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Show Differences in Aspirations Aspira-tions Shown in Dublin and Belfast; No Stark Rebels in Ulster. Correspondents Impressions Impres-sions After Investigating Investigat-ing Affairs in Conflicting Conflict-ing Political Camps. By JOHN S. STEELE. (Chicago Tribune Cable, Copyright.) BELFAST, July 27. Coming from Dublin Dub-lin to Belfast is like coming from Washington Wash-ington to Detroit. Both cities are about the same size, built on most the same plan and with an outward appearance not dissimilar. The mental and spiritual attitudes at-titudes of the people, however, totally are opposed, and the change in the atmosphere at-mosphere instantly is noticeable. The Dublin streets are full of well-dressed well-dressed leisurely people, and the hotels and clubs are filled with people with time to talk politics, religion, philosophy or any old thing, and to talk well. There are no . working crowds in the streets, and the whole town bears the appearance of a I leisurely, cultivated capital. j Arriving in Belfast last night, just as 1 the mills and shipyards were closing, I 1 was struck at once by the crowds of work-ingmen work-ingmen and women hurrying home. There was no loitering or dawdling. They had ' done their day's hard work and were anxious not to waste a moment of leisure. This morning I was awakened by the noise of many feet passing my hotel. They were the men and women of Belfast going to work. In Dublin I always slept until the hotel servant called me. SENTIMENT IN BELFAST NOT IRRECONCILABLE. The question I came here to settle was, is Belfast as irreconcilable toward the national aspiration of Ireland as ever? The answer is, I don't believe she is. The Ulster politician talks as violently , as ever, but the Belfast business man is busy exploring the situation; and, being one of the best business men in the world, it is he who probably will find a solution. Let me not be understood as saying the Belfast business man has become a chief Nationalist. He has not. He does not like Nationalism any more than he ever did, but he recognizes some form of it is inevitable in-evitable and is interested now fn finding the form which, in his opinion, will do j the least injury to the industries of Ire- j land. The most authoritative spokesman of ; Belfast business is H. M. Pollock, for two 1 years president of the chamber of com- i meree, now chairman of the harbor commissioners, com-missioners, and during the Irish conven- j tion, delegate representing the northern business interests. I had a long talk with him this morning, and I have come ' away with the feeling that, although he declared he does not see any practical ! solution in the immediate future, the out- j look is far from as dark as most Ulster-men Ulster-men seem to believe. The whole problem of dominion home rule, he declared, is economic and turns on the question of taxation. DOMINION PROPOSAL AND INDUSTRIALISM. "Shall Ireland, under a full dominion status, be allowed to set up tariffs against i England?" Mr. Pollock asked. ! "Belfast is a great industrial and manu- I facturing community. Its three great trades are shipbuilding, linen and cotton; and. with the exception of a small portion por-tion of raw flax grown in Ireland, every ounce of raw material used is imported from abroad. How is Ireland going to compete in these industries if the Irish parliament imposes a customs tariff, and England admits raw materials free? "Furthermore, if the Irish parliament puts a tariff on English goods, how long will the English parliament refrain from retaliation? Consider the consequences to Ireland, in face of the fact pr,i eticahy the whole of Irish exports go to England. Another phase of the economic problem centers around direct taxa tion. England En-gland and Ireland now are subject to enormous income taxes and death duties, i Nationalist Ireland could run its business handsomely on the proceeds of t:".e eus- (Contiuued on Page 2. Column 2.) PROBLEM OF IRISH FUTURE VERY ACUTE (Continued f rom Page One.) toms and excise alone, and I cannot con-ceivo con-ceivo of an Irish parliament shouldering anj- portion of England's enormous war debt. How long would England stand such a favored position of Irish industries? indus-tries? British manufacturers and traders would demand protection against Ireland at once." FEDERAL SYSTEM SOMEWHAT FAVORED. There are, however, two solutions to the Irish problem Belfast business men are ready to accept. One is a general federal fed-eral system for the United kingdom, in which Ireland would be one or two units, with all the powers of taxation reserved to the centra! parliament. The other is the old scheme, home rule, with the six northeastern counties left out and attached at-tached to England under the present system. Having accepted the latter compromise, the