The Irish standard., 1905-01-07
The CAu>E OF IRISH DISTRESS.

/ III eilC NSSlelu pitil VI tllil country.
10 people not acquainted With the sit
] uation it naturally seems peculiar that
there should be so many seasons of
distress in that country. Ireland is the
one nation in all the world which has
continued to be a beggar, and that
without any fault of the country or it's
people. Given a halfway chance Ire
land would take care Of itself and it's
people. 1t is questionable whether the
present condition of affairs calls for
aid from this country There does not
seem to be any inclination even on the
part of the sufferers themselves to ask
aid from their friends in America.
There seems to be a demand from all
sides that England should be com
PEELED to do her duty as government,
and that England being responsible for
the distress, should relieve that dis
tress without delay. The present con-
ditions in the West of Ireland are not
exceptional. 1t is rather the normal
condition in that country just little
exaggerated; nothing more The real
difficulty in the West of Ireland, aside
from British mis-rule, lies in the fact
that the peasants have not sufficient
ground upon which to raise a living
for their families. In the Western
counties of Ireland the peasantry are
driven to the mountain waste and bog
lands while vast tracts of the very
best land is given up to grazing. The
land upon which the peasants live is
the waste land of the country. From
this land they are supposed not only to
raise sufficient to support themselves,
but they are yearly called upon to pay
large amounts in rent. Even in the
very best of years it has been impossi-
bic to do this. The male members of
the families have followed the custom
of going to England in the harvest time
and raising money with which to pay
the rents on their mountain-holdings.
The last two seasons have been bad
years in England as we'll as in Ireland.
and the result has been not only a
shortage in the crops but shortage
in the amount of money earned on the
outside.
This is an admirable time to test the
efficiency of the recent Land Act.
What is needed is distribution of the
land now held as grazing land, among
the peasants in the West. Mr.. Red
mond, the leader of the Irish Party.
speaking upon this matter at Il great
meeting held in Tipperary on Decem-
Der 18th, said, eff you gave the peo-
pie i'll the congested districts present
of their farms, without charging them
a penny, they could not live upon
them. Therefore, the problem in the
West of Ireland is not the problem of
getting the ownership Of the existing
farms; it is a question Of the re-dis-
trbution Of the land; the re-distribu-
ton Of the population; the breaking up
of the grazing tracts and the enlarge
ment of the holdings. And, say, this
is the most urgent portion of the Irish
land question, and it is all the more
cruel when we remember that, in
very large degree, it was the West by
it's own agitation and by it's sacrifices
that won the Land Act for Ireland.
say deliberately, the distress is not to
be met by applying to the charitable
public whether here or throughout the
world, and hope that no one will put
our country to the humiliation Of ask
ing for money from America to meet
that Distress" These are the words of
the leader of the Irish Party in Parli;-
ment. One who knows the situation
and his people thoroughly, and he not
withstanding the distress now existing,
disco,ntcnances begging and urges
heroic measures. This, no doubt is
the attitude of the great majority of
the suffering peasants themselves; for
nowhere in all Ireland has the agita-
tion for Home Rule been greater than
in the districts where starvation now
exists. 1t seems that it ought to be
about time for the public sentiment Of
the world to insist upon an end of con-
ditions which make it impossible for
an honest, thrifty peasantry to live in
its own country. 1t is useless for Eng
land to longer urge the old excuses.
She can no longer ascribe Ireland's dis
tress to the temperament and habits
Of the people, for the Irish who have
immigl1ted to other countries have
been in the van of the progress of
those countries. In America and Aus
tralia the Irish immigrant holds hi
own in all the fields of labor with
other peoples. In agriculture, in COM
mercc and in the professions he sue
ceeds in every land except his native
land. His failure there must be as
cribed to some other fault than his
own. Indeed it is remarkable fact
that the conditions under which the
Irish peasants have lived have not en-
tirely demoralized that people. People
less hopeful and less patient and with
less faith in an over-ruling Providence
would long ago have surrendered. The
nations of the world can no longer re-
gard England'S treatment of this