Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-12-18
ENGLISH ELECTIONS DOUBTFUL
Popular Mind Not Made Up, Says Sir
Horace Plunkett.
TAXATION A SERIOUS PROBLEM
IreIaud's Government Costs Eleven
Million Dollars More Than Total
Rcvenue-Land Act Relieves
Tension Of Sentiment.

II the United Kingdom elections have
settled anything. Il is hard to determine
Just what according to Sir Horace G.
PIunkett Of Dublin. who Is in Omaha on
his annual visit to inspect his property
here.
The British people are slow moving
compared TO you Americans" said Sir
Horace. and the elections now going on
seem to show that the popular mind has
not been made up decisivey on the great
questions at issue The elections have
aroused, the greatest interest and it Is
almost impossible for you over here to com
prehend how much, but that they have
settled anything remains to be seen.
Home rule remains a question of much
uncertainty and the problem is economic
rather than political. II has been pointed
out that the expenses Of the Irish admins
tration amount 70 SltOOO,0OO more than the
total Irish revenue accruing to the crown.
Therefore. when the time comes for Ire
land to conduct its own administration the
question Of finance will be a puzzling one
The British taxpayer must dig deep into
his Iockets II the new regime Is to start
under anything like favorable auspices, and
the British taxpayer may be averse to
doing anything Of the sort
Mind you, I am not saying anything
for or against home rule, but pointing out
that when the time comes to pass a bill
Establishing it, the questions of admins
trative and financial detail will probably
provoke more Of fight than the question
Of home rule itself.
The feeling on home rule is not so in
tense as It was before the land act went
into effect. Even the nationalist leaders
see that under imperial administration the
-
from the landlords under conditions far
more favorable than would have been pos
sible under home rule. for the imperial
credit would not have been behind the
financing.
How to Make Farmers.
But a separate Parliament is not the
great need of ireland. The Irish problem
as / have said before, is how to make a
country prosper which is dependent, or
nearly 30 at least on agriculture, whose
people are not farmers. They can become
good formers, but they are not such now
and even in America they have not taken
to tho soil, so far as l have observed"
Sir Horace has observed" quite extern
sively in this country and is the author
of an authoritative little work on Rural
Problems in the United States"
One of his auditors told him that casual
observations of the nationality OF Ne
braska and Iowa farmers entirely bear out
Sir Horace's thesis. According to this
statement the farmers of Nebraska and
Iowa are largely of native American or
German extraction and the Irish farmer is
comparatively rare.
Sir Horace goes from here Sunday to
Cheyenne and the Laramie plains where
he Ha afa hoo
old friends in Wyoming country where
thirty years ago he ranohed II himself.
THE passing of many years" said he.
has made these friendships somewhat
fewer in number, but not less in a qualitive
way
His devotion to the cause of Irish agri-
culture is well known all over the world,
and II has been practically his life work.
He was long vice president of the Board
Of Agriculture and Technical instruction.
The Secretary for ireland was the nominal,
but the vice president the active head of
this board, which first organized and car
ried out agricultural educational work
Sir Horace's most recent activity has
been to preside at and conduct the
Farmers Parliament" of the Irish APri-
cultural society. OF which he is president
The call for the meeting was announced in
the official paper, The Irish Homestead
as to be held in THE Ancient Concert
Rooms. Great Brunswick street. Dublin.
Chair will be taken by the president Sir
Horace Plunkett. P. c.. X. c. V. o."
No new buildings are planned in Omaha
by Sir Horace. Attention will be de-
voted" said Conrad Young, his agent
here, Ito keeping up the style and shin
shape appearance Of buildings already con-