Ulstermen will keep their word, if it is insisted on, but they don't like it, and as a matter of fact, Mr. Pollock told me today of his belief that if put in force it would not last many years. "It's the economic argument again. Human nature is human nature, and even Ulster loyalty hardly would stand up against such conditions. Imagine political Ulster bearing all the, burdens of the 1'mglish income tax and death duties, amounting in many cases to more titan half the total income, while on the other side of the imaginary frontier line, which a man could step across at will, there are no such taxes. ' '"The people would be going across in shoals, and very soon I am afraid we would be forced to join up with the rest of the country. I believe in such a case also we would find many English people making a two-hour crossing to escape British taxation." NO STARK REBELLION FOUND IN ULSTER. 1 asked Mr. Pollock whether Ulster still is prepared to resist by force of arms the imposition of home rule. His reply, I think, indicated a distinct advance on the wild attitude of stark rebellion. "We never thought of resisting the law of the Bri Lish empire, or of taking up arms against the king's troops. What Ulster volunteers were for was to protect us in resistance to taxation by the Dublin Dub-lin parliament, to which we determined not to submit. We still hold that attitude, but that is far from rebellion against the I law of the land." At present one question which is pois- , oning the relations of the parties in Bel- j fast and reviving dormant religious pas- sions is education in Belfast. Because of i ts rapid growth, the city is woefully ! backward in educational facilities, and, unlike in England, the' local authority has no power to levy a tax for school building and can only support schools built with money granted by the central government. govern-ment. Belfast business men promoted a bill allowing the levying of a rate for school building, bu t the bill was killed by the Cat hoi ic opposition because of a dispute about the control of the schools. The situation, as Mr. Pollock, who promoted the bill, explains it, is that, while 2' per cent of the pop u la tion of Belfast is Catholic, they only pay 5 per cent of the ' locai taxes. Creates Bad Feeling. They demanded full control of '2 per! cent of the new schools. The reply of the. Pel fast majority was: "We will sp-nd Hie full 25 per cent on your schools, hut. you must submit them to control, so far as educational efficiency is concerned, to the national board of education. This was refused, and the bill was dropped. This, said' Mr. Pollock, has created a bad feeling among Protestant workmen. This, of course, is only one side of the story. I attempted to get the other side fiom the Catholic bishop, who is the only authorized spokesman, hut lie is traveling travel-ing in connection with his episeopa duties and cannot be reached for some days. Some people have asked me to investigate in-vestigate the position of the demobilized soldier in Ireland with a view to determining deter-mining whether he miht be a potential 1 force in a new rebellion, or in more' peaceful measures to force some measure 1 of home rule from G real Rri ta in. Mv answer is t hat he is nonexistent as an 1 organized force, and to a far greater extent ex-tent than in England, he has returned to civil life and settled flown as a unit in the working community. Therefore things are less unsettled by the war here than in England. Put even in Peifnst tho industries in-dustries are much less upset, and the business men are displaying much more energy in resuming work. Politics of Soldiers. As far as the politics of the soldiers are affected by the war. I am unable to find much change from what would have been expected. "Istermeu who fought In Prance and Flanders enme back i"s!er-men. i"s!er-men. Nationalists return nationalists. A large proportion or the latter, of course, are Influenced bv friends and neighbors, and bo'-ouie Sinn Feiners. Put 1 am convinced they are just like the great ma of Sinn peiners. Thev ;idot this policy as a usture of disgust j w!'th the failure of the n ;i t ionaliMs to1 obtain home rule. They would he satis- I fied with anv genuine measure of self- I i" iyer'1 in en I . I was prepared to heir that in ma nv i list a ives the d em obi! ized sol -fliers were having a had time at tb- hands f of i.-ichbors in S.nn petti dis'riet. but I i can find hardly a trace of tills. Officj j or Dublin nrga nizat ions for fi riding ),: for soldiers repo'-t that they hear of .-ry few ( ;i of viet imizat ion r.( soldiers bv i Sinn Peiner. and P'at oft. n in reported I e't::ei the soldier Is I Maine for liis own a';g;-o--ivene:s. ,s a matter of fac. too, In rco.i diMrPts t old soldier ;,re in Mi!Tie,.nt numt.erv to look after ;ic;n-''i'.e.; ;ic;n-''i'.e.; ,.,-v .-ffjelent IV. |
