"And tell us what is the matter with Ireland."
This was the last injunction a fellow journalist, propagandized into testy
impatience with Ireland, gave me before I sailed for that bit of Europe
which lies closest to America.
It became perfectly obvious that Ireland was poor; poor to ignorance, poor
to starvation, poor to insanity and death. And that the cause of her
poverty is her exploitation by the world capitalist next door to her.
In Ireland there is no disagreement as to the cause of her poverty. There
is very little difference as to the best remedy--three-fourths of Ireland
have expressed their belief that the country can live only as a republic.
Even the two great forces in Ireland that are said to be for the _status
quo_, I found in active sympathy with the republican cause. In the
Catholic Church the young priests are eager workers for Sinn Fein, and in
Ulster the laborers are backing their leaders in a plea for
self-determination. But there are, of course, those who say that a republic
is not enough. In the cities where poverty is blackest, there are those who
state that the new republic must be a workers' republic. In the villages
and country places where the co-operative movement is growing strong, there
are those who believe that the new republic must be a co-operative
commonwealth.
I