Rural reconstruction in Ireland, a record of co-operative organization

Front matter

RURAL

RECONSTRUCTION IN IRELAND

A Record of Co-operative Organization

Preface

This volume contains the most complete and accurate history of a movement which has come to be of the highest importance to Ireland. It has in it the promise of a more real unity among Irish people than has before seemed possible. The unity of a people may be brought about by acceptance of common religious, cul¬ tural, or political ideals, but it is doubtful whether that unity can be made real by any of these unless at the same time there is an identity of economic interest among the majority of the citizens. Without this identity of economic interest made obvious to the average man the unity is without depth. The forces of the material world are more powerful on their own plane than the forces of light, and are continually thrusting into a kind of powerless pre¬ eminence the religious, cultural, and political ideals ostensibly ruling the minds of men. The material forces are stronger on their own plane, but are not by their nature antagonistic to spiritual forces. The need of the body to be fed, clothed and housed is a need which for the vast majority pushes aside all cultural ideals until it is first satisfied. The satisfaction of that need is the motive prompting all economic organization, and by virtue of that neces¬ sity which brings them into being they war successfully with religion and culture where these do not afford practical solutions of the economic problems of the ordinary man. The body of man is the most egoistic of all things, and in winning satisfaction for its desires its first natural manifestation is by way of economic individualism, and every man is for himself and his family. Society so constituted becomes full of petty antagonisms and is the very antithesis in practice of those high spiritual principles which are everywhere theoretically accepted and which aim at the subordi-

PREFACE nation of the personal to the natural and an orchestration of human activity for the common good. These ideals so thrust aside come at last to be regarded cynically as fitting for Paradise, but very unsuitable for Earth. Nothing could be more hopeful for the triumph over the minds of men of spiritual ideals than a move¬ ment which aims at superseding individualism in the economic sphere by co-operation. It may seem at first thought incongruous to associate the material activities described in this volume with anything spiritual, but if we reflect a little we will find it is not so. The great religions had their origin in a descent from Heaven to Earth and the incarnation in bodily form of a ray from the Divine mind, and spiritual and cultural ideas, if they are to exist as real power, must in like manner descend and clothe themselves in a material form and distribute the loaves and fishes to the multi¬ tude. The idea of nationality is a cultural idea, but a man very soon becomes cynical about nationality in practice if his neighbor or his employer accepting the same national ideals do in fact relegate him to poverty in the pursuit of their own interests. The co-operative movement in large measure binds together the economic interests of Irishmen, so that purchase, manufacture and sale become less and less personal enterprises and more and more communal or national activities. It illustrates in a practical way the truth that the personal and economic interests of the majority are served best by their incorporation in communal enter¬ prises. So the mind of the citizen is predisposed to subordinate his own interests and to identify them with the interests of the nation. I believe that whatever may be the temporary strength of other movements in Ireland, the co-operative movement, dealing as it does with the daily lives of men, must finally have an influence greater than any other in its effect upon the character of the Irish nation. It occupies itself with things men must do under whatever government they exist, whatever religion they profess, whatever cultural interests they may have; and because it deals with the permanent human occupations the principles

PREFACE accepted in its organizations must affect national character in the long run most powerfully. I emphasize these things more than the very great economic advantages conferred on farmers and towns¬ men by co-operative effort because that has been done admirably by the authors of this book. Ireland to-day is in a very disturbed condition when many people despair of its future under any form of government which may be established, and it may cheer those who are despairing and increase the hopes of those who have faith to have their attention called to a movement so practical, so con¬ ciliatory in its effects, and which is growing so rapidly that no county in Ireland is without its thousands of adherents. Before another generation has arisen I believe this movement will have made a complete conquest of the Irish mind. Membership of co-operative societies is a practical education in economics fitting men for public service, and by its principles it fosters the spirit of citizenship. When the fierce passions of the hour have foamed themselves away I am convinced that this movement will come to its own, and its principles of toleration and comradeship in work will become the dominant factors in national life.

