The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-03-10
TOPICS OF The MONTH
From the Irish Rosary, Dublin, ireland,
Compelled to Till.

than never. The facilities for such
scheme were far greater before the
war, when the excuses for not taking
action were foreign competition, lack
of capital, and so forth. There Is now
a dearth of the human capital, labor,
Agriculture, in short, has been the
most serious casualty of the war. But
that is all the more reason why last
effort should be made to keep it from
dying.
The country has been so stripped of
men that farm work has developed on
old laborers and women. The disaster
to the potato crop proves how untitled
their energies are for the demand. We
are now in position to appreciate the
wisdom of the donkey voiced orators
who, not content with the enlistment of
the laboring class, were shrieking
year ago for the farmers sons. Tillage
laws would have comic effect today had
their wishes been granted.
Farmers were never more alive to
the need for tillage, they have been
in such straits for feeding stuffs. A
complete change in the conditions of
importation are foreshadowed For
eign produce will not be again procur-
able at the pre-war rates. Most of
what is necessary to support cattle,
sheep and pigs will have to be grown
henceforth by the farmers themselves.
AS was not the case in the past, it
will be their interest to do so-in fact
they will have no alternative.
We know what happened in France
after the 1870 debacle. A too free i'm
portation of commodities the country
itself could produce caused agriculture
to languish and the rural places to be
deserted. In 1884 the government i'm
proved land profits by taxing pretty
heavily the importation of anything
that could as we'll be grown at home.
Thereupon there was rapid return to
the soil. Soon, instead of importing mil
lions worth of agricultural products,
the country was exporting them in
more than corresponding proportion.
Still, the impossible remains the i'm
possible. Without labor the earth is a
desert. Unless the farmers have some
adequate substitute for the toll of the
men who have gone away the increase
of tillage will be a simulacrum and a
sham. The provision must be made
quickly. 1t obviously means a COM
plete resort to- mechanical aid. The
government announce that they will
allow factories engaged on munition
work to provide the apparatus. Why
not procure the equipment at once
from America, as other countries are
actually doing? American agricultural
mechanism is the best obtainable, and
there is no advantage in delaying till
English manufacturers can supply
something of quality much inferior.
Spring is at hand. If mechanical cul-
tivation is to be introduced for the
crops of 1917 there is not time to lose
One must assume that the govern
ment mean to act in a prompt and
businesslike way as regards loans to
the cultivators. 1t should not be too
much to hope, either, that the ranches
which are at present grazed by the
Congested Districts Board-a body
which has ceased to distribute land to
the people-will come under the plough
at once, if only for the sake of good
example.
Mechanical cultivation is said to dc
best when applied to wide areas un
broken by ditch, hedge or fence. We
may gradually see an unification oil
holdings, such as is already afoot in
other countries, SO as to obtain the
best results. OF course, division OF
land is not the necessary accompani
ment of small proprietorship. These
points, however, can be left to develop
To get the scheme going is the tasl,
nearest to us.
MUDDLING IRELAND's FOOD RE-
SERVES.
Lethargic stupidity has scored new
victories for Irish officialdom. Fol
months the serious deficiency of pota
toes was pointed out. The price tt
which they had scared might alone
have notified the authorities that there
was an uncommon scarcity. Mr.. T. w
Russell, M. p, said the reports were
exaggerations and there was nothing
to worry about. So the expectation
of the peoples food-even to foreign
countries-went gaily on. Administra
ton was conducted on true Indian
lines. British convenience was the one
thing consulted. The game, quite
perennial in India, of getting out the
food and letting in the famine was
played for all it was worth.
Now, when the meagre potato stock
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