New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-30

stroyed the legislative competency Of
the House of Lords in order TO prevent
an appeal to the people. They do pre-
vent IT, The people are to have no voice
in the most mOmentou5 issue Of the
! times That is the Radical idea Of
| Democracy. That is the measure OF
their trust in the people, RadiCalism
and Despotism are convertible terms
Parliament, not the People, is supreme,
and Parliament is ruled by an Ongarchy
which in current speech Is known as the
Cabinet. The normal relations of Par
lament and the People are inverted.
Time was when the Parliament was suf-
fered TO exist in order to give statutory
effect to the will of the People. At pres
IN the DEGREES Of House Of Commons
ruled 10y Ministry which allows the
House just so much and no more liberty
of debate than seems good TO its minis
terial diCtatOrs. Parliament i'm the an
cient Constitutional sense exists no long
or. There is a House Of Commons, prac-
tiCally omnipUtent. There is a House
O.. Lords with right of suspending bills
for two years and no more, and no longer
the right of compelling an arbitrary gov
eminent TO submit revolutionary meas
ures to the approval Of the electorate.
All this Mr.. Massingham, the fairest
mind in Radical journalism, defends and
supports.
What he really wants is what Mr..
Lloyd George wants and avows: to make
a new England. Mr.. Lloyd George would
do IT by destroying the classes which
for centuries have governed England.
Mr.. Massingham says:
Grave and fundamental problems OF
life confront us. The questions of the
relation Of the state to labor and labor
earnings. 10 the organization of its IN
dustries and means Of transport in the
interest Of its internal trade, to the
housing Of the people, their education,
the physical and moral Deficiencies Of
community whose land is not half titled
while its urban centres are overcroWded'
and where the standard Of culture ana
self-respect is often singularly low. all
press for consideration and settlement.
To his mind a Tariff is "a conspiracy
against Labor which calls itself Protec-
ton" To the lesson of the United States
he closes his eyes and mind. To the de-
mands Of Labor as presented by MT.
Costing and Mr.. Ben Tillett by the
SyndiCalists on the one hand and the
Socialists on the other, he lends a SYM
n
revolutionary attitude-it is only "a
mingled work Of inquiry and develop
ment." For a plausible phrase TO cloak
deep designs he is never at loss.
He has the gift Of summing up char
acters in a phrase. Mr. Roosevelts
"truculent egoism" is one. Deploring
Mr.. Taft's descent into the arena 10 meet
the ex-President with his own weapons,
he opines that Mr.. Roosevelt will prove
himself the more vigorous vulgarian
of the two" Mr.. Massingham regards
Mir. Roosevelt as leader Of the American
Radicals because, though excessively
wordy and inconsequent and incapable
Of thinking things out he does in
stinctively detest Privilege" Then this:
"As President he sought righteous
ends, though by means that were often
i'll considered, turbulent and sensational;
and the programme he now puts for
ward, though it bears all over it the
marks Of the political socialist, is half
redeemed by the democratic fervor
which inspires it."
Though I admit that is almost equiva-
lent to saying that to be fervently wrong
is to be half right; provided the fervor
be democratic or Radical.
With moderate or moderately mod
crate men in his own party, he is but
half content. The Westminster Ga
zette," edited by that Mr.. Spender (there
are two Spenders) Of whom l said
word recently as a possible, or impos-
sible, candidate for the editorship of
THE Times" he describes as "a paper
for the half alive" He says of him
that
With infinite tact he omits to record
the oscillations Of the Cabinet seismo-
graph in a tremulous hour and deals
weightily and fully with the ensuing
calm. Mr.. Spender has some
times the air Of beseeching the world 10
do nothing to disturb the repose or
Downing Street"
There is much else, much Of amiable
banter, something OF impatient rebuke'
well worth quoting, but | must pass
from all that to say final word OF MT
Massingham himself.
To most readers journalist is, | sup
pose an abstraction; hardly personal
! ity; not much more than pen. But
YOU would not think that of Mr.. Mas
singham if you met him. Nor would you
/ think him bent on processes Of destruc-
ton Distinctly he is an intellectual, and
as distinctly a man you cannot but like,
detest his politics as you may. You
would take him to be thinker Stu
dent perhaps Of science, who found his
| happiness in a laboratory, or in star
gazing and in communion with the celes-
tails. There is none Of the arrogance
which 50 often handicaps the reformer;
no hint OF Limehouse; nothing OF the
Jacobin but his principles. The voice is
not raised, the manner is gentle. lie is
willing to listen, and so are YOU In con-
versation as in print, he would, think,
I say with Pascal that the art Of persua-
sion consists quite as much in pleasing
/ as in convincing. Whether he would
convince you | cannot say. hope not.
But you could not help being delighted
G. w. S.