Evening star., 1919-08-19
Race Strike Is On.

supporting 100000 persons, $780,
900 are too many. Therefore wages
are low. houses are bad. children
either do not go to school or leave 1t
work. and the race grows weak from
hunger and disease.
Why does Sim Fein hold the British
government responsible for the un-
employment in Ireland? The answer
to that question was the only point
that the sharp mustached. sardonic
little journalist named Arthur Grif-
fiths, he who sits at the right hand OF
Edward De Valera in the Irish par
Lament. insisted on driving homo to
Walsh. Edward F. Dunno and Michael
Ryan. on the day Of their presence in
the Dali Eireann.
Britain wants meat" he said. "For
about three-quarters Of a century
England has made it more profitable
for the Irish farmer to put his land
in grazing than under the plow. From
1851 to 1914 land under tillage de-
creased from 4,610.000 to 2.311. 900
acres. Men give place to bullocks.
machine shops and they go to Amer
lea or Canada. From 1856 to the pres
ent day every European nation ex-
cept Ireland shows an Increase in
to Austria's per cent. Ireland's
population drops 46 per cent.
War comes. England needs soil
grown food. Tillage again becomes
profitable, and the number Of acres
900 in 1911 to 3.2ss.oo0 in 1918. And
factories grow.
But postwar conditions? American
soldiers travelling through the coun-
try in the spring remark on the un-
dred-acre farms throughout the fat
southern fields that are "being put
back to grass" can be named. Already.
with the reviving competition from
foreign countries. it Is estimated that
Ireland's agricultural prosperity will
last only two more years. -
May Start Packing Plant.
But. asks the outsider. does England
prevent Ireland from developing all the
Chicago" side industries that can be
established in connection with the cattle
trade: At present virtually all the cat
tie Is sent out Of the country ION the
hoof." Millions Of dollars worth of meat
not only Is lost in the ''shrinkage" Of the
cattle in the rocky. cross channel pas
sage. but the profit Of side Industries Is
lost In 1917 the export Of cattle from
Ireland to Great Britain alone num-
bered 83s. .866. of which 405. DAT were fat
tened for slaughtering. and the loss of
financial 'loss Of s5.000.000." This esti-
mate Is made by an English firm in Re-
gent street In London. which has just
issued a prospectus for a plant designed
for slaughtering. tanning. chandlery.
glue making. and which is intended to
| transform Drogheda in Ireland into a
Chicago.
Money, return the Sim Feiners, is
tight in Ireland. According to figures
quoted by Thomas Lough, M. p. in 1918.
In the house Of commons, Ireland's in
income tax of the British isles came to
s.. 500. 100000. and Ireland, with one
| tenth the population Of the isles. and,
| which. therefore, might be expected to
supply one-tenth Of the tax or $50, ,000,-
600. had to contribute only $37.500. 900.
Why, we are asked. is money tight?
| Taxation Is one reason, they answer.
Arthur Griffith recently collected these
| figures. Here" he says. ARE the an
nual bills of small nations whose popu-
lation are about equal to that Of Ire
900; Greece. 4,s21, 900; Serbia. sec, ,250, 900;
Bulgaria, $35. 200. .000.S and Greece, $27,
| OOO, 900. Dublin Castle rule cost Ireland
last year $50. 900 and this year $175.-
00O, ,000."
Irish Taxes Are Heavy.
| Local taxation is also heavy. The
| city fathers in an effort to find work
| for all the workless that flood Dub
lin have needless jobs done. Side
| walks are made of granite. which has
to be raised every ten years for re-
dressing.
| There is another reason given fol-
money tightness. Irish banks, the
majority of them under English Con-
lish banks. AN Irish borrower
SAWS F. A. Smiddy professor of eco-