River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-04-03
IRISH COLONIZATION.

Inalntalu as d HAL.
IRISH COLONIZATION.
The Movement Tnaugurated By the Recent |
Contention at Chicago.
Chicago Times.
One of the most needed improvements of |
the day is one which has just been inaugu-
rated in Chicago under the name of the |
Irish Colonization society. its purpose is to |
move Irishmen upon farms. rough sum-
mary of the purpose of the association may
be found in the plan proposed by Bish-
op Ireland, which is that ''the main object
which this convention should have in view
being to assist worthy people of limited
means to secure homes upon the land, the
convention deems it a matter of paramount
importance that an organization for the pur>
pose should be formed. The convention
recommends, therefore, an organization to
be called the Irish Catholic Association of
America. An executive board consisting of
fourteen members-seven bishops and seven
laymen-is hereby appointed, with full pow
ers to act in the name and with the author
ity of this convention, to adopt such meas
ures and perfect such plans as may seem to
the members of the board most wise and
practicable"
IutT6 dIo ooho pcOplo WIZ may Dc lOuIu
who will object to this mixing up of farming
and religion, agriculture and Catholicism.
This, however, is nobody's business outside
those who are engaged in the enterprise. II
is the right of any man, or association of
men, to get up colonization scheme in
which nobody shall be admitted who has not
a wooden leg, or red hair, or who has pro-
nounced squirt. In the same way 1t is the
right of body, operating under similar cir
cumstances, to decide that no man shall be
assisted to a farm who does not accept inn
mersion, or the thirty-nine articles, or tran
substantiation, or the belief that the world
is supported on the back of turtle. All
these are, or should be- minor considerations
to the general public. The utility of coloni-
cation in the country cannot be successfully
denied. The main thing is the colonization,
and not the religious faith of the colonist.
Moreover, the objection to the flavor of
Catholicism in this movement will come from
those who have the least right to impose any
difficulties. The objection will be wholly
entertained by class of sectarians
whose bette nOGr is Roman Cathol-
icism, and who are incessant in their asser-
tions that the larger portion of the crime,
pauperism and mismanagement of our large
cities comes from the Irish element of the
to believe it, they cannot, with consistency
object to an effort calculated to unload the
American cities of this class, and thereby, as
they would claim, purifying the moral and
political atmosphere by the removal of per-
nicious influences. Again, from the stand
point of q class infected with no religious
fanaticism, but who are disposed to deprecate
anything like sectarianism in the conduct of
business affairs, the movement In proposing
to confine itself to single religious denomi-
nation, must present itself as commendable
for at least one very substantial reason. The
bane of new communities, as we'll as some
not so entirely new, is churches-not religion
but the edifices. Whenever a score or half a
hundred families get together under the Or
binary circumstances of emigration or immi-
grafton, the first thing to be done
is to build from three to six
churches, each of which, with a heavy
mortgage, is solemnly dedicated to the
Lord. The effect is twofoid; it keeps peo-
pie from the churches who would remain
were it not for their membranes, and it
burdens those who do remain with debt
which heavily handicaps them in their bust
ness progress. 1t would be an enormous
gain, both in money and churchmenlbership,
we've all colonization plans to be projected
in the main, represent only one religious
denomination. The saving in the cost of
sacred" edifces, contributions, subscrip-
tions, interest on mortgages, and the like,
would be beyond computation. One good
church, in the case of such unity, would take
the place of half dozen bad ones, and
would be one which would not constantly
fout 10 per cent. mortgage in the face of
heaven. In Chicago the dead weight of
church mortgages and the support of I'M
necessary churches upon business is an evil
of the most serious magnitude. Were just
one-half the churches in this city obliterated
it would, in thirty days, add one-third to the
present memberships would Tighten the
burden carried by business men, and in
every way would advance the cause of
Christianity to an unlimited extent.
In a general sense, the effort to remove the
overplus population is one than which there
is nothing more needed with reference to
the men and women to be moved or the
cities to be relieved. The Irish more than
any other foreign nationality flock to the
cities. The majority of them are unskilled
laborers; aud the result is an arduous strug-
| Gle for mere existence. Lack of employ
ment begets 1dleness and restitution, and
these are often but hating places on the
| highway leading to crime. There is a
much larger proportion of criminals among
this class than there would be were it placed
in more favorable localities, and surrounded
| by less hostile circumstances. Perhaps ten
Germans go to farming where one Irishman
takes up the same pursuit; and the result is
that the average condition of the for
mer is largely in advance of the latter. The
distressing condition of so large an ele-
ment of our population would be remedied
at once were it transferred from the I'M
healthful air and influences of city life to
| the breezy and healthful country.
In view of these facts, intelligent people
will wish this Irish colonization scheme a
most abundant success. Not only this, but
they will wish that others may be started
and be operated until a million Irishmen,
now struggling and sometimes starving in
our great cities, shall be locatei on the
boundless prairies of the great Northwest.