El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-21
Members Of Liberal Party
Want Pay In House OF Commons
XvI.-THE BRITISH CRISIS.

receive no pay and they are forced 10
meet all the expenses of holding cleo
tons in addition to their personal cam
Daien expenditures. As the expenses or
an election range from $4,000 10 SS'OVV'
and as the member must devote praC-
ticaIIy all of his time 10 his work IN
parliament, il is not difficult TO I'M
derstand why the great majority OF
members are wealthy. It is Impossible
for a poor man to be a member Of par
! lament unless he is supported by out
side contributions
Union Labor Vote
In Great Britain the trades unions OPP
crate under a charter from parliament,
| by which their powers and privileges
are defined and limited The unions
! levied a regular assessment upon their
members TO defray expenses of labor
! candidates for parliament and TO give
each member elected an annual salary
| of $500 A member Of the AmaIga-
mated Society of Railway Servants sued
! the union on the ground that II had no
right to levy an assessment for the
purpose of paying salaries TO members
! of parliament, because Of the condition
| that all candidates should sign and ac-
ccpt the conditions of the Labor party
| and be subject to the Labor whip
| The case came, in the course OF
| events, to the house of lords, which is
not only the upper chamber OF the Bit
! ish legislature. but which is also the
4 supreme court of the British empire
4 The lords decided that the unions had
no right TO assess their mmebers for the
| support OF Labor members of parl1a-
ment This was a severe blow to the
/ Labor party and resulted in recourse
to popular subscriptions 10 meet the de-
mands of the situation.
J In the event that the present conStltu-
! result a
{, for the commons. and the veto of the
/ lords should be abolished it is certain
that parliament Will provide for sal
| aries for its members When that Is
| done, the sO-called governing class
will have lost another of its advantages
in controlling the government Under
the practice that none but wealthy men
I could afford to take seats in parlia-
| ment, both parties returned great ma
| jority of landed gentry and there was
no hope of any legislation tending TO
/ curb the extOrtions of the land trust
Members Want Pay
The commons. in May. 1909, adopted a
resolution declaring that the non-pay-
ment of members and the liability OF
! candidates for the expenses OF the cleo
I ton returning officers, rendered it i'm
Dossible for many constituencies to eX-
| ercise a free choice in the selection OF
candidates and election of members OF
parliament; and expressing the sense
| OF the house that members Should be
paid a regular salary and that the
! treasury should pay the cost OF con-
Quoting the elections. This resolution
was adopted BY a vote of 242 10 92, but
LEGISLATION TO make such scheme e1-
| fectfve Is utterly impossible as long as
| the house of lords exercises its present
! power.
1t is interesting to note that the Con-
| sentative opposition 10 the payment or
members and the public betrayal OF
| election charges. is based upon refer
| ences to the horrible examples OF Tam
many hall and of American politics IN
general II is urged that an annual
salary of $500 would create in England
an Objectionable class of professional
| politicians who would degrade the pres
ent high ideals of the British political
| system to the low level of machine pol
itics and bossism existing IN the United
States.
Lewis Vernon Harcourt. speaking
for the government, replied to these OBJ
jections by saying that for his part he
! could not see why politics should be the
only profession run by amateurs He
said he was not frightened by the
prospect of an assembly Of professional
politicians; that public servants de-
! served 10 be paid. and that the time had
gone by when the country could select
its legislators solely from the leisure
class. The American observer finds 1t
odd that a government refusing TO pay
salaries to its legislators when they are
in service is content to pay $4,000 a
year to the lord high chancellor and
s25, 900 a year TO eight or 10 OF its cab
met members. 1t is even more peculiar
when it is recalled that eXmembers of
parliament although wealthy, are fire.
quently retired on pensions Of ten to
fifteen thousand dollars a year
Liberal Party Radical.
The Liberal party as now cOnStitu ted
is becoming more and more Radical
and every year makes distinct 2-ngreSs
In the direction Of approving public
policies which would be rem -Ged IN
America SOcialistic. Indeed. in The
last British campaign the Liberals were
referred to in the Opposition press 4
Socialists almost as often as they were
called Radicals. Among the present
leaders of the party. LlOyd-GeOrge aud
Winston Churchill are ultra Radical. Sir
Edward Grey is ultra-cautiouS and
Premier Asquith occupies a middle
ground.
| Tomorrow-XVII, Prime Minister
ASquith.