The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-01-08
uBERALISTS MAKING
GOOD RECORD UNDER
ASOUITH LEADERSHIP
Premier Nearing Completion of
Sixth Year Of Brilliant
y Term of Service.
HAVE ACCOMPLISHED MUCH
Party Has Ambitious Program Before
It-Enemies of Administration
Attack Payment Of , IL.
Parliament.

london, Jan. 6.-The liberal party
which recently celebrated the eighth
anniversary OF its return to power. now
has the honor of leading the affairs OF
the British empire for a longer con-
secutive period than any party for
nearly 100, years. Premier Asquith has
now been In office for over five and a
half years. and in April next. II his
government survives. he will approach
the record OF Lord Salisbury. whose
second term Of office lasted just seven
years.
Asquith referred, TO his long term and
stormy times that his government has
w~eathered. Certainly It has been an al
most continuous fight. Finding early
In his career that the house of lords
would not pass any Of the legislation
that his followers had set their hearts
on. Mr.. Asquith,, with courage which
strong. undertook to clip the wings Of
the upper chamber by re ~tricting its
power Of veto. That accomplished, he
set about passing the home rule and
Welsh disestablishment bills. which
next session are to come up for the
thtrd time. and no matter what the at
0tude OF the house OF lords is, will be-
come law. The government viii then
press to get the bill TO put an end to
plural voting likewise passed for the
third time and then 60 to the country
FOR an endorsement Of what it has
done and a mandate to carry licensing,
educational and land reform.
Much Work Ahead.
The liberals, therefore, have as much
work ahead of them as they have &C
complished in their eight years Of Of
flee.
When the party. came into power in
1905 Mr.; Balfour, then prime minister,
FOUND that bye-election after bye-elec-
ton was going against him and he de-
ctded to resign. He chose this course
instead of dissolving the house of
commons, because he believed that it
would be either impossible for the lib
erals to form a cabinet, on account of
the split which had occurred over the
south African war, or II one was
weaken instead of strengthen the lib
eral party. He had been badly in
formed. Six months before this a meet
Whfch all differences were sunk n the
composition of Sir Henry Campbell
Ing OF liberal leaders had been held at
Bannerman's cabinet practically de-
c1ded upon. When Mr.. Balfour's resig-
nation was announced, therefore. the
liberal leader was able to inform the
king that he could accept the task of
forming a ministry. which he did forth
with. and h party in the following
won an unprecedented victory
at the polls. -
Point of Attack.
Paying members of parliament AZ 0nO
a year., as has been done under a new
law during the past year, has been Sc
lected In many constituencies as q point
OF attack against the liberal govern
rnent, which is responsible for the act.
The argument is that it induces
men to try to>get into parliament for
fhn FHnnnT fhnt tA~.
1t. In a few constituencies, especially
some of those held by laborites, where
election can be secured without any
elaborate campaign and can be held
without nursing" 1t is possible that
the member has something left out Of
his salary. In the great majority Of
cases, however, 1t takes all of the $4,000
and much more to finance an election.
A typical instance Is West Herts, at
present held by Arnold Ward, the son
Of Mrs. Humphrey Ward, the novelist.
He himself is opposed to the payment
of members, while HedIey F. lie Bias,
the liberal candidate, believes that
members should be paid. In a plain
talk at Watford Mr.. LIE Bias explained
why he believed in 1t. In the first
place he pointed out that it would cost
q candidate at least $4,000 q yea
The election itself. including the re-
turning officers fees, which have to
be paid by h candidates, would cost
$4,000. to which would have to- be
added the expenses Of the candidate,
which he estimated at, Sc, 900 during
his four years Of office. He would
therefore at the end Of four years be
$4,000 out of pocket. Mr.. LIE Bias added
that Ward could quite easily do with
out his salary as the Conservative as
ISOLATION. of which Lord ,Rothschild.
Lord Ebury and other wealthy men
were members. contributed $4,000 a
year to the expenses Of the conservative
candidate. ~
Some of the larger constituencies cost
even more to fight. In Romford the
returning officers fees n expenses
alone would amount to more han the
total cost Of an election in West Herts.