The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-02-22
AGAINST IRISH EMIGRATION.

| AUAkNSk xkkSn 0P1lONA l4ONs
Before the end Of this month we
shall be fairly into '"The Emigration
Season." says the Dublin Irish People
of February 8. Thousands of eyes
will be turned towards Queenstown
that fatal port so APPLY named in hon
or of the lady who was Sovereign of
England during the most horrible and
disastrous period of Irish history.
Thousands Of foolish young hearts
will beat faster at the thought Of
wealth and luxury across the ocean.
And thousands Of passage tickets"
will be purchased month after month
| to the benefit of the steamship COM
panies, the joy of Ireland's enemies,
| and the destruction Of Ireland.
There have been three cardinal evils
affecting this country for the past
three generations. All are closely con-
nectcd. They are English Landlord
ism, Drink and Emigration. And of
these the greatest is Emigration.
We are fighting landlordism, and we
know it will be beaten. 1t used to be
the fashion some years ago to hold
the landlords responsible for the curse
of emigration-nnd very justly so ut
the period, because landlordism was.
to all outward seeming. us impreg-
nable a fortress as any human insti-
tuition ever devised, and no one
dreamt OF challenging the right of
the English garrison to ''tle first
thereof" All this has been changed.
The landlords are trembling in the
depth of their hearts. They know
they must gO-they have been forced
to admit it. And their only hope of
a rcpricve lies in the fact that the
curse of emigration, brought about
by themselves, has been adopted as
n national custom, and that in the
course of decade or so there will be
no need to drive them forth, because
no one will remain to dispute their
title, and that of their dependents and
satellites, to full and free possession
of the land Of Ireland.
Thirty years ago-twenty years ago
Or even ten years ago-the emigrant
was an object Of pity. Now he is Il
little better than cowardly criminal.
Then the hoy" bound for America
was sad and broken-spirited. He
parted from his family, and friends.
and country with regret, and "the last
glimpse Of Erin was caught through
eyes dimmed with honest tears.
Now he cheerfully sets out on his
voyage, utterly ignorant Of what lies
before him, knocking Cnwardly if not
outwardly) the grief of his relatives,
and dancing on the liners deck to the
strains of German conccrtina played
by some emigrant girl as ignorant and
careless as himself--and hundred
fold more foolish. Boys and girls
alike seem anxious to drown "the still
small voice of conscience" in out
bursts of senseless hilarity.
We have written increasingly for
nearly three years against this hor-
rible practice of flying from Ireland
as If it were plaguc-spot accursed of
God and man. And we have not writ
ten wholly in vain, because the emf
grant is no longer Il pitiful victim to
be viewed through the spectacles of
siclily sentimentalism. He is merely
deserter from his country's flag, just
ut the hour when he is needed most.
If the crusade against emigration is
to be effective, we must enlist the
sympathies and active support of our
eXiled kinsmen ut the same time that
we are spreading the light amongst
the people ut home.
The ''passage-ticket'' that comes
across the Atlantic and finds its way
from the British post office into the
dwelling Of an Irish farmer or laborer
is document more to be dreaded
than a notice Of eviction. The cvictor
may be fought and beaten. Misery,
despair-in too many thousands of
cases, fate worse than the most
horrible Of deaths-have been vainly
struggled against by the victim to
whom that fatal ticket" was har-
binger OF woe. We make no doubt our
ENJOYS now in America will refer elo-
quenuy aud often to this matter dur.
ing their progress through the Unireu
States.
But we ask the 1rish-American pa
pers to back our appeal to the Irish
Americans. We ask the lrish-Ameri-