The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-14

, OOI dllu CllC 4NC" OOSlul Ol uCI' Reconstruction policy of the La Nottingham Conference. l hopt
 The Whole Policy of Labor.
 The document, however is more than a report. It amounts to a mani festo of the whole policy of Labor. And as the official manifesto of a political party it is, in my experience, uniuue. If any other modern politi- ] cal party has ever issued a statement of aims so complete, or half so com plete, I should like to see it; for I have not seen it. Nor have I ever 1 seen a party manifesto of any kind which exhibited at once such courage, i such statesmanlike vision, and such technical ability as are here display ed. The Labor Party has set pace l in propaganda which seems likely to "spread-agle the field" And I should greatly like to know what the Liberal Party is going to do about it.
 As the pamphlet is in itself able example of compression, it is extreme [ ly difficult to summarize. Who can make an extract of extract of beef? 1 l cate rather than to state, it's contents. They are divided under four heads.
 The first head is the Universal En- forcement of a National Minimum wage. This principle has been nibbled at in all kinds of acts, and the excep- tions to it have hitherto been scandal ous. The Labor Party is out to make it universal, and incidentally to make proper conditions of industry univer- sal, so that every citizen willing to work shall have, in good times and in bad times, the requisites of healthy life and worthy citizenship. The prin- ciple, of course, involved the proven ton of unemployment by the State, and when the State fails in such pre- vention, State-insurance against un- endowment The manifesto per oeives that the first pinch will come with demobilization, and it gives spec ial attention to a policy of demobi- lization, pointing out that on this grave question "the present Govern ment has formulated no plan and come to no decision, and neither the Liberal nor the Conservative Party has apparently deemed the matter worthy of agitation
 Democracy and Industry.
 The second head is the Democratic Control of Industry, and under thi: head are demanded the immediate standardization of railways, mines, an( the production of electrical power; tC be followed by the standardization O. land, and, later, by the progressive elimination" of the capitalist Gin dividual or joint-stock) from tht 'control of industry" The manifesto makes the demand largely on thu ground of the need of scientific or ganization towards an increased pro Z ductivity, and the prevention of vast due to "a jostling crowd of separat' private employers" I apprehend tha the Labor Party's troubles will gathe chiefly under this head, for as capi talist said to me the other day, "Capi falists are very adaptable" They are This section is full of suggestive sent ences. For example: There is n reason why coal should f1uctuate Ii price any more than railways fares. And indeed, there is not. Also: 9Th people will be extremely foolish they ever allow their indispensable in dustries to slip back into the unfet tered control of private capitalists wh T, are, actually at the instance of tn Government itself, now rapidly com bining trade by trade, into monopolis trusts, which may presently become a ruthless in their extortion as the wors American examples"
 The third head is a Revolution National Finance" This simpl means the heavier taxation of all ir comes "above the necessary cost ( family maintenance" that is, I suI pose, above the universal minimum demanded under the first head, an increased duties on mineral right land values, and inherited estates. l a phrase. as to the last: The Nation; Exchequer. should normally be tt heir to all private riches in excess d quite moderate amount by way family provision The manifest rightly foresees severe fighting in tt struggle to prevent capital from il geniously juggling the afterwar tax on to the shoulders of the laborir masses In every war up to now cal ital has succeeded wonderfully in tn eght-of-hand-
 For the Common Good.
 The fourth head is the Surplus f, the Common Good. This section dea with the national uses to which are
 be put the financial results of natiol aIization, municipalization, and u