The Irish standard., 1904-09-03
1reland's Population Now Less Than Scot
lands. Sixty Years Ago it Was
Three Times as Great
In These Sixty Years 100000 Have Left
their Native Shores, Almost AS
Many as Now Remain.

| their native shores-a population al
most as great as that which now re-
mains. The Irish who emigrated were
the pick of the nation. 1t was the
men and the women with the initial
i've, with courage, with hopefulness,
who left the Emerald isle to seek a
new home in America, OF to begin life
anew under more favorable condi-
tions in England, Scotland or the
British colonies. 1t was the young
people who left, and it is the old peo-
pie who remain. AS a consequence
the birthrate in Ireland is low. The
people who are capable of giving birth
are for the most part out of the
country, so that for every hundred
births among given number of Eng
lishmen OF Scotchmen there are only
about so births among the same num-
ber of Irish.
For the same reason, VIZ. that Ire
land is overburdened with old men
and old women, the death rate is
higher in Ireland than Scotland or
England. The difference between the
births and deaths leave but small
margin for any increase in the popu-
lation. The marriage rate is also low
there being only five marriages per
l,OOO in Scotland. Even without emf
grafton it would be difficult for the
country to keep up to it's present popu-
lation. The bad conditions which
formerly prevailed, however, still
continue to a considerable extent,
and the emigration and the constant
drain on the population still go on.
Perhaps much Of the poverty of the
Irish is due to the fact that, unlike
England, Wales and Scotland, it has
not an industrial but an agricultural
population. Only out of every II
males in England and Wales is en-
ployed in agriculture, while in Ireland
the proportion is over in 8. Over
half of all the males in England,
Wales and Scotland are employed in
industrial enterprises, but in Ireland
the proportion is less than five. Un-
like England and Scotland, Ireland in
the main is a country without great
cities. There are, of course. Dublin
and Belfast, with populations over
100000 each, but with the exception
OF these two places and of Cork there
is no city or town in Ireland with q
population as great as 10000.
There are many other signs of the
poverty of the Irish population, even
if that population were not perfectly
obvious. In the United Kingdom there
is an income tax which falls on all in
comes of over $3.50, but although
there are many individual rich men in
ireland, the income from this source
from the Emerald Isle is only one
and one-twenty-second part of that
from the whole kingdom. In Ireland
the railroad traffic, both as regards
freight and passengers, is very much
less than in England and Scotland,
The number Of letters carried. the
number of kilograms sent, the tonnage
of shipping, the number and size of
| the factories, the amount of coal used.
the quantity of imports and exports,
are all very much less than thew
should be in proportion to the popula-
ton.
The taxation, which in the United
Kingdom falls heavily on the poorer
classes Of the population, bears with
extreme weight on Ireland, which has
an undue proportion of poor people.
and while doubtless the amount Of
wealth in the country increases the
poverty of the people, as compared
Will, that Of the English or the Scotch.
is constantly and continually increas.
ing.
When we speak of the Irish as be-
ing an agricultural nation we must
not confound the situation there with
that Of our country. The 1rishman
who tills the soil is not in the position
of an Independent farmer holding his
100 or 15O acres, but is rather a peas
ant with precarious holding Of a
piece Of land small In extent. and