Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1912 — FIGHTING HUMOR NOT ALL IN ONE IRISH FACTION [ARTICLE]

FIGHTING HUMOR NOT ALL IN ONE IRISH FACTION

Home Rulers May Rrhel If They Fail to Gain Their Ends LONDON, (Special) Home Kuicis are never tii i of predicting civil war in Ulster if the management of the Emerald Isle’s attain is turned over to an Irish parliament But they never consider it worti while to mention that there is an ex ceilent chance of civil war elsewhere on the island unless autonomy it granted to its people— .. The Protestant Irish are afraid oi . Home Rule. There is no mistake about it. Maybe they will make trouble if 6 Home Rule bill passes. But on tht other hand, the Catholic Irish hare been led to believe that political de velopments of the past year or twc aseure the bill’s passage in the verj near future and unless it does past their disappointment will be some thing terrible. In tide disappointment they are just as liable to rebel as the Protestant Irish are to rebel if thej fail to have their own way. Nor is the step a very long one frofa: the conditions which actually exisi today in parts of Ireland to actual rebellion. The west coast, in particular igtae very last place that a peaceloving individual would want to live on. What is going on there is hardly known to the outside world, Thlf partly because It is really about as fai removed from civilization as are Iceland and Labrador and news does not . get out with any degree ot freedom oi completeness from no ' primitive s country. It is also partly because the varisus acts of violence, taken individually, do not constitute particularly important news. It is only when they are considered collectively that they become so. Finally, It is against the English government's policy tc have it generally known how serious a condition exists in a part of Great Britain Itself, and as the British government has vastly greater influence with the British press than anythin! it is possible for an American whc has not actually seen it to appreciate, it manages to keep the subject pretty effectively hushed up. As a matter of fact, “cattle driving,” for instance is almost of nightly occurrence. That is to say, some hundreds of the small peasantry gathei by prearrangement, drive all the cattle from some large grazier's estate scatter them far and wide, perhaps mutilate a few and then leave the owner to get them together again as best he can. Assaults on estate agents, rent collectors and big cattle raisers are so common that such persons do not dare to Stir out of doore except with strong bodyguards. The burning of ricks, stables and even houses are too frequent to attract attention. Riots, tn which sticks, stonet and firearms figure, are constantly breaking out. For an Irishman of the upper class or an employe of the upper class so much as to open hie mouth on the subject of politics in public is the inevitable signal tor serious trouble. Even killings happen pretty often. This sort of thing is a good deal too much like genuine insurrection tc be pleasant. The peasantry’s grievance is plain enough. The land is almost entirely owned by aristocrats who live in England er on the continent and many of whom do not so much as visit Ireland for years at a time. Naturally they ad minister their estates on a cold-blood ed bueinesa basis. It Is more convenTOnt to rent the land wholesale and the hated graziers are ready to take it on, the landlords’ terms. Most oi them are wealthy men, who pa' promptly and for large areas of land The malcrity of them lease 100 t» 700 or 800 acres apiece, for which thr average rental is 7 shillings or sl.6s per acre. The small farmers, on the other hand, are only allowed to rent the very poorest rocky or bog land which the grazier does not want, they are entrusted with but from one t< seven or eight acres apiece and they pay for it 20 shillings, of $4.80 pei acre. The neasantrv felt, correctly, that Home Rule is the first and necessary sten in the direction of the establish ment of a juster system and unless .11 Is granted there is every reason tc look for exceedingly grave disorders. " Ulster** hostility to what the rest ot Ireland wants is partly due to fear of oppression by the Catholics and partly—Ulster being the island’s industrial center —to apprehension of heavier taxes on its manufacturing and commercial enterprises.