The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-15
WOMEN BACK MOVEMENT

WOMEN BACK MOVEMENT
Tn +be meantime a great movement has
gained footing in the Emerald Isle when
very greatly has begun to atfect Tor the
better comfort of the women. mat
movement has been absolutely nonpo-
ltical and ELECTROMAGNETIC IA -
which has been either in the history OF
Ireland since the tribal days before the
Danes came in the dim glow of the dawn
of history.
This cooperative movement is rapidly
lifting the heavy hand of the mlddleman
from the shoulder of the Irish agrlcui-
turst Today that hand bears nghter
on that shoulder than it bears upon the
shoulder of almost any other farmer IN
the world And, furthermore, the same
movement is immensely increasing pro.
duction and decreasing the stress OF
labor. :.
Even in the towns the movement is
gaining ground with great rapldity, ana
soon will be as powerful there as II al
ready has become in certain OIL the rulai
districts. where it is, undoubtedly the
greatest force for comfort ana happiness
which ireland ever has known.
PROTESTANT AND CATHOLlC
The wives of the farmers in the coun-
try find that they now have more money
than they ever had before for themselves
and their children, and they ma thae
fine Protestant and Catholic clergy are
string side by side upon the boards
of control which manage the affairs OF
tha sroup work which is bringing Ell
ficient cultivation to their huspahas
farms. and. above that, is marketing ms
product with immense intelligence
They find that through the meetings OF
good neighbors (and the movement tends
to stimulate good neighborliness) vast
me- use
of alcohol is being exterted. rat no
longer comes home fuddled from the mar
ket. with all his money left behind MN
in the till of the town pub
They. themselves, have better dresses
and more trinkets, their babies are pettef
fed and clothed, ornaments anu even
now and then, a musical instrument are
beginning to appear in such CABINS aF
have light and room for them ana those
that have not slowly are being abandoned
or rebuilt
Now the women do not care rap Tor
the theory of economies, IN lreland' az
vet while even the working women o.
England have been educated up TO some
knowledge of their rudiments through
the suffrage movement, although that
movement has been far less Intelligent
than the votes-for-women movement mas
been in the United States.
But they care great deal for the re-
suits of wisely applied economic theories
and practices. They are beginning 10
erect Sir Horace Plunkett into something
like a sainthood. In one little CABIN, AZ
least Is miles from Dublin, saw PFC
ture of him, cut out of newspaper,
pinned upon the wall beside a highiy
colored Autograph of the good st. rat
rick.
And they know that his methods, which
are winning. are very different from the
Sim Fen methods which, certainly so
far, have lost. They are more anxious
to see Ford tractors than they are 70
see machine guns in Ireland.
They don't want their men fighting IN
the streets. They want them working in
the fields. Many of them, surely q
learned this by questioning many would
be glad to know that their husbands and
sons were serving in the armies against
Germany
This slowly growing sentiment among
the Irish women must be taken into ac-
count. Certainly the whole Protestant
clergy, and, far more important in the
neighborhood of Dublin. that of most of
the Catholic clergy notably that of 'the
good Father Finlay" Ca leader in the CO.
ope~e NN movement). is all away from
revoltttn and in favor of evolution.
Women are more influenced by the clergy