The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-11-13
THE BRITISH COMPLICATION.

The effort upon the part of the
House of Commons to Gurtail the power
Of the House Of Lords has been given up
so far as the present membership of
Parliament is concerned A commission
composed of Lords and Commons has
been trying to arrive at a satisfactory
settlement as between the two houses.
The contention on the part of the Com
mons is that the House of Lords ought
not to have, and must not have, the
power. of veto, or disagreement as we
would say in Congress, on matters Of
appropriations and tax bills; that the
House of Commons should be supreme
in these matters, and that the House of
Lords should merely perfunctorily and
formally agree to what the House Of
Commons proposes, The radical alter
native is to abolish the House of Lords
altogether as a co-equal body In the
formation of Parliament. The make
shifts heretofore adopted Of creating a
sufficient number of new lords to over
ride the opposition majority in that
House is not found available IN this
case, because the House of Lords, rep
resenting chiefly the landlord class, is
with almost practical unanimity opposed
to the land taxes proposed by the House
of Commons.
And so the efforts at a harmonious
settlement having failed, the PROPOSE
tion now is to appeal to the country in
q new election. Doubtless this appeal
| xCI hn n MI n n
which the House of Commons will pass,
and the Lords have disagreed to it,
the Ministry will resign and new cleo
ton will follow. This is the common
precedent. This is what was done last
year, the elections of last January being
the result. and these elections giving Il
ma jority for the BUDGET in the House
of Commons. At that election very
many subsidiary questions intervened,
as the protection of the country in
case of invasion from Germany. the
strengthening of the navy, certain of
the assizo taxes, labor questions, and
various other questions making the
issues very complicated, However, the
Ministry was able to patch up a ma
enforcement from the Irish Nationalists.
1t is to be hoped that in the expected
elections, which Will probably be in
January again, the issue Will be made
plain and distinct 1t is certainly time
that the House Of Lords were either
set aside In the way proposed or re-
duccd in numbers and made somewhat
rnp pfot bur ~ bo al
torate were allowed TO vote upon the
membership in the House of Lords
choosing a certain limited number of
the nobility to that body, aud com
pellng these to submit their claims to
IL constituency for ratification. there
would be a sudden and radical change
in the attitude of the House of Lords
toward live questions that concern the
people throughout the British Empire.
1t is the certainty of lifelong mem ber-
ship, without regard to what the peo-
pic want, with the personal interests of
the members conflicting with the inter
ests of the people, that makes the
House of Lords such an obstruction to
progress in Great Britain. If the Lords
were brought into relation with the peo.
pie through being obliged to submit
their claims to membership in the upper
House of Parliament to popular vote
or even to vote of provincial assem-
blies, patterned in some degree upon
the State election of Senators in this
country, reform would Immediately be
come manifest. However. the House
of Commons will doubtless propose the
most popular form of campaign that
can be devised. and will go to the conn
try on the proposition of making that
the law; and the election which will
follow will be one of interest to the en-
= tire world.