The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-29

at last been given to the public by the general officer commanding the forces in Ireland. General Friend. There were some half million eligi- bIe men in Ireland, married and un-S married, of military age at the date of the last census in 1911. Scarcely i 3O,e00 of these were called up at once, being in the reserves of the old regi-- ments. Over 81 1000 of the remainder have enlisted and been accepted at the recurring centres. There have been many reJections as accept ances for in the first rush, when mi1-' lions were being enrolled and it was thought 100000 or 1.5oo, 900 would have been sufficient for the job, only the verfectly it were accepted. In other words, over 1 60,O00 of the men of military age in Ireland in August, 1914, have offered themselves for the defence, of Europe. If we allow for emigration between April, 1914, dur ing which period over 45,0o0 men of military age left our shores. this means that one out of every three Irishmen of military age has volun- teered- There were in the old regi- ments at the outbreak of the war over 10000 Irishmen. Out of Ireland alone, then, over 1SO,00O Irishmen have been in the firing line or are on their way thereto.
 But that is not the whole story. One has only to- read the casualty lists of the English regiments to see the thousands of Irishmen have enrolled in England as well. This has been an old practice with Irish reeurits. Such regiments as the East Lancashires, the Liverpool regiments, the Glasgow regiments, the Northumberland Fusi- Hers and the Black Watch have al- ways been fayorites with adventur- ous Irish lads. There are, I am told.s Ia1i al a in the famous Black Watch
 How the Irish regiments have ac- quilted themselves cannot be learned from the despatches. Only when the historians Of the regiments come to tell the tale shall we have the meas ure of their. heroism. The widow of one of the officers of the Munster Fusiliers has raised a corner of the curtain. With the assistance of the remnant left in German prison camps after the retreat from Mons she has been able to tell the story of how the isolated regiment, cut off and sur- rounded, fought to it's last cartridge at Etreux; how the second batta1- ion cut the German line at Festubert and could find none to help or follow; how at Rue du Bois the same fate be- fell them, and only two hundred an swered the roll when they were com l pe11ed to abandon the conquered Ifne1 because their Hanks found-no fellows. I How the Dublins and Ministers accora-l plished the impossible at Sedd-e1-1 Bahr, how the old Eighteenth, the | Royal Irish. came to the reseue at St, | Julien; how the Irish Guards have received their baptism of fire; how Dublin Hi11' was stormed by the E Dublin Football pals at Suv1a Bay; | how the InniskiIhngs paid the price E at the Anafarta ridge; the story of these and a score of other Ibatt1es | will prove that the sons of the broth | of Fred ericksburg are true still to l stock and blood.
 Nor is it only in the trenches and | on the heights that Ireland's toll is i being paid. The munitions work irJ Ireland is proving far more con considerable than could have been inn | agined from those whoseY knowIedge | of industrial Ireland has failed to keep pace with the recent develop-1 ment of her manufacturing resources . Belfast's contribution to the nayyi might have been anticipated. But the growth of ArkEoW into the largest manufactory of explosives outside Es- sen, the sudden transformation of | Dublin's engineering works into first i class factories not merely of shells | but of naval and gunnery equipment
 the rapid development of such skilled | industries the manufacture of perl iscopess the big output of the Irish | woollen mills, the unceasings work of | the Dublin biscuit factories the na- val work at HaubowIine, the making of uniforms at Limerick, the output | of khaki at Athlone, have suddenly i revealed Ireland as asscountry capable | of a great and immediate advance in | industrial life.
 Indeed from that point of view the | war is bound./with all it's sacrifices, to give great impulse to the industrial | life of Ireland. The new oreaniza- ton and capital Investments stirnulat- ed by the war wiA survive. Besides that. a great food producing conn | try Ireland has reaped and is reaping large profits. which are remaining in | the pockets of the producers. and ! thanks to, the political labors of the past no longer confscated by an idle partner in the person of the landlord. | Nor is that all The Irish neasay,t | proprietor has gained. Out of the depreciation of public securities has come the source of an immense nos sibles profit to him and the nation at | Large.
 The only great local debt of Tralsnd is her land purchase debt, amounting to about $500,0O0 900 nomfnaIIv yer,7 resented in the investors, hands hv that amount of land stock. This has depreciated 45 per cent, so that tbe real land, debx of Ireland has ssl1riveIe1 1 to $275;0o0,0o0. As the peasant purchaser can redeem his debt bv buying land stock in the open mar ket and paying it to the face vaIna of his debt he can use his war Y1,.of5+s l for the immediate redemption of his land if he is thrifty and a process i which was measured to three geners- tions can be completed in a fifth of that time.
 So that if the war has broueht ifs burdens and sacrifices it has brought some compensation in it's wake, es- peciaIly to the Irish peasant.
 A victory of the Allies would now spell greater things for ireland Not withstanding the addition to her tax-