The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-05-04

! n frs Iah ncher0 cont ibute8 70 & the
March Foflnightly III, article entitled AA
Democrat On the Coming Demo racy.,|.
which students Of English politics cannot
afford to neglect. MI. Iabouch eye, II 70
true, Is not q recognized exponent Of Rad,
icalism, but be is sipgularly frank per-
son, and his views may be taken asshared
bya few, of his colleagues In the house,
some Of whom are less able and ell less
,outspoken. His sympathy With MT:
Chamberlain, for example, rs close, and
he looks to Mr.. Chambe rlain as.a lead er.
Mr.. Labouchere's programme would
startle most of the reasonable politicians
who call themselves Liberal, not less
from the way in which it is urged than
from its extent. The earlier items will
not strike you in America as subversive
they are. Equal electoral dis
tricts, payment Of election ex-
penses and of members BY. the state,
biennial parliaments, abolition of the
house of Lords as legislative body
these, proceeded by the ad option. of an
extended franchise, are the immediate
objects Mr.. Labouchere proposes to-
himself. They are, however, only pre-;
q PuIIuA "a SLV RSsAotSSsAE
machine into rapid working order:
With the lords out of his way and
democratic house of commons Mr.. Las
bouchere would proceed to abolish the
civil list and put the queen tWhom he
permits to remain on the throne as orna-5.
mental fgure-head) on salary of $50
600 year, like the president Of the
United States. He would disestablish
and disendow the church sof England
at cnce," and devooe the SID, O0O, QUO o.
year TO be got from its revenues to edu-
cational purposes. He would settle the
land question by making occupiers own.
ers. He would limit the number Of
acres q man may own, and
of pounds sterling he may accumulate.
Taxation would be based on the "excel-5
lent principle" that those ought to pay
who can best afford it. Customs and exc
else are to be abolished, and the bur-
dens now laid on industry" to be sus-
tanned by help of q progressive income.
tax and progressive succession duty.
rising to 50 per cent. And so on and 30
on. These may do for samples. S
Mr.. Labouchere does not expect help
from the moderate liberals in this work.
by turning out the wings, and calculates
perseded them, the bulk of the organi-
cation, "who are mere walters on provi-.
dence," will cheerfully follow the new
lead. The wings are the fons ct origo Of
all evil. They accept the part of "trai-
tors" in the liberal camp for the sake of
Office and profit. Wings, conservatives
and moderate liberals are, indeed, actual
ed by the paltry ambition Of appending
Right Honorable to their names, and ~
lust of mere spolls. Heretofore Right
Honorable has been thought to be not
an appendix but a prefix. We" on
the contrary, we virtuous but slightly
Pharisaical radicals, "we look steadil to
the triumph ofour principles" Mr.. La
bouchere is very clever man, but there
is an old saying, no fool like clever
fool. beg Mr.. Labouchere's pardon
for quoting it, and Iuse the word in a
purely political and parliamentary
sense. But if he believes English
men are going to accept either his ac-
count ofhisopponents,o r. his programme.
he has access to some very secret and
peculiar sources of information. Prohah-
ty he believes neither.