The San Francisco call., 1910-02-13

and the empire has been pledged
to the remedy. 1t needs only time
and money to complete the great
task. That the remedy is the sub
stitution of peasant proprietorShip
for fandlordism has been fully eX-
planned. For 80 years this change
has been going on. Thousands OF
tenants-tens of thousands-have
become owners of their lands by
contracting to pay annuities for
government loans instead of rent
to landlords; and in every case
the transfer has justified itself.
IRISH FARMING COUNTRY
It was wise and thoughtful NOV
for Sutherland, on his second visit, t
go over the same land that he had s
carefully examined in 1902. In on
of the most interesting chapters o
his first record he describes an ex
panse of Irish farming country a
seen from high hilltop:
What a picture it was 1 thought
of the wales of Pennsylvania and
the velvet fields of our middle west.
Here they were over again, mile
on mile of The fafest land the mind
can conceive, rich with promise of
fertilityA green still to the very
verge of Winter. smiling, beautiful
of it. ] had spent weary days and
nights in places where humanity is
wretchedness incGrnate and men
and women huddle crowded amid
grim barrenness. There are
ranges here where the wind may
sweep for leagues over living fields
and never know the taint of the
turf smoke. The crows that wheel
black against the SKY must mount
far. to spy out chimney or hay
rick. The hares that run wild
know no strangers but the rough
coated cattle that. Craze in scat
loneliness; the land that mourns
for the people as they mourn for
the land.
Around and below us, on every
side, lay the country flooded with
the pale yellow light of the winter
sun. The view embraced eight or ten
miles in all directions, a rolling
green plain fading away into
10 houses within vision on that
three acres of titled ground. The
rest was grass. The only living
things in sight Were tiny scattered
f1ocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
FitZgibbon translated.
I'VE are overlooking several es-
tates,' he said; "Balff. Irwin, Sand
ford, Murphy-corners of all of
them are in sight. Oh, yes, there
them. But all the people are evict-
ed. They emigrated to America,
or moved, or died. The dozen or
so farms you see are held by men
porous, though the rents are very
high. The others-there was no
help for them. The great clearing
out started at the time of the fam
inc so years ago. The people could
not get enough to eat, let alone
money for the landlords. Then the
world demanded cattle, and the
landlords decided to turn these fer
tile lands into grazing ranches.
That doomed those who had fought
Leaving Mullaghaduhy hill, our
course lay off to the southwark
over low, rolling hills and long
meadows. The Surrounding scene
was still the same. Beyond the
low stone walls skirting the road
lay miles of green fields. with not
few miles a matched house stood
by the roadside with tiny patch
of vegetable garden and a cluster
of hayricks, brown in the sun.
These were the huts of the herders.
Each man had 25U to 500 acres
under his care
That's it, said Fitzgibbon "the
best land in Roscommon, fit to sup
port thousands. And on land where
10 families mlSHl i've IN decent
comfort the only occupants are
cattle, man and dog. A man
and a dog, Not crop on 20 miles
of it-and the people wanting for
food over yonder.
AS we had driven along I had
ground here and there. Across the
fields lay low ridges, sometimes two
or three hundred yards long. In
some places they looked like lines
of grass, in others they melted into
the level ground. They were grass
grown. ] asked what they were.
"The nemains of walls and bitches
of the Old farms answered Fitz-
gibbon "You'll find them all over
these lands. When the tenants
down and grass grew over the
places. You will see here and there
a clump or row OF trees. They mark
stand The houses were leveled
and the walls that inclose the road
we are now on were built of stones