The Irish standard., 1903-01-03

Of the farm, with its entire produce,
for a period Of FIVE years without hav.
ing paid out one cent.
O'Keeffe insisted he had done all that
In justice could be asked Of him. On
Feb. 9, 1899, the eviction occurred. This
was the first trouble Of the kind thai
the more prosperous county of the
south, forming the rolling environs of
the Blackwater, had known for years.
and much feeling was stirred up. a
branch of the United Irish league was
formed in the following June, and its
leaders were then charged with hav.
ing quietly issued boycott ultimatum
against O'Keeffe. There were t1emon-
strations in Tallow and neighboriug
towns where LAND grabbing" was
vigorously denounced. O'Keeffes
friends contend that all these meetings
were for his particular benefit.
Demand was made that the matter
be settled by arbitration. In August.
1899, the local member of parliament,
j. ]. Shec, asked that this course be
taken.
1T seemed, you see,' said he that
this was no ordinary case of landgrab.
bing, and accordingly, could see no
reason why the dispute between Mr..
O'Keeffe and the Parkers should not
be decided by arbitration
The boycott was even then begin
ming to tell at the three story building
where Mr.. O'Keeffc conducted his bus.
hess. He agreed to arbitration. He
offered to place the entire matter in the
hands of Mr.. Shee and William o.
Brien, NJ. F., head of the United Irish
league, and abide absolutely by any
decision they might make in the case.
The fairness of this offer could hardly
be questioned. This is the single case
where, in all truth, the justice of Mr..
O'Brien may be questioned. His
reason for refusing this offer, however,
was based on the principle Mt stake
he wrote as TOllOWS:
II cannot but regard it as an eX-
emplification Of the new spirit aroused
In Tallow," Mr.. O'Brien said in part,
"by the establishment Of the league,
when l have received n letter from the
person whose action in reference to
Roseville farm has been the source of
80 much local disturbance, offering to
abide by any decision that Mr.. Shee,
NJ. P, and myself may arrive at in the
matter. have written to Mr.. Shec.
stating that 1 could not without full
local inquiry attempt to form IL judg-
ment OH the special facts Of the case,
but that in my view in the present
condition of the Irish land question no
outsider ought to interfere as between
landlord and tenant, while, Of course,
the surrender Of the farm would give
Mr.. O'I<eeffc a claim for reasonable
treatment in reference to his loss under
the peculiar circumstances. 1 trust
he will have the sense to surrender the
farm and earn the public gratitude for
his good example in recognizing that
10 man ought to postpone the abolition
Of landlordism by touching any farm
in dispute"
This was the gist Of the whole case
Mt Tallow. The Irish pcasantry hold
that no man shall take up evictcd land.
They insist on c>ictions bringing =
financial loss to the landlord, in that
the farm from which the tenant has
been forcibly removed shall lie rent
less. This is the principle, through
the enforcement Of which many a land.
lord has been brought to look with
some favor upon the question OF land
sale to the tcnantry.
Sometimes the fight for this rule in.
wolves injustice and hardship, but the
Irish tenant has been held out Of his
own for so many years, his fathers be-
fore him have suffered such misery
and privation, that he cannot weigh
delicatcly between all questions of JUS
tice and injustice, when the latter for
centuries has been laid wholly on his
shoulders.
You cannot judge him by the law of
the world, for the law Of the world
has never been his friend. Then, as
has been pointed out before, the cvicted
farmer In practically every case ha,
farm with his own hands, ana he gets
made all the improvements on the
no compensation for this property
building. Consequently the people
hold that no outsider should come in
and reap the benefit of improvements
which represent years of work on the
part Of the evicted tenant.
With the end of 1890 the war was
on IN earnest against Mr.. O'Kcctfc at
Tallow. To relate all the channels
the fight took would be to require
volumes instead of columns i'll news.
paper. Customers refused to buy his
meal. Farmers, who had for years
sold their corn and grain to him, kept
away. Even the merchants in the
larger markets refused to handle his
shipments, knowing we'll that con-
tinuance of trade relations would mere
~ extend the trouble to themselves.
O'Keeffe's large business in the corn
=