The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-03-26
GOV. JOHN BURKE ON IRELAND.

GOV. JOHN BURKE ON IRELAND.
In his speech at the Auditorium in
this city on st. Patrick's Day, Gov
John Burke of North Dakota touched
on present conditions in Ireland and
declared that the land question was at
the bottom of Irish ills. He spoke
enthusiastically of Gladstone and re-
viewed the land bills he had passed
for Ireland, which gradually led to the
land act of 1903. and said when the
land had ultimately been transferred
from landlord to tenant and the soil
was owned by the cultivators thereof,
home rule would inevitably follow be-
cause the landocracy in parliament
would no longer have any interest in
the country. 8"
In discussing the Irish question,
Gov. Burke appealed to the intelligence
and common sense of his audience and
refrained from arousing prejudices
against the English people of the pres
ent day, who had manifested willing
ness to redress the grievances for
which their ancestors were solely re-
sponsible. He said the English of to-
day are, making an honest effort to
solve the Irish problem and have
enacted very liberal laws that will
finally regenerate old Ireland and do
justice to all concerned. He believed
that John Redmond was on the right
track; that the Irish should exercise
patience, and let John Redmond be
held responsible by them. Nov that
he is half way across the stream
said Gov. Burke, "all responsibility
should be left to him.
What contrast between the speech
of Gov. Burke and the rhetorical ut
terances of the ordinary st. Patrick's
Day speaker! Gov. Burke is practical
rick's day speaker is inexperienced in
politics and depends on e1oquence and
poetry to draw applause from the gall
leries. We now know the cause of
John Burke's popularity in North Da-
kota. He is man who has the cour-
age of his convictions and who is not
afraid of expressing his honest senti-
ments. Therefore, though Democrat
he has been twice elected to the gov
ernorship of one of the most Republic.
can states of the Union, and is likely
to receive third term 1t he desires
it, He we'll deserves the honorable
title of honest John Burke"
And why should the English of the
present day be blamed for the acts of
their ancestors when they try to make
amends for the wrongs inflicted on the
Irish people centuries ago? Before
Gladstone championed the cause OF
Irish autonomy, the Irish and English
entertained feelings Of hatred for each
other. But those feelings have almost
died out in the breasts of the people
For good or i'll, the Irish and the Eng
lish must live close together. Only
fifty miles of water divides them. They
intermarry by the thousands, and they
keep up a social and commercial in
tercourse. or late years they have
been in political alliance, the demo
cracy of England working hand in
hand with the Irish Nationalists. They
are beginning to be reconciled and are
getting rid Of their racial animosities
The English people have grievances to
be redressed as we'll as the Irish, and
the Englishman and the Irishman have
Joined hands in q common cause. Why
not encourage that friendship instead
of promoting dissension between them ?
In the past there was cause for es-
arrangement between the two peoples
but today that cause has vanished to
great extent. Who hears an Irish
man, nowadays, speak unkindly OF
Englishmen, or vice versa? Forty years
ago it was different. Some Irishmer
of today may not like the tone of this
article, but suppose the Germans, the
French or the Russians held Ireland