Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/54

Rh space permit, I might furnish dozens of quotations to show how common this conviction has been to every school of politics and class of society.

To attribute such a view to landlord stupidity and selfishness is even more gratuitous. When did a tradesman ever complain of the multitude of his customers, or a manufacturer of the easiness of the labour-market? And what is the owner of an estate other than a trader in land? His tenants are his customers; the more strenuous their competition, the higher his rents, and the denser their number, the more keenly will they compete;