Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-10-13
Especial Correspondence

tSpeCla1 correspondence
Washington, Oct. IA few years
ago a well-to do farmer Of the English
anidlands, OF whom nobody had ever
heard outside his home neighborhood
died. He was an old man, who had
been = working boy, had become a
farmer. and had been pretty successful
at trading in lands and farming them
duces the farm tenantry of England OF
the laborers of the British cities; ,lnedu-
Gated, unassuming, simple. He had
just one talent and nobody knew he had
that.
When his estate came to be adjudged
for the purpose of applying the death
ltaxes. or Inheritance taxes. as they
would be called in this country, it fell
out that the estate was worth about
$40, 100000. alomst entirely in farm
lands.
All Britain sat up Instantly and took
notice. 1t was a nine-d days wonder; as
, wonderful, as if, while all Americans
have been assuming that Mr.. Rockefel-
Ter. with $500. 900, 600 or so was its
richest man. another, plain old farm
err, should die and his heirs should pro-
bate a will which should disclose ar
estate big enough to overshadow the
modest competency of Rockefeller
A Case In Contrast
Charles Morrison, midland farmer
was the object lesson just then needed
by another Englishman of similarly
humble origin. This other Englishmar
had been born in Liverpool, but his
father and mother were of purest
Welsh extraction. Left an orphan al
years, he had been raised by an uncle
who was a poor but rather thrifty
shopkeeper in a small Welsh town. Al
2l he was barrister: at IS he went to
court and made a wonderful defense OF
some rioters who had looted stores be-
cause they were hungry; and at So he
was elected to the house of commons
The talent which Charles Morrison mid
land farmer, possessed for money get
ting. was utterly foreign to this young
Welshman. He knew and cared nothing
for money making; but he had a pas
Sion for study; for social investigation
for political economy. He was an in
significant little man; barely over five
feet tall but with big head and q
manner that made men forget his di-
minutive stature and recognize him as
a leader. To him, Charles Morrison
was social phenomenon, to be studied
and analysed. not a great man to be
enyied his successes.
At forty, our black eyed, nervous
earnest little Welshman was yer,
solid" with his Welsh constituency
and with all Of Wales. In fact he had
organized the entire Welsh representa-.
personal following. Any Welshmar
who could go home at the end of the
session with a pretty clean record OF
following little David could be prett,
certain of standing well with his con.
stltuents as a body. but his socia
prospects, if he had ambition to be IN.
vited to the great houses and to cross
mis- legs under mahogany bearing a coat
OF arms. would not be very good.
Little David" to the Fore.
And 80 when, in 1905, the liberia
party swept the general elections. the
unionists went out Of power, and 81!
Henry Campbell beca mi
premier OF Great Britain, "li.tle
| David" suddenly became an importan
parsonage. Wales was liberal, and Mr.
Daxid LloydGeorge was its leader il
liberalism. He was, in sooth, what
American conservatives good -natured-
ly cali an anarchist; not The
bomb throwing sort. but a radica
OF the most iconoclastic notions as re.
CARDS institutions supposedly sacred by
reason of mere antiquity. He must be
taken into the government, in order tc
keep his Welsh following in line; anG
he was made chairman of the board Of
trade. That means much the same al
| it would mean in this country to be
secretary of commerce and labor, on,,
more.
| On the whole Mr.. Lloyd George made
a very good secretary of commerce alt
labor; but 1T manifestly wasn't The
place he wanted, and his success
wasn't striking. Then Sir Henry died
Mr.. Asquith became premier; there wa.
a cabinet reorganization; and for va.
rious reasons the little Welsh barristel
became chancellor of the exchequer-
secretary of the treasury, only goot
deal more.
| Goes Step Higher.
4 The liberals had come In with hug.
majority; and from the day they go
in they failed to make good The labo
unionists soon became disgusted; thu
sccialistically inclined deserted becaus
they We're not radical enough: the i'm
perialists accused them of incompe
tency in foreign dealings, as liberal,
are always accused of weakness il
foreign policy; the German war scar
was magnificently promoted as a di
version. The British tories always &c
up war scare of some sort about III
time there is prospect for some radica
treatment of dom este. social and eco
nonlical problems. and manage ITO 81;
vert attention by soaring the countr
half to death. I'ne sanIe the; c..
working just now is very old, but YER
commonly successful.
The liberal regime tried to be radica
without being too radical. 1t under
took, by the education bill, to shake Of
d the grip of the established church fron
| the business of public education in tn