Nor is this at all remarkable, for the mass of
the people are kept helpless and divided by their religious divisions,
which are too often used as a weapon to prevent them from combining for
higher wages and shorter hours. Religious fanaticism is not quite so
self-sacrificing in its commercial results as superficial observers
might suppose.
It is impossible, indeed, that Belfast can continue for ever in a
prosperity isolated and aloof from the country in which she is
situated. Either she must throw in her lot with Ireland or Ireland must
drag Ireland down into one common pit of adversity. Lord Pirrie, the
enterprising and fearless director of the great shipbuilding works on
Queen's Island--works which maintained their pre-eminence and continued
their output through the dark days of the shipbuilding trade on the
Clyde and the Thames--has been converted to Home Rule. Other business
men will follow his example, for Belfast, as much as any other town in
Ireland, suffers in Private Bill legislation from the remoteness of the
Legislature and the Administration. She, too, has too often to endure a
financial policy not suited to her needs. She, like the rest of
Ireland, has everything to gain and nothing to lose by a policy that
will enable Ireland to obtain legislation better fitted to the needs of
the Irish people.
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