The Irish standard., 1919-10-18
Saturday, October l8, 1919
De Valera Tells of Ireland's Wonderful
Wealth i'm Mineral Resources

600. the Irish sl7,OOO,o00. In 10 years
or so the Irish yield was reduced by
25 per cent, while the Scots increased
by SO per cent, and the English by 80
per cent.
Irish Knew Fishing.
Yet Ireland had an initial advan-
tage in position and in skill. At the
start it was 1rishmen acquainted with
Irish methods that had to be obtained
to organize the fishing industry in
Scotland. 1t was Irishmen who
taught Newfoundlanders also the ru-
diments from which the modern great
fishing industry in that country has
sprung.
English, Scotch, Welsh and Manx
trawlers now operate on our coasts,
poaching even within the legal limits
without any attempt on the part of
the British authorities to prevent
them, and our inland towns, which are
In no place more than 80 miles from
the coast have to purchase fish
caught on these coasts from mer-
chants in the neighborhood island of
Britain to which the fish were taken
in the first instance, with the added
cost of the high freightage.
Such is the position to which we
are reduced by foreign rule. Can any
one doubt that, like the other re-
sources, those of the sea could be de-
veloped at once by an interested gov
ernment chosen by the Irish people?
Could Support 2o,ooo,ooo.
Less than three-quarters of CEN
tury ago Ireland's population was over
S,500,O00. The food produced was suf-
ficient for population twice as great.
Is there any reason to doubt that Ire
land could we'll support population of
over 2O,000,O0O, the estimate of Sir
Robert Kane, or even of 25,OOO,OOO,
the estimate of M. de Beaumont, even
though we should put aside Arthur
Young's estimate of 10O,OO0,0oO?
The Dublin guild of merchants by
resolution in January, 1899, declared
that they looked with adherence on
any attempt to deprive the people of
Ireland of their Parliament, and
thereby of their constitutional right
and immediate power to legislate for
themselves" for that the commerce
of Ireland has increased, and her man.
ufacture improved beyond example
since the independence of this king
dom was restored by the exertion of
our countrymen in 1882"
The bankers of Dublin had declared
month before that "since the renun-
citation of the power of Great Britain
in 1882 to legislate for ireland, the
commerce and prosperity of this king
dom have eminently increased"
Can any one doubt that if England's
strangling grasp was again removed
our merchants and our bankers would
have similar record of progress to
report?
Made Record Progress.
Lord Glare in 1898 could say:
There is not nation on the face
of the habitable globe which has ad-
vanced in cultivation, in manufac-
lures with the same rapidity in the
same period as 1reland-from 1772 to
17ss."
And Lord Plunkett in 1899 could
say:
"1reland's revenues, her trade, her
manufactures had thriven beyond the
hope or the example of any other
country of her extent within those
few years (before the Union), advanc-
ing with a rapidity astonishing even
to herself"
| Would it be unreasonable to be-
lieve that Irish statesmen 20 years
hence could make similar boasts and
be within the truth If a government
of the Irish people, by the Irish peo-
Fple, for the Irish people were allowed
to function and England's army Of oc-
cupation withdrawn?
llfa1HERE2 ERE24KEpElll,z,.