advantages for industrial pursuits. The soil, outside the bog and mountain area, is rich and fertile. Nature's design was obviously to make Ireland an agricultural and not an industrial country.

The propaganda concerning Ireland's possibilities that prevailed from 1800 to the dissolution of the Union in 1921 had a profoundly demoralizing effect upon the character of the people. Every imperfection in the social order was ascribed to the London Government. As long as the conflict existed between Great Britain and Ireland, it was impossible to expect from Irishmen right thinking about themselves or their neighbors. The Irish war mentality was of the usual distressing description.

The economic teaching, moreover, had one result which, not merely because of its relation to the most striking episode in Irish history since the Union, but because of its bearing on the present position of the country, is important. Emigration from a favored island where there was land enough to go round was denounced. The result was that in spite of much British legislation to the contrary, the land was split up into minute farms and the population, as far as possible, was kept at home. The famine of 1847, when the country was grossly overpopulated, followed from this disastrous teaching. Since the famine, a tendency to enlarge holdings is in evidence, but, nevertheless, the farms in Ireland comprise very many holdings too small to yield a decent livelihood. Taking the latest census (1911) for all Ireland, it will be found that there are altogether 563,525 holdings, comprising 19,004,075 acres, or, roughly, an average of 33 acres to a holding. Of these, 50,355 are above one acre and less than five acres; 129,706 are above five acres and less than fifteen acres; and 123,489 are above fifteen and not exceeding thirty The remaining holdings are as follows: Above 30 and under 50, 70,897; above 50 and under 100, 57,276; above 100 and under 200, 23,094; above 200 and under 500, 8,537; above 500, 2,112. One of the difficulties that faces the Free State Government is this excessive division of land and multiplication of small holdings.

acres.

It has been necessary to say so much about the ante-Treaty propaganda and the fallacies upon which it was based, for two

reasons. First, a knowledge of the facts is requisite to enable American readers to form a judgment as to the future of Ireland. Second, we have to know the fallacies as well as the facts to understand the present mentality of Ireland and the educative processes that are in operation in Ireland today.

If the Union was a psychological evil, the Treaty is a psychological blessing. It is no exaggeration to say that Ireland has learned more about herself in the five years that have elapsed since the Treaty than during the seven centuries of English domination. Many of the old catch cries have completely disappeared. Not a word, for example, is now heard of the fabled mineral resources of the country. There has been some very plain and wholesome talk about the failings of the people. At the Catholic Truth Conference held in October of this year, speeches were delivered of a candor which would have been inconceivable under the British régime. The conviction is being brought home to the minds of all persons who have anything to lose that Ireland's main assets consist of fertile soil and a rich customer near by to take its produce.

All this recasting of values is to the good. It ensures the stability of the new constitutional structure. It turns the energy of the people in the right direction, which is that of agricultural development. It makes for sincere coöperation with the other members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

But, whether in a nation or in an individual, the habit of wrong thinking cannot be at once wholly discarded. The momentum of past propaganda is not yet wholly spent. Vigorous efforts are being made to push the Government into a high tariff policy. There are tariffs at present, but they are so small as to be almost negligible. Should very stiff tariffs be set up, irritation in England and reprisals will be the inevitable consequence. The irritation would be shown by a preference for other nations' agricultural produce. A reprisal might take the form of a higher duty on imported porter. Guinness's brewery is the biggest industrial undertaking in the Irish Free State, and, I think, is the richest and biggest of its kind in the world. Its capital value in the market today must be in the neighborhood of sixty million pounds. Its best customer is England. Should

England put up a serious duty against Irish porter, the value of Guinness's brewery would be reduced by one-half, and the proprietors mainly Irish shareholders-would have to transfer the major portion of their activities to England to escape the duty. But I do not consider that a tariff war of that kind is probable, for the Irish people and their Government are every day acquiring fresh knowledge of the real economic possibilities of the country.

A relic of the inevitable inflation of national sentiment in the ante-Treaty era is to be found in the attempt to revivify the Irish language. Irish is compulsory in the primary schools, and some knowledge of it is necessary for entrance into the National University, and for admission into the Civil Service.

