The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-03-24

friends and from Labor organizations,
when they have not the means of
serving at their own charges. Strange
to say, they and all other members Of
the House of Commons are entitled by
law to compensation. This used to be
paid to members who had to come
from a distance to Westminster. They
had the right to demand of the High
Sheriff of the Shire. or the Mayor of
the Borough, which sent them, both
their travelling expenses and compen-
sation for their loss Of their earnings
at honsa This fell into disuse through
the shires and the boroughs taking
care to elect nobody who would ask it.
The thrifty taxpayers, who had the
election in their own hands, managed
to save their pockets by taking only
candidates who had wealth and would
not only not ask for pay but would
pay them literally for their votes
Hence the firmly established tradition
that the House Of Commons belongs to
the rich, and that the appearance of
any one else is an offense against the
proprieties.
The new measure, which will avail
for the payment of the Nationalists as
well as others. calls upon the national
treasury to pay the members salary.
AS there is no constitutional restric-
ton upon the present Parliament put
ting the plan into operation-such as
are found in our national constitution,
and in those Of most Of the states
there is reason to expect that it will
be enacted and applied during this ses-
sion, unless the House Of Lords throw
1t out. And this is hardly q measure
which the Lords would care to treat
in that way. It is so clearly a House
of Commons matter that an attempt
Of the peers to veto it would be sharp
ly resented. -.M.,
Nor are the Lords so sure Of their
footing as to undertake the collision
with the Commons which this would
produce. BY numerous creations Of
peers out Of brewers and mining specu-
lators by the Tories the Upper House
is manifestly lobsided. It is now the
turn Of the Liberals to add to the NUM-
ber Of the Lords by bestowing peerages
upon a large body Of their own party,
SO as to bring the two branches Of
Parliament into something like bal
ance. The promptness and the extent
to which this will be done must de-
pend upon the spirit in which the
House Of Lords receives the legislation
the other house sends It. For the first
time there is House Of Commons
which does not swarm with land
owners, and therefore is likely to take
a Numerically opposite view Of public
policy and national interests from that
taken by the peers. The probabilities
are that there will either be q practical
submission to the Commons on all
large subjects, or there will be q radi-
cal alteration Of the Upper House.
And to effect this last, there must be
wholesale creations Of new peers of
the Liberal stamp.
The second measure put forward by
the Labor members, and voted for by
the House Of Commons. is that to sup
ply food to the hungry or underfed
children Of the board schools. Eng
lands economic policy has driven the
people into the big cities and towns
to work her factories, and has produced
a physical degeneracy of height and
strength which are alarming. Sixteen
per cent of the school children are
hungry when they come to their work.
The County Council Of London recog-
nized this some time ago, and took
steps to have these children fed. The
proposal is to make this a national
matter, and to feed the hungry children
out Of the national treasury. The ne
cessity to do this is regretable. That
the working people Of a country rolling
in wealth, and piling up ever fresh
accumulations Of 1t, are unable to feed
their children is an evidence of social
mismanagement. which calls for more
radical remedies than free breakfasts
in the public schools. Without that
England must move toward Socialism,
- her economies no longer secure that
general diffusion Of welfare which her