The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-01-04
CRISIS sex
PEeTED IN ENG
L|SH PARLIAMENT
CONTINUED from First Page.)

body so constituted should yield to
the plainly expressed wishes of the
masses even though they may some
times be called on to lay aside their
own political, personal and financial
prejudices.
The nobility holds nearly one
tenth Of the total land area Of rural
England. It is estimated that these
holdings, thrown open to cultivation.
would support England's hundreds of
thousands of unemployed. Legisla-
ton along this line has been sug-
gested. The lords only laughed at
the idea. They keep the land strict
ly preserved" for hunting purposes.
1t is absolutely non-productive.
The licensing bill passed the cleo
i've commons by nearly three hundred
majority. Without even the formal
ity of debate the lords rejected the
measure in caucus. BY what the lib
erals say Is more than a coincidence,
100 of the 600 odd peers own stocks
in breweries. There were not enough
of them to constitute a majority but
their influence was sufficient to con-
troll one. In America either of the
great parties may hope to control
both branches of congress. In Eng
land only the conservative can con-
troll the law making body. The COM
mons may be conservative or liberal.
The lords are always conservative.
When the conservatives control the
a ADMINISTRATION the peers pass all
their bills without discussion. If a
liberal government is in power they
automatically reject every measure
submitted to them. When the lib
eral party last came into power it
did so under a direct mandate from
the people to accomplish three
things: to revise Scottish landlord
ism; to place common school educa-
ton upon something like modern
basis; to curb the liquor interests,
which have attained so dangerous
political power in England.
The Scottish landlords bill passed
the commons, went up to the lords,
was mutilated as to be wholly in
operatice, returned to the lower
house and was dropped as useless in
its new form.
The educational bill was labor
iously worked into satisfactory
shape and was about to be passed
by the commons, when SO plain an
1ntimation was received from the
Church of England element in the
upper branch that it, too, would DE
rejected, as to make further action
upon it waste of time. So it was
dropped
The licensing bills defeat was the
last straw. The members of the lib
eral cabinet and the leaders of their
party in the house of commons talk
ed the situation over and made 'up
their minds that either the house of
lords must be abolished or the main
tenance of liberal organization
might as well be abandoned. They
took up the gauge of battle on the
abolition issue. The fight, 1t was de-
cided, will be waged on financial
lines.
In next April's budget the bill
providing governmental appropria.
lions and tax levies to meet them.
will be several clauses it is con-
siderej certain the lords will never
willingly submit to-
One will specify a tax of as high
as 1212 per cent on all excessively
heavy incomes. A second will give
the state Is per cent of large estates
on the death of their owners. A
third will tax land values so heavily
that the holding of extensive unim-
proved tracts will be rendered impos-
sible. A fourth will require a liquor
license fee sufficient to drive one
third of the saloons in England out
of. business and to bring in 100000
600 in revenues. The measure will
be purposely designed to bear heavily
on the class the peers represent.
The British constitution allows the
lords to do one of two things with
a finance bill. They may reject it
or pass without alteration. No
changes in any of its provisions are
permitted. Whether they will pass
the proposed appropriation measure
no one yet knows. To refuse will
mean the stopping of all allowances
for the army. navy and the civil SER
vice. To think of the lords risking
such step appears almost as ridicu-
Ions oS m @ ofhor oIfarpo two yyh;ch