In a book called The Famine Plot by Tim Pat Coogan published by Palgrave MacMillanm NY, 2012 a picture of Ireland is painted. The picture of Ireland prior to the famine is a country divided by religion. In the north Catholics outnumber Protestants 2 to 1 and in the rest of the country Catholics outnumber Protestants 20 to 1. Generally Protestants looked towards England and since London ruled the country, appointing the people who ran the government, there was good reason to look towards England.

Governments try to regulate activities and sometimes what one hand does, the other one takes away. In Ireland during the famine, the Poor Law Extension Act was the law – it had 2 conflicting ideologies one those who owned Irish property should pay for Irish poverty; relief should not be given outside the workhouse walls. To provide relief outside the walls would be demoralizing and ruinous. It should be noted, it was hard to collect taxes and the military forces were used in the collection process.

In addition, the economy in England went into recession – wheat prices fell, railway shares fell, banks closed down and there was no money to send to Ireland. To add insult, the Poor Law shut down the Workhouses because the administrator had believed things had improved.

One of the solutions was to leave, and people did, but what country really wants poor, sick, half starved people? In 2018 not many. In 1848 even fewer – the Irish went to North America often because the landlords paid their passage; when they arrived in New York and Boston the reception was not welcoming. The usual arguments the new immigrants worked for lower wages than existing residents. However there was opportunity even if the opportunity meant living in slum like conditions for a time – it was better than staring in Ireland. Immigation saved landlord’s money. A pauper could be “shipped” out at least half what it cost to maintain the person in the workhouse of a year. Once a person left they almost never came back to live.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as in most famines, the government is partly at fault for not doing enough to help people in need. There are and has been what should be the best approach and often times government officials become very stingy with the public purse when it comes to these situations. It is true the government often did not help enough, often times it sent conflicting rules. It was also a time when the economy needed to be changed one way or another, but that does not excuse the government. With dividend paying stocks, they tend to be the establishment and one can easily say they tend not to use the full extent of their resources to fix problems. Is it their job or do you just what dividends?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.