The Irish standard., 1918-12-14
1. IRELAND IN AMERICA,

quiet days of peace are ours once
more. Around the conference table
the pen will soon prove mightier than
the sword. The four years that have
passed have been bitter ones; they
have brought victory to some, defeat
to others, disillusion to all. We now
know that the boasted civilization of
Europe was hollow mockery, fair
and beautiful to look upon, but, on
the inside, "rottenness and dead mems
bones" Nations, protesting friendship
for each other, were really grasping
the treacherous dagger under an as
sassin's cloak. The ruling vice was
avarice, camoufaged under such in
nocuous terms as Colonial expansion"
freedom of the seas" "a place in the
sun" The result was that insolent
empires had been built on the black
ened ruins of nations and races; peo-
pie who loved freedom had been swal-
lowed mercilessly to build up mon
strous political bodies; and the habits
of races, the civilization of countries,
the languages of nations had all been
destroyed to provide for the foreign
conqueror a triumph before his own
people.
No orators tongue can picture the
horrors Of the "Great War;" no writ
er's pen can portray it's awful suffer
ings. Many think that no resultant
good can justify the appalling sacri-
fees; but if there be any effect undef
the sun which can repay the food and
treasure spent, it will be the freedom
of small nations, the right of all peo-
pie to rule themselves, to set up their
own governments and to- carve out
their own destiny. If any less result
is achieved, the suffering, the dread,
the horror of the past four years will
all have been in vain, and civilized
man will have proved himself stark,
staring mad.
Chief Cause.
Among all the causes for the war,
one stands mountain-high above the
others; the subjugation of weaker
races by the armed might of more
powerful ones, and, when the other
causes are analysed and traced back to
their origin, they will all be found to
take root in this one. While the peo-
pie of a country are ruled against their
will, while legislation is enacted for
them without their consent, there must
always be seeds of discord, strife and
war, which will ripen whenever a suit
able opportunity occurs, and once more
which none but the blind will refuse
to see.
It will be necessary at the confer
ence for the peace-loving nations of
the world to set up sure safeguards for
future world peace, safeguards, which
many may, perhaps, consider exagger-
ated, but which must be adopted for
humanity's sake. One safeguard, which
all concede not to be superfluous, nay,
indeed, to be the very minimum re-
quired, is, in the words of our Presi-
dent, the right of individual races and
nations to complete self-determination
If this right be not established and put
into effect the peace conference will
be mockery, a delusion and snare,
and prolific breeder of future strife.
lreland's Status.
The nations which must be. given
to be mentioned. All have their able
and eloquent advocates. There is one,
however, whose claims are the most
eloquent and imperious of them all,
one, which, strange to say, has not re-
ceived the attention it deserves from
the people of America-Ireland.
Ireland was small nation strug-
Cling for it's independence when Po-
land was at the zenith of it's glory;
the Irish were crushed in the dust
hundreds of years before the kingdom
of Belgium originated. Long, long be-
fore Serbia, Roumania and Montenegro
became political entities, Ireland had
been struggling for the freedom she
possessed when she was the light of
Europe-the island of saints and sages.
Thus her claim to be the original
small nation is indisputable.
In two succeeding articles it is my
purpose to set forth, as clearly as pos
sible, the position of Ireland before the
world. In this present one, however,
I intend to devote all my attention to
the Irish in America, in an effort to
show that the Ireland which is plead
ing before us today for her very life
is no stranger here, nay, rather, she
appears as one who has given her
best and her bravest, the very blood
of her heart in order that we might
be free and united. She but asks, in
return, that we throw our power and
influence on the side of justice and