The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-27
LLOYD GEORGE
(. FACESDEFEAT,
.SAYSOBSERVER
Duel With Winston Church.
ill and Political Revo-
luton Impend.
POLITICAL PARTIES FADE
Economic Demarcations Re-
place Them-Trade War
With America Seen.
By SHAW DESMOND.
Copyright, 1919. Aairirhts reserved. }

Inc political future or England lies
In the hands OF three men-Lloyd
George, winston Churchill and Bob
Smillie. the leader of Labor Militant.
Despite the apparent surface placidity
the Westminster whirlpool is begin
ming to rumble.
am convinced chat the next few
months will bring a revolution in Brit
ish politics. which ON the tariff econ
omic side may have far reaching
effects upon the United States. We
are about to see one of those dramas
OF high politics which Change. the
arch-dramatist. loves to stage. The
main protagonists will be the three
men have mentioned and the knife
of event, in the case of two of them at
any rate. win be whetted by that
touch Of personal ambition which gives
spice to life. "An the worlds stage"
ma Westminster is no exception.
On the personal side 1t will be a
duel between two commanding person
alities-on the political. a battle be-
tween two sets of ideas-the one, be-
tween tariff and anti-tariff, which has
hitherto shown itself capable Of
patching up-the other, upon the ir-
reconcilable, the fight between the
1ndividualist and the Socialist.
The two personalities will be that
of the great little Welshman and that
of the most ambitious politician in
England.perhaps the cleverest-with
that eroding cleverness of the Church.
ills. Before the war they ran q
neck and neck race for the Premier
ship stakes, but Winston's pronounce
ment of "the mile from victory" at
Gallipoli and his Antwerp 'relief."
combined with the weight Of the most
terrible antagonist in Britain-the
Northcliffe Press, clinched the race for
the big hearted little man.
remember Sir John Gorst, former
Minister of Education. who with Lord
Randolph Churchill. Arthur James
Balfour and Sir Henry Drummond
formed the famous free lance Fourth
Party. telling me OF the diabolical po-
litical dexterity of Lord Randolph Of
the corkscrew moustaches and cork
screw mind. II one could pass the
L
would wager one would find the son,
who is not a whit behind his father in
political acumen. sizing up the present
situation something like this.
winston Skiing Up.
England is war tired. The fzz has
gone from the champagne of victory.
Lloyd George. the genius of compro-
mise. has made a government Of
patches. Tho Liberal Free Traders
who took the Coalition Ticket are still
Free Trade at heart and only swal-
lowed the tariff pill as the price
of political unity and personal
seat safety. They have already
started to murmur in the House and
have even resurrected the Free Trade
heresy. The old fashioned Tory sec
ton OF the Conservatives never really
loved the little exuberant Celt who had
sprung from nothing, and only suf-
fered him because he was the single
man in England big enough for the
Job Of war. The Parliamentary Labor
Party, having lost touch with the
trade unions. does not love Lloyd
George, whose honey sweetness won
them into henchmen Of Govern
ment. There are no Irish left to back
: hinn-and Ireland doesn't love him
any more, because he walled on Home
Rule, The Conservatives, who in
Bonar Law have a brilliant medioc-
rity, are looking for a leader. Fate
points TO Winston Churchill, child Of
destiny.
Now Mr.. Churchill will do one of
H. 90
that strong Conserved Liberal element
which Is crystalizing in face of the
trade union naturalization threat. or
head a regenerated LIBERAL Radical
party with 'progressive-individ
Est" platform.
OF course the Conservatives never
really forgave Churchill for leaving
them for the Liberals. And OF course
there is a certain lack of trust toward
the Hon. winston. But still, Winston
Is winston. Brilliant. Cocksure. Am
bilious.
Lloyd Georges future is not SO sure.
The most astute Judge OF political tide
waters in England. he sees the way
the current is setting. and shall not
be surprised II he makes bold bid as
the friend Of labor-but labor will not
have him.
One must remember the tireless eff
forts to win the war put out by this
human dynamo, which have left him
frail and aged. The gradual severing
from the democracies OF his youth has
set the iron in the soul of a man who,
though few know It, is the sensitive
plant of politics. For Lloyd George Is
entirely genuine-as genuine as
Bob SMILED I believe we are about to
see his disappearance from the front
line of the political stage.
This Government. held together with
such consummats judgment and de-
spite its momentary solidity, has an
environment that fairly bristles with
difficulty. 1t has not only to face an
England who sits nursing her wounds,
mourning her million sons and with
two millions manned as leeches upon
the national vitality. 1t has to face
1 prices that in food represent about 104
per cent. increase on pre-war figures
and which are now again leaping up