The Detroit times., 1910-10-27

II
occupation Of their farms.
And that operation IL going on rap.
idly. Il II going on at the rate OF
some $60.000,000 = year. and In few
short years the whole Of the land of
Ireland will be free once and forever
Of landlordtsm, and Ireland will be a
nation made up Of independent own
ers, owning the soil they till. and not
dependent for their welfare upon any
man on earth.
I'VE created In Ireland what is
called the new congested district
board, . body quite Independent OF
English government and Dublin castle.
q body composed of men who have the
confidence OF the Irish race. The
first name on II Is that OF the illus
trious prelate. Patrick O'Donnell.
bishop OF Raphoe. The second name
IL that Of the bishop OF Kerry. The
third name IL q Eame known to you.
am sure. John Fftzgibbon, OF Castle
reagh. And SO on.
Has Extraordinary Powers.
"All through this board is consti-
tuted Of men not only Independent OF
Dublin castle. but OF men who possess
the confidence Of the mass OF the Ma
tionalists Of Ireland. Now, that board
has been invested with the most ex-
traordinary powers. They have been
given compulsory power to walk in
on all this depopulated grass land.
rich grass land from which the people
had been driven, they had been given
power to walk In and TO say to the
landlords that they must sell that land
to them, whether they like II or not,
at q price to be fixed by valuation; ;
and they have been given q credit on
the British excheQuer. an unlimited
credit for whatever money Is neces-
sary for the transaction to enable
them to buy out these lands. This
money Is loaned to them at 3 per cent
to be repaid by instalments extending
over long period Of years"
Mr.. Redmond also showed that much
improvement had been made In the
educational affairs of Ireland
1T was not enough. Parnell said, to
make the people OF Ireland indepen-
dent in their daily lives" declared Mr..
Redmond. 1T was necessary to edu-
cate them. Twenty years ago the edu-
cational system in Ireland was below
the level of the least progressive ma
ton In western Europe. Our Irish
primary schools were disgrace to
civilization. The school houses were
unsanitary and poor. badly lighted,
cold and miserable. There was no
means of heating them In the winter
except by the poor little barefooted
children carrying each Of them q sod
Of turf to contribute to the fire.
THE teachers. the men and women
who we're teaching the children, and
who, after the clergy of the country.
were the people most concerned with
the duty Of molding the future Of the
Irish race, were paid miserable. star.
walton wages, less than was paid to
the village policeman. The system OF
education was essentially anti-Irish.
No child in an Irish national school
was taught Irish history. They never
heard OF Ireland except incidentally
when they were being taught some
thing about English history. 1t was
considered q disgrace for an Irish
child to speak a word Of Irish.
Things Are Changed.
Everything national, everything
Irish, was depised and put upon one
side. Well, thank God, we have
changed all that. Today the school
houses are decent, sanitary buildings.
heated and cleaned by money which
we obtained for that purpose from The
British excheQuer. The teachers, al
though they are not paid a. much rs
the teachers In England, still have
had their position enormously I'm
proved. The irish language Is being
taught In every national school in Ire
land"
Explaining his reasons for making
an appeal to America for financial aid,
Mr.. Redmond pointed out that money
was needed now to make 1t possible
for the Irish to put up candidates In
the general elections expected within
q year or SO. A London paper, he said.
was suggesting that the government
contest all the Irish seats In order to
exhaust the exchequer Of the Irish
party. He was here to checkmate
that conspiracy and he declared that
no weight Of money put up by the
enemies Of home rule, would serve to
defeat the object of the Irish national
party, now that victory was In sight.
Fr. stritch speaks.
The Rev. FIR. M. I. Stritch followed
Mr.. Redmond with On appeal for
funds. in the course of which he said:
I'VE ought not to omit this last
chance to fight old England, but not
the democracy of England, for that Is
all irish. hope to see the day when
MIR. Redmond will be at the head OF
an Independent parliament. Peace
can come to Great Britain only when
1t establishes such an Independent
parliament, with Its seat In Dublin"
Collectors went about the audience
while Fr. Stritch was speaking and
At was reported at the close Of the
meeting, that upwards Of $1,000 had
been received, some giving as much
as 500. In addition to this sum, many
pledges remain TO be made good, and
1t IL expected that when these are re-
ceived the collection will amount to
at least $4,000.
Some of the donors we're as fol-
lows: T. r. Donovan. 500; FIR. Muir
ply, Of Flint, 800; James Romano.
800; William H. Hughes. editor Mich
igan Catholic. SIS; c. r. Collins, $50;
M. j. Murphy. $50; jeremiah Dryer.
$50; James Comiskey, $50; John F.
Harrigan, $50: w. M. Marshall. $25;
Edwin DENLY, S26; Frank J. Navin,
$25; John A. Russell, $25; Philip A.
McHugh, $25; Gerald J. Mccoy, SIS;
Benjamin Comfort. S2b; John Naylon.