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

!
sy, but he has weathered so many
storms and seems to fit the condi.
tions of the times so accurately that
it is difficult to see how he could be
displaced. The new movement fol
economic equality could get along
very nicely without much support
from the aristocracy, but it could moi
possibly succeed unless it won the con.
tidence of large elements in the mid
die classes. This class is open to con-
viction; but it certainly will not fol.
low the lead of any soap-box orator
whose main stock-in-trade consists ir
vituperation and heated rhetoric
There is no man who possesses the
same power of the popular appeal as
does Lloyd George. He fires the i'm
agination, sets in motion great tidal
waves of emotion, holds up with bit
ing ridicule the aims of reactionary
opponents. His eloquence is unrivaled
and yet he is by no means dema-
gogue. 1t is in this fact there lies
the hope of winning middle-class sup
port. His passionate appeals have a
solid foundation of cold fact. When
ever he plans out any great reform,
such as a change in the land laws, he
calls to his aid a great many of scien-
titic Investigators, who go thoroughly
into the actual situation and collect
great mass of data on the subject.
Lloyd George is an interchangeable
worker, and he masters the material
thus presented. His arguments are
founded upon indisputable fact which
his opponents dare not challange. His
proposals for reform are marked out
with the same careful regard for ac-
curacy and scientific precision. These
schemes are daring and radical in
their scope and purpose, but they are
worked out with the precision of a
| geometrical demonstration. This wins
the support of a large section of the
community who have a social con-
science and know that changes are
needed, but who are cool-headed
into great social experiments with
out knowing something Of what the
end shall be.
1t is this power of his, then, of
| fighting the cause Of the employe
without alternating the support of the
| financial and business interests of the
country, which is the secret of his
amazing effectiveness.
Behind it all lies the spirit of the
man. He has shown his courage on
many occasions. 1t took courage to
defy the judicial magnates of his ma
tive Wales and to fight the battle of
the Welsh villager against ecclesias-
teal oppression; it took courage to
oppose the Boer war in the teeth of
| thousands who longed to lynch him;
it took courage on that historic day in
1909 when he introduced his new
| budget which was to break the pow
er of the land owners and begin the
foundation of new social order; it
took courage to fight the House of
Lords to introduce CONSUMPTION; to
GUST his old leader, Asquith; and to
handle with firmness the many prob
lens arising through the new de-
mands of labor. He has been the
best-hated man and the most deeply
loved man in Great Britain. But
other men have been as courageous,
| other men just as able; but his con-
tribution consists in his deep-lying
purpose, not merely to inaugurate
this or that specific reform, but to
radically change the whole condition
of the life of the British workman.
He is voicing the demand for the larg.
err life. 1t is demand not merely for
an increase in material things, al
though that is essential as a basis. 1t
is his determination that opportunities
of culture shall not be limited to one
class. There are multitudes in Bri-
tain who cannot hearken to the things
Of the spirit because of their cruel
bondage. Lloyd George is determined
to break the chains. There have been
assertions made that he has deserted
the cause and has gone over to the
forces Of reaction. This was stated
when he advocated CONSUMPTION and
secured the support of such men as
Lord Northcliffe. If this accusation
were true and British democracy had
really lost its leader, it would be one
of the most tragic of happenings.
British statesmen have before now
begun as Radicals and ended as IRON
clad Conservatives, but in the case of
Lloyd George no such change is visi-
BILE. He is wise enough not to alien
ate the support Of anyone who will
work with him in the achievement of
the immediate task he has to accomp-
lish, but there is not the slightest ev-
idence that he has lost any of his old
time socialism, or that anything has
happened to weaken his steady pur-
pose to let the light shine into the
dark places of English social life. He
is now working on scheme for es-
tablishing industrial councils repre-
senting both trade unions and employ
ers' associations, and which shall deal
with the means "for securing for the
workmen a greater share in controll-
ing the conditions of labor, with a re-
adjustment of wages so that the work.
ers will obtain share in the increased
prosperity of industry; the establish
ment of regular. methods of settling
differences, and other means of in
surfing closer cooperation between
employers and employees, with view
to obtaining better conditions of en-
ployment and higher standard of
comfort to the workers"
The d;S;pbar;tad y,,;JI;on, ~ r,oo+