The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-02-02
Natural Capacity Of the People, Their Keen
Intelligence and Industry, Have Still
to be Made Effective
Through the Establishment Of Manufactures
and the Readjustnent of the
Burden of Taxation.

All over ireland sounds the hum OF
practical endeavor with an undcrtone
OF almost fcverisll poignancy, says 81
correspondent OF the Chicago Chron~
iclc
There is something In 1t Of the pas
sion of a religious revival expressing
itself i'll the dry terms of Industrial
economics. Nowhere. have / met SO
many nlcn and women SO consumed
with the ambition to do something"
for their country. | dare not say that
their activities are always working
along the soundest lines or that many
of them do not confuse benevolencc
with benefcence. But the spirit behind
them lis admirable, and time and eN.
perience will assu1edly In tho end
guide it along the right paths.
We think in England that Ireland
has passed the crisis Of her. life. On
the Contrary. she is just entering it.
We talk Of the land act as having
solved the 1and question. It did moth.
ing of the kind. What it did was to
solve. or rather to point the way to.
ward the solution of, the land tenure
question, a very different thing. The
practical value and the sentimental
value of Mr.. Wyndham's act have
been immense. But in the nature Of
things it could do no more than help
to clear the ground. 1t could and it
did lay. however imperfectly, the
foundations of Il new social order; but
the superstructure to be erected OF
those foundations depends on the ef.
forts of the Irish themselves.f 1t could
and it did bring a comparative peace;
it neither could bring nor has it
brought prosperity.
We have to face the fact that not
only are the permanent problems Of
an agricultural existence untouched by
the act of 1903, but the necessity OF
graphing with them has been in
creased tenfold. On the we'll being OF
the peasant proprietary, now being
slowly evolved, all depends, and to in
sure that we'll being another land act
have to be passed and every agency
Of cooperation, Of migration and re-
settlement, Of technical education ana
Of state aid supplementing, but not
supplanting, voluntary effort, will have
to be pressed into service.
And even then only beginning will
have been made. Without industries
and manufactures, without the cxten-
sion OF handicrafts subsidiary to ag-
riculture, without leveing up Of the
whole standard of rural life, Ireland
can never be as prosperous as she de-
serves. The problem Of Irish progress
has lost something Of it's old political
bitterness, only to take on Il yet more
stringent economical acuteness. The
appalling drain OF emigration still
goes on. Tho lunacy commissioners
tell a tale of even more sinister omen.
The 10000 uneconomic holdings remain
as they were. The crushed industrial
instinct has yet to be revived. Capt.
tai still seeks the savings bank. The
burden of taxation, direct and Indirect
still awaits REIMBURSEMENT. The high
natural capacities OF the people, thoil
keen intelligence, their industry-nev-
er WAS q calumny more stupid than
that which has written down the Irish
as lazy-havc still to bo made ef>
fectivc. In spite Of everything men
feel that Ireland is in peril OF sink
ing into Il stupor worse than death
With the intentness Of doctors round
Il bed of sickness, they are striving and
wrestling for desperate recovery.
I wish l could pass their heroic ef-
forts under microscopic review. But
here % broad and rapid glance must
suffice. And note first that the whole
machinery Of Irish government has