The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1924-02-01
NEWS REVIEW OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Socialist Government Is In
stalled in Britain and Has
Strike to Settle.
By EDWARD w. PIckARD

REAT BRITAIN is now ruled by
~ the first Socialist government In
her history. Before the great war
such a condition would have been al
most unthinkable Today the British
people contemplate it without fear, al
most with complete eQuanimity. The
program of change went through swift
ly and smoothly. The Labor party's
resolution of mo confidence" in the
Tory government was adopted Mon
day night by a-vote of 32S to 256, the
Liberals fiocking with the Laborites
on the division and being greeted with
loud cheers by the latter. In the gal
lery the prince of Wales and the duke
OF York watched the proceedings with
intense interest. Next day Prime Min
lister Baldwin and his cabinet pre-
sented their designations to the king,
Ramsay Macdonald was summoned TO
Buckingham palace and asked to form
a new ministry. and promptly accepted.
His cabinet, as announced and APP
proved by the king, was about as had
been forecast, the only surprise being
the appointment of Viscount Chelms-
ford, a Tory peer and former viceroy
of India, as first lord Of the admiral
ty. Macdonald, In addition to the
premiership, holds the post OF minister
for foreign affairs; Philip Snowden is
chancellor of the exchequer; Arthur
Henderson is home secretary; ]. 81.
Thomas is secretary for the colonies;
PSA~ &c ot1ic NJ oh
viscount Haldine is lord chancellor;
Sydney Webb is president of the board
of trade, and J. r. Clynes Is lord Of
the privy seal and deputy leader of
the house of commons. Two Of Mac
Donald's ministers who probably will
be made peers are Sir Sydney Olivier,
secretary for India, and Brig. Gen. @.
B. Thompson, secretary for air.
There was little or no adverse
criticism Of the new prime minister's
selections for government positions.
even the rabid Tory press commencing
them. The ministers got busy with
their Jobs at once, and parliament was
adjourned for a few weeks to permit
them to familiarize themselves with
their duties. The first serious matter
that confronts the Labor government
Is the strike of railway engineers and
fremen, which began at midnight Sun
day, despite the efforts of the party
leaders to stop 1t. Within few days
the strike had reduced the railway
efficiency of the United Kingdom go
per cent and industry was gravely
affected. The trades union congress,
whose president is Margaret Bondfield,
who also is undersecretary for labor,
appointed an emergency committee to
intervene when the moment Is consid-
cred opportune. Foodstuffs for Lon
don and the other large cities are be-
ing brought in by motor trucks, and
many manufacturers organized fleets
of trucks to carry their employees.
Sr%EAPOT DOME was the center Of
L. great excitement all last week.
The senate investigation into the lease
of the naval oil reserve there by Al
bert B. Fall, then secretary of the
interior, to Harry Sinclair brought out
sensational testimony; and the end Is /
not yet, for President Coolidge direct
ed the Department Of Justice to watch !
the proceedings and to take such ac-
ton as seemed desirable. Archie |
Roosevelt, son of the late president, |
started the week out well by telling the
committee of the suspicious circum-
stances that caused him to resign from
the Sinclair company. He said G. ID. |
Wahlberg, Sinclairs private secretary, t
told him $6S,000 had been paid to the
foreman of Falls ranch In New Next
co. Wahlberg said Roosevelt misun-
tierstood him, but he gave other dam
aging testimony. The committee sum-
moned Fall from the South and also
cabled to Sinclair, now in Europe, to
come back and produce his private
books and papers. This the oil man
said he would do when his business
abroad was finished. Meanwhile Ed
ward Doheny, another oil magnate,
who Is the lessee Of a naval oil reserve
In California. volunteered to tell the
committee all he could about the
transactions. He said that he was the
man who loaned Fall the 100000
which he used In enlarging and I'm
proving his ranch, that he did 1t be-
cause he and Fall were old friends, and
that he was innocent Of wrongdoing.
In December Fall told the committee
he had not received money from either
Doheny or Sinclair.
Senator Walsh informed the senate
that he would propose resolution au-
thorizing the President to institute .
suit to annul the leases and to Sc
cure an accounting Of all oil taken
from the reserves. He declared that
he would seek to have such proceed
ings conducted Independent of Attor-.
ney General Daugherty. He asserted
that there were some features of the
Teapot Dome affair "in connection
with which the attorney general him
self is under some degree of suspicion
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