The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03
Business at Standstill; Mills
 on Short Time
ARE MORE MODERATE
No Longer Talk of Armed Resistance to Home Rule-Devlin and Red mond Will Be Opposing Lead
 CTS in Irish Parliament
Rx E.x CuLNEN

presents a vastly different appearance to- day from that which it presented on l covenant Day. three weeks ago. Then everything was ablaze with enthusiasm The streets were decorated and tho peo- | pie were worked up to the highest pitch of excitement. ''We will not have home rule" was on every lip and for the moment the great majority of the people of Belfast believed that the north east corner of Ulster really would defeat the will of three-quarters Of the Irish people backed by the whole of the Brit ish empire.
 Now Belfast is feeling the reaction that cLmes after the debauch and on every side one hears doleful talk about declin- ing business and fear for the future. The dull times are blamed of course on home rule, and to some extent hone rule is to blame, but not in the way that the bei- fast people believe. Belfast Is paying the penalty of abusing its customers and is losing trade in consequence. Orders from the south and west of Ireland are being withheld or diverted to Manchester and London. and travellers for Belfast wholesale houses have been warned that if Belfast desires to continue to do busi-
  treat Ireland more politely.
 Business at Standstill
 The consequence of this is that Belfast business men are marking time Build ing is temporarily at a standstill and most of the mills are on short time. Even the shipbuilding trade is dull at present and there are thousands of work CTS idle.
 All this has given the Belfast people time for calm reflection and they are not so sure of themselves now as they were. Men who three weeks ago were damnlng the pope and damning home rule are now beginning to ask themselves if there is so much to be afraid of after all The publisher of one of the leading newspa- pers here, who a month ago was as violent an Orangeman as any of them voiced the new ouinion in a talk with your correspondent today:
 ] After all, they (nationallst Ireland) can't do us much harm" he said, for they can't hurt us without hurting their own people in Belfast. Then who would be such a fool as to cut a mileh cows throat? The more prosperous Belfast Is the more taxes it will pay to Dublin and 1t will be Dublins interest to foster Bel fast's prosperity. And after all they're not all Joe Devlins."
 This last remark formed the keynote to Relfasts real opposition to home rule. The Belfast business men are afraid of Joseph Devln, NJ. P, for west Belfast. Devln.is product of Belfast. He began life as a pot boy in a Belfast saloon and has become one of the ablest leaders of the Irish party. He is a radical and almost socialist and the Belfast manu- facturer feels that Devlin as power Tn an Irish parliament will be Q danger 10 them.
 Devlin to Be Leader
 There is no doubt that Devlin will be the leader of the radical party in the new parliament as John Redmond, who is an arlstoerat. will lead the consarya- tive party. Redmond and Devlin at pres ent are hardly on speaking terms, al though they are working together loY ally for home rule. When that Is won they will part company and will prob ably become bitter political enemies
 Bearing this In mind the psychology of Belfast-meaning business I3elfast-is easy to understand. It is almost ready to throw itself into Redmonds arms as refuge from Devln. and it is already considering the possibility of taking Redmond for its leader. once the fight against home rule Is finished.
 One most noticeable feature of the new situation Is the disappearance of the drill- ing and war talk. A month ago every village had it's Unionist club drilling ev- cry night. Now the dummy rifles are put away and there Is no more talk of armed rebellion. One still hears occasionally a little talk of ''passivep resistance to the Dublin tax collectors, but even the most violent hot heads now admit the futility of fighting the British army.
 Home Rulers Intimidated
 Even the covenant is no longer the fetish that it was. As asmatter of fact good many people are ashamed now of the methods used to secure signatures leading Belfast architect whose sym pathies are with Irelands national aspi- ra tions, was one of the sgnatories When asked why he signed he repiied
 Because I had to. l was told plainly tkat if I didn't sign [ never would builds another house in Belfast"
 Much the Nsame story was told in village a fewsniles out of the city by a protestant farmer who is a home ruler. He was one who signed the covenant:
 "The clergyman came 10 me" he told your correspondent. "and told me that if 1 didn't sign l might as well pack up and leave the country at once He was quite explicit. ] was to he boycotted All the shopl5ecpers would be warned not to sell me any supplies and my laborers would he ordered to leave me.
 '''lr you inlnk you can WOrk the farm yourself and live on air said the minis ter. you needn't sign Well, I didn't think I could, so I signed"
 ton of S9l9c. This level compares with that of the corresponding day last year of 46Ac. Sales during the week were a993 casks. Receipts for the week were 45s7 casks, against 4l43 last year. Shipments -ooa domestic. During the week the stock de- creased 7s9 casks, now being S1 ,409. Osen- ing the week from to 10 cents higher for the best grades and approximately 10c lower yet for the under grades be- low M. rosin showed tendency to return to last Saturdays prices for the higher grades. Grades NJ and K showed a slight enhancement while grades below NJ fell from to 17ls cents. Sales for the week were 15.252 barrels Receipts were 19725, as against 16,sl2 last year. Shipments were 155l barrels, 6300 foreign and 526l domestic. Stocks increase s065 barrels during the week. standing l15,50s. e
 Holiday in France
 Paris, November 2.-No bourse buslness today, holiday.
 Prime Mercantile Paper
 New York. November 2.-Prime mercan- tile paper. per cent sterling exchange, strong with actual business in bankers Llt Q4 QI for .0 .1 11g e,ft1 O.. .Iti