Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-14
WANTS THEM HOME
Father Kelley Says Things
About Irish Emigration.
AMERICA AN AWFUL PLACE
Girls Shrive1 as Slaves, Men Die of
Dissipation.
ALL END IN PAUPERS' GRAVES
Futile Effort of a Parish Priest to
Keep His People From
Emigrating.
AMERICA AN AWFUL PLACE
I'LL END IN PAUPERs' GRAVES
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS

Written for The Star and the Chicago Record.
Herald.
Everywhere l went in Ireland last sum-
mer found tracts and pamphlets against
emigration to America offered to the pub
lie In the Roman Catholic churches. In
every cathedral and church, near. the
main entrance. is a tray Of pamphlets
neatly arranged In compartments, with
notice to drop penny In the box and
help yourself. Some of the larger publ
cations are siXpence. Most of them
are religious or temperance tracts. incl
dents in church history. lives of the
saints and martyrs, and there are two or
three pretty collections of hymns. They
bear the imprint Of THE Catholic Truth
Society of Ireland"
Among this collection of literature,
which is thus quite widely distributed.
may always be found several pamphlets
against emigration. and the most. COM
mon is entitled 1.-The Effects of Emigra-
ton by Rev. Richard J. Kelley. 1t is
little booklet Of thirty-two pages. con-
tanning the most extraordinary state
ments concerning conditions in the
United States that can be imagined.
Father Kelley's Crusade.
Father Kelley contends truthfully that
"the tide Of emigration to America is sap
ping the strength and destroying the Wig
or of Ireland. 1t is a practical bleeding to
death of the nation" he declares: and
unless it is soon arrested it will leave
Ireland hopeless and pulpless. We all
owe II to our dear native land to do all
that We can to keep the young people
at home. and while 1t is the duty we owe
to our country. 1t is equally duty we
owe the foolish youngsters who are strain
ing in leash until they can clear away
to America We must keep them from
entering the awful maelstrom of strug-
Cling, striving sitting humanity In Amer
lean cities. wherein are Concentrated
more human misery, wretchedness and
vice than can be found within. the four
seas of Ireland. There mortality is at its
highest and morality at its lowest-body
and soul are scOrched and Scared IN
the furious fight for life.
Emigration today" continues the PAM
phet els doing more damage. effecting
more havoc and ruin In Ireland and to
Ireland socially, industrially and politi-
cally than the previous seven hundred
years Of wars. misgovernment, oppression,
confiscation and persecution. Within the
past fifty years more of the best blood of
the country has been lost by emigration
than was spilled in all Its seven CEN
turtles Of wars with England. More OF
the best brains of the country have ex-
patriated themselves than were killed in
Europe during the whole Of the Napo-
leonic wars. Fields are desolate. towns
depopulated. and once people leave
the land they will never return to 1t. II
its present rate Of from some forty to
fifty thousand year, in few years
more ireland will find itself practically
reduced to the condition of a desert. IT
will then be beyond salvation and beyond
redemption.
Appeals to Their Race Pride.
Our industries in the future will be
run by the Semitic stranger. The canny
Scotchman will come over to guide and
direct and work our departments. our
railways and control our few leading
manufactures: but the Irish Celt will
have gone to join the Poles and Rus
SLAMS in the tenement houses of New
York and San Francisco, and after life's
htful fever is over to sink into a nameless
grave in the pauper. quarter OF the city
cemetery.
Last year the number of emigrants
from Ireland was 1850. or $685. more
than in the previous year. OF these. 3d.
600. or So per cent, went to the United
149 more than the previous year. while
the number going to Australia and New
Zealand was 224 less. Thus, without en-
tering more particularly into the fatal
figures. we find that within twelve months
Ireland lost more than the entire popula-
or more than that of the counties of
Langford or Carlow.
1.-The proportion of emigrants to popu-
lation in Ireland is one in ia; Norway.
one in 2os: Italy. one in ~: Scotland.
one in ga; Spain. one in 28l: Belgium.
one in 267; England, one in 292: Sweden.
one in 427: Austria Hungary. one in $50;
Denmark. one in CSC: Switzerland. one in
1856: Germany. one in 2.574; Holland.
one in o.77o and France one in 1878.
The figures for Ireland do not include the
very considerable number Of Irish people
who quit this country each year to find
a permanent means of liviihood in Great
Britain.
What Happens to Them in America.
Thus far the good father has been quite
accurate in his statements. but when he
comes to describe the fate of Irish emil
grants to the United States and picture
conditions in which they live he is evil
IDENTIFY drawing upon his imagination or
has been grossly misinformed. He says:
1.-The father of a family who goes to
America TO better his condition does so
g: the cost of his country. his health,
his morals, his happiness and the lives
of his children. Until lately the truth of
the fate of Irish emigrants to America
has not Deen tOlu or Known. Inc IdmlIeS
whose sons and daughters went forth into
the perls of that unknown. land rarely
spoke OF their terrible fate, but out Of
every one hundred that went forth from
their happy homes i'll Ireland ninety-fve
have gone under and have never been
heard from again. There are no aims
houses in America such as we have here.
where even despite the decrease of the
genral population, tn number of inmates
remains practically unchanged. But there
are places in America for the detention
and treatment of persons in illness or des-
titution. and, unhappily. the Irish fur
nish larger proportion of the inmates
than any other nationality.
Cardinal Gibbons. Archbishop Ireland,
Bishop Ludden and others who. speak
with authority. wisdom and experience
implore the Irish boy and girl particularly
to remain at home and not go to Amer-
ca. These warnings and advice should
not be lost upon the too credulous Celt,
who believing in the old but WORKOUT
Of promise before him. goes over to find
his mistake. Too proud to return home
and confess the error he or she has made,
they sink under the burden of life into
unknown graves.
What Cardinal Logue Says.
This terrible story of Father Kelley does
which Cardinal Logue has made since his
return from his visit to the United States
He has addressed many public meetings
and has never failed ITO describe his ex-
periences and observations in this coun-
try. And he is enthusiastic over the sue
cess. the prosperity and the influence of
the Irish emigrant in America. His emf
nence was profoundly impressed with the
success and the contentment Of the Irish