The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1924-02-01
news review OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Socialist Government Is In
stalled in Britain and Has
Strike to Settle.
BY EDWARD W. PlckARD


By EDWARD w. PIcKARD
~ REAT BRITAIN is now ruled by
~ the first Socialist government In
her history. Before the great war
such condition would have been al
most unthinkabie. Today the British
people contemplate it without fear, al
most with complete equanimity. The
program Of change went through swift
~ and smoothly. The Labor party's
resolution Of mo confidence" in the
Tory government was adopted Mon
day night by vote Of 1923 to 256, the
Liberals focking 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 MacD Donald 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 Chelms4
ford, 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; j. Fl.
Thomas is secretary for the colonies;
Thomas Shaw is minister. Of labor;
Viscountl Haldine is lord chancellor;
Sydney Webb is president of the board
OF trade, and ]. 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. G.
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 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 it. Within few days
az -kxsi~o hod rodvaad Tho wofIxva =,
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
cred opportune. Fo0dstuffs 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.
NTICOLAI LENIN, creator Of the
IN Russian soviet government, died
on Monday after an illness that had
kept him from his official work for
many months. The Red followers Of
the premier mourned him deeply,
passed by tens Of thousands before
his body where 1t lay in state in the
House of Unions in Moscow, and laid
him to rest in the Krelnlin. At this
writing it is not known who will sue
coed the arch Communist who was
abandoning Communist principles in
his rule of Russia because, as he blunt
" admitted, they would not work.
Probably the new premier Will be
Stallin, minister Of nationalities, but
the place may go to Zinoyiev or KAN
anew. However. there Is said to be a
serious split in the ranks Of the boil
sheyists, one group wishing to con-
tinue the modified policies of Lenin
and the other favoring return to the
old plan of Communist propaganda
abroad and efforts TO bring about a
world revolution. 1t Is noted, too,
that the peasants are steadily moving
toward democracy as opposed to
sovietism. Leon Trotzky. Lenin's con-
frere In establishing the Communist
,e&ime, is supposed to be in the eau