Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1920. DE VALERA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2220, 28 December 1920, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1920. DE VALERA.

EAMOXN.DK VALERA, prtsklent of riit; executive of the Sinn Fein organisation, Inis hc.cn in the tinted Slatos since .June, 1919. lie is entitled to sit in the House of Commons as member for East Clare —a seat formerly occupied by Major W. IT, K. Redmond, who died leading’ the Irish Guards in France. I)e Valera took part in the Irish rebellion of Easter, .191(1. During the insurrection he commanded the insurgents in the Ringscnd area, of Dublin, and, like the Countess Markievicz, was .sentenced to death by courtmartial, but had the sentence commuted 1.0 penal servitude for life. It is said in military circles that the dispositions he made at Ringscnd showed a much higher order of military talents than was displayed by any of the other insurgent leaders. A remark that was supposed to be made by him at the lime of his arrest was quoted: “Ah/’ he is alleged to have said, “if only the people had risen even with knives and forks .” lie was released with other Irish prisoners in the general amnesty which preceded the Irish Convention of 1917-18, and was elected for Easl Clare in June, 19.17, after (he deal Si of Major Redmond. In May, 1918, he was again arrested for seditious activities, and was still interned when ho was again returned for East Clare in December, 1918. In February, 1919, ho made a sensational escape from Lincoln prison, and arrived in , the United States in June. De Valera was born in New York, and is of Spanish extraction on his father’s side,. His mother was a native of County Limerick. He mime to Ireland as a child, and was educated at the National School at Bruree, County Limerick, where his uncle resided,, and afterwards at Blackrock College, Dublin. He is B.A. of the National University, and held the position (of Professor of Mathematics at Blackrock College.

ments In' (lit? issue of ]j:i)K'r money. The traveller who.visit* Europe U>day is amazed by the irrational merrymaking; and (he depreciation in tiie value of money which he finds in the leading nations of the Old World. The fact that for the moment (he nations are broken down and cannot meet their obligations, nor pay for their necessities, is undeniable. It is now that the citizens of these nations ought in all reason to live modestly, yet never have they lived with so many luxuries; they ought to he saving, yet never have they spent with so little foresight. They ought to be working more than ever to make up for the losses of the war, yet they are working much less than before the war began, “Everyone wants to have a good time. People are all running like racehorses to see who will be the first to cross the goal of pleasure. The contest between the different labouring classes is to see who will do the least work, this accomplishment being considered a mark of superiority. Until very recently an eight-hour day was one of labour’s chief aspirations. Now labour talks of the seven-hour day, of the six-hour day, of the live-hour day, aml this in a world that has just lost 20,000,000 workers, ami in which the articles of prime necessity are destroyed and the means of producing them paralysed, in a world which needs the restoration of all moans of production to their hefore-the-war activity. Europe certainly is either entirely mad or else, without knowing it, is living in a state of despair which is driving her to careless suicide.” Justifying this statement, the writer points to the frenzied pleasure-seeking, the spending of money, the hatred of foresight and economy, the genera! desire to spend everything during one’s lifetime, to leave nothing when one dies, to give no heed to those who will come alter ns on earth. The abundant issue of paper money the writer ascribes as one of the causes of extravagance. “The aetnal fact is that paper money is circulating in Europe as never before. Everything is selling at high prices, and at the same time people feel the need of nnying articles at high prices much more than they felt it when things were cheap Everything

has increased in value; human labour, land, houses. The only thing which has decreased in value in Europe is money, and for the very reason that it is easily obtained, as are all things that have no value.' The only way in which normal conditions can be restored in the world is bv the exercise of economy. Lord Cullen of Ashbourne, lale Governor of the Bank of England, emphasised this at. the international Finance Conference at Brussels, and called upon the governments and municipal authorities to restrict their functions and curtail expenditure.