Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-22
POVERTY IN GALWAY
Business Failure and Poor
Fishing Among the Causes.
AMERICAN PANIC FELT
People Are Largely Dependent on
Remittances Sent Them.
GALWAY FOLKS LIKE BOSTON
Many French, Spanish and Dutch
Are Seen-Quaint Colony Of Self
Ruling Fishermen.
AMERICAN PANIC FELT
GALWAY FOLKS LIKE BOSTON
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
GALWAY, August 10. 1905.
Everybody complains that the people of
Galway are very poor. that there is good
deal of suffering here and more than 500
people out of employment in the city and
the neighboring villages. This condition
is attributed to three cauSes-FirSt to the
failure of Persse's distillery, which en-
ployed several hundred men and was the
principal industry of Galway. The failure
was due to extravaganza and bad man
agement, so 1 am told. Mr.. Persse built
an expensive house. lived sumptuously.
kept a large stable. entertained with
lavish hospitality, spent more money than
he made and borrowed to even up the
difference. l have heard of such cases
before. Then again, it is said, instead of
putting his whisky on the market he
boarded it and packed it away in big
warehouses on the edge of town that it
might mature and sell for higher prices.
An enormous amount of this stored whis-
ky has recently been thrown on the mar
ket by the receiver and 1t has demoralized
things
The second reason for the poverty Of
winter and spring, which did not bring in
more than half the usual catch. Fishing
is the second industry of Importance.
American Money Panic Felt.
But the most serious trouble here and
the greatest degree of poverty is attrib-
uted directly to the erich mans panic" in
the United States last fall.
One would never think of looking for
no Of haf 6Na f7l1rY
in this quaint little old town of Ireland,
but nevertheless it is true. There are
$4,000 Galway people in the United States
or across the herring pOnd,' as banker
here expressed it., who have been in the
habit of making remittances to their IA
theirs and mothers and brothers and sis
tiers here in generous amounts, and many
families are partially and large number
wholly dependent upon them.
Most Of the Galway emigrants are in
New York. Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago
and other large cities earning good wages,
but they were thrown out of employment
by the recei t panic, and have had all they
could do to take care of themselves
Hence very little money has been received
here from America for nearly year.
Remittances Have Fallen Off.
The postmaster tells me the American
money orders cashed at the Galway post
office have averaged $4,000 a year for
the total will not reach 1900. Hereto
fore an even larger sum of money has
been coming in checks and drafts, but
bankers say the remittances in that form
now are not more than 10 per cent of the
usual amount. The merchants complain
that their. customers are not bringing in
any American checks, such as have been
presented in payment for merchandise
daily for ten or twelve years. Christmas
checks were very scarce last winter, and
that is the principal reason for the pow
erty
Mr.. Grant. agent of the Allen line OF
steamers from Londonderry to Canada,
says the Canadian remittances were about
as large as usual until recently and about
half OF them are sent in payment for
steamship tickets for the families and
relatives of immigrants who have estab-
lished themselves in the Dominion and
found employment for their friends.
- Galway People Like Boston.
Everybody goes to America who can
he says. and only a few ever come back
except those who are compelled to look
after their parents or che property they
have inherited. Mr.. Grant commented, as
nearly everybody does, upon the differ
ence In appearance and manner of the
emigrants who go and those who return
and he agrees with other observers that a
few years experience in America is a
Wages here are very low at present-1O
shllings a week and 2shillings a day is
the average for ordinary labor.
The Allen line steamers have been
touching at Galway since 1881, and have
carried to Quebec an enormous number
of emigrants for the United States as
we'll as Canada. but the faster boats,
touching at Queenstown. have reduced the
sage is $3.50 and $50; the average emf
grants are chilly between seventeen and
twenty-three years of age, and most of
them go to Boston.
Spirit of Sloth.
Galway is a foreign-looking little town
unlike any other We have seen in Ire
land, and much of the architecture is
Dutch and Spanish. departing from the
plain. ugly brick front without cornice
or caves. which is SO common elsewhere
The streets are irregular and run all
sorts Of ways, some very narrow and
some very wide, and they vary in width
at different places, with occasionally an
odd shaped space at the intersection.
Everything looks old and shabby and out
of repair. 1t is queer as well as signiti-
cant to see buildings half in ruins in the
principal streets and others with the glass
broken out of the windows. There are
some smart-looking shops, however, and
neatly kept residences, but they are not
council evidently lacks a sense of the
esthetic, because the streets are dirty,
the park scraggley and the grass hasn't
been moved this summer. 1t Is alto
gether the untidiest public park l have
seen in Ireland.
Men Shod, Women Barefoot.
Many of the people We meet on the
principal streets. particularly the women.
are almost repulsive in their rage, with
dirty faces, unkempt hair and bare feet.
We saw a few barefoot women in Tip
perary and Limerick, but here none OF
the workingwomen wear shoes, although
the men seem to be we'll shod. The wom-
en- cover their heads with thick shawls
that are often greasy and torn. while
their faces show evidences of sorrow and
privation. and perhaps other causes have
left their mark.
Tribes Of Galway.
The foreign appearance of Galway is
accounted for by the fact that many
Frenchmen. Spaniards and Dutchmen
were in business here in early times. The
town was named from the Gauls and for
centuries an extensive trade was carried
ON with the continent by foreign mer-
chants and foreign fleets. Richard de
Burgo. founder of the Burke family, was
given the country Of COnnauSht by the
Ill