Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1920
Emigration lure dissipates
The new land agitation is widespread in town and country, and no Land Act was ever capable of making the radical change in outlook in so short a space of time that this movement has already done.
A big number of people, who never wanted land in the towns, are interesting themselves in it now, and are making their claims for a share of what is going.
It remains to be seen how the results of the movement will affect the lie and conditions of the community, but that an altered state of things will come about is quite certain.
In most cases, in the new division, lands are given to young men who, contrary to the custom of some years are not inclined any longer to leave their native land.
The hankering after foreign cities, with their stately buildings and resorts of questionable pleasures and dangers has almost disappeared from our rural fire.
The old craving for foreign fields has given place to a desire for a peaceable existence at home. May it be that Ireland is about to raise again that “bold peasantry, their country’s pride?” That has been dissipated to the seven seas of the world by emigration.
Ireland is an agricultural country, and the question arises: is it producing on a scale commensurate with its possibilities?
No. Fattening the bullock is a slothful industry and does not give us the return which we would get from an extensive production of foodstuffs. We have to import every year articles of food which we should be exporting, with the result that there is practically no advantages derived from the cattle industry.
Sinister events of 1913
Following the sinister events of 1913, when the cause of Constitutionalism was in dire peril in Ireland, his Eminence Cardinal Logue issued a prophetic warning. He declared that he could see no alternative to the overthrow of Constitutionalism in this country but a period of confusion, anarchy and chaos.
And so verily it has come to pass. The extremists in Ulster first set the pace. Reactionaries in Great Britain marched to their tune. Irish extremists lost their temper at the display of perfidy and provocation.
We see the results around us in murders and shootings, raids and arrests that occur with an appalling and increasing frequency. Even supposing peace to be brought about to-morrow, it must take years to purge the country of the moral effects of these horrors. Hence, apart from our political outlook, it is the duty of every decent-minded citizen to do all he can to restore that peace and good order for which Ireland has long been noted amongst every Christian nation.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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