The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-17
IRISH RESENT
 BRITISH CLAIMS 0F WAR RECORDS
Claims Persistent Propa- ganda Has Finally Reach
 ed Members of Congress.

Washington, D. C., Oct, 1T - The following statement was issued last night by Daniel T, OrConnelL director of the Irish National Bureau
 When British propaganda is so per- sistent and so subtle that 1t reaches to the hearts and minds of members of the United States Congress, and go vlcitmizes a distinguished representa- tive as to bring from him the state ment that Ireland had not done her share in the war against Germany, the Irish National Bureau can no longer allow this false impression to 20 uncorrected.
 The Congressman from Texas who made that statement recently to an active worker in the cause of Irish freedom made 1t in good faith He had read it, or heard 1t, somewhere. He was anxious to have the Irish Ma uonaI Bureau give him the truth Of the matter, "so that he might go home and hold his head high. for he had Irish blood in his vetns."
 This, then, is the truth:
 Ireland not only did her full share In the war against Germany, but did a greater share of the work than might justly have been apportioned lSEr T e-ilkS anu ASSASSAS ASAAt "SAS ~A>A traditional friends, and she sprang to their defense,
 When, in 1914, AsQuith went to Dublin on recruiting tour, the stand from which he spoke was decked with the ancient colors of the Irish nation, and the appeals to the people were printed in Gaelic. Asqufth gave as surance that Englapd's sword would not be sheathed until the rights of small nations rS>re assured - and then, In the same fall. denied to Ire land the Home Rule which the Brit ish Parliament had pledged to her.
 Yet, in spite of this perfidy on the part of the British governing ring, 6@ per cent. of Ireland's total popu- lation enlisted under the British flag to offer their lives for the freedom of the oppressed and the destruction of the doctrine that Might is Right,
 The full significance of this record of IreIand's service can best be un- derstood If compared with the record of America, Available ngures show on Nov 1, 1918, the total strength of the United States army and navy, including naval reserv1sts and about 5000 yeomen (f), to be 4,203, 6S8. This is 6 fraction under 4 per cent. of the total population of the country for 1918. So far as the Irish National Bureau can ascertain, the men under arms, at home and abroad, at no time comprised 5 per cent of our popula- tion.
 The statements regarding Ireland's war service are based upon official ut terances of the British authorities.
 Lord Wimborne, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, reported to Lord Kitch- ener on January 14, 1916, that there were 51,046 Irishmen serving as reg ulars and reservists in the British army in August. 1914, According to Sir Eric Geddes, In the House of Commons, there were up to 1918, 17o,00O enLstments In Ireland. Ac- cording to the statement of T. P. O'Connor. M. P. afcNr a statistical survey, there were more than 35, 900 Irish boys temporarily employed away from home who enlisted in English and Scotch regiments in 1S14-1915. According to Vim burne's report, there were 8,548 Irishmen in the English navy. In 1918 there were more than 1000 ad- ditional enlistments in Ireland, and 8 conservative estimate gives an addi- tion of 4,000 navy and navy reserve eniistm ents. This gives us a total of 275,592 Irishmen from Ireland fight ing in the English army and navy In the war.
 Even Lord Morris, late Prime Min ister of Newfoundland, who is not in favor of the Irish Republic, recently wrote: Nothing could be more splendid than the part played by the Irish at the start, . The Victoria Cross proudly worn on the breasts of Irish soldiers shows that this is no boast, and the subsequent failure of Ireland to take her place, as she has always taken it. on the battIefeIds of the empire was due to that fatal pol icy pursued at the War Omce-A pol icy in which everything humanly possible was done to make recruittn g more difficult
 But it was not alone the War Off, flee tactics that checked recruitins 2 after the first response. It was a matter Of far deeper concern to the Irish Nation.
 The latest statistics C1s11) show that only three years before the war began there were in Ireland only 776,0O0 men married and unmarried, fit and unfit, of military age. And in January, 1916, Lord Wimborne re- ported that there were then only 100000 single men of military age in Ireland, and that of this total at least 262,000 were essential to agrI- culture, and that other vital indus tries would absorb another 48OOo This left a balance of only 100000 single men, fit and unfit, available in Ireland for military service at a time when 3.O0o,00o Engiishmen were safely ensconced in British factories
 This tremendous shortage Of man. power in Ireland must be consfd cred For it has from earliest +ir1es boo- the English governmental policy +c SO conduct it's Irish affa t--s +e IL.