The Irish standard., 1899-07-22
BY AN ABLE PROTESTANT FRESHMAN
Interesting Paper Lately Read
By Todhunter PIN.
SOME SALIENT FACTS AND FIGURES
Ascribed Ireland's Condition to
Britain's Misrule.

The Statistical and Social Inquiry So
ciety of Ireland, which closed few days
ago its session for 18o8-oo, listened to
a very able and interesting address by
its president, Joseph Todhunter PIN,
which is deserving of the thoughtful
study and consideration of publicists
and sociologists outside of as we'll as in
Ireland. In portraying the condition
of this country the student can form an
appreciation of the laws and forces
which control the social, economic and
industrial life of nation.
No more forcible and condemnatory
indictment of English rule in Ireland
could be drawn than is found in the
figures and deductions of Mr.. PIN.
Properly viewed, the address is pa
thetic tale of the ruin and impoverisll-
ment of people by alien misrule and
racial hates and prejudices, says the
Dublin correspondent of the Chicago
Chronicle.
Mr.. PIN is not socialist nor a rad
ical nationalist; he is simply one OF the
leading business men OF this community
and therefore his thoughtful and some
times eloquent address will have weight
with all. Mr.. PIN is not home ruler,
but his arguments and deductions are
in favor of that movement, as witness
the following brief statement:
sWe often suffer in Ireland" he says,
"from the necessity of making legisla-
ton conform in more or less degree
with ideas of the typical Englishman,
who is firmly convinced not only that
the existence of any institution in Eng
land is proof of its wisdom, but also of
its fitness for the rest of the world, re-
gardless of circumstances"
Here you have your all-sufficient John
Bull pictured and an argument for home
rule that could scarcely be more peril
nent and suggestive.
President PIN in his address first dis
cussed the questions connected with the
steady decline which has taken place in
the population of Ireland during the
last half century and the present social
and industrial condition of those who
still remain here.
"With entire TRUTH" says a journal
commenting on his figures, che pointed
out how terrible has been the loss which
the nation has incurred since the days
in which the trials and terrors of the
great famine forced our peasantry to
enter on the deplorable exodus which
has continued ever since. Throughout
all the years since 1847 there has not
been one in which the emigrant ships
failed to bear away across the oceans
the conscripts of poverty who fill the
ranks OF England's enemies in distant
lands" ..,.
In giving the significant figures re-
garding the past and present populations
Of Ireland Mr.. PIN shows how steady
and continued the reduction has been
Between
1841 and 81 population was re-
| duceQ. ................... 1,622,73Q
1851 and 'o1.................. 753,41S
1861 and '71.................. 386,5oo
1871 and 'o1.................. 23T541
1881 and OIL. 47o,o86
That is, in fifty years the population
has suffered diminution of $40, ,347.
Gas, however" adds Mr.. PIN, "the pop
ulation is estimated to have been about
10000 greater in 1845 than at the CEN
sus of 1841 and the population in the
year 1893 was estimated to be about
100000 less than at the census of 1891,
we have, therefore, loss of population
from the famine to the present time of
3,85o,ooo persons"
Surely such tale of depopulation, de-
spair and expatriation cannot be told
OF any other country on earth and the
figures and facts formulate a terrible in
dictment against the system of govern
ment which makes it possible.
Here is for the statistical sociologist
an interesting comparative table of the
population of, ireland at different
periods:
Estimated 1901 ...............5,216,3 ,32o
| Census 1841 ..................8,1
Estimated 1845 .................8,2o 5,o6I
Census 1891 ..................4, ..4,7o4,7so
Estimated 1898 ....-......... .4,543,782
The official enumeration of emigrants
dates from May I, 1851, but it is esti-
mated that for the ten years previous to
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