The Irish standard., 1898-04-30

V0Iy 1lIlle WOTlu. nave seen clll0ren
standing on the roadside and crying, as
they turned round to wish mute good
by to the companions with whom they
had played.
This system had one sole advantage;
it insured the poor laborer constant en-
ployment all the year round. Fortunate
ly, the remedy came in the time of the
land agitation, and one might truly say
it was haphazard. The gatherings, or
meetings" which took place in 10 and
the following years were, to large ex-
tent, composed of laborers. There was
at the beginning Of the agitation no
thought Of improving the laborers' lot.
The poor laborers themselves did not
think of it.
1t is tradition-and tradition with
long foundation-that Mr.. ParneIl took
long time to consider before yielding
to the claims Of the tillers Of the land
that were afterwards put forward under
the banded power of the Land League.
He had determined at the beginning to
agitate for home rule pure and simple,
but events forced him to identify him
self with the land agitation. He took
luctance. Later on he was to take fur
ther step with greater hesitation and
again with undoubted reluctance. But
again the course Of events forced him.
hot OF 1,o 1,op i,1o
the laborers themselves hardly thought
of advantages. There is an Unborn spir-
it of agitation in the Irish nature. At
first the laborers went out Of curiosity
to the meetings-they meant hardly more
than "to keep up the blaze, ashore"
But when they saw the farmers reaping
advantages in the shape of reductions in
their rents, they began to cry: "Are we
going to get anything? Will we tramp
miles and miles to the place of meeting,
and clap and shout ourselves hoarse, and
come home with our fingers in our
mouths?" Here and there they began to
form laborers' leagues modelled on the
plan of the farmers.
Since the passing of the laborers' act,
which attached half acre of land to
each cottage, the legislature has added
another act, empowering boards of
guardians to purchase an additional half
acre; or, in the case of new scheme,
to buy an acre all at once. This is op-
tional with boards of guardians; indeed,
the whole thing is, to a large extent,
optional-that is, the building of houses
and buying out of plots, etc. And thus
it has happened that where the laborers
had not formed societies of their own,
! and where the elected guardians We're
not sympathetic, the acts have been, in
a sense, a dead letter. The south OF
Ireland, as has been said, was much bet
ter organized than the other provinces,
and consequently the laborers' cottages
have replaced the old thatched cabins in
much higher ratio, propcrtionately to
the number of laborers there, than else.
where.
There is, however, one further claim;
and, again, it has originated in the sight
of the advantages and gains that the
tenant farmers have reaped. Everyone
now is persuaded that it is to the benefit
OF the country, to it's peace and its pro-
ductability to have peasant proprietary
established broadly rather than dual
system of tenure. There was for time
heresy-which even still has some few
followers-holding that land nationaliza-
tion should take the place of purchase.
The Irish peasant, like every other men,
Der of the human family, becomes con-
servative the moment he becomes "com-
Portable" Tho Irish farmer wishes to
have as his individual right what was
obtained by his individual toll, to enjoy
it during his days and to leave it at his
death to his children. His motto, then,
is not to nationaizc, but to denational-
ize the land.
The laborer, with his cottage and plot,
follows in the wake of that idea. His
motto is to take from public companies,
such as boards of guardians, the right
| of ownership over cottage and plot ard
| to invest it in himself. There is, besides
| the desire Of ownership, a further motive
| impelling him to this. He has seen that
| the tenant-farmer, by the purchase
| scheme introduced by Mr.. Balfour into
| the land act of 80 will by
easy gradations, be lightened Of
the load of rent he was to pay-in few
years of about fourth. in some further
third, and so small by degrees and
beautifully less" That Mr.. Belfour
would do and has done no injustice in
| this matter to any individual or class
| goes without saying.
The poorer laborer, seeing this, asks
| why may not the same be done in his
| case. There seems indeed no reason
| why it may not and should not be done.
| On the other hand, there seems every
reason why it should. The contentmcnt
of it's people is of the highest value to
| every civilized government.
! We in Ireland understand why we had
Fenianism. But would it be possible to
| have Fenianism with peasant proprie-
tary among the farming class, and peas
=