Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-12-31

Itrol Of financial matters has been in
the house Of commons. For the lords
now to assume the right to reject A.
nancial measure Is the first act Of
usurpation. Lord Lansdowne's motion
requires a dissolution of parliament.
The right to dissolve parliament, how
yer. belongs to the crown. This is the
second act Of usurpation.
The rejection Of the budget is not
the first offense of the lords. Several
other reform measures proposed by
the present government and passed by
the commons have met their death in
the upper chamber, Just as Gladstone's s
home rule bill was killed few years
ago. All these things have been al
lowed to accumulate against the day
of wrath. They have not been forgot
ten. They we're kept In allegiance only
to be presented as different counts in
the indictment when the people Of
England came to pass judgment on
their house Of peers. Has the day Of
lsettlement finally come?
II The British budget is the omnibus
Financial measure Of each year, con-
ltaining the taxation and revenue pro-
visions. The present one, over which
all this fight has been raised, is de-
nounced as socialistic, but the defini-
tion Is not accurate. The budget Is
more in line with Henry Georges sin
i gle tax, which is quite another thing
from socialism. The single tax, or a
modified form of 1t known as the land
tax, has already been adopted In por-
tions of the British empire, notably In
New Zealand and Australia. This
measure would put It in force in Eng
land, Scotland and Ireland. The tax
Is laid with especial emphasis on the
..unearned increment is, the
value which is put into the land by
the community and not by the owner.
For example, man owns farm near
which or on which springs up city.
Because Of the city the land increases
Immensely in value. although the in
Idividual owner has contributed moth
ing to that increase. 1t Is made who'll
| ly by the community. This is the un-
earned increment, and on such social
value accruing in future the budget
lays its impost. There are other pro-
Visions in kind; also considerable tax
ON liquor. It Is the land tax and liquor
tax that have caused the trouble.
In Great Britain the land Is largely
owned by the lords, and 1t now tran
spires that these scions of nobility are
financially interested In the liquor con-
Germs. Between the two they get 1t
both ways. They are being hit in the
pocketbook, and that Is the reason
they are usurping a power that no
British house Of lords has dared as
sumo in more than 200 years. Dare
they assume It? This momentous
question Is now to be answered by
the electors Of England, Scotland and
ireland.
There are more than 500 peers in
the three realms, but ordinarily only
few attend the sessions Of parlia-
ment.. Most of them are never seen
within the precincts Of the house of
lords. They are not only absentee
iaA1lords, but absentee 2ie sisiatots.
The budget fight, however, brought
practically all Of them to London. They
swarmed out Of their castles as the
rats swarmed out Of Hamelin town at
the call of the Pied Piper. Hundreds
Of strange faces appeared in the up
per chamber that never were seen
there before and perhaps never will be
again. It was the holders Of special
privilege rushing to the defense when
an attack on privilege was threatened.
The ensuing debate is one that will
be long remembered in England,
though not for its brilliancy. 1t amaz-
ed the nation. To call 1t schoolboy
affair would be no insult to the schools.
One minister termed 1t babyish. Out
side of a few men like Roseberry and
Balfour, Lord Salisbury and the Earl
of Crewe 1t displayed lack Of grasp,
breadth and statesmanlike qualities.
It was selfish, personal, sordid. 1t
was the whine of spoiled boy. When
not petulant 1t was deadly dull 1t was
an attempt at argument by men unfa-
miliar with intellectual habits. Yet
the spectacle had It's educational value.
1t showed to the British people their
so-called nobility in its true light. It
stripped off the glamour Of name and
tradition. At the disillusionment the
people at first gasped and then laugh
ed.
That debate doomed the house OF
lords-if not next year, then in the
near future. 1t revealed these peers of
the realm as selfish and allied to the
worst elements in the kingdom. 1t
showed them to be not only common
clay, but as beneath the average In In
telligence and morality. Today Eng
lishmen are gathering by the thous-
and and cheering for the budget and
David Lloyd-George, its author, the
Welsh school-teacher who rose to be
chancellor of the exchequer. They
are singing as the French sang the
"Marseillaise" more than a century
ago. and the burden of their song Is
that the land Is for the people. Lloyd
George and Winston Churchhill are
ridiculing the dukes with a sarcasm
that is spreading a grin over the three
nations. 1t reminds one Of the days
when Thomas Paine wrote his Rights
of Man" in defense Of the principles OF
the French revolution. in which he
scored the aristocracy in words that
ring yet. Paine has been dead CEN
tury. but the truths he voiced are the
most living things in England.