The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-01
AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND.
The Annual Bill of Charges The Cost of Royalty ty--Parlinmcntary PcrfOr- mancea cea--Tempcrance Movement Hut mane Lords 1.-The Little Parliamen

of the year when an observing visito
 into the mazes of English life, woult
 be likely to get q quick and clear no
 ton of what England is and of th' forces, good and bad, which are guid ing her, there is none quite so favora
 ble as this fowery month Of May
 Parliament wrestles at this time witl
 its annual bill of charges, which, part
 ly because of the accession of King
 Edward and still more owing to the
 long continuance of badly bungled
 war. is much bigger than in ordinary
 years, and has called forth, in conse-
 quence, more than the usual amount
 of discussion and protest. But when you come to think of it, the people ought not to grumbla at having to vote | Edward few thousands more than | the good Victoria was allowed, consid- ering how much more they are expect ing to get back in trade from the live Her regime he is likely to give them. And what if royalty does require this year something like two and half million dollars to keep up its fuss and feathers, when, as the chancellor of the exchequer is careful to tell us, "the proportion of this derived from taxa tion is only hundred and sixty-fiye thousand dollars"
 This, for the whole population,
 amounts to something less than half a
 cent each per annum But the unso-
 phisticated American will naturally in- quire from what source the big bal ance is derived? From the country 1t must surely come in some way, for it has not transpired yet that the daugh- ters of our American mllionaires are paying it in bonuses for English titles, and I'm sure the colonies are not foot ing this royal bill. These, one is sur prised to learn, yield the mother coun- try scarcely anything but glory, un- less you count loyalty and a little trade. MT. Labouchere is at this time twitting Canada upon her remissness in not undertaking to pay the troops she has sent to South Africa, and he pounces upon the Canadians, I sup pose, not because they are sinners" beyond the other colonials, but be- cause, perhaps, in sentiment, no less than geographically, they are nearer England than the others. We hear much of colonial loyaty-I should like to hear more of colonial cash" So this daring critic expresses himself in this weeks Truth. But all do not accept as the strict truth the views so jaunt- fly aired by MT Labouchere in the journal of that name. In this case our nelghbors on the north will hardly do so, and when they retort to this fling that blood is of more value than mon- ey, and that in giVihg their best sons to the empire they have given all that could be asked, they will stand fully vindicated, we may hope, both before the mother country and the big repub- lie across the border
 But this is a digression. What in- tended to say relative to the huge ex- penses of royalty was that 1t is scarce ly more than q quibble to hold that but a fraction of these come from the peo- pie so long as all of them come in one way or another out of the resources of the country; and, in any case. why should the English people dodge this question? Many of them do not. It is an article of faith with the average
 
 alty is a paying investment, and when people of this class wanttto clinch the argument to an American they gently hint that while the British forms of government, both national and local may cost more than ours In pay. they hardly aggregate as much when or ganzations like Tammany Hall have raked in the perquisites and stealings. Here one is tempted to another di- gression in elf-defence. But one of the first things quiet-living Ameri- ,an has to learn in gay city like Lon lon is to resist temptation, and no less. | with such a mass of interesting topics | him must he who would stick | 70 his text as a correspondent learn to | 10 this.
 To one specially interested, as I am, | n reform movements, Westminster | Hall in which parliament meets. is | ]hieny of consequence at this time. be- 'ause the chosen gentlemen who sit | here with their hats on, the image of | conplacency, not a few if them mapping in the after dinner tours, are just now bestowing more ttention than usual upon measures r which promise to specially uplift so-
 al life. Royalty is but an incident nd even the grim terrors of this dis ppointing war will pass after a time. But still will the problem of the vi- ious, the pooS and the ever active rimlnal remain to be dealt with. As ne of the speakers at ragged school neeting said the other night-"The cripturas of God are to be found to- ay in the needs of man." and the British parliament seems to be reali- ing this revolutionary fact,
 At the present time this august body f law makers, proverbially slow, but Ike the mills of the gods, always sure, is endeavoring to pro- ide in two ways against the evils of he drink traffic One measure insures hat since the people will drink beer s most of them will who haven't been riven by gout to some less feeding timulant-they shall have malt beer ' shall at least know from the label 'hether they are getting, instead of ,alt beer, beverage that is only fla ored with that grain. This is deci- ed step towards temperance, though | ot very long one. for the adultera- ad article is certainly of the two the lore vltiating both to body and mind, 4 nd one of the worst effects of what is alled ''chemcal beer" is that 1t full l Is so perfectly the vicious purpose of S connection in stimulating rather lan in al1avinr thirst