The Portland daily press., 1897-09-29

tackle, school plant, etc., to the fishing
communities of Baltimore and Cape
Clear, it has been growing increasingly
hard for the unaided villages further
west to make a living out of the fishing.
The philanthropist of course could not
have foressen this; it is hard indeed to
decide that the indirect harm to the west
outbalances the great and undoubted
good done to the benefciaries of the
Coutts bounty. None the less, the
Coutts-aided fishermen have been able to
cripple and we1-nigh stamp out the I'M
assisted industries of their neighbors.
The people on the mainland have almost
given up fishing.
Ten days ago the inhabitants of Long
Island made application to the Schulz
union for outdoor relief. Such an appeal
SO early in the autumn is unprecedented
There are on this rocky, beanpod- shaped,
storm swept island, which lies between
Schulz and the cape. some 20 families,
with total population OF over 500 souls
All the tillable soil among their crags
is devoted to potatoes, and this year not
ten bushels of potatoes possible for food
have been produced on the island. The
lobster fishing has yielded about a quar-
ter OF its usual produce; the line fishing
has done nothing at all. By the LIST of
November these 500 people will be with
out food, or the means Of procuring food.
On the mainland it is not SO bad as this,
but it is very bad indeed. There are sew
eral thousand people in this little PENN
sula who will not keep alive through the
winter without assistance. There is, of
course, the considerable government
problem of providing seed potatoes for
next spring But there is the more ur-
gent popular problem of seeing that fam
inc and the fever do not begin their work
before governments slow machinery can
be set in motion.
, Thus far catch not sign of what used
to be Called aggrarian disturbance or agi-
tation. No doubt landlordism is still
on the backs of other people, but various
legislative readjustments, and the altered
spirit of administration have between
them put the burden about SO that it no
longer presses on open sores. There are
still too many constables to be seen, but
they have nothing to do but watch the
weather, and pray for rain to flood the
trout streams for them. Even in this
Glengariff district, to which l have just
come, there is nothing yisibly remaining
of the fierce spirit remember there in
1884. The potatoes here are total failure
among the poorer farmers at least, and
this is one Of the very poorest districts in
all Ireland, but one hears not word
about landlords or agents." or
rents" Later on these words may
come to The top in popular speech, but at
present they are not mentioned. Do not
imagine from this that any notable polit-
ical change has been effected. The peo-
ple.are nationalists as sincerely as ever
they were, and they like the system of
misgovernment and muddling under
which they live as little as ever they did.
1t is only that the abuses of this system
have become temporarily obscured or
abated in the peoples consciousness.
They are, for the moment, thinking of
other things. An acute touch of distress
in the bad districts however, would bring
the subject sharply back into their minds
again. If there is not speedy help, that
acute touch must surely come, and with
it many things that no good person will
welcome.