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PAGE TWO -
THE IRISH.
PRESS,-
PHILADELPHIA,” JANUARY 28," 1919 ©
AMERICANS SEND =
FELICITATIONS
.——
* (Continued From Wiest: Pago)
ed in history, learned in the story
of: international — reiationship.!
grounded firmly on the principle
pf human freedom. coming here,
(they do not all belong to Phila-
delphia), to speak for the ireedom
of Ireland, (Great applause). T
cannot.-expre my personal ap-
preciation of the-honor conierred
on me by the sceretary of the
-Américan Council on Iveland in
desiring me to act as chairman.
‘( Applause.)
, The iime. the place and the
Geeasion, all three combine to
form aud emphasize a matter o'
iremendous significance. Jt was
“Henry Gratton who said: *
Trish people may he in tatte:
they shall not be in chains.
to
3
at
‘Tres
Jand has acted on the principle
enunciated by the founders af the
hi ted by
ic, reiter’
: American Repub
W Aw
now
the world. tit gove
ut
W fison of
ments
‘om the ir
erned, (Applause.
The chairman then introdiced
Dr. Lovejoy Elliott. .
Lovejoy Elliott Speaks
not
Ki mH was
in “haa gi
only that the Tiberty
here set ringing.
ringing yer throu
hut besides the soundi
note of liberts '
Fished here that constitution of
the United States that was the
guarantee of the pring
dom ia the
‘nited S
but with
and
ik we ree null how
opt her-
same constitu-
now,
metdous ev
“that aiter the ccuturies of dr
and f i failing
ALMNGSL LEO oe
Ww © lave at
2, bt
here
i am thinking of a
company. and that is
huys Who went out
they sconed.
ny of them
on ike ships down the
Howved them
: Not a week has
passed that tk pot had letters
irom the’ front, and here recentiy
£ have hee! to those
woanded ave beer
oming hack i
sp ae
name of Tip Duge
gan, a lad wiits
one arm off at the shoulde
dhe was telling ie abov ii
periences. He told me fox
he was at the front,
wounded, be
“TE it i
hack to the ho
tor said, “Do yott
make 4
ack. i
am just as
‘That even-hand-
dealing with life
and death is more or less typical
of those fellows who dived in the
trenches, who went over the top,
some of whom lay down never
to rise on the battieficlds over all
Bavope. 1 am thinking of that
great company
who ere not to
be present at the peace conier-; is
ence, of those who gave their best
to carry American principh
around the world.
* f was in the homes of some of
them-when the news came that
they were dead. | had zo go und
call on Charley Clinton's girl and
‘tell-her the man she had promised |
to marry would never come back. {
1 went to the wile of a soldier
who lad two small children to
tell her that the children’s fath-
ter would uot retuzn, And I have
-seen the, heads old women
“bowed .in their last griei, These
#
boys who died, there is not one
of them if he could speak tonight
but would say, “We fought for
America, we fonght for the free
dom of the world, but nest to
America give Ireland her chance.”
Rise to Their Level
‘There was an old man once
who was brought to be sentcneed
to death, and he said, “I might
have brought many people here
to plead before the court for my
live. but in the hour of, death T
will do nothing mean.” In the
hour of th death of so many
young men it is for us to do noth-
ing mei.
their level as fat as we are able
and to caty on their work, Their!
story is yet to be made secure:
the certainty of the continuation
of the freedom for which they
fought is yet to be made secure.
1 believe that wr great Presi-
dent in his work over in
is hoping to make the self-deter-
nation of small nations a
tainty. -\lthough nobody: a
me to go to the ne:
i have sometimes
there, and I have viten thougit |
“ suune would sot be cal
on but they would caliup t
nations of the earth, and the
would be America, aad France
and England. and Italy, and Bel-!
gium, ‘They would all be there.}
ad they Would go down to the:
Sat the end-~Russia,
Kia. and all the rest,
n they got to the end [
3 | would feel fix Ke askin ell
e such that
the eage was not extended.”
And that would make me feel
that it was a great loss, and T
would have to go away and think
about things, and T would like to
some Gi those delegates.
ve you never read the histary
ireland? Do you sot know
ter seven hund
for a thing, after pass-
the legend and the saith
¢ martyrdom from one gen-
and th
eration to another: do vou
know that v
con to Americ
and the thing that is.in his Neart
he carries with -him throughout
the world—his love of the old sed;
do you nov know that the Trish
have been loving Ireland so long
that you can never yoot: that
thing out of them—never. never?
