New-York tribune., 1897-12-19
THE NEWS IN LONDON.
MIR. CHAMBERLAIN AS THE GOVERN"
MENT POOH-BAH IN THE COMMONS.

DrcrED EXHAUSTION OF BRITISH coALBEDs
THE ENGINEERING LOCKOUT STILL IN
FoRCE-cRrTICIsM OF MKINLEY AND
PRoTECTIoNIsT POLICIES - THE
TERRIs MURpER-PI.ANs OF So
cIETY FOR THE HOLIDAYS
IBY CABLE rRrBUNE.l
London, Dec. 1S.-Having failed to reconstruct
the Cabinet. political forecasters are now DE-
voting their energies to drafting measures for
the next session Of Parliament, and settling the
details Of party tactics Mr.. Balfour Is described
as wringing his hands In despair over the irish
Local Government bill. Of which he will have
charge He announced his Irish policy nearly
a year in advance and interested at once every
class in the island. The Irish Office has received
tons OF correspondence and printed digests re-
ating to the subject of landlords and tenants.
Loyalists and Nationalists. officials and theo"
rists. have overwhelmed Mr.. Balfour with ad-
vice and darkened counsel and the inherent
difficulty Of the work has been immeasurably
increased. II the various classes knew what
they wanted. the drafting OF the bill would
have been facilitated: but Ireland is a hotbed OK
faction fcuds and Mr.. Balfour is appalled, by
! the conflict Of irreconcilable opinion.
Army reorS orSanizaton is also a highly conten-
! tious subject. and Lord Lansdowne Is equally
unhappy in the War Office over the divergencies
| of expert opinion. His department is repre-
sented in the Commons by Mr. Broderick and
! Mr.. Powell Williams. one Liberal-Cnlonist and
| the other "ory. The prophets insist that they
will modesty retire from the field and leave
! Mr. Chamberlain IN charge OF the bill, which
requires the leadership Of a trained tactician.
Mr.. Gould. the carcaturist. at once introduces
Mr. Chamberlain to the public a field marshal
in full uniform, before the runor can be denied
from Birmingham. Army reform is matter
outside the normal range Of TIE master Of the
Colonial Office. and his colleagues not likely
to make pubic confession that he Is the only
Minister competent to direct the passage Of
difficult measure
The London bill has not yet been assigned to
any Minister, since Lord Salisbury has deferred
his meeting with the local vestry delegation. and
nobody tell how much how little he
meant by his Albert Hall speech until he has full
opportunity for explaining it away altogether.
like his famous Hastings speech on protection.
| Ministers who have an overwhelming majority
! behind them need not lie awake nights worrying
over legislative details. Their work Is easy when
| they have heavy reserves OF voters for every d-
vision and when they assured in advance
that the House OF Lords Is only automatic
| registering machine so long Cnonist Cow
ernment is in power.
A larger measure Of sympathy is required for
the opposition in its attempts TO explain the
new Liberal programme and to adapt it to the
needs of distracted and demorazed party. The
embarrassment OF the leaders has been In.
creased by Mr. Dion's plain ntimation that .
! Liberal programme without Irish home rule i'm.
plies an end OF the alliance with the National.
lists. The Irish members with all their chivalry.
do not regard woman suffrage plank as an
adequate substitute for Mr.. Gadstone's Home
! Rule bill.
The most notable speeches Of the week have
not been political. but Industrial. One was Mr.
| Courtneys address before the Royal Statistical
/ Society Jevonss coal question after thirty
years Although Mr.. Courtney is now we-ngh
blind he cannot, like Mr.. Fawcett. speak with>
out notes. but has his secretary behind HIM to
read statistics and prompt him. He has. how
ever Mr. Fawcett's ardor for scientific study
and succeeds in making dry subjects deeply ins
teresting His address has been widely com-
rnented upon by the press, since he contended
that Jevons was tight In his main prediction
that the day must come when England's SUE
premacy in the coal and iron trade would be im-
paired Mr. Courtney laid great stress upon the
enormous increase IN the output OF coal In the
United States and the extraordinary reduction
I'm the cost of production there at the mouth OF
the pit until il is two shings lower a ton than
In Great Britain. He plainly intmated that
| America, with a larger store OF mineral wealth
and superior facilities OF production, must ulti-
mately lead in this industrial struggle.
Another equally significant address was de-
! livered in Belfast by Mr. Pirr!e the leading
PARTNER Of the ship-buildng firm of Harand s.
Wolff which has not Joined the Employers
| Federation in the present engineering lockout
He strongly condemned the aggressive policy
Of other British employers In the engineering
trade and declared that they must break away
from old prejudces and class hatreds and not
regard their workmen with suspicion and en-
nifty He expressed the firm belief that with
improved machinery and highly skilled labor
EMPLOYERS might contemplate with equanimity
the prospect OF the success OF the eight hour
movement His colleagues are not OF the same
mind. for they have spent another week In con-
ference with the engineers. adhering tenaciously
to their utimatum and opposing any set
tlement which will not leave the masters VIC
torious all along the line. new agreement has
been substituted for the one rejected by the
| Trades-IIniors. but substantially II Is the same
| ultimatum the masters having merely changed
the phrasing They concede nothing. but open
a bridge for the engineers TO retreat.
An important point which ought not to es.
cape the notice Of America is that. while the
English press invariably assumes that the fnan-
| c,al system OF the United States is hopelessly
disordered and that the industries Of the coun-
| try are paraiyzed by the revival OF protection.
competition from that quarter is not only
dreaded but felt The marvellous development
OF manufacturing industries the systematic Inn
| provement OF machinery and the cheapening OF
the cost of production in the United States are
! facts frankly acknowledged by the same critics
who condemn the protective system under which
these results have been accomplished. Sir Rob-
! ert Giffen. upon whom Cobden's mantle has