The Harrison times., 1914-03-14

tress and squalor and hunger iS stii
present in the slums Of some Of the
larger cities Of Ireland. But over the
richer rural parts Of Ireland has come
intelligent organized industry and en-
thusiastic energy which make 1t as
rich and prosperous as the richest
portions of the great middle west In
America. Rural Ireland Is unquestion-
ably regenerate Ireland. The process
Of regeneration is progressing, Pros
perity Is crowding out poverty and in"
vading even those regions which have
heretofore been considered the natural
strongholds Of poverty,
How Prosperity Came to Ireland
There are several contributing
causes for this changed condition. The
land tenure laws have done wonders.
Under old conditions the slightest In.
dlcation of prosperity upon the part
Of the tenant, II 1t were only new cap
or the wife a clean apron, meant a
raise in rent. 1t was to the adyant-
age Of the tenant farmer to seem more
miserable than he was, The system
put a premium on squalor and ragged
ness and slovenly farming. No one
could safely whitewash his cottage or
plant tree or cultivate flower, Now
all Is changed. Three hundred thou
sand farmer tenants are now purchas'
ing their holdings under a beneficent
law, which permits the purchase Of the
land without the advance payment Of
n cent The only obligation upon the
purchaser Is that he pay annually 2%
per cent. upon the value Of the little
farm as interest and less than one'half
per cent as an installment upon the
principal Under this law the entire
tenant class are acquiring their homes
by the annual payment OF sums aggre'
eating considerably less than the for
mer rent,
Plunkett Teaches Cooperation.
There can be no doubt that rural
ireland Is making business success Of
farming. But II is not doing It's busi-
ness in business-llke way because Of
any spontaneous impulse on tho part
OF the Irish farmer, II Is rather be-
cause busInesslilte 1rishmen went
about organizing tho business pro-
cedure OF rural enterprises In q most
business-llke way The leader Of these
busInoss,llke Irlshmen Is Sir Horace
Plunkett. TO him Ireland owes more
than IL will ever realize, From the
first his propaganda was educational
His proposition was that the Irish
farmer must bo taught the efficacy Of
combination In industries, Ho did not
believe In subsidies or subyentlons,
Nor did he believe that relief would
rome through legislation or through
state aid in any form, AS Father Fin
lay, professor OF eoonlmoB In the Ma
tional University OF Dublin, says! "Tho
farmers best resources he held to bo
themselves, and In their own intollI.
gonee, self.rollaneo and mutual trust,
and these resources II was his pur'
pose to develop"
Ho Encounters DlfIloultlee,
There seemed to be most excellent
reasons why no could not succeed, The
Irish people were dIsplrlted and dis
eouraged They we're suspicious and
afraid OF all new movements, Sir
Horace Plunkett himself belonged to
tho dospisod landlord class with which
tho people had been long In constant
conflict,
As Father Finlay says I'm religion
he WAS a Protestant and his appeal
would be to n people predomhahtly
Catholic In country whore religious
antagonismg proyado every sphere OF
social life, In polltlcB-=eo far ~ no
was politioan-ho was Unlonlat,
and those whom he proposed TO inilu'
once were Natlonallets by vast ma
jority, koonly suspicious Of any policy
which threatened 10 divert tho mind
Of the nation from the political aims
on which II was pasalonately bent"
II II not surprising, therefore, that It
was only after moro thhh a year OF
strenuous efforts aud after more than
nny public mcotInga had been hold,
than In 1850 u body Of Limerick farm
era finally consented TO establish co
operative creamery II was again over
a year before second one followed
suit. by the end Of 1891, however,
seventeen oreamerieB were at work.
and at the end OF 1893 thirty had been
organized, Thereafter the cooperative
eoeietiss were organized more rapidly.
Now cooperation and good business
method prevail throughout Ireland,
There are $50 cooperative 30
oietloa upon tho Island With nm ag'
gregate paid up share capital OF about
a million doIlara their annual turnover
IN twalya million dollars,