The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-06

who has done well in business is consid- sidered to be receiving German gold be- cause proof of his prosperity is duly re- corded. Also they are very much out of date, and things move quickly in modeen Ireland; the old leaders are subject to persecution just as they have given place to the new. Witness Count Plunkett, MT Ginnell, MT. Goggin-all necessarily back numbers sby reason of health and age alone.
 But some information which is acted upon is redhot from the source. The source, according to the attorney general.
 is people of good position" This phrase covers, I believe the inhabitants of the Kildare Street Club, and those who have been privileged to dine with Lord French. No one who has not had the opportunity of hearing these people talk could be- lieve the state of credulity to which nerves and port wine may reduce those of even the best position. l have heard in peaceful drawing room the imputation of blood-curdling crime to men who have neither the wish nor the means to hurt a fly. And these things casually saiu produce the raids.
 Even this. however, accounts for small part of the information. The bulk of it comes from the paid informers, male and female. who are everywhere Tn the streets of Dublin.
 There is the story. for instance, of Pri- vate Molloy shot dead in daylight few weeks ago. This man was violent mem- | Der of a Sim Fein club-so violent that | he reused the suspicious of his fellow members and they resolved to test him They told him one day, when he urged themto blow up the castle, they had eX- plosves enough for the job. and on being further pressed they told him that these were safely hidden in an unlikely place. the head shop of Findlaters, well-known dry goods men. Next day Findlaters was | raided and ransacked for hours by sol
 diery, who found-nothing. And next lday the enthusiast died. Circumstantial | evidence. certainly. and rough and ready l justice, if you lilSe-but the men wao l dabble in explosives must be prepared to | take risks.
 There was the case, too. of Miss Gavan | Duffy who keeps a school in stephen Green, and is prominent on the list. TWO ladies entered the next house and trled to rent an apartment. They were recos- nized by the lady of the house as police women, enrolled for war services, demo- biized to become spies.
 From all this machinery the people whose arrest would really matter to sim Fein are saved (except in case of i'll luck like that of MT. Barton) by the effi- ciency of their own machine.
 The military and police have no initia-
 tive They do precisely what they are
 told They have been known to raid a
 house in search of arms and to disregard
 papers altogether-to go to look for pa pers and disregard everything else Ana
 what they are told to do is known al
 once to the people concerned. Sir John
 Taylor at 32 authorizes the arrest ol Murphy and by 3 o'clock Murphy is safely
 in hiding. while Sheehan. equally 'sus-
 pect" but not wanted" this time. walks
 the streets and smiles at the raiders
 On the one hand you have a cum brous
 machines: on the other an alert and ln-
 tellgent people. So it is that the men , who fill the goals are, am told, mainly , innocent of everything, the victim of ru- nor or personal spite of ancient history while the people the government really wants to get live in security.