Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-24
Premier Asquith Win Need Theil
Votes to Legislate.
DOUBT AS TO FATE OF LORDS
Bailoting Has Not Been Without Con
ISOLATION for Peers.
HoIE RULE ALSO WILL DRAG
= haush Irish WieId Deciding Vote,
Government Has Larger Questions
nt stake to BE Decided
First.

LONDON, Jan. 23.--Never in the recollec-
Uos Of the oldest politicians have the
British parties been in such a perplexing
position as they find themselves today and
are likely 70 face when the next House
OF Commons is organized. So evenly
divided with the membership of the next
hoUse. and so close Is the popular vote
thst the result of the elections for all prac-
ticnl purposes may be considered tie.
No human mind can divine which of the
principal and different questions before the
elet ;ofs had the most influence At the polls
or whether the results mean taht the people
demand tariff reform, or are loyal to the
lords. or anxious to reject Chancellor
Lloyd Georges budget or whether all three
of these had an equal effect Under these
circumstances neither party wants the. re-
sponslbiiity Of attempting to legislate. and
Stree a division must be so close. the union
ISIS are better satisfied TO be in opposition
than to have won by q very small ma
jorlty.
Mr.. Balfour's speeches show plainly that
with the existing conditions he is glad not
TO have control of the government. Premier
As1ulth would be equally pleased to escape
the perils OF plotting the party through the
troubled waters. There are precedents for
him to ask the king 10 summon another
leader to form the government but no one
expects him to haul down his flag. All
the prophets make the prediction that the
new cabinet will find itself in the minority
within a year and that the country will
plunge into another general election.
what Figures show.
The remarkable figures recorded at this
stage OF the balloting foreshadow clearly
how nearly equal both the popular vote
and the membership of the House Of
Commons will be divided between the two
great factions. The popular vote stands:
Unionists, 2.5e5,627; liberals, 2a24, ,s1h; labor
ties. 1851 This gives the united LIBERAL
labor party majority OF s04 IN a total
vote of B,2s5, ,1b7 Today the membership Of
the House OF Commons Is tie. the union
lists and the combined labor and liberal
ps rifles each having elected 21S representa-
tives.
One hundred and sixty-seven seats re-
main to be filled, of which 1O2 are English.
In the last Parliament these were: Union
ist, So: liberal, lis; nationalist, 10. Should
the present trend of voting continue,
neither the unionists nor the liberals can
muster a majority OF more than a dozen,
and the nationalsts, with edghty-five votes,
win be wholly masters Of the situation.
The peers and the Irishmen will be domi-
mating forces OF the next Parliament Pre-
mer Asquith has two battles to fight. to
reform the lords and to pass the budget,
which failed and the budget for the coming
year. The prospect is that both the peers
and the nationalists will vote for the
budgets
Lords Have. Chance.
The House OF Lords can be reformed
only by bill which the lords must swal-
low. They may deny that the country
h9s given a mandate for this. The union
lists insist that the elections have not
proved that the country desires a change
in the historic status Of the upper house.
They argue that a bare majority Is not
enough No country with a written con-
sttutlon, such as the United States. they
point out, can make such changes by a,
mere majority.
The position OF the nationalists is unique,
With them all questions are subservient
20 home rule. The tariff reformers claim
that tho Irish are all protectionists II they
could vote that issue without complica-
tlons. The natlonalists In the last Parlla-
mont declared against the budget prin-
cipally because they were opposed TO in
creased whisky taxes, but they would
probably help II through the next house
as a measure OF political strategy
Home rule Is not likely 10 get far next
session, according to well versed poll
ticians, because the reform of the House
OF Lords, which the prime minister has
written at the head OF his program. prom
ises great struggle. John Redmond,
leeder Of the nationalists, viii be a figure
almost as important as the premier, be,
cause Mr. Asquith can do nothing with
out him.