Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1939. DIVIDED IRELAND.

Western Star, 14 March 1939, Page 2

Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1939. DIVIDED IRELAND.

Affairs in Ireland appear to bo in an ■ unsatisfactory- condition, and- according to a "writer in the National . Review declares the situation in divided Ireland' to be more serious than at any time 'since 1919. It appears that every step taken since the- Free State was established in 1922 has helped to' strengthen the border and. increase tbe differences between people, of the two Irish States. When those States came into being there were many links between North and South in non-political organisations, in sporting and cultural bodies. Steadily those links are being snapped. _ As things are, there is grave danger of tw 0 separate nationalities* being evolved. Racially the only blood common to both northern and southern stocks is that of the ancient Gael. In the South, it has been strongly diluted by Danish, Nonnan and English impregnations. In the North.'it has been reduced to an imperceptible trickle by two thousand year's of intercourse With the Scots. No border was necessary to indicate the existence of two distinct peoples in Ireland. Their essential differences of character and temperament/ however, did not prevent their working together on many occasions in the past. Now that they are portioned off, .each section to go its own way pretty much as it chooses, whatever they had in com- ' mon m residents upon the one island can only be preserved by co-operatioß between the two States. But what cooperation is possible between two peoples who have no common political aim, no aommon religion and whose. interpreta-' tions of democratic government are as different as, say, those of Mr Chamberlain; and Stalin? The Japanese regard for the Mikad o as the Son of Heaven is no more remarkable than the Northern Ireland regard for the King. In the South George VI. Is a foreign king, with no place in the Constitution and no authority in the State. In Northern Ireland nearly every house contains a Union Jack, which is flown every time there is an excuse for doing so. If the tricolor of Eire is flown as a republican banner there it is liable t.o cobfisegfiofl by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and if ipust ho a very nice matter to decide in which capacity the flag is being flown, though it would be a safe enough guess that anyone flying tho tricolor in Northern Ireland would be a republican. It may bo removed before the police arrive. In Eire the Union Jack may be flown at tho risk of tho flier. The police /here do not permit the flags of the British Legion, which have a small Union Jack in the corner, to be carried on the occasion of the Remembrance Day parades. Decorative schemes may include tbe flags of Mexico, Russia apd Republican Spain, but the Hag of Great Britain is taboo, To the Englishman who lakes kings and flags more or less for granted these Irish differences over Mich things may seem ratfiev childish, but people in Ireland can be infuriated by a flag t»yo enraged by a song. The anthem of Eire. “A Soldier’s Song,” Is a- ‘'rebel ditty” in the North; “God Stive the King” is a j

party tune in the South. However, tho ( differences between northern and south: ern States do not end with kings and flags and anthems. There is the matter of tho Gaelic language. In Eire, Gaelics is a compulsory subject in the schools. It occupies a status supposedly equal to, but actually higner than, English. It must be used in tho courts if any of the parties to an action desires' it. Inanimations of many varying kinds require. a knowledge of it. Entrance to the civil service o r the teaching profession is impossible without it- The street names avo in Irish as well as English, and notices in omnibuses, trams and on i ailway platforms must be partly m Gaelic. Tho “Ulster” attitude to the study of Gaelic is that it is impracticable. ancl. wasteful of time. The rising generation of southerners is Gaelic-speaking; the vising generation of northerners is honGaelic speaking. The standards o living are different m North, and South. In the North prices- are the same as in England, and the range of goods obtainable is interesting arid extensive In tne South prices are high. A s a result ot tne tariff wall nearly every article m everyday use; from typewriter ribbons to iaucepans, costs more ; than it does m Northern Ireland. Also there is a somewhat limited range from which to select The southern workman is compensated for the higher prices he has to pay by the higher wages he receives, hut the civil servant, clerk, policeman, journalist and shop-girl have -to struggle along on wages which are in many cases slightly lower than those ruling in the North. For women, of course, the limited assortment, of goods on offer m Eire is aa great a hardship as their mgn prices. The points of difference winch have been mentioned are freely understood and freely discussed. ' There ate others, of which, probably, very little is known in the North, and which aie no popular subjects of conversation in the South. There is, for example, the censorship of books. Tho number of books banned in the South must be some thousands and. while many of them possess neither literary nor artists* (merit, so that there is no great loss to anyone, in their being banned, the censois have been responsible for some palpable absurdities. . The banning of Bernard Shaw’s “Black Girl in Search-of God” is one of the best-known examples. Films are more drastically censored than in Britain. Divorce, in .the absolute sense, is not permitted by law in Eire. The importation and sale of contraceptives is forbidden and the advocacy .of birth control is illegal. In the North there is no censorship; of books, there are no restrictions on birth control, and at piesonti a bill to make divorce, easier is under consideration. These last exqjnples are mentioned as indicating the ways in which the two Irish States are leaving each other. It is not suggested that they constitute any great hindrance to ultimate unity, t 0 achieve which is not a matter of taking steps to remove a geographical border,: but of removing the far greater border that exists between Irishmen’s hearts.