New-York tribune., 1921-01-02
Ireland Needs
Real Leader to
Act for Nation
Man Empowered to Speak
for South and West Could
Bring About a Basis for
the Restoration of Order
Situation Growing Worse
Only Certain Thing Is That
Real Settlement Cannot
Be Made by Force of Arms
By Harold E. Scarborough

rTO'n INV tFsSBsSo . W'Spt0" A'o' oVW
DUBLIN. Dec. 20.-lreland ia like a
jigsaw puzzle which must have some
solution but to which nobody as yet
has discovered the key.
1t. is q large order to answer the
question, ~What are things really like
in Ireland uow" Probably there is no
single livin,y man who could give an ab-
soIutely correct reply. What strikes
the outsider ps most remarkable is the
to the puzzle could be found il only
England would take the initiative in
oscillation, as opposed to the view
held by many Enylishmen that it would
be easy to give Ireland what 1t wants
if one only could know what it wanted.
The thing which Ireland now seems
to want most of all Is man equal to
the present occasion. Any man who
could obtain q mandate from the peo-
pie of southern and western Ireland as
their spokesman could, one feels, bring
about at least the germ of a settlement
in short order. But Irish of all shades
of political complexion will tell one
that no such personality exists in Ire
land to-day.
it rs battling. puzzldng, elusive
proposition - this business of John
Bulls other island. 1t is the more so
because both sides claim almost the
same positions, until the Visitor in des-
peration exclaims, well, then, II you
and the English are so nearly in accord,
why don't you settle it and have done
with it?" The answer invariably is,
"Why don't the British take the
initiative ?"
| have tried to trace the present
state of affairs to its logical conclusion,
despite the seeming lack Of logic in
anything connected with the Irish ques-
tion. l have followed, step by step, the
events watch must soon take place
passage of the pending Home Rule bill
by Parliament, the refusal of all Ire
land except Ulster to set up parla-
ment under it, and Grown colony gov
ernment for the south.
"Then what?" is tho natural ques-
tion.
'Nobody knows" is the answer.
Present State Cannot Continue
And probably it is the only answer
Ireland is drifting from bad to worse
and nobody knows where it all will end
Certain it is that the present state OF
affairs cannot go on Indefinitely, and
tSat Is about the only certainty in the
whole affair.
What are the fundamentals Of the
AtioH oitNcliSD WIS Joy, hioAC Cildi IN Z
years after the ending of the war? Va
rious sets of fundamentals have been
advanced so often that to recaptulate
item seems useless; and yet it is only
by bearing them in mind that one will
ever even begin to understand the Irish
problem. That the present situation Is
into cradle is admitted by both sides
it is a truism on which much of the
argument must rest. and hence scarce
ly IQb- hle
Suppose, then, we set the bases dowr
hume .ically:
/. Ire and is not united Even were
three-qUarters of the island ia ht
granted tomorrow all that it now asks
Ulster would be as far from agreement
as it ever has been.
2. The bitterness of feeling is 81
great that settlements which in calme
times would have been instantly ac
cepted are not even seriously consid
cred.
8 Both sides deplore and deprecatt
murders and reprisals; yet each day
brings new examples OF both
Ireland's economic life is being
seriously injured by the continuance o
warfare, and especially by the cur
tailnent OF train services.
5. Sim Fein is not in Ire and It ma,
r.ean anything or nothing, from tn
small inner ring which is The surviva
Of the old Fel ian Society, and know
as the Irish Republican Brotherhood
to the mildest-mannerod peasant VII
ever sang "The Wearing Of the Green
Of any peasant ever did).
G. There can be no lasting settlemen
imposed by force Of arms, nor Will
an army of the present dimensions re
mains in Ireland
7. This is quarrel in which no Amer
lean who has not fairly cemprehen
sivc knowledge of the history Of Grea
Britain and Ireland, and Of the racia
sides on snap judgment-or on any
thing but the most guarded opinion.
How Ulster Is Regarded
Start with these considerations an
one gains some faint idea of the es
traordinary complexities and counte,
complexities of the Irish question TIL
first point may be amplifed by tn
statement that while the Souther
Irishman claims the right of Trean
10 secede from the British Empir
no does not recognize the right {
Ulster to secede from Ireland I
the seeming Inconsistency he explain
land renders it separate natiol
end that Ulster must be included.
one retorts that the geography of tt
British Isles renders them sinilar ri
one group. the Irishman fails back o
the argumen, of dissnmilarity of race
to be found in them. Point out e,
where diTerer
races have lived in more or less ha
mony, and he retorts that no race hs
ever been so systema tically pers
cuted as the Irish Ask him II Ir
lands hands are entirely clean, an
he answers that ali homes, Irishme
have always fought fairly; that II
gunner are. 70 say the least. not r.
spected citizens; and that anyhow II
English started IL.
And there ,ou arei For the ouestit
Of VINO started IL Is as definitely u
answerable as the famous query r
lSting TO the priority Of organ
chickens ann eggs
1913. Of course, takes one rather Z,
from the original proportion that fr
land Itself Is divided But nobot
sucks 20 the point In Ireland the
days
As for tho second point: OF cour
everybody In ireland says "they"
speaking Of beth the British Cover
nent and Of Sim F6in. But there
no doubt that the majority of iris
mon condemn the murder Of polio
rnea, tho burning OF tho Liverpo
docAs and similar outrages
People seem to think" said tho wi
Of an frishman who Is definitely Of Il
81 So. ga