The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-06-24
ENGLISH GOVERNMENT IN IRE
LAND

(From the Dublin Weekly Freeman.)
- On the order for the second reading
| of the finance bill in the house Of COM
mons on Monday evening the member
| for North Dublin moved his amendment
! regarding the continued injustice to Ire
| land of the financial arrangement be-
/ tween Great Britain and this country.
/ Mr.. Clancy again, very properly. re-
minded the imperial parliament of some
! of the historical aspects of the case. He
charged that the returns presented to
! the financial relations commission were
! deliberately prepared by the treasury
in order to make out that Ireland was
| paying two millions less than she was
actually paying In the last hundred
years. he also pointed out. Ireland
actual contribution to the treasury has
increased from two and half millions
to twelve millions. Notwithstanding
Lord Conreagh's promise that. in the
case of the union there would be no
augmentation of the debt and no in
crease of taxation.
Mr.. Arthur Elliott. an eminent au-
thority on many things but not on Ire
land. challenged Mr.. Clancy's statement
that the resources of Ireland were de-
Ginning, inStancing the increased bal
anceS in the savings banks. But il has
been Shown again and again that, in an
agricultural country like Ireland this
is only sign of stagnation. AS for
the people flying from the country,
surely it was better that they should
leave for a new country than live in
poverty at home. But why should they
have to live in poverty at home, in a
fertile country like Ireland. unless the
system of government carried on in this
country at present is what Mr.. Mac
Neill during the debate, described as
"a cowardly, gigantic, financial swim
dIe?"
The chancellor of the eXchequer made
no attempt to meet the arguments that
had been put forward by Mr. Clancy
and the Irish members. The house. he
said. had not yet heard what it actual
~ was that Ireland contributed toward
the joint expenditure of the two coun
tries. That is true. The accounts are
kept in such a way that no one we'll
knows except the clerks of the treas
ury the taxable capacity of Ireland.
The debate was raised to it's right
significant proportions by Mr.. Dillon,
who at once met the main proposition of
the chancellor of the eXchequer by
pointing out that, while it is now ar
gued that every individual under the
present system of taxation in Ireland
pays 60 As Cd per annum, and in Eng
land 6 rs 0d, when the act of union
was carried the English paid close on
ga per head, whereas the Irish paid
only Us. Since the union, as he showed,
the wealth per head in England has
enormously increased, with the result,
notwithstanding great increases in tax
alton, that the taxation per head has
fallen.
In Ireland, however, during the same
period. the wealth per head has consid
a,,o bIy daorna sod and ''tbp t9VatinO has
increased three-fold."
The truth is. that when ireland was
fastened by the links of the union to a
great commercial and manufacturing
country. she was bound to suffer. 1t
was prophesied by the ablest opponents
of the treaty of 1900; it was put into
cutting epigram by DR.. Johnson. Wher-
ever, as MI Dillon said the interests
of Great Britain came into collision
with those of Ireland. the interests of
Ireland went to the wall
The case of Scotland has been men
toned. and Mr.. Dillon agreed that
Scotland had the same grievance in this
matter as Ireland. But it is necessary,
as he pointed out, for the politician and
the statesman to look at the broad re-
suits of politics. Scotland has flour
ished under the union. Her population
has increased three-fold and her wealth
Ieil-IOIUsf Jul POfdie'NA mas Ae'Ai
en- by 80 per cent" The wealth of Ire
land had fallen with her population.
Mr. Dillon quoted with telling effect
Lord Dunraven's statement in his
pamphlet that year by year the coun-
try has been sinking deeper in misfor-
tune. and now it has reached the point
where it must be decided whether the
downward tendency must continue to
its inevitable end" The member for
Mayo pointed out that these words were
written after all the fiummery we have
listened to for the last ten years about
agricultural department remedies. and
the various bogus suggestions made for
dealing with the Irish problem"
Lord Dunraven, who stood aloof from
the Irish financial relations movement,
is now convinced, as Mr.. Dillon puts it.
that ireland is going to bankruptcy.
1.-The people are leaving Ireland he
said. because Ireland is being ruined.
The wages in ireland are starvation
wages. and the one industry left is be-
ing destroyed. The people are going
despite your land acts, your agrtcut-
tural departments, your itinerant in
structors, and all the other apparatus
of humbug which you have introduced
into Ireland The people are clearing
out of the country as if it were struck
bv a. pestilence: and that pestilence IS
your financial system and evil govern