Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-09-12
BAD CROPS In IRELAND.
Threatening Situations Disclosed by
the Latest Mail Advices.
New York Irish Societies Hold Emer-
gency Meetings to Consider the
Grave Condition OF AT

During the past week meetings have
| been called by nearly all the Irish societies
of New York. to consider the news of al
impending famine in Ireland that has
lately reached here by every mail from the
other side Cable advices, too, have beer
| received by the officers of some of the
associations, setting forth the urgency
for immediate action, as. it is alleged. the
distress from short crops threaten a
famine. 1t has been intimated that the
situation is more alarming in the Emerald
Isle than it has been since 1917.
In the newspaper cables very little has
been said of the threatening state OF
affairs heretofore, but the correspondents
are gradually beginning to realize the dan
ger. and, according to a cable message
printed. the queen Is very anxious on
account of the grave advices that have
reached her.
According to the dispatch, it is said
that the failure of the crops is owing
principally to the lack of propitious
weather 1t is also stated that this vista
tion of bad weather that has ruined the
crops has been at It's worst in the poorest
part of the country. The Irish and com.
missioner's report is generally held to I'M
derstate the gravity of the prospect Al
ready there is talk of starting 1t great re-
lief fund in London, and Mr.. Balfour has
gone off in hot haste to Bamoral, the
queen being specially anxious to learn
all that can be known about the subject.
Many boards of guardians and parish
priests are now loud in their demands for
help.
The loss due to bad weather is very con-
siderably augmented according to another
cable. 1t is said that on any number of
farms no crops have been raised on account
of the great number of evictions Con-
tinuing, the dispatch says:
Few dare take an evicted farm, and the
consequence is that the crops have gone
to waste, or when gathered in have been
sent to distant market for the benefit of
the land owner. In many instances evict-
ed tenants on the west coast and islands
have been deprived even of the boats with
which they reaped a scanty living from the
sea, and left elpless to await the winter
Meantime the funds of the national
league are running short, and contrlbu-
tIOnS are lessening both In Ireland and
America, although the next general cleo
tion will undoubtedly be the supreme
struggle for Irish home rule
This grave state of affairs, which, as
stated before, is more than confirmed by
private adyiceS, has led to unusual activi-
ty among New York lrishmen to cast
about for some measures of relief when the
crisis, which all are looking for, is develop
ed. With the first fall of snow it Is said
the suffering among the poor in Ireland
will be something terrible, and unless the
means are on hand to alleviate the distress
i i, r
lief can arrive.
The Irish revolutionary society of New
York considered the necessity for some
action so imperative that meetings have
been held every night during the past
week by all the branct organizations, and
while no dehnlJS piS.ns nave yet been
agreed upon to start a relief fund, nearly
all the members have given their personal
pledge to subscribe as soon as the signal
comes from the branch of the society in
Ireland. DR.. j. K Hogan of No. 1862
Madison street, one of the most prominent
irishmen In New FORK and au influential
member of several leading societies, in
speaking of the appalling news from
across the water said yesterday:
Il have been surprised that the Ameri-
can papers have not paid more attention
W UlltS SuDJtCG. IOlll ali GlICtJ CCti ledIll,
the situation in Ireland is graver than it
has ever been, rot excepting the terrible
famine year of 1917.
The different societies of which | am
member have been receiving the most
disquieting information, and the intima-
tion has been made that the utter failure
of the crops in many sections threatens
the island with an awful epidemic of hun
and Sr,+farin,r nlasc p,tfg11a III
promptly available when the time for it
arrives. Ny private letters from home are
to the same effect. | get at least one let
ter every week or ten days from Ireland,
and the tenor of each has been growing
gloomier and gl)omier. Evictions, bad
weather and oppression have combined
to render the prospect of the immediate
future in the country a sad one, and
among patriotic lrishmen everywhere
there has been the greatest activity to
prepare for the trouble which we see
ahead for the poor people in our native
land. All the Irish Societies in New
York have been discussing the matter, and
a number have been holding emergency
meetings every night this week, and for
week back. to agree on something that can
be done to meet emergencies. | don
know how great the loss to crops is, as my
correspondents have not gone into details.
but they all unite in saying that probably
in another month or two whole sections
will be without food. unless assistance
comes from the outside and that the ter
rible times of 1917 threaten 10 repeat
themselves
The same tidings have been received by
my friends. so that even allowing for
some exaggeration, for which there is
certainly Y no reason, the situation is grave
enough to arouse the greatest appre-
tensions The English government, we
hear, is particularly alarmed over tine con,
dition of things, as Il famine in Ireland
at this time would show, even to the most
unsympathetic Englishman, the results of
misrule in a country that, under a nor
malIy healthy government, should and
would be one of the richest and most pro-
ductive in the world The government s
representatives. | understand, are in a
great furry and are rushing hitler and
thither trying to smother the results of
their own misrule, but even tleir greatest
efforts, if all the reports are true, must be
puny to meet the terrible suffering that
seems inevitable, now. among Ireland 5