The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-09-19
ENGLISH LIES.

The English statisticians are figuring
out that during the past year Ireland has
been prosperous beyond any other year OF
her existence, and they point to the de-
posits in banks as proof of their asser-
tons. The Irish American has taken
this matter up, and says that Ireland, ac-
cording to the English statisticians, has
had a year Of unexampled prosperity, it
the deposits in banks can be regarded as
Irish joint stock banks being over S.
100000 The traffic receipts on the Irish
railroads, too were the largest on record.
But these statistics are misleading and
are designed to convey false impress
sion. The deposits in Irish joint stock
banks represent capital lying temporarily
dead and idle, as far as the manufacture
ing industries of the country are con-
in the production Of any article for do
mestic use Of foreign export. The only
parties making even temporary use Of
this capital are the farmers, who are
compelled to borrow it, ~ notes, at enor-
nous rates Of interest, IN order to tide
them over the pinching times, till the
harvests come in. How high are the rates
at which this money is advanced is
shown By these fact that these banks are
able to declare dividends to their stock
holders of from eight TO fifteen per cent
per annum, while manufacturers (o1Itslde
Of the whisky and porter trades) can
rarely afford any rate higher than from
two and half to four per cent in the way
Of dividends on their profits.
AS far as the traffic receipts of the Irish
railroads. those, also, are sign not of
prosperity but of national decadence. We
are to assume that the lump sum given
above includes the income from passen-
ger as we'll as goods traffic; and this, as
far as the passengers are concerned. is
largely indicative of the exodus of the
flower of the Irish population, which an
nually drains away the best blood of tie
nation, and is in great proportion paid
for by the earnings of their kindred in
other lands, and, therefore, cannot be re-
garded, in any sense, as an evidence Of
Irish prosperity. With regard to the re-
ceipts for goods. they represent, firstly,
the tariff derived from the carriage of
provisions, exported to feed the working
people in England, which country does
not raise one twentieth Of the food sup
plies she needs; and, secondly, the
freights of the raw materials raised in
Ireland, but which are never allowed to
be worked up there; for. it is one Of the
canons of English political economy that
everything raised in Ireland;-wfth the
exception of the. flax of one little corner
of Ulster,-shall go, in it's crudest condi-
ton, to help keep the industries of Eng
land moving, through supplies procured in
the cheapest and most convenient mar
ket Thus, the rich copper ores of the
Wicklow mines are shipped just as they
are drawn from the bowels Of the earth.
They could be smelted and worked up on
the spot; the very hills from which the
ore comes, and the neighboring districts
of Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, pro-
duce in abundance the fuel and other
requisites for such manufactures. But to
permit such works to be established would
mean taking a source Of profit from Eng
land and giving it back to Ireland; and
that has never been any part of the pro-
gram of the dominant country. So, with
the manufacture of iron. The descendant
of one of Cromwelps troopers once
showed lis a spot, in the hills OF ScaTtff,
where his grandfather, in the tract of
contiscated land that was granted" to
him in lieu of the arrears Of pay due him,
had discovered a vein Of what would now
be called rich magnetic iron ore. The
thrifty Puritan at once set about devel-
oping his find, and established iron fur
naces that, with the aid Of the peat-bogs
around, turned out a finer quality OF
iron than could be shown in the Bristol
markets. The English manufacturers
quickly took the alarm. In pursuance OF
the policy of discouraging Irish manu-
facturers the influence Of the govern
ment was brought to bear on the old
Cromwell:an trooper, who was induced
to surrender his grant for another, else
where; the works. were carefully de-
stroyed-though the lines of the ''pud-
ding runs" could still be traced, fifty
years ago; and, today, in all that region
no one hears of any iron save that which
comes. in the manufactured state, from
the English or Scotch furnaces.
The same story might be told Of the
glass manufacturers Of Waterford, of the
silk and wooden industries Of Dublin, and
Kilkenny and Wexford; all are gone; and
in their stead we are asked to accept, ss
an indication of national prosperity, the
inert cash balances in a few joint-stock
banks. Well has the Irish poet written
ell fares the land-to hast'ning ills a
prey
Where wealth accumulates and men de-
cay"
Nor is this apparent accumulation 1t
money as real as it Is represented to be.
The official statistician, in order to sus-
tain his prosperity statements, has
-