Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-19
HOW TITLES ARE TAXED
What Man Must Pay in England
 to Become a Peer.

The elevation of John Morley ana Sir H. H. Fowler to the peerage IS probably as pleasing to themselves as 1t is to their thousands of ad- mirers, but each of the gentlemen so honored will have to pay fee of at least G200 for the privilege of adding the title of "Viscount" to his name, which is the cost of letters patent for viscounty of the United Kingdom.
 For higher rank the fees amount to more. The new Duke of Deyonshire, for instance, when he comes to take the necessary letters patent which will fully entitle him to his own will have to pay G350 for the same, in addition to paying away an immense l fortune in the shape of death duties. If the change had been that of mar quisate the fee would have been { 300. A newly made earl pays { 250, a baron G150 and a baronet G100 T
 These fees, however, are only part of the expense entailed by man who is honored with title. The cost of investiture, heraldry, etc. consider ably augments the amount. It may be remembered that when Lord Roberts accepted his earldom in 1901 and was subsequently, given the garter, he was presented with bill for s1,750, which at first he strongly objected to pay.
 To the average reader it will prob- ably seem absurd that when such re- wards for serving the country are granted the recipient should so suffer in pocket. It is not so bad nowadays, however, as in the time of James l, for instance, who mulcted This baronets pretty heavily for their privileges. They were obliged each to maintain thirty soldiers for defense purposes or pay into the exchecquer an equivalent sum, which amounted to G1,095 per year. Furthermore, to be qualified for the honor in those days one had to be gentleman born" and have clear estate of e1,000 per annum.
 Originally the fees were paid to certain officers of the state connected With the business of investing man with his title, but they are now more in the nature of duties, and are paid into the exchecquer, thus helping to swell the revenues of the country. Recently it was proposed that a further tax on titles--f10 per an mum for knight, s100 for an earl, and f5,000 for duke-should be imposed. and some irresponsible people have even dared to suggest these titles should be put up to auction and sold to the highest bid der.
 As Illustrating the curious de- mands made upon man who be- comes titled personaase it might be mentioned that the beginning ot the year 200 celebrities, who within the last four years have been grant, ed the privilege of prefixing their name with Sir" each received a letter from the Walker trustees, Edinburgh. asking for sum of s3 6s. Sd, which, it was said, was due in respect of each gentleman's crea- ton as knight of the United King dom. Tn the case of 5aronet f5 was demanded. When inquiries were made it was found that the Walker trustees. of whom very few of the titled gentlemen shad ever heard, had purchased the rights oi the heritable usher of Scotland, one of the many functionaries scattered about the United Kingdom who were entitled to perquisites in lhe shape of fees from persons whom the king honored by conferring tides upon them.
 Practically all the oficeholders who were entitled to these perquis- ties surrendered their rights to the late government in return for an an- nual allowance. The haritable usher of Scotland, however, declined to do so, and consequently the Walker trustees. as holders of that ofiice, sent out their much discussed re- quests for fees to newly made knights and baronets.