Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-17
COAL REACHES
THE IRISH SHORES
That Country Receiving More Imported Coal Than England Be
OF American Friends; Some Persons Are Avoca ng
Economic Boycott Against Ulster.
by Hugh Curran
I NJ Y Copyright.

agreement one or other alde, or both,
must make concessions.
In any arrangement by which the one
Putting aside for the moment CON
sidefations which are purely septi-
niental~and from the point ef view
of the Sim Fein party the position la
largely sentimental there remains the
economic aspect which from the point
of Ulster Is altogether vital. Ulster
viii not in public admit this but IL Is
none the less true that Ulster would
he in n sorry plight If, when it starts
It's Parliament this month. the South
also agreed to operate its Parliament
and proceeded TO erect economic bar
riera at the fronties.
Belfast, the chief city of the North
has, of course. its great bodybuilding
and linsn industries the output of
which find their markets not In Iree
land but throughout the world at
large. Both are famous whenever tn.
flag of civilization has advanced and
it may be said at once that all Ire.
land Is proud of Belfast to this extent
But Belfast and the northern cities
are something more than shipbuilders
and linen makers; they. are dlsfribf-
tors throughout Ireland of perhape
three-fourths of the imported rcaiira-
ments of the whole of ireland. Thnt
IL an aspect of Belfast.s trade which
Is not Unknown In the South. and nj
ready a trade boycott of the North
has been for some time in operation
IN the South to the great detriment Of
the Northern traders.
Some time ago q ukase was issued
by Slim Fein banning goods from the
North. and following this the effect was
instantaneous. The northern travel
lers who heretofore secured the great
bulk of orders I'm the South and West
are now unable to get any, n fe not
even safe for them To go into these
districts. II they do secure orders
either personally or by mail the goods
cannot be delivered. In numerous in
stances Belfast goods have been taken
from trains and brunt. shop- Leepers
In the South have been warned not TO
stock Belfast goods and the people
generally have been warned not to
purchase them.
only this week big consignmenfs Of
Belfast tobacco and tAxtile goods have
been thrown into the sea at Dublin.
whole train load Of such goods was
recently set on FIRE. Smokers are
sometimes held up in the streets and
asked what brand of cigarettes or TO-
haCco they are smoking and if IT comes
from the North they are warned to
discontinue II. The same applies to
SOAP and other domestic goods which
come from the North This ban. al
though quite illegal. the Government
finds II quite impossible 10 deal with
Ii IL. therefore, easy to imagine that a
legally established boycott such as
might be imposed by "a Southern Par
lament would destroy Belfast trade
outside the six-county Parliament
airy area.
The fact. which is admitted, that
the boycott cuts both ways. and i'm
lures traders in the south is irnrna-
terial The object If the ban is to
make the North feel the power of an
unfriendly South and 1T Is doing ii
very successfully.
Some optimistic people appear 10
think that intensiveiy applied this
boycott may ultimately prove an af-
fective weapon in bringing the north
ern people to realize that the unity OF
the country as well as being sentf-
mentally desirable would also make
for commercial success. Il is true
that many Belfast merchants are
thoroughly sick of the dilemma which
the political vendetta has brought
about, but they are i'm such a small
minority that they dare not. even il
they would, make there voices heard.
What the ultimate result may be can
not just yet be foretold The imnle-
diate effects are however apparent.
One hears daily of commercial repre-
sentatives of Belfast firms being dis
missed. In one case a traveller who
saw only ruin before him committed
suicide in a fit of depression. Re
ports from Belfast speak of numbers
Of houses confronted with bankruptcy
and generally unemployment is spread
ing.