New-York tribune., 1918-05-20
Says Attack Would
Mean Fight i'm u. S.
Connivance With Germany
Denied; Convention Again
Urges Statement by u. S.

more their obHgauonS OF American
loyalty. after demands for "instant ac-
tion' and veiled threats levelled at
Congress had been comparatively
smoothed over and Judge John Jerome
Rooney had actually succeeded IN get
ting motion to adjourn before the
convention in the Central Opera House,
Sixty-seventh Street and Third Avenue,
yesterday, there arose at the back of
the room a demand which presently re-
solved itself into an imperious, rhyth-
mic chant for Golden Golden
Golden!"
From platform chair slender
young man with a huge mop of wavy
hair sprang forward. while scores of
Irish Republic flags were waved.
This" Golden cried, "is not the time
for talking. Let us stop footing our
selves or being fooled by others. There
are ten thousand Gurkas on the streets
of Irish cities to-day waiting to mas
sacre our people. Maybe within a
week our women, our men, our boys,
our girls will be mown down by their
onslaughts. Is this. then, the time to
talk. No This is the time for action"
His voice rose almost to shrek.
Talks About Massacres
IL 10 not wish" he cried "to make
anybody else responsible for what
say here; but I of myself say this to
you openly and unafraid: If the Eng
lsh government massacres our people
in Ireland. if we have one shred of
menhood or womanhood in US, the gov
crnment that we live under will have
tC massacre us too"
There had been ovations aplenty be-
tore n the course Of that meeting yes
tcrday Recommendations Cor Liam
Mellowes, the Sim Feiner, when he
made an unexpected entry into the
l.all; ovations for Patrick McCartin,
the "accredited Sim Fein representa-
i've TO the United States," who whjs-
nered of the downfall of the British
Empire; ovations for John Dewey and
Mrs Sheehy Skeffington, as she urged
coercion OF Congress-and many, many
mirror ovations in between. But all Of
them seemed mere ecnoes beside the
roar of approval that went up in an
swer to that challenge from the fiery
little secretary of the gathering.
1'et even then Peter Golden was not
quite content
Don't cheer me-" he blazed back.
But if you're an Irish race convention
lou take that message back to your
people" And again the house. shouting
w G Will. we Will. went Wild.
SO it was that the final note struck
at the Irish race convention, which
wound up it's two days session last
evening, was the same upon which the
delegates had begun.
Note Never Wholly Smothered
Yet throughout the proceeding yes
tcrday, which began at l o'clock and
continued without let-up until nearly
{. that note was never wholly smoth-
cred, despite the valiant efforts of the
Rev. Thomas j. Hurton, as chairman
TO keep the three thousand delegates
who filed floor and gallery and jammed
the aisles within bounds
Even John Dewey, who, as on the pre-
vious day, was introduced as sort of
stablizer, touched it when he said:
1--WE stand to-day, as Field Marshal
Haig said Of the British troops, with
our backs to the wall; but we have our
faces to the enemy"
Overnight the delegates had been
meeting among themselves, discussing
y detail the arrest of their fellows in
Ireland. digesting its significance.
When they met yesterday it was with
he united conviction that present de-
Nelopments have forced a determining
showdown on the Irish question, and
that no sacrifice is too great, no
remedy too desperate to be applied to
he existing crisis. At every stage
that attitude was manifest.
Fresh resolutions to the President
and Congress were adopted calling even
the day before for an official state
ment by the United States on this
subject. At the same time permanent
officials were elected, and, under their
leadership, it is proposed that all the
Irish societies in America will be for
mally welded into a single unit to
fight by every means at their command
for "Irish Differentiation
Pro-German Charge Called "Lie"
The charges of connivance with Ger
many brought against the Sim Feiners
were denounced by one speaker afte1
another as "les," circulated by Grea
Britain to prejudice public opinion
against Ireland. The possibilities of
against Irish natioalnists in this coun
try was broadly limited it. The asser
tion that Ireland is to-day an armet
camp, with regiments of Gurkas from
India in the vanguard to enforce con
scrption, was made by the speakers
Nor was the possibility that America,
troops might be introduced into Irelan.
to help put down an armed resistance
neglected.
-'They'd turn on the English!
shouted delegate, while the Houst
applauded.
Perhaps" returned McCartin, wht
was speaking at the time, "but it..
your duty to see they never get there
at all"
Every one of the orators declared
that in the ultimate test the Irish peo
ple were prepared to die in a body be
fore submitting to the ''foreign tyran't.
Every one seemed convinced that the
probability of such sacrifice being
demanded was imminent. And every
one held out the hope of American in
tervention as the only possible solu
ton for this "intolerable situation"
1t was in the speeches of Liam Mel
loves, McCartin and Mrs. Skeffingtol
that the fervor and defiance Of the
gathering reached their zenith.
Speech a War Call
The house stood for three minutes
clapping, shouting and stamping wher
Mellowes appeared. Impromptu, hi.
speech was war call throughout
"Let the American people speak ou
on behalf of Ireland or stop talking
about the freedom of small peoples" HI
continued. "The time to take action i!
now, not after the Irish people arc
wiped out This question of Irish con
scription is not simply an Irish ques
ton 1t is a question which concerns
the whole world.
( -x> - - I'd Il s~I-