New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-12-06

ms shown during the protracted debate
has been the conversion of the finance
bin into an omnibus measure OF LIBERAL
ism The licensing and land values tax
alton measures which had been rejected
by the Lords were dragged into the
budget and protected against assault
under the plea OF financial privilege.
The finance bill has been described as
q series OF measures artificially jumbled
together. and Lord Lansdowne has as
serted that there is nothing TO prevent
the incorporation Of an education bill or
q Home Rule bill with the budget and
the raising OF the same issue OF the ex-
elusive privilege of the Commons in the
enactment OF money bills. The best re-
ply 90 this charge has been made by the
Lord Chancellor who has cited the pro-
test OF the Lords two centuries ago
against tacking anything 10 a bill of sup
1 ply. the matter OF which is foreign TO
and differen; from the matter of the said
bin" He has shown that II is impossible
TO raise land taxes without valuation,
that licensing has been one of the COM
nonest details OF budgeting. and that
there is nothing in the bill which in the
least interferes with the doctrine laid
down i'm the Lords ancient resolution.
The main argument against the budget
repeated by scores of peers has been its
paralyzing effect upon investments. in
dustries, general business and public
confidence. Lord Revelstoke has spoken
with authority and convincing power on
this subject. He has laid stress upon the
decline In consols. the appalling depre-
citation OF British stocks. the diversion OF
immense masses Of capital 10 foreign Sc
curities and loans. the straining of emer-
gency reserves by high income taxation,
the increase Of exhausting levies of d.
rect taxation and general impairment
Of industrial enterprise. public confidence
and national prosperity.
4 more weighty remonstrance against
the existing fiscal policy has not been
heard than this influential bankers.
With studied moderation he has COM
planned that sober criticisms from expert
financial quarters have been met with
invoctive rather Than argument or con-
cession. we have had speech after
Speech" he has said. from our Iegisls-
tcfSs bt v llic RuIppIi IDS Dttn 10
set class against class and 10 represent
tho interests Of capital as antagonistic
20 the welfare of the people" This emf
nent financier. around whom investors
and brokers are swarrning with the
clamorous cry. Give US something for
eign." commands hearing when he at
tributes the present unsettlement to a
growing lack 81 confidence in British
properties OF all kinds. Equally effective
has been Lord Miner on the revenue re-
sources Of tariff reform.
II has been q highly decorous debate.
with crowded benches and galleries filled
with diplomats and peeresses. Voices
have not been raised In passionate decla-
nation: dukes. esrls and viscounts have
stuck 20 their well bred. listless form;
there have been few humorous passages.
but many studied rarsphrsses Of stately
irony: and all the Old metaphors have
been brought into use, the melting pot"
being the commonest property, Lord Rib
biesdalc's description OF the Chancellor
Of the Exchequer as half pantaloon and
half highWayman being the funniest hit.
and Lord Revelstolke's mariner destroy
ing his weather glass because il gave
warning Of a storm the most trenchant
figure. II has been a most reputable
dress parade of the Lords, With the ex-
tremists and wild men silent in the back
ground, and with Earl Russell as the
only peer TO wear a blazing red tie and
20 talk milk-and-water socialism.
The solicitude OF the Tory peers re-
specting the supremacy Of the general
electorate has not been so sincere as
their adherence Of the budget. Nothing
would have been easier than the passage
OF the finance bin with an understanding
that the general elections would he held
I'm January. The Tory peers were bent
upon killing the budget. and ministers
welcomed the chance Of convicting the
Lords OF unconstitutional action and ap-
pealing TO the country with fresh issue
OF commanding importance. Extremists
on each side are having their way. and
compromise has been impracticabIe.
The budget having been got rid Of, an
irrepressible conflict will open between
the houses OF Parliament. Lord Lore
burn and other Liberal peers have
declared that IL will be impossible
for any Liberal government 20 take
Office again unless secured against such
wanton treatment as ministers have re-
ceived during the last four years from
the Lords. A huge majority obtained IN
1906 has not protected the government
against the slaughter OF two education
bills. the licensing bill. several land re-
form measures and two election bills;
and the budget, on which the Commons
have expended many months Of exhaust
ing labor, is now 10 be hung up or re-
jected in defiance of the constitutional
practice OF centuries
IL Is possible-t2rif reformers con-
slider il certain-that the country, with
its swarming masses Of unemployed and
with every public house an electioneering
agency for the Conservatives. is indif-
ferent 10 these constitutional issues and
eager 60 sanction the Lords revolution
AIRY claim of power over the purse. In
scrutable is the mind Of democracy on
the eve of an election. But whatever
may be the immediate result, sooner or
later there must be reckoning with the
British electorate. Otherwise representa-
tive government will be a failure in the
United Kingdom ana titled oligarchy