The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-13


| starvation. II is no easy matter, un-
| der any circumstances. for 25O people
to make their living on a square mile
of land, but when the effort Is made
and results In a total failure of the
| main crop, the consequences are fright
ful. To add to the horror of the sit
uation, there were at that time only
| q few miles of railroad In Ireland, the
country roads were far from good, and
many villages and communities in re-
tired districts could hardly be reached
at all
The Irish peasants of the west coast
live. at best, in state of misery. Their
dwellings resemble the dugouts of the
cowboys on the plains. cellers covered
over with straw thatch, and in these
miserable quarters, where, during
heavy rains. the floor was often mud.
lived thousand of human beings. Even
these wretched dwellings. however.
We're not there own. The tenants were
forced to pay rent for quarters which
In other countries would hardly be as
signed to the lowest domestic animals.
Among the peasants of the west coast
the suffering was awful. Men, women
ana children died of famine by thou
osity led them to the country. solely
Tor the purpose OF witnessing it's hor-
rors, told the world of what they had
seen. and Great Britain stood agbast
at the revelations. There was no more
love for the Irish in England then than
now, but 1t was felt that something
must be done. and parliament was,
accordingly, called upon 20 afford re-
L, tn
or the situation, action was prompt.
and, as far as parliament could act,
efilcient, for from first to last G5O,OOO..
900 were voted to relieve the distress in
the country. This sum. however, was
totally inadequate to provide for the
wants of 100000 starving people. It
was. to use familiar expression. but
drop in the bucket. AS one speaker
in parliament declared. It was less
than the sum annually wrung from a
starving peasantry by nonresident
landlords.
The main difficulty was, however.
not so much in providing supplies, but
in getting them to the points where
1000 was needed. The coast towns and
villages could be easily reached, but
the lack of roads already mentioned
succoring the wants of the interior
population. To add to the difficulty of
the situation. the British government
was as slow about helping the starving
in Ireland as it is about everything
else, and while officials were writing
communications to one another, indit-
ing documents and going through the
usual red tape formula, without which
N hn in gY~it i-l, y;otoI
life, people were starving to death.
Finally a great number of horses and
carts were sent to Ireland to supple
ment those of the country people. on
the coast all available pack animals
were hired to transport supplies into
the interior. and hundreds of men
were employed to carry loads of pro-
visions to be distributed among the
suffering, and thus the starving were
fed.
ONE MILLION VICTIMS.
How many died during 1916, 1S47, 1S4S
for in all three years the crops were
a partial or total failure-will never be
known, as the British government did
not care TO collect statistics of so dis
agreeable a character, and the esti-
mates vary from 100000 to 200, 600 No
doubt, many who did not perish of
sheer want died from ailments con-
tracted by the use of improper food,
for in their hunger the people gath
cred and boiled grass, sea-weeds. the
leaves of trees and other innutritious
substances which induced diseases of
the digestive organs that carried off
great numbers of people. There have
been several years of terrible distress
in Irland since. In 1881 there was a
famine - the same district which is
now afflicted, but in no year subse-
quent to 1S46 has there been anything
like the suffering which then befell the
unhappy people of that country. 1t
was emphatiCally the great famine;
from Ireland then began that flood of
emigration which has diminished it's
population steadily, year by year, to
the present. In 1871 the population, as
already stated, Eas S.000,0O0 Statis-
tiCal authoritT estimate that at the
beginning OF 1876 it had increased to
at least $500, 900, in 1916, when the
famine came, the population began a
general exodus, and counting those
who died of hunger and disease and
the emigrants, by 1851, a period of five
years, the population had fallen off to
6,574,271, a decline in actual population
of at least 1000. 900. The decrease from
the year Of the great famine to the
present has been steady and continu-
Gus. In 1861 the population fell off
from the census of 1851 to sos, ,967, in
1871 it was 5,4l2,377, in 1881 it was S.
17A,S36, and in 1891 it was 4,704,750.
Never, except through destructive war,
was a country depOpulated at so rapid
a rate. Thirty years of civil and for
egn conflict in Germany did OF re-
duce the population in the same ratio
as the population of Ireland fell off in
the years Immediately following the
famine. The great famine of 1916 was
one of the most awful tragedies of
history.
AFTER LONG YEARS,
From HarppCs Mapazipa