Evening star., 1934-09-09
LORDS NOW FEEL
SNOWDEN'S FIRE
VitroIiC Tongue of Former
Commons Hero Heard
on Land Tax.

LONDON N1.-The hero OF thous
sand battles in the House Of Com
mons is q lonely figure in the House
of Lords-but his tongue is still tipped
with vttriol.
He is viscount Snowden, the caustic
cripple who raised himself to emf
nence as the Iron Chancellor"
labor's first guardian of the British
exchequer.
Very small, frail and gray. he took
his lonely place as ''one-man" party
on the cross benches IN the lords
gilded chamber the other day for the
first time since his announced ''re-
turn TO politics" Between him and
his former colleagues stretched q gulf
Of scarlet benches.
Then, in a bitter TRADE against the
repeal of the land tax, his own meas
ure Of three years ago, he showed the
same mastery of q raDoriike tongue
for which he is famous.
Set Up in 1881.
It was in April, 1891, that Snowden
provided in his budget for q tax on
land values and remarked that Par
| lament would look back on the oc-
caSion as a landmark on the road Of
social and economic progress.
Quickly he recounted to the lords
the background of the tax, how IL
was labor measure, how in the last
general election no party was to be
| asked to surrender its principles in
L fOhfiFac nTa q national k,sA
how, soon thereafter, Tory members
Immediately began their campaign for
repeal"
Bitterly he assailed his teammate
of 40 years Of socialist climbing, Prime
Minister Ramsay Macdonald.
Lord Snowden recounted that he
| thought the matter over, decided not
to resign and then recalled that when
the Tories demanded repeal in 1892,
Stanley Baldwin, their leader, said:
ITO repeal the taxes would be hUmil-
iation on the labor members Of the
4 cabinet"
What explanation, he asked, could
be offered for such change Of mind
that they should now have before
them a bill for repeal of the taxes.
Claims Betrayal.
Bracing himself against the back
Of his bench. he snapped:
| THE cabinet have found the prime
| minister to be such an anaemic,
amenable instrument Of Tory policy
that they have come to the conclu-
sion that there are no promises, no
pledges which he gave to the country,
and no humiliation to which he win
not submit if they will only allow him
still to b. called prime minister.
| Il have been betrayed" he con-
tinued. That matters little. But
the country has been betrayed and
millions Of electors who trusted the
statements of party leaders have lost
their faith in the honesty Of those
leaders"
Press Unsympathetic.
His bitterness fell on impassive ears
in the Lords, and the next days the
press was almost unanimous in call.
| ing his attack stale abuse
But Viscount Snowden was quick to
discount the personalities in his
speech.
This criticism /. is Just to divert
attention from the charges that I
made"
II the immediate reaction to his
indictment was against him, he had
but to wait for the sober weeklies for
q crumb of comfort.
Lord Snowdens language k en-
bittered; and it Is clear from the rest
OF the debate that the House de-
precated so mercileSs an attack on
political opponent who was not In the
circumstances able to reply" said the
Economist.
1T is probable, however. that Lord
Snowden's verdict on the repeal Of
the land tax viii prove to be the YER
dict Of history"