Semi-weekly herald., 1915-11-29
GREAT BRITAIN's AGONY.

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When the war began Great Britain
was in the throes of certain radical
reforms. Lloyd George, Welshman,
had become a leader against the big
landed estates. For centuries the
beautiful lands of England have been
held by men Of title and rank. The
lands were theirs by inheritance, and
they made no practical use of them.
Agriculture made no progress in
England, because these large estates
ware held for the purpose of pleas
ure, for hunting grounds, etc. They
paid nominal taxes. In many cases
they escaped taxation altogether.
To accomplish anything in the way
of reforms, Lloyd George was COM
PEELED to fight all the upper classes,
and as consequence by these upper
classes Lloyd George was considered
public enemy. But he was chan
cellor of the exchequer in the liberal
cabinet. He was hated by the rich
and not fully appreciated by the poor,
The war found these Lloyd George
reforms on the way, but not yet ac-
complished. The working men had
not begun to see any benefits.
These were the conditions when the
war began, and it was soon discovered
that the workingman took no inter
est in the defense of his country. He
preferred his grog, and did not wish
to be bothered.
Lloyd George was the only man who
could go out and talk to the masses.
Possibly we ought to except Earl
Kitchener. whom the masses seemed
to respect, on account of services
rendered in the past in Egypt and
India.
Events had not pushed themselves
very far until it was discovered that
IL Great Britain were to be saved
1t must be thru the influence of Lloyd
George, and some of the titled Eng
l,sh would prefer to be whipped by
the Germans rather than to surrender
to Lloyd George. But Mr.. George
has proven himself to be a big man.
He has manifested no resentments.
He has talked to his countryment like
a patriot. He is now in the new cab
met and has charge of the making
ana distribution of munitions.
Mr.. George has found the drink
evil to be handicap and has work
ed hard to reduce the hours for the
sale of whiskey and the stronger
liquors.
A few days ago he made an effort
to still further reduce the hours dur
ing which saloons may be opened, and
now the laboring men announce they
will not obey the law and that they
will go as far as revolution, if that
shall be necessary. This action is
taken altho the worSingmen know
that Great Britain is on the brink of
ruin. They do not seem to care in
that regard.
1t is strange that the workingmen
of England take this attitude. They
love Great Britain and would rather
starve in England than to go else
where. Yet they are Indifferent in
regard to the control of England.
If England shall survive she must
abolish the house of lords; abolish the
established church; and go further in
70 the land reforms. The hinderance
in handling the drink question in
England is due to the fact that mem
bers of the house Of lords and the
principal ministers and bishops of
the established church are owners of
stocks in breweries and distilleries,
and all of them, with scarcely an ex-
When the ministers of the established
church undertake to talk to the work
ingmen about reducing his drink bill
the workingmen tell him to go away
and to reduce his own drink bill.
These are only some of the Difficult
ties in England. Others reach down
into the very depths of society. This
war could not have been timed better
SO far as the enemies of England are
concerned.
Trouble was expected from Ire
land but this has not materalized The
Irish have furnished thousands of
men for the British army.
There was suspicion of the lack
of loyalty on the part of the people
of Canada and Australia, but these
suspicious have been without foun-
dation. These two great countries
have been the mainstay of the realm.
To sum it all up: Great Britain
finds the Lloyd George reforms go
ing ahead, forcing themselves upon
the public mind and thought of the
people of England, without regard to
the war.