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AUTHORS’ NOTE AND DEDICATION

This book was of necessity written under conditions of unusual difficulty consequent on a state of war. We are fully aware that it has suffered thereby, and aware also that the same conditions are most unfavorable to its introduction to the public. We know that people are naturally averse at the present time from the consideration of any subject not actually and directly connected with war, and that those who realize that the subject of this book is so connected are few and far between.

Yet we venture to hope that a realization of the penalties for the neglect of agriculture and an understanding that organization lies at the basis of all successful agricultural effort are now spring¬ ing up. If that be the case we believe that, whatever the literary defects of our work, it will introduce readers to an accurate study of a movement which has been based for twenty-five years upon this realization and understanding. We are assured that if the public once grasps the underlying principle of agricultural co-operation we shall have moved a very long way forward towards seeing at least one of our industries likely to be improved by the process of reconstruction. At present British governmental policy — unlike that of practically every other nation — is either thoroughly ignorant of, or actively hostile towards, the associa¬ tive principle which forms the keynote of the successful work we describe. Until this is altered the agriculture of these islands, no matter how much be done towards either persuasion or compul¬ sion, will remain a mockery for the nations.

If we may permit ourselves a brief personal note we would say that our collaboration — between an Irishman and an American, each of whom has enjoyed a considerable period in the country

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AUTHOR’S NOTE AND DEDICATION of the other — was undertaken solely because we had each made up our minds to write this book before we ever met, and we thought it the part of discretion to contribute, the one his first¬ hand knowledge and experience, the other his fresh observation and impartiality, to a common effort, rather than to enter upon a competition which could be useful neither to ourselves nor to our readers. One of us has accepted official position with the I.A.O.S. since the bulk of this book was written, and he is con¬ scious that there are parts which could not have been written so freely had this appointment preceded their writing; we wish it to be clearly understood that the chapters dealing with that body have no pretensions to official authority.

Finally, we would say that we have deliberately resisted the temptation to strive at any improvement upon the straightforward record of mere fact. The co-operative movement in Ireland admits of a glowing treatment in which its real romance and its spiritual appeal may be made to shine out. We are too conscious of our limitations as craftsmen on the one hand, and of the crying need for a more prosaic record on the other, to attempt this task.

The book must stand or fall, not by the merits or defects of its authorship, but by the value of the work it records, and of this we have little doubt.

We dedicate it to those Irishmen, “not followers of tradition,” who are content in times of earthquake to lay the foundations on which they themselves may never build — who neither heed the danger of the falling edifice nor seek to add to it of their own fancy nor stay to mock at those who built it, but go on silently, patiently, with pity and with hope, at their own appointed task. We find these men’s work recorded in this book, and chief among them we read the names of Sir Horace Plunkett, the inspiration, and Mr. Anderson, the mainspring, of the co-operative movement.

Lionel Smith-Gordon Laurence C. Staples

Dublin, 1917.

Contents

PAGE

CHAPTER I: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 15 Outlines of Irish history : Occupational statistics : Natural resources : Land system : Ignorance of agriculture : Emigra¬ tion : Home life : Obstacles to community life : Political troubles : Education.

Chapter Ii: Land Legislation In Ireland 34

Deasy Act : Act of 1870 : Bessborough Commission : The three F’s : Tenant proprietorship, 1869 and 1885 : Acts of 1891 and 1896 : Dunraven Treaty : Acts of 1903 and 1909 : Results : The Congested Districts Board and its work.

Chapter Iii: Early History Of The Irish Co¬ Operative Movement 50

Previous experiments : The Co-operative Union : Mr. Gray and Sir Horace Plunkett : Doneraile : Creameries : Mr. Anderson appointed : Formation of the I.A.O.S. : Obstacles to the movement : Sir Horace’s personality.

Chapter Iv: Principles And Ideals Of The Irish Co-operative Movement 66

A definite practical scheme : The Rochdale principle : Irish farmers need combination : Methods of combination : Defini¬ tion of co-operative society : Its structure : Its aims : Impor¬ tance of the local unit : Community organization.

CHAPTER V: THE I.A.O.S.: ITS FORM AND FUNCTIONS 77 The first years : Aims of the society : Its methods of work :

The organizers : Audit department : Relations with the State : Democratic machinery : Decentralization : The Irish Homestead : The United Irishwomen : The Co-operative Reference Library.

