The Irish standard., 1903-12-19
one finds the larger part of the bust

/, one finds the larger part of the bust
ness controlled by foreign agencies.
Even in the limited manufacturing in
dustries which still exist many of the
most important put ban on the EN-
ployment of Irishmen, if Catholics, in
any important position.
The professions offer surprisingly
small field in Ireland compared with
America or England. a recent return
showed a total number of medical
practitioners at little over thirty-two
hundred in a population as large as
that of Pennsylvania.
The legal profession, if exercised
without government appointments of
some kind, is even less promising than
the medical. The courts are almost
empty of business, and it is suggestive
to visit the -Four Courts any day and
note the petty character of the disputes
which occupy the twelve superior
judges, whose salaries average $4,000
each. 10 win profitable income at
the bar by simple talent seems almost
imnossihle in Ireland to-day. 1t is
Sssisaaiy much rarer than it was fifty
or hundred years ago, and the pro-
fessional character of the Irish bar has
fallen accordingly. Still the cost of
admission either to the legal or medi-
cal profession in Ireland is higher
both in time and money than any
where in the United States.
For art or literature as profitable
professions there has been literally no
encoura cement in ireland during the
last forty years. Such as elect to pur-
sue them as a means of living are
forced to emigrate of necessity. The
press alone furnishes some employ
ment, but it is not of a character to
attract bright intellects in any num-
Der. A journal of the standing of the
old Dublin nation would be impossible
in Ireland at the present moment.
Ireland is the one country in the
civilized world whose population is
dwindling, and it has been diminish
ing without respite for nearly sixty
years. Roughly reckoning, when Vic
toria assembled the throne the Irish
formed one-third of the population of
the British islands. To-day those in
Ireland are scarcely one-eighth of the
total. The growth on one side of the
Irish sea and the decrease on the
other have been going on for we'll nigh
sixty years, and they still continue.
What makes the depopulation of
Ireland more remarkable is that every
other European land has steadily
gained during the last sixty years.
Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Italy,
Spain, Russia and even Turkey are all
more populous now than fifty years
ago. Even the so-called kingdom of
Poland, which shares with Ireland the
disadvantages Of foreign rule, has
doubled its population and more than
quadrupled its wealth since 1S41. Ire
land then numbered eight millions,
and Poland little over four. At the
present day the kingdom of Poland
has eight millions and Ireland less
than five.
Even the Christian provinces under
the sultan's rule in Europe have
grown in inhabitants, while Ireland
has been depopulated during a con-
tinuous period of more than fifty
years.
The famine caused by the potato
disease continued three years, but it's
cessation with 1913 brought no stop to
the decrease in the population of Ire
land. 1t had fallen to six and half
millions in 1851; it was only five and
three-quarter millions in 1861, five and
half in 1871, five millions one hun,
dred and fifty thousand in 1881, under
five millions at the close of the next
decade, and a little over four and a
half millions at the close Of the cen
fury. The decrease still continues,
and one of the characteristic scenes of
Irish life witnessed by King Edward
on his last visit to Cork was the de-
parture of tug from Queenstown
laden with Irish emigrants for the
United States. The king is said to
have been much struck by the sight
The lack of capital in Ireland as
compared with other king
countries is undoubtedly a leading
cause Of the lack of employment
which renders it impossible for &c
| many Irishmen to find livelihood al
home. The excessive taxation i'm
posed by England is without question
the chief cause of that poverty in Ire
land generally. About three-fourths