Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-20
ERIN'S PoET-STATESMANSHIP

| lille now remains of the original irish
- question but the settling dust OF an
ancient conflict some random echoes Of the
great debate that has led to what will
almost certainly be a durable peace In Ire
land and n luminous assortment of great
hopes in Dublin, where young and ardent
statesmen are thinking not only of n gov
crnment of their own, but Of n new way of
life for all their people.
1T is mistake to suppose that the Sim
Fen sought only political freedom. They
seek as we'll to Create-or rather to restore
civilization such as poets dream of, q
civilization ut once a little less complex and
n little more kind than that to which genera
tions Of the recent past have been accus-
toned. The sharpest differences between
Belfast and Dublin have not been lines Of
religious separation. Equally marked are
the differences of social and economic out
look. Ulster, talking of its modcrnity, its
hard work, its industry and its thrift. looks
with doubt and msgivings at what it calls
the ''unambitious and shiftless South" But
if Ulster is proud of its efficiency and its
wealth. Dublin and the Sim Fen are proud
of their freedom from industrial pressure and
Of the tranquility of the simpler life in re-
gions where the efficiency man has not yet
penetrated.
The poets and intellectuals who have had
such large part in the making of the new
Irish Free State do not envy Belfast. In
deed, they hope to establish a civilization
that Will be as unlike that Of the industrial
North as it might be unlike the civilization
OF Pittsburgh. If the most earnest of the
Sim Fein leaders have their way the South
of Ireland will not be industralized in the
modern sense either by Belfast or London
or lively minded folk from the United States.
There are statesmen in Dublin who be-
lieve that the right to sing, to walk lcisurely
in the sun and to breathe fresh mir, and
look at Il clear sky is quite as important
quite as much a thing to be fought for, as
freedom Of government. They have been
dreaming of n state in which there would
be an organized concern for the hearts and
spirits of the people, and they believe that
such state can be founded by them and
their associates.
When the plenpotentiaries from Dublin
signed unpronounceable Gaelic names TO the
treaty with England there were a great
many practical minded statesmen who
smiled grimly and said the trouble was be-
ginning. But the Dubliners seem to have
sought merely 10 demonstrate the trend Of
their sympathy for old rather than for new
things. They weren't trying to establish
Gaelic rs a language of diplomacy. Their
plans may prove difficult of realization or
even impossible. But they are at least
idyllic plans, and they are touched brightly
with the colors Of imagination.
The future Of the Irish Free State will,
t.crcfore, be wonderfully interesting thing
II contemplate. Industrialism in its larger
fot.ns is almost everywhere triumphant, and
there are men ms wise or wiser than the
Sim Fein leaders who believe that it is
fundamentally necessary to the progressive
movement of all modern life. Southern Ire
land is. OF course, not without we'll organ
lied Industries, and it Is no part of the
Sim Fein program to retard the natural
development Of Ireland's national resources.
But they do apparently wish to subordinate
industry TO life, to see that happiness is
helped rather than hinderCd in the new
order and to have scheme of existence
which, in the words OF one of the poet
statesmen Of Dublin, shall satisfy the
heart
How all this is TO be accomplished re-
mains to be seen. The Dublin Parliament
will contain an unusual number of intel
lectuas who believe that happiness is the
right of all people and that you cannot be
happy II your life is all labor and ordered
routine.