Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-24
a NOTABLE ISSUE.

attention of the thinking world upon
British politics. The occasion Is the re-
| lection by the House of Lords OF the
budget bill for raising revenues for the
United Kingdom. The campaign con-
tinues to furnish a topic OF discussion
for the American press. 1t Is the most
notable political issue of recent history.
One explanation OF the opposition of
the Lords to the land tax provisions OF
the bill is that the Peers possess. 16, AL
9S6 acres, or one-fifth of the total area
OF the United Kingdom, and they pre-
fer that these lands shall not be taxed.
For centuries these holdings of
realty have been exempt from the taxes
paid by the small householders. and the
privileged classes naturally dislike to
assume their share of these burdens.
chiefly because 1t will be SO large, and
also because 1t Will be long step In
the direction of abolshing the privi-
leges of the nobility.
The Kansas City Star draws the fol-
lowing analogy:
Suppose the members of the United
States Senate were not elected but held
their seats by Inheritance. Suppose
most of the members wore manufac-
turers of goods protected by the tariff
Suppose q bill embodying real revision
downward had passed the House OF
Representatives by an overwhelming
majority and then suppose the Senate
had rejected 1t. You would be imagin-
ing 3 situation analogous to that ex-
isting In Great Britain today with the
rejection of the budget by the lords.
ITO make the analogy moro nearly
complete you would have to assume
that the Senate was not supposed to
modify revenue bills In any particular.
For the lords. in addition to passing on
a measure in which they had a finan-
cial interest, were violating the consti-
tution-at least so much of a constitu-
ton as Great Britain has. where pre-
cedent takes the place of the written
word
"In this respect the action of the
upper house was nearly equivalent to
the refusal OF members of the Ameri-
can electoral colleges to vote in accord
ance with the instructions of the No
vember election for President. Such
action by tho electors. while not techrd-
cally unconstitutional. would be almost
unthinkable because unprecedented"
But plain as the case seems to the
average American. it is by no means
clear which way the voting will result
in Britain British electors are con-
servatlye. Radical changes do not ap-
peal to them. The simple and notorious
fact that the English people have for
centuries enjoyed greater political and
personal liberty of action than any
other European nation: that English
prosperity has been SO much ahead, for
the past 60 years. at least, of that OF
all their European nelghbors; that Brit
ish wages average so much higher than
those on the continent; that Britain's
financial supremacy among the nations
still remains an impressive fact-these
and other indications of English wis
dom in government have for so many
decades been prominently before the
view OF tho English voters that it
need occasion no great surprise IL at
the approaching election they should
prefer aristocratic tradition to demo-
cratic. and should put ancient privilege
ahead of equality in the matter of tax
alton. Another fact that might have
some influence on the result is that
universal manhood suffrage does not
obtain in Britain as It does here There
is a property qualification, though a
small one. for voting.
Students of English history know
that In the great struggles for political
liberty In England the House of Com
mons has reduced the authority OF the
the government depends on the Com
mons. An adverse majority there means
the resignation OF tho ministry. For
generations no attention has been paid
by the cabinet to a defeat in the lords.
All parties in Britain admit that il
was quite within the power OF the cabl-
net to meet the challenge of the lords
by creating new liberal peers in suf-
flcient numbers to swamp the Conserv-
ative majority, or to appeal TO the coun-
try for an Endorsement in a new gen
eral election. The second mothod meets
VIC Situdllon more ulrectly ana has
been rcsorted to. II the country shall
return another strong Liberal majority
to the House of Commons. the Lords
Will yield as gracefully as possible. for
none OF the peers is so reckless as 10
think of defying the British electorate
Tho Lords never attempt to exercise
more than suspensive veto. pending
an appeal to the country.
This they decided to do on the pres
ent Issue; and while all the taxes pro-
vided for in the rejected budget, ex-
cept the novel ones on land. will be
straightway collected and later validat-
ed by law, tho test OF the power of the
Lords to continue to exempt the great
estates from taxation. is the real qucs-