Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-09-20
THERE'S A REVOLT
ON ISLE OF man
Inhabitants Rebel Against One
Man Government.
THEY FIGHT FOR HOME RULE

Fourteen Years Undisputed Ruler of
Little Island Off British coast-His
Word Is the Law of the Land, and He
Is Responsible to No One.
The Isle of Man, an ancient and high
ly civilized colony Of white men, within
speaking distance, so to speak, of Liv-
erpool and Belfast, is seriously disturb
ed about it's constitution, and the Brit
ish parliament is to be asked to pre-
scribe for disorders which have become
glaringly apparent.
The island has often passed muster
as 'the Land Of Home Rule" One of
its governors chose to write it's history
under such a title, and the counterfeit
has been passed off springily in perora-
lions that touched the controversies of
a larger island.
In the island itself it has rung in
c%reasingly hollow this last generation,
and Lord Raglan has at last and prob
ably unconsciously, nailed it to the
ahC say . u X4duCuCSLtI NudIulau.
Awakened to Real Status.
After having done false duty for a
generation, the island is at last fully
awakened to it's real status. "The
Land of Home Rule" is after all only
a third class crown colony, with the
sort Of government that first follows
the missionaries in the African swamps
and after fourteen years. rule Lord
Raglan has more than succeeded in in
stilling the uncomfortable Thought in
the minds of the natives.
The governor Of the Isle Of Man. be
he a trained proconsul like Sir Henry
Loeb or Sir Spencer Walpole, or a
western squire like Lord Raglan, is not
only king, but general manager Of the
island. There is a shadowy control
from the home office, which is, pre-
sumably, responsible for advising the
royal assent to acts of the Manx legis-
lature, and from the treasury, which
is only concerned with seeing that over
and above it's insular conom Man
stumps up 100000 a year to the i'm
perial exchequer, but within these lin
its Lord Raglan is pretty we'll dictator
in Man.
He is the president Of it's judiciary,
his W prime minister, chancellor Of
the exchequer, home secretary, presi-
dent Of the local government board,
president of the board Of trade and
compendiously, Lord Everything Else.
In his executive actions there is no.
body in Man of whom he need ask Ell
Their advice Or assent. Many of the
crown colonies have a governors execu-
tive council, but the thing is unknown
in Man. Even the legislature is be-
hind many of the outposts Of the en-
pire, for II branch is wholly official.
Aged Still Work.
There are no Old age pensions in the
island, and fishermen of seventy still
hazard the perils Of the sea for lack
give them rest. National health insur-
ance is unknown, and the island has
not yet emerged from the doubts Of the
old law of employers liability into the
full assurance of workmen's compen-
sation.
Lord Raglan is not entirely to blame
for all this; the official clique is very
powerful, and in the absence of a
properly constituted executive one sup
poses that it gets his ear far oftener
than it should. But, unfortunately,
Lord Raglan's temperament gives him
a too ready ear. Lord Raglan used to
describe himself in "Who's Who as
"a Tory" and during his tenure as
governor and in defiance of all the ira
ditions of the civil service, he has
made himself conspicuous as one Of the
most rustic of the "backwoodsmen" in
the house Of lords.
Ask For Raslan's Recall.
He has a pleasant smoke room hui
NOR, which perhaps loses some of its
flavor in the judgment seat. He it was
who confided to the islanders, when
they wished to keep children out Of the
bars Of public houses (as they man
aged to dO), that he drank buckets of
beer before he was SIXTEEN" and he it
was, again, who decried all the bother
about Juvenile smoking by pointing out
that the infants of Burma or Morocco
habitually smoked cheroots a foot long
without obviously evil effects.
It was in much the same spirit that
Lord Raglan has approached the de.
mands for social readjustments. The
island has long ceased to laugh, and
after fourteen years it has got very
tired. It is not, Of course, a merely
personal issue, but Lord Raglan's per.
sonality, likable though 1t be in his so.
cial hobnobbing with the man in the
street, has helped to accentuate the
shortcomings Of the Manx constitu.
ton. Those who have signed the peti.
ton have properly made his recall the
condition precedent Of any sympa.
thetic consideration of reform, and they
are looking to their next neighbors-in
Lancashire-to help them to get 1t.
French General Now Private.