South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-02-21
ABOUT Sim FEN.
South Bend, Feb. 1s. 1919.

Editor News-Tinnes:
Sir-Pardon me if 1 take little
of your space to answer some Of the
assertions on the Sim Fem move
ment made through the columns of
your paper. In todays issue. the
Notre Dame branch of the Friends Of
Irish Freedom, among other wild and
misleading statements says: We defy
Rev Greene TO prove that Sim Fien
fired on American sailors in Cork.
because we know definitely that the
newspaper reports from which he
derives his information was a bald
lie" AS a matter of fact not only
were American soldiers and sailors
insulted and fired at on the streets
Of Cork but the matter became so
serious in other towns that the
Americans were forced TO leave for
safer Ravens.
Again, showing how utterly mis-
leading those assertions from the
local Sim Fein are, might 1 be al
lowed to quote from a dispatch from
Dublin which appeared in The News
Times July IS last. 1t said: The
Irish Independent Thursday morn
ing reported that FIR. O'Flanagan of
Roscommon. vice president of the
Sim Fein society, has been suspend
ed by his bishop for his activities in
the East Cavan election last June
when the Sim Fem leader. though
under arrest, was elected to the
house of commons"
Another dispatch from Dublin
published in The News-Times Nov.
% last says: Some OF the older
parish priests particularly in County
Wexford, have been speaking out
strongly against the Sim Feiners-
Very Rev. Canon Walsh. presiding at
meeting of the Crossabeg and
Ballymurn branch Of the United Irish
league, said the prospect before Ire
land was a gloomy one. as the Grim
inal lunacy of Sim Fein was turning
all Ireland's friends against her. BY
insulting and trampling upon the
American Flag and cheering for
Emperor William, they said the 'un-
ruly Sim Bein faction was turning
the French republic, the American
into bitter enmity of Ireland
Rather than gain independence
for Ireland they were more likely TO
gain 20 years OF coercion and martial
| law. IL any general support was &C
/ corded by Irishmen to the antics OF
the miserable faction whose recor i
/ said Canon walsh, so far, was one
of dissention. disruption and disas-
ter. The democracy of England, he
continued was favorably disposed
toward Irishmen and was willing to
do them justice, but they would
never consent TO the sheer lunacy of
total separation and, until the evil
spirit of Sim Fein was banished
from the land. Ireland would labor
under the yoke OF oppression"
Resolutions were passed at the
meeting condemning the latest Ger
man outrage in numbering seven In
nocent fishermen off the Galway
coast: and denouncing the Gaelic
league as a feeder Of Sim Fem"
There you are. These two dis
! matches are copied verbatim from
The News-Times, and would seem TO
do away with the assertion that the
Irish Catholic church is solidly be-
hind the Sim Fein, excepting in
| South Bend.
The Literary Digest carried a
! number of stories in reference 10 the
| attacks upon American soldiers and
sailors which were taken from Irish
newspapers, and were never denied.
I think It is about time that the
South Bend Sim Fem element let up
on this kind of propaganda which is
nothing more nor less than for the
| purpose Of making trouble between
America and Great Britain, and
backed by German money.
MIKE GORMALDY.