The daily sentinel., 1910-11-03
LIBERALS FACING
GRAVE PROBLEMS
Sentinel Special Service.

Sentinel Special Service.
London, Nov. AT the opening
OF the parliamentary season draws
nearer, it becomes more and more
evident that the Unionists are any
| thing but united. They agree on one
thing only. opposition to the present
| Liberal government, but they have.
\ beyond that, neither a platform nor
| a leader. Mr. Balfour is, of course,
still the undisputed leader of the
| party. but his followers are continu-
ally grunbling and complaining that
| he keeps his plans to himself and
! never tries to get in touch with them
| when questions of vital Importance
are about to be brought up in the
| house of commons
Among these questions none is apt
Ito give the Conservatives more trou-
| BILE than the Osborne Judgment.
which forbids labor unions to support
their representatives in the house
financially. There seems but one
way out of this. the payment by the
state. of the political representatives
of the people a plan which will be
advocated by the Liberal party now
in power.
members of the house of commons.
the Unionists are hepelessly divided,
and their differences of opinion are
aired in the press.
While Mr.. Ba1rour maintains his
sphinxlike silence one of the younger
members of the party. the brilliantly
gifted lawyer, Mr.. F. f. Smith, has
come out openly in favor of payment
of members. braving the anger and
opposition of the older conservative
politicians, the most liberal of whom
hold that while payment of members
has few theoretical advantages, its
practical disadvantages are-far great
er.
Payment of members" said one
of the most prominent Conservatives
a few days ago, will not help to
get the wage earners into the house
of commons, but 1t will encourage the
fortune hunter. and will whet the
appetite of those who secure q small
salary to demand larger one or to
increase the salary paid by the nation
for their wholesale votes by addi-
tional sums paid by individuals. Pay
| ment of members of the house of
commons would lead to the demand
for payment of mayors, councillors,
guardians, members of hospital COM
mittees. magistrates, and all those
doing public work, and degrade pub
lie and honorable service into a dis
honorable strife of greed. graft and
grab
This particular member voices an
opinion among people of his class:
| that only the rich can afford to be
honest. and who most always end
their arguments by pointing to the
professional politician in the United
States as the horrible result of the
practice of remunerating the repre-
sentatives of the people for their SER
| vices.
| The question OF the house of lords
| is hardly any more comforting to the
Tories. Either the conference will
! find solution, or it will break up,
leaying things as they were. If
settlement is attained, ministers,
! though they may not have achieved
all that they set out to do, or may
not have achieved it in the way orig
| inally proposed. will yet have, Sc
| cured principal part of their policy.
If no settlement is attained, there
will be an immediate election. and
| the Tories will once more have to
| fight with the house of lords on their
back.
There are some Tories who believe
! that they could carry tariff reform II
the lords were out of the way. and
there are others who believe that, il
| tariff reform war were out of the
way. they could win on the old Con-
servative lines. But how many are
there who believe that the north of
England can be carried for food
taxes and the unrestricted veto of
the lords?