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Show " FALLACY EXPLAINED The Daily Telegraph of London Makes Absurd Ab-surd Statements Assertions About Ireland Ire-land Stupid and Deliberately Misleading Mislead-ing Of all the absurdities advanced concerning the condition of Ireland in the Trade and Finance columns of the Daily Telegraph, the most outrageous, outra-geous, perhaps, was to the following effect: "In 1841 there were 8,175,000 people in Ireland, and now there are only 4,388,000. . . The exodus exo-dus was essential. . . Though there are fewer people in Ireland, their material wealth is greater." One lias only to compare the condition of Ireland Ire-land with that of Scotland to understand the utter fallaciousness and stupidity of the argument. Scotland is a barren country compared to Ireland, and has a harsher climate. Also its total area is 18,920,000 acres, as compared to 20,lo0,000 acres comprised within the shores of the Green Isle. Therefore, if there be anything in the argument of the Daily Telegraph that the alleged increased prosperity of the people of Ireland is due to the loss of nigh one-half her population, then Scotland should show a lessened prosperity or a lessened population. Now, what are the facts? Simply that Scotland smaller, less fertile than Ireland, and more inclement has never been so prosperous at any time in' her history as she is today. Alto-. Alto-. gether. in spite of the depopulation of the Highlands High-lands through the demands of British manufacturers manufac-turers and American millianaires for deer forests her population, which was 2,000,000 in 1841, is now 4.077,000. It is, therefore, evident, reasoning from analogy, that a lessening of population and an augmentation of prosperity do not necessarily advance hand in hand, since Scotland ha; multiplied multi-plied her wealth many times, while doubling her numbers. Indeed, the economists would h likely to declare th.t a decline in the prosperity 'of any civilized country would probably be accompanied by a diminution of-her population. - Ly - ----- --' The extreme stupidity of the Daily flegraph's assertion will be better understood if ffVconsider the class of people who have streamed CX J of Ireland Ire-land during the past seventy years, tow I Ine pioneers pio-neers in evi?ry walk of life in every o( F jiation throughout the civilized world. IrelaiTp has not-been not-been drained of her wastrels and of her fjjicapables, but of her bone and her brains, of h c brightest ami best, of her bravest, boldest and ., ost enterprising. enter-prising. Left behind, of course, were i , ury equally equal-ly worthy, but the great proportion ot Jhose who remain have no doubt been the old am, feeble, the crippled and weak, the women and cb rtdren. We can only guess what might have been t le condition of Ireland had those who have so spl ndidly contributed con-tributed to the development of Amel ica and of Australasia been given an opportunity to use their God given faculties to advantage in their own dearly-loved native land. Yet the Daily Telegraph Tele-graph wishes us to believo that their exodus has caused Ireland to flourish! How cam the prosperity prosper-ity of any country be advanced by 'dejnudin it of its most stalwart and adventurous spirits? It is not ' thinkable. An exile himself, Oliver Gold- I smith knew better than that. 150 ve.-i rs ago, when j he wrote "The Deserted Village-," "an. 1 therein the oft-quoted couplet: 1 "Hut a bold peasantry, its country s pride. When once destroyed can never b supplied.'-' -s The material prosperity of Irelai d, such as it is, has not advanced because of the ast reduction of her population, but in spite of it. Any improvement improve-ment m her condition is due to the a vances of civilization civ-ilization and the development of the if iidustrial arts. Since 1841 ihe standard' of comfort lias been raised immeasurably in all civilized lands, j But those who know Ireland best would be loath to ! eclare that she has shared proportionately in this hi ttcrment with England, Wales and Scotland. Ail d if not, why not? Xor would the better-inform! d agree' that. instead of being lessened by half, Ihe increase of numbers would have so exceeded tjjliat ot subsistence subsist-ence as to cause a ciiain on the Li liter, t i- tolerably tol-erably certain that, the Ireland w ich was bai-rly equal to the support of eight m illions in 1841 could well support sixteen millions, today in consequence con-sequence of the discoveries and ii f ventions of the last fifty years provided always til it the exertions cu man were not hampered and set . ,t nought by the burdens of absentee landlordism J ,K1 the interference interfer-ence of an unsympathetic governnf lent. The Freeman Free-man s Journal, Sydney, Australia. I |
