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Show ! THE IRISH LAND Bill ooes into mm j j Who May. Bay i'ndcr Its Provisions One J v ' Hsppy Effect Is the Decrease of Emi-I Emi-I ? gratienA Gright Outlook. J I )u All Saints day a new day dawned for Ireland, i ; rJ lie now hind law went into effect. Publicists and j t-e-meii.i'-ts the world over are wait in,? to see its ef- ' i"e: i. Th:!t it means a new era for Inland is the judj-ir.'.nt ;f every observer who has studied its previsions. Vu sident li. s scve It and Secretary Hay from the -fir'.-t have shown great interest in this measure for the- regeneration of Ireland, and they have 1 ,. k?pl fully informed of flirt, progress of -ve::is by ibnry White, t!ie most 'accomplished and 11 ) i t s'-'-retar..- ef -t he American embassy at Lon- den. Iii hnun in all part.-, of the jrlobt' have piven i lh"ir jipj,rovr,l to. the rrcat law which went into ! fnvee Sur-.':1.. In s-up!ort of it public opinion in ', Ireland is self Ins b'en w'l nipi unanimous. Xov. j "i. .':;. ,wj:s a red letter d iv for Ireland, writes I Vv'ei i r Wellinan in -J lie (,'hicairo Record-Herald. One Kin,--! hajipy licet of the onacinymt of the ii( w i.u:d law Ins been witnessed before that law became peva' i "e. Irish, emigration has ' beji'un to 5 iMUiinish. At the bureau of immigration in Wasli- , i; n it i report cl 5 hat the number of people ar-' xx':v.:x from' Ireland has shown a marked decrease in i'uc last three jr.orths. It may be stated with con-i con-i l;.''ci:i-' that in mother year or so Irish immigra tion will cease almost entirely. Th flow of lrih t mi ;i ;iad Irish 'women to the four quarters of the ' " .do!.. which has coiitimicd so ma ny years, which j li.' fv ihe jiopulation of Ireland in half in a half- 1 -.:, ir.ry. and which has ehvn to thft I'nitod States, .'.;:-! ".ilia and other countries some of its best cit-i"-'idi!;, is now to conic virtually to an end. for j simple reason that Ireland is to be restored to i ll:c ili-h. .. A B5IGET OUTLOOK. I In Ireland they even talk of a return flow of the human stream. They say that since the enactment of il;e land law many Irishmen in all parts of the world, particularly in the United States, have writ-ieji, writ-ieji, ini;uirinp as to the chances of their being1 able i io buy lands in their old homes, with a view to p mum-iii: to-their nalive country. But for the fact ihn; Mi" mw law -jrives th.c jjrcfiM-ence to present I j i nants and throws safeguards about 're-sales of j li'ddinrs. there can be no doubt that thousands of j i Ivishiui-n from -America ainl Australia would po ba'l t" the obi soil to end their days, earryingr with thm a fTcat deal of money to be invested in lands r i d industries. Notwithstanding- the precautions I taioa: by the fratners of ihe new law, such a iffove- ni!'!it ,., ;l small scale may be looked for. I Noteworthy and revolutionary as is the statute j wlii.-h wont into effect Sunday, it will be a mistake I to ..ok for preat results immediately. The up-I up-I building must of necessity be comparatively slow. Hi' majority of th' jicojdc are so oor. have.se 1 b',' - 'o si art with, so much to contend with, that j I i;.r- i iNt elapse before the improvement of their j; '' :!'!i;i-i, becomes noticeable. There is not the Ij s' 'gliU-? doubt in the worbl. however, that the im-1 im-1 i t i votji' ! ; t is sure to come. Little by little, step i by -''p. inch by inch, the tillers of the soil will get ' j n ln'Tier rrip oi life. . I'ndcr tho new system they 1 will !i,,t bo -kinuned 1o the last drop of cream; they I will have le- io ay in tribute, more left for bet- f 1( '!" living, for inii'rovements in their. houses, on S ilioir farm-, thrdr livoloek. their implements. As a ihe land -ourts can convert tenants into I'lir-iiaser- and this should be at the rate of scores "t iliou-ands yearly the tillers of the soil will find f annual ayments reduced perhaps an aver- I mto of 2 per eent below what they formerly had I 1" pay in rent alone. With thousands of families 'i S per cent will mean the difference between v ii;;! to ihein will seem, in contrast, like, prosper- I i-y