The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-10
The English Labor Party.

The labor party in the new British
house of commons evidently intends to
make itself permanent force in i'm
perial politics. It will have separate
organization and will defend the politi-
cal independence of the labor party.
: Among the things which 1t will de-
mand will be bill defining the status
of trades unions. This was. very :mu much
disturbed by the house of lords deeis-
ion, on appeal, that a labor union might
be sued and be punished in damages
for it's acts. The eight-hour day and
the sixty-hour week for shop assistants;
taxation of land values; local veto, or
as we should call it, local option
on the granting of liquor licenses;
prohibition of betting news; old age.
PENSIONS; adult suffrage without dis
| elimination of sex; free education;
| free meals for school children at the
discretion of the school authorities, are
other demands. a @<:-ss @T&@1 2atoeya
I There is a curious. mixture Of pater-
alism and socialism in these Demands,
and indeed the labor party is composed
of socialistic as we'll as other groups.
The main one Is the trades union group.
To it may be traced the demand for
1.-THE eight-hour day and the readjust-
ment of the trades union act. The
strong opposition which this group OF
lawgivers will have to face is the fact
that even under present conditions
British industry is suffering. Shorter
hours and higher wages would merely
accentuate that severe competition
which Germany forced upon England
in recent years. 5'% - -4c'''
The labor party is now but one IN a
dozen in the house Of commons, but 1T
has many sympathizers with several OF
it's aims in the liberal ranks. Mr.. AS
quith, chancellor of the exchequer, and
the prime minister are said to be favor
able to old age pensions on the German
plan if the revenue can be found. Mr.
Chamberlain would be glad to ado
, some Of the labor planks to his plat
form If he could thereby detach the
labor vote from free trade. To do this
he has but to convince the labor vote
that the increase in the price Of 1000
, incident to protection would be ,inslgnal
= icant compared with what her:woul'
gain in steady employment at an. a 4
vanced wage. The labor man OF Eng
. land is still skeptical Of the benefit
of protection. He is convinced abou
the advance in the price Of bread bu
he is not so certain Of the rest OF tn
PROGRAM, Therefore the alliance be
tween Chamberlain and Burns hang
fire, But alliances are made quickly
Great Britain where, since the breal
. down Of the hereditary system OF pa
a (. ties, opportunism in politics is popula
It is perhaps Mr.. Chamberlain g grea
Il est contribution to English liberty thu
y he moro than any other man has Co
% iributed to the fall Of the, .ducals a
- tocracy In every battle he has unde
u taken he has shown capacity to lea
- to plan, to agitate. He began polite
10 life as a radical and is gradually ge
10 ting back to his starting point, as tt
IL leader of the non-landed element
" politics.
b. The labor party will prove rath
n troublesome to the liberals who will n
OF be able under present circumstances
re accede to many of the demands consl
n cred bv it essential. Campbell-Bannf
N, mans extremity will be Chamberlain e. Z i
be opportunity. He will not Hesitate
H. press it with vigor si1ice===4lll'ess}5 NOW h
be command of the. opposition Mr., Baltic
in having agreed to support protection
n policy provided Mr.. chamberlain dt
nd not try to make it a test Of party reg
larity.
he