It will go on uatil at 1
is established forever
carth Treland’s freedom:
Safety of Small Nations
A\merica is safe. our navy, our
geographical position would keep
as sale, But what about Ire-
land? In a world distraught with
war Ireiand is a small nation: Ire-
land today is not a rich nation.
Would she be able to get an army
and navy that would protect her-
gt? Ina world at war. the small
nations are cither going to be
der the heel of some big na-
tion, or else they are going to be,
torn and broken, as Belgium
was torn and broken,
and over again the
is going to happen. Eng-
land's hand has been heavy
on Ireland, but England is noe
the only big nation in the world
that would” like to put her
hand on the key to the Atlantic.
Are you going to trust that pre-
i that you all Treland
Ireland can well
ay, “| am going to tr
s of peace, because
you can never believe that Ireland
is afraid to fight.” Every man and
ry woman knows that Ireland
id.
on the
twas the péaceiul votes of the
election that determined her free-
dom inthe end. Ireland was.
made free by votes, and now. Ire-j }
land has got to keep herseli free}
by votes, and not by war. New
occasions have got to teach new
duties, and if we are going really
to help the little lands, we have
got to try to use our heads; we
have got to use our voices, to
back up the league of nations, and
not get those who do not care
about the small nations into it.
So lam here tonight to plead
The Iris
ADVERTISE IN
FOR IMMEDIATE RESULTS
: * FOR RATES |
PHONE LOCUST 5660 (Beil)
OR WRITE THE MANAGER - :
h Press
1. We have got to rise tof,
that we, all of us-here, itse our
power to back up the President
of the United States in his great
work’ for ite’ leiyire of ‘nations,
hecan : through the machin-
wgue of nations will
most precious
y nation can:
For the small na-'
r he-ahle to keep
en power is the
thing that’s
-—its freedom.
tions Willen
their Vibert:
test, and not
Stand on: Justice of Cause
Ireland van weil atfurd to go
ie interhaiional confer-
nd on the
iglitai F lier cause. and she
will let ireland take. that
stand. and then you will not §
ie in the
a
8
which Treland is absent. vi hat
and? Ter con-
for her,
reland not only po-
momicaily free.
i you want for the
h, and riond you care so much
abowt Vou want the human de-
cic: many people over
there have been denied. That is
what you amoung thing
more precious,
Ireiand is
jon,
jot the only smal} i,
nd what is going to be-
come of the small nations of the,
carth, without adequate protec:
tion? | Unt es: the league of nas
it
be
that the world ever seen,
silt must be formed, not for the}
after th
Vr mb for protecting
smail nations that need physical
lection,
Political Prisoners
Ye. Elliott then told haw the !a
Tiungarian patriot. Kossuth. de-
clared when he was in America,
that he would sacrifice the free-
dom of any other penpie for Hs
gary. speaker contrasted
= with the attitude of Danie
O'Connell, who w hen, offered help |
in the he
would who
of negro
replied that not even for
wo
the negro,
slaves.
made a “plea for “the releas:
of
political prisoners in the United
States, as elyewhere, and men-
tioned in particular the case of
Patrick Connoliy. Camden, } *
who though not a citizen of the
United States, and therefore not
subject to the draft. was sentenc-
ed to fifteen years’ imprisonment
on cthe “charge of resisting the
drait.
of
Dr. Norman M. Thomas Speaks
Tn the course of his address Dr.
Thomas said:
Tam here tonight not because
Tam an authority on Treland, not
heeause Irish blood runs in my
veius—T wish J could have ‘that
honor—! am here “because the
events of the last few months
lave strengthened the faith that
J trust always was mine. and
that is, that there is a moral law
governing the universe which
cannot be set aside without woe
falling on mankind.
