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Show 1 " - 9 1 f- . m ifl "W -g . But "Keep ? Ji?rk'! is th0 motto Newspapers make few I political Pensions Graft in British Politics ps-sr wt ' Copyright by wiener Agency, Ltd. All rights reserved. I Cable to The Tribune. OX, .Tune i. Is tliere no graft lish politics? "Well, listen to tails of ouo section of plunder-mil plunder-mil .iudjre of others from Unit, outcry over Sir .Robert Ander-discrcct Ander-discrcct reminiEcenccs as a re-fieinl re-fieinl of the home offico .ind co headqimrters at Scotland 3 drawn attention again to the )f tho British pension list. Not ierson's pension is a big ono. y $2500 a year, and though he jneans a star typo of official, something for it. But there r pensions ou a far raoro cx-cale cx-cale that have no such .justifi-So, .justifi-So, tvhilo the Irish National-j National-j been criticising Anderson's Labor men and Radicals havo ing fresh stock of larger para-d para-d when British altcntion is osscd with budgets and the lords, tho world will hear it. But depend upon it, the official parties Liberals and lives will try to hush it up iwash tho politicians who have is in the public trensury. Un-;he Un-;he meantime, a general clcc-a clcc-a more democratic parly in iSB-Peep Behind the Mask. &lBnIncn arc cn eiven to tell-'Bpicricans, tell-'Bpicricans, witlj an air of rojoic-9Hiat rojoic-9Hiat in tho matter of political i'&JBnsness the- nro suporior to other TPt RspeeiaJIy American politi-'They politi-'They (Uote screeds of "muck-ffimjf' "muck-ffimjf' articles in American maga-jHbnd maga-jHbnd point the accusing finger entire American people. So it flaHth while for Americans to peep IK'tho musk of rectitude worn in Htl, "circles over here. 331; undoubtedly true, and pity -'tis, ine, that there is more corruption HHBbberv in American politics than KgliKh politics. But there isn't flHag like so much more of it as JjBbc inferred from the abundant QHie published in America and tho nt lack of disclosures on a siini-i lar scale here. Because politicnl scuu-dals scuu-dals don't got exposed hero as thev do in America. English impers dourt go in for thut sort of thing And there is a lacit understanding between tho Liberal and Conservative parties thai, they aro to be "kept dark.'7 .Dirty political linen must not bo washed in public. Of this a striking instance recently occurred. , George 2s1. Barues, the leader of tho Labor party in the bouse of commons, was responsible for it. Barues was ouco a railway engine driver. He was raised in a rough school, where folks speak plainly and call a spade a spade. And his well-bred colleagues in the house havo not yet succeeded in convincing him that "keep it dark" is the policy that should bo applied when anything suggestivo of jobbery is even hinted at in parliament. It was the high-born and Right Hon. Henry "W. Cbuplin who gave tho lowborn low-born and hnrivy-fisted Barnes his opportunity. op-portunity. The Right Hon. has been often cited as one of the finest surviving surviv-ing typos of the English country gentlemen gen-tlemen of the old school. He inherited money enough to place bim beyond the necessity of ever having to work for a. living. 3Ie wont in for horse breeding breed-ing and racing and polities. In each of those fields ho has been successful. His activity on the turf won him tho friendship of the late king. He has bred three Derby winners. For his do- nli'nn tr I.Jo lnnrlnrc l.n -t-o n VUHUJ1 1U JI13 (lUlll.l'Jill J1U THIS rewarded twenty-five years ago with a $10,000 a year sinecure as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancashire. Afterwards After-wards he was promoted to cabinet rank us minister of tho board of agriculture with the name pay, and was kept in offico for five years more at the same figure as president of the local government gov-ernment board. He was laid off in 1D00 to make way for a younger man, but was solaced with a ponsiou of $G00Q a year out of tho public treasury. Has to Hustle in Amorica. "When a cabinot minister is dropped in America he has to hustle for a living liv-ing like anybody else unless ho happens hap-pens lo havo mude his pile beforo he took office. But here, whero it often happens that men who could not earn their own livelihoods if they tried, are made cabinet ministers, thev arc treated with more consideration when they are lircd. Six pensions are provided for ex-ministers, two of $10,000 a year and four of $(3000 a 3'car. To qualify for ' one of those pensions, an ex-minister has to make a declaration that his total to-tal income is "inadequate to maintain his position in life" nnd before granting it, the first lord of tho treasury treas-ury is supposed to satisfy himself that tho ex-minister ia really a bit hard up. The Bight Hon. Henry "W. Chaplin, who has been pocketing a pension of $120 a week for ten 3cars, was ono of the most, strenuous opponents of tho old age pension bill, which bestows $1.25 a week note the difference made by tho decimal point on outworn toilers toil-ers over 70 years of age. Ho said it would demoralize the poor and discourage discour-age thrift, and that a goorument which discouraged thrift was guilty of a crime. At tho last eloction ho was aguin returned re-turned to parliament as the Conservative Conserva-tive member for Wimbledon. In tho course of hifi campaign ho boasted that his horso breeding business had brought him in a profit of something like $60,-000 $60,-000 a year for tho last twenty-five-years. Which' shows that far from being be-ing hard up when he applied for a pension he was really very well off. On his own confession ho had been guilty of obtaining money from the i public treasury on false representations. WLich is something for which