Show 12 ti til l IRISH I H WEALTH WAlT D DRAINED AINO BY J ENGLAND N lAND Stagnation Seen as Result of off f Operation of New Home Homet f t Rule Act f T w. w v. v RUSSELL Mt I Ii Irish I r Peet o t and Scholar LONDON DON May ay 7 I 1 I read lest through the coming year as through the year which has passed controversy controversy contro contro- versy about Ireland should rage only over v r those incidents which are now the tho bitter dally daily bread of oC the Irish soul I that the apologists tor for government will Continue to plead the death of many l servants of t t the crown that h these will I r b. b b lof true countered t of many by tales atrocities c lamentably n committed I just S 'S of the government and that th the fundamentals underlying the strugGle cle Gle gb In Ireland will wm be ignored It It Is the policy of government go to deny that t the to e Irish peo- peo l lf have real grievances g or if it there I ar are any they are removed by the recent re- re I dent cent act Jut hut I assert that the act In Inflicts in- in I fIlets on on us and makes permanent deeper grievances than those it re re- re re-I re moves I 1 I will take but one out of oC man many an I eC economic for Cor I know how Is the endeavor to make an alien I people understand the spiritual or culf cultural cultural cul cul- f tural moods which have with us the strength of oC religion I 1 I wish to show how inevitable it is I under the new home rule act that there V L' must be economic stagnation and de deI decay decay de- de I cay as there was under the act of oC Union I After ACter 1800 a transfer of oC wealth from r Ireland to Great Britain began bean The I I center of oC political power and their i revenues raised in Ireland were spent in lit Great Britain with the result that many industries previously sustained by the expenditure of ot that wealth in 1 Ireland began to decay 1 TO Then there came the amalgamation of oC the exchequers and the surplus revenues rev rev- of Ireland again were spent In inI I I England At present the excess of revenue revenue rev rev- nut over expenditure Is approximately and under the new ew act the tribute which Ireland must pay ani annually an- an I i to Great Britain is fixed at i about Every economist knows that the fund out of oC which production is maintained In any country comes from wages salaries and profits or dividends If It the sum of ot these is lessened I ton tion must fall tall This affects production and there Is consequent up unemployment employment r Now ow the effect of the annual payment payment payment pay pay- ment to Great Britain of oC so huge a tribute fixed in a a. time of ot inflated prices and profits must be exactly the same ame as It if wages salaries and profits I had been decreased In Ireland by that amount Consumption must fall tall production production production pro pro- be correspond correspondingly I affected and unemployment be inevitable Great Britain benefits by the purchasing power transferred from Ireland which whether dispensed in orders for tor ships ship equipment salaries or interest on loans helps to sustain production and consumption consumption con con- while with us there must must be stagnation g ohn ohne and ef export of ePa Pa Paui population population ui tion I n to which e export of revenue e e always f leads What can Ireland do but cut down it its Its- standard of ot living JIvIng which was what took place In the early part of last r century until the great famine thrust thruston on It the alternative of ot casting off ott It Its f t J f I Ild children ld Emigration begins ns again with us and I believe n from s settlements f I nm I made publicly by the present viceroy and other Irish administrators that this I emigration Is not unpleasing unpleasing is In i fact rJ just nw what Sat is d desired IUT Jon FOR I The apologists for tor the coalition speak I of the h prosperity s of Ireland e They can l di only do so by ignoring the interpretation n re tion Uon placed plated on Irish statistics by the officials who collect them The deposits In the banks have increased but the official statistician warns the reader that they represent less Ius purchasing power than half the amount in 1914 The nominal values of oC Imports and exports have increased but the volume remains very much the same as in 1904 when the statistics of ot a a. country with f depreciated to Pt the I wealth It paper a or rc comfort money Foet adds of 1 its s ng nothing people I That the transfer of ot purchasing power from Crom one country to another must bring about economic stagnation In the country Is so 80 obvious that one reluctantly comes to the conclusion con con- that the effect is aimed at nt I do not suppose British ministers are so unintelligent as not to know the simple facts In economics They can well realize tho the effect on their own economic system It If Germany had conquered conquered conquered con con- In the late war had annexed Great Britain and transferred half halt the British revenues rc to Germany many to pay Corthe for Cor forthe forthe the building of oC ships in Germany for Its nav navy to provide munitions and andI clothing for tor Its army English ministers understand ul such I things quite well and 1 I have no doubt they on Ireland r of tile Jeh thoroughly o yearly ft transfer r the effect f eg of almost half halt the Irish revenue to Great I Britain IA 1 mr ST. If Jr the stagnation of our industrial I I life lite and the continued emigration of our people were not directly aimed at I there would woul l have been provision InI in inthe inthe the act that the Irish contribution to I imperial services would be in Ireland Ire Ire- land that it should be paid in kind i In ships clothing munitions and equipment equipment equip equip- ment manufactured In Irish so that however high the uto was it would not in the manner of oC Its exaction bring about Industrial stagnation stagnation stagnation stag stag- nation an and the impoverishment of oC Ireland Ire Ire- land The revenues transferred would t maintain a population pop of seven or eight hundred undred thousand people in Ireland Is it any wonder that the volunteers sa say I i If lC We wo continue fighting we could not lose yearly 5 per cent of ot the population population population pop pop- we must lose annually by emigration emigration emi emi- I gration if IC this Iniquitous act comes I into operation The war as we carry It Iton Iton Iton on does docs not cause Ireland as much economic loss as the the tho British government o would enforce on It It Ireland Is the only country in Europe Europe Europe Eu Eu- I rope which has lost half halt its Us population within the memory of men still stilt living and that Is because it is the tho only country country country coun coun- I try in Europe whose whoso revenues and the purchasing power connected therewith have been systematically transferred to another country If It the volunteers in Ireland were I all imprisoned facts like these would rankle In the hearts of Irish patriots I for Cor they would feel teel they belong to a nation whose doom had been decreed |