St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-01-28

DungloW, County Donegal, ireland
This is a story Of the grand uphill
fight for sef-respecting, economic In
dependence which is being made by
a bunch of CHEEKY Irishmen in County
Donegal. At the head of this fighting
group is Paddy Gallagher, an organ
izer and a promoter If there ever was
one. But is a promoter, not OF his
community welfare. This is also the
story of what a godsend cooperative
organization can be to a community
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 to
have reached Dunglow, in County
Donegal, with nothing left in her gift
bag except a few little patches of cold,
unresponsive soil which she scattered
here and there among the huge out
cropping rocks of the barren hillsides
rising between the wide stretches Of
desolate peet boys.
In fact, we are here because Sir
Horace Plunkett has said that this
is the place of all others to visit, If
we Americans wish to see what CO.
operation will do toward helping an
Irish community scratch a living out
of the rocky hills on the bleak north
western coast Of Ireland.
Who Paddy Is.
Paddy Gallagher was born forty
years ago in one of the poor one-room
cottages on a barren three-acre ten
ant holding-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.
His father did not do this sort OF
thing because he wanted the little
half-starved shaver to work beyond
his strength, but because it was either
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
was grown and had started a family
of his own.
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 it ought to be. Uneducated,
work-worn, without any outlook of
promise for himself or his family,
something brought Paddy Gallagher
the realization that he and his neigh
bors together might do what each sep
arately could not do. So, with the
assistance of the Irish Agricultural
brought to bungalow.
How 1t Started.
Gallagher, who had been studying
soils and manures, learned that &C
cording to government analysis the
soil of his section needed certain def
mite chemical elements. He asked To-
cal traders if they could give him any
guaranty of analysis of the manures
sold by them. He was informed that
they never got such a thing, knew
nothing about it and could give no
guaranty. He wrote to the agricul-
tural department about it. They re-
ferred him to the Irish Agricultural
Wholesale society. From them he
learned that this society at that time
dealt only with local cooperative
concerns.
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
2o-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-phosphate of 80 per cent
instead of % 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.
The "Gombeen Man.
The old methods Of buying and sell
ing were the cause of much poverty In
this district" said Mr.. Gallagher.
.eThe traders have generally kept the
public houses They were gombeen
men-moneY lenders Poor farmers