New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-02-01
"rPrTdVD FOR TIE IRISH."

rho election Of DAILY the Dynamitor rs Mayor
az Limerick marks IN epoch in Irish history.
How impossible il would have seemed wheh
Gladstone was applying coercion with hayohelS
and buckshot and was locking Iarnel ana MS
collea CUES in Kilmanham jail. Yet Gladstone
himself almost lived TO see H. The gap III uihe
between Forster and BalfOur Is less than score
of years. II IS scarcely fifteen years since Daly
was convicted Of plotting most henouS crime
and now he is elected To the chief magistracy OF
n city by virtue Of IN act OF the very "oVerh-
ment against which he plotted and which con
dcmned him TO penal scryitude.
Local Home Rule in Ireland Is now an estab-
lishrd fact Week before last the first elections
were held under Mr. Balfour's act of last year.
The salient features Of the polling were several
One was the general acceptation Of the new syS-
fem shown in the general participation III the
boiling Thus in Dublin, where there were less
than IS 900 qualified voters. more than 2booO' or
about 20 per cent. actually voted. mat al
things considered. is an Unexpectedly large pro
norton Another thing is the genuine cnarac-
ter Of the local autonomy granted. That was
shown in the freedom from all coercion at the
nols and bv the election Of l)aly ms Alderman In
limerick which made his later election as
Mayor possible If the Irish are free 10 eiect
him to office they are about as free as they need
want 10 be- 4 third feature was the strength
developed by the Labor party. II came III rs
third party between the Home Rulers and
Cnionists and made enormous inroads into the
strength Of both, but more largely of the for
mer Thus IN Dublin the old corporation con
tanned - Home Rulers, II unionlsts anu
Labor men. while in the new one chosen Oh
January rs the figures are 80, Z and II respe'-
lively In Droghedl Labor man LED the pol.
In Limerick the Labor party won twenty-fou"
OF the forty seats, and one OF its candidates. to
wiz. DAILY himself headed the poll. In CORK
both Parnetes and Unionists lost heavily and
the anti Parnellitos and Labor party gained.
Indeed. the Labor party made gains almost
everywhere.
In one respect this last feature is the most
significant Of all. 1t was certainly unexpected,
for the Labor party is collectivist, not to say
Socialist and the Irish have always been reck-
oned the most uncomprCmiSing Of individunlists.
True. Mr. Davitt is Socialist Of the Henry
George type and he has tried to convert his
cOuntrymen 10 his views but he has In that re-
spect been supposed TO he little more than
voice crying in the wilderness. Yet now, with
scarcely note Of warning, the Labor party all
but sweeps the country That points pretty
clearly to new alignment OF parties and
new set Of issues The old Home Rule will
probably he laid upon the shelf, II indeed 1t IL
not now there The new Home Rule is fact
mud therefore no more an issue. Voters will
turn their attention to other issues and the poll
ticlans Will have TO do likewise We have little
sympathy with the colectlvism OF the Labor
party, hut we must reckon that in giving Irish
rolitics n new trend away from the academic
and visionary toward the practical and indus
trial II has done incalculable good.
The elections Of January 16 We're for Council
men and Commissioners in towns and cities and
suburban townships. The rural Councilmen and
urban Guardians will be elected on March %
next. and that days polling will be no less I'M
portant than that which has already been held.
The chances are that it general tenor will be
about the same Then re island will be In
local matters entirely In own hands. IL VIII
be Ireland for the Irish. here will be some
mistakes made. Power newly acquired Is sell
dom used rightly In all respects. But, on the
whole, the change must be for the good. The
lessons Of self government can be learned only