trained in agricultural science are employed among the farmers, and
especially among those who have recently become the owners of small
farms under the Land Act of 1903. A sense of the responsibility of
proprietorship is being gradually developed. Heretofore those who have
occupied rented lands have had no incentive to improve them or even keep
them in good condition, because they never knew when they might be
evicted. But to-day one-third of the farmers in Ireland own the soil
they till, and when the government is able to furnish the money to pay
for purchases that have already been arranged one-half of the entire
number will have permanent homes and land of their own. Realizing this,
they are willing and in many cases eager to learn how to make the best
use of their possessions, how to get the largest returns for their
labor, and how to increase the value of their property. The demoralized
condition of the farming population caused by the frequent political
agitations has made instruction in these lines of economy useless until
recently; but now that the land wars are over and the causes for
agitation are being removed, and the farmers of Ireland are coming into
their own, they take a different view of life, and welcome every offer
of instruction that will enable them to improve their situation.
The itinerant instructors are practical men. They work among the farmers
in the fields in the summer, and during the winter deliver lectures with
practical illustrations in the schoolhouses, the town halls, and other
convenient places. There have never been any agricultural schools in
Ireland, and it would be difficult to persuade the farmers to attend
them, even if they were established. Therefore the officials of the
department have undertaken their work with the children of the farms in
the secondary rural schools with the hope and confidence that the next
generation can be persuaded to follow up this rudimentary learning by
taking advanced courses in agricultural science. Indeed, many of them
have already done so. There are to-day one hundred and twenty-eight
young men, all of them sons of poor farmers, studying agricultural
science in different institutions of Ireland, and many of them are being
assisted financially to gain a technical as well as a practical
education. The department has provided a system of pecuniary aid so that
boys who have shown special aptitude in the secondary schools may pass
on to the agricultural college, and the reorganized college of science,
and even to the university.
The itinerating instructors are introducing better varieties of
potatoes, grain, and other crops. They advise farmers as to the
selection of crops after making a chemical analysis of their soil; they
encourage the purchase of the best qualities of seed, show how it should
be planted, and conduct field experiments, inspect buildings and suggest
improvements, show how simple remedies can be applied to diseases of
live stock, explain the most approved methods of feeding dairy cattle
and butter-making, fattening chickens for market, egg packing, and other
little matters which are of the greatest value to those whose happiness
and prosperity depend upon the intelligent application of their labor.
In 1907, 8,394 farms were visited in this way by the instructors and
66,144 persons received instruction. More than two thousand lectures
were given, with an average attendance of sixty-seven.
To improve the live stock of the country the department loans money to
competent farmers to purchase high-class stallions, bulls, rams, and
boars, and takes their notes to be paid in annual installments. Last
year eleven stallions, one hundred and thirty-five bulls, seventy-four
rams, and a proportionate number of other animals were purchased in that
way. And to encourage breeding it offers prizes for the best stock in
the different counties, of a sufficient value to be an inducement for
competition. It gives financial subsidies for the aid of stock, poultry,
horticultural and agricultural exhibitions, plowing matches, implement
trials, labor competitions, and for the best yields of potatoes, grain,
corn, and other staples. It offers prizes in the different counties for
the best gardens, the best kept poultry-yards, and the best butter,
which has excited a widespread interest and resulted in a general
advancement of conditions.
As a result of prize competition a rivalry has sprung up among the
cottagers all over Ireland to improve the appearance and convenience of
their farms and buildings. The prizes are sufficiently large to make it
an object to keep their residences and stables in repair and neat and
clean, both inside and out. There is a similar improvement in cottage
gardens for the same reason. Last year more than $25,000 was given in
prizes in the different counties for the best kept cottages and house
gardens.
The department is encouraging tobacco and flax growing, and a very fair
quality of tobacco is now being raised in Ireland.
