The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-01-29
Compulsion for Irishmen

on board, and after a consultation
among Cunard officials the company
decided not to allow men eligible for
military service to SAIL" ILL.,.
I'm the course, Of an article on the
tggacefulFacenes Witnessed in Liver.
pe6E ahe Manchester Guardah" says:
1T has been. for a. sadly long time,
the custom of many breadwinners in
ireland to seek in America the liveli-
hood that is hard to- get at home.
Since the Queenstown call : was
dropped they have passed in increased
numbers through Liverpool, and it
was not to be expected that this move
ment would cease at time when Ire.
land is feeling the increased depres-
sion that the war has brought. 1t is
we'll not to shirk the fact that there
is still in Ireland spirit, not FER
haps widespread but quite resolute,
urreconciled to the British army. 1t
is hoped to speed the gradual but sure
exercising of this spirit by action that
is an insult to the whole Irish people.
But If the end aimed at by the Liver
pool demonstrators and the Cunard
company is an unwise one, the means
taken to secure it are more unwise.
We doubt whether it is in the power
of a steamship company to set aside
the law as to common carriers
which expressly forbids discrimina-
ton against any class of customers;
but even If it has this power it is in.
tolerable that a. private company
should usurp the functions of the gov
eminent by exercising it in this way"
Writing to the Catholic Times"
"Onlooker" declares he "never
thought his fellow-citizens were so
devoid of humor, as seventy-five per
cent of the male portion in the crowd
'guying' the would-be emigrants were
of an age eligible for military service,
and, whatever their action may be
after they had been called upon,' the
fact remains that up to the present
they have lodged khaki, and 1 do think
the recruiting sergeants missed a
golrious opportunity in not transfer
ring their energies to the patriotic
crowd" Just so; let the Englishman
stop at home to collar German
trade" while the 1rish-a fighting
race, as Britishers are so fond of de-
claring when a "scrap" is on-should
spill their blood for the accursed EN-.
pire that has throttled the life out of
Erin.
John Redmond, when interviewed
on the matter, referred to it as pure
ly a West of Ireland affair, due en-
tirely to a Misrepresentation on the
part Of number of fellows who
thought that CONSUMPTION had been
enacted" No; neither Mr.. Redmond
nor any of his crew had word to
say in denunciation of the scandalous
scenes. And the so-called Irish press
followed his lead. An Irish Protes-
tant, Robert T.ynd, in a letter to the
Daily News" after expressing his in
dignation at the treatment of the en-
igrants, asks by what right do those
who have made Irish history a rec.
ord of horrors jeer at his fellow.
countrymen as towards.
But here in Ireland it has beer left
to the patriotic Bishop of Limerick,
the most Rev. DR.. O'Dwyer-in what
the Dublin Evening Wair' describes
as an amazing letter"-to take up the
cudgels on behalf of his ill-treated
fellow-countrymen. Writing to the
Munster News" his Lordship says:
"The treatment which the poor Irish
emigrant lads have received at Liver.
pool is enough to make any Irish
mans blood boil with anger and in.
dignation. What wrong have they
done to deserve insults and outrage
at the hands of brutal English mob
They do not want to be forced into
the English battles in some part of
the world. Is not that within their
right? They are supposed to be free
men, but they are made to feel that
they are prisoners, who may be com.
PEELED to lay down their lives for q
cause that is not worth three rows
of pins to them.
1T is very probably that these poor
Connaught peasants know little or
nothing of the meaning of the war.
Their blood is not stirred by the men,
cries of Kassovo, and they have no
burning desire to die for Servia. They
would much prefer to be allowed to
till their own potato gardens in peace
in Connemara. Small nationalities,
and the wrongs of Belgium and
Rheims Cathedral, and all the other
cosmopolitan considerations that rouse
the enthusiasm Of the Irish party, but
do not get enough recruits in Eng
land, are far too high-iying for un-
educated peasants, and it seems a
cruel wrong to attack them because
they cannot rise to the level of the
disinterested Imperialism of T. P.
O'Connor, and the rest of the New