Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-24

posal for an assessment may not seem
to be a terrible thing. But here the
landlords, especially the peers who hold
the great estates, regard such a survey
as a most dangerous approach to So
cialism.
Their fears are not altogether without
foundation, for there is considerable
party in England which favors the ma
tionalization of all the land. The
Lloyd George scheme of taxation, al
though now very light, would yield, as
the chancellor says, a constantly in
creasing revenue, and would make the
ownership of unimproved land and of
large quantities of land increasingly
burdensome. In other words, the bud
get proposes a land tax based upon the
theory of the single tax, as expounded
by Henry George.
The charge made by the Conserva-
tives that this is the single tax and
that it is inspired by Henry George,
and that it aims at the breaking up of
large holdings, is not denied by the
Liberals. Many Liberal candidates for
parliament have boldly proclaimed their
faith in Henry George and the doctrine
that the land ought to be owned by the
nation. All of them declare that a tax
on improvements and industry is wrong
and that tax on the idler who does
nothing to improve his property but
value and to his wealth is right.
Next to the posters the most remark
able feature Of the campaign is the uni
versal singing by Liberals of "The
Land Song" 1t is set to the stirring
air of Marching Through Georgia."
and part Of it is:
Sound blast for freedom, boys, and send it
far and wide!
March along to victory, for God is on our
side;
While the voice of nature thunders Ger the
rising tide
"God made the land for the peopIe?'
The land The landl
Twas God who gave the land!
The land The land
The ground which standi
Why should we be beggars with the ballot in
hand?
"God gave the land to the peopleg'
This song was distributed in sheet
music form, and every copy bore on
the back a portrait of an American
Henry George, the single taxer.
The opposition all through the cam
paign worked to divert attention from
the land question and the budget by
attacking the Liberal policy on the
and by offering tariff reform as a
means of getting revenue and protec-
ton as a means of making jobs for the
unemployed. This led to the Liberal
retort that the peers wanted to tax
the poor mans loaf instead of their
own land. Some of the landlords were
unwise enough to declare that the new
land taxes were so onerous that they
must cut off their subscriptions to
charities and the like. This course of
action was condemned even by the
Tory leaders.
Another feature of the budget which
had a powerful effect in the campaign,
although before the election results are
all in no one can estimate how much,
are the new taxes on the liquor trade.
The budget provided for heavy in
creases in liquor taxes, especially on
the brewers. This forced q partner
ship of the peerage and the "beerage,"
and was productive of much of the
scandal which disgraced the conduct OF
the campaign.
Lloyd-George and other leaders of his
ilk, who are working strenuously for
social reform, are inclined to be severe
on the liquor traffic as it is carried on
in this country. There is nothing APP
the prohibition movement as
it is known in parts of the United
states, put there is distinct public
opinion of higher license and more
strict regulations. One of the latter is
that children under IA shall not be per-
mitted in public houses. This regula-
tion has created a very furore of pro-
test in some quarters, and no doubt
lost many votes for the Liberals. The
budget did not contain an education
bill, such as was passed by the Liberal
house and rejected by the lords, but
it limited at a system of schools which
would be free from the control of the
Established Church. This brought many
into the fight.
The result of the Lloyd George bud
get was, first, the dissolution of the
by the action of the lords;
second, the arraying of the kingdom
into two political camps-one composed
of the peers, the landowners, the
churchmen, the liquor trade, and those
Conservatives who fear the red flag of
Socialism; the other containing the
Liberals, the "Progressives," the Social
lists and the Laborites. This division
of the people is in more or less per-
form, and upon the parliament
now chosen rests the burden of choos-
ing between land taxation and tariff
reform-in either case a radical de-
parture from the accepted fiscal policy
of Great Britain.
TomorrOw-The English Elections.