Special schools have been established for the instruction of creamery
managers and attendants, and the department has inaugurated a series of
inspections which are voluntary, but the certificate of the inspectors
adds considerably to the value of the butter in the market. Last year
359 creameries invited inspection, as compared with 166 in 1906 and 82
in 1905. This indicates that the value of the inspectors' certificates
is becoming appreciated.
Forestry operations are being undertaken also, and eighteen young men
are now under training for professional foresters. They are the first
that have ever been known in Ireland.
If anyone should attempt to distribute the credit and honor that are due
to those who have accomplished the good and promoted the prosperity that
Ireland is now enjoying, he would find himself in serious trouble at
once. Rivalries are very keen. Nowhere else is partisanship so
pronounced and so intolerant. People of different political theories
and policies are seldom willing to concede honest motives to their
opponents. The leaders of the national party insist that all the
beneficial legislation that has been enacted by the British parliament
has been yielded reluctantly by the government, not from any interest in
the welfare of the Irish people, but solely to avoid a revolution. But I
am sure that no one will deny that Sir Horace Plunkett has been one of
the most active and disinterested and effective agents in bringing about
the great reforms that have been accomplished there within the last few
years. He rushes about like an American hustler, carrying out his plans
for the welfare of the farmers of Ireland with intense earnestness,
independent of public opinion, and as confident of his success as he is
of his integrity. He was described to me by one of his friends as "the
most transparently sincere man in the kingdom, thoroughly unselfish,
disinterested, and patriotic, and with a sanguine disposition that
nothing can discourage." He spends $10,000 a year from his own pocket in
his benevolent work, and while he was at the head of the agricultural
department he turned over his entire salary to the Irish Agricultural
Organization Society, of which he is the founder and the president.
Sir Horace Plunkett is the son of the late Lord Dunsany of County Meath,
a very old Irish family, descended from the ancient Lords of the Pale,
who have lived in the same house for seven centuries and have had an
active part in the history of Ireland from the beginning of days. A
famous old Irish book called "The Annals of the Four Masters" says:
"There are many fierce barons in the Pale, and the traveler leaving
Dublin must pass between the Baron Killeen and the Baron Dunsany," and
Sir Horace referred to the reputation of his ancestors in a speech that
he made not long ago, as follows:
"I was reared in one of those old castles of the Pale, almost under the
shadow of the Hill of Tara, where the Plunkett family for seven
centuries have managed to cling to the same house. Of course, in the
good old days, we fought for what we considered our rights, which was
to treat the inhabitants of the country as mere Irish and to avail
ourselves of their long-horned cattle without payment. I have never
started a new creamery without a sense of restitution for their little
irregularities. An old chronicle we have in the family runs thus: 'There
be in Meath two Lords Plunkett, a Lord of Killeen and a Lord of Dunsany,
and so it comes to pass that whoever can escape being robbed at Dunsany
will be robbed at Killeen--and whoever can escape being robbed at
Killeen will be robbed at Dunsany.' This shows that our family took an
interest in the tourist traffic in those days, though our methods of
developing it, judged by the polite standards of to-day, may appear
somewhat crude. You will notice also the germ of the co-operative idea."
(The point of this joke lies in the fact that Sir Horace Plunkett is the
originator and the most active leader in establishing co-operative
societies throughout the island.)
He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and, when he got his degree, went to
the United States and bought a ranch in Wyoming, which he still owns in
partnership with former Senator Carey of that State. He also has large
interests in Nebraska and lived there for more than ten years. He keeps
up his acquaintance by annual visits.
Sir Horace Plunkett came back from America to Ireland with his soul
stirred by patriotism and an ambition to do something to improve the
condition of his fellow countrymen. He realized the great disadvantages
under which they were laboring in their antiquated methods of farming,
their rude tools and their ignorance, and in 1894 proceeded to organize
a nonpolitical movement to improve their condition by carrying
instruction to them because they would not go anywhere to receive it.
His enthusiasm and his activities attracted the sympathy and assistance
of several other patriotic people, including Lord Monteagle and R.A.
