Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-12

in perfecting the discipline of the Irish
party, and the fact that a dissentinent
Irish minority will rear their heads in
the new house of commons Is only in
bond in the cases of the Irish ma jority.
He has not succeeded in crushing Tim
othy Healy and William O'Brien and
about half dozen others. but there is
every reason to suppose that his own
party is a solid, compact, disciplined
body. whereas the minority may be ex
pected to quarrel among themselves
on slight provocation.
A Skillful Parliamentarian.
Such is the man who will be master
of the situation in the new house Of
commons-not a natural leader of the
highest type, but skilled and ever
more skilled parliamentaran not a bril-
liant and spontaneous debater. but a man
who knows what he wants and how
plausibly to present his case to his i'm
mediate audience: not a fiery. erratc,
quarrelsome politician like Tim Healy,
nor restless and hysterical patriot of
the type Of William O'Brien. but a man
trained to do his work and hold his tongue
and bide his time. The new dictator is
not SO Napoeonic as he looks. but he has
patience. and the new session will test
his ability to make the most of stu
alton that has come about by no action
OF his own.
The election has not served the social
lists to much purpose In the last parli-
ament Victor Grayson could boast that
he was sole and only socialist there
one man against go. He has falien
Mr.. Hyndman. also, in Burnley Mr..
Hartley in Bradford and other and more
obscure socialists, who used the label and
appealed to the electorate as socialists,
have been stricken in the field. There
are still several we'll known socialists
elected but they have again approached
party, sent to the house of commons
mostly by trade union votes and trade
union money. Wanting this alliance with
the mixed body of trade unionists. no
socialists, evidently. In the present mood
Of the country, can hope to reach the
house of commons. Excepting Jarrow.
all the labor seats proper are now polled.
and only eight miners seats remain to
be determined.
On the side of finance the independent
labor party. which is a purely socialist
organization, has been hit hard by the
elections. It is quite within the mark
to say that this body must have spent
10000 upon contests. In return for
this they have but the three members %
the party whom they had in the old
parliament-keir Hardie. Ramsay Mac
donald and Philip Snowden.
Liberals Are Cheered.
The liberals are much cheered by the
way in which the chief industrial towns
in England have voted for free trate,
and 1t is pretty certain that the tariff
reform advance guard will have u
face a different temper in the conserva-
tive party during the new parliament:
1t will not be temper of hostility or OF
ostensible withdrawal from the protec-
l.
possible. But it will be a temper OF
more criticism of methods. less surrender
to the dictated propaganda, and in gen
eral very much cooled quality of at
lection in the partnership. Many con
servatives here are asking how the tariff
reform extremists could expect to carry
the country SO soon 0hey seem to forget
that it is nearly seven years since MI
they profess themselves as coming round
more to the position Of Mr.. Balfour.
which they represent as a position of
putting before the country certain con-
siderations to be taken into account and
decided upon in due time.
These conservatives put one great dlf-
ference between Mr.. Balfour and MT
Chamberlain somewhat in this way. that
the one is thinking of the workman
rather than of the work; the other of
the work rather than of the workman.
Without going into these speculations and
distinctions, one is at least fairly sure
that the protectionist agitation will find
itself less able to pose as running the
party after the election.
l think that another weakness to the
agitation will very likely come from a
quarter which just now it is pluming it
self on having successfully annexed. For
the past four years great deal OF
persuasion has been going on in the rural
districts Tariff reform emissaries have
been talking to the men in village after
village not making always set speeches.
but spending evenings in the village
gossip shops They congratulated
themselves on having, as they think.
brought the rural voter round. They
forget that the rural voter has most
disconcerting way of looking suddenly
outside his immediate interests. He is,
in fact often very suspicious and state
msnts which he cannot bring to any
standard of thought of his own he is
apt to bring to standard Of some out
side parallel case.
This is the point at which the stand
of the north, especially of Lancashire
and Yorkshire for free trade, will have
it's best effect. The agricultural voter
will be very apt to look round after this
election. and to ask the protectionist
missionary next time he comes why the
north will have none Of him. The vii
lager always does notice that kind OF
discrepancy Lancashire and Yorkshire
have, ! believe, dealt besides the direct
blow much more subtle blow at pro-
lection, which will not Immediately ap-
make converts by superficial means. and
will as easily lose them.
Help for Workers.
The manager of the labor exchanges at