Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1906-03-24
GIANT STRIDES OFF
LABOR PARTIES
SOME INTERESTING FACTS IN
REGARD TO STRENGTH OF So
cIALIsT AND LABOR PARTIES.
Special to the Herald.

Special to the Herald.
Washington, ID. c., March 24.-Th,
growing strength of the socialist ant
labor parties in various sections o
this country. particularly in the large
cities, and the certainty that it is on
ly a question of time until this ele
ment of our political life has a de
fined representation in Congress
makes it interesting to note to what
extent the labor parties have gained
a foothold in the legislative assem-
blies in other parts OF the world. In
Great Britain the size of the par
liametnary labor party was compare
lively small until the recent general
election increased it several fold.
There are twenty-one countries
possessing working-class parties def
initely organized under the name of
Labor or Socialism. In fifteen of
these countries the party has sue
ceeded in obtaining parliamentary
representation. Germany heads the
list with eighty-one members in the
Reichstag. Leaving Great Britain
out of account for moment, the
countries follow in this order:
France, forty-eight; Italy, thirty.
two; Belgium, twenty-eight; Den
mark, sixteen; Austria Hungary, ten;
Holland, eight; whilst still smaller
number are to be found in Sweden,
Norway, Bulgaria, the Grand Duchy
of Nuremberg. Switzerland, Finland
and the Argentine Republic.
Before the recent general election,
the Labor section of Great Britain
numbered four, if the independent
members alone are considered, and
fifteen if the group is made to in
clude Labor members within the Rad |
ical party. In either case the coun- |
try stood low on the list-very low |
indeed for land that has reached |
such a high level of industrial de-
velopment. Today Great Britain |
stands well up on the list with a La
Dor party of twenty-nine, which is
swelled to fifty-four by the addition
of the Radical-Labor members.
In certain countries, though the
Labor members are not numerous.
their relative strength is consider
able because the parliament itself is
not large. In Denmark, for instance,
there are but sixteen Labor members,
but they form fifteen per cent. of the
total. In Spain organization has
been started. and parliamentary rep
resentation is expected to follow in
time. The addition of the Argentine
Republic to the list of countries in
which Labor has parliamentary rep
resentation is due to the success of
a Socialist in Buenos Ayres in the
last election.
The success of the Socialist and
Labor element in the United States
so far has been confined almost
wholly to the municipalities. Nota-
BILE gains have been made along the
same lines in other countries The
Socialists have returned more than
a hundred members to the various
landtags of Germany. and they hold
administrative control by majorities
in nearly two hundred municipalities
in France, and hundred in Italy.
The party is represented on the
cantonal councils of seventeen Swiss
cantons
But 1t is in New Zealand and Aus
tralia that the Socialists have won
their greatest victories For several s
FEARS past they have been in virtual
control of all the federal and munich /
pal machinery there. In Canada the /
east Roadway appears to have been {
made, but there also are reported the '
beginnings of movement that is ex- q
3ected to ripen before long. s