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CONTENTS

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Chapter Vi: The I.a.o.s.: Its Finances 95

Financial struggles : The D.A.T.I. : The Development Com¬ mission grant : Affiliation fees and subscriptions : Reasons for weakness : Possible remedies.

Chapter Vii: The Creameries 106

Revolution in butter-making : Causes and effects : The Danish example : Form of co-operative creameries : The bind¬ ing rule : Auxiliaries : Control : Method of payment : “Profits” : Capital : Subsidiary business, milling, etc. : Suc¬ cess of the system : The Agency Society, history, criticism and suggestions : The Butter Control brand : Winter dairying : Continuous cropping : Cow-testing : Services of the I.A.O.S.

Chapter Viii: Agricultural Societies 130

Early conditions : The “gombeen-man” : Advantages of co¬ operation : Form, finance, methods : Possibilities of develop¬ ment : Collective sale : General purpose societies : Implement societies : Economic results : The Wholesale Society, history and success : Relations with industrial societies : The credit difficulty.

Chapter Ix: The Credit Societies 148

Early conditions : Credit facilities : The “gombeen-man” and the money-lender : The trust auction : The Loan Fund Board : The Raiffeisen model : Sources of capital : State loans : The loans withdrawn : Unlimited liability : Its draw¬ backs : History of the societies : Their rapid growth : The appearance of defects : Suggestions for improvements : The Central Co-operative Credit Society : The Departmental Com¬ mittee on Credit.

CHAPTER X: MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES 173 Their importance : Eggs and poultry : Flax : Beekeeping

Live stock : Bacon factories : Wexford Meat Society : Co¬ operative wheat-growing : Fishing : Insurance : Lime¬ burning.

CONTENTS

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Chapter Xi: Home Industries 192

Argument for home industries : The market problem : The Irish Lace Depot : The C.D.B. and lace : The I.A.O.S. : Decline of the lace industry : The Dalkey Co-operative Em¬ broidery Society : Sweating in the linen industry : Hand¬ knitting : Homespuns : Gweedore : Miscellaneous : Co¬ operation and home industries : Obstacles to development.

Chapter Xii: The Department Of Agriculture And Technical Instruction 210

Technical education : The Recess Committee : The Depart¬ ment established : Its constitution : Democratic control : Funds : Activities : Co-ordinated work with the I.A.O.S. :

The principle vindicated : The change of policy : Attitude of the Nationalist Party : Cleavage with the I.A.O.S. : Prosperity retarded.

CHAPTER XIII: INDUSTRIAL CO-OPERATION AND ITS RELATION TO THE AGRICULTURAL MOVEMENT 224 The controversy with the C.W.S. : Industrial co-operation in Ireland, history and results : Unsuitability to conditions : The Irish Co-operative Conference Association : Suggestions for joint working : Intertrading through the wholesale societies :

A joint committee needed.

Chapter Xiv: The Economic Result Of The Co¬ Operative Movement 243

Improvement of conditions : Emigration checked : Statistics of importance : Businesslike organization : Duffusion of wealth : Position of the laborer : Honest trading encouraged :

New industries and employment : Latent business capacity : Position of employees.

Chapter Xv: The Social And Educational Re¬ Sults Of The Co-operative Movement 259

Business education of farmers : Sense of citizenship : Differ¬ ences of religion and politics bridged over : Community life : Co-operators look to the future : The Templecrone Society : History and results.

CONTENTS

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Chapter Xvi: The Future Development Of The Movement 274

Success spiritual more than material : Theory and practice : Detailed suggestions : The I.A.O.S. as a democratic body : Necessity for freedom : Difficulties of State aid : The trade-union policy for farmers : Political action : Educational work needed : Difficulties in the way : The call to young Irishmen.

