The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, April 17, 1903, Page 6, Image 6
-"-Wimtwrrip,- trt. ig j i wffgwgyWHHWW uppipwiiiimwiump v- x - The Commoner. , V0LTJME3, NUMBER 15, yw "CUER6NT wf " ( K ft ' 9 ..s "C - j , 1 ' ' " ' "" -" Ti ' " ' ' . 1 i . '? VVl-V7 y-szzzzgl!izam) V TUB IRISH LAND BILL RECENTLY INTRO duccd at tho instigation of the Balfour min istry by tho chief secretary of Ireland, is tho most important measure rolating to Ireland that has been presented for consideration since Mr. Gladstone's famous home rule bill. In brief, tho purpose of this land bill is to enable the tenant farmers In Ireland to purchase farms and the bill provides that to this end tho British government is to advanco tho cash. Tho measure provides so distinctly a stop in tho right direction that it has met with popular approval throughout tho civil ized world. It is evidont that there aro some English politicians who do not take kindly to the plan, but it is not likely that theso will open ly oppose it, while the general recognition of tho fact that tho timo has coino when the British gov ernment must do something by way of solving tho Irish problem will doubtless ensure thn adoption of the measure. & ac AT A RECENT CONFERENCE OF THE LAND lords and tenant farmers, the chief features of tho Irish land bill were agreed upon. Accord ing to tho lorms of tho bill the British govern ment appropriates the sum of $GO,000,000, which lo to bo a frco gift in order to supply tho dif ference in some instances betweon tho price de manded by tho landlord and the price which tho tenant can afford to pay. In addition to this largo sum provision is mado for a system cf loans, out of tho British treasury. It is estimated that tlieso loans will aggregate $500,000,000. This sum is to bo raised on a now government loan guaranteed at 2 3-4 per ctfnt interest, the bonds to bo issued as tho money may bo needed. This money is to bo loaned to tho Irish tenants at 31-4 per cent interest. Three commissioners aro named in tL3 bill and their duties will bo to carry out tho provisions of tho measure. If the measure should becomo a law it will tako effect November 1, 1903. It is of course not compulsory on tho part of tho landlords to sell, but it Is believed that tho ma jority of them will bo glad to disposo of their interests. AMONG IRISH LEADERS THE MEASURE appears to bo a popular one, not entirely because of tho immediate relief which it wi'l provide to the Irish tenantry, but moro because It is very generally believed that this measure is but the forerunner of homo rule, an accomplish ment which has been very near to the Irish heart. Speaking of this bill, John Redmond says: U marks an enormous advanco on any measure or its kind which has ever been proposed by tho English government" And Michael Davitt, founder of the Irish land league, says: "When I remem ber that in 1879 I served my first term of Im prisonment for proposing almost exactly what a conservative Irish secretary proposed today, I realize how times change." THE SCENES WITNESSED AFTER THE presentation of the Irish land bill have a deep significance. The cable dispatches to Ameri can newspapers say: "The passing of tho first reading 0f the bill was followed by a rush to tho lobby, where ensued scenes that might well make the body of Parnell turn in his grave. The toll SSn "I?"!'1 f DUdley Lrd Lieutenant of Ireland) could be seen amid a crowd of nation alists, who scarcely a year ago would rather have suffered every penalty than associato with the official head of tho Irish government. Beside Lord Dudley stood grizzled little Sir Anthony Mac Donnoll, the first assistant Irish secretary. Ho It was who drafted the bill. Horaoo Plunkett, Lord Wcg',Lo,r?1A8hbourno' and maQy unionist mem bers joined the group. Tho Duko of Aborcorn, the most powerful landlord in Ireland, asked to bo introduced to John Redmond, and a mutual Mend brought his grace to the leader of the na iona?t Partr. with whom tho leader of tho Irish landlords heartily shook hands. They patched up tho peace of Ireland over tho houso of commons refreshment bar." NEWSPAPER COMMENT IN" THE UNITED S tot2? wlth, resPect to the Irish land bill is all