The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-15
CENTURY IRELAND
How It Appears to an Irishman Who Visits It After Twenty Years
 Absence,

It was after an interval or twenty
 years that the writer of these remarks revisited Ireland this past summer. Ina. period has passed since he first qultteu his native land to begin the struggle or life in distant one. The question ineV- itably forces itself on the returning Irishman whether the new generation mas advanced, morally, intellectually and ma terially beyond the generation Of lrish- men which was young with himself more than twenty golden years ago Furtner' he is drawn to compare the Ireland ne finds himself in to-day. with other lands at present whose condition 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 commer- cial activity modern Ireland Is far indeed behind New York or Pennsylvania or Cal ifornia. The older parts of Dublin and Cork or Limerick have scarcely changed their appearance in forty years; indeed, their principal buildings date back be- yond the century just ended. An exam ination of the numerous public edifices of Dublin; its courts of law, its custom house, it's national bank, its cathedrals, reveals the strange fact that more than nine-tenths of those in the first class date from the eighteenth century, be- fore the Union.
 In manufactures and business activity the contrast Is even more noticeable be- tween America and Ireland There is a fair amount of business activity in the streets 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 numerous 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 and, generally speaking, the commercial pros- perity of Ireland, compared with that of most American communities, is small in- deed.
 One is struck, however, at landing in Cork or Dublin from America by the cheerful and contented look on most faces. The workingmen may be poorer than their brethren in America or Eng land, but if their faces can be trusted they seem decidedly happier. A fine Sun day in Dublin is a revelation of orderly enjoyment on the part of all classes that can hardly be paralleled elsewhere. Quarrelling and rowdyism seem un- known, though the interest in outdoor sports Is of the keenest. The general kindly civility of the population is re- markable, and especially the absence of the profanity and indecency in speech which one hears so constantly in Ameri- can cities.
 The absence of manufacturing or com mercial industries in the country itself deprives the Irish farmer or farm hand of any chance of other employment ex- cept at the price of repatriation. The | factories that exist are already supplied with operatives and Jew new ones have been begun. The ship building and linen | trade of Ulster, the tweeds and serges of | Munster and the other Irish manufac- | lures, arg too small to supply work for surplus farm labor from the country. At most they can barely provide for those already engaged !n them. Irish manu- factures, like the Irish population have been steadily cwindling during the last sixty years and, in fact, their decay began somewhat earlier. Everywhere through the land one notes deserted mills and factories. The ship yards of Dublin | and Portlaw, which once gave employ ment to thousands, are now deserted. In every Irish city one finds the larger part of the business controlled by foreign | agencies Even in the limited manufac- turing industries, which still exist, many of the most important put a ban on the employment of Irishmen, if Catholics, in any important position.
 | The professions offer a surprisingly small field Tn Ireland compared with | American or England. A recent return showed total number of medical prac- | titioners at little over thirty-two hun dred lE population as large as that of l PennsvlVania. It is safe to say an Amer ican community would give profitable em- | ployment to eight times the number. | Nevertheless the average incomes of Irish | doctors are very small.
 The legal profession, if exercised with out 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 s4la- ries average $20000 each. It looks as though the whole amount of the civil | claims adjudicated in each year were less than the amount paid to the judges | alone. To win profitable income at the | bar by simple talents seems almost i'm | possible in Ireland today. It is certainly | much rarer than it was fifty or hum dred years ago. and the professional char acter of the Irish bar has fallen accord 1 ingly. Still the cost of admission, either | to the legal or medical profession in Ire | land, is higher both in time and money | than anywhere in the United States. | Whether this be an evil or a good 1t IS | not necessary to discuss here It is only mentioned as an illustration of the d ff- 1 culties in the way of finding employment which confront Irishmen of the pre- sent l day in Ireland more than in other lands.
 For art or literature as profitable pro. fessions there has been literally no en- couraRement in Ireland during the last forty years. Such as elect to pursue them as a means of living are forced to emi grate of necessity. The press alone fur nishes some employment, but it is not of a character to attract bright intellects in any number A journal of the standing of the old Dublin Nation would be i'm possible in Ireland at the present mo- | ment
 Ireland is the one country in the civil ized world whose population is dwinSllng and it has been diminishing without re- | spite for nearly sixty years. Roughly reckoning when Victoria ascended the throne the Irish formed one-third of the population of the British Islands Today those in Ireland are scarcely one-eightn of the total The growth on one side Of the Irish Sea and the decrease on the other have been going on for weii-nign sixty years, and they still continue; on- til that condition ceases 1t Is idle 10