There are two formidable obstacles to the revival of the language. One is that it is very difficult to bring up to date a language which, if it ever got past the stage of a peasant tongue, had certainly in recent years degenerated into a peasant tongue, spoken only in the most backward parts of the community. The other is that the Irish people do not really want the language revived. I give my own experience for what it is worth. I spent my early days partly in a seaport town and partly upon a farm. When I became a solicitor, I acquired an intimate knowledge of the habits and ways of thought of the people,-at all events of the people in the county where I practised, drawing their wills, marriage settlements and so forth, and advising them on all sorts of matters of domestic concern. When I became a barrister, my professional duties brought me into every county of the Province of Leinster. I have been in every county in Ireland and have tramped many of them. The conviction that forced itself upon my mind is that the Irish people are an intensely realistic people excepting a few idealists in the towns, there are no idealists anywhere else. In this, one may suppose, they resemble agricultural communities elsewhere. I am convinced that the Irish people, as a whole, do not want to learn the Irish language. A proof of this is to be found in the recent Senatorial election. Dr. Douglas Hyde, the foremost exponent of the language, and one of the most attractive personalities in Ireland, not alone failed to secure election but was almost at the

bottom of the poll in a constituency which comprised all Ireland. I am inclined to wish it were otherwise, but my conclusion is that in the course of a few decades all attempts to revive the language will be abandoned. In connection with the same subject, it may be mentioned that the Government are setting apart a district in the backward West, to be called the Gaeltacht, as a sort of museum or repository where ancient Gaelic customs and civilization are to be restored. The effect, in my opinion, will be to increase the tide of emigration from the region so selected.

In the economic sphere, the Shannon scheme deserves a paragraph to itself. The estimate is that a hydro-electric station will be established which, at its maximum, will generate 84,500 horse power, and upon an average all the year round will generate 22,800 horse power. What this really means can be shown by a few figures. The same horse power (22,800 continuous) can be generated for one year by the combustion of 81,000 tons of coal, less than one hour's normal output in Great Britain. (I base the calculation on a like comparison with the hydro-electric energy of Switzerland made by Dr. J. A. Fleming, head of the Electric Engineering Department, University College, London, appearing in a letter to The Times, September 25, 1925. He says: "With the best modern boilers, engines and dynamos, one horse power for one hour can be generated in the form of electric energy by the combustion of one pound of coal. If we take the working hours of the year at 8,000 at most, then one and a half million horse power for the year [the Swiss output] can be obtained by the combustion of one million tons of coal. This is only about one week's output of coal in Great Britain.") The estimate for the Lochaber scheme in Scotland is 75,000 horse power continuously (The Engineer, March 4, 1921). The Lochaber scheme, which is intended to supply the power for an aluminum factory, is calculated to bring into being a village population of 5,000 (The Times, October 19, 1926). Sheffield, with its population of 520,000, consumes the same electric energy that the Shannon scheme is expected to produce. The city probably does not run half its factories on electric energy, and only twenty-two per cent. of the inhabitants use it for lighting purposes. As to cost, the Shannon scheme, with its 22,800 horse

power, is estimated to cost five million pounds. This includes the main transmission cables. The Lochaber estimate, which involves no transmission, the factory being on the spot, is five millions for its 75,000 horse power. The works now in progress on the Rhine, at Schworstadt, costing two and a half millions, will produce 53,000 continuous horse power.

It is, therefore, obvious that the Shannon scheme is a very modest affair, and certainly not cheap. Nevertheless, the Irish Free State Government are well advised to proceed with it. Since 1920 Ireland has been living on its capital, and its imports have been very considerably in excess of its exports. The nation, as a whole, is profoundly depressed and disappointed. The people have been frankly told by more than one Minister that their future depends, not upon Government action, but upon their own efforts. The prophesy made by a witty Irishman some twenty years ago has come true: "Two persons will be disappointed with the results of Home Rule. The Orangeman will get up in the morning and find that his throat is not cut. The Nationalist will get up in the morning and find that he has to go out to work as usual." Any scheme which keeps up the spirits of the nation during this period of despondency, is worth any cost within limits.

of

But while, in my opinion, there is no reason to expect any great direct material results from self-government, there is no ground for despondency. For at least thirty years before the Treaty, Ireland was making steady progress, and during the War many the farmers, and most of the shopkeeping class, made and put by considerable sums of money. When Ireland became a Free State, the country was in most respects well equipped, and the Irish people had £250,000,000 on deposit in the Irish banks and as much or more invested in English concerns. The present lean times are the result of post-war conditions, notably the diminished purchasing power of the great customer, Great Britain. There is still a great deal of loose money in Ireland, and the National Budget, if capital expenditure be taken out of it, is easily balanced. The most hopeful sign of the times in Ireland is the courage, sincerity and earnestness of the Free State Government. Law and order have been restored with marvellous celerity, and all