The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-18
Both Sides Fully Armed

"The conditions in Ireland are little
 changed by the war, except that both
 sides of the home rule fight now are fully
 armed. the Catholics and the Orangemen.
 I was in Dublin at the time of the riot there, in which many peopie were shot. England wants the Irish nationalists to send volunteers to the front, and they refuse to do it. Up until the war broke out, the Orangemen were armed but the Catholics were not the importation of arms being prohibited by the English government to prevent a clash between the two factions. As soon as war was declared the embargo on arms was with drawn and the Catholics immediately vol Gnteered and armed themselves. Then however they refused to leave Ireland They tell the government that they viii defend Ireland against German invasion and against the enemies of home rule. but they're not going to the continent to fight tho Germans.
 ITO get them to do so the English gov ernment through the press is circulating
 all kinds of stories. the favorite beins
 the one that the Germans are protestants and that the war is an anti-Catholic war, hoping to play onethe dominant religious belief of the Irish people. Of course there are some Irish regiments now on the con- tinent. those men who had already en-
 listed and were members of the standing diiiiss Out bI1It AEt IO NbiQftccTS SOiu8
 to the continent, and I don't believe there
 will be any so. either
 The Orangemen, although heavily
 armed, do not believe are going to fight. Ulster. contrary to common belief over here. at heart is for home rule. A.le domination of the Orangemen over the Ulster government. however, makes it ap- pear otherwise. The Orangemen compose about 10 per cent of the population and they control about 90 per cent of the gov ernmental offices. That's the situation ir II eland
 Since both sides of the home rule fight now are armed. don't believe there will be any serious trouble. The Orange men will not fight for they are too heav- fly outnumbered by the advocates of home | rule. When the home rule bill, as passed by Parliament, goes into effect in about year, l believe there will be little dis tur rbance, but until that time, war or nc war, the adherents of both factions are going to sleep on their arms and watch each other
 Not Enthusiastic About War | The Irish as a whole are not enthus. iastic about fighting Englands battle
 away from home, anyhow. They say they did not cause the war and don't want tc | fight it. Past records show that on re- peate occasions the Irish regiments have 1 been put in the trenches to be slaughtered while the English soldiers retreated, and object lessons like that are not soon for gotten.
 Another thing to show England wat | r; ;eraring for the war long before 1t start l ed is that six months before the opening of hostilities, Ireland was forbidden tc export cattle and meats to Germany, the | government announcing that the animals were suffering from a mouth disease. The Germans gave the Irish, then. free use of the Hamburg port for exportatior of these animals, and then the English gov ernment forbade live stock to be driven along the country roads to market or hauled on the railroads. As soon as wal was declared the mouth disease disap- peared as suddenly and mysteriously as
 it came, and the diseased cattle were gobbled up by the British army commis-
 sary departments.
 "Of course, l got out of the war zone
 at the very beginning of the war so that in all my trip no trouble was experienced
 with passports, danger from battle bullets
 or anything of the sort. My main trouble was in getting money, and finally we did that"