The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-06-02
Worktner's Representatives in English Par
lament Now Active and Perfectly
independent.
Break From the Liberals and the Significance
of the Recent Important Changes
Explained.

small in size. very gentle in manner,
and in temperament, Thomas Burt
minister than for one of the foremost
figures in the hard, and sometimes
bitter struggle of labor in the rugged
and loud-voiced region Of the north
of England. And he has the love and
respect of men of all parties. There
are other labor leaders l might men,
labor men, who are disappearing. such
as Henry Broadhurst, a stone mason
by trade, who, after he has been a
minister of the crown, is now in his
old age glad to get the nine shillings
a week sick allowance from his trade
union, after some half a century Of
subscription to it's fund.
In even the house of commons to-
day there is large section of labor
members who are avowedly liberals in
general politics. This group may be
described as the Trades Union group,
above all other things That is to say,
it consists of men who do not hope
but mean to fight in the existing
framework, by combination, for better
terms for the working classes. They
are. of course, radicals against the
house of lords, the established church,
the present land system: and they fight
for better wages, better hours and
better conditions for the working
classes; but they do so without hoping
to transform society on socialistic
lines; and they are ardent in the faith
that the main body of the liberal party
is both able and willing to help them
in the fight for these things.
But in the independent labor party
YOU have quite a new phenomenon. 1t
is true that many of them have been
returned with the assent, and even the
strong assistance, of the ordinary mid
die class liberal. That result is due
to Il very clever bit of negotiation on
the part of the two chief wire pullers
Of the two partics-Herbert Gladstone,
OH the one hand, and Ramsay Mac
donald. on the other.
Herbert Gladstone, now home secre-
tary, was for some years what is
called the chief whip of the liberal
party; and one of the multifarious
duties of the chief whip of every Brit
ish party is to control the choice of
candidates. Ramsey Macdonald, as
whip of the labor party, had similar
duties in his group. Nominally inde-
pendent of each other, the two parties
were vet able to make q "deal'-Mr.
Gladstone being broad minded, easy
going and sweet tempered, and Mr..
Macdonald being logged dour and
astute-by which the liberal candidates
kept off a certain number of seats and
left them to the labor men, and SINH
larly the labor men did not interfere
with the liberals in certain other seats
But this was a private arrangements
the public and official position of the
independent labor party is that it is
equally Independent of the one British
party as Of the other: and there are,
indeed. some members of the /. l.. P
as it is called-who are, perhaps more
hostile to liberalism than to toryism;
in politics and religion, it is almost a
natural law that men should hate those
from whom they are most remote in
opinion.
An independent labor candidate is
not allowed to go to liberal platforms
or in any way to ally himself openly
with the liberal party. A remarkable
example of this was supplied by bye
election which has just taken place.
Mr. Broadhurst was compelled to re-
tire from the representation of the
town of Leicester by i'll health; he had
been returned as a liberal in associa-
ton with Mr.. Macdonald; when the
vacancy came. therefore, it was part
of the compact that a liberal should
have the seat. The liberal candidate
was Franklin Thomasson-a large
hearted and advanced man who Is de-
voting some hundreds of thousands of
a vast fortune to the establishment of
the Tribune as great liberal daily.