The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-11-22
ELECTION
RESULTS in
ENGLAND
Powerful War Pre-
mier Lloyd George
RELOCATED to a Po-
sition Of Minor I'm
portance as Leader
Of Small Minority
Party


efated Presse The long drawn ou'
fight between former Premier Lloyd
George and Sir George Younger fol
the time has ended with the vie
tory OF the chairman OF the I'm
ionist party. Younger and his ad-
l1erents staked their political for
Tunes at the famous Carleton club
meeting which smashed the Goa
lition and sent Lloyd George into
the wilderness on the conviction
that the country was ripe for a re
turn to straight party politics and in
Z the firm belief that the nation
would support their conviction by
sending the Conservatives TO the
house Of commons with a good
working majority
Their confidence has been
amply justified. Yesterdays cleo
tions have returned parliament
with almost the same overwhelm-
ing predominance of Conservatives
as the last parliament elected in
1913 on wave Of grateful enthns-
iasm to Lloyd George as winning
of the war
In the new parliament Premier
Bonar Law viii command a major
ify over all parties combined Of ap-
proximately 80. While this can
not be properly described as land
slide, as: the Conservatives at the
time OF the dissolution Of parlia-
ment numbered about $50. II
amounts almost TO the same thing,
considering the peculiar circum-
stances OF the time and the high
hopes held by the Labor and Lab
5 eral parties of the return Of the
country to progressive views, and
1t may be supposed that the Con-
servatives themselves hardly ex-
pected such favorable results.
It means a parliament with lit
tie changes, except that Bonar Law
replaces Lloyd George as. prime
minister and that the former pre-
naier;s attenuated following of ma
tionai Liberals reduced by the
elections to, under so, viii pre-
sumably heneeforth Be in oppo-
sition, instead Of working in CO.
operation with the Conservatives.
The downfall Of Lloyd George is
the outstanding feature of the el4c-
tions. The coalition Liberals a.
the dissolution numbered l29;
they are represented in the new
parliament by only "A members
There will be many regrets among
the former prenlier's admirers that
lie failed to take the advice OF
some Of his well-wishers and re-
tire temporarily or altogether from
the political stage.
The Asouithian Liberals lately
inproved their position. rising from
81 in the old parliament to 62 in
the new but they did not do so well
as they expected On the other
hand, Labor. although it failed te
fulfill the high hopes the party
entertained at the dissolution. has
done exceedingly well, rising from
7G to 136 seats. It is. generally
believed that Labor would have
done far better but for the tactical
mistake in its advocacy of a cap
ital levy.
While the strength of Conserva-
tisna in the country is a matter OF
surprise. perhaps the keynote o,
the elections is the decline of Lib
eralism and the growth Of the La
Dor party. This seems to show thai
henceforth the struggle VIII be be-
tween the Conservatives and the
Labor party. The position now is
that Labor is the second stronges.
party in the house, and in wha,
looks as the improbable event OF
the present government SUFFERING
defeat in parliament. it would be tc
the Labor party that the king would
naturally turn for a new premier.
Another feature of the elections
is that the women voters have TAX
en- quite an unexpectedly strong
interess in the struggle, their par
:ieipation pro b a bly, accounting
more than anything else for the
exceedingly heavy polling. But
however keen their interest in po-
htical life, they do not appear tc
be in the mood to elect women te
parliament, only Lady Astor and
Mrs. Wintringham, already in the
house, being returned.
Estimates on the present distri-
button Of parties in the house Of
commons differ somewhat, owing
10 certain confusion in part,
boundaries and the number of iso.
lated members representing inde.
pendent groups, such as coopera.
tors. Included in the Conserya.
tive group are 13 Ulster Conserva-