favorable, and it may bo said that newspaper comment n Great Britain is encouraging. The London Standard, while saying that it remain to bo seon whether thn terms offered "will nrnvo sufficiently tempting to overcome the inertia of the situation," adds that if the secretary's finan cial forecast proves to bo correct, "concord will bo cheaply purchased by adopting his scnome." The Post says that tho scheme is large and bold, that it is a mixture of good and evil, but if certain defects can be remedied, the bill will bo of con siderable benefit of tho tenant farmers. Tho Tele gram declares that tho bill will be received In England with positive relief. The Daily Mail thinks that the measure will be at least proof to tho world of the generosity and disinterestedness of tho British nation, and that "if it ends the toary period of disloyalty and discontent, the re-1 suit will be cheap at the price." Tho Chronicle says that tho British ministry realized that tho opportunity was a great one and sanctioned a largo measure of reasonable expectation. The News says that it requires time for the tory party to learn its lesson and recant its errors, but still it learns; and it asserts that the secretary's ' speech destroyed half of tho case against homo rule at the same time that It admitted the claims of tho agrarian reformers up to the hilt. The News adds: "If this poverty-stricken tenantry could be trusted with a hundred millions of Brit ish money, they can bo trusted with something more, the right to shape their own affairs as a nation." The Dublin (Irish) Times declares: "The bill furnishes a better prospect for closing the melancholy chapter in Irish history than was ever before provided." The Belfast (Irish) News thinks that "the provisions of the measure appear to be an honest and courageous effort to settle tho burning question." THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY J. not fully appreciate what this measure, means to the people of Ireland. "What the re storation of their land to tho Irish people means," says the Philadelphia Public Ledger, "can in no way be conceived by those who have not gazed upon tho extreme of human misery as it is shown in Ireland today." The Ledger adds: "Since Cromwell s armies overran tho country, and the land was parceled out among his generals, its people have been subjected to a long and merci less exploitation. Tho landlords have been mere exactors of tribute; none of the money wrung from tenants has gone back in the form of im provements; little of it was ever allowed to cir culate again in the country, which was drained and sucked dry. Each generation paid for tho land, without acquiring an acre; the next genera tion paid for it again, and still owned nothing. Usually the people were allowed to retain enough off the products of their own toil barely to keep in?,IriS4UlS i?mtheIrj, bodies, though between 1845 and 1848 a million of them died. After the famine year matters wore even worse. Landlords de spairing of regular rents from the starving people drove them off of large tracts, which they now gave over to pasturage. Today out of 15 000 onn acres of arable land in Ireland, less than 2,500 OoS acres s under the plow. The best land is given to cattle. The people are in many regions hud- n elf Vier in.bogs' tryinS t0 e a livtag out of mudholes such as an American farmer would fhn7i0P '? h S PigS for a wallow- The mSf l?wViini hUtS nf olQe or two rooms often i? 7iniows' , 0ne ln seven of the popula tion is 'on tho rates'-supported by the parish- aSd naVSn1!? ? ,tte rad edge of Zger, and half the remainder are fed largely- bv the sons and daughters of America Fill on Wednesday instanced a vHlage in wWch S landlord was in the workhouse tho ater Vart of the year, while the tenants lived Sr condi- inA3fr7ca''G " thS6 fUnd "mcJngto SSta nn-IE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT TO THE ,i stc.t,holders of the steel trust was recently made. This report covers the fiscal year endine December 31, 1902. The income account ffS? S year shows total net earnings of all properties after deducting t .penditures for ordinaV?ePaS and maintenance, also interest on bonds for the subsidiary companies of $133,308,764; less sinking funds on bonds of subsidiary companies, $642,064 depreciation and extinguishment funds, $4,834 710 extraordinary replacement funds, $9,315,615; snol cial funds for depreciation and improvement? $10,000,000; total, $24,774,389; balance of net earr ings for the year, $xu8,634,374. A supplement report shows that the net earnings of thn i trust for the first quarter of 1903 ending March f after deducting outlays for repairs, g renewal maintenance of plant, interest on bonds at' fixed charges amounted to $24,656,136. The Zt ffSSSw first quarter 0 1902 a FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OP Yale university a student of African an- wm7 M T0n a prlm The Prize dinner was William Pickens, a member of the junior class in the academical department, Pickens was awarded the Henry James Ten Eyck prize for excellence in pubIIc Peaking. Tho New Haven correspondent of the Philadelphia North, American- says- -Pickens was one of thirty-seven juniors who original ly entered the contest He was fourth pf the five remaining for the final trials to speak before an audience of about three hundred leading pro fessors of the university and the members of the junior class. Pickens' masterly oration caused a wave of enthusiastic approval to sweep the hall and gave evidence that although the audience might not look to him as the probable winner, they generously acknowledged his ability. The committee of judges was out but a few moments, and by practically unanimous vote gave tho prize to Pickens. Tho prize is the income from $2,600, about $100 a year an nuel17 Pawrnded' The fund was 'Siven by the ciass or 1879 moro than twenty years ago as a memorial to Henry James Ten Eyck, a member of the class. William Pickens, the prize winner, is a resident of Little Rock, Ark. His father is a shop-keeper in that town. j?1 jo . AN ANTI-UMBRELLA CAMPAIGN IS IN progress in the city of Philadelphia. Ac cording to the Philadelphia correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, somo one has figured out that the cost of umbrellas lost in one year will pay tor the construction of the universal umbrella and sunshade. At the same time the wear and tear on human patience occasioned by the loss of umbrellas and the failure to take them away from home when they are needed will be done away with. It is therefore proposed to build por ticoes over the sidewalks which will serve tho double purpose of protection from the sun and shelter from the rain. PHILADELPHIANS INSIST THAT THIS PLAN 4. ls no,t oriSlnal with them. They point out that the plan was utilized in tho construction of Grecian and Roman buildings, the agora or market place of nearly every Greek town being sur rounded by colonnades which afforded protection ?. a2in and sun- Tne Tribune correspondent ShinV . Is an amusinS story by Athenaeus mJ i1? tne Possible origin of the phrase: we does not know enough to ccme in out of the JSm.rwCorai?s t0 the enterlaining grammarian Zlelto' a town in Greece, under stress of evil who S CeS' b0ITowed money from a rich man, 2m iaS SGCUrity for tnG loan a mortgage on SikH ?8nP0rtlC0 Wnich Burrounded the SJwhenTVnSoJTi8 not an onerous creditor, annm,nnn w? d -ne caused the town criers to fSS016 fUizens uad Permission o tako ownSnM colonnade. Strangers visiting the SSSJm Gd t0 navo the matter properly ex- Srdinarv oT TQVQ so Pressed by the extra- tho ?enL wm?tances tuat tney spread abroad had to iS ft th peoplQ were B0 stuiid that they nad to be told when to come in out of the wet" A S RECENTLY BEEN IN It is callon dnm he Vnl Beel at Cincinnati is to teach HH UclJe1n Pining," and its purpose f toys T l0r?rlf h0w1 t0 keeP nouse by means OhicaX TneUncinnati. correspondence of the gardeners' ;Cean says: "ThQ little 'kitchen fng St hn J1 ClaES ,of tiny 6Irls' who are be rooms dnsf nT, to, make beds set tables, sweep SuaSt mJriand Lace tuitlSS in order in a very 3S li?55- T.h? Children meet every Thurs S?i and 5t?ii8i0d?1ld,Bhe8 aro gen tho chil little chih rpne do11 bles aro in evidence. The tables and ?n,,aiVn?wn now the doll at each Htn 'V0 w d forks properly eacn plate Tney are taught ih& proper way m .. .xriii! .t ---TtmwiiliiVihririliii'ifcl-ffiifiJt-fa