The Washington herald., 1921-10-20
Wants independence for All.
To the Editor. The Washington Herald:

To the Editor. The Washington Herald:
At a meeting OF the State execu-
tive, American Association for the
Recognition of the Irish Republic
for the District of Columbia, held
last night, attention was called to
an editorial in The Herald OF the
10th inst, entitled. why India"
was delegated to tell you.
You ridicule the aspirations of
the Indians for liberty, saying, IF
that country got its so-called indie
pendence' its people would not
know what to do with it. About
the first use of il would probably
be to fight each other. They are as
radically opposed as are North and
South Ireland"
Although you go out of your way
to lug" Ireland into this, let US ex-
anime the question of India first.
1t is still maintained as a funda-
mental principle by many great
statesmen that no people can gov
ern another people as well as that
people can govern themselves. Let
us see as to India. In 1857 Lord
Give, an adventurer. OF a different
race. and different creed, and whose
country was thousands of miles
away, because OF the renowned
wealth Of the Indies began the sub
jugation of India. At that time
India was &c per cent literate. To-
day she il 6 per cent literate. To-
day about 100000 acres of land in
India are used to grow poppy, and
about $4,000 opium shops are
licensed by the British government.
where opium is sold to men,
women and children. The revenue
of India for the year 1e20-2l was
S674,lSs,500, out OF which the gov,
eminent, realized sS3,Os0,000 from
| opium and liquor. In 1s17-1S fam
inc In India carried of $4,000, 900
men, women and children. yet there
was exported from the country
! 700.0OO.000 tons of food, worth APP
proxImately $500. 100000. enough to
have saved every one of the famine
| victims. In view of these facts,
which may be easily verified. which
is better for India, Indian rule or
| British rule. We think India can
govern herself better. Hence, God
speed the Indian republic!
II is too bad that even now you
| should fall for the stun that Britain
is flooding the world with about
North and South ireland. There is
no difference between North and
| South Ireland; the whole country is
30 per cent Republican. 1t Is true
there is a made-in- England appear
| ance of trouble in four of the
northeast counties Of Ireland, but
as soon as England withdraws her
baneful influence that will disap-
pear just as the pro-Britishers did
after our Revolution, Tyrone and
Fermanagh, two counties of the So
called North Of Ireland government,
have declared for the republic. The
city Of Derry. for centuries the
| stronghold of Unionism,S Is today
governed by a Sim Fein council,
| and there is no trouble there. Per-
haps il would not be amiss to in
vite your attention to the relative
strength of the Irish and Unionists
| in UlsterI -,. -.r u.
In the last general election, De-
cember, 1918, before the attempted
partition Of Ireland, there were in
Ulster thirty-seven constituencies.
OF these the real Irish carried Is
while the Unionists carried g. or
these %, IL. including Belfast, were
In the County Down, Of the IL
| rum DelLasl. 80 you see, enHllHal-
ing Down, the score stands for Ire
land, Is: for England, 10. Shall
County Down dictate the govern
ment of Ireland?
A year ago, ! have no doubt, you
thought we were wasting our
money and energy on ireland, just
as you say now we will be wasting
II on India. We heard then much
about the murder gang" Today
the chief of the murder gang" sits
side by side with Lloyd George, as
his equal, demanding for his coun-
try justice. At any rate, 1t seems
to me there is just as good a
| chance for the Indians today as
there was for the Irish a year ago,
so here's to them.
Again, you say, why do they not
pick the Fiiipinos?" My answer is
that we have promised the Philip
pines Independence, and we will
keep our word. hope the day will
never come when the Filipinos will
be compelled to resort to force to
make us keen that promise. Then