The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-01-15
House of Lords Faces Crisis

House OF Lords Faces Crisis.
London, Jan S.-poHUcaI devotion.
monls Of the last few days have shown
conclusiyoN that England is apidy
/ approaching the most startling crisis
/ ii has known in three quarters of a
century
The existence of the house Of lords
/ Is at stake. No such important con.
! slitutiOuaI issue has been raised i'm
Great Britain since 1882 when the
right of franchise, previously based
strictly ON property qualifications, was
mad" practically universal
The lords have been attacked be.
fore, but never very seriously. II
looks now as if their ycars-if not
their days as a Legislative body are
numbered Ending the old English
system of hereditary lawmaking will
involve practical reconstruction of the
COuntry's constitutions
Nine out of ten Englishmcn have
! long regarded the peers as Il foolish
IanachrOnism. Bound as the nation is
to precedent, however ii has been
hard to inaugurato a vigorous move.
mcnt toward reform At last the
liberals the dominant British nolit.
cal party-hayr declared thnv win
never rest until some form Of elective
upper house Of parliament is subst.
tutcd for the present hereditary one.
For three wears the liberals have borr
i'm Office with an oyrrwhcuuinp ma
ioHr I'm the hougo of commons AL
lowing for all possible combinations
AGAINST them. they have opproyimotoIv
100 ON any part issue. But dcspito
their numerical suporioriry they havc
been practically fmpotrut the prrrs
have thwartcd them at every turn
The two houses are far from hear.
ing toward one another the relation
that exists between the two branches
of the United States congress- only
the commons are representative Of tbo
pcoplo. The lords rcprosont nothing
beyond the narrow interests of tho
British aristocracy and moucycd
classes. The liberals view is that a
body so constituted shouId Weld to tbe
MAINLY c,Drcsscd wishes or tl,o masses
even though they may sometimes he
called ON to Law aside their own politi-
cal. personal and financial prniudice
The nobility held nearly ouc-touth
of the total land area of rural Eng
land. 1t is estimated that these hold
ings, thrown open to cultivation,
would support England, a hundreds Of
thousands of unemployed. LogisIa-
ton along this line has been sug-
gested. The lords only laughed at
the idea. They keep the land strictly
preserved for hunting purposes It
is absolutely non-productive.
The licensing bill passed the cleo
tive commons by nearly 300 majority
Without even the formality of debate
the lords rejected the measure in
caucus BY what the liberals say is
more than a coincidence 1870 Of the 600
odd peers own stocks in brewerics
There were rot enough of them to
constitute a majority but their in
huence was sufficient to control one.
In America either of the great parties
may hope to control both branches of
congress. In England only the con
servatiycs can control the lawmaking
body The commons may be conserya-
tive or liberal The lords are always
conservative.
When the conservatives control the
administration the ueers mass all their
bills without discussion If a liberal
government is in mower they auto-
matically reject every impoTtant meas.
ure submitted TO them When Che
liberal party last came into mower it
ala "a nrdor q distinct mandate from