Germany, with some possible
show of reason. might have made
her plea that this great war was
aiter all a contest between tivo
stems of imperialism. But
when Germany invaded Belgium.
without a shadow of right or ex-
cuse, from that moment ‘she wrote
her own doom on the page of
mankind, .Can- any nation or
group of nations do that which
Kerniany jailed to do? Can any
group of nations in the
name of expediency deny justice
and still maintain peace on earth?
lt is not proper that having
broken down one system of im-
perialism we should avish to have
another continued because it hap-
pens to he more favorable to
some of' our interests? .(Ap-
planse. )
Ti another great war should
break upon mankind it might
doom whole peoples to destruc-
tion, Possibly by the discovery
of some gas or poison. the next
war may leave not twenty mil-
lion men, women and children
dead behind it, but the whole
world in. ruins, humanity—if it
existed at,all—crayyling about on
the face of,the earth and stealing
forth from its-caves and hiding
places. And yet that very fate
will come upen mankind except
men learn to do justice. (Ap-"
{ plause.)* *
Indicts Carson and French
the Kaiser, and I should name de-
finitely and specifically Sir Ed-
ward Carson (hisses), Sir Freder-
ick Smith (hisses), French and
Gough. (Hisses). Carson, for po-
litical exploitation of his own stir-
ly bought arms in Germany and
brought them to Ireland thus al-
lowing the
‘French
and Gough threatened .to resign
if their troops were used to main-
was too weak to fight.
r 3
Jn America men a
for thirty years. for. a
offence; these men‘ were
honored by the itish -Gov-
ernment, One of them is in Dub-
iin’ now. (ITisses.)
Siamese. at the Conference
Five. hundred thousand Irish-
mén volunteered to fight for the
rights of.small nations, -Yet.the
Siamese are at. the peace table.
We never cheard .of -the' dying |
fur.seli-determination. (Laughter
and.applause.) ~~
Ireland -has spoken. With “Ther
leaders -in prison, with men and
women ‘snatched in- the night
ronr their homes and transported
thout warrant to the jaits of
ingland: with: troops. quartered
n Sreland, in a pegceial manner
mes : than two-thirds of 1
nle have spoken jor se
i tain order.
j imprisoned
Hike
IPO
2.
than
And
that dust * yefore us new?
Hiomight T adk this, on this
when the Ifish National A.
{bly is meeting (appla
{that America in the name of j
© d's . speak to]
Ngland that she may be con-
rained to hid Ireland go, free.
Applause). To vou 7 pledge | the
ot ion ot ail liberal men who
©. everywhere, (Gr at
jive
ind prolonged applause.
Lincoln Colcord's: Speech
Me. Lincoln Cole
introduced, fle sa
Looking revently in a private
ournai which f keep, 1 found un-
cer date of May 25, 1916, th
nce put down
1
rd Wi
then
ing
‘of the
ack O
me_
Wl
land. Tt seen
a premoinition of a wl ies
new movement. The world wilt
dance to a new “tune before the
bu: is throu sifat such
a prive the stupid ty of the Brit-
h Government needed to he
proved again! Why it that
the eritish. who gov rn so ably
lands. have never shown
position to understand the
ish situation at-their back deor?
The bare idea of Killing poets for
treason! Voets are al
sonable,
these Irishmen than ‘the y natish
can bro And ‘he casiest way.
sue of truth ever
too the mouth that
| begin to feel that Tam
iy with all revolution-
5 use—it
may he.right cr wrong, ‘There is
On,.f which right andl
wrong are merely words. They
are matters of opinion, diflicult
to prove. Bet we need desper:
ately the spirit af revolt. We
need the poets who will die for
an idea. We need their message,
We need their exampie. -\We
need their fire,
Well. these may not be pro-
found thoughts on the Trish ques
tion. but they constitute nev
theless a fair prophecy. You
see that I put them down
freely, at a dite before we had
entered the war—at a date hefore
to dodge the i
has been to
says it.
the hea y shadow of intolerance.
stiper: natism Fad
‘clouded our mitids and’ settied
upon public opinion, hefore we
had begun to hesitate, ta weigh
our words in the halance of es
pedieney—the meanest word in
the Engl:
in so
suspect, to wonder and auestion
—-and sometimes to deny the
truth we knew. Those were
when we thought candidly
when we wrote and spoke can
didly, as well, And | would! not
be Fepaeting words T wrote ia
th because T wi ald
not. dare. but because, I would
not expect them to accomplish
ny purpose—I would not be r
peating them today were J not
aware that a wonderful change
had come upon the.temper of
America, that the grievous shad-
ow had suddenly, lifsed—though
the politicians stem not to have
‘discovered it yet—that honest
words can once mare be spoken,
‘Tf T were asked to fix the blame! that it is-possible how to.look a ! statesmen
red up fanaticism in Ulster, open-|#
tsea on our shoulders,
understand him, and that Amer-
ica—the America of free speech
and straightfornvard
of high: ideals and’ simple, open
¢ . herself
a manifestation
more to he sensed than to be
pointed out. We feel it, but
t heen time to prove
hy the politi-
cians haven't discovered it; they
are always behind the times; they
never feel, don’t trust their feel-| >
ings and it has to be proved and
doubiy proved to them before
they will beliove. And hy. that
time the vital issue has assttmed a
new form, and has again eluded
them. Tust _npw. the politicians
are still driving “forward with
is
the momentum of the spent wave
of war,
But the peoples every-
\merica and Europe
and Africa and Ats-
have escaped out of the
ck and the. ocean, high aryl
the beach, and safe again.
