EXPLAINING IRELAND'S POVERTY. `

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 294, 18 December 1919, Page 5

EXPLAINING IRELAND'S POVERTY. `

Quotations from "Herself" Ireland bv .Mrs T. I*. O’Connor:

\ priest said t*> he*r: "The slums arc* a shrieking reproach to mankind, and a monster indictnic*nt against pub lieans, the- public-houses, and the corporation. I Imre* is scarcely a newspaper or a man in Ireland dares lift .1 voice against the* distillers or publicans, least of all the* politicians whom they se*nd te> Parliament. He* is muzzled, and obliged to play intei the* ruthless hands of the men who ruin the* poor, and are directly responsible* for the starvation and death of many childre n. Publicans are not impulsive murderers; they destroy by inches and slow* methods the bodies .md souls of those who enrich them."

‘‘The Homestead,’’ edited by a man of unswerving honesty and unflinching courage, (ieorge Russell, says, \\‘e in Ireland have signalised the* war by in; ‘r ising expenditure on drink by two millions. The world-tragedy has been celebrated by us by the expenditure of fifteen million pounds on alc olvd ill one* year. I- lfteen million pounds on drink, when industry and agrie ultuu are starved for want of capital, and a body like the Agricultu r t| ()iganisation Society finds it diffi c ult to get the* few thousands a year it require s. Fiftee n million pounds spout in muddling our wits and suppressing the* soul (iod breathed into man, in one small country with a population ot four million people. Our politic tans .tr<* afraid of the ir lives to hint at enmity to this beastly trade. Men who won't unite or consult with rich othei for the good of the*ii country will unite cordially for its evil, so that ;he devil may always be on tap in pints and pots, in bottle and in barrel, for all who require him. Neve r can Ireland have real prosperity until two thing*** happen an Irish (iovernnieiit formed of Irish people to govern liisti people, and a law (even if it should create a revolution) to cow all public-houses. How can any country hope to succeed with N<> pub-lic-houses in a village of 151x1 inhabit ants? Never have I seen human beings more sodden with drink than in r.alway. f aces a deep purple red, bloated, and dropsical, and hands that trembled y • if the*y suffered from shell shock."