Evening journal., 1922-01-12
PEACE MEANS
ireland BOOM
Sweet Air of Liberty"
Breathed for First Time
BY People
ENGLAND HOLDS
UP ALL VISITORS
BY MILTON BRoNNER.

DUBBTN-The moment the visitor
TO Dublin steps off the train he
shifts something that no man in our
time has ever shifted here before
the sweet air OF liberty.
There is no mistaking It.
Irishmen are holding their heads
up as freemen. as citizens OF a self
governing State. even though the ac-
tual machinery for this purpose has
not yet been set up and started go
ing
The last time l was in the Irish
capital il was a sad city. a sober
city, gray city, sinister city. Men
and women, even boys and girls,
seemed to have lost the art if laugh
ing. How could one laugh when
death stalked in every street?
There we're spies everywhere.
There was the espionage OF the hated
Castle-fortress OF the foreign gov
erning power. And there was the
counter and far more effective
espionage of Sim Fein. The waiter
who brought your soup, the porter
who shined your shoes, the cloak
room attendant who handed you
your Overcoat-all were watchins
you. listening to what you said, and
duly orting-somewhere.
For there was war in Ireland. And
Dublin was as city captured by the
enemy in wartime. The Castle.
Phoenix Park and other points Of
vantage were armed camps. Regular
troops, Black and Tans. Auxiliaries
held the city. Armored cars, huge
army lorries with steel screens, even
tanks, patrolled the city. The citi-
zen had to be Off the streets at eight
o'clock.
But now everything is changed. .
Curfew is a thing OF the past. O'Con-
nell street and Grafton street and
the other great avenues are thronged
at night with people. The theatres
and the movies and the candy shops
are doing a roaring business
And about every third man on the
streets is a British soldier. One be-
gins to get an idea Of what an armed
camp Dublin has been Before, the
soldiers did not venture on the
streets except with arms
And most significant Of ali-the
Irish couple are smiling again With
characteristic buoyancy and optim-
ism they are looking forward to the
bright future. They are living not
only in the happier today, but they
are preparing to build for the better
tomorrow.
Not rainbow stuff. These people
are talking of Irish Industries and
Irish business and more and bigger
Irish farms.
Ireland is free. Yet England, de-
spite the peace agreement, does not
trust her fully yet.
Here is a sample: The traveller
blithely purchases a ticket from
London TO Dublin. When his train
arrives at Holyhead. he expects TO
go right aboard the vessel that is to
carry him across the stormy Irish
Sea.
Nothing doing.
Everybody is herded towards an
enclosure where grim-looking Brit
ish officials of the police depart
ment require that every person open
his baggage for inspection
England is still holding up the
I traveller, lest he may be seeking u
carry into Ireland pistols. cartridges
high explosives.
Nor is that all. The old irish
Parliament House is now occupic
by the Bank of Ireland. All dursra
the contest between Sim Fein a1d
England, a heavy guard Of British
soldiers was maintained at tn
bank. Guns and soldiers and barhca
wire are still there.
Nor has England as yet done much
towards taking away the thousands
of troops. These men will probab ~
be kept quartered here until all tho
necessary protocols for peace havu
been signed.