A New World .
rhe w over, past any pos-
sible renewal in, terms of the old
factors. And like people out of
a wreck indeed. we find ourselves
on the shores of unknown Iands.
We have discovered a real new
world—new problems. new ob-
jective: . new tools—we have to
begin all over again. Or rather,
it is infinitely more ‘diMentt than
that, for we have brought the
jold euiwarn world up put of the
We shail
sige and adapt and
ni modiiy. to fit the old to new,
Recmstruction is a hundrediold
harder joh than’ plain construc-
,
ion. T think that if yo look
sharply you will see the next
speaker “smiling at that behind
m: he sees the v
world swept cican, and
job ef construction on a
foundation, Tt seems a good.
deal farther of to me: bat | am
willing to agree with Lim that
we do not tackle 4 i
reconstrnetion in the +
if we do nut
any
“vole
ve world-
¢ disasters and the ofl out-
order will probably he
worn
thrown down bgdily bh:
furiated Bee Pp ved back
into the se: a this war we
will ciear ‘the ground on which
the in-
scribe to that
course until the other has been
it is another
atte
cli, and iias already Prove
ed for herself the streng:
of the new
is bound to endure
on Rus fan soil Ru wants
it, the vast majority Rus:
sit, But in the west and
arly here in \merica, we
have an entirely different set of
$ economic factors to
deal with, and T cannor see the
problem in the same terms.
However that may he,
time now tu speak out. bold
every hand. to break these fi
wary fetters of superstition end
war-miania, to shatier 1!
titious tabor
bugabeo comm
autocrats and imperial
ery that no man is a patric
does not think as they do.
stand firmly on otr
Ameri zn
the cleanest revolution i
tery of the wor ‘Ther:
it is
Lam
ows history does not ansy
we would ouly, ti the
tw ieain our own history or, bet-
ter yet. i7 onr schouls won
teach the truth of our own “his-
ake
tory. The peopies of the world
¢ been under the wv al
the war-mania too long. They
do not know the
events and ideas
Know wha in
constriction «
fairs. it can on!
through the press
wise and dequate publ
the Inture is not sife
old-line state:
‘annot teach an ord doy aew
» Unless we speak out
in support of the new statesman-
ship that statesmanship may not
be able to hold a stra ight, cour,
or may not find conraxe
to iis guns. In T’
can easily imagine,
see the woods for the- tr 5.
of. Enrope scam
for the world war 1 should name; man.in the eye and trust-himand i haveuslost. sight of their funda-
mentals—or maybe th:
ing them too well in view.
President's Speech
‘The first task of public opinion,
of course, should he to destroy
these evil censorships by meaus
of which the governments have so
long befooled the peoples. In
France today the censorship is
tighter than ever it was in time.
of war. Many of ident Wil-
son's speeches in Italy were not
permitted to appear in the French
Tn Italy herself, some of
President. Wilow's speeches, re-
printed on leaflets by the Italian
socialists, were suppressed by the
wermment, and this hefore tha
¢: lent had left Italian soil.
England is a bit better, but the
atmosphere is still vile with sus-
picion and suppression of the]:
truth. And if you think we are
free from it on this side of thet
water, Jet ine tell you that T know
dozens of fell whose mai! is
heing watched, ‘that the 4 ephone
is tapped in the office which T us
in New York, and that the knee:
of the press still knock together
with fear as to what it ough: and
what it ought not to say. Do you
thinis it's safe to send a telegram
since the wires were taken ove ?
You may rest assured {lh
stupid bureaucrats are
the job, ferre
about honest
zens, and thereby
sonree that very free reactiog
public opinion which President
Wilson needs today as he needs|t
race of God.
