The Irish standard., 1916-11-04
Seventy Journalists
In British Prisons

un ~ u8uVuU j u0VVuUV
j. D. Lyons, writing from Dublin
under recent date, says:
Trying to run a newspaper and tell
a few truths about the war is the most
dangerous business in Ireland. There
are not less than seventy Journalists
captured in Ireland working at hard
labor in English prisons, including
several of the most noted writer's Of
the country.
From the cellars of Dublin efforts
are made to run off small two.page
papers no larger than 8 by ~ inches.
The effort is accompanied with dire
peril every moment and great diff
culties, as the country is still under
martial law. l watched the funeral
procession, you might call it, of the
last freedom paper when the seized
machinery and type passed through
D'Olier street guarded by constaDies.
The last advanced literature I saw
consisted of curious combination of
speeches from ex-Secretary of State
w. J. Bryan and Senator Robert M.
La Toilette of Wisconsin,, denouncing
England for her misrule in ireland and
extracts from speeches delivered at
the Irish race convention held in New
York last spring.
All news must first be sent from
Ireland to England which is intended
for foreign consumption; the same
rule applies to all incoming news.
There were three papers suppressed
in the West lately and no announce
ment of their fate was printed in Dub
lin.
OF course, all the so-called seditious
papers have long since been destroyed.
Connolly's paper, the Republic, de-
stroyed, the last copies are treasured
as priceless relics. John McNeill's
paper, the Irish Volunteer, was in
prosperous condition before his life
sentence to Dartmoor prison. Sean
McDermott's paper was Nationality"
the Countess Markievicz conducted
"The Spark" The Countess is serving
life sentence, while McDermott was
one of the executed men. Altogether
sixteen papers have been suppressed.
The surviving Irish papers are
passing through bad times. The price
of paper has tripled since the war and
all materials are growing scarcer.
War and recruiting advertising notices
have kept number of papers alive.
All are reduced in size and quality,
wretched in appearance and all lack
ing the spirit of vigor and independ-
ence. Often the news of great mill
tary and naval disasters is suppressed.
Few American newspapers find their
way to Ireland and are inevitably
barred if discovered containing news
considered unfavorable to England.
The Belfast News and the Dublin In
dependent are said to be fairly pros
porous; the others are in state of
decline and should the war last two
years, newspaper men say there will
be few papers in Ireland.
There is great scarcity of paper
and the proprietors are restricted to
turning out small sheets so that Ire
land knows little of what is going on
in the world. Very seldom is any
thing printed from America. The
leading writer's of the country are
either in prison, have been executed,
or fled to the United States earlier in
the war, leaving the quality of Irish
journalism at its lowest ebb.
The leading journal is the Dublin
Independent, owned by Murphy, a
wealthy political boss and a shrew1
business operator, who has made an
other fortune from war deals. He is
fighting Redmond as an independent
Nationalist He owns the Dublin Eve
ming Herald, as we'll as controls the
Dublin city government by the most
approved practical American methods.
The press censorship is severe
throughout Ireland. The papers must
have news and to save the papers
from death they have to print what
ever they can get.