The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-12-26

/ Iiged to send their warships to th
1 vicinity to protect their citizens, but
fortunately the new government
proved itself able to restore order and
to punish offenders: and nus inter-
! national complications were avepted.
Had the contrary been the case. q
1 complications would undoubtedly hav
been serious. For. shortly prior to tn
Turkish revolt. Austro- Hungary. keen
| ~ alive to the internal troubles
/ Turkey. had disturbed the whole peace
of the Balkans by suddenly disregard
ing the treaty of Berlin and selling
4 the provinces of Bosnia ana Herss
/ gsvina. presumably In order to IA.
crease her access to the sea. Against
this Turkey protested and eventuaf
had to be siienced by money indem-
nifty. Also Servia protested, and that
j much more vehemently than did Tur-
key. Indeed. at one time. there was
every evidence that the situation
would develop into war between
! Servia and Austro- Hungary
The Great War Scare Of the Year.
The great war scare of the year
i however, centered around Germany
and England, the apparent growing
strain of relations between these two
j countries causing the entire Civilized
world to discuss almost daily through
out the year the possibilities OF q war
In which they would be the combat
ants. 1t Is an undisputea fact that
both Germany and England all through
the year have been rushing naval con-
4 struction and military preparations at
| a somewhat more than usual gait
! England going at the work of build
ing ships with the grim determinatios
OF not allowing the mastery OF tn.
seas to be wrenched from her by the
Germans.
L. -. x,--,s ....fs.t ...... - xa+fov, , /
and international fame declared un-
/ equivocally in public speeches that
Germany's warlike preparations could
be directed against England only, and
while visiting In this country and
4 Canada, Lord Charles Beresford. admi
raj of the British navy, and Lord
| Northcliffe, the owner of many news
i papers and periodicals throughout
i Great Britain, made numerous speeches
calling upon this country to unite
| with England in keeping the Kaiser
at peace. To put 1t mildly, the British
] nation viewed with extreme uneast-
ness throughout the entire year the
possibility OF. an armed clash with
| Germany.
| On the German side, officials close
to the Emperor made repeated assn
i RANGES that the latter's aims were al
together peaceful. As late as Noyem-
Der Count Won Bernstroff, the German
Ambassador to the United States,
| made an extended speech in Philadel-
1 phia, in which he stated that his gov
| eminent no longer sought extension of
its colonies and that the only aim OF
the German people for the future was
the expansion of trade. But. some
months before, when the Reichstag
4 opened: one OF the principal measures
brought up for discussion was a new
scheme of taxation, whose obvious
object was an increase In the military
i budget. The scheme involved increas-
Ing the levy on many of the common
necessities of life, such as tobacco, SUI
gar. coffee, ETC.. and such was the
fight made against it that eventually
Chancellor Won Buelow was driven to
| resign. The bill was finally passed
before the resignation was presented
but the fact that the Chancellor had
been one of the Emperor's closest con-
| fdants satisfied the opponents of mil
itarism that the imperial pressure fol
army and navy expansion was not re-
flaxife. ,ia@E ees srtF
~ 1t may thus be that, in the end. the
German taxation controversy and this
approximations and forecasts OF Euro
pean war will prove to have had
fourth rank with the aviation and the
North Pole discovery and the downs
! fall of Turkish absolutlsnn, as events
of the year 1903.
The Nations Financial Troubles.
At any rate, whatever their signifi
canoe, they served to fix the attention
. | upon the fact that the year was mark
ed. in almost all nations. and, for the
matter of that, in almost all statel
and cities, by REORGANIZATION o.
financial budgets and resources Eng
: land, above all others, entered into
= A C INTEL a nj
of its consequences, the Liberal min
istry, under Prime Minister Herber
Henry Asquith, making 1t the part.
] issue Of the year.
Confronted by an impending deflci
b of over $7S,000.000. the ministry pro
: posed, among other radical measures
great increase in the Inheritance
! income and real estate taSes, togeth
err with stamp taxes on real estate am
stock exchange deals. At once Their
broke forth storm of opposition, as
:, pecially among the wealthy and land
! ed classes. who have since CONSTANT!
I cried "Confscation" and Socialism.
: In November, after prolonged discus
sion, the budget passed the House o
!, Commons by a large majority, ant
went to the Lords
; who, after prolonged debate, which at
tracted attention all over the worlt
rejected the budget on Nov. 30 by
vote of $50 to rs. Two days later tn
House OF Commons supported over
whelmingly Premier Asquith's resolu
ton, charging the Lords with usurpa
ton, in that they mad dared to inter
fere with financial legislation, contrar
to the unwritten law OF the kingdomo
the next day Parliament was prorogue
till Jan. Is, and the campaign for tn
January elections became hot imme
diately If a Liberal majority Is re
turned to Parliament the rejected bud
get Will be passed and the unwritte
law that the Lords shall not interior
with the Kingdoms financial program
will be made into a statute, and an
other step will have been taken to
wards the curtailment, and probabl
ultimate adjustment of the House o
Lords The Lords realize all this, an
also that the budget will hit ther
heaviest of all, as possessors of grea
landed estates and fortunes and the
are lighting in the campaign now o.
as IL for their very lives, with tn
Liberals cry filling all England tina
theirs is a campaign of democrac
against class-a question of whethe
the people or the aristocracy shal
rule.
In financial matters. the United
States and Great Britain ran parallel
with the only difference that our fisca
discussion conferred. not around a so
called budget, but the revision of tn
tariff.
Pursuant to the pledges of the plat
form on which he was elected, Presi'
dent Taft, Immediately following hi
Inauguration on March 4 as Mr. Roose
velt's successor, called Congress II
extra session on March is for the ex-