Chapter I

The co-operative movement in Ireland, which has attracted attention throughout the world, is a practical attempt to deal with some of the more fundamental Irish problems. It is con¬ cerned primarily writh the economic welfare of the country, and its anticipated social and moral effects are dependent upon an improvement in material conditions. In comparison, “The Irish Problem,” capitalized and italicized by the strenuous efforts of the professional politicians, sinks into a secondary position. The real problem is one of poverty; not only economic poverty, but also a poverty of industrial character and of social life. It is not peculiar to Ireland, for other countries have faced similar condi¬ tions. The combination of unfortunate circumstances may be different and extreme, but the underlying elements are the same. On the truth of this statement depends the value of the co¬ operative movement as a general method of improving economic conditions, not in Ireland alone, but in other countries where similar problems occur in different surroundings. That it has such a value is suggested by the number of inquirers who find their way to its headquarters at the Plunkett House. A movement which has been carried on without ostentation for the benefit of one country alone has attracted attention, which it did not seek and which seems out of proportion to its practical results, from social reformers in other countries simply because they realized that the difficulties and handicaps which it had to overcome embraced almost all those which could arise in any country. It is our task to show what these difficulties have been, and to do this we must consider briefly the economic and social environment into which this constructive programme was introduced. Only by such a preliminary study can we emphasize the significance of the work as a comprehensive measure of rural reconstruction.

From a past which embodies many glorious records, Ireland has received a heritage of wrongs and evils which largely explains the depressed and backward conditions of the late nineteenth century. It is not our purpose to dwell upon history, for the co-operative movement looks to the future, constructing anew instead of reveling in the deeds and injuries of bygone genera¬ tions. And yet it would be impossible to understand the economic and social situation in Ireland, and so the true significance of the co-operative movement, without a glance at the past.

The general outlines of Irish history are well known. Owing to its isolated geographical position, Ireland was left undisturbed by the Roman conquests, and achieved independently a com¬ paratively high stage of civilization. Wars between the various kingdoms were its curse, however, and ultimately led to the destruction of its independence. For in 1169, at the invitation of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, the English adventurer, Richard, Earl of Pembroke, came to Ireland to assist in a war against the Ard-Righ, or High King of Ireland. Richard was shortly followed by King Henry II, who secured recognition as overlord, and although he departed again forthwith, this event determined the direction of later Irish history. The invasions continued, and became more and more comprehensive, though never complete. As the various Irish chieftains were defeated, their lands were confiscated and distributed among English ad¬ venturers. For more than five centuries the history of the country is a long and distressful story of revolt and conquest and revolt.

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In order to strengthen their position, the English brought in a considerable number of settlers, but only in Ulster were these sufficient to dominate. There are three distinct ways of govern¬ ing a tributary State: first, by the extermination of the original inhabitants; second, by their complete subjugation; and, third, by recognizing their independence under the mother country. None of these policies was completely carried out in respect to Ireland, although all of them were to a certain extent applied. The result has been a long series of injuries and recriminations, which have done much to prevent the development of a sound economic and social life.

Among the injuries which Ireland suffered at the hands of her alien ruler, the most apparent was that which so long and seriously crippled her manufacturing industry and commerce. During the latter half of the seventeenth century, the English, in accordance with the Mercantilist theories then current throughout Europe, enacted a series of restrictive laws which nipped in the bud a promising and well-balanced industrial development. The rapid expansion of Irish industry in the comparatively settled condi¬ tions after the Cromwellian disturbances roused the jealousy of English manufacturers. Their antagonism was embittered by all the prevailing religious and political differences. They demanded protection against the pauper labor of Ireland. The early efforts at such protection in the Navigation Act of 1663, and in an Act (humorously entitled “for the encouragement of trade”) dealing with the flourishing cattle export, had proved a boomerang. But in regard to the woolen industry which the Act of 1663 had en¬ couraged by increasing the production of Irish wool, this policy was more successful. Woolen manufacture had progressed so rapidly that by the end of the seventeenth century over fifty thousand families throughout Ireland were engaged in it. But the Acts of the English-dominated Irish Parliament in 1698, im¬ posing a prohibitive duty on exports of cloth, and more especially of the English Parliament the year following, “prohibiting perpetually the exportation from Ireland of all goods made or mixed with wool,” had an immediately deadening effect. Though a smuggling trade continued for a time — and there persists to this day a cottage industry in the North and West of Ireland which is the surviving remnant of an erstwhile prosperity — a virtual deathblow had been given. Other industries suffered similar re¬ strictions. Nor did the withdrawal of this meddling legislation toward the end of the eighteenth century promote more than temporary developments. The paralyzing Act of Union in 1800, closely followed by the Industrial Revolution, proved an equally effective if not so openly malicious hindrance to development. Since 1824, when complete free trade between England and Ire¬ land was attained, there has been a slow but steady growth of manufacturing industry. But even though these industries now play an important part in the economic life of the country, their tardy development, for which the activities of a hostile legislature were almost wholly responsible, reacted seriously on agricultural development.