All this in a direct way leads
up to Ireland. Ireland. to 1, wants
to be free, and we would like to
have the news of her. We are not
gett ng that news. But enh
i ough wo
that serious affairs
boards. that the ancien
killing ae its
and
and
id éveryone
American
ees, is be-
connected with the
n and aaval fe
ow the reason wh:
ry Trishinan
we weeded oat of the Bri
of occupation in Irelaid. so that
there are now 250.000 purely Brit-
sh traps on Trish soil. Low well
the Trish are armed. and what
have, na one
The Slory goes
the rea “gon the weeding
ke Lrishmen in the British
yanks was that they had been
seriously detecting in ‘consider
able bodies, that ‘they had been,
passing over both arms and am-
munition in large quantities and
like, ‘There are w
oi stores of ammunition in
hilis, 1t.sounds like a plausible
tale. But at any rate, Iveland is
an arnied camp, with French and
MacPherson in command. The
uation looks desperately bad.
Do Not Understand Irish Politics
What is it ail about? New, T
don't Know a great de; about
i [rish politics or Irish his-
I know so many fellows
who have studied. [rish politi
diligently. and who don't know
any more today than when they ja
began. that 1 never have tackled
the job. 1 think that the abili
to understand Irish politics mv
he a purely uative trait or qalent,
indian
woods. “the
don't have it—and they're
: d—and they have tried
avully hard. J don't pretend
to know Trish politics—but 1 can.
sce an elephant on the end of an
pose, and [ recognize seli-deter
She lias held a reel
tan.
Certainly
tion.
mitt No uneer-
What is the an-
going to he done
(om 4 stance, and irom
andpoint of my childlike
ance, the —
y simple,
ne wants and what she las
ed fer. | know that the dipla-
mats don't see the problem in
ach simple terms, and there
ing quickly removed from tees] Bes
has been! unime
) forces? casily take th
British pélicy’ in Areland, and
] ‘then tthe: game i8 up: Obj have
read my Chathain “ait: hiy Diss”
racli, and a few hits here and
there; and I know it's Vers" ditt-
cult. “But, candidly, if*has al-
ways seemed to me. ‘that the
3 | British are rathes -proud. of their
iture, in Ireland. Te
such a complete _and amazing
failure that they seem to cherish
as one of their most priceless
records, for new generations of
British statesmen to pore over
and cle with. Tt is:
which really reflects’ great’ crédit’
upon some of the oldest ard most °
eminent of British characteristé
A etimes wonder “if-i
is not this jealous:
vorthy
can-
did statesman with sense ¢
a
humor would long ago bave come!
forw ‘ird in England to citt the’
Gor dian knot and set Treland free.
Two Courses
Well, it hasn't been done, and,
now the situation is rapidly draw
ing to a crisis
fro courses, and only two
the British Goverti-
: they can fight, or
an make concessions, N
ing wiil be solved by fighting-and.
et there seems to be. great
tthe fight will be pre-
cipitated, The story of the war
war astensibly fought for
freedoin and self-determination-—
shows all tuo plainly the total ins
ability of the older ‘statescrait to’
conceive oi the rising power of
the peoples in terms of an attual
political control. ry revolue
ifestation, beginnings
in 1916, coming
va to Russia in 1917. and end+
yy and mid«
¢ died by the
fatesnien of the witlt
ene ce and di
of the peoples,
Freedom and
ginative
jand:
behind
freedon
again has declared
mimation in [re'and.
about the world a
suppress
cossions {9 it,
ak out again in new
rible form —and nothing: w
solved fur a lone
Need of Public Clamor
can we do tu heip.
hit is our prob
he: road Gi conce:
snl fies wide open. ts
tu
have
sble enterpris
coming v
and Ameri
ihinkable. Ti
to solve the 1
ove stupid than the Bri
Lut let the peopl
wrath and sorrow
in, Engl
¢ the iatal
en, aud demand
ynors
ig dement of thi
ple problem . Let 05 ask for’ self
determi: roland. the ad~
mission of
the peace conference, eedom of
speech and press and assembly,
for Ireland. the release of politi
cal prisoners, and ihe 1 of
the armies of occupation from
Trish soi.
js not the way
rish situation—t
And Tet us accomplish,
great many deepiy interest-
who have a word to!
They begin to tell you about |
and if you enter. that are
veut are as good as I
II be teading-you into |
area
ed pa
Ulste
gument
soon they v
the spider's web of -the history“of |
this, not by arms
‘but by the
© of public
jwhich the staresmen
motnent withstand. :
new te fight as diereely with ideas
(ontinned on Page: Three)
and bloodshed,
the thing i: is aie.
There seems to