New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-27
SOME IRISH NOTES.
COUNTY CORK OvERsHADOwED WITH
POVERTY-STEADY DECLINE OF
FARMING INDUSTRIES-THE
CHIEF IRISH ANOMALY.

| my ears nave grown accustomed W iisi"s III
donations and drawing tones and for this rea-
son the brogue suddenly heard in Cork has
seemed homelike Certainly l have had to
pinch myself in order to be convinced that
was not back in New-York listening to the
newsboys' cries or buttonholing a municipal
statesman in City Hall Park. With this music
in the air as / have stroed through the streets
OF the city and gone far afed into the country,
| the years since / last caught a glimpse OF
Sandy Hook have been "a mist that rolled
away"
| The ears not the eyes, minister to this home
like feeling OF an old New-Yorker. Outwardly
| there is no resemblance between the two cities
| Cork has only two broad streets and one DIT
| OF a boulevard" but Is a network OF curving
| and zigzag lanes wthou. high BUILDING any
where In sight except the English cathedral
| There are apple stands at every corner. and
electric cars are trundling noisy through
| streets which are neither we'll paved nor sys-
| tematically cleaned but the town Is dull by day
| and dark at night, and is Swallowed at all times
by AFFECT poverty such as is seldom witnessed
In the Old World and never In America.
At the Roman Catholic Cathedral yesterday
admission to the main body of the nave at
| midday service reserved for decentiy
dressed worshippers who could pay penny at
opened without charge to swarm Of men,
women and children in rags. Hundreds Of them
in bare feet. and all OF them were dirty
| and frowsy. l have never so many signs
Of squalor and hopeless extremity In any other
European town That was characteristic
revelation Of the poverty OF Cork: and there
were similar side shows at every turning OF the
narrow lanes where the working people lived In
drest penury. with their children in rags
| swarming in the cutters.
SIGNS OF WEALTH. TOO.
There are signs OF wealth and prosperity as
| we'll as Of poverty In this old Irish town. The
English cathedral is splendid structure, with
| three lofty spires; the courthouse Is well de-
signed and spacious building; there are broad
Quays the river 'front.' there Is beautiful
| college green, and there is the elm shaded
| Mardyke Walk which Thackeray admired as a
genuine bit of rus in urbe. The scenic setting
Of the city, moreover with the double armed
| river and the environment Of verdant hillside
| and meadow, is lovely. There is also an under
tone Of rollickng good humor and vvacity In
the life OF the town. When all these generali-
cations have been made, the deepest impression
which the visitor receives is one Of the pathos
of Irish poverty. The mass Of the people seem
to be poorer here than in any Continental city.
|
more hopeless
When one goes aHeld in County Cork, there
is similar evidence of the exhaustion OF Irish
resources. The stone cabins by the roadside
are small and unfit for habitation. There are
| no flowers in the doOryards. The poorest Eng
| lsh farm cottage has its blooming in the
| windows and It's doorway bordered with Ivy.
| The Irish cottager has neither hOllyhocks nor
| sunhowers to brighten the front Of his home;
the walls may be whitewsshed but the roof
needs mending and the woodwork has gone TN
painted for years and the patches Of potatoes
! and cabbages behind the house and the focks
| OF chickens and geese in front OF 1t show how
! scanty are the resources for feeding the brood
| OF children within. An English road is the poor
| mans pleasure ground which he helps to keep
| in order by his tidness and painstaking
care in using 1t Alright. An Irish country road
| Is a common where horses. cows. sheep, geese
and goats turned loose. ecause there Is
not room for them on the cottagers own land,
and because they can be fed at public expense.
County Cork Is one Of the most fertile sections
of Ireland, with soil and climate suitable for
tillage a large scale; but the bulk Of the land
has reverted TO pasturage, AMI less of II is cul-
tivated every succeeding year. There are broad
sweeps OF meadow and waste land, with here and
there field of oats or a patch Of potatoes
| There Is little barley and less rye and wheat.
Even the potato acreage is steadily declining.
and there is little market gardening One-half
Of the land is in pasture and only small frac-
| ton OF the remainder is under tillage. On the
large estates there are droves Of horses. cattle.
sheep and pigs. and the tenant farmers are
| mainly employed in selling milk TO the cream
cries Cork having become the most important
butter market in the United Kingdom. Stock
dot 70
only profitable agricultural industries; but ten
| ant farmers with their small holdings, cannot
! do much with them. AS for the laborer there Is
| no employment for them In either of these
| branches OF agriculture and with tillage stead
| fly declining their condition is constantly chang
ing for the worse, especially as the processes OF
! sowing, reapng and binding Of the chief crop,
oats, are now carried on with machinery.
LABORER'S PLANT.
One Of these laborers opened his heart to me
as halted in front OF a desolate stone hut one
afternoon within ten miles Of Cork. There Is
no longer any work for us here he said Ma
chinery does It all in the oat fields and there Is
nothing for us but stock raising When harvest
time comes thousands of Irish laborers go over
to England because there Is field work there
and none here We cannot keep soul and body |
together here. and growing poorer every |
year, II that is possible Every irish laporer
who is not chained here by the necessity or
doing what he can TO feed wife and children IS
leaving the old country and going to some place
where he can find work The only hope for |
those who are forced to stay here and starve
lies in the chance OF getting work on the roads |
The local government is now in Irish hands. and |
with the new county councils in power the |
laborers may get something out Of It when the |
roads are improved"
reminded HIM that the money for improving |
the roads would have to come out Of the rates
and that the tenant farmers would have to |
vide II Themselves under the Local Govern |