New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-21
other parts OF the country, such irregular meth
ods will not be successful hereafter.
SUMMING UP TIE IRISH QUESTION:
Ito. Iold Lat WadnaanaY the COM


AT meeting held last Wednesday the com
mittee of the Irish National League reported
continued subscriptions from America. All the
money sent to the Land League from this
country has been raised by working men anu
women; there have been no large donations
among their subscriptions. They are the III
Vulnerable small contributions steadily given
from the petty savings of poor iaborors, COOKS
and chambermaids. In all they have amounted
to hundreds of thousands OF dollars; they rep
resent an enormous amount of hard work zone
in this country of pTivatons cheerfully borne
and of comfort and capital forever lost by the
noor man and women who sent them. What
have tbov gained in exchanged We would
like all Irish men or women WIN i'"'
these words and who have helped to send money,
to sit down aud coolly ask themselves "'a'
thew have actually bought for it'll Where mas
it gomez Four years ago, wheh the appo"i' w
Irish Americans first became iniportuhate'
THE TRrBUNs warned this very laborlng class
of the result of their generous sell-SaSrllces
They were here with plenty OF WORK, loou anu
clothes. if they chose to be sober ana lhuus-
trious but with their hearts full OF intense 10Y
alty to the G-een Isle where they had been
wretcbed and starving. Instead therefore, OIL
sending their money to bring their wretched'
starving kinsrolk to the country where they
were sure of work and wages, they poured 1t
ont for n vague idea of elevating Erin again
among nations, first pearl of the sea and first
GEM of the land" TIE TRIBUNE told them
MAINLY then that their hard-earned dollars
would go to the support of noisy demagogueS
and that the only feasible cure tor Irish Ills was
OF
true or mott
Let us see. Mr.. Healy stated on FRIDAY III
London that all the increased liberty which lad
been gained in Ireland was produced 10y aglta-
ton. and that agitation was paid for by IRISH
American contributions. But has that liberty
belpod Tn, laboring class Not one whit. IL
has not made it easier for them to earn their
yretched subsistence. They are as hungry as
idle. and as degraded as they were when Parnel
and Davitt began collecting money from
their kinstolk in tins country. what 49,
then, the actual total result OF this agitation
which has been so cUstly2 IL has prodnced so
called concessions from the English Govern
ment which have Frustrated temporarily inc
wealthy landlords; those who were absentees
before are trying TO rid themselves OF their land
altogether; capitalists of every kind are sever
ing their connection with country where the
business prospect is wholly dark. Tile les'ees
of small larms and wel-tO-do tradesmen and
merchants-usually men who have pushed their
way inward by sobricty and industry to com
petence- have been coming 10 tins country I'D
steady small stream OF emigration Tor throe
years, and investing their cal ital and nteih-
gence in the most profitable market oil the
world Every such Withdrawal OF capital OF
skilled labor or of intelligence from Ireland
lets the poorer class fall to another lower ana
still lower plane. There ID not IN Ireland TO-
day, in spite of the increased liberty which the
Leaguers boast they have conquered, single
sign of revival in any business or trade every
branch of industry lies paralyzed, and the pau
pers whose misery has been the capital OF Far
nell and his associates are more wretched IMAM
before. The only change IN their condition ~
that assassination in its most brutal form has
been made familiar part of their daily lie
and thoughts. They have been melted by their
leaders neither to work nor to keep sober, nor
to elevate themselves by any OF the curative
methods invariably found necessary to other
people. Their energy has found one vent Only
murder. The consequence OF the whole agl-
tation is the late discovery by the agitators
that the only help for the enormous starving
mass on the west coast Of Ireland is assisted en-
igraton to America. Fifty thousand families,
they estimate, must be moved this coming
spring in IA mass and dumped down in this
country, dependent on our charity, or they
must starye.
This is simply the fuliment of our predic-
ton, and WAS the inevitable end foreseen by
every man Of common sense four years ago.
The present immed, ate suffering is being re-
lieved by the English and by Americans, but
not one dollar of the funds sent To the Land
League goes for bread to the starving or to pay
their passage to a country where they can 6e
fed. Where do the funds goH And how long
will the Irish in this country continue to send
them without knowing where they go