The sun., 1916-10-15
Market day in an Irish town.
By EDWARD
DrRLIN. S%eptemher .

. r WAS sore from a drive IN n
%jaunting car among the ruins OF
the best structures OF Dublin,
wrecked during last winters uprising
/. 4Atile effort OF the Sim Feiners to take
advantage OF Great Britain's preoccu-
patton with her tremendous war-when
! had a talk with r. A. Anderson.
Owing to my contemplation of This
most recent evidence of the failure of
governmental plan t. keep Ireland
prosperous and happy. as | went "a
meet Mr.. Anderson | had found mysel.
Oiled with a certain sense OF hopeless
ness. For in cities which are prosper-
Gus and happy one does not see gaunt
walls standing gaping after mob-set
fires; does not SEE public buildings and
residences pockmarked ny bullets fired
o Government rifles. is not told in
. stage whisper by a drama loving
driver that somewhere In a hidden spot
are scores OF graves Of men shot down
~ their own brethren in "A little civil
war.
To me after hat drive. and after
reading in the Round Table Philip
3err's exposition Of the Irish difficulty
and the probability that years must
pas before the satisfactory solution OF
q (of which all know the formula but
which none applles) II was a surprise
and a delight To meet an Irish ortim'st.
an Irish optimist. moreover, whose
optimism has good company in that of
many other thinkers, and, still further,
oas borne and is bearing actual fruit.
In the last analysis Sir Horace Plum
kett probably is the greatest living
lrishman. His immense energy and
common sense (which have carried him
TO the States On many occasions and
have made him almos; as we'll known
there as he IL in ireland and in Eng
land) are pointing the way To better
days-and he is n mere exponent Of
mechanical and agricultural efficiency.
augmented and s~piritualized by n help
Neutrality-suspicious. sentiment as great as
Henry Ford's. He will be Irelands
savior. probably, and he never has
been n politician.
There you have Il. Ireland, al
though American newspapers print
many dispatches telling Of sedition, IL,
] believe Though many disagree with
mel closer to salvation than almost
any other part Of war torn and dis
aster threatened Europe, and her sal
walton will not come through war but
through science; she will not be led
to It by ~religionists. by rioters or by
the politicians tof whom she has de-
>ArA~-l 49, 800 ,. $1,000 --. -.
this world). but by economists.
No n who has spent much time in
Ireland ear doubt that her chief
trouble has been poverty, nor. al
though there has been immense over
taxation here at certain periods, that
the chief cause of this poverty in re-
, cent years has been local economic
mismanagement. This was govern
mental at its foundation doubtless, but
BOW II has spread into every nook and
I, Granny OF Irish life, until for "A long
time II has been n national habit.
Ireland Is principally an agricultural
country. II has been the least eff
edent agricultural country in the list
Of civilization. Under tho impulse OF
the new movement, which Is not senti-
mental like the New Ireland move
msnt. nor r~evengeful like the Sim
Jein movement, nor political, nor de-
eominational. II IL progressing toward
efficiency with Il rapidity unequalled
IN history.
have heard none predict IL. but il
n nevertheless far from impossible
that ireland, under this impulse, which
was born in the remarkable brain OF
Horace Plunkett, may within "A gem
Grafton or so become the model OF
the world In hat agricultural develop
ment for which she Is fitted, and
more especially In the development OF
b cooperative business system for her
ag~riculturists. 1t would not astonish
IN the least those who watch he sit
uation from the side Ia hear a proph-
ecy that through the system which
u building here Ircland's little agrl-
,eulturists. probably now the least
prosperous OF any. may become, ere
long. the most prosperous small farm
ers recorded in all history. And this
not only under that Government
which Ireland so constantly has crit
icised, but even In spite OF Irish poll
ticians.
MI. Anderson, a very thoughtful,
very well Informed man. especially
qualified for his work among Irish
farmers because "he has a way with
him." began his talk with "A startling
statement Of the progress already made
although he seemed quite una ware %
he extent 10 which II made me sit up
and take notice,
4. "lreland IL emerging from the hog
N which she has wallowcd for more
years than | care to estimate" said
he "and II Will he the development OF
,-agricultur" alCNg lines especially suited
70 her needs which will he responsible
therefor.
"The cooperative system II gaining
kYound with astonishing rapidlty. Al