The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-02-13
BY MATTHEW S. ouDeEoN

Dunglow, County Donegal, Ireland
This is the old haunt-the habitat
of the "gombeen man" He is our
American city loan shark trans
planted with all his blood-sucking
propensities and his starvation IN
ducing qualities into rural Ireland.
Here conditions are right for his actiy'
tiles. Where the need for money Is
greatest he prospers best. The poorer
the country, the richer he grows. And
poor enough this country certainly is.
Wide, low-lying peat bogs stretch be
tween great slopes Of rising htllsides
where the soil shows only between
masses Of outcrOpping rocks. No
fields are there here large enough to
offer opportunity for work with horses
even if plowing and cultivating We're
not made impossible by the huge half
buried rocks. Every enclosure de-
mands fertilizers as a condition prece.
dent to production. Nature is stingy
and hesitates to let go of any product
of value to humans. Yet here and
there is a cottage upon barren hill
side; around it we see children that
are not starving nor insuficiently
clothed.
"Gombeen Man" Passing.
Here was the haunt of the gombeen
man. But as relative prosperity comes
in he goes out, They tell US that CO.
operation has numbered the days OF
the gombeen man and that he is pass
ing. AS he formerly operated his
business here he was the worst enemy
to rural prosperity to be found upon
the island. The gombeen man is
worse than the nonresident landlord" "
says Paddy Gallagher Of Dunglow,
which is an extreme statement when
made by one whose father and family
have suffered cruelty from many evic-
tions.
Seldom was the gombeen man ad-
mittedly in the loan business. Ere
quently he was a trader or shop keep
er. Generally he kept a public house.
Often he was a dominating influence
politically, and held some office. In
variably he was an economic scourge
and made rural prosperity impossible.
We have spoken of him in the past
tense, not because he has altogether
ceased to exist but because co-opera-
tion seems to be developing a plan
.or rural credit which viii eventually
put him out Of business.
p7+ri~L EatIa0berts C+orv
Patrick Gallagher, now the man
ager Of the local cooperative society,
probably knows as much about the
trials of the poor farmer in Ireland as
any one He was born in a little one
room farm cottage and was at nine
years Of age forced to leave home and
hire himself out as a farm laborer re-
ceiving the wage of three pounds for
six months work. From these begin
nings he has risen to be a rural finan-
cier in County Donegal and has raised
the condition of the poor farmers from
abiect poverty to comparative comfort
through his cooperative enterprises.
Here is what Paddy Gallagher says Of
the gombeen men, speaking from his
personal experiences and verifying
much that he says from documents
and account books:
Here is one transaction of my own
with the gombeen man. On the 2Sth
of May, 1906 my father and | bought
seven stone Of -four and one hundred
weight of Indian meal, each. My
father paid for his $425. ! was not in
a positi to pay for mine until the
11th OF July, 1906 forty-four days
later. The gombeen man then pre-
sented me with bill for $531 | dis
puted his right to charge me $1.0G in
terest on $4.25 for only forty-four days
and pointed out to him that my father
bought the same goods on the same
date for 1925. The gombeen man ar.
gued that my father paid $3.50 and
that he was only charging me eighty
one cents extra, or 144 per cent in
terest per annum. During the twenty
years my father was bringing up his
family, he paid interest at this rate.
Here is a writ that was issued
against a poor farmer The amount
- s3775, and here is the pass book
which proves that $1S.25 of that is in
terest. You will also note that the
gombeen man charges this customer
1887 for seven stone of -four; on the
same date the cooperative society's
price was $2.25."
So the gonbeen maA was robbing