The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-10-26
THE CASE OF McsWEENY


1t il more than likely that when
Terence McSweeny entered on his
asst that he did not believe it would
md only with his death, and the same
q probably true of the other hunger
strikers, who went to Cork jail and
began their fast before McSweeny
5egan his. All men must admire Nc
sweeny's pluck in withstanding the
torture of hunger thru the first days
Of the strike; a torture accented by
the fact that good food was set be-
fore him three times day and was
always within his call.
However, no matter how plucky he |
was, all sensible men must consider
his suffering and death as an useless
sacrifice, and his so-called martydom
a mockery. It is difficult to see where
his death has helped Ireland. Ii has
not incensed the Irish against Eng
land to any greater extent than al
ready exists. 1t has not made the
Irish any friends. It has probably
lost them many, for it Is well under
stood that McSWeeny's fortitude was
|braced by the instructions of the So
called Irish republic. The officials OF
this make-believe organization were
appealed to that they should ask Nc
Sweeny to relent and preserve his
life. and had they done so he would
probably have yielded. BY not doing
50, they have lost Ireland many
| friends in America; and the tone or
| the American press thruout Nc
ISweeny's fast shows that it generally
considered him more of a fool than
anything else. We Americans are as.
tcapable of making the supreme sacri-
lfice as any people, as our men and
women in all ranks of life have often
shown. But we are rather averse TO
useless sacrifices, and the more the
atricaI they are the less we fancy
them. An American, in the case OF
McSweeny, would have quietly gone
to Jail and endured his sentence, and
tried to live, for the sake of his
family and in the hope of further
service for his country.
The case of Debs viii illustrate
| this. Debs has committed an offense
against his government considerably
Tighter than McSWeeny committed
against his. Yet he has been handed
a much more severe sentence; but he
i Is trying to live out his sentence and
serve his cause. ThereAi is no doubt
lDebs is sincere in his belief, and no
matter what he has said he has never
Encouraged open warfare against his
Icountry.
i AS for the English, they have done
land are doing precisely right in their
policy toward hunger strikers. A
humber of men and women, not only
lin Great Britain but in America, con-
Ivicted of very slight offenses and put
/ in Jail, have gone on hunger strikes,
land q maudlin sentiment, which IN our
Iopinion has been confined to decided
minority, has caused them to be set
free. The British government and the
british people. after years of annoy
lance from this sort of foolishness,
lhave realized it is menace to their
Iexistence and seem to have come to
1.-THE conclusion that il a man would
rather starve than eat, when food Is
lset before him. that that is his bust
mess. Their course toward McSweeny
land the other hunger strikers is prob
lably a horrible surprise to the Sim
IFein, and it is more than likely that
hunger strikes in the British Isles
Twill go out of fashion. 1t is to be
hoped that our government viii be toe
wise to allow them to become the
fashion here. If a man sent to jal
for an offense wants to starve himself
out. it is best TO let him have his way
and starve until he goes out in box
1f the British had shut up Nc
! sweeny on short rations, let alone M
rations at all. they would have re
ceived and deserved the most severt
condemnation of America and tn
]. world Instead, they gave him a hgh
: sentence and did all in their power t,
: induce him to eat.
Fl The verdict of the civilized world o.
7 McSweeny will be that he died no
ike a martyr but like fanatica
..lfool.
In the meantime, several othe
Z Irishmen are starving themselves t
: death in Cork jail. and are almos
certainly doing so at the bidding 0
the Sim Fein, which is uselessly sac
lrifcing their lives in the belief it ca
7 thereby win sympathy from the worlc
: At its meeting Monday night, Deal