Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser. — 1909-06-18 (Lancaster, Lancashire, England)

THE DOOM OF THE BUDGET.  The week which intervenes between the debate on Mr. Austen. Chamberlain's motion for the rejection of the Budget and the debate in Committee enables the Government to review the progress they have made, it any, and calmly consider the impression created by the Budget proposals upon Parliament and the country. They must surely realise, for one thing, that they cannot carry through their Finance Bill without many drastic and even fundamental alterations. They may, indeed, with the aid of the closure and of their mechanical majority, force it through the House of Commons, but they cannot render it acceptable to the country, or to the other branch of the Legislature whose assent is constitutionally essential. To impose such a measure upon an unwilling people would be to commit political suicide. -Whom the gods would destroy they first drive mad," :and it would indeed be madness for the Government to attempt to pass their Bill in its present form. Meanwhile, the injustice, absurdities, anomalies, and hardships of the Government proposals are being brought home even to their supporters. The IrLsh_ party is actively antagonistic to them, and they have lost the support of such staunch Liberals as Mr. Harold Cox, Sir Thoims Whittaker, Mr. - Ridsdale, and others. ver four hundred amendments to the Fi:-...Ace Bill have already been handed in, and IA the long fight which is now only beginning the injurious effects of the Government proposals upon trade, capital, and labour will be fully exposed. The Opposition will not shirk their' duty, however arduous and irksome the task may an be, and they will be sustained by the knowledge that they have behind them the support of the country and that certain victory awaits their efforts. It is, perhaps, too•much to hope that the Government will abandon the air of scornful levity which has hitherto characterised their ' utterances, and will come to grips with the arguments of their opponents. At present the arguments put forth by Mr. Balfour, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, and Mr. Bonar Law . remain unanswered. The ...reason may well, be, of course that these arguments are ufl answerable, but it is scarcely good business— to say nothing of courtesy—on the part of the Government to ignore them altogether and to deal only with those points in their opponents' speeches which have the least bearing upon the main sUbject. Moreover, it IS an insult to the intelligence of Parliament and of the country to assert that.the new taxation, instead of being a burden to those on whom it is imposed, will be a positive benefit. According to Mr. Lloyd George, he is relieving agriculture instead of 'taxing it, and instead of impoverishing brewers and publicans he is enabling them to make millions upon millions of extra profits. The Spectacle of Mr.,Lloyd•George as a fairy godmother scattering gifts to landowners and publicans is one which has its humorous side, but it is rather too absurd *to be seriously entertained. We would suggest, too, that the effect of the Budget proposals upon einploy' 'l4ent should receive greater, consideration from, the Governinent... The inimedi ate. 'and direct effect of :these proposals is that .the • working • titan, has to pay .A,-'halfpenny, an ounce more for his tobacco, but it is to be • feared that the ulterior ffects will be much more perions.. The "Budget must, in fact, add largely to the already heavy 'and chronic burden of unemployment. Not only the trades immediately affected by the Budget, such as brewing, malting, hop-growing, distilling, and tobacco manufacturing,. will be injured, but the penal taxation of capital must assuredly lead to money being invested abroad which would otherwise go to develop British industries, and hence every trade and every industry will suffer. The Government, in clinging with the tenacity of drowning and desperate men to the rotten timbers of an obsolete fiscal creed, will sink with the wreckage they have created The Budget is doomed because it fails to provide the •revenue" for national requirements without inflicting an intolerable burden upon the people and disturbing that security of capital without which trade cannot flourish. It proves that "Free Trade" has come to the end of its resources and that it is hopelessly inadeqUate to the circumstances of the present day. The "more excellent way" of Tariff. Reform now lies open before us. By. it, and by it alone, all the money needed for national defence and for social reform can be raised, not only without injury to any individual or any interest,. but with positive advantage to the trade and industry of the nation.