Evening journal., 1898-04-29
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
BRTTISHIMADrE FAMINE


Sir: In my letter OF the 26th instant
l referred to the inhumanity Of Irish
landlords with reference to the present
distress existing in Ireland. The fact
that Ireland Is annually robbed of
5000, 600 in extOrtionate taxes and
unjust rents to absentee landlords sug-
gests to my mind the true explana-
ton OF Irish famines, which should
rather be designated British famines
In Ireland, since they are the outcome,
natural and inevitable, OF British rule
There are other crops and other pro-
ducts in Ireland besides the potato.
What becomes OF them? Do Irishmen
permit their families to go hungry
while having such good things? Appar.
emily some of them are compelled to
do so. The explanation is that the
good things must be sold to find rent
for the landlord, leaving nothing to
the farmer for his family support, but
the potato, and when that fails there is
famine, for the landlord must have his
rent" NO matter what happens, his
claim under any and all circumstances
Is backed up by the law, even against
Gods law, as expressed by st. Paul
that 'the husbandman who labOrs
should first partake OF the fruit"
Clearly the meaning Of this Divine in
junction is that the first apportion-
ment out of the produce OF the soil
should be to the man who tills it, and
II the soil produces only as much as
will support the producer, then there is
no rent. Why should a law so mani
festly Just and reasonable, and a law
CT God be violated for the beneft OF
landlords in ireland? What have these
gentlemen done to entitle them to the
privilege Of being allowed to nullify
| the Divine command that those who
j toll shall have the first share Of the
produce? What have they contributed
/ to the fertility OF the soil OF Ireland?
What capital or labor have they ex
| pended to make Irish farms food or
l producing? II all the tenants
| improvements were swept of the land,
and all the landlords have done were
left upon it, nine-tenths of the land
Of Ireland would be without house or
cultivation, just as it was in prehls-
toric times II would be as bare as
some of our American prairies where
the white man has never walked. The
landlords have done nothing in Ire
land to make the soil productive, nor,
of course, can very many OF them claim
| ownership on any honest title, such as
| landlords in other countries can. The
title OF many of these Irish" land
lords have no better basis than the
massacres and rObberies Of Oliver
Cromwell and his English adventures
They got the land by plunder and nur-
der when they ordered the native Celt
Ito hell or to COnnaught." They have
never expended a cent in improving IT,
/ lnfr
though the people who did the work OF
Improvement and who do the labor OF
production perish OF hunger. This is
"Irish" landlordism, and British Law
sustains Il. There has never been q
I famine in Ireland which was caused
2 by an insufficiency of Irish food pro
, duction. In the terrible years OF 1867
when millions died Of hunger, IrelanC
produced and exported more food pro
e ducts than would support her entire
j ! population, but the "husbandman'.
- fruit" was sold for the landlords rent
But when there Is no potato famine
In Ireland the people in many district
are never far from the verge OF star
vation. and landlOrdism backed b.
p British law, is always the cause. Thi
r is the Mother Country" a rapaciou
O power enriched by the plunder ans
murder OF weaker races, who want
her American cousins" to sign al
!. Anglo-American alliance" ip orde
d that she may have no difficulty imitat
h ing Germany by grabbing Chinese ter
Y ritory and starve the women and chill
n dren OF the F0wery Kingdom as sh
did In the late border war in India
in Matabeleland and as she is to-da
e starving. prosecuting and exterminat
e ing with a vengeance the long-suffcr
II ing people OF ireland.
r Yours etc, CLIO.
!, Wilmington. Del. April 20. 1898