The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-09-25


keys. An ass skin sold for eight pence,
which would buy very little meal.
Two baleful memories linger in the
memory of old west of Ireland men
sliding collins" and 'Sawyers soup"
! Collins were very scarce in Ireland.
; money to buy them scarcer yet. SO the
sliding coffin was invented. |, had only
one end. When the grave or, rather,
pit was reached, the coffin was simply
tilted up and the heap of bones shot
| out on top OF the other bones In the
pit. Then the coffin could he used again
"Sawyers," or Soyer's. soup was be-
nevolent invention OF a distinguished
French chef, NJ. Alexis Soycr. He went
to Ireland and established government
soup kitchens to dispense Il soup thus
compounded:
Leg of beef. Observation-Disclosures. 4 ounces
Dripping fat NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 9 ounces
Brown sugar ................i2 ounce
Salt, bits of carrot II possible
water ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. = gallons
The London Lancet pointed out that,
while people doing no work could I've
kept alive for a while ON such slop,
ii was hardly fit for worknsmen.
A ration" at a relief office in those
days was one and a half pounds OF
pound of meal or grain. If person
had Il quart of Soycr'H soup, he got one
quarter of the solid ration in addition
or course there was more or less job
berry and robbery about the relief bu-
reau. And q strange feature of 1t was
that during all the famine the savings
bank deposits increased instead of de-
crcasng. This sounded badly in Parlu-
mcnt, when the Tories made an argu-
ment Of It, but, of course, the rxplanu-
ton was easy. The starving people
never had bank accounts. Tho middle
| class people didn't stnrve, but saved
every penny they could. And many
removed money from investments to
hoard away, thus making bad matters
worse.
Whom inqucsts were held AT TIE he
ginning. In many cases. they resulted in
verdicts Of wilful murder against tho
prime minister, Lord John Russell. But
soon the mortality became so great thai:
| the legal formnlity Of inquest holding
!! had to be dispensed with. C0r0ncr's in
| quests have never been much in favor
very palpnblc reason. They furnish
very often Il test of the political contli
| ton of the body polite.
The spirit in which the government
I! no overwhelming desire to stavc off it's
( fearful effects. This may be Judged of
| from the way In which the generosity of
| the outside world was met. A couple Of
instances may be cited. From The Unit
| cd States there was sent n ship laden
| with corn--many thousand tons. She
arrived In Queenstown duly, but could
not discharge her cargo there, owing to
| the system of red tape, but must go on
| to Liverpool She was kept dallying
over forms and petty obstacles of var
| ioms kinds, until the grain was rotten.
| Then 1t was flung into the Mcrscy, while
thousands whom IT. could have kept
alive were flung into their grave pits.
So, too, with the donation from Turkey
! The Sultan that day sent thousand
pounds In aid of the sufferers, but as
Queen Victoria had only given 'hc half
of that sum, the money was not ac-
ceptcd.
On the 5th of October 10000 people
| were employed on the relief works. On
/ the goth of December the number had
grown to 3G8. 900. The fever hospitals
held nearly 100000 patients that year
| But the government facilities were by
| no means adequate. Throughout the
| famine not more than G2,000000 were
expended in public and private relief.
COUNTING THE COST
When the famine was all over what
had 1t cost?
More than one million lives!
The population of ireland was S,l75,-
1874 in 1871.
In 1851 by the observed rate of in
crease, 1t should have been 3,Ola193
In fact 1t was but G,552.3s5. There was
deficit in human lives of 2,lGG III
souls given into the keeping of the eng
lish statesmen of that day and thus &C
counted for: BY emigration, 1872 to
1851 inclusive. 1,43G,S62; by starvation
and consequent diseases, 1929, 552; to-
tai, 2,4G6,414.
The emigration for the famine years
was as follows: 1886, 1O5,955; 1917
215444 184S, 1919; 1s49, 214,425;
1850, 2O9,0 54; 1851, 257.372.
The emigrants Jared scarcely better
than those they left behind. They were
robbed at every step. They sailed in
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