El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-01-28

7 ONDON. Eng. Jan. 2S.-Whenever
I politics in America shows symp-
toms of being rude. whenever
some Republican calls some Democrat
a demagog and the Democrat retorts
by calling the Republican liar; then
someone is sure TO rise up and say that
only in the United States is such undig-
nified procedure possible Therefore,
when a visiting American finds that the
British politicians use more billings
gate in a week than the Americans use
In a lifetime of politics, his efforts TO
deplore the situation are somewhat
the boys at home
'Liar" Used Freely.
The word Tie and liar have been
so freely used in this British parlia-
mentary campaign that one wonders
what has become of the boosted British
dignity. Mr.. Balfour has been kind
enough to gather the entire Liberal
propaganda within one bracket and
apply the short and ugly word to the
whole business
Mr.. Asquith and Lloyd-George have
similarly used the word of three let
ters in reference to the lords defence
and the tariff reformers' promises.
Lloyd-George, in addition to this, has
been at some pains to specify some par
ticular lies and liars, using thaplainest
possible English in so doing.
Alexander Ure. lord advocate of Scot
land, and an officer in the govern
ment, early in the action. made
speech in which he intimated that the
Conservatives. if given majority in
the commons. would stop the old age
pensions granted by the late Liberal
parliament. Mr.. Balfour retorted with
the pleasant statement that Mr.. IRE
was telling a cold and calculated lie.
The Conservative newspapers and
campaign literature kept up the IRE
business until the very close of the
campaign. Posters quoted Mr.. IRE and
then added, in letters ten inches high.
That's lie At the same time the
Conservatives. who opposed old age
pensions in parliament, flooded the
country with posters reading vote for
unionism and old age pensions" To
which the Liberals retorted with the lie
direct.
Strongly Denounced.
Lloyd George in his famous Lime
house speech, delivered two months be-
fore the campaign opened, undertook
an exhaustive defence of his scheme for
the taxation Of unearned increment in
land values. He used for Illustration
two pieces of property in Cardiff. In
the heart of that prosperous city stands
fine old scastle with 100000 square
yards of land, worth a fabulous sum
If it were placed on the market. Its
occupant, the marquis of Butte, pays
rates on an annual rental Of s4605. Next
door, said Lloyd-George was a tailor
shop with only 500 square yards Of
land, whose occupant paid rates upon
an annual rental of $4935.
The Welsh Liberal leader was imme-
diately denounced by the Conservative
press as a liar" as "purveyor of
falsehoods," as a "mendacious mischief
maker" as an enemy of truth, law and
order" and as "a deceiver of the public"
because. as the newspapers stated, the
tailor shop was not next door to the
castle, but was in the next street, a
half-blOck away.
LIOyd-George's Reply.
Lloyd-George replied that he knew
that no building could be literally next
door to the castle when it was sur
rounded by a park. but that he used
the term to indicate that the tailor shop
was in the immediate neighborhood-
when I say a man is next door to a
fool said the chancellor of the ex-
checker, 81 don't mean he lives next to
one, but that he is somewhere IN the
neighborhood of being one"
All through the campaign, until the
very last, the denunciations Of Lloyd
Georges ''ie" were repeated, and con-
slant reference was made to the little
tailor shop and CarSAff castle, to prove
that no credence whatever should be
given to anything Lloyd-George might
have to say.
Licensing Bill.
One OF the many side issues in this
campaign was the licensing bill, by
which the Liberal government had
raised the license tax on the sale Of in
toxicating liquors, and had provided
that in the future such licenses might
be renewed annually. For years they
had been regarded as a vested right.
In discussing the attitude Of the gov
eminent to the liquor trade, and the
raising of license fees to a scale about
one-fifth of that obtaining in New
York, one of the leading London news
papers of the Conservative type used
this language in one editorial:
Utter iniquity. Sheer brigandage.
Fanatica1 legislation. Socialistic con-
fiscation. A gigantic act of public
theft. A raiding expedition of partisan
blackmailers. The sum of hypocrisy
with the maximum Of wrong. A meas
ure of plumber. A measure of fraud
The governmenVis acting in the spirit