and what lhey have faced foi years as bare, I ti-iy, insistent wjmiI. j REJUVENATION OF IKELAND. j Probably ihe greatest transformation in the im- I " l.;i:o fuluro' is to be in the spirit of the Irish I i- i !' . Private letters which I have received from . mi- of Ireland indicate that the masses of the I 1' ' :'e believe ihe yoke of bondage is at last to be j b ' 1 from iheir neeks. They are coming into I ' : ,,vn. Thv are to have a chance "to buy off I ''' n.piorors and get them out of the country. J b-i-' riy i hey jieept this .ehane. Opportunity to ! '!:," owners where thev have been mere ten- n have their own few acres ami their own j ' a'ul'rig tree is sure to rouse a new spirit, a liopc in ihe eoile of the four provinces. As I (i I'uii' ihe Irish ieo))lc are pationl, industrious, 1 ' riii v. They will quikly resond to ibis applica- i'f the sound principle of couupying owner-!. owner-!. I'erhajis there is no other people in the world w'"-re sentiment plays so trong a part with the 1 of the peojde. The Irish are not stolid, they tau sodden. They have endured, but not in si-They si-They have suffered, but they have never fal-" fal-" "' '-' low 1 hat they did not know they v.ere suf-. ' ' i a: and why . To a people like these a peo- ! with imagination, with warm hearts, wilh wit ;'i l fancy and intuitive understanding far beyond ;'!'' education and station release from land-'""di-m and ihe substitution of individual owner-: -bp will come almost like an emancipation from s!' Very. Indutnally. economically, the effect of e new law will be slowly felt. Lut psychologically. 1,! 'he new hope and confidence of the people, it wiil be quick, inspiring, magical. FIRST LAND LAWS. ''!adtoijo, with his land law, imperfect as it pnhed in the thin edge of the wedge. The kiii'lb.rds were no longer absolute masters. They ''"ild not do as they liked with their own. They '"""dd not demand excessive tribute. They could j1''! push up i.he rent on Pat's little patch because had. through incredible toil, reclaimed a bit of '" g and grow n a little larger crop. Soon the wedge was pushed a bit further. Universal suffrage nearly near-ly destroyed the political power of Ihe landlord elass. True representatives of thf Irish people, aixl not mere creatures of prerogative and privi-1 privi-1 "Ve, appeared at Westminster. Other land acts Yn' passed. a(l 72,(KH tenants enabled to pur-, pur-, ci;ase th,.;r holdings, through state aid, to the ex- 1 1 Mninu imi w J i Mini" wwuw' 'J-W-w WJiwi v - ' " "" " "! Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, j! Spr.ikcr of House of Representatives. tent of 23.000.0ttO pounds. Wherever these purchases pur-chases have been made thrift and prosperity have followed, and the purchasers have so punctually paid their installments that the state is not losing a penny by the transaction. One could not ask for more complete refutation of the favorite argument argu-ment of the supporters of the let-alone policy, that the Irish peasantry are so shiftless and thriftless that it is" not worth-1 bile, .try in fir to do .inything for them. Experience under limited land-purchase shows conclusively lhat the Irish peasantry respond to all efforts to uplift them, just as they have responded re-sponded to the cruel system which bore them down. Among the leaders of English activities there is a latent fear of ihe radical or Socialistic tendencies of the great masses of workingmen in the large cities. It is a curious and most interesting fact that the British statesmen of our day who are trying try-ing to settle the land and political questions in Ireland Ire-land firmly believe that with such settlement the Irish peasantry will become perhaps ihe most thrifty, most conservative and most intelligent peasantry, in Europe to the, British empire, in a measure, what the peasantry of France are to the republic. WORKINGS OF THE LAW. In the course of a few years, it is believed, nearly near-ly all of ihe agricultural tenants in Ireland will become purchasers of their holdings under the new-law. new-law. They numlM-r. roundly, 400,000.' The law-provides law-provides that the