
combining TO send their sheep ponies. woe.
and fish abroad for sale on commission. and
in return buying wholesale quantities Of
provisions and foreign goods, which the so
eieties divide among their members. II Is
only since 1885 that there has been such
thing as a regularly organized bank in Ico
land.