Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-25
NEW ERA IN IRELAND
Conditions of the Peasants
Have Been Improved.
REDUCTION IN RENTS
Neat and Well Built Cottages Re-
place Hovels.
OPPORTUNITY TO BUY LAND
Denis Johnston, Assistant Secretary
of the Irish Land League, Tells
What Parliament Has Done.
OPPORTUNITY TO BUY LAND
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.

What Parliament Has Done.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
| Chicago Record Herald.
DUBLIN. July 16 1908.
Mr. Denis Johnston, assistant secretary
of the United Irish League. has just re-
| turned from a visit to the west of Ire
land and brings home with him series
of photographs taken by himself which
illustrate in a striking manner what is
being done for the improvement of the
poor peasants in that part of the island.
He shows with accuracy Of the camera
the appearance of the cabins in which
human beings have lived for generations
| and in one case from which they were
driven out because they were too poor to
pay tn rent even for such hovel as ap-
pears in the picture. On the other hand
he photographs the neat and comfortable
cottage of artificial stone with slate
roof which has been recently erected in
it's place by the congested districts board.
1t is now the home of the same family
that formerly lived in the other miserable
shack which was occupied by their faith
ers and grandfathers and for several gen.
These are not exceptional or isolated
cases. They are types Of habitations that
once existed and in large measure still
exist on the large estates in the west
of Ireland, and the second photograph
shows the improvements that are being
made as rapidly as the funds will per-
nit I have seen similar cabins. for
many of them still exist and are still
occupied as homes by human beings. In
some of them large families are crowd
al civ o{C often fen neOnle In
a single room. I was told. by friend,
OF one wretched hovel that he found in
County Kerry where nineteen human
creatures were living in such loathsome
place.
These photographs of Mr.. Johnston s
show what has been and is being &C
complished in the improvement OF the
conditions of the west of Ireland, and IL
lustrate the methods and purposes OF the
congested districts board.
Forced From Parliament.
'All this has been done by the pres
sure brought upon the government by
the Irish parliamentary party" said Mr..
Johnston, land its members are entitled
to the credit for what has been accom-
plished. Every concession that has been
made, every reform that has been or
dered, every dollar that has been voted
for these improvements has been OBJ
government has been compelled to yield
I'm 1880 1t was quite within the power
of the landlords of Ireland to evict ten
ants from their holdings by merely serv-
ing them with notice to quit. The Irish
parliamentary party with the organized
forces Of the Irish race behind it in
1881 secured the passage Of the land act
OF that year Which 6 reduced tn. the rents by
the tenant farmers of Ireland were first
vested with a right in their farms. They
had the power to enter land court con-
stituted under that act for the purpose
upon the property they occupied. at inter-
walls Of fifteen years. and they were prac-
tically secured from the interference of
the landlords or their agents so long as
such rents. which were called judicial
rents were paid.
''In the following yer. 1882. the arrears
Of rent act was secured by the Irish par
lfamentary party. under the leadership
Of Parnell, and that measure wiped of
the slate in some cases ten years of un-
paid rents and in others less. That act
certainly benefited the people Of Ireland
to the extent Of at least $15. 100000 Thus
the rent question was placed upon fair
judicial basis and extortion was impos-
sible as long as the tenant could appeal
to a tribunal constituted for that very
purpose against unfair and unjust claims
by his landlord. What are known as 'ju-
dicial rents-that is, rents fixed by
the value and the productive capacity of
the land-have since prevailed very gen.
orally throughout Ireland and they are
now being used as the basis for calculat-
ing the selling price Of, the farms that
are being purchased by the tenants on
the big estates under the land act Of 1908.
Building Of Cottages.
I'm 1888 was passed what is known as
the act for the building Of cottages for
the laborers of Ireland. The benefits Of
that measure can never be calculated
Under its authority at least $4,000 COM
Portable and neat cottages have been built
for laborers throughout the whole coun-
try, and the miserable habitations. novels
OF stone with leaky straw roofs. In which
thousands Of honest, Woodworking peas
been torn down and replaced with such
buildings as you see in the picture, with
walls Of cement and roofs Of slate. In
addition to the improvement in their hab-
itations, an acre of land Is given with
each cottage, on which it is possible for
the laborer to raise vegetables sufficient
for his household. No estimate in money
can be made of the benefits that the peo-
pie Of Ireland have enjoyed from that
act.
I'm 1885 the Irish party secured the
passage Of the first land purchase act
and followed it up by winning the acts OF
1883 and 1891, which went farther and
still farther and benefited the country to
the amount Of at least $14O, OOO 600.
Next came the act for the establish
ment Of the congested districts board, ex-
pressly to deal with what are known as
the congested areas Of old Ireland. These
districts are not thickly settled like Bel
GUM, as one might infer from the ordi-
nary definition. of the term, but really
have comparatively few population, but
altogether more than the land will sup
port. These are mountain districts along
the rocky shores of the Atlantic ocean,
where it is possible to raise few cattle
and goats that can find pasture in the
narrow little valleys and upon the noun
tain sides, but where there is seldom
enough arabic soil in a single patch to
support an ordinary family. For these
reasons 1t Is difficult for the most indus.
trious man to make a living there, and
the inha bitants are the poorest the most
ill-nourished and the most miserable in
all the land.
Relieving Congested Districts.
The congested districts board was in
structed to buy all the lands it found
| necessary in such places moving some Of
the Inhabitants to other sections of Ire
land, where they would be able to make
a living. and distributing the lands among
those that remained in allotments sufff-
GENTLY large to enable them to live In