New-York tribune., 1909-10-02
DUKES AND TAXES
Charity Subscriptions WiUes' Fort
uRes-Haunted Houses.
London, September %.

CdIuhllly radical agttators have cOarSey
described him the football duke" for no
better reason than refusal of subscription to
a sporting club. He does not appear to have
singled out the football club for disfavor. nor
to have known that he had been subscribing
regularly to it; but his chamberlain has acted
upon general instructions to curtau his contri-
buttons to local organizations owing 10 the
large prospective increase in taxation caused
by the budget. The letter is at once printed
ana the duke is charged with ostentdtiousy
Withdrawing his patronage and cutting down
MS charities for the purpose of discrediting the
Liberal finance bill 1t is a far cry from the
Nithsdale Wanderers Football Club to the
dukes Whitehall residence on Crown land: but
the budget orator covers the transit with the
aeFlaI grace and speed of a modern flying M
chlne The Victoria Embankment compensations
Tor loss Of access to the Thames are grossly
exaggerated and converted into striking illus
tration OF unearned increment The facts are
distorted. the figures expanded by an i'm
aglnary multiple and the duke who is declin-
ing to keep up his subscriptions for football is
piloried as an ungrateful beneficiary of the
state. who has been enriched b& public enter
prise and is niggardly in his tips"
Lord Henry Scott has protested vigorously
against the action OF demagogues and ministers
IN circulating among credulous audiences often
slVe personalities and glaring untruths. The
football joke is not likely to have a long run
When 1t is promptly dismissed with contempt
Yet 1t has attracted enough attention to justify
the reflection that titled land holders have an
easy method Of making up their losses from the
new land taxes The budget gives them q
plausible excuse for resisting importunate de-
mands upon their generosity. Cadging has be-
come an intolerable nuisance in town and coun-
Try subscriptions are asked for every local
charlty' social organization, county institution
sporting club and benevolent association. Mem
oers OF Parliament are not the only men who
are expected to support every society and to
subscribe to every fund The landed gentry are
considered the almOners of benefcence to every
good cause and local enterprise. The higher
their rank and the more numerous and brilliant
their titles the larger are the calls upon their
patronage. This is one Of the penalties of high
birth and social prestge-the necessity for head
ing subscription lists and contributing regularly
to every organization rounda bout-the terri
torial forces, the fire brigade the local HOSPITALS
and charities the cricket and football teams
the social clubs, the literary and scientific asso-
Citations and funds Of every description Political
partisans are slow TO admit the truth that the
rich Iandholders will profit heavily by the budget
If it supplies pretext for revising their sub
scriptions and resisting cadging.
The wifes income has always been regarded
in England as her husbands property. and he
has been taxed for il as though It were his own
When the two incomes exceed $500 a super
tax will be imposed by the budget If he does
not make any return of her income he cannot
justify his neglect on the ground that she has
refused to tell him what it is He is under
statutory obligation TO drag the information out
OF her and 10 supply the assessors with fun and
detailed information, so that they may levy the
ordinary income taxes and the super-taxes as
we'll. If he fails 20 do it, the commissioners are
at liberty TO assess the joint incomes according
70 their knowledge and belief and the husband
! will find it a most troublesome undertaking to
obtain any reduction. The Joint assessment he
| comes tax on marriage, when the bulk of the
| income is the wife's and the husband is under
! eompulsion to pay extortionate taxes upon it, 1t
! puts a high premium on divorce, when there has
been a temporary or permanent separation and
the husband, with heavily mortgaged estates
and exhausted bank account, is called upon
/ 10 pay income and super-taxes on his wife's
/ fortune and her solicitors refuse to have any
communication with him Now that the Treas
/ ury tolls upon great incomes have increased the
wife who has brought fortune to a titled hus-
| band can hold a rod over him. If the home be
broken up, she car leave him under obligation
! To pay income and super-tax on her own wealth
according to the commissioners assessment.
/ one resource the privileged nobility have in
! reserve, even In the worst of times when the
storm and stress of Radical budgets are most
depressing This is the right of letting their
castles, deer forests. grouse moors and shooting
and hunting boxes to bankers and merchants
who are willing TO pay well for the privilege of
living in the seats OF the mighty and amusing
themselves like lords The King by short
! residence in BalmoraI gives flip to Scottish
shootings, and when there are castles and his
tOric mansions 10 go with them the values Of
the rentals arti1cially raised Many Of the
, most famous properties are let from August To
November. and second tenants are secured for
not few Of them during the winter and spring
In the north and east of England grouse and
partridge shootings command good rentals after
August and. with pheasant shooting and fox
hunting. there is brisk traffic in country houses
from November to April There are scores Of
castles and hunting boxes now in the market.
chants and shippers like TO have dukes mar
qulses and ears for their landlords and nav
high rents with cOntentment and satisfaction
Some Of these ducaI houses are haunted and
that is a serious drawback. Fond as the pros
porous middle classes may be of living lords and
of he glamour Of ancestral distinction. they do
not hanker after dead lords and mysterious
gray countesses. When a famous country house
has the reputation of having ghost walks and
spectral visitors, it is not marketable on any
/ terms. Consequently. whenever phantasms are
reported by tenants or visitors, ingenious efforts
/ are made TO explain them away. For example
two ghosts have been s, IN recently by two wit
nesses at a country house near Chesterfield
and the explanation is Immediately made that
each was projected from an overtired and ex-