The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-03-24

people nave right TO expect. Inc real
remedy must come through the restora-
ton of the people to the land. The
line Of legislation which has been talk
en- for the Scotch Crofters and the Irish
tenant farmers must be taken also
for England. There must be an end
Of land-monopoly for the preservation
of the people and the defense Of the
country. Much food is in the tilIage
of the poor," Solomon tells us. And
England cultivated by its people gen.
orally, and not given over to grazing
bullocks and sheep. could feed all its
population and have surplus. Its
safety would not depend upon the abil-
ity to keep Its ports open to shipping
in case of a war with any continental
power. It could not be starved into
submission within three months after
a great naval defeat.
That the present Parliament will deal
with the land problem is exceedingly
likely. 1t will make q beginning in
compelling the landowners to contri-
butte their full share to the national
revenue, and thus make 1t possible 70
reduce those tariff taxes which fall
heavily on the poor and lightly on tho
rich. It may SO adjust taxation on un-
occupied land as to force its owners
to either abandon it or convert it into
small holdings. 1t may also lay a
heavier burden Of taxation upon great
estates and large farms. than on the
lands which sustain large population.
There are many ways by which the
present utterly bad system of land ten
ure and land occupation may be revo-
lutionized to the advantage Of both
the nation and the poorer class among
Its people.
One member of the new ministry is
an enthusiastic land reformer. The
Earl of Darlington has cut up into
small holdings large extent Of his
own estate, with the best results to
himself and to the tenants he has Sc
cured. He notes that when the people
are given q real interest in the land
they cease to drift to the towns. It
was by cutting the roots of their inn
memorial connection with the land, by
dispossessing the yeomanry Of their
farms and reducing them to the class
of day laborers that the great migra-
ton from the country to town was ef-
fected, to the feat advantage of the
manufacturerss It. is rootless and
hopeless peasantry, which still drifts
from the villages to the big cities, to
decay into the type of the stunted,
puny and anaemic Cockney. Back to
the land! must be the watchword Of
real reform in Great Britain.
eral administration, so far as we can
judge it by the past record Of its men,
bers, the professions they made in the
elections, and their acts up to date.
They want to take up all great ques-
tions in the spirit of sympathy with
the feelings Of the masses who are
complaining of their condition. They
are not worshippers Of success or mill
tary bravado. but desirous to serve
those who suffer. This English Liber-
alism is of a very different type from
what claims that name in France. It
wages no war on beliefs it does not
share. It outrages no religious in
stincts by wanton proclamation Of holy
things. Its officials do not seek and
embrace every opportunity to show
their contempt for what other men
hold sacred. It is Liberalism Of SYM
pathy, not Of contempt. Contempt is
the mark Of the English Tory. not the
Liberal.