The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-15
LLOYD GEORGElS
 TRYING ID RIDE ! TWOSTEEDSN NOW
British Premier May Force Election in Order to Gain a Political Party
 of Own
ny GEORGE \. BARNES
British Parliament Loader SpeclHj Wireless Dispatch to The ARe-Herl fGouyrirht tn2g Lx frt,o Aur IIarnl ld

speciaj Wireless Dispatch to The Age Herald
 Copyright, 1922, by Tho Age -IIcrnld)
 London, January 14.-While an other French ministry falls, Prime Minister Lloyd George, last of the great war survivors, returns to Eng land with fresh laurels. But Lloyd George at home finds himself con fronted by the task of addressing his packers of the liberal party and he will need all of his amazing pow CTS of political strategy to extricate himself from an extremely delicate situation.
 A serious quarrel has developed here during the last week over Lloy | George's reported intention to spring general election on the country next month. The liberal section of the coalition which has kept Lloyd George in power obviously favors that count, although the present Parliament still has two years to run before it's constitutional expiration, and there is one outstanding item of the 1918 program still unfulfilled the House of Lords is still unre- formed.
 This question of reforming the Lords is an awkward one for the coalition, for it cuts athwart rival political conceptions. Liberalism Is aimed at the full enfranchisement of the people and the abolition or cur tailment of hereditary privileges.
 In an epigrammatic phrase, John Morley so years ago summed up the liberal attitude toward the House of Lords when he said: 'It should be mended or ended"
 Resisted by Conservatives
 The conservatives, on the contrary, regard the Lords as a necessary check to nasty legislation In the Commons, and they violently resisted the limitation of the powers of veto by the Lords when that change was carried through 10 years ago by a government which included Lloyd George as a member.
 Liberalism and conservatism are both in the same camp now and In the flush of victory three years ago both became pledged to a reconstruc- tion of the second chamber of the Parliament. That pledge now threat chs to rend the coalition. The House of Lords, of course, is an anachron- ism and it's reform is merely a mat ter of time. The conservatives think that time is now, while the liberals would postpone it to more conve- II ant season after the next election.
 The difficulty about the situation Is that probably there is an acute d.f- ference of opinion about the kind of form to be applied to the lords. any high placed conservatives want t., restore some measure of their ? wers and to fortify the institution by some elective element respecting it's membership. The liberals well know that anything of that kind would meet with strenuous ,opposi- ton from all the progressive and democratic forces of the. country arld would discredit every liberal who assented to 1t.
 Would Break Coalition
 It would even sever Lloyd George from the liberal fold. On the other hand the shelving of his pledge may sever him from many of the conserV- atives in his government. Sir George Younger. head of the conservative or ganizations, bluntly says that if an election is embarked upon before the redemption of the government pledge he will leave the coalition and incite his friends to do likewise. He has said in a letter to the conservative constituencies that 1t would break up the coalition
 Austen Chamberlain, chancellor of the exchequer. who is now the leader of the House of Commons, also strongly opposes an early election.
 What course, then, is Lloyd George to follow? He is understood to favor an early election so as to get the moral backing of the country in car rying out the constitutional changes necessitated by the Irish settlement. He is In position of unchallenged per sonal ascendancy and may think him self strong enough to accept Young er's challenge. He is addressing a great convention of liberal coalition ists In London next Friday and the air may then be cleared Lloyd George favors the formation of a new party and he may make an appeal to the liberals to form the nucleus of that party Then, with blushing honors thick upon him and confused and disheartened opposition. he might sweep the field
 This is, of course, the short view and ignores the ethics. but it is a very attractive view to a prime min ister riding two horses through diff | ficult political passes.
 
 The lilly of the fields of the New ! Testament parable is not lily but 1 a peculiarly brilliant iris that grows