The Irish standard., 1903-09-19

peat"d to him they had spent more
than sufficient time and energy in
talking in general way about this
subject of emigration, and they should
settle down now to real practical hard
work, for, as had been said, the work
was as difficult as it was noble and
national. On the one hand they had
to remember this mucIl-in every
movement with which the history Of
our country had been filled in modern.
as we'll as in recent periods. there
was already Il question of some meas
urc that was deemed more or less
useful ana more or less advantageous
for the good of the people, not a uues-
tion of some thing that would bcncft
this, that. or the other claSs; no, it
was simply a question of the very
existence of the nation If the pres
cnt drain was to 30 on much longer.
then the condition Of the nation would
he irrcdccmablr. In 1880 n census
was taken of the Irish people then
living in America. and the number
was hScrrtaincd to he 1.SS5.OOO. In
the twenty years which had since
elapsed the return showed that some
100000 persons or thcrcahouts must
have gone. He did not know precisely
what the proportion would be of those
who went to the United States: but
he found that in 1901, out of the 80,
GOO who had cmigrntcd. 81 600 went TO
the United States. Now. if they took
it that in the period to which he had
referred 100000 of our country men
ana women of the rmyrnnt body went
to America, and add that to- the L.
SS''W"'. they had 5S5,O0O-and he
supposed also they might take it that
the number had not decreased by the
influx of timc-:lnd if that he so they
found, taking the population of Ire
Iahd at the present moment to be
| something like .l.4OO,OOO. that for
| every hundred Irishmcn living in Ire
| land there were sixty living in
America. If that be the fact it srg-
gcSts something that made the diff
| Guilty of the position vastly greater
still, for they knew that as to nine
out of every ten people who left the
country it was highly probable that
they would bring over to America, in
one shape or another, one or two or
three others of their friends or their
iVnc--in MT T,.n1
ing shifted to America. Going to
| Amcrica, therefore, no longer meant
going from home, but in n great many
cases towards home, and that was the
explanation of the wonderful change
that had taken place in the whole con-
duct of elnigrants leaving Ireland to-
day as compared with what it was
thirty or forty years since. There was
a complete absence of those manifes-
tations of great outward sorrow-in-
decd, in some cases there were mani
fcstations of positive joy on leaving.
IL that be the condition of things it
was high time, if they wanted to
save the nation, to try and do some
practical work. Now in order to do
| that they had to address themselves
to two distinct classes, and to select
the best way of reaching these two
| classes. They had, first of all, to ad-
dress themselves to the Irish abroad,
and he was inclined to think that that
was matter which had been too long
neglected. They addressed themselves
in the past mainly to the Irish at home;
but now the Irish abroad had large
share in bringing about the emigration
of recent years. They induced their
families in various ways to leave the
country; in some instances they were
holding out the promise of warm
reception in America; in other in
stances their efforts took the more
substantial form of the passage ticket:
and unless they got at the people who
were making the promise to send the
passag ge-ticket they would not. as far
as he knew anything of the question.
get at the root of it at ALL Then how
We're they to get at it? Directly. no
doubt, by addressing them; but indi-