Anderson, who was then collecting rents and looking after the tenants of
Lord Castledown. In 1894, their work having become too large to be
carried on by individuals, they organized the Irish Agricultural
Organization Society with about four hundred subscribers, mostly people
who were not connected with agriculture. With the exception of Lord
Monteagle, Colonel Everhart, Sir Henry Bellew, Sir Joslyn Bore Booth,
and a few others, the landlord class took little interest in the
movement, but they are beginning to recognize the value of the society
and are giving it more sympathy and support than formerly.
R.A. Anderson, the permanent secretary of the society from the
beginning, told me the story as follows:
"An adequate staff was first employed who went about among the farmers
holding meetings, delivering lectures, talking with them privately,
explaining the advantages of education and co-operation, and organizing
local societies in every county and district to co-operate with the
general society in Dublin. This work has been going on ever since until
we have now about ninety thousand members, mostly small landowners and
farmers, although in the southern counties we have several prominent
ones.
"The next step was to organize co-operative creameries, the farmers
contributing the capital and sharing the returns, as in the United
States. They deliver their milk at the creameries every day and receive
credit tickets for it, which are settled once a month. This has proven
to be a great economy over the old plan, where each farmer made his own
butter at home, because it was badly made as a rule, brought a low
price, and kept down the reputation of the dairy industry in Ireland. We
have now in operation three hundred and fifty co-operative creameries to
which forty thousand farmers contribute. The butter is exported to
England and Scotland by the managers under the supervision of a
committee. The reputation of Irish butter has been restored. It commands
twenty-two cents a pound, about the same as the Danish butter, whereas
farm butter used to bring only fifteen or sixteen cents a pound, and it
is difficult to sell it even at that price in these days in competition
with the co-operative creameries.
"We have introduced the most modern methods of butter-making and
machinery. Pasteurization is being generally adopted and our cooling
machinery permits the ripening of cream much more accurately and the
production of better butter with a lower per cent of moisture. The
creameries are setting an excellent example in planting ornamental
shrubs around the buildings and forest trees for shelter, while several
have laid out attractive gardens. These external signs of care and taste
make a favorable impression upon the public, and the creameries are
being constantly visited by people from all parts of the country.
"Our next step was to organize societies among the farmers for the
co-operative purchase of supplies of various kinds, for the purchase of
seeds, manures, feeding stuffs, machinery, implements, carts, harness,
and everything a farmer needs but his live stock. We have one central
agency at Dublin acting for about two hundred local societies in
different parts of Ireland, representing about seventeen thousand
families, who buy everything they want in that way at much lower prices
than are charged by the local dealers. They are always sure of getting
wholesale prices, the best quality of articles, and there is no
possibility of being swindled. Every buyer gets what he orders, which is
very important, particularly if it concerns seeds. A farmer who wants a
machine or a lot of seeds or a new kind of potatoes, or a cart, or
anything else, fills up a blank prepared for that purpose, posts it to
the secretary of the society, and the latter orders the article from the
central agency, to be paid for upon shipment in cash. This co-operative
movement has been a tremendous success and is entering directly into the
lives of the people.
"The next step," continued Mr. Anderson, "was to organize co-operative
credit societies from which farmers who are members may borrow money at
low rates and keep out of the hands of the 'gombeen men'--the Celtic
word for usurer--who bleed their clients in a merciless manner. The
loans are made for productive purposes only--to buy better machinery,
more cattle, sheep, swine, and horses, seeds and manures, and other
things of tangible value. We do not loan money to pay debts or fines, or
to get wild boys out of trouble, or to pay blackmail, or to provide
dowries for marriageable daughters. All these things are prohibited, and
the managers look to it that not a penny of the society's money is
invested in any speculative enterprise. There are 270 of these
Agricultural Co-operative Credit Societies in Ireland under the
supervision of our organization with about 20,100 members, and they
handle an average of $300,000 in loans averaging not more than $25,
which amount shows that they are serving the purpose for which they were
intended--to help the small farmer to improve his condition.
