The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-03
ENGLISH SOLONS ARE OFF THE TRACK Taft's Attitude on China Is Satisfactory GREAT LEADER AT II Lord Rothschild Is Remarkable Ex- ample of Vitality of Old Man..
 Rumored That Uncle Sam
 Would Back England
GREAT LEADER AT II
By PAUL LAMBETH

By PAUL LAMBETH
 London, December 2.-(SpeciaD the
 struggle over home rule, Welsh discs tablishment and the insurance bill, what
 is perhaps the most revolutionary and | important plank in the government pro- l gramme has been almost lost sight of. | This is the reform of the franchise laws. | It has been no secret that under the
 suffrage as it now exists with its prop | erty qualifications and plural voting the
 Liberals have been sadly handicapped. l 1t has been known for some time that ! Prime Minister Asquith intended to take up this question but it was only recently
 that he has come squarely out in favor l of manhood suffrage and announces that at the next session of parliament bill will be introduced and pushed providing that every man in Great Britain who is | a. bona fide citizen and of sound mind
 shall have vote and what-is more im-
 portant no man shall have more than | one vote.
 | This means that thousands of plural | voters, nearly all of whom are against
 the government will be cut off after this measure is enacted into law. It will also enfranchise thousands of men who nat urally are Liberals and will make the po- sition of the UnIonists in the next gen. eral election infinitely harder than it | has been.% <
 President Tafts attitude toward the | troubles in China has been regarded from I the outset in Downing street and at the I ! that the question whether one regiment por five should be sent from Manila to safeguard the American legation at Pek- ing is deemed politically unimportant. A very different View would be taken if there were the smallest doubt as to the disinterestedness of the United States. No such serenity exists with reference to Russia and Japan. Each of these powers has extremely valuable interests in Manchuria, and the assumption of London and Paris is that each will strive to strengthen it's position after the dis credited Manchu dynasty has been shorn of it's influence.
 Other nations, it is believed, will l not be far behind Tokio and St. Peters berg in feathering their Chinese nests," and British business circles that keep in close touch with the far east are confident that d wholesome trans | formation will be wrought, the nature of which cannot yet be foretold. | If Washington and London, support | ed by Paris, continue to act on behalf | of the principle of territorial integrity,
 even though. a republican or set of repub lies should control one section and a monarchy the other, the prevailing be- I lief here is that the outcome will be an early improvement in the financial l situation and a great abridgement of the period of disturbance of interna- tional trade The stability of Chinese
 securities testifies to- European faith
 in the honesty of the Chinese in busi- ness. Q.
 | Lord Rothschild, who has just reached l the age of T, Is one of the most nota- | ble living leaders of his race. To him l his co-religionists owe more than to
 any other living man. Like the grand l father, the founder of the great if nancial house whose headquarters are l in Newcourt, F. C., and whose opera I tions embrace the whole world in their scope, he may well be described as | ''Le Huff des rois ct le roi de Juifs' l "(The Jews of the King and the King | of the Jews)." He was the first pro- 1 fessing Jew to be raised to the Eng fish peerage, as his father was the first | Jew to take his seat in the house of
 
 King Edward. whom he first met in l his student days at Trinity college, | Cambridge, Lord Rothschild has eX l erted an influence on international pol itics which, though unbruited abroad and largely unknown to the public, has
 been such as few private citizens could lhave exerted. It has been his lot to think in millions, and, always staunch friend of this country, he has. on more than one occasion, saved it from seri- ous dilemmas
 It was one of these timely interventions
 when he saved Egypt. shortly when it came under British control, from financial disaster, that he was created a peer. He helped Lord Beaconsfeld to buy the Khe-
 dives Suez Canal shares for Britain and
 organized a guarantee fund of e17,o0o,00o
 during the Barring crisis in 1891. Cecil Rhodes turned to him for financial sup port for the acquisition for the competing
 interests in the Kimberley Diamond mines
 without which he could not proceed with
 his schemes for the extension of British
 power in South Africa Again during the
 Boer war, he canes to the aid of the gov
 ernment by taking large blocks for his
 own firm of the loan which was issued. It is told of him that he once refused a
 profit of nearly $l0,000,000 offered by the
 Russian government for the raising of a loan of $500, ,00o,O0O by the formation of a European syndicate, because he would not :; help a government which found itself unable to treat his co-religionists with
 common humanity. The making of mon- l ey, indeed, is one of the smallest parts , of Lord Rothchilds activities. Charity
 occupies a very large part of his interest , It is said that he spends $5O0000 a year if , philanthropy, but no one really knows
 except himself, and the sum is probably
 rather under than over the mark.
 | There is a very curious rumor current in diplomatic circles here to the effect tha r when England served notice in Germany
 that in case of war with France ovel :. Morocco England woulds stand back o z France with the fleet that the Unite, :. States also caused to be conveyed tt
 AH0nnuINlE ANn