The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-05-29

bring IN the bill on alternate nights
with the budget, partly to give Lloyd
| George a rest, as he fears he may
gantic work on the budget, partly to
forward the measure.
The landlords are in better mood
and the deal between them, the gov
ernment, and the Irish party will be
made probably In August.
! 1 always thought there would be a
terrible fight over the budget, but the
budget is bigger, more drastic, and
more daring than l ever anticipated;
and the fight, accordingly, will be more
TERRIFIC than thought. Lloyd-George
has managed to get some of the most
powerful interests in the country unit
ed in hostility to him, and storm
RACES about his head such as has never
broken before over chancellor of the
exchequer.
7 7 already Wired some off the
terms of opproa,ri%snfe ..t.laleh- are hurled
at him as indicative Of the state 81
frenzy which is rasinsya One%4f these
epithets is polecat-which is a phrase
find quite novel, if net unprecedent-
ed in British politics.
The liquor trade and the tobacco
trade are most resonant in the attack,
and they are the most formidable op-
ponenIs. For the liquor trade is rich,
and. what is more important, has be-
hind it two powerful factors. In the
first place. the Irish members of all
parties must oppose a tax on whisky
not as whisky and not in the desire
to oppose the spread of temperance.
but whisky has become about the only
industry left to Ireland by the evil
laws of the past.
The 100 Irish members are consd-
erable addition to the difficulties of
Lloyd George. who is engaged in a
struggle SO supreme and so vital that
he requires all the help he can get,
and that help he would have got most
cordially if it had not been for this
unfortunate whisky tax.
The liquor interest has even more
powerful backing in the workmen of
England. No body in the world hates
so much any interference with it's
pleasures, and even a halfpenny or
penny added to the price of beer or
tobacco will produce big growl from
all the artisans of the country. These
emotions are, of course, being steadily
famed into fame by the wealthy dis
. tillers and brewers anxious to fight for
their property. And as the Liberal
party finds it's main support in the
working classes this is carrying the
war into their camp in formidable
, way.
! The big brewers and the big distil-
lers in the meantime are working
heaven and earth, especially the. big
brewers. who are one of the most pow
erful bodies in this country. They are
inf1amed to the fight by the fact that
so many of them have heen doing bad
J, ly during the last few years. Over
. capitalized and put upon the public
) by clever promoters some of the big
gest and oldest Of these companies
) have come to grief, and men who had
, all the tastes and all the expenditures
, Of millionaires have been reduced to
, poverty and despair.
, The taxes on the brewers are. I be.
lieve. also too high: in some cases
unless the brewer is able to recour
3 himself by charging more for his glass
of beer to the workingmen, the new
$ tax will swallow all the income which
| is left to the brewer. The license Of
saloons are excessive; they will shu,
! UP number of small publicans. espe.
3 cially in Ireland. and rob them Of theil
sole means of living. Even big wine
e. firms are seriously alarmed lest theil
trade shall be destroyed by these biz
duties.
l Turning to the Weather propsrtiet