El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-13

Under this provision labor exchanges
/ were opened in all parts of the king
! dom ito assist in the finding of en-
! plOyment TO save the man VINO was
/ out of work-perchance his wife and
his family-from starvation until he
gets employment" More than a mill
! lion dollars was voted for road i'm
I provement. To serve the double pur-
/ pose of lettering the highways and
| of giving employment to labor. An
! other million was devoted for the de-
( veIopment of useful schemes in agri-
/ culture, in the extension of light rail-
ways, afforestEatiOn. and the like. An
! other million was appropriated for
making scientific experiments in agri-
/ culture with the view to rendering
available land now lying idle. All this
| was in addition to the provisions al
ready made for old age pensions
Politicians Make Promises
These extraordinary proposals of the
Liberal party were denounced by the
/ Conservative opposition as being the
vanguard of an attack upon the in
! stitution of private property and as
an effort TO convert the state into a
socialistic commune. Oddly enough.
from the American point Of view, the
Conservatives directed the force of
their opposition not toward the pro-
! visions for insurance against unem-
ployment and old age pensions, but
upon the principle of land taxation.
Indeed, the Conservatives themselves
had promised old age pensions to the
people and, as q political expedient
had voted 10 extend the pensions to a
class not provided for by the radical
budget. The opposition also had prom
| Used the people to deal with the prob
! lem Of unemployment They did not
regard these things as being danger
| ously socialistic. But the proposition
| to tax land, which Americans accept as
| a matter of course, was to the British
Tories the very essence of revolution
| airy socialism
Americans as partners in the inner
! itance of liberties wrested from the
British crown by outraged citizens, are
proud of that long line of victories for
/ freedom begun when the barons wreSt-
/ ed the great charter from the un
/ willing hands of king John, and con-
! tinued by Simon de Montford and
! all his successors in the militant move
ments for the extension of popular
government. But it must be remmem-
J bered that in England all OF these re-
| forms were instituted on behalf OF the
| land owning classes. In the marcFN~sf
the centuries the population of Eng
| land has been growing constantly,
while the land owning class has been
diminishing constantly in number.
The British system of land tenures
/ has the effect of increasing the size
/ of individual estates. and it effectually
I prevents the operation of the natural
| law which decreases the size of indi-
vidua1 land holdings in proportion to
! the increase of population. 1t was at
this point that the United States ad-
vanced far beyond the British system
| when, in the Virginia legislature, Mr..
! Jefferson succeeded in abolishing the
! law Of primogeniture and entail, max
| ing It impossible 70 transmit large es-
| tates intact from generation to gen
/ Grafton. Perhaps this reform in the
, system of land tenures may be set
| down as the greatest accomplishment
! of the American revolution At any
rate, It makes forever impossible in
the United States such a conflict be-
NGeen landlords and people as is now
Aged in England
and Owners Control.
r Wing or Tory. Liberal or
i've, every English legislature
second parliament of king
vi, elected in 1906. was CON
btirely in both branches by
owning classes. That parIia-
h its huge Liberal majority,
rst time represented the ten
abOring classes of the Eng
E. It sought to impose upon
Ords share in the burden
lment which they never had
kcause they never would inn
pom themselves.
|nmons passed the budget only
rejected by the landlords in
of peers, despite the fact
three centuries the commons
cfsed sole and exclusive legis-
18th respect TO taxation. The
went to the people, or to such
as are entitled by the own
use of landed property to a
Liberal government was sus-
tut by q margin too narrow TO
a victory f0f~the radical So
rm movement 1t was but the
lie of the war
battles will be fought. many
perhaps, but the social revo-
IS have faith to believe that
II eventually triumph. In the
f Mr.. LlOyd-George, mo coun-
wever rich. can permanentIy
have CHARTERED upon its rev
class which declines to do the
hich it was called upon to per-
This means a declaration Of
ainst sthe land owning leisure
and ii presageS the impending
ion.
prrow-K, The Fate of the