Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1920-08-18
INDEPENDENCE
FOR IRELAND
Chas. 7. Sprading Addresse. Two
Big Audiences in the
County

W. iOuSlu6 meetings were azores.
sed by Charles T. Sprading in the
county last week in the interest of
Irish independence. The first meet
ing was held at the Court House yard
Friday night. The Willmar Band gave
an opening concert. P. J. Haley pre-
sided. Mr.. Sprading made scathing
arraignment of the British imperial
lists whom he declared we're menace
to human liberty everywhere. He
charged that many Of our leading
newspapers were controlled by Brit
ish financiers, that all connecting tele-
graph cables were so owned and that
British interests even controlled the
leading school book publishing con-
Germs of this country.
"Our fore-fathers revolted from Great
Britain for certain definite reasons and
those reasons should be fresh in the
minds of our children" said Sprading.
"Otherwise they will forget the prin-
ciples for which our fathers fought and
then become negligent of their own lib
critics. Children become mn and wom-
en- and carry thru life the impressions
of their childhood.
Here is what George Haven Putnam,
a publisher, in speech in London, July
4, 1917, is quoted as saying: Americans
of today are looking back with a better
sense of justice and are prepared to
recognize that their forefathers treated
with serious injustice and with great
unwisdom. the loyalists of New York
and New England who held to the cause
of the crown
THE Revolution a serious mistake
the cause of good government for Am
Britain! 1t is for real Americans to
come into the field and match these
falsehoods with the truth.
"Just as the British propagandists
are distorting the truth about our early
history they are distorting the truth
about Ireland, now. Great Britain is do
ing now to Ireland what she tried to do
to America. lrishmen are fighting in
the open-not under a smoke screen of
distortion. Misrepresentation and silly
maneuvering with the hope of making
Americans believe the Irish cause is
only religious issue. Let Americans
listen to every open argument-and then
make up their minds. The truth is be-
ing brought to Minnesota and Truth
will triumph in the end"
Charges are made" he said, "by pro-
pgandists-that the question of religion
was behind the battle of Ireland for
freedom.
This declaration cannot stand the
light of investigation, said Mr. Sprad-
ing. 1T has been challenged again and
again in America and in Great Britain
by patriotic men and women of the Pro-
testant faith and I, myself, feel COM
PEELED to lay the facts before the Am
erlcans of Minnesota. I am not a Cath
olic; 1 am an American, and a believer
in free Ireland.
The struggle for Irish independence
has been going on for $50 years. If the
irish question was solely one Of relig-
ious difference. Catholic England today
would be arrayed on the side of Cath
olic Ireland; but this is not the case.
Many of the Tory families of England
are opposed to Irish independence On
the other hand, the English working
masses who are sympathetic to Ireland's
cause, are Protestants.
MANY of the Irish leaders have been
Protestants The man whose name
stands highest in the love and yenera-
a Protestant. Take a look at other
British dependencies. South Africa is
demanding independence but South At
RIGA is Lutheran. India is seething with
revolt but India is Buddhistic. Egypt
is unwilling to become a British colony
but Egypt is Mohammedan. The final
word on this question is the Irish dec
laration of independence itself. 1t says:
The Republic guarantees civil and
religious liberty to ALL
This is the principle for which our
own Revolutionary fathers fought; the
principle upon which our Republic was
founded"
''The Irish are not asking for charity
Under right conditions they would need
no help. Nature has bestowed upon
their country every natural advantage
They have all the material resources tc
make great and prosperous nation
The Irish people are noted for their in
dustry. Ireland sons have fought or
every battlefield for liberty, have help
ed to establish it in many countries anc
are now asking us to repay our debts O.
l716. Freedom is all she asks, all sh,
needs.
Traditions in my own family, hand
ed down from my great grandfather
and grandfatherS who fought in tn
wars Of 1776 and 1912, are that one-hal
| of their comrades in arms were Iris]
men and that these comrades were .
| first to advance and the last to retreat
| Some OF our fathers grew weary of tn
struggle which lasted seven years an,
would have given up but for the en-
| couragement they had from their Iris]
comrades who came from a race tha
had fought from Great Britain becaus
we would not tolerate foreign inter
ference with our business. Ireland. af
ter seven centuries of British domina
ton, is doing the same thing"
At the close Mr.. Sprad1ng exhibite
an Irish bond receipt, printed in tn
colors of the flag of the Irish Reput
lie, green and orange, which signifit
a united Ireland
On Sunday night another big mee1
ing was addressed at Kandiyohi.