New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-14
THE JRISU CENSTS.

ne census OF Ireland has been taken since
the Land bill was introduced III the Commons.
The results have q direct bearing upon the
emigration clauses of that complex measure,
which are now under discussion in Committee
The returns show that during the last ten years
the births were 1,392,113 and the deaths
9G9,1lO. This natural increase of 423.OO3
has been wiped out by emigration. The net
decrease in population since 1871 has been
l"J,6o3, the total number of emigrants being
622,E06. The population at that time being
Dill ,4l6, it follows that one out of every nine
has left the island. The aggregate loss since
1871, which is to be attributed mainly to cmi-
grafton, is not far from 100000. At period
when every other quarter of Europe has been
rapidly filling up, the population of Ireland has
been emptying itself beyond the seas Yet
rapid as the natural process of dcpopulaton
has been, the Liberal Ministry have convinced
themselves that it is altogether too slow, and
are resoring to artificial means of stimulating
emigration. The ltc-biood that was already
flowing copously is to be forced out of those
shrunkcn veins.
Mr.. Gladstone does not shirl1 the RESPONSE
bity of prescribing this species of heroic treat
mcnt. Unprecedented as the falling Oft i'm Dop-
ulaton has been, ne regards it rs Il public duty
to enable every man, woman or child who can
not find Il living on the island to make one
somewhere else. AT his suggestion an amend
| mcnt proposed by a Scottish Liberal with a
view to restricting Government aid is voted
down, although he raises no objection to the
principle that security should be offered for the
money advanced for the promotion of cmgra-
tion lie realizes that different sections of the
island do not require uniform treatmcnt-that
one +" is needed here and another thcrc-that
Government aid in purchasing land will increase
the number OF peasant proprictorS and alay
dissatisfaction i'll some villages, whereas in
others the population must hc drained of arti-
iicially. Such u county as Kerry, for example.
makes a surprising gain in the census table,
simply because the people who live there are
too poor to emigratc, and so remain in degrade
ton and wrctchcdncSs. Land reform may do
much for some quarters of ireland, bat it will
not do everything everywhere, and this is one
of the districts where whole families need to be
transplantcd. The Premier recognized this
necessity for emigration when he made liberal
provisions III the Land bill for promoting it at
public cost and the census amply justiics this
policy.
In every national exodus men move more
rapidly than women The result of forty years
of emigration has been to leave great excess
VI Noi'itH oNtI Hltil III lItllnu. j he census
turns of the present year show that this il the
| common effect without regard to religious de-
nomination or geographical di..ribution With
the Roman Catholics the proportion is ,93G, O5S
males to 2,0l5, 1913 females with the Episco-
pal Church it is 30, COS to 3O2, $50; with the
Prcsbytcrians it is 1919 to 25O,5J2; and
with the Mcthodists 30, 792 to 2lS77. The
complete census returns will probably show that
the percentage of natural increase Of population
has been as low during the last ten years as in
previous DECADES From 1861 to 1871 if WAS
81 for Ireland, 1.81 for Scotland and G.I for
England and Wales. The popular deusjon
that the average Irshman marrics in his teens
and has Il family oT thirteen with squalor and
imprOvidcucc as the portion of each. has mo-
foundation in the census. The tendency Of
four decades of continuous rmigration in which
the aged, the niirm, the weak minded and thc
low spirited have been left at home. and tho
flower of the tcndntry has been drained OIL has
been 10 reduce the number Of MARRIAGES and to
check the natural increase of populaton The
official figures IN regard to early marriages and
births show That this is so. Emigration is
necessity that knows no social law.