The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-07-23
THE IRISH CONCENTRATES.

distress in Ireland, and of its chief
cause, which appeared in the st. Paul
| Dispatch of the last two Saturdays, has
| been issued in a neat pamphlet for free
distribution. 1t really makes a large
and important, if sad and maddening,
| chapter of the history of Ireland. for
this history making year of 1898. What
! the Machiavellian policy OF the British
| powers that be has contrived to keep
| for nearly year from the cable and the
press is here witnessed to, and shown up,
! by Irish bishops. priests, and sisters Of
charity; by men as well known for their
honesty and sincerity as William
| OBrien and Michael Davitt; by English
correspondents of such papers as the
| Liverpool Post and the London Specta-
| tor. and by others. who, having gone to
the spot to investigate, have found the
distress to be more widely felt and ter
rible than any report had given them
any notion OF. The poor people have
| only too good reason to say that never
have they seen the like of it since black
AZ"
| Piteous cries come from the priests
in Monastradon, Templeboy and Pet
tigo, in Sligo; from Ballaghdern, Islam
deadly, Aughagower, Kilmeena, Balmul-
let. Westport, Carraroe, in Mayo and
| Galway; from Sneem, Caherciveen, Va
lencia, Dunmanway, Adrigole, In Kerry
and Cork. Hundreds come to me every
day begging for only one meal ''Thous-
ands on the verge of starvation, can
not get bit of bread. or even handful
| OF Indian meal. We cannot give the
hungry half enough to eat but no words
can tell what blessing it is to be sure
OF even little regularly. We know
cases where the father refused to eat the
dinner of Indian meal stirahOut, because
he said. the little ones needed 1t more,
We are often sick at heart going among
the poor, to look from face to face in
order to see who can bear hunger long
! est. Children faint from hunger fell
| upon the floor of the school room" cat
least half the children of this parish
There is absolutely no kind of food at
present for about 200 families" Hun
dreds were endeayoring for months back
to live on single meal a day." She
was only human. the little London girl,
who, hearing of such things, refused to
eat her dinner that it might go to the
poor Irish children who had nothing to
eat.
The hunger has been driving numbers
to insanity and Sickness measles, ty-
! Gus, influenza, fever In Adrigole.
Cork, more infants had died in the first
four months of this year than in the
whole previous nine years. And "the
sick and the dying have been lying on
the cold earthen floor nothing under
them but handful of damp straw, often
no covering but the few rags worn dur
ing the day." And such scenes ore
presented in hundreds of places from
/ Sligo along south to Cork.
How willing the people are to help
themselves, how far it is from being
all their own fault as 1t comes so easy
TO heartless persons to say, is shown by
such testimonies and facts as these:
The demand for work is simply appall-
| ing; any number, begging for work
even for sixpence day or less" says
Mr.. Esmonde, sent over by some benev-
client men of Manchester to inquire
into and report on the facts. 81
went to see the relief works." writes
Miss Maud Come, land more shocking
sight l never witnessed. There were
old, bent women of 60, slight girls of 1G,
working away with pickaxes and spades
| under the pouring rain, or CARRYING
great stones on their backs. A woman
of over 60 said she was the Youngest
OF three sisters who would starve but
for her work. A delicate looking girl
OF about 10, who was carrying sods, had
to walk II miles a day. and do work
/ which would be hard for a man, to keen
her mother and younger sisters" on a
piece of corn bread twice day, and for
a wage of IL cents There they WERE,
says the Liverpool Post, of the people OH
the relief" works. young girls in
their teens, mothers whose children
were left uncared for in the cabins miles
| away, doing the rough work of navyies
! Some had walked five or six miles to the
works, the mothers having to turn their
children like cattle to ramble all day ON
the road or among the grass until they
themselves can return with the susten-
ance to keep them alive The govern
ment pays them nine pence day. "I
was thinking Of the young Ones" said
one small, pale wan looking woman to
Miss Come. Il gave them bread be
! fore | started, and lit the fire: it is that
am afraid Of; but it was so cold"
The author of the pamphlet. from
which We have quoted, charges British
| Weylerisnl with being responsible for
| the miserable condition OF the Irish peo-
F., pie in the congested districts. This
very year. he says, England draws
from Ireland more food in various kinds
of meat than from all other countries
together He explains how commerce
and manufactures have been DESTROYED
by English legislation: how the people