"It is quite remarkable," said Mr. Anderson, "that none of these
societies has ever lost a penny. They are managed by committees
appointed by the members, who borrow their capital from joint stock
banks upon the individual and joint indorsement of the board--each
individual being responsible. They get the money for four per cent and
loan it for five or six per cent, thus leaving a margin which pays the
expenses and leaves a surplus which is carried to a reserve that may
also be lent out. These societies also receive deposits from their
members and other people in the district and pay three per cent
interest, the same as the savings banks. They sometimes obtain loans of
£50 to £100 from the Department of Agriculture or the Congested
Districts Board at three per cent, which they loan to their members in
small amounts at from five to six per cent interest. Last year they got
about $60,000 from those two sources.
"The great advantage of these credit societies, in addition to keeping
their members out of the clutches of the gombeen men, is to teach them
the proper use of credit, the difference between borrowing to make and
borrowing to spend, to promote thrift by giving a fair interest upon
deposits, to encourage sobriety and industry and to teach a sense of
responsibility and the value of reputation, because a man's character is
the sole qualification to membership, and everybody wants to get in. To
be admitted to membership is an indorsement that is very highly
regarded, and when a man is in his neighbors look after him.
"There are various other co-operative societies," continued Mr.
Anderson. "Last year we organized thirty-two new co-operative credit
societies, twenty-two co-operative purchasing societies, twelve
co-operative creameries, five flax societies to encourage the
cultivation and handling of flax, and six co-operative bacon-curing
factories, where farmers can send their hogs to be slaughtered and cured
in a proper manner, which enables them to get a quick sale and a higher
price for their pork. We also organized a large number of co-operative
poultry societies to promote the raising of hens and chickens, the
shipment and sale of eggs and poultry, so that the farmers can get
better prices, have reliable selling agencies, lower freight rates, and
sure collections. Eggs are sold here by weight instead of by the dozen,
so that people who raise large eggs have the advantage. The eggs are all
tested, graded, and packed according to the continental system, which we
prefer to the cardboard arrangements which you use in the United States.
These co-operative poultry societies are improving the breeds of hens,
are teaching the members how to raise poultry, protect it from diseases,
and make the best use of the feed. This is a very important industry,
and we have brought it up so that now the average revenue from twenty
hens is equal to that from one cow.
"The farmers' wives are also taught how to raise bees, although for the
last few years there has been no money in them. We have had the worst
years on record for honey.
"The latest attempt of the Irish Agricultural Organization Society is to
introduce co-operation among the small farmers who have recently come
into the ownership of their lands to assist each other in building more
comfortable homes for themselves and better buildings for their cattle
and the storage of their crops. This is in the line of self-help and
mutual aid among neighbors and furnishes employment for many days during
the winter season which otherwise would be spent in idleness. The most
economical building material we have here now is cement blocks, which
are easily made with a little instruction, and we are sending around
instructors to show the farmers how to utilize their spare time in the
winter in making a sufficient number of blocks of this artificial stone
to build the walls of a house in the spring. The neighbors can then get
together and help each other put them in place under the direction of
the instructor of the society, just as your pioneers in America used to
help each other put up their log cabins. There is a universal desire and
ambition on the part of the two hundred and fifty thousand farmers who
have recently become the owners of their places under the Land Act of
1903 to improve their dwellings, and the Irish Agricultural Organization
Society is doing a great deal to encourage them in this way."
