The Irish standard., 1904-05-14
SCOTCH-lRlSH AGAIN.

country, and these occasions are fire.
quent, there is an attempt on the part
of those who hate the Irish nationality
or the religion of the Irish people to
create the impression that the persons
so succeeding are only part Irish, or
that they are Protestant Irish. They
are spoken of as Scotch-Irish or Pres
byterian Irish. The evident purpose
of those entertaining these notions Of
race and religious bigotry being to con-
vey the idea that the persons so sue
ceeding did so in spite of the disad-
vantage of their environment. And so
it is that we find many great men in
politics, literature, science, war and
business spoken of us Scotch-Irish or
some other kind of Irish. In fact,
when nothing better can be done they
are spoken Of as Norman-Irish or
Danish-Irish. This mischievous at
tempt to discredit as much as possible
the Irish race is not new. Attention
is here drawn to it because of con-
troversial correspondence which has
been appearing for some time past in
some of the large eastern papers, not
ably the New York Sun. That paper
very tactfully at least avoids taking
any part in the controversy, but throws
boquets ut all the Irish-pure Irish,
Scotch-Irish and every other kind of
Irish. That ought to satisfy the Irish
to be sure. 1t says:
incidentally, our correspondents
quarrel over the proportionate share of
the Catholic Irish and the Presbyterian
Irish in the securing of the independ-
ence of this republic in the war Of the
Revolution. 1t is an idle controversy.
Both rendered splendid service in that
contest, from both have come many
Of the men most distinguished in our
history, and all people Of Irish lineage
and of every lineage here have reason
for pride and gratitude because Of their
achievements. Few American families
coming down from that colonial period
have not in them some infusion of Irish
blood, whether of the one strain or the
other. If you strike at either, you
may hit some of your own ancestors.
After the Revolution, during the
period from 1920 to 1850, there came
to the United States from Ireland more
than million immigrants. In 1920
the populatio of the Union was only
9,G33,S22, and in 1850 it was only
23, 191,S76. How great an influence on
our American stock in those days this
large infusion of Irish blood had is
thus made manifest. 1t affected the
race extraction Of the population of
every state. From 1920 to 1900 the
aggregate of the Irish immigration was
nearly four millions. They were peo-
pie Of vigorous, enduring and pro-
life race, whether Catholics or Pres
byterians, of Scotch or of Irish descent,
and they and their descendants make
up now very great part of the popu-
lation.
In the city of New York alone, in
1900, there We're 727,4G4 people of
Irish birth and their children native to
this country. Add the whole number
of the inhabitants of Irish descent
whose lineage goes back to the earlier
Irish immigrants, and how many of
the 3,437,202 inhabitants in 1900 were
without some trace of that blood?
Take the social circle in New York
which is Of most fashionable promi-
nence, and how many of the families
in it are without some of these foreign
strains? Look around the box circle
at the opera and count up. How many
of the old stock of New Workers, Dutch
or English, do You find among them?
Scarcely is there one in which there
is not some infusion Of this immigrant
blood. "Paddy?" He is everywhere.
A family of wholly colonial lineage is
practically unknown.
The people who emigrated to this
country were not hyphenated Irish.
They We're just plain Irish. They came
to this country in search Of the liberty
to learn and the freedom of endeavor
which was denied to them by their
English masters but which had been
literally bestowed upon the so-called
Scotch-Irish. They came to this coun-
try without means and in many cases
without any education. Necessarily
they became the "hewers of wood and
the bearers of water" They have adj
| vanced in the social plane. They no
longer dig the bitches, that work is
given over to "Tony" They have ad-
vanced into the professional and bust
ness world, and by no stretch of the
truth can the "Scotch-Irish racket be
made to apply to these people. The
Presbyterian-Irish contention works nc
better. The emigrants referred to by
the Sun have dotted our large cities
with their churches, hospitals and
schools, and these institutions are
Catholic, not Presbyterian. No possible
good can come to any one from this
bootless contention. The plain truth
is that the Irish emigrants have sue.
ceeded in this country without sacri.
flee of their religion and without loss
Of their nationality to a greater extent
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