The Irish standard., 1903-12-19
IRELAND OF TODAY.
Interesting Narrative of Conditions
After Twenty Years,

1t was after an interval of twenty
years that the writer of these remarks
revisited Ireland this past summer.
The question inevitably forces itself
on the returning Irishman whether
the new generation has advanced,
morally, Intellectually and materially,
beyond the generation Of Irishment
which was young with himself more
than twenty golden years ago. Fur
Their, he is drawn to compare the Ire
land he finds himself in to-day with
other lands. at present whose condi-
ton is even more familiar to him than
the recollections of young manhood in
his native land.
In material wealth, in public works
and buildings and the hum of COM
mercial activity, modern Ireland is
far, indeed, behind New York or Penn
sylvania or California. The older
parts of Dublin and Cork or Limerick
have scarcely changed their appear
ance in forty years; indeed, their prin-
cipal buildings date back beyond the
century just ended. An examination
of the numerous public editices Of
Dublin, it's courts of law, it's custom
houses, it's national bank, it's cathe-
drals, reveal the strange fact that
more than nine-tenths Of those in the
first-class date from the eighteenth
/. century, before the Union.
In manufactures and bushes activ-
ity the contrast is even more notice
able between America and Ireland.
There is a fair amount of bushes &C.
tivity In the street of the larger cities,
but few great establishments and
fewer manufactures. One is struck by
the number Of foreign agencies in the
business streets, and also by the nu-
merous deserted factories and mills
through the south especially, which
point to former industries gone out of
existence. There is little evidence of
new ones arising to take their place.
One Is struck, however, at landing
in Cork or Dublin from America, by
the cheerful and contented look on
most faces. The workingman may be
poorer than their brethren in America
| or England, but il their faces can be
trusted they seem decidedly happier.
A fine Sunday in Dublin Is a revela-
ton Of orderly enjoyment on the part
of all classes that can hardly be paral-
leled elsewhere. Quarreling and row.
dyism seem unknown, though the in
terest in outdoor sports is of the keen
est. The general kindly civility of the
population Is remarkable, and espe.
cially the absence of the profanity and
indecency in speech which one hears
so constantly in American cities.
The absence Of manufacturing OF
commercial industries in the country
itself deprives the Irish farmer Of
farmland. Of any chance of other en-
ployment except at the price of expa.
triation. The factories that exist are
already supplied with operatives, and
few new ones have been begun. The
shipbhilding and linen trade of Ulster,
the tweeds and serges of Munster and
the other Irish manufacturers, are too
small to supply work for surplus farm
labor from the country. Irish manu-.
features, like the Irish population,
have been steadily dwindling during
the last sixty years, and, in fact, their
decay began somewhat earlier. Every.
where through the land one notes de-
serted mills and factories. The ship
yards of Dublin and Portlaw, which
once gave employment to thousands,
are now deserted. In every Irish city