Evening star., 1924-10-23
MEETINGS BROKEN UP
Labor Party Is Blamed, But Denies
Responsibility for Disorders.
BY HAL O'FLA
By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily New


BY Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News
LONDON October 23-Rowdyism
and Misrepresentation mark the clos
ing stages of the British general
election. which will be remembered
in years to come as the dirty eiec-
tion of 1924"
Meetings which had been arranged
by the older parties in nearly every
portion of the country were broken
up last night, even in cases where
the speakers had loud, stentorian
voicest 8From Plymouth. where Lady
Astor faced a savage heckling for an
hour before abandoning her attempt
to speak, to Scotland, where Sir
Robert Horne gave up his attempt to
restore order, the hooligans, many
of them too young to affiliate with
any party, made joke of free speech.
Since the war there has been a
growing tendency in this country to
turn political meetings into rough
and tumble fights. Mere hecking,
which is a time -honored custom, has
been perverted into a demonstration
of class hatred, accompanied by per-
sonal threats and an unbearable din
of tin pan beating, bell ringing and
horn blowing.
The Labor party disavows connec-
tion with the rowdies, but in some
cases it was too evident that Labor
supporters were active.
Some remarkable statistics regard
ing unemployment in the United
states appear in the Labor paper, the
Daily Herald, today. They were pub
liShed with the intention of counter
ing the statement of the Conservative
organ that such a thing as unemploy-
ment Is non-existent across the At
lantic.
According to the Herald. the United
States is suffering the worst period
of industrial depression in many years,
with five million people unemployed,
three hundred thousand of whom are
in New York City alone.
Declares Many Idle.
On the authority of the Chicago
Daily Worker it is declared that
there are more factory workers out
of work in America than the total
number of unemployed in all British
industries. The further astonishing
fact is revealed that over half the
registered trade unionists are unable
to find work.
This disastrous state of affairs is
attributed to the fact that the United
States is governed by anti-Labor
forces.
AS the campaign reaches a climax
the feud between the Liberal party
and the Socialists becomes more bit
ter. The leaders of the Labor party
acknowledge openly that it is their
hope to kill liberalism outright,
thereby removing the difficulties of
the three party tangle in the House
of Commons
The enraged Liberals realize now
that they can never again support
socialism in office, no matter what
grave reasons may arise They regret
their complacency in allowing. Labor
to take over the government. even
for a short period of eight months,
and they vow vengeance at the ear
liest possible moment after the new
Parliament meets, should Labor try
to maintain itself in power The
Conservatives are using this Liberal
Labor party controversy to good eff
feet.
Surprisingly little is heard of the
graver questions facing the British
Empire or the great domestic issues
which the forthcoming Parliament
must tackle. 1t Is a narrow partisan
fight, emphasizing more than ever
the absence of stability in Parlia-
ment.
Copyright. 1924, by Chicago Daily News co..