The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-08-18
SEES LABOR AS BIG FACTOR IN
 PARLIAMENT
Woman J. P. Forecasts Control of British Po1i- tics by Workers Party in Coming Election.
By CLARA MOLD, International News Service Staff Correspondnnt

Correspondent.
 London, Aug. 18.-When the Lloyd George government goes to the coun- try again, which it must do within a year when its hve-year term ends, the controlling party in Parliament will be the British Labor Party, so says Miss Margaret Bondfield, secretary of the Women Workers Section of the National Union of General Workers of England. Miss Bondfeld, besides holding this important labor office, is a J. F., or Justice of the Peace, and is standing for Parliament herself in the by-election at Northampton.
 What with doing the secretarial l work for the. Women Workers and l filling her duties as J. F. and making 1 election speeches in Northampton, it | is difficult to find many minutes for interviews, but Miss Bondfield is an l organizer of her own time as well as other peoples and met me one early i morning in her office between the l train that brought her into town and | the one that would take her out again. Not Ultra Feminine Type. found her not one of those 1 "sprightly,'' feminine charming in dividuals that correspondents like to boast about though they were in ing the old feminine spirit of human ity despite suffrage and the late war. Margaret Bondfield is, in fact, | rather severe person, direct in her
  if she has a sense of humor she did not in any way show it to me. One might suspect from the shining of her very round, very small brown eyes that perhaps she laughs inside herself now and again. fancy, however, that | if Northampton sends her to Parlia- ment it will be because of her sound judgment and her unquestioned work in the interest of working people.
 "The whole country she said, looking me over very solemnly while she talked, "is sick of the present Government. The Government doesn't It sees as plainly as we do that labor is waiting it's chance to elect labor representatives. The by-elections prove that.
 To Develop Labor opposition"
 "In another year we shall have not | a labor government but certainly a la-- Dor opposition in Parliament, which lis a far better position for labor in England at this time than govern ment control would be. Our pro- gramme is definitely laid down. We shall not carry on an obstruction1st programme, but, as the opposition party, shall obstruct anysmeasure that is unfavorabIe to labor and give our
 support to any measure, that benefits the working class regardless of what tparty introduces it. Under no circum- stances will we form a coalition or luke any part in the government"
 And what will labor work for inn iIleQ1dC0ly!' l aSkeQ her.
 ''The first thing labor will demand will be revision of the peace treaty. So long as we abide by the present treaty we shall not be able to recon struct trade and until England re-
 builds her trade we cannot relieve
 une mp1oyment," she responded.
 I asked her how much of the pres lent unemployment of women is due lto the fact that men have taken the
 jobs away from women, to which Miss lBondf1eld quickly answered.:
 we do not blame men for the un-
 employment of women We blame
 trying to absorb the unemployment that necessarily follows any war. Wo- men have no grievance to make against men on the question or work
 mems jobs when the war came and
 took them understanding that the
 men were to have them again on their return"
 Little Gain for Women. Speaking of the gains that were 5 made by working women through the
 period of the war, Miss Bondheid oe- , c1ared that women got nothing out ol the war and that they have been able
 to keep nothing in the way of better i, , wages and working hours
 Their only heritage out of the
 war that is worth anything to then s Tor to the nation is what they got TOT g themselves in character-a knowledge of organization, a spirit of co-opera ltion and courage.
 Another thing that women nave learned as result of the war is so cial and economic responsibility. L1k' all women, the English women are unhampered by party prejudices ane t anceint traditions"
 = ing many of England regard this new
 born interest of working women II k olitics?" I asked her, reminding nel = also of the hackneyed statement tna o,,5@r 1n lt) women than English men do She narrowed her perfectly rount r eyes just a little and then flatly stated
 that Americans show certain su V t lat we do not find in England Bu :, Iil England we have a genuine com II adeship between men and wornel . lthat I never found in America IL Iaments Industrial Effects. l. "But you will never find in Amerlc It nor in any other country l nave eve Ii seen any women to correspond to tn - English women who frequent tn
 pubs,'" I ventured.
 "No, I am sure no other countr. ' produces such women," she admltt ed "But those women are the herl lt,ge of generations of industriaIsn m = It is not the degeneration of the in 7, dividual, but the result of generation n of industrial slavery They are tn
 inheritance of England-and they ar
 the most reactionary people in tn
 country. It is the men and wome
 of England's public houses that de
 feat labor in the by-election- The = have never been touched by an 's movement and never will be. '- You forget that England has bee q living on her industries for ages. w e have spent the long years teacnin n ithe rest of the world industrtalisr Ie according to our methods of one hun
 dred years ago, and now we are a. nation without market for our oW : industries We have lowered ou H. standards of living and we hay l. housed our people like rabbits in war IS rens. In the face of all this we help De essly pass housing laws that we can B. not. enforce If we tear down tene is nent dwellings that are unfit for hu man beings we must first turn sor 2. nto the street the people who llv . in them."
 le And with this disheartening sum 'u nary of the ailments of England Mis