Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-01-28
AvIslT 70 PADDY GALLAGHER
By MATHEW 5. DUDGEoN

l11111 =: 1ll! lllll sa
;Mhers the Coz Operative Co
Dunglow, County Donegal, Ireland.
This ID story Of the grand uphill:
fight for self-respe getting. economic In
dependence which Is being made by
bunch OF CHEEKY Irishmen in County
Donegal At the head OF this fighting
group is Paddy Gallagher. an organ
tizers and q promoter II there ever was ta
one. But Is q promoter not OF his 81,
own FORTUNES, but the promoter OF
community elfare. This Is also the
story Of what q godsend q cooperative
organization can be to community l
which has been, In an economic sense.
hard stricken by nature. Nature
seems to have exhausted herself IN
the agricultural gifts she showered on
eastern and southern Ireland and Eto
have reached Dung glow. in County
Donegal, with nothing left in her gift
B bag except . few little patches Of cold,
sunresponsive soil which she scattered
4 here and there among the huge out
cropping rocks Of the barren hillstdes
rising between the wide stretches OF
desolate peet bogs. Y. ~ I
Z In fact, we are here because SIT
Horace Plunkett has said that this
4 is the place Of all others to visit II
we; Americans wish to see what CO
operation will do toward helping an
Irish community scratch q living out
sof. the rocky hills on the bleak north
western coast Of ireland. N
Who Paddy 10. y5{ III Il Z.
~ Paddy Gallagher was born forty
!; years ago in one of the poor one;room
4 cottages on q barren lthree-acre ten
ant 3hold ding a cottage that had the
wolf always at the door. When Paddy
was nine he was put out to work at
three pounds FOR six months work.
I His father did not do this sort Of
4 thing because he wanted the little
shalf-starved a shaver to work beyond
his strength, but because It was either
H work for Paddy or starvation for still
younger and weaker children. After
that there was nothing for Paddy but
hard work. and low wages until he
Il was grown and had started q family
4 of,s his own. & ~ 35 IN t
But his work had taken him into
other places. into Scotland and Eng
\ land, and he came back with the real
\ ization that life in bungalow was not
what 1t ought to be. Unedncated,
\ work-worn, without any outlook of
promise for himself or his family,
something brought Paddy Gallagher
the realization that he and his neigh
4 bors tog ether might do what each sep.
Sarately could not do. So, with the
assistance OF the Irish Agricultural
Organization society. cooperation }was
brought to Dung alow. ;}.5 u /
5 S How u, Started.
Gallagher, who had been studying
soils and manures, learned that &C
cording to government analysis the
1 soil Of his section needed certain defi-
mite chemical elements. He asked To-
8csl traders II they could give him any
guaranty OF analysis Of the manures
\ sold by them. He was informed that
I they never; got such o thing. knew
nothing about It and could give mo
guaranty. He wrote to the agricul.
4 tural department about It They re-
8ferred him to the Irish Agricultural
wholesale society. From them he
learned that this society at that time
dealt only with local cooperative
concerns. RI N .:.S n II.
So this farm boy, with surprising
persistence, gathered together the
small farmers and pointed out to them
the advantages to be gained as to
quality and price by purchasing guar
anteed manures direct from the Co
operative wholesale society. The re-
suit was that the farmers ordered a
20.ton lot OF fertilizer through a little
cooperative society in an adjoining
village. They found that they saved
5000 on the manures and besides Sc
cured super hosphate OF 80 per cent
instead Of 20 per cent. strength, and
dissolved bone instead Of worthless
compounds. The battle for co-opera-
ton was already half won, for there
was no further question as to the ad-
vantages to be gained through CO
operation. # Il. f. ~
THE old methods Of buying and sell
ing were the cause OF much poverty in
this district" said Mr.. Gallagher.
1.-THE traders have generally kept the
public houses. They were gombeen
men--money lenders. Poor farmers
here could not pay cash for what they
bought. They had to get goods on
credit. Once farmer got into debt
to these retail dealers he seldom got
free from the big mans clutches.
While he was in this state he was no
better than slave. He was charged
tremendous prices and had to pay big
interest. l myself have been charged
interest on what bought on credit
at the rate OF IA per cent. per annum.
My father had this sort of interest to
pay while he was bringing up his fam
lily. That is where the three pounds
went That 1t took me six months to
earn when I started to work.
What Cooperation 10 Doing.
But Notwithstanding the smallness
OF the holdings, and the poor soil, con-
Glrtn and Merriment.
The time has long since gone by
when the humorist may make any mer-