Evening star., 1922-03-05
BY FORREST DAVIS.
Special Correspondence Of The star.

Special Correspondence Of The star.
DUBLIN, Ireland, February T.
Thirty-two years ago the farmers Of
Ireland. the small peasant proprietors
who had only recently re-possessed
the land. were an unproperous lot.
They cultivated their tiny. patches
of soil unscientifically. they paid
high tribute to the "gombeen men,"
the local traders, they lived in un-
sanitary, inadequate cottages.
Today these same peasant land
owners in spite of >"the trouble"
are relatively we'll off. their stand
ard of living has been raised, they
have become Independent of the
local traders. and the matched cot
tage Is on the way to becoming a
sentimental memory, to be cele-
brated in such American-made bal
lads as That Tumbled Down Shack
in Athlone."
There are half million small
farmers in Ireland who own their
land. They not only constitute the
most numerous class. but they are
also the most favored economically.
The leaven that has brought about
this improvement in rural Ireland is
the cooperative movement, Sir Hor-
ace Plunkett's Irish Agricultural Or
ganiza ton Society which enrolls $780,
600 of the haIf-million farmers. and
which maintains 500 cooperative
enterprises. creameries, baking fac
tcr'es and stores.
To get at the meaning OF home
rule to agricultural Ireland IL is
necessary to consult the opinions of
the leaders in this movement. Sir
Horace Plunkett has been in America
on a holiday, but his amazingly gifted
aide, George w. Russell, the famous
"A. E." poet. artist and economic
sage. seldom strays from his beloved
Dublin and was readily accessible.
"a. E.- In His ONCE.
p "a. E" loves to talk. When 1
sought him out in his belittered.
honey ONCE on the top fioor of
square. he talked almost uninter-
ruptedly for an hour. discoursing
on the cooperative movement. on
politics. Gaelic culture. the Abbey
Theater, the Yeats boys-Willie and
Jack-and America. which he never
has visited and of which he holds
quaint views.
Dublin has the finest conversation
of any city in the world" he said,
and if the others of his circle talk
as fascinatingly as Russell it must
be true. l have been told that he
Keeps open mousse every sunday nlSnt
and that sooner or later every one
who is any one in Ireland goes there
to view the patriarchal-appe
"A. Z" sitting in great chair ele
waited above the rest, and to hear
him lead a witty and wise exchange
beaming over the reddish brown
waste of hair which covers his lower
face.
From his Plunkett house Office "a
E.'' edits the Irish Homestead, week
ly organ of the Irish Agricultural
of the united farmers of Ireland. their
sane, shrewd counselor. He entered
the movement eight years after
Plunkett had initiated it. A cousin of
Plunkett, a Maj. Cole, told me that
P1unkett had taken Russell from be-
shop, where the latter had gone to
work after he came to Dublin from
north Ireland to study art and had
abandoned it.
A National Figure.
AT all events, "A. E" is today one
of the two Or three most compelling
figures in Erin and. in the opinion of
many. the outstanding Irishman of
his day. He is not a politician. al
though he has been q nationalist and
a home-ruler, and his two main con-
Germs are with the economic develop
ment Of Ireland and with the renais-
sance of Gaelic culture. He is leader
in both movements, the esthetic and
the agricultural, and they. too, with
Sim Fefn brought about the revival
of nationalism.
"It is too early to gauge with any
accuracy the effect of home rule on
the growth of those forces which
have been remaking rural Ireland"
Russell told me.
vi
sent, of course. all elements in Ire
land. including the ones which are
opposed Sto cooperation, the mer-
chants and others who view it as an