The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-09

London. Dec. S.-England today stands
face to face with the gravest political
crisis in its history since 1882, as re-
suit of the rejection of the budget by the
house of lords, but the outcome of the
present one promises to have more Iar-
reaching effects than that of its predS-
cessOr.
In that year the struggle between the
two bodies Of the English parliament
arose over the reform bill, which the lords
rejected. New elections followed, to
gether with the formation Of new caDl-
net but the struggle still continued re
sulting in the second resignation OF the
ministry.
A new cabinet was again formed, and
with the threat OF increasing the NUM-
bers in the cabinet the lords were fright
ened into Withdrawing their opposition
and the great charter of 1882 received the
royal assent.
I'm the minds of Well-infOrmed states
men, however, the action of the house Of
! lords in the present crisis has sounded
their death knell as a law making body
and the ultimate result viii mean, 1t IS
/ believed, the elimination of that body
from parliament at least in its present
/ form.
Since the establishment of parliament
! the people have had a voice in the cleo
| ton of members to the house OF COM
mons, but the membership of the house Of
| lords is composed of the whole peerage Of
| England and of the United Kingdom.
The English members, who composed
| the large majority, inherit their seats
! with their titles. The Scottish represen-
/ tatives, of whom there are rarely more
/ than a dozen, are elected for each par
| lament, while the score OF more Irish
members are elected for life.
While the greater legislative power is
supposed to be vested in the house of
commons. the peers have always been in
a position to strange any legislation in
| imicai to their interests which originated
! in the lower body. This they have done
| from time to time-One of the most nOta-
| BILE instances being the rejection of Glad
stones measure for home rule Is years
ago.
Serious This Time.
Their present action. however. is far
more serious. The budget is the govern
ment measure which provides for the
! raising of funds by taxation to carry on
the work of the government 1t is the
| duty of the house of commons to make
| this assessment.
Fully aware of the serious situation
which would arise by rejection the bud
get outright the lords adopted the
amendment offered by Lord LansdOWne,
which provided that this bill should first
be referred TO the people for their judg
ment This move would practically make
it illegal for the commons to collect
taxes.
II is now the common belief that an
other body will be established in parlia-
ment i'm place of the house of lords. its
members to be elected in a similar man
ner OF those Of the lower body. thus max
ing them responsible to their coastitu-
ents when the time for reelection comes
around.
The present budget was prepared by
LlOyd-GeOrge chancellor of the eXche-
Quer. and was designed TO make the
/ wealthy bear the chief burden of taxa
ton. Tt was considered the most radi
cal finance bill ever introduced in the
British parliament. Besides a large in
come and inheritance taxes, it proposed
revaluatiOn of the land which should
vastly increase the rate of taxation on
/ land and reduce the income Of many
land holders by millions.
AS the majority of the members of the
house Of lords are owners Of vast estates,
/ this portion of the measure was exceed
ingly obnoxious, the only course left was
/ to reject 1t.
The history OF the budget covers a pc
/ riod OF seven months, during which the
opponents and supporters of the measure
INDUCED in all sorts Of vilifying speeches
4 creating such serious situation that
King Edward was finally forced to take
hand and compel them TO desist.
Deficit for Developments.
When David Lloyd-George began the
preparation of the budget last spring he
had a deficit of S78,810000 for Dread
noughts. Speculation was rife for many
DAYS as 10 how this mild-mannered gen
ueman was to solve this serious prob
lem.
On ADril % his budget was presented
to the house of commons, and when its
provisions were published it was de-
nOunced by the Weather classes as the
most socialistie measure ever introduced
into parliament
wealth and THE Trade" as the liquor