The Irish standard., 1909-08-28

igencies of commerce and of industry
take advantage of the needs of
municipalities and even of national
needs and of the monopoly which they
have got in land in particular neigh
borhood In order to demand extor-
tionate prices. Take the very we'll
known case of the Duke of Northum-
berland (hear hear, when a county
council wanted to buy a small plot If
land as a site for school to train the
children who in due course would be-
come the men laboring on his prop
erty. The rent was quite an insigni-
f1cant thing, his contribution to the
rates-I forget--I think on the basis of
3Os an acre. What did he demand
for 1t for a school? 900 pounds an
acre. C'Hear, hear" and "Shame.')
Well, all we say is this,-if it is worth
9C0 pounds, let him pay taxes on 900
pounds. (Cheers)
Unless I am wearying you Uoud
SA'oS VI A>o, iu }, nave sol JUST Ol'
other land tax, and that is tax on
royalties. The landlords are receiving
eight millions a year by way of royal
ties What for? They never deposite
the coal there I-aughter) 1t w.,s
not they who planted these great
granite rocks in Wales, who. laid the
foundations of the mountains. Was
it the landlord? CLaughter) And
yet he. by some divine right. demands
for merely the right for men to risk
their lives in hewing these rocks
eight millions year!
Take any coalfeld. l went down to
a coat1cld the other day (cheers). ana
they pointed out to me many collieries
there. They said: You see that coll
liery there. The first man who went
there spent quarter OF a million IN
sinking shafts, in driving mains and
levels. He never got coal. The Sec
ond man who came spent 100000
pounds-and he failed. The third
man came along and he got the coal.
But what was the landlord doing in
the meantime? The first man failed;
but the landlord got his royalties, the
landlord got his dead-rents. The sec
ond man failed, but the landlord got
his royalties. These capitalists put
their money in. When the scheme
failed, what did the landlord put in?
He simply put in the bailiffs. cloud
laughter) The capitalist risks at any
rate the whole of his money; the ell
gneer puts his brains in, the miner
risks his life. (Hear, hear.) Have
you been down a coal mine? (Cries
Of "Yes.D Then you know. l was tell
ing you went down the other day.
We then walked underneath the noun.
tain and we did about three quarters
of a mile with rock and shale above us.
The earth seemed to be straining-
around us and above us-to crush us
in. You could see the pit-props bent
and twisted and sundered until you
saw their fibres split. Sometimes they
give way, and then there is mutilation
and death. Often a spark ignites, the
whole pit is deluged in fire. and the
breath Of life Is scorched out of hum
dreds of breasts by the consuming fire.
In the very next colliery to the one
descended, just three years ago 800
people lost their lives In that waj;
and yet when the Prime Minister and
knock at the door of these great land
lords and say to them: Here, you
know these poor fellows who have
been digging up royalties at the risk
of their lives, some Of them are old,
they have survived the perils OF their
trade they are broken, they can earn
no more. Won't you give something
towards keeping them out of the
workhouse?" they scowl at you. We
say, "only ha'penny, just copper"
They say. "You thieves" And they
turn their dogs on to US, and every day
you can hear their bark. cloud laugh
ter and cheers)
| II this is an indication Of the view
taken by these great landlords Ct their
responsibility to the people who. at the
risk of life. create their wealth, then