Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-09
IRISH CL|QUES HERE
fling CHALLENGES
Charges and Counter-Charges
Result From Meetings-CraW-
ze
a ford Defies Coote
WANTS TO DEBATE ISSUE

WANTS TO DEBATE ISSUE
divergent viewpoints was discussed
here last night at two public mass
meetings.
Out of the charges and counter
charges emerged challenge by Lind
say Crawford, president of the Protest
ant Friends of Ireland. to William
l Coote, chairman of the Ulster delega
tion, for a public debate on Ulster and
Irish freedom.
The two meetings last night were
entirely distinct, delegates from the
Protestant Irish Church, advocates of
the status quo in Ireland. speaking at
the METROPOLITAN Opera House, and
members of the Protestant Friends of
ireland speaking at the Parkway Build
ing.
Obstetrics Overflow Meeting
So crowded was the opera house that
the Ulster delegation held an overflow
meeting in Lu Tn Temple. Spring Gar,
den street near Broad.
At the Metropolitan Opera House,
Bishop Suffragan Thomas ]. Garland
made this invocation:
vi l[OIu, ue'lNtI luP NoElu lIOll lit
Bolshevists, the Sim Feiners and the
anarchists
On motion of the Rev. DIR. Frank Il.
Lynch, local clergyman, a resolution
WIS adopted by acclamation, expressing
sympathy with the Ulster side of the
Irish question and protesting against in
lection of the Irish problem in Ameri,
can politics.
Copies of the resolution are to be
sent to Lloyd George, premier, of Great
Britain. to Sir Edward Carson and to
newspapers of this country, Great
Britain and Ireland.
Brand "Sinn Fein Lies
The speakers branded as "Sinn Fein
Hes reports of alleged overtaxation
and of atrocities in ireland. The taxes
had been kept low during the war and
ireland was never more prosperous than
now, according to Mr.. Coote, member
of Parliament.
As for alleged atrocities. he declared.
whatever violence had occurred were
acts of self defense against bandits
who had instituted Il reign of terror in
the country.
Denying that Ireland was oppressed.
the Rev. Frederick E. Hart. one of
the delegation. asserted ireland has
never been as free as it is today. He
said that Ireland has 105 seats in the
British Parliament and that England
is ruled more by Ireland than vice
versa
ireland has exactly as mush say
over her own affairs as has Scotland,
England and Wales,' he continued,
except in the matter of education.
( But the cause of that is that England
pays for lreland's education"
Blues Address
bitter attack upon what he termed
''the Roman Catholic hierarchy" was
delivered by the Rev. DR.. A. w. Blue.
The speaker reviewed Irish history to
show that the country had never been
an independent nation or an integral
whole until 1172. when the warning fac
tions were united
Doctor Blue said: =
~ In 1916 we thought in Ireland that
the milleinum had arrived. The North
\ and South had shaken hands, if not
+ Joined hearts. John Redmond and Sir
Edward Carson had come to an under
standing. But the hierarchy raised its
hand and said. Thou shalt not.
''lt is abhorrent to every instinct of
cur liberty loving natures to have any
power. Roman Catholic or otherwise,
interfere with our civic affairs"
Attacks L. S. Newspapers
At the overflow meeting in Lu Lu
Temple. the Rev. Edward Hazleton
criticized American newspapers. Phil
adelphia papers particularly, assert
ing they were 'biased and unprin
cipled.''
At the Parkway Building meeting the
speakers included the Rev. DR.. James
Grattan Myther, a Protestant Episco :
pal clergyman, of Norfolk; Arthur Up
ham Pope. an educator who served as
Y civilian adviser to the general staff of
y the army during the war. and Lynn
Llovd Rowen, Christian Science prac-
titioner.
A set of resolutions presented by Mr.
against ''any endeavor to use the
I Protestant religion as an excuse for the
continued oppression of subject
people," and ''the desecration of Chris
tian puIpits by the intrusion of purely
political questions resented ''the
desperate effort now being made. under
the cloak of professionalism, to cheat the
American dead in France of the fruits
thev gave their lives that the world
might enjoy" and pledged complete
sympathy with the aspirations of tho
Irish people, recognized 'the existence
i of the Irish republic" and agreed to
work to have the American government
recognize Ireland as a free republic
The speakers declared the Ulster del
egation were arguing against freedom
and that the members of the delegation
are trying to raise religious issue for
political purposes. The delegation
members were represented as being en-
voys of the ''linen trust in Ireland.