The Evening Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1934. DE VALERA’S AIMS.

Evening Star, Issue 21879, 16 November 1934, Page 10

The Evening Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1934. DE VALERA’S AIMS.

Thebe are.so many things wrong with Ireland that Britain,' with a great many problems on her hands regarding other countries, whether of a political or economic kind, besides her own unemployment problem, would probably be glad to be relieved of .the responsibility of the would-be republic next door. There are two main obstacles to that: Ireland is rigidly divided into two parts, North and South; and, cut loose from the Empire, Ireland would rapidly drift into the arms of some foreign power imd' constitute a continual menace to Britain as'ffie fuinping-off place for a hostile attack. The tfMCT. in the' flesh which Ireland has been for an indefinite time would then become something far more serious for England to suffer. As it is she has as a neighbour a country which is desperately poor and has made herself poorer still by, forcing on a trade war with Britain. The national finances are, ih a desperate state, ' the Budget never being balanced, and credit negligible, Martial law virtually prevails, and has prevailed since De Valera’s taking the reins; nevertheless, the South gives the impression of perpetually bordering on civil war, guerrilla engagements of the kind peculiar to the country being reported from time to time. In the opinion of those ~~familiar with conditions .-to-Jay' Ireland’s unrest has bepir'one long crescendo'since emigration to the United States was drastically restricted, while emigration elsewhere offers few attractions in these days of so-called over-production from the land. The surplus population of nearly twenty years is dammed up in already congested districts. Those who do not escape, to Liverpool or Glasgow remain in derelict villages. For the young men there'is neither land nor work, and for,the young women small prospect of a'home. These conditions make for a revolutionary mood. Both General Hartman Morgan and Lord Carson have • • warned England of the likelihood','.of’ Southern Ireland's secession and the probable results, but it appears to us that they are assuming the probability of u united South, whereas present conditions preclude that. In fact, a bitter agrarian class war is being waged. The real cleavage in Ireland is between the poorer class peasants, their landless sons and the labourers in the one camp, and the bigger farmers with the mercantile and professional classes in the other camp. The leader 'of the former is De V alera;, of the. latter .General O’Duffy. Both sides arm and drill, the inidjlcclass Blue Shirts fp defend their property against forces which include quite a number of gunmen who learned their business in the United States. Ireland ' lias a land problem of a most virulent type. The larger holdings, designated by some as cattle ranches, have been heavily depreciated in value by the Anglo-Irish trade war, and De Valera is understood to be .ready for compulsory subdivision of ’them at the lowered values. Subsistence, farming is the only ostensible use to which such small.holdings could be put; but even that prospect would probably be greatly preferred by the landless to their present economic nakedness. It is into inflammable material such as this that England is being urged to plunge and bring order out of chaos. But Britain has first to prove that she can solve her own agricultural problem before tackling one which bristles with class and political hatreds as well as with economics. De 'Valera seems to find self-sufficiency an inspiring ideal, but

analysts of his programme, assuming internal peace, for its development, can envisage at best a country of small farmers eking out a miserable existence in order to support the small manufacturers who are springing up under the shelter of the trade-destroying tariffs De Valera has imposed. In two years Ireland’s export trade has been reduced by nearly half, doubling the adverse trade balance (from 16 to 33 per cent, of the total volume of external trade), and the financial difficulty thus created has been increased by the bounties, subsidies, grants to farmers, doles, and relief works which De Valera has instituted. This cannot continue indefinitely. Taxation of those industries with a sound foothold has become oppressive, and it was on that account that the management of a worldfamous brewery in Dublin resolved to transfer operations to the South of England,- which will still further reduce Irish exports. It may be interesting to note that more than one commentator on Irish affairs has found a strong affinity between the policy and methods of Mr De Valera and those of Mr Lang of New South Wales, and suggests that had the latter not been deposed in time he would have brought about in New South Wales a replica of the deplorable conditions existent in Ireland to-day.