New-York tribune., 1922-11-18
Bonar Law Party Takes Over
Reins Monday in Lower
House; Stability Seen
If "Die-Hards'' Stick
Big Opposition Looms
Election Shows Scotland.
Wales and North England
Predominateiy Radical |
By Arthur S. Draper


Speaker, but the first important busi-
ness will not come UP until Thursday.
when the debate on the Irish ratifica-
Jon bill opens.
The Bonar Law governments enters
gon what is expected to be one of the
most interesting parliamentary periods
IN British history, with an effective ma
iority that should prove stable if the
eleven Irish Unionists. and the Cham
berlainite die Hards" remain loyal.
But the party roll calls will not tell
the whole tale of proportionate
strength in the new House of Com
mons, for the opposition benches will
be occupied by many of the strongest
men in British political life~men
capable of infinite parliamentary
strategy and gifted in enlisting public
opinion.
The debating talent represented for
the Liberals by Lloyd George, Herbert
Asquith, Sir John Simon and others,
and for the Laborites by Ramsay Mac
Donald, Philip Snowden, Sidney Webb,
Noel Buxton, Patrick Hastings and
John P. Clynes, is impressive and may
we'll tax the capacity of the Con-
servatives.
Bow for Wing of Workers Party
The intellectual wing of the Work.
ers' party is represented in this Par
lament as never before but the same
may be said for the Extremists, who
have sent one avowed Communist to
Westminster and who are expected to
exert powerful radical influence at
time when the more moderate lead
ers are seeking to pursue policies that
viii recommend to the nation the
party's fitness to govern.
Labor's remarkable gains continue
to excite attention and the party's rec
ord is seen to be all the more re-
msrkabe in the analysis of the popu-
lar vote, which shows the total cast
for its candidates to be nearly four
iiiths that for the Unionists. Scot
land, Wales and the northern border
ci England appear predominantly radi-
cal Oaethe face OF the returns. The
heavy tommunsst y ote in Scotland is
alltN more snrprisins as that coun-
tyias always Been regarded as a
. a5neoedi center ofsssocial aud poll
hsn conservatism.
further analysis of the returns shows
hs conservative party cast about one
Mlrd OF the total vote Of nearly 49,
W,0O0 One approximate tabulation
Msde here gives the parties the follow
ing popular vote:
Conservatives, 5,S21.346; Labor, A.
S25,2l5; Asquith Liberals, 2,784,o80;
Georgian Liberals, l sol 500; Ulster
Unionists. 100000; Independents, 259.-
600; Irish Nationalists, 1854, and
Farmers, i1,496.
Conservatives Represent Minority
On the basis of those figures, divid-
ing the vote by numbers Of members
elected it is shown each Conservative
NJ. P. represents, roughly, $1,000 voters,
while each Labor M. p. represents
10000, In the London area the Con-
servatives elected forty-one members
with total vote of 553,7l4, while
Labor, with 332 ,995 votes, seated only
nine.
The Wednesday election is regarded
generally here as marking a new period
in British political life--a period which
many observers expected to follow di-
rectiy on the heels of the armistice.
Lloyd George handled the political Left
by compromise and consession, a policy
which "The Morning Post" stanch or
gan OF the Die Hards," says will not
work now because OF the challenge the
bonar Law government already has re-
ceiVed from Labor.
IL seems inevitable the Conserva-
yves will be forced into a much more
dictionary position than the Prime
mlMster would choose, or than would
nave been adopted if Labor had been
tne third or fourth, instead of the Sec
oho, parliamentary party. Labor's
pace as the official party of opposi-
s,oh' which sets it directly against the
conservatives and brings its leaders
fight under the noses of the govern
meht benches, as it were, is bound to
result in sharp clash between the ex-
ooeing predicted generally here that
.i .he present arrangement of Conserva-
sse and Radical parties N first and
second places will endure.
Conservatives Face Long Rule
There seems little doubt now the
conservatives will remain in power for
some years, although Bonar Law. be-
eause OF his not robust health, may be
succeeded as Premier before the next
s.ection. Much demands on the degree
" Improvement the government is able
70 pring about in the economic situa-
,oh through the revival of trade and
'e consequent decrease in unemploy-
'aeht' Unemployment is at the bottom
= most of the unrest in the kingdom,
90 the returns from the industrial sec
uons OF Scotland. Wales and the north.
= England, where the problem has
oesn most aggravated, indicate
ihe bonar Law governments policy
s - expected to differ materially from
Shat OF Lloyd George, who labored un-
uel the handicap of the promises he
Iaae pe IN the 1918 khaki" election The
time Minister has declared he consid-
sfs cooperation with France as the
prsSnote of his policy, and Premier
aaolheare will be poorly advised if he
Svus sos not accept that statement at its
~,ht value. That doesn't mean. how
rser, the Conservatives will support
lance in putting pressure on Germany
ehis Tune. There is every reason to
sapeet the new Parliament will be
'aaSh a,s more lenient than the last.
1ne opposition is composed of a
;Smohg seasoning of intellectuals, anti
ssMpefialists, pacifsts, socialists, CON
S;c.entious objectors, communists and
aaserhationalists, men who will be
fa fsalhs1 the application of force to en-
+ is'ee tne Versailles Treaty That fact
pound to have profound influence,
~ ~ only on the foreign affairs of the
sernment, but on domestic legisla-