The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
LONDON SOCIETY. GROWS AMBITIOUS Seeks Some Sort of Recogni
 tlsn from King Edward THE GROWTH OF SOCIALISM Hoaey Has Frightened England Very Badly and Strenuous Campaign
 of Education Has Begun.
 5edford's Dilemma.
THE GROWTH OF SOCIALISM
BY PAUL LAMBETH.

London, November lb.-(Speclal Cable.) Society in London has been tumbllng over itself to obtain some sort of recognition from King Edward during the period of the accumulative royal visits. Many years have passed since so many crowned heads slept under one English roof and the fortunate ones who have been in- vited to meet the royal guests are the objects of undsguised envy.
 The Lord Chamberlains office has been
 literally besieged by crowds of anxious
 royalists. among whom democratic Amer
 leans have prominently figured, all ca ger
 to be present at at least one of the many
 entertainmentsawhic have been prepared
 for the august visitors edification.
 But most of those who have been thrusting themselves upon the notice of
 the King or his chief officer of the house. hold have been doomed to dsappoint- ment.
 The invited guests are extremely linn ited in number and are only drawn from
 the inner circle of the Kings friends. So
 the intimates of the court are content
 ing themselves with renting windows on
 the route of the royal processions. The steady growth of socialism in Eng land is plunging the Hayes" into such
 state that panic" but mildly expresses 1t. It is so unusual in ploddng, con servatiVe easy-going England to see the laborer asserting himself that one is led to imagine the country is in the grip of revolution.
 The conservative and protection press give up hundreds of columns weekly to so-caled exposures" of socialism, and
 to picturing the anti-ethical state of
 England under a socialistic sway. Anti socialistio societies are popping up
 mushroom like-in every town and every unimportant suburb.
 A strenuous campaign is being urged by nomadic opponents in gipsy yaus, who armed with tons of printed matter.
 projecting lanterns and great grama- phones, convey their pictures of the ter TOTS of Utopia to the remotest village
 On the whole the bogey has frightened
 England badly. Meanwhile the socialists chuckle over the amount of gratuitous advertisement they have received.
 Thanks to the press, people who have never heard of socialism are now fully acquainted with the creed, and are be-
 ginning to wonder if 1t is as black as 1t Is painted.
 The socialists say that the English press has saved them hundreds of thou sands of pounds in advertising. The lat est convert Is MT. J. A. Allan, the mil
 lionaire head of the Allan Line of steam
 ships. He has fought for a seat in the Glasgow council as an avowed socialist.
 MT Bedford, the censor of plays, is becoming very agitated about the attacks
 made upon him by nearly eighty famous
 playwrights and authors.
 He is a poor man and has little private income, and, as he Is fifty years of age,
 he would find 1t very difficult to get an
 official position in the Lord Chamber lain's office. Besides that his present po- sition gives him and his wife. who likes society, the entree to all court and great social functions.
 At present MT. Bedford receives s750 a year as censor and $ for each act of every play he reads. As he reads about five or six hundred plays per an mum, his whole income is brought up to about $450O year.
 Mir Bedford has a charming little. house
 on the Upper Thames and his chief recre- ation is boating. He will learn his fate fin about two weeks when Sir Henry
 Campbell Zimmerman will give his an swer to the eighty playwrights. The cen . sorship cannot, however, be apoiisheo except by Parliament. which does not ,, meet until after Christmas.
 Mrs. Michael P. Grace entertained roy aIty for the first time at Battle Abbey the other day when Princess Henry Of Battenberg drove over from Eastbourne,
 where she was staying with Mrs. Free man Thomas. The royal visit was ar ranged by Mrs. Thomas, whose house at Eastbourne was taken last year by Mrs. Grace's eldest daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Hubert Beaumont.
 Mrs Grace, who was quite alone with her daughter Gladys, was taken com pletely by surprise. but she gave the
 Princess tea and showed her all over the Abbey The Princess was charmed, i not only with the house but with her | hostess and her daughter and declared that she would much like to pay Mrs. I Grace a longer vista wish which Is | a sort of command.
 | The one drawback to the Abbey Is a clause in the lease in which Sir Anthony | Webster, who owns the Abbel. insists l that the principal rooms including the
 historic great hall shall be thrown open l to the public once a week during the
 summer months. This clause is found 1 to be very trying when a house party l is assembled at Battle Abbey. | No royal parsonage could have been l treated more reverently by the manage
 ment of the Carlton hotel than was Mme ! Sarah Bernhardt during her stay in Lon l don.
 l Every morning at T o'clock the mana 1 ger sent up huge basket of roses free | of charge to the actress room, knowing ! that to sniff at flowers the first moment | she wakes is one of the Divine Sarah's 8 | weaknesses.
 l The Carlton chef. NJ. Escoffier, who IS
 an old Paris friend of Sarah. not to be | outdone personally cooked little daintes | for her and took them himself to her room whenis she returned every night from l the theatre. This, indeed, was the high
 est compliment of all, because M Es-