Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1916 — WAR HAS BANKRUPTED ISLAND [ARTICLE]

WAR HAS BANKRUPTED ISLAND

Small British Possession Hard Hit by the Struggle Now in Progress in Europe. The Isle of Man is the hardest hit by the war of any portion of the British empire. It is on the verge of bankruptcy because the imperial treasury, insists on the wiping out of the deficit of $120,000 before it will sanction the relief of distress Where the money is to come from is a problem, as the proposed remedy of higher duties and taxes will fall short of requirements. The island might swallow its pride and annex itself to the neighboring county of Lancaster, but tradition and sentiment revolt at the idea. Although Man is only 33x12 miles, its political constitution is said to be the oldest in Europe, its language is a Gaelic dialect and peculiar to the island and home rule has been the privilege of the Manxman through the ages. When the war came the heavy tourist holiday trade was cut off. The swift packet boats were taken over by the admiralty, and the submarine menace made travel unpopular. Man then became a concentration camp of alien enemies, who now number 20,000, or less than three times its total native population. These camps helped to save the situation for the island farmers, although a poor substitute for the flood of tourists who used to come. It is now proposed that the government use the hotels and lodging houses, whose owners are in great distress, as hospitals for convalescent soldiers. One of the relief measures proposed by the Manx parliament which the imperial treasury refuses to indorse is a grant of $250,000 to distressed boarding-house keepers.