The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-02-01

cause he was seemingly the only
statesman woh grasped the need and
kind Of national reorganization neces-
sary to meet the conditions of mod
erm warfare.
The only other two men who could
dispute his title to first place in world
influence are President Wilson and the
Kaiser, the one representing a wax
ing and the other waning power. The
Kaiser's word is still mighty in mid
die Europe but his real influence,
founded as it is mostly upon his in
herited position rather than innate
gifts, is steadily lessening. He rep
resents the medieval tradition, bound
to disappear in the twentieth centdry.
The future lies with those forces
which have pushed Lloyd George and
President Wilson into the seats of
power. Whatever the Kaiser's ulti-
mate fate, he is certainly learning that
the present world atmosphere is very
uncongenial for any would-be Napo-
leon.
One hundred years ago new eXper-
iment was being launched in America
and France, which had as its object
the achievement of political democ-
racy. Throughout the century this
movement has steadily grown, sweep
ing continually new countries in its
wake. But the significance of Lloyd
George does not lie SO much in this
realm. In breaking the power of the
House of Lords he was an outstand-
ing political reformer, putting one of
the final touches to the long growth
of British political democracy. His
real significance, however, lies in the
fact that he is the very embodiment
of the new movement to use politi-
cal power to serve industrial and eco
nomic ends. The new movement is not
to secure the vote, but to use the vote
to equalize opportunity. Hereditary
privilege is entrenched in the econom-
ic order, and herein the real battle
lies. Lloyd George occupies his pres
ent position of dictatorship because,
of course, he meets war conditions;
but he would never have been trusted
with this power if the British work.
men had not regarded him as their
peculiar champion of economic equal
ity. The trades unions would never
have given up their defenses and safe
guards at the behest of Balfour, but
they knew that they could trust Lloyd
George to actively use any power
granted him, not merely to maintain
the present working-clas safeguards,
but to actively further the movement
to increase them. The aristocratic
forces of England accept Lloyd
George because they are absolutely
determined to win the war, and they
cannot do it without the united sup
port of the whole nation, and the
present Premier seemed to be the one
person capable of securing this. They
wanted CONSUMPTION, for example, and
without the influence of the little
Welshman it would have been just
about an impossibility to secure it.
Just what will happen when the ter
rife pressure of war is removed is on
ly open to conjecture. Whether the
unifying influences of the war have
been sufficiently strong to make the
land-owtning and employing classes
ready to submit without opposition to
the great new program of internal re-
form which will then be launched is
open to question. There may be a
period Of most bitter strife, but it is
fairly clear on which side victory will
lie. The reconstruction period will be
one of most bitter and terrible suf-
fering unless great program of
what are usually called socialistic
measures is put through. The Brit
ish workmen are in no mood to put up
with four years of wars privations
and sufferings for the high privilege
of coming back as free men to starve
in a London or Manchester slum.
In this new after-the-war movement
Lloyd George will doubtless be the
prophet and leader. In time when