Volume 3 1926~1932


Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 623 NAI DFA 19/2A

Extract from a Confidential Report from Michael MacWhite
to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(Confidential)

Washington DC, 11 January 1932

In reference to your minute 19/2, you will find annexed hereto1 some details of the people whom I invited to luncheon or to accompany me to the Horse Show at New York.

During a luncheon in connection with a Horse Show especially when the parties interested include both organisers and competitors it is only natural that the general trend of the conversation bears largely on horses. On this occasion, however, other topics such as the decline in the Stock markets and the steps being taken for the relief of the unemployed came in for consideration. None of the comments that came to my attention was of such a nature as would form the subject of a report.

People of Irish antecedents whom I meet are always anxious to learn about conditions in the Saorstát and listen with satisfaction to what I have to tell them on the subject. In that case it is I who do the talking. I find Judge Morgan J O'Brien, Peter J Maloney, Patrick McGovern and John S. Cullinan always appreciative of what is being done at home. They neither criticize nor question. For them, what is done by the Government is well done. Judge Cohalan is not altogether in the same category but he too is much less critical than he was reputed to be. He was very anxious to learn of the bearing of the Statute of Westminster and the events that led up to it. In passing, he referred to the Public Safety Act but said nothing in reference to it beyond stating that he was practically in agreement with the opinions expressed by Deputy Morrissey2 in the Dáil in regard to it.                                                                                                                           

[matter omitted]

I can offer no explanation as to the cause of the non-success of our team at the Horse Show. The officer in charge should be able to furnish one. I noticed that the Saorstát Officers appeared more fatigued than their competitors of other nationalities but nothing beyond that. They told me their horses were not as good as those to which they were opposed but as they made a better show when competing against the same horses in Boston and Toronto that could not be a sufficient explanation.

[signed] M. MacWhite

1 Not printed.

2 Daniel Morrisey, Labour TD for Tipperary Mid/North/South (1922-23), Tipperary (1923-48) and Tipperary North (1948-57).