The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-11
SEEKING PURCHASERS.
IRISH OWNERS ARE NOW EAGER
 TO SELL.
Sign of Coming Reform-Expecta. ton of Liberal Government Meas ure Brings About Strange Condttion-Credit SsIven
 to Gladstone.

to Gladstone.
 Dublin Letter by Walter wellman In Chi
 cago Record-Herald.
 An extraordinary state of affairs is tound in this country today. The owners of more than one-half of all the land in ireland wish to sell out, virtually every one in the country Is eager to buy, and yet 1t Is impossible to sell any land. The reason is this: All the land, broadly speaking. Is occupied by tenents These sls tensnts are to be the purchasers of their through its scheme. Tenants will not buy on their own account nor by means of State aid under any of tho existing land acts because 1t ig in the air that the terms prescribed in the new law are to be more favorable to the purchasers. and no ono dares step in any buy holdings out from under occupiers Whey they dare not do so admits of very simple explanation: Pub lie opinion Is against 1t. The man who bought up another's holding would find live in. He would be ostracised. He would be '1et alone." Possibly he might escape boycotting in the sense which usu- ally attaches to that word, but he would surely be made to feel the weight of pub lie opinion in one way or another. He would find himself in the grasp of that well-nigh invisible yet exceedingly ef- fective system of expressing disapproval which has been reduced to a science by the United Irish League during the last two or three years-the modern and sci- entihc successor of the clumsier boycott and the earlier and still more reprehen- sible persecution by threats, assaults, maiming of cattle or destruction of prop erty.
 Hence 1t is impossible to sell land. Many owners would like to get out without waiting for the Government project of purchase, but there Is no one that dares buy. The country Is full of craving for d-land-hunger-but all hands are simply awaiting the motions of the Gov ernment- Of course 1t is absolutely nec- essary for the Government to move. Ex- pectation concerning It's action has pro- duced deadlock. In the contest the tei- ants have all the best of 1t. It is the landlord who is now sweating blood. Rents have. been reduced by the courts to point where the incomes of land to meet fixed charges and actual ex- penses. Creditors are pressing and have to be put of as best may be ''tili the Government brings in the general pur- chase bill.'
 The tenant Is able to wait. He has been so long accustomed to living upon little and to exercise of the divine quality of patience that a year or two more or less matter not much to him.
 AUOgG dits lcudLL ft8uI lldS UGCn ESSOk~ nized. Thanks to the agitation kept up by the Nationalist leaders, sometimes by methods which slightly overstepped the bounds. and not infreduently at tho sac- rifice of personal liberty and the incon- venience of spending from one to six months in jail. the right of the Irish ten- ant to his equity in the soil has been es- tabiished. Listers traditional tenant right has in effect sprsad all over Ire- land.
 Pefora roanv r,onths ahaiH havn raaaad 1t will probably be expressed in law. Par Hamant is to be asked to declare by stat ute that the tenant right is legal claim for that will be the meaning of the law which provides that only actual occu- piers--not anyone who may wish to be- come landowner-nay purchase by the aid of the State. Here are landlords wishing to sell, but unable to do so. Irish men will not or dare not buy because of the power of public opinion. Englishmen or others who might under other circum- stances buy for investment will not do so now, because they would simply step into the uncomfortable shoes of the present owners.
 Hence the landlord finds himself in this plight: If he holds on, the courts reduce the rents and of course cut oown his income. If he wishes to sell, 1t Is impos- sible to effect a private sale. He can neither fix the rents to suit himse f. as in the old days, nor sell to the highest bidder.
 Giadstones land act of 1881, though 1t was opposed by the Irish representatives of that day. has thus brought about these con,s4 ,s4llons-conditions which mark the be- ginning of the end. ''Crimeiess agitation, ' the skillful manifestation of public opin- ion in a country without self-government, have done the rest. The landlord has fallen from his high place. He Is no long CT the boss. He cannot do as he likes. It is he and not the poor tenant, who now occupies the anxious seat.
 What Gladstone did was epoch-making. pHe set up the principle that owners of land had not the right to do as they right to step In and protect the tenant by fixing the rents judicially. That was the first curb put upon the landlords. the first break in their power. They have been going down in the scale of influence ever since. A second blow to their prest- ige was the extension of the suffrage, which deprived them of the power of con trolling elections and choosing them selves as member of Parliament. A third was the institution of the County Coun- ell system of government, with wide suffrage. Up to this time the landlords had been the local rulers. The crown ap- pointed the lord lieutenant. the lord Heu- tenant appointed the magistrates. usually landlords; the landlords appointed the grand juries and the grand Jurtes man. aged the affairs of the counties, fixing the rates and spending the money. Now all this is changed. The crown still appoints the lord lieutenant. and nominaly he is the ruler of Ireland. Actually he Is only a figure-head, and tho real ruler of the country Is the Chief Secretary in the Cab- met and his direct representative, the Un@ der Secretary, in Dublin Castle. The landlords still sit as magistrates, butthey no longer manage the affairs of the coun- ties. This is done by the elected. County