The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-21
THE STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND
Attempt at Hereditary Rule
Will Not Go
The House OF Lords Understands That
It VIII Be Abolished or ~Fscfornici'
if the Liberals Win.
BY W. T. STEAD.

Now that the decks are cleared for
2 general election, the time has come
for presenting the American reader
with y brief survey Of the field Of &C
ton.
The issue is very simple-peers or
people. Which shall IN future govern
the British Empire? 1t seems strange
at ibis time of day, nearly u century
and a half since the Declaration or IN
dependence, that any hereditary arts
tocracy should attempt to challenge
conclusions with triumphant de1noc-
racy.
But Of late years the peers have
stealthily, step by step, e~ncroached
upon the authority Of the House Of
Commons. and they have at last per
suaded themselves that it needs but
a bold u~surpatiOn Of the financial
privilege of the lower house to estab-
lish themselves as the dominant factor
in the Constitution.
The Commons are fighting on the
defensive. Until the night Of Novem-
Der 80, il 4 dissolution had taken
place. the burden of the attack would
have been placed upon the Liberals.
The rejection Of the budget changed
everything. The democracy has now
to repe1 q direct frontal attack. di-
rected against their hitherto inpres-
liable citadel-their exclusive right to
control finance.
Under False Colors.
The peers, Of course. are fighting
under false COlOrS, protesting q mon
strous desire to prevent any legisla-
ton upon which there has been no
direct appeal to the country for q
mandate This deceives none. Their
victory, il they achieve it, will be ac-
cepted on bOt sides as a popular vote
in favor Of en~throning the House Of
Lords upon the dust Of the House OF
Commons.
Vlp?nrv fOp tho nor .yAyyI - 8
firm their right to control finance, to
turn out ministries and to dissolve
Parliament. AS five peers out of six
are always Tory, this would mean the
perpetual exclusion OF the Liberal
party from office. If the constituencies
returned a liberal majority under
such a regime the Lords could force
them to appeal for reelection by re-
jecting their first budget.
The great object of the peers in the
pending election is to obscure this fact
by k a great parade of their
Difference to the peoples will and
making p%rOtense that the introduction
OF g protectlonist budget woul Sc
cure work for all. Unemployment.
with tariff reform as a for
lack Of work, IS the chief theme OF the
party OF the peers, and as they are
also demanding taxes on bread and
meat. the electors are being capoled
by fantastic visions Of peasant propri-
ctors to be established as a practori-
an guard to defend q high import duty
on American fOOdstuffs. It is all sfee.
faw, fum!"
A Common Foe.
The Liberals, the Labor party and
the home rulers are acting as q unit
IN the campaign against the peers.
Painful experience sharpens the nu-
tural instinct by which they recognize
In the House of Lords their common
SOa If tho nann> t,;r, y, vi, ~ ,,v-o =.
all hope Of carrying out any Of the
reforms to which all are more or less
pledged.
it'll them Wit is q battle for life and
death. To lose this election would put
the knife to their throats. Ireland.
Wales, Scotland and the north of Eng
land will probably vote in 1910 as
they voted in 1905. London and the
southern ountie are those where
the landlords Of the acres and the
landlords Of the saloon expect to score
their heaviest successes.
If the Liberals obtain a majority.
their first task will be to reform the
House Of Lords. The means for this
lie ready to their hand. Even the
Tories admit that there are many
peers VINO 8 not TO sit in a second
chamber. The King has only to re-
fuse to issue a writ of summons to
any peer who has not made at least
ten per session in the pre-
vlous Parliament, and the House
would be at once reduced from 600 to
zoo members.
II then an equal number Of peers
were created by the royal preroga-
1--WE, q tolerable second chamber
might be got together which mighf he
safely 1ntrusted with the duties of re-
vision. Both these measures lie vel
"lthln the prerogatfves of the Kline.
~ TINS means a way of escape from
ne present hopeless impasse is pos
S1bie without any smashina ~ ann
stltHtional crockery. But in orlaI ! =
secure this end. it is necessary for
the electors to vote re~solutcly aga.,st
.ne e~ncroachments of the peers \
4nuIn snaailer Llberal maiolitN tAan