The Irish standard., 1916-10-07

cheapest way that he can secure them
is by having them shipped via Liver
pool. At any station forty miles from
Dublin the cheapest way to secure
goods from Dublin is to ship them to
England first and have them reshipped
back to Ireland. In other words, the
English railroad systems are encourag-
ing their own trade, and they make it
worth the while of an Irish CONNER
cial man to order his goods from Eng
land rather than from Ireland.
At the Railroad Commission, few
years ago. it was sworn that at one
station, forty-four miles from Dublin,
freight cost 60 cents per ton, and at
the next station, on the same line, and
ten miles further from Dublin, it cost
only % cents per ton, while at the
next station, about sixty miles, it cost
$1.lO per ton, and at a station 1872
miles away it was again delivered at
so cents.
Farm produce is delivered more
quickly in London from Cork and ker-
ry than it could be delivered in Dub
lin and purchases made in London are
delivered more eXpeditiously in any
part of Ireland than if they had. been
made in Dublin.
The result of this is that the Eng
lish manufacturer gets the preference
just as the English consumer gets
Irish food supplies cheaper than the
Dublin consumer does, because losses
resulting from delay are eliminated.
Where the Grand Southern and
Western Railroad and the Dublin and
Southeastern Railroad interest is on
the coast, and thirty miles inland,
there is one of the greatest agricul-
tural districts in Ireland, and, though
the people there have offered again
and again to put up enough money to
build a railroad line to link up with
the towns and connect with the G. S.
& w.. on the one side. and the D.
& S. l.. on the other, they have al
ways been told in the British House
OF Commons that one or the other of
the rival companies had a permit for
such line. and that no one else must
interfere. For twenty years the line
is unbuilt. and for twenty years to
come it will be still unbuilt, unless
~ ola % in,
A few years ago. it was thought to
get a good inland delivery by estab-
fishing road tractors, or using auto
mobiles to haul the goods. But the
Local Government Board of Ireland,
another English body. decreed that to
use the roads for such purposes was
illegal. so that scheme was dropped.
The only other means of making com
mercial connection in Ireland is the
Canal system. The Canal system was
badly conceived at first. but. limited
as it's possibilities were. it could have
done something. but the Government
interfered again and the Canal sys-
TEN was practically closed to traffic.
The rivers. with the exception of
the Shannon, have been treated in the
same way, and there are scores of
Irish rivers that for few thousand
dollars could have been made naviga-
BILE for much Of their length that are
closed to traffic for want of funds to
dredge or deepen them.
The whole system of internal COM
in Ireland is in the hands
Of British syndicates directly RESPONSE
BILE to the British Government, and |
the British Government maintains |
them on the necks of the Irish people. |
The English attitude is that every
industry must be strangled in Ireland
except the agricultural industry, and
that must survive to feed the indus
trial workers of England.