New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-11
Poverty: the Real Irish Question
Blu Arthur Gleason

y
The real Irish question is poverty. Agri-
cultural labor receives less than three dollars
week The tenant and owner and laborer,
when averaged up, receive only sou week
Even the brief and dubious money gains OF
war time are not an Offset for deprecated
"plant"; and the stock of cattle and equip
ment OF agricultural utensils are steadily de-
preciating in these days Of an increased eX-
port trade The slums Of Irish cities are
among the worst in Europe. Dublin IS known
as the "onc-room city, because over $4,000
Of her pcoplc arc congested. Industrial labor
is uuderpaid. Preferential through rates on
the railroads have given irish markets TO
English producers. Many of the farms are
too small for economic working, and what
there is of them is not good enough soil
Much Of the best tillage remains in the HANDS
of the landlords and is used for grazing IN
stead Of for the production Of crops. Inc
hone of Ireland lies in trades unlonlsm' edu-
cation and cooperation Ireland's real prob
lem is to increase production and distribute
prosperity.
Chewing over Stale grievances
found ireland stimulated by the report
that Henry Ford was planning tractor iac-
tory in Cork. He was said to have taken an
ontion on a race course, to plan the diversion
Of the river and TO guarantee a minimum wage
Of twenty-one shillings to his workers. The
story ran that he had visited his mother $
birthplace in Cork, and out Of the personal
al 70
tie grew his plan to revive the industriaI NE
of Ireland If the very rumor has gwen
cheer to an underpaid population, no" much
new hope will flow in if lrish-Americans
whose hearts bleed for Ireland Will invest
some of their money in Irish agriculture and
industry. A few million dollars invested
where their heart is will relieve a pressure
on Ireland which to-day is resulting in bad
housing, under-nOurishment overworN ana
an undue proportion of pauperism. The real
Irish question is not solved by political
wrangling and chronically tangled nerves in
side the island, nor b. hot temper at long
distance. The Irish-Americans who have
planted the tradition Of Irelands wrongs in
the United States are two generations out OF
date. II they would get into touch with
Young ireland they would find they we're
chewing over stale grievances which the
march of thought has long passed by. They
are as much out Of date as MARKHAM socialists
The present campaign Is based on concrete
issues. recurring record of facts and or
canizatiou. American money is not needed
for nationalistic propaganda. It IS needed
for agricultural and industrial development.
Our rich irish-Amercans can do an immense
service TO Ireland. They can aid to set her
free. But not by parliamentary Debates
spccch masking campaigns and pltful aoor-
tive rcbcllions. They can set her free by
standing security for land Improvement
hotter housing. the purchase OF machinery
and fertilizer plants.
Make an End of Comic Opera
Had the Irish question been settled 10y
,bo Irish question | must insist that mean
no. the comic opera politics of Gun-runnIhg'
but the agricultural and industrial redemp-
.ior Of TrcIand) this war would have been an
castor task for England The submarine
blockade would have been minor factor
Ircland's natural market is England Eng
land is on an industrial basis and needs the
foodstuf of an agricultural country Ike ire
land. Every mistake England has made III
the long past in Ireland has cost her severely
E., money and lives in this war A unlhed
economically prosperous Ireland could nave
fod England. and left her free to raise her
army and make munitions, and the subma-
,ines would have been poweress to touch
ono shipload of produce plying across the
Irish Sea. As it is England has mad 10
buv her supplies from several nations, ana
tho long sea haul has been over open waters
where the submarine has sunk an cver-groW-
ing number Of food ships. BY postponing the
settlement OF Irelands status as an autono-
nous nation inside the British common
wealth England has lessened her own 1000
SUNNY and heightened the war. As long as
Ireland is politically in fever she refuses
n settle down TO her real job Of mastering
tho conditions Of her own life. which Will be
determined by better land and more land
fertilizers. machinery. labor supply, organI-
,ation for producing and selling, and railroad
facilities There would be little value in
writing one more contentious article on Ire
land. So with the charges OF national
;ncompctency and ineficicncy, which those
who denv self -government to Ireland allege
ne the ground for their denial. One re-
mcmbers in this connection the famous pas
SAGE Of Graham Wallas in his THE Great
Society" on the rights of little nations:
athens during the last quarter of the htth
century b. c. was not we'll governed; and II
the British Empire had then existed, and II
Athens had been brought within 1t. the ad-
ministration of the city would undoubtedly
A Holy War