The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-02-15
rent at five shillings: This is, in Bib
lical language, the sign and seal of
the beast which deYoureth.

rent ut five shillings. This is, in Bib.
lical language, the sign and seal Of
the beast which devoureth.
Here in Queensland where | sit
on my veranda writing this, am look
ing out on n magnificent wheat grow
ing valley. Less than generation
ago it was the primeval bush, I'M
known to civilized man; now the forest
and scrub have disappeared and wav-
ing fields of Indian corn. big white
stubble paddocks which yielded eight
bags Of wheat to the acre, patches of
lucerne and barley. have taken the
place of the gigantic gum iron-bark
and pine trees. The farmers take off
This virgin soil two crops year. The
lDmes dotted over the countryside look
more like suburban villas, surrounded
by shade. ornamental and fruit-trees,
than the usual pioneering farmers
homesteads. Here again as in those
Kerry hillside farms. we had at first
great hard living, heavy toll and sweat;
but no idle landlord steps in to annex
the fruits of the workers lifetime.
All are frecholders. Let me make a
circle of the farms from where I sit
as center within a mile radius. We
have O'Dempsey, Kavanagh, Leahy
Owens. Caravan, Browne, McNIahon,
Angland, Ryan, Burke and King
all exilcs from Erin and with no love
for Irish landlordism and English
rule in their hearts. They landed here
practically penniless and alone; their
health, strength and pluck their own
capital. They have blazed the track
for succeeding generations, and, after
years of heroic toll, are leaving to
their children, free and unincumbcred
land selected at half-a-crown which
now would fetch sixteen pounds
an acre. This little Irish COLONY is
but a small fraction of the great cir
Gle of Il Greater Ireland beyond the
seas"
This Irish Australian patriot de-
slres IL peaceful settlement if posi-
bic, of lrelands national demand but
he believes also in the eXpediency of
armed force. Concluding he says:
Irish landlordism is the same YES
tcr'lay and to-day. 1t remains for the
people of Ireland themselves, acting
through their now united parliament
ary party and backed up by the SYM
pathy and support of democrats
throughout the English speaking world
% once and forever put an end to this
thrice accursed system. Buy the land
ords out at once if it is the only prac-
.lcablc way. Personally, would
prefer to see the government buyinr
'ut the life interest Of the present
owners and nationalizing the land, but
hat fear is at present impossible.
WAR, especially civil war, is the
'reatcst misfortune that could befall
no present generation in Ireland; but
when L read my 'Lecky,' think over
he farmers prosecutions and depop-
lation of the island; when I think
II the petty tyranny of castle janis
aries, the brutal bigotry of religious
actions. the ovcr-taXation of an i'm
overlshed country, the degradation of
WHAT GOD meant to be Il manly race
my grandfather made one of those
hillside farms in Kerry for present
ay andlordism-I would be only too
here from Queensland to
rive nail in it's coffin"
My old Woodworking mother is still
II that Kerry village. Her four chill
rem are in foreign parts. She is
zone; because not one of the four
ould get decent living ut home"