The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-09-23
IN THE OLD LAND.
Ireland's Present Condition, az Viewed
by Traveller.

Ireland's Present Condition, az Viewed
by Traveller.
Brother Kevin, G. S. c., who has
been travelling in Ireland for the last
year in the interests of Notre Dame
University, returned to the University
a couple of weeks ago. He was ac-
companied by several candidates who
expect to enter the Congregation Of
the Holy Cross. In an interview he
told of the poverty and decay through
out the island, attributing the cause to
the loss of national autonomy or home
rule. In telling of the conditions he
said:
my heart was torn when l landed
in Ireland, after an absence of twenty
years, at the sight that came before
me. In every direction, as far as the
eye can reach, there is seen only ruin
and desolation. The raids Of Crom-
we'll were terrible, but after his mean
work the land was not even SO bare
as it is today. Millions of the Irish,
young men and women, especially,
have left their native land during the
last quarter of century and the drain
on the population continues.
Last year about 10000 emigrants
sailed from Queenstown. America Is
the paradise for most of these. here
nearly every family has a represen-
tative, and that one is doing his best
to bring his kinsmen TO our shores.
i; is heartrending to travel through
this once beautiful and happy land.
Each town contributes it's quota of
young men and women who so to seek
kinder and more generous father
land, while every railroad station
seems filled with weeping mothers
and sisters and saddened relatives.
"rhe nation, that is the rank and
file, are discouraged, are losing heart.
Fields which once yielded a magni-
ficent harvest are now lying idle for
want of help, or are turned into pas
ture lands. AS one travels along, one
sees dilapidated old buildings and
foundations where cottages once
stood, but which were battered down
after an eviction by an English land
owner when the tenant could not pay
out more rent than was actually got
ten from the produce Of the land.
1.-THE home of the Irish peasant is a
one-story hut with a thatched or cabin
roof, usually built Of stone. There
are, as rule, four small windows.
Hardly any Improvements are made
on these, for II there should be, the
landlord would soon feel obliged to
raise the rent. 1t is true that parlia-
ment passed law permitting an
Irishman to own land, but this law
does not mean much because, in the
first place, few landlords will sell,
and, in the second place, after hun
dreds Of years Of oppression, the peo-
pie have no money with which to buy.
"The people Of Ireland used to do a
great deal Of farming, but now the
land is given up for the most part to
dairy uses. This is due to the want
Of labor to cultivate the fields. An
other regrettable fact is that the
mines are not being worked on &C.
count of this same scarcity of labor.
The English mine owners find that
they cannot compete with markets
where labor Is plentiful.
"The schools OF Ireland are very
poor. They have poor teachers and
poor buildings and few people can af-
ford to send their children. They
must stay at home either from want
Of clothing or food, or to aid in getting
living for the family.
III the emigration could only be
stopped and If these people who are
in the country could be kept there, l
believe Ireland would cease to go
backward. The thing they need is
their own parliament, where they may
make their own laws. This is the
first requisite.