The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-01
LONDON ID BEGIN
 WAR ON POVERTY Deaths From Starvation
 Have Aroused Public TALK ABOUT CANAL
Englishmen Are Saying Unkind Things, About Americans, But the Canal Is Giving Great Im-
 petus to Shipping

London. August 31.-(SpeciaL )-Sureiy nowhere is a war against poverty needed more than in this city, where deaths from starvation in the East End are the order of the day and where the pen of a Dante would not suffice to describe the horrors and misery of the poverty stricken, who are to be found almost everywhere within a stones throw from the mansions of the rich.
 The war is to be declared very soon, for the joint committee of the Independ- ent labor party and the Fabian society is calling national conference on Oc- erty' in connection with the demand that parliament should devote the whole of next session to the consideration and passing of measures to raise the standard of life for working people.
 The conference, which will be held in the Memorial Hall, will consider de- mands for legislation dealing with legal minimum wage, reduction of hours of labor, complete provision against sick ness, national minimum of child nurture, prevention of unemployment. healthful homes for all and the abolition of the poor law.
 In view of the governments franchise bill becoming law and the uncertainty which will afterward exist as to the nu- merical strength of the respective par ties, the executives of the labor and SO eialist parties have jointly decided that as many seats as possible shall be con- tested at the next election.
 Steps are being taken to place upwards of 150 labor candidates in the field. Tri- angular contests will be encouraged wherever there may be a sporting chance of a labor candidate defeating a liberal or conservative, but in any case it is felt that the increase in the voting strength of the electorate-in the event of the governments bill becoming law demands a corresponding attempt on the part of the labor party to contest every industrial constituency in the United Kingdom
 Members of all trade unions have been advised to select the men whom they think would be the best fitted to offer q good fight, and so far the response has shown that tine local secretaries of min CTS. railroad servants and transport work CTS unions have signifed their willing ness to come forward as representatives of their own industries.
 It is further stated that the nationaliza- ton of mines and railroads. drastic modi- fication of the old age pensions and in- surance acts and an agrarian policy will Bo iap1 daH in tIaa IaI s.fa1o for,
 The labor party leaders are anything but pleased with Lloyd d-George's insur- ance law. but they admit that it Is having at least one pleasing effect from their point of view for even now it Is quite evident that it is helping to increase the membership of the labor unions and many Of those have already had to engage a special staff of clerks to deal with the applications for membership
 Hitherto union membership has fuctu- ated greatly owing to the large percentage of lapses, but it is expected that the in- surance act will do away with these.
 Mrs Asquth who has always been very strongly opposed to woman suffrage, is now more convinced than ever that women and politics should be kept per manently separated. Some time ago he
  quith and consented to make her broth CT, Mir Tennant, who is a member of the house. under secretary of state for war, but had hardly done so when the radical wing of the government party made a rush for him and informed him that the appointment was very serious mistake and he had to promise to make amends at the earliest possible moment, and MT 1ennant is therefore very shortly to be ba of " a resentative of the war department is needed
 If you talk to an Englishman about the Panama canal at present. in nine cases cut of ten he will flare up and denouncc the perfidy of Americans who have sunk so low that they no longer respect theii pledged word. but aside from the ques- ton of tolls or no tolls it is generally admitted that,th canal even now before it's opening. has greatly benefited Englst industry, as 1t is hoped it will in time benefit English shipping. Progressive Englishmen realize that with the open ing of the canal the peaceful struggle between England and Germany for the worlds markets will enter into a new phase and to the fact that British ship owners are preparing to make bold fight to prevent the Panama canal traffic
 
 that English shipbuilders have received more orders than they can fill for two or three years At Belfast the Royal Mail Steam Packet company has just placed orders for four new vessels for this particular traffic. Harland & Wolf will build two of them and Workman Clark X Co. have been given the contracts for the other two. The vessels will be similar in design and will be modelled on the most up-to-date principles. as they are intended chiefly for flrst-class pas senger traffic The full dimensions of the ships have not been divuged. but 1t is understood that they will be about 65C feet long.
 The four oil-carrying ships which are to be laid down for the navy under the recent supplementary vote are each to be fitted with internal combustion engines. The chief reason for taking this step is to enable the commission on oil fuel, now sitting under the chairmanship of Lord Fisher, to have at their disposal the fullest information relative to the