The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-04-19
IRISH LAND BILL
is SURE TO PASS
Nationalists Are Too Shrewd to
Refuse to Take What They Can
Get Without Prejudice.
SAVE BALF0UR'S GOVERNMENT.
Propose to Keep Him at the Head
of Affairs of State Until They
Have Obtained From him
Every Possible Advantage.
BY PAUL

sPEcLAL BY. B TO THE NEW YORK
HERALD AND ST. LOUIS
London, April 1S|Copyright 19OS).-The
approval Of the Irish land bill by the Ma
tionaIIsts' Convention at Dublin was gen.
orally expected on both sides of the Irish
Sea. II the convention had decided other
wise, there certainly would have been an
end of the bill. and not improbably an end
of the Government.
The Irish leaders are quite shrewd enough
to take what they can get without pref
udice TO further and consequent demands.
They will keep Mr.. BaIfour's Government
in office until they have exacted from them
the uttermost farthing.
Strange are the chances OF politics and
the vicissitudes OF events. A few weeks
ago critics and even friends OF the Gov
ernment declared that nothing could save
them except the return of Josephus Afri-
canus- Now, Mr.. Chamberlain is quite for
gotten. and the saviors of the Tory ad-
ministration are the Nationalist members
Of Parliament. who used 10 cheer the news
Of Boer victories when they reached the
House Of Commons.
It is scarcely possible that anything can
happen to the colleagues Of NJ. YTyHdham
until his land bill becomes a law. The loyal
or disloyaI phalanx which will surround
them until that aim has been achieved
will be too strong for any practicable COM
binaiOn against them, for, although the
Nationalist threaten numerous amend
ments In committee. they are much too
shreWd 10 run any risk of losing the bill.
The opposition in Dublin was i~nsignii-
cant William oBrien. who leads the pop
ular party in Ireland, as John Redmond
leads it in the Commons. delivered a pas
sionate harangue in favor of Mr.. wynd-
hams hill ThOrlUh q rar fau- -,1psbz -
this very same Chief Secretary was re-
viying coercion and casting Irish patriots
into Irish jails-
BILL SURE TO PASS.
1t Is a beautiful spectacle and every one
who is not a British taxpayer can AFFORD
TO contemplate II purely on its aesthetic
side. But the British taxpayer Is pracri-
cally unrspresented in Parliament. and the
bill is almost certain TO pass. Several lead
ing members Of the Opposition are COM
mitted TO it in principle, including Mr.. Nor
ley and Sir Edward Grey.
To get rid OF dual ownership is supposed
TO be a great stroke Of policy, but dual
ownership cannot be abolished by subsutu-
ting the State for the landlord, and the
partnership is not regarded as injurious 10
trades
The alarming fall in British consols IS
~ SGCA q LItTl-
endous demand Upon British credit as this
bill makes OF all this something must
be heard even in the present. House of Com
mons. Meanwhile Ireland Is being governed
by National conventions.
Mr. John Merely for SO many months has
been absorbed in his great Life of Glad
stone that he seemed almost to have dis
appeared from public life. This week. how
ever, he was engaged to make three pol
iucai speeches in the North. The nrst
was delivered 10 his own constituents al
Montrose. Mr.. MorIey's main theme was
hnance. With this he dealt in practical
fashion. rather disconce-tng TO those who
describe him as an academic doctrinaire.
That the national debt should have re-
turned to the figure at which it stood after
the great French war: that the army and
navy estimates should be twice as large
as they were ten years ago. that the nor
mai peace expenditure should have risen
since the Liberals were in power from o.
ee.e9 pounds TO 10000, 900 pounds; that the
interest on the recent addition to debt Ohe
addition since 1850 absorbs txo-thirds of
the duty on tea. are facts which every SEN
sible man of business must regard as ex-
tremely serious.
Ar. Chamberlain considers them as graf
flying and promising statistics. They snow.
according to him. how much we can AFFORD
and how rich We must be.
of this kin lead individuals
10 the bankruptcy court, and that man
would Indeed deserve to be called an acad-
emic doctrinaire who maintained the para
dox that extravaganza increased the wealth
OF nations.