Letter from Joseph Cyrillus Walsh to John N. Milholland, 13 June 1921 Letters 1916-1923 Joseph Cyrillus Walsh

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In this letter Joseph Cyrillus Walsh informs John N. Milholland about the growing support for Irish independence within the USA. He also describes his efforts to generate more support by distributing literature, circulating petitions and writing letters.

 New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division Folder: Box 2. f.2 Joseph C. Walsh Papers https://letters1916.ie/item/6659 English Joseph Cyrillus Walsh 1921-06-13 Chicago, Illinois, USA John N. Milholland Layfaette Hotel, Washington, D. C., USA Male Politics War of Independence (1919-1921)

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 Chicago, Ill., June 13, 1921. Mr. John N. Milholland Lafayette Hotel, Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. Milholland: Many Thanks for your kind note. I had the pleasure of meeting you when we were all here for the Republican Convention last year,but it is not surprising if you miss remembering an odd one of the multitude whom you saw. It is quite true that we have gone pretty far since lastNovember. Let me see if I can give you an idea. We began work on the new organization about December 1, and then there were some delays occasioned by a state of uncertainty about President De Valera, who had made some engagements in states where they naturally waited for him, so that we did not get properly going until January. Nevertheless, when the National Convention came along on April 18, there were people here from thirty-three states and they had paid in to the national treasury for their credentials $78,792, which , at 25 cents each, (headquarters' share of the membership fee), represented 320,000 members. Delayed returns brought the membership total reported to May 1 to nearly 400,000. And there is a determined effort being made, weather permitting, to reach a million by July 4 on our second wind. We shall certainly much exceed that number when cool weather comes again. Meantime, and probably to the prejudice, temporarily, of the membership campaign, our people are busy getting petitions signed in the congressional districts. The flow to Washington has commenced, and presently it will be a flood. I need not tell you that Massachusetts and New York are going strong , but what will you say to 20,000 members in Minnesota, 15, 000 in North Dakota, 15,000 in Iowa, 5000 in Tennessee, 20,000 in Ohio,20,000 in the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania, 60,000 in Chicago? Miss Mary Mac Swiney has just spent eight days in Illinois, addressing splendid meetings in Rockford, Joliet, Princeton, La Salle,Galesburg, Quincy, Peoria, Decatur and Danville. Overflows in several places . In a fortnight she will be in Ohio, which has already given great meetings to Lord Mayor O' Callaghan, and will speak at Sandueky,Lima, Canton, Marion, Dayton, Youngstown and other places. Ohio has heard more about Ireland than about any wholly American subject what - soever these past few months. We shall have an intensive campaign along the Atlantic beaches in July and August. Here are two items that will give you an idea of the strength of the currents : × 1. I had Senator Norris' resolution printed as a poster andsent out samples. We got orders for 20,000 from this officefrom little places all over the country, and in the big placesthey printed their own, e. g. Cleveland 2500, Philadelphiawill be placarded within this week. 2. About June 1 I sent out a letter calling attention to SenatorLa Follette's speech. Already I have had to order 50,000from the senator; Ohio ordered another 25,000, and we aresending to Washington every day from 2000 to 5000 names. Weshall reach 100,000 by July 1. These names come to us with adollar for every hundred, which shows the keenness of ourpeople, and go out to people not in the Irish circle. A manwill spend a dollar to reform 100 of his non-Irish neighbors,and we are nearing the 100,000 in three weeks'. As I dare say you know, both houses in Wisconsin and Illinois havepassed resolutions committing the people of their states to recognition,and there have been single chamber pronouncements in Pennsylvania,Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey- with more to come. Many cities are alsopassing these resolutions. We got word of a couple of new ones almostevery day. You may believe, and you can confidently affirm, that the work ofmaking friends for Ireland is going on in nearly every congressionaldistrict of importance. We have a newspaper service, backed up bylocal publicity committees, reaching 800 newspapers in the twenty-onestates from which come the members of the Foreign Affairs and ForeignRelations Committees. Led by Massachusetts, where our members will be at least 250,000by the end of the year, our friends have decided to give the legalnotice of retirement from their primary affiliations in national andstate policies, holding themselves free to register later on as theythink best. You can see what this outpouring of activity means. We arecreating a state of mind, and this state of mind will be translatedinto action, quickly, spontaneously, at a given time. It is not athing that can be mnchined or controlled, but will follow to instinct.A friend was telling me the other day of how, when Mr. Harding wasteased into making a direct statement against the League at an Iowameeting, next morning everyone in our town was for Harding. Some-thing like that is what will happen next November. Do not let anyone mislead you with the story that this work of oursis aimed at the destruction of Judge Colyalan's organization, and thatwe are only a faction, his friends another. Away from the seaboard, evenhis name is not known, and our hundreds of thousands, a surprisingly largepercentage of whom are not Irish at all, have never heard his name. Whenthe Congressmen ask questions of their friends back home, they will learnthe truth. The people are for justice to Ireland and care nothing forpersonalities. If they are wise, they will start their inquiries, for this movement is already too strong in forty states to be controlledor manipulated by any old line political experts. And, believe me,it will be many times stronger if the military pressure against theexercise in Ireland of freedom as Americans understand it becomes in-creasingly more oppreseive and therefore more odious. We are proceeding through the holding of meetings, the distributionof literature, the circulation of petitionss, the writing of letters andthe enlistment of members. Our friends are clamouring for a lead, and notalways waiting for it, in the matter of conscious preferment for Americanas against English articles of commerce. The whole movement is amplysustained by the individually trifling offerings of those who engage init. In short, I venture to say that outside the time America was actuallyat war, there has been no other effort of the kind that has had anythinglike the success of this one. I am going East tomorrow on a survey of one branch of the work. Ourmutual friend will know where to reach me in case you happen to be inNew York and care to waste a half hour. Hoping for the success of the personal efforts I know you are al-ways making, and with all best wishes, Faithfully yours, JCW Layfaette Hotel, Washington, D. C., USA Letter from Joseph Cyrillus Walsh to John N. Milholland, 13 June 1921 Chicago, Illinois, USA Letter from Joseph Cyrillus Walsh to John N. Milholland, 13 June 1921 Joseph Cyrillus Walsh Letter from Arthur Griffith to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 24 May 1919Letter from George Gavin Duffy to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 6 July 1920 Letter from Joseph Cyrillus Walsh to John N. Milholland, 13 June 1921Letter from Richard Hazleton to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 14 March 1918Letter from George Gavan Duffy to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 6 July 1920Letter from H. J. Kavanagh to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 23 February 1920Letter from Francis Fletcher-Vane to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 23 June 1917Letter from Michael Harkin to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 5 February 1920Letter from Michael Harkin to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 3 February 1921Letter from M. Figgis and Maude Gonne MacBride to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 24 March 1922Letter from Charles J. Foy to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 16 February 1917Letter from J. B. Fitzpatrick to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 7 March 1917