The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-08-21

over four million Irishman have left
their. native shores--a pc pulation almost!
as great as that which now remains. The
irish who etnlgrated were the pick OF
women Win Initiative, with courage, With
hopefulness, who left! the Emerald Isle
to seek a. new home In America, orYto
begin life anew under more favorable
conditions In England, Scotland, or the
British Colonies 1t was the young peo-
remain. AS aSconsequence, the birth ratio
| In ireland Is low. e The people who are
capable Of giving birth are for the most
part out OF the country, so tiiat for
every hundred Births among a given niim-
Der Of Eng ishmen or Scotchmen there
same number of Irish. For the same
reason, viz. " that Ireland Is overburdened
with old men and old women the death
rate Is higher III Ireland than In SCOT
land or England. The dif fercnce between
the births ana deaths leaves but small
margin for my increase In the populn-
ton The narrlag rate Is also low, there
being only nve marriages per thousand
among the irish population, while there
are seven marriages per thousand In Soot-
land. Even without emf grafton, 1t would
be difficult for the untry to keep up its
which formerly prevail ed, however, still
continue to q considerable extent, and the
emigration and tho constant drain on
the population still go on. II
Perhaps much OF the poverty. OF the
irish Is duo to the fact that, unlike Eng
land. Wales and SCOT land y It has not an
industrial but an agricultural population
Only one out Of every eleven males In
England and Wales Is employed in agri-
culture. whilst IN Ireland ( the portion
lis over one in three. Over a. half of oil
the males ii, Eng land Wales and Scot
land are employed II liz industrial enter
prises, but 4 in Ireland the prop portion Is
less than one in five. Mike England and
Scotland, ireland in the main sis a coun-l
try without great cities There are, Of
course. Dublin and Belfast, with popula-
tions over two hundred thousand each.
but withIthe exception of these two places
and Of Cork there lis no city or town in
ireland with q population as great as
forty thousand d RI re
There { are many other eigns OF the;
!! poverty OF the Irish popula tion, even
il that poverty II wore y not perfectly b.
vious.g IN tho United Il ngd dom there is
an income tax which ia ls s on all In
! many individual rich men in Ireland the
income from this source from the Emer-
aid Isle IS only one-twenty-sec ond part
OF that from the whole Kin gdom. In
Ireland the railroad traffic, both as re-
CARDS freight and passengers, is very
much less than IN lGnG taHo & o. ScoLlslHH.
The number Of letters carried the NUM- I'm
her OF kilograms sent. the tonnage Of
Shipping. the number ana size Sof the fac
tories, the amount OF coal used the
quantity OF imports and exports. are 81 all
very much less than tt hey q sho uld be IN
proportion to the popula ion. sif
The taxation. which in tho United King:
dom falls heavily on the poorer O. asses
Of the population, bears II, ca extreme me
weight on ireland, which has an undue
proportion Of poor people and IS; ~ While Y,
doubtless the amount Of wealth in the
country Increases the poverty Of the PEG
iish o. the q Scotch, 4 Is constantly 4 and
continually increasing. ia
When We speak Of the Irish as being
an agricultural nation, we must not con-
found the situation there With that IN
our country. The ri an who tills the
soil IS not in the posi- ton OF an depend