The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-12-06

KEIE KARDIE,
Powerful Labor Advocate.
i vened between the contending parties.
! and the partv leaders, Prime Minister
/ Asquith and Arthur James Balfour,
/ with thc consent OF their followers
aprced 10 discuss the constitutional po-
sition behind closed doors of con
ference room. This conclave OF eight
! statesmen. equally representative of
the Liberal and Unionist parties. be
gan its sittiugs on June a. As all me
! world knows, after over twenty SIT
tings the conference broke up with
out arriving at an agreement. leaving
+. the political position where 1T was on
: April 20
! This breakdown instantly con
fronted the country with grave
crsis-how TO settle the fundamental
/ Unionists on the house Of lords dues
ton Politicians were at sea, Il state
bordering on panic supervened, and
wild talk of an imminent general elec.
! tion was in the arr.
Numerical Strength of Parties.
The constitution of the house OF
commons when parliament rea aSscmbled
for business was: Liberals. 30;
Labor, I0: Nationalists, II; lndepend-
cnt Nationalists, ll--total for the
government. 391. Unionists, al3. From
this it will be seen that the COY.
erument majority was l21. strictly
speaking. however, in certain con
tingencies Asquith could only rely on
a ma iority of two. this being the bal
apce of purely Liberal votes over the
opposition. The Irish and Labor
parties naturally played their own
hands, and this determination showed
signs of hardening all the year. The
composite makeup of the Liberal gov.
erument complicated the task OF
Asauith s cabinet most vitally in Crap
pling with an epoch-making struggle,
which is likely ia leave its mark for
ever on the scroll of time.
Men in the Liberal Firing Line.
Asouith is a cautious man 10 be
leader Of progressive party, and TINS
caution comes alike from his train
ing as a lawyer and by temperament;
There is note of lmpartiality, and
sometimes of detachment, about his
oratorv. which does not altogether
commend itself 10 the ardent members
of the party, who much prefer the fire
and dash Of Winston Churchill. Soon
after the conference broke up that
brilliant member Of the government
sent out passionate challenge OF the
lords veto, which acrystalhzed inc
/ Liberal attitude. The Conservative
for unjonist) party seek TO hold Il
definite and permanent superiority in
the constitution over all other forms
of political opinion. Whether in office
or in opposition, to quote the words
: Of their chief whip. they mean TO
govern the country. They claim ina,
through the house Of lords they snail
remain possessed. no matter how great
the ma alority against them, of an all
,-n,cb IhpV
their own good pleasure TO wreck all
Iepislation they do not like. This must
end We are resolved to WIN by
every lawful means for ourselves and
for those who come after us IN the
world fair and equal constitution III
the country He then categorlcally
| charged the lords with wrecking the
education bill, the plural voting bill
; the Scottish land bill. and the licens
: ing bill, while Ireland, in Gladstone s
phrase, Stands at the bar and
waits
Winston Churchill has the art of
kiudling enthusiasm, and rouslng or
dinary men in way that his leader can
not accomplish and in Lloyd George he
has a like.spirlted colleague. Hotspurs
both. thev are endowed with eloquence
and daring and quenchess energy, with
John Burns, they form political trl-
umvirate not to be matched in public
life.
AS far as the house of commons is
concerned most Of the talent is on the
Liberal side Haldane, the minister OF
war. and Grey the foreign secretary
belong to a philosophical school OF pol
ities and don Z move as nimbly as their
more ardent colleagues. though they &C
as far as any of them in pressing for
drastic reform of the house of lords.
Haldane looks "A typical John Bull
and his words arc as massive anc
weightv as his figure, which is not un
like Taft s. Little has been henrd
of Sir George Grey since he had a long
private talk with Colonel Roosevelt
near Southampton this year when the
wielder Of the big stick drew him fei
the day unto the limeIight which lie Sc
much abbors.
Lord Morley. the Nestor in Liberia
councils, is too old man 10 thro"
himself into political campaigning
though in spite OF his years and hrs
bone. OF younger men 10 the LIbera
party, much is hoped from G.. f. G.
Masterman. political scholar Of Wins
ton Churchill e stamp and n deep think
or and straight talker. Some years agt
he was tutor at school near Oxford
and one who knew him then was mos
impressed by the fact that he generally
chief lord of the admiralty, is lands
man. and while not brilliant in any
snowy manner, has the confidence of hi
party,
Among the rank and file on the Lib
eral side. no man is more trenchan
speaker than Joe Martin, ex-premie
Of British Columbia. who has repre-
sented a working class constituency il
London The foe Of any kind of priv
ilcge. the exposer of crookedncss il
anv party and wherever found, he i
a determined upbolder of political pur
ity and at times thorn in Asquith ,