The sun., 1916-10-08
IRISH SITUATION AS 1T Is TO-DAY

fundamental In Irish ciyiliza,o,
Parish by parish and county by COUNT
the small. disintegrated agriculturis,s
Of Ireland are being linked lin ~,
cooperative societies and COOPERATIVE
declarations.
Already these are more than .
thousand In number and include AZ
members more than one-fourth of ~
farmers Of Ireland. A wise fund
mental rule OF all these organizators
Is that no sectarian matters or mart
politics shall be discussed at the ,neo,.
ings. and so Protestant and Ca,bo,,
Unionist and Nationalist find If ,n.
sible to come together at the gatb,r.
ings. Thus they find cause for com.
mon social action and form real friend.
ships. This Is the only moy.mor,
which ever succeeded in bringing ohon,
anything like this In Ireland.
Starting among the farms 10 in,
pulse Is spreading to the tow +,
Belfast the cooperative society h
annual OF half Il m!io,
pounds sterling. or two and a b,l,
million dollars. The rural moyemo,,
Is principally concerned with coone-,.
tive production. but the Distribute,
side is growing. Urban coop.ra,io,
began with distribution and is trav..
ling toward cooperative production
OF both are friendly [, eacb
other and 1t is hoped by cooperative
societies or declarations, financed h,
both sections Of the movement. 10
bring about an economic communi,v
Of interest that in a generation or so
will SO pervade all Ireland tina, IN.
sense OF the identity OF int .cs, no.
tween the individual and the con.
munity. which was the Greek concep.
ton Of citizenship, will be general. re.
acting upon every phase o: Irish life
Merely living In the same latitude
and longitude will not bcget this. VIVA,
Is the use OF talking OF a unitol Ire.
land II the social order which works
out means merely competition for Tho
means OF livelihood between Irishn.n,
And now this movement has grown N
such magnitude that 1t seems as ,
nothing but the destruction of Ireland
can prevent its extension until tho
scheme Of working together and demo.
cratic control OF industry becomes fun.
damental in Irish life.
"Of course this need not. nor vii,
II. be absolute. There will he ndis.
tries like shipbuilding ana the ,eN,,la
manufactures which. in this az. AT,
least. cannot be under cooperative
control. But IL tho idea does become
fundamental 1t will affect all indus.
tries. whether controlled by capital or
not, and beget in them all the idea ,ha.
all industries should be operated for
the common good and not entirely FOR
the enrichment OF a few individuals
by the evolution OF such priucIpl,s
In the society OF Ireland tina, real
unity which now seems TO he a dean.
may he brought about and the polite,
machine be made TO work honestly AMI
e~fficicntly for the welfare of tho p.o.
pie. 1t 10 In the character OF the So.
cial order OF n country, In the r,la.
tons between individuals in daily lie.
that real political stability mus, b..
looked Tor far more than in the actua,
construction of the political mdrh.g,
The best devised political machine
VIII not work properly If the people
remain preJud.ccd and u~neduca,cd 7.
the people are economically educated
by thei organizations. IL they ,ru,,
one another with a trust begotter q.
daily cooperation, they Will maxi" even
Il theoretically inferior political ma.
chine work better than "A theorct.ca,,y
perfect machine could work in less "a.
vorable circumstances.
III Is the sense OF brotherhood vh'r.
makes any form Of society to,,rthc
FeudaIiSm was tOlrrobip wbu, ,t.-.