Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1913-01-04
Intelligent Review of the POliti-
cal Situation as It Now
Stands.
UniOnist Party Never More Dis
united Than It is at
Present.
GOVERNMENT GAINS STRENGTH

Ine Dunualk democrat, in an in
ltelligent and conservative review Of
tho political situation as 1t relates to
the present Government and legisla-
tion for Ireland, says that on resum-
ing on December 80 the motion for
allotting time for the report stage
of the home rule bill will be taken
and that measure pushed rapidly
forward to a conclusion. It is the
intention of the Government to push
on rapidly and complete the whole
Of its legislative programme for the
session. 1t is the hope of the Gov
ernment to conclude the session in
the month of February. So far as
one can see there is no reason why
this work, heavy as 1t is, should not
be done. If there were a strong,
vigorous and united Unionist party
fighting tooth and nail against the
Government it might be possible to
so delay matters as to make II nee
essary to drop the franchise bill, the
third of the great measures to which
the Government has pledged itself,
but the Unionist party was appar-
emily never more disunited than It is
at present. The organs of the party
in the press are at skies and sevens.
Under the prudent guidance of Bal
four the party dangled a nebulous
thing called tariff reform, which
nobody pretended to understand, be-
fore the eyes of the electorate, and
told them that this was a cure for
all England's industrial ills and the
means of bringing about the greatest
measure of national prosperity. Bal
four knew very we'll that If tariff
reform is not to include a tax on
corn it would be of no use to the
agricultural interest in England,
which is Tory, and that If II does
include tax on corn it will be taxing
the food of the people, and the Eng
lish workingman would not stand
such a proposal for twenty-four
hours. England would see the bread
riots repeated, and the party that
would bring in a bread tax PROPOSE
tion would go out OF office, probably
amidst the smoke of half dozen
burning cities. John Bull will stand
lot, but be knows what dear bread
meant in the past, and he will have
no more OF it. The extreme tariff
reformers in the Tory party some
months ago, tired of what they
called the lackadaisical policy of
Balfour, started conspiracy to
depose him. But Balfour, according
to some accounts, was not unwilling
to be deposed; at all events the
present Tory leader, Bonar Law,
came in instead. Now Bonar Law
may have many virtues as a business
man and a politician, but prudence,
foresight and discretion do not ap-
pear to be prominent among them.
Bonar Law is probably a convinced
and sincere tariff reformer. He Is
said to have interests in Canada, and
a system of preferences for the col
onies is one of the essentials OF the
tariff reform proposals. But he does
not appear to understand that
neither he nor anybody else has a
right to impose upon the people OF
England a revolutionary change in
It's customs system without the
authority of the people Of England.
Most of the wiser heads among the
Unionist party recognize this clearly
enough, and they for months had
been preparing to throw tariff re-
form overheard by way of referen-
DUN. II on a referendum the country
vote for abandoning free trade, un-
der which It has prospered for fifty
or sixty years, then the country
should have its way; but at all events
II is not Bonar Law nor a handful
Of gentlemen in Parliament, but the
people In the country as a whole
who are to have the last word. The
present trouble in the Unionist party
was brought about by a speech Of the
Tory leader at Ashton-under-Lyne
In which he declared the withdrawal
OF the referendum pledge, and stated
that It was his intention to submit
the question Of food taxes to an lm-
perial conference to be summoned as
soon as his party comes TO power.
II the colonies at that conference
ask for taxes to be imposed on for
eign foodstuffs TO the preference Of
themselves, then the Unionists will
impose them, otherwise they will
not. In other words, this important
question as TO whether the British
paterfamilias will have to pay a tax
on every loaf OF bread set upon his
breakfast table is TO be decided, not
by himself, but by people Of Canada
and elsewhere who would benefit.
Such a proposal would be rejected TO-
morrow by an Overwhelming major
.ity OF the people Of England, and
the mere fact that a responsible
narty leader has put such a proposal
forward has done more to estrange
popular feeling from that party than
anything II has done for fifty years.
Even the Times condemns II. as we'll
as nearly all the Unionist morning
papers published In the industrial
towns OF England A member OF the
Cabinet is stated to have expressed
the opinion that whereas he doubted
II the Government could have sur