XXIX
LIMERICK, ASKEATON, AND ADARE
Limerick looks like a medieval city, and it is one of the oldest in
Ireland. There is an old tower that was built seven centuries ago, and
portions of walls forty feet high and thirty-six feet thick which date
back to the time of King John in the twelfth century. The castle is one
of the finest Norman fortresses yet remaining in the kingdom and
overlooks the River Shannon in a most formidable manner. The ancient
gate is carefully retained and there is a bridge across the river
approaching it that might have been built by the Romans. The Shannon is
a good deal of a river, and has been walled in with cut stone and wide
quays that are equipped with modern machinery for loading and unloading
vessels, although there isn't much commerce. Occasionally a steamer
loaded with coal arrives, but there is no regular traffic, and we saw a
big four-masted bark discharging a cargo of wheat that was brought all
the way around Cape Horn from California and will be ground up in the
mills of Limerick, because it is cheaper to bring it that distance than
to raise wheat on the farms in that vicinity. It seems incredible,
because there is so much land given up to pastures that might be plowed
and sowed with grain. We rode about Limerick County in an automobile for
several days and didn't see a wheat field,--not one,--although there are
several flour mills in the immediate neighborhood. In two grocery stores
where I inquired they told me that they handled American flour or flour
from American wheat almost exclusively, and that they were selling a
good deal of bacon from the Chicago packing-houses, which also seems
strange, because Limerick bacon is supposed to be the best in the world,
and three big establishments, employing several hundred men, do nothing
but cure bacon and hams. Each slaughters about ten thousand hogs a
week, which doesn't seem a very large business in comparison with that
of the packing-houses of Chicago, Omaha, and Kansas City, but there it
is something to brag about. Limerick bacon brings the highest price in
the London market and sells at three or four cents a pound more than
that which is imported from Chicago. In order to realize the difference
the people of the city are willing to ship their bacon to England and
eat the Chicago product.
Limerick is also the center of a large butter trade and has the biggest
condensed milk factory in the kingdom, using the milk of ten thousand
cows daily, which is gathered morning and evening by enormous motors
that go thundering around the roads like Juggernauts. They look like
steam-rollers, and are built the same way with four wheels that have
tires more than a foot wide, and they serve a double purpose by rolling
the roads daily while they are hauling in the milk. Each of these
ponderous vehicles carries a large tank that will hold a hundred gallons
of milk and hauls a trailer that carries two tanks of similar size, thus
making about three hundred gallons to the load, but it makes noise
enough for ten thousand gallons. The big tanks are painted white and the
machines are polished like the knockers on the front doors of the
Limerick houses. There are three of these machines, which start out at
daylight in the morning, and each goes in a different direction, picking
up the milk that is left in cans by the farmers at convenient cross-road
stations. When the tanks are all filled the Juggernaut comes rumbling
into town, making more noise than the railroad train, discharges its
load at the condensed milk factory, and then starts out in another
direction.
Limerick has a population of about forty thousand, which has been
reduced from fifty thousand during the last ten or twelve years by
emigration to America; and, as we find it the case everywhere, all the
young men who can get money enough to pay their steamship fares are
emigrating. Many young women go also, and "the best blood of the country
is lost to us," one of the priests remarked. The city has not increased
in numbers for centuries. It has merely held its own, and some
historians contend that it had more population five hundred years ago
than it has now. It was founded before the beginning of history.
In 1168 lived and reigned Donald O'Brien, the last king of Limerick. He
was fifth in descent from Brian Boru, and was among the first to swear
allegiance to the Norman invader, King Henry of England, when the latter
arrived, permitting an English governor to be placed in possession of
the city. But after King Henry returned to England, Donald O'Brien lost
no time in renouncing allegiance and declaring his independence. And
from that time he fought the English with great energy until his death
in 1194, after a reign of twenty-six years of almost continuous
conflict. However, King Donald found time and money during the intervals
of his wars to erect a splendid old church that still stands and is
called St. Mary's, the Protestant Cathedral of the Church of Ireland. He
erected several other churches and monasteries in Limerick County which
bear witness to the religious zeal of Donald O'Brien. The ruins at
Cashel, which are the most extensive in all Ireland, are reminders of
his piety, energy, and generosity in the Christian propaganda. He is
supposed to have been buried in St. Mary's Cathedral, and the most
ancient and noteworthy monument in that venerable temple is a
brown-stone slab covered with a Celtic cross and inscription that is
supposed to be the lid of his coffin. This monument originally stood on
the grounds outside the church and was moved inside in 1860.