The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-04-29
THE NEW IRELAND
As Viewed by Richard Croker, Former
Democratic Leader

Richard Croker, the former Demo
cratic leader, previous to his departure
for Ireland, in an interview with a
reporter of the New York American"
thus spoke of the improved conditions
in Ireland:
1--WE have our New South over on
this side. I have seen the New South
grow. But you have heard nothing
here about the New Ireland, which |
am seeing grow. 1t is not the same
Ireland it was twenty-yes, tell
years ago. 1t has taken on new life
and has started all over again to de-
GUS and contented part Of Europe"
The veteran politicians eyes glowed
with enthusiasm when he said this,
and there was a note of yearning in
his voice as he added: And how
beautiful Ireland is! 1t is always
green, and it is ever restful to the
eye. | have travelled a bit in my time,
and ] know of no spot on the earth
as beautiful as Ireland"
Mr.. Croker's rapture was occas-
stoned by his visitor having shown
him an excerpt from speech recently
delivered in the House of Commons
by Winston Churchill on the difference
between the Ireland of today, intellect
ually, socially and industrially, and
the Ireland of 1886, when Gads tone
made his first great fight for Home
Rule, and of the astonishing changes
that have been wrought in the people
since the passage Of the Land Act
"Mr. Churchill does not tell the whole
story-no, not even half of it," declared
Mr.. Croker, after carefully scanning
the excerpt. Il don't believe the an
nails of the human race show such
an awakening among a whole people
as is now going on in Ireland. There
is no comparison at all between the
Ireland of my boyhood days and the
Ireland of the present. it is with the
era of the last twenty years only that
a comparison can be made. In that
time | have seen with my own eyes
and enjoyed with my own heart a de-
velopment that rivals any tale in tic-
ton. In that time prosperity has sue
ceeded poverty and happiness has
driven out misery.
Under the Land Act no poor man
need be without home of his own in
lreland-a home that belongs to him
and that he can bequeath to his
heirs Diminishing the narrowing re-
collections of the misery and poverty
of my boyhood, let us come down to
so short time as twenty years ago.
Even then two or more families lived
i'll a single hut with a mud floor-and
this they had to share with their cat
tie. Now every family in rural ireland
lives in a modern house of it's own,
bought by the Government and paid
for by the owner in rent so low that no
able-bodied man can complain Of the
cost as a hardship.
"All of this marvellous change has
been brought about by the Land Act
passed by the British Parliament.
Under the law, if you are Door man
in Ireland, and l have more land than
L actually need, you can apply to the
local Board that constitutes part of
the Irish Land Commission and have
part OF my surplus acres set aside
for your use and ownership. The
Government will buy the land from
me at a value appraised by the Board,
and turn it over to you after putting
up one-story stone house for you
at cost of about $4,000. You owe
me nothing. Your entire indebted
ness is to the Government. You nav
out OF your crops of other earnings
to the Government every year what
amounts to a minimum of about two
and one-half per cent. interest on the
total investment.
In other words, you pay about fifty
dollars a year rent for your house and
the same proportion on your land.
You can pay more every year, if you
care to. AS soon as the Government
gets back what it paid out for you
the property is yours. Why, in the
last two or three years the Govern.
ment has put eight Of this kind of ten.
ants on my own land, five miles out
of Dublin. Mark you, the Government
did not ask me if I wanted to sell
these eight different pieces, of about
an acre each, to the tenants who now
occupy them. Each of them let the
local Board of the Land Commission
know that he wanted an acre of my
land with house on it, There was no
argument about it. The Board simply
appraised each parcel in turn and dis