Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-02-25

1nniskeen, County Louth, Ireland
B In America we are trying in q more or
4 less conscious effort to make the
sschoo lhouse the educati onal and social
1 center and the school master q COM
munity leader In Ireland without any
set purpose this result is already se-
cured. AT Inniskeen in county Louth,
for example, John Quinn, the school
master, IS the big man. By virtue Of
his natural qualities and by reason OF
his aecretarials ition in the co-opera-
tive associati ton he Is Il the farmers
\ banker, their business manager and
adviser, their agri cultural expert, and
4 astemperance reformer In fact he Is
the community leader. His school
house is q social center for to 1t the
people go for cooperative association
meetings, for temperance lectures, and
\ for public gathering sof all sorts. s.s
We have been to County Donegal
( and have seen what the cooperative
enterprises centered at Dtnglow have
done for a region which ts naturally
5unproductive. Under the Leadership
$of Paddy Gallagher, q native business
4 genius, operation has brought COM
fort, relative prosperity and hopeful
4 ness to g community which was. previ-
\ ously a desolate comb ination OF peet
4 bog and rocky hillside.
We have stopped here to see the re-
suits of COO eration when planted In
I . more fertile product Give soil, for this
4 portion Of County; Louth would com
] pare favorably with the richest
stretches Of our own middle western
states 3siS
81 The Average Irish Farmer. \:
Anxious to find the average small
( farmer who is q member Of the coop
serative society and, willing to talk
about Its affairs, we were directed to
\ Edward Meeghan. who operated =
farm out two Irish miles from the vii
alage. Az we walked out to Meeghan's
place the ciousness was forced
& upon us that in this section Ireland il
1 far from being starving Ireland" The
4 fields are carefully cultivated Guilt
waited al they seldom are In the states.
The hedges and walls are well kept.
/. go - ,art,Iity ~ i, cot+a.a eiva.
evidence OF prosperity and self-respect-
ing pride y pom the faces Of those
whom we meet we see nothing to indi-
cate that the local Irish are poverty
4 stricken or despairing. We find Meeg-
avident,y and Al ,tnativ nro,d The Ia.
3 az Z sta 10 ~ 4, Hon .,rain IN.
Il ~, ~, =
4 thst n \ 4, 40 Il Ila - 1 = aks ',nonsv
,,,..-.. h.,,,ta q III s. i, araia :
&, 40 s al ~.
( nation. ss q IN
sss Buying Farms for Less Than Rent.
Neeghan himself, q vigorous fellow,
full OF enthusiasm and hopefulness, ex-
Plains that. his father prior to his
death had bought the land under the.
imperial land tenure act providing for
an arbitrated value as between land
lord and tenant. The value once fixed
the government pays for the land and
i then permits the tenant who becomes
a purchaser:to repay the purchase price
\ In sixty odd years, each year keeping
up the interest at two and three
fOurths per cent and paying in add
( ton We small installment upon the
principal He tells how his father paid,
a. rent alone, is pounds per year,
while he himself in buying the farm Is
nov paying, including both interest
and annual installments ION principal
only IA pounds per year. Quite nat
Surally he has a keen appreciation of
the land tenure laws which enabled
( him gradually to obtain the farm by
the payment OF less money each year
than originally went for rent alone. q
u s:s stsg Prevented improvements. s.
1 " r,h,. 4 nj - him tha ronor+ont
Etbing howove, His ratbor NJ. nc.
svioonnsIv haen 3 +anant "A now thatcb
/ ~ the, harn = nav s1.ta1on +ha 49,,
4 -. nar abed for tho COW co,,,d ~
10 M !, A. a. = anv NOV ,rnro az i.nd-
$Iord II r,nat 10 contrihutod hv '+ha