The Irish standard., 1904-09-03

In crossing the narrow sea which
separates Great Britain from ireland
one feels that one is migrating to an
entirely different country, says John
Mitchell in the Baltimore Sun. AL
though England and Ireland are under
the same government, although the
same language is spoken and the
same laws followed, there could be no
wider difference than between these
two lands. Like England, Ireland is
beautiful, and one looks out of the
and smiling valleys, but here the re-
semblance ends. While in England
o: sees everywhere signs of compara-
tive prosperity, the basis of Irish life
is its poverty and misery.
Everywhere one notes evidence of
this obvious poverty. In the cities,
as in the country districts, the people
seem poor and the INDECENT population
is large. Outside Of Belfast one sees
Lut few industries, and in the small
towns through which one passes the
people seem povertystricken and in
many cases wretched. One notes the
comparative absence of large factories
employing thousands of men, of mines,
Of iron works and textile. mills, of
large, thriving cities with great indus
trial populations. The people them
selves seem to lack initiative and
spirit. They seem oppressed, and, de-
spite certain occasional gaiety, there
appears to be among them spirit of
sadness which manifests itself even in
their songs.
Ireland has suffered and is still suf-
fering from the evils of the last $50
years. During the eighteenth century
the English government adopted to-
ward it somewhat the same policy that
it sought to adopt toward the Ameri-
can colonies. The industrial develop
ment of Ireland was crushed out by
the commercial policy of England,
and the industries of the country died
under the influence Of the competi-
tion of its stronger rival. The Irish,
driven out of industry, forced
into agriculture, and even re they
lost ground, especially after the
adoption Of free trade, which removed
the duties from foreign grains. In the
competition with the great grain pro-
ducing countries Of America. Russia
and India, Ireland was left far behind,
and the failure of the potato crop 60
years ago crushed the last element of
hopefulness out of the people. The
peasants were ground down between
the upper milestone of falling prices
for their produce and the neither mill
stone Of rising OF, at least, stationery
rents for their lands, and as each year
passed the condition of the population
grew steadily worse.
The result was that the Irish were
squeezed out of Ireland. Hundreds of
Thousands died during the famine of
1916, when the food, for want of which
the people were starving, was shipped
out of the island. Those who could
sought refuge in America, and during
lhe last sixty years a steady stream
of emigration has poured out of the
country. At every cencus the popula-
tion has decreased. In 1841 there were
almost eight and quarter millions of
inhabitants in the land. At the pres.
ent time there are less than four and
a half millions. Sixty years ago Ire
land had over three times the popula-
.tion of Scotland. Today its population
* less than that of the northern PENN
sula. Sixty years ago there were over
half as many Irishmen as there were
Englishmen and Welshmen. Today
the population of Ireland is less than
one-seventh Of that of England and
Wales. There are today in Ireland
fewer people by almost million than
there were hundred years ago, at the
time of the union.
The country naturally shows all the
depressing signs Of a depletion abso-
iutely unprecedented in the history Of
the worlds migrations. In these 60
years over 1000, 900 Irishmen have left