New-York tribune., 1920-12-29
Labor Report
lndicts British
Policy in Erin
Believes Government Did
Not Directly Inspire Re-
prisals, but Finds 1t Has
Defended Police Crimes
Pleads for Cancellation
Countess Markievicz Gets
Two Years, Two Dublin
Editors YearEach in Prison

Copyright, 1920. New York Tribune Inc
LONDON, Dec. 28.--The final report
of the Labor party commission that
toured Ireland recently, investigating
the situation there, issued to-day, in
diets official methods Of dealing with
the Irish problem, but says the blame
doesn't rest primarily on the men,
bers of the crown forces, but on the
government"
The report expresses belief that the
government did not directly and def
nitaly inspire the policy Of reprisals
and violence, but assals the govern
ment for associating itself with this
policy and defending the crimes COM
mitted by the crown forces.
Gwen if only o 1.-THE of the fires
which have admittedly occurred in
many parts OF Ireland during the past
few months were caused by govern
ment agents." says the report, "the
case against the crown forces and the
government would, in our judgment, be
doubted cases of footing and theft that
the commission must add these crimes
to the burning and destruction.
Asserts People Were FlogYed
eve are filled with shame that in
the name of law and order the servants
of the British crown should be guilty
of besmirching, in the eyes of Ireland,
the honesty of the British people, In
some places there has been good deal
OF f1ogging of people"
In more general tone. the report
continues:
Things have been done in the name
of Great Britain which must make her
name stink in the nostrils of the whole
world. The honor of our people has
been gravely compromised
Concerning the prospects Of a final
settlement, the report says:
1.-THE final solution of the Irish prob
lem Will not be found in policy Of
violence or vengeance. 1t will have
to be found along lines of Cancellation
and consent and by more enlightened
method of negotiation"
Countess Gets Two Years
Unofficial advices from Dublin say
that Countess Markievicz, Sim Fein
member of Parliament, was sentenced
to-day to two years hard labor. She
was tried by court martial three weeks
ago and found guilty of "conspiring
with others for the purpose of commit
ing murders among the military and
police, of drilling men and Of furnish
ing and training Irish volunteers"
Sentence was withheld until to-day.
The charge against the countess re-
ferred to her activities in promoting
the Fianna, Sim Fein Boy Scout or
ganization.
The British liberal press has been
thoroughly aroused by the sentence of
the editor and two directors Of The
Freeman's Journal of Dublin. to a wear
in prison and the imposition of fine
OF $4,000 on tho newspaper. Most of
the papers, in commenting on the case,
point out that the court martial gave
its decision on evidence which in part
al least was contradictory
The Westminster Gazette this after
noon says:
"These sentences are ahsurdlv severe
and the whole of the proceedings
constitute a savage attack on the
little enough Of liberty remains
Sentence Termed Outrage
The Star, calling attention to the
fact that The Freeman's journal is not
Sim Fein but a Nationalist organ.
proceeds:
by no conceivable sequence of
events can this outrageous sentence
advance the cause OF British author
ity or Irish freedom. We declare
that while the prosecution was itself
an indiscretion, the sentence is an
outrage That it Will silence The Free
mans Journal or intimldate the forces
Of the Nationalists we do not believe"
The Manchester Guardian says:
"Even had the evidence for the de-
fense been less strong the conditions
OF the trial alone wou d be enough to
prove how untitled is such a tribunal
10 undertake such work which in Eng
iand would occur before an experienced
high court judge and jury, which find
lngs would always be subject to appeal
to high courts"
The Conservative and Coalition news
papers refrain from comment. The
Daily Mail, which recently announced
that it would not "rcst content until
Sd satisfied that justice has been done in
The Freeman Journal case" also was
silent.