The occupational statistics of the country, inexact as they may be, throw an interesting light on these conditions. While there has been since the Famine of 1846 a slow but steady decrease in the proportion of the population employed on the land, a phenomenon not limited to Ireland, there remained in 1891, the census year which we shall take as closest to the inauguration of the co-operative movement, 936,759 persons who were reported as directly employed in agriculture, out of a total population of 4,704,750. To these must be added 118,980 general laborers, the greater part of whom were on the land. Manufacturing industry claimed 537,430; commercial pursuits, 83,173; domestic service, 255,144; and the professions, 214,243. Thus the proportion in agriculture of the definitely employed population amounted to about 50 per cent., in comparison with 19 per cent, in England, 33 per cent, in the United States, and 41 per cent in Germany. Manufacturing industry employed only half that proportion.

Yet agriculture, the basis of the economic life of the nation, was so unorganized, so undeveloped, that it failed to meet this situa¬ tion. In the failure of her basic industry lies the fundamental cause of the poverty and backwardness of Ireland.

As far as natural resources are concerned, Ireland might easily have become a prosperous agricultural country. The fifteen and a half million acres of arable land are of more than ordinary fertility. Competent agricultural observers from Arthur Young to those of our own day have agreed that its potential produc¬ tivity is hardly equaled on the Continent of Europe. Sir Robert Kane wrote that from the produce of the soil a population of eighteen million might easily be supported. The broad green stretches of Meath and Kildare, the Golden Vale of Tipperary, and even the more rocky but carefully cultivated soil of Ulster, against which it is only necessary to put the rock and bog of the ragged western seaboard, indicate a bounty of Nature of which few other countries can boast. A mild climate and an abundance of rainfall produce a luxuriant foliage.

Yet these splendid natural resources have never been properly utilized. The necessary human elements of the situation have been lacking, and in place of a promised prosperity there has been the greatest poverty and distress. Here, also, historical events have been of primary importance. Following the various English con¬ quests and confiscations, the original Celtic land system of communal ownership with individual occupation was set aside. For it was substituted a system which had nothing to recommend it except its success under wholly different conditions in England. The adjustments to local needs which might have made it equally successful in Ireland were never applied. The land, divided among the conquerors as the spoil of victory, became the property of a comparatively small number of landlords. The original Irish owners, except so far as they were exterminated or driven from their homes altogether, remained as occupiers under a system of yearly rents or leases. Since no manufacturing industry existed, there was no alternative to the land as a source of livelihood. The natural increase of the population flooded back upon the fields. In this situation, the alien landlords, and indeed those of Irish race who were able to secure holdings, were not slow to take advantage of their monopoly position. Rents rose continuously, depending, not on the quality of the soil, but on the quantity of the population and the rapacity of the landlord. Wherever the efforts of the tenant exacted a greater productivity from the soil, wherever subsidiary industries existed, the increased income was at once absorbed by the increase in rent. All above the very lowest minimum for existence— and the low standards of living in Ireland were both a cause and a result — was claimed by the landlord or his agents. The nefarious class of middlemen rentcollectors prospered quite as much as the actual owners. In a situation in which governmental interference might have received considerable justification, a complete policy of laissez-faire, entailing many forms of abuse, prevailed.

