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Show : DUBLIN. (Editorial Correspondence.) Dublin. Aug. 16, 1900. The political and industrial conditions of Ireland are anything but inviting. With the general gen-eral election approaching there is not, I am sorry to say. that unity which is essential to success. How far Mr. Healy will carry his opposition, the rast record of that gentleman may indicate. in-dicate. There is no doubt, however, that the masses of the Irish people are behind Mr. Redmond in his efforts to conciliate all factions, but it seems to me that an angel from heaven could not conciliate Mr. Healy. As I pointed out in a former letter, a general election is likefy 'to take place In. October. It ia nearly certain that eighty or more Nationalists Na-tionalists will be returned. Now, this fact may and may not mean much for Ireland. Looking at it from America, we are apt to conclude that a party so numerically strong must perforce be a tower of strength in demanding the righting of Irish grievances. But this does not necessarily follow. Much, in fact everything, depends upon the caliber of the men selected. A united Irish Nationalist party, com-! com-! posed of eighty sterling members, men ever on the watchtower of Westmin-' Westmin-' ster, would certainly make England listen to Irish appeals. But will there be such a party? I hope so, although I fear otherwise. The present Irish Nationalist party and I am not speaking of the factional quarrels quar-rels which have kept them apart is a weak set. At no time. I am informed, were more than thirty or forty Irish members in attendance. It is said in extenuation of this lamentable condition condi-tion that many of the absentees could not afford to be present. This is unfortunate, un-fortunate, of course, and such men should not stand in the way of others who could find the time and means, if given the opportunity, to be in attendance attend-ance at every session of Parliament. When Parnell was alive he saw to it that his colleagues were enabled to attend at-tend regularly to their duties. What a pity they killed Parnell! There are some men who are quite able to attend to their parliamentary duties, yet they are not a tower of strength to the Irish cause. Take T. P. O'Connor, for instance. He is now in Ireland pleading plead-ing the cause of the Irish peasant as devoutly as though he had never made money in trafficking w-ith the Tories. This gentleman, it will be remembered, started two newspapers in London, avowedly in support of Irish Nationalist Nation-alist principles, yet 'he could not withstand with-stand the temptation of British gold, and sold them both to Ireland's enemies. ene-mies. He is now engaged, although nominally an Irish Nationalist and member of Parliament, in editing a newspaper devoted to heaping sickening sicken-ing praise upon English royalty. And this same man spoke yesterday at a National meeting in County Cavans! It is such men as T. P. O'Connor who give courage to Ireland's enemies. Unless the people of Ireland arouse themselves and brush aside the incompetence, incom-petence, I .repeat there is little that is inviting in the political condition of Ireland at . the present time. It is a good sign, however, that the bishops, priests and people of Ireland are. Inclined In-clined to support the leadership of Mr. Redmond., who is certainly a most disinterested dis-interested and fair-minded 'man. ! But bad as the political outlook is, the industrial prospect is infinitely worse. There is now a spell of warm weather, which " promises to minimize the dangers which threaten from the prolonged rains. For this, of course, all are supremely grateful. It is inconceivable, incon-ceivable, however, that Ireland should prosper, even if she had the best of crops', for it. must be borne in mind that" there are no manufactures in Irelandat Ire-landat least, so few in proportion to the population as to be practically no account to the masses of the people. Who is responsible for this? Obviously Obvi-ously the British government alone. It i3 a sad, sad country, and no mistake. mis-take. Talk about the mirth and joy of the Irish, I believe they are the saddest sad-dest people on the face of the earth. And how could It' well be otherwise? 1 j The first friii's of the labor of tie-' tie-' Irish 1 pi. pie ,) to enrich the stranger. Before wife or children can be caivil j for the landlord's portion, which is 1 usually the larger. must be handed over. Frequently there is not enough left to k-ep body and soul toother. This is not hearsay. I have gone to the little farms in all parts of Ireland, Ire-land, and have a knowledge whereof I sneak. Bur vp can better understand the industrial in-dustrial condition of Ireland if we review the report of the Irish Registrar Regis-trar General f"f 1SI0. whkh ha just been issued, ;ir!d w-hi-h draws attention atten-tion very pointedly to some very unhappy un-happy features of Irish 'life. While natural increase or population, for Instance that is- to ."ay, the execs of births nvr deaths was 'i.'J"l. the loss by emig-ation whs no 1s th;in 41.232. th- deeivae in population during dur-ing the year being thus IT.Ool. Against this decrease th're is a small set-off in officiable record is obtainable. To illustrate il-lustrate the birth, death and marriage movements in the population. Mr. Mat- ! heson , th" new Chief of th.' Registrar-General's Registrar-General's department, publishes a very iluminating diagram, show ing for each Of the twenty years 1SS0-1SW the rate per thousand of the population j-esfie-tively represented under these heads. From this diagram we find that whereas where-as the marriages were less than 4 per l.nno of th population in 1SS0. they are now f per 1.000: and that whereas the 1 deaths in 180 were almost 20 per 1,00't. they are now only 17.6. But against these encouraging figures must be J placed the startling fact that the birth- 1 rate has decreased in the same period 1 from 24.7 to less than 23. Yet during the same period the relative percent- i agp of marriages of Catholics proveVb- f ial for large families in Ireland and non-Catholics has scarcely changed: in ! 