The San Francisco call., 1909-09-26
.IREL LAND IS COMPELLED TO PAY
HEAVILY FOR MISOOVERNlMENT
Nearly Burden Taxes Falls Upon Food and the Other
Neesares Poor Peasant of That Oppressed Country
By HUGH SUTHERLAND
(Twenty-serenth letter.


population of Ireland is one-seventh.
yet her railway passengers number
only one thirty seventh and her
freight traffic only one-seventeenth.
/. Poorest of the three countries, ireland
bears relatively the heaviest burden
But in examining the cost of govern
ment which is one of the most serious
| counts in the indictment against the
| present system. the most glaring in
equalities are undoubtedly to be found
| in the police records. In the policing
of Ireland we find the policy of Dublin
castle in full flower
1t should be understood first that the
royal Irish constabulary is quite differ
ent from the police force as IL is known
| in England, Wales. Scotland and
America. 1t is infinitely more than an
organization for the preservation of the
peace and the prevention and detection
of crime; it is. in fact. a military force.
an army of occupation, reinforcement
of the regular army. 1t consists OF
more than II, 900 men, armed with car
bines and bayonets, swords and re-
vo1vers, and occupies some hundreds or
strongly fortified barracks throughout
the country. In addition. there are
supplementary forces in Dublin, Bel
| fast an6 Derry.
But the chief thing to observe is that
| this army of occupation. miscalled a
police force, is controlled by Dublin
castle; that is to say. by the foreign
government. The people of Ireland
have absolutely nothing to do with the
royal Irish constabulary, except to pay
/ them While the expenditure is paid
out of the imperial treasury, IL is
| charged of course. to Ireland, and be-
comes a burden upon the Irish tax
payer. The Dublin castle commanders
of the force are English army officers
| They direct it and control 1t without
the slightest reference to the popular
will and without any responsibility 10
| the public.
/ Now let us compare the size and the
cost of this irresponsible organization
with the size and cost of the police in
other parts of the empire. Here are
the figures for 1906:
England and Wales "a 547 900 48O27
Ireland Observation-Disclosures 43S1.o00 IL, ,126
Apother way to look at it is this: In
| Scotland there is one policeman to
every s57 of population; in England,
one to $50: in Ireland, one to 3s4.
! Now as to the cost. 1t has already
/ been shown that Scotland pays for her
police s2,500.000 year. Ireland. s7,500.-
/ OOO Leaving out London and Dublin.
the two capitals. England's police cost
SO cents per capita of population, Ire
lands, s1.64.
There must be some very good reason
| for these extraordinary discrepancies
| for maintaining in Ireland much more
| than twice as many police. in proper
ton to population, as are maintained
! in England. Wales or Scotland The
obvious inference would be that crime
/ is rampant in ireland, and that only an
| exceptional force of armed men could
keep the violent tendencies of the peo-
| pie within bounds.
| l have no personal experiences to
bear out such a charge. I have trav-
eled rather extensively in Ireland, have
! studied the daily life of the country at
fairly close range, and have kept In
i touch with the newspapers. friendly
and unfriendly to the majority Of the
people. Yet / have observed no ex-
| traordinary inclination to crime, nor
/ do 1 recall any publications which in
dicate such tendency.
| But my testimony, after all. as that
of a mere visitor, Is not of much value.
The uncoIored and incontrovertible
facts will be found in government re-
ports. And these show that in ireland
crime is relatively a great deal less
frequent and less serious than in Great
Britain.
/ Nothing could be falser.- writes L.
Paul Dubois. a French authority who
is a competent witness. than the pref
udice which paints Ireland as pande-
lmonium of brigands and assassins
| There is no professional criminal class
/ in ireland. There may have been a
| considerable volume of crime during
the agrarian war, but / do not know a
country in Europe in which the figures
are lower in normal times.
In 1901, for instance. an average