purchase annuity and perpetual rent charge which the buyers shall undertake 'to pay shall not be less than 10 nor more than .'50 jut cent below the existing rent in the cases of holdings hold-ings whereon rent has not been fixed by the courts, or whereon it has been fixed since ihe passing of the act of 18f. In ihe cases of holdings whereon the rent was fixed by ihe courts prior Io the passing of the act of ISfNj, the purchase annuity and per-, petual rent charges which ihe buyers are to pay shall be not less than 20 nor more than 40 per cent below that rent. It is estimated that the annual payments in purchase throughout Ireland will be fully 2 per cent under the present" rent charge. What these' reductions wilj mean to ihe people in the way of relief from the landlords' tithes ope must visit Ireland to fully appreciate. In agricultural agricul-tural Ireland ''rent day" is the bugbear, the hour of trial and fear, ihe day of anxiety. How to ''raise the rent "money" is Ihe quarterly problem in hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of Irish families, and the table, j the children, the cl6thing, the comfort of the family fam-ily must all be sacrificed till the ordeal is passed and the rent is paid. ITS PROVISIONS. Without doubt rents have been too high, and one of -the "host features of the new law is the provision pro-vision for a reduction of ihe annual payments to something like a just level. With only l.".000,000 acres of productive land in tiie country, and 5,000,-000 5,000,-000 people to live upon its fruits, there has been a great hunger for land. Land is at a premium, and the landlords, naturally enough, have taken advantage ad-vantage of this competition to exact high rents. But for Ihe judicial rent-fixing under the Gladstone and other land laws, ihe landlords . would have forced half the population into penury if not to actual starvation. But under the protection of the courts the rents have been so reduced that perhaps per-haps only a million are forced to live with the wolf constantly at the door. ' .. So great is the demand for land, so eager are Irishmen of all stations in life to become the owners own-ers of patches of ground, that the framers of the law were -compelled to adopt rigorous measures to protect the actual tenants, to give them preference in the purchase. The law provides that, advances may be made only to the following persons: The tenant of a holding on an estate. The son of a tenant. A person being the tenant or proprietor of a holding not exceeding ten acres in area and 5 in ratable value, situate in the neighborhood of the cstntc. and 1 WHO MAY BUY. A person who, within twenty-five years before" the passing of this act. was the tenant of a hold- J insr to which the land law acts aopl" and who is nof at the date of the purchase the tenant or pro-, prietor of a holding; provided, that in the case of the death of a person to whom an advance might otherwise have been made the advance may be , T " -CI ?, tf fi - ! jr '-V'TiV'' ) l" "1 - ' ' $ - S 'i'i 1 t v. ; i i-.-l itv -A ' d ! I s ' ' ' ' . - , I IkTgi-. Merry delVal, i; I'upjil Secretary. i made to a person nominated by the land commission com-mission as the personal representative of the deceased de-ceased persons. An estate commission to administer, the new law is created, and given full powers. When landlords land-lords and tenants come to a bargain the advance must be made, if within 'the limitations set, or, in the absence of any bargain, the commissioner may purchase, with power to -"Sll fo tenants, in-occupation, or to other claimants, in accordance with ihe terms of the act. To make up the differences in price between sellers and purchasers the government gov-ernment contributes 12.000.000. ."to buy up the fee simple of Irish discontent and unify the empire." em-pire." Reports from Ireland are tint landlords and tenants are generally coming to agreements, and that as fast as the commission can do its work thti land "will, be restored to the people who live upon it, till it, love it, and who in time will make the green island blossom as a rose with thrift and prosperity. |