an ordinary ordi-nary old age pensioner may be sent to jail. Barnes Seeks Information. Barnes, the cx-engiuc driver, had the audacity and tho bad taste according to the parliamentary standard of ethics eth-ics that should obtain among gentlemen gentle-men lo call tho prime minister's attention at-tention to the right honorable 'a ponsiou. pon-siou. Ho wanted to know if tho prime minister did not think there was sufficient suf-ficient justification for inquiring into tho matter and, if need be, stopping tho right honorable 's pension. And, furthermore, ho wanted to know if it wore not desirable in the public interest inter-est that an inquiry should bo made into .the financial affairs of tho other ex-ministers who were in receipt of pensions of from $0000 to $10,000 a year on the supposition that otherwise they might be subjected to the humiliation humil-iation of having lo work for a living. Of course, tho old parliamentary hands knew that nothing would como of it, and that tho "mum's the word" policy would prevail. Premier Aaquith smilingly brushed Barnes's queries aside Ho did not think that the circumstances cir-cumstances justified an investigation; ho had no 'intention of instituting an investigation; but if an ex-minister applied ap-plied for a pension while ho (Mr. As-quith) As-quith) was running things, he would sco to it that ho did not get a pension pen-sion unless ho was really hard up or words to that effect. And so the matter dropped, and there was nothing done, and no dirty linen washed in public and no opportunity afforded for foreign critics to pick holes in tho gnrmcnts of self-righteousness in which British politicians array, themselves. them-selves. Very different would have boon the results if anything similar had transpired trans-pired in congress. The papers anyhow would have investigated. And the whole business would have been shown up next morning or tho day following follow-ing that. But that would be accounted "yellow journalism" here, and yellow journalism, in the estimation of the tvpieal British editor, stands for overy tiling that is atrocious. m And so the British public continues in that slate of ignorance which passes muster as bliss. More or Less Scandal. Thero is more or Jess of a scandal bohind each of theso pensions that ha-vc boon bestowed on ex-ministers. Lord George Hamilton and Lord Cross are fhn nrn liinlfir nnnu rlin rrof iUa 41 0 . 000 a yoar pensions. They would find it quito as difficult ns would the Right Hop. Henry Chapliu lo justif3r their claims to them on tho grounds of comparative com-parative povorty. So would Lord Balfour Bal-four of Burloigh. who probably thinks himself ill used becauso he ilraws only $0000 a year out of tho public funds. In fact, theso ponsions have been diverted di-verted from tho purpose for which they were devised and used simply to discharge dis-charge political debts and obligations contracted by party leaders. The biggest scandal in tho whole bunch undoubtedly is linked with the pension drawn by Gerald Balfour. Gerald Ger-ald is the brother of Arthur Balfour, the Conservative leader. Arthur owes his prc-cminenco in politics to his .brains and his ability. Gerald owes all that ho has gained in that field to the fact that ho has the good luck to be Arthur's brother. It was Arthur who made him president of tho board of trade, though of everything concerned con-cerned with trade he was absolute' ignorant. And his failure in that billet ' M did not prevent Arthur from giving him H another trial as president of tho local government board. H Dickering Was Done. When Bnlfour's government was overwhelmingly defeated in tho general election of 1906, Arthur felt that it was up to him to do uqmething that would slay dono for poor Gerald, who waa among thoso elected) to stay at home. At that time all tho political pensions Bad been taken up. Obviously if Gerald was to get one of thorn aomo dickering had to be dono. Tho dicker-ing dicker-ing was done. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Hicks-Beach, an ex-chancellor of the exche-quer, exche-quer, resigned his pension, and beforo that fact had been made public and other ex-ministers who wero on tho lookout for ensy money given a chanco lo apply for it, Gorald got it. The be-stowal be-stowal of it on Gorald was Arthur Bal-four's Bal-four's last official act as primo minis-tor. minis-tor. The sequel came a littlo Iator. Sir Michael was mado a peer with tho title of Viscount St. Aldwyn. Nowa-days Nowa-days when George Barnes and his friends arc growing inquisitive, there aro rumors that Gorald intends to givo the pension up. Tho "good -old dajV' are in danger of passing. What had taken rtlace on the fare 1 of it is very plain. Arthur Balfour said to Sir Michael something like this: "You aro a rich man and .you don't need your pension. If you givo it up quickly so that T can givo it to Gerald before any of the other follows havo a chance to go for it, I'll put vou in tho house of lords." And Sir Michael arrccd. The fact that it put him ia the position of having claimed that his private means were uot adequate lo maintain his position in life as an ox-minister ox-minister and amply adequate to sup port him us a peer did not bother him a bit. He know that he would never bo called on to make any awkward cx-p)unatious cx-p)unatious And so did Arthur Bal- Now in America a transaction of this sort could not have .been kept durk. It would have been exposed from top to bottom. And very likely tho incident would have been used over hero to illus-trate illus-trate the extent to which nepotism and v jobbery wero carried in American poli-tics poli-tics and (o justify unctuous rejoicings that public life here was free from such corrupting taints. |