1SS0 the non-Catholic marriages were ' 6.06 per 1.000 of the population, and in 189S 6.31, while in the same years the i Catholic marriages were respectively ! 4.09 and 4..i3. The figures regarding marriages incidentally me'ntionedTET j marriages incidentally noted above are also very curious. From them it will ! be seen that the normal marriage-rate f I is two per 1.000 greater amongst non- Catholics than amongst Catholics j again, a very significant fact in a ' Catholic country at one time so noted for its marrying and giving in marriage. mar-riage. But for all these things, indeed, 1 there is only one explanation poverty: 5 poverty, and its attendant curse, emigration. emi-gration. "According to the returns ob- ' ! tained by the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police," says this I report, "the number of emigrants (na- 1 tives of Ireland) who left Ireland dur- j ing the year was 41.232: of these IS. 621 were males and 22,611 were fee- ! mals. Of the whole number 3,542 were from the Province of Leinster: 15.7."S from Minister: 8.701 from Ulster; and 13.231 from Connaught. Of the total emigrants from Ireland in IS!)!). 7.7 percent per-cent were under 15 years of age.' S.2!) per cent were between 15 and 35; and 9.4 per cent were 35 or upwards." That is to say, during the twelve months some 35,000 Irish men and women in their prime, all having, presumably, got a fairly good education, went abroad to contribute new brawn and I brain to other lands, and chiefly, of j course, to the United States. When is ' ( the drain to stop? Men are leaving J the rural districts of England also, no ; doubt, but for the English towns, thy I still -remain part and parcel of the na- ' ' tion, and make for its wealth and j I strength. It is not so in Ireland, where j I a population as large as that of Lim- 3 erick departs from these shores annu- ally, and is lost to the land forever. It is a state of affairs which it constantly j amazes Irishmen should be looked on j by English statesmen as normal. There j has been no such "normal" condition J. of population in any country in. the '-.-world at any ueriod of history. j " Perhaps all this will be better appre- ; ' ciated when I state that since the Irish Parliamentary party split into factions half a mflion Irish men. women and Jm children one-tenth of the population of the country in 1S0O have left their i i native shores. It is said with truth s that this is an appalling fact to con- I template. ; j These are facts which I would ask ; Americans who have visited Ireland to . t ponder well, before they allow the im- ' I pressions of a superficial examination j to take root in their minds. 1 have . met scores of Americans in Ireland, and I fear that the opinions which J they have formed have not been com- plimentary to the Irish people. I am j no apologist for the short-comings , which in many places are too obvious, but I believe that extenuating circum- f stances should be presented wherever possible. ' For the excessive use of intoxicants j there' is no excuse under Heaven, and .; it is unfortunately too true that strong . drink is used in excess in all the large , cities of Ireland. That this Is respon- sible for poverty, of course, admits of no doubt, but at the same time it is not the sole cause, only an incidental one, of the dire poverty which presents itself it-self in so many places: ' The British government akn musj be held responsible for the lamentable industrial condition prevailing in Ireland. Ire-land. Just now the press of the three kingdoms king-doms is ringing- with praise of a dis-4 dis-4 tincuished Irishman, the late Lord Russell, Rus-sell, who. during -his life, typified all that is best and noblest in the Irish character. I merely mention this - to show that,, other things being equal, the Irishman has nothing to fear in the rude competition of life. Just at the present time also the same press is loudly acclaiming praise to another Irishman, Lord Iveagh, who lias recently announced his intention of spending a half-million dollars in the erection of suitable' habitations for the desperate poor of the city of London. I do not see that Lord Iveagh is entitled en-titled to any credit for thus doing his duty. Lord Iveagh is better known by the name of Guinness one of the proprietors pro-prietors of the big Dublin brewery. He is many times a millionaire, made so by the pennies of the Irish poor, who would drown the sorrows of their sad condition in the momentary joys of the commodity which has given Lord j Iveagh his title and his millions. j In expending a' half-million dollars for the betterment of Dublin's wretched wretch-ed poor he but makes partial return to his benefactors. Of one thing I am more firmly convinced con-vinced than ever now that my eyes have seen its needs, viz.: that only Home Rule can give prosperity and contentment to the Irish people. THOMAS H. MALOXE. |