This rack-renting was rendered more serious by the tendency to use a large proportion of the land for grazing purposes. The Irish climate makes the production of grass and the raising of cattle a particularly easy and remunerative occupation. Moreover, not only did market conditions favor this use of the land, but also the exemption of pasture from ecclesiastical tithes, one of the nefarious penal laws of 1735, gave artificial encouragement to the tendency. During the Napoleonic wars, the high prices of corn and the extension of the franchise to 40s. freeholders brought much land back into cultivation. Rut the movement was soon reversed with the higher prices for beef and the drop in corn. As a result, vast stretches of deserted prairie, populated only by lazy bullocks, and comprising much of the best land of Ireland, covered in 1891 more than two-thirds of the arable land of the country. This proportion is not even approached in any other long-settled country.

Obviously, such a system of agriculture was most unadapted for the support of a large population. And, moreover, the fact that the cattle produced were shipped on the hoof for fattening in England deprived the country, not only of the most remunera¬ tive stage of beef production, but also of the many industries which depend on the by-products of beef. Only the high prices of another great European war, and indeed the compulsion of governmental authority, have succeeded in checking the tendency to devote an even greater percentage of the land to grazing.

From these facts — the absence of alternative occupations, rack-rents, and the devotion of a large proportion of the land to grazing — developed an extreme subdivision of holdings. As the population grew and the increase of grazing reduced the area available for cultivation, the obvious solution was a decrease in the size of the individual farm. The ancient Brehon custom of gavelkind, by which regular redistributions of the land took place, acted as a precedent. In 1845, the year previous to the Great Famine, the situation was at its worst. The population had reached a maximum, estimated at eight and a half millions, for the birth-rate had been greatly accelerated by the prosperity of the Napoleonic era. On the other hand, the fall in the price of corn following the declaration of peace in 1815 and the with¬ drawal of the 40s. franchise in 1829 had inaugurated a period of clearances which continually reduced the amount of land avail¬ able. But even after the tremendous reduction in population which occurred before the end of the century, there remained in 1891 many uneconomic holdings or deficit farms. It is impos¬ sible, of course, to fix accurately the size of the economic holding. Variations in quality as well as size govern the amount of land which is necessary for the support of the ordinary family without employing outside labor. Probably valuation is a better test than size. But fixing fifteen acres as the dividing-point, about 43 per cent, of Irish farms in 1891 did not exceed that size. Of these small holdings practically a half were of five acres or less. Under such conditions no profitable form of agriculture could be practised.

The system of rack-rents, with coexisting evils of grazing deserts and uneconomic holdings, was not the only handicap from which Irish agriculture suffered. The lack of security of tenure was an equally important reason for backward conditions. A large proportion of the tenants held their land on a yearly lease and might be summarily dispossessed. Longer leases existed, but under the penal laws could not extend, in the case of Catholics, beyond thirty years. Rack-rents, moreover, kept most of the tenants perpetually in arrears. At any time the owner might press for the rent, and when, as was often the case, it was not forth¬ coming, could proceed to eviction. These evictions, which took place in particularly large numbers following the Great Famine, were a most important factor in embittering the peasantry against the landlords. An increase in their number, such as occurred about 1880, was immediately followed by an increase in agrarian crime. These excesses, many of which were carried out with frightful brutality, were a direct result of this, “the greatest legalized crime which humanity has ever accomplished against humanity.”

Since the tenant enjoyed no security of tenure, and therefore had no permanent interest in his land, his only aim was to exploit its resources as much as possible. Irish landlords had never accepted the obligation, acknowledged in England, of financing permanent improvements. The tenant himself did not have the capital to invest; the uncertainty of his tenure did not encourage him to make the necessary exertions; he could claim no compen¬ sation for improvements which he did make; and the increased product which was his only incentive for such a step would merely invite an increase of the rent. As a result, no permanent improve¬ ments were undertaken, and the productivity of the soil pro¬ gressively deteriorated.

In Ulster, owing to the recognition of a custom of “tenant right,” somewhat better conditions prevailed. The holder enjoyed a comparative fixity of tenure; he was to be compensated for any improvements which he undertook; and the rents, though periodically revised, were never pushed to a competition level. With the consent of the landlord, the tenant might sell his “right” — that is, his interest in his holding— to another farmer. While this system undoubtedly encouraged more careful and scientific cultivation, the evils of competition were only trans¬ ferred to the sale of the “right.” Its great superiority over the rack-rent system, however, accounts for the more advanced position of agriculture in the northern counties.