The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-17
(Continued from Page One

placed illuminated verses from Asidah of Hazi Abuel Ysdu that his glance strays to as he works. The verses are these: t5f
 Be true to nature and myself; Fame nor disfama count nor fear.
 Enough to thee the small still voice That thunders in thine inner ear" Macdonald began inauspiciously by accounting recent disagreeable exper- fences with alleged interviewers, but when asked for comment on the de feat, the night before, of the govern mentTs eviction bill in the House of Commons he replied with some feeling.
 "The first thing is, that unless there is going to be some sort of ordinary decency in parliamentary tactics it is not only the government which will suffer, but the House of Commons it. self, which will be brought into con; tempt. l have never known in all my life, such a meaningless, factieus at. titude as was taken up. Liberals and tories all professed to be anxious to get the bill through, excepting for the first clause. They knew perfectly we'll that they were in the majority against us on the committee and could therefore have done what they liked They, did not take this course. Why The real reason is that they were out to humiliate the government and to mete out sort of school marm dis eipline. But when all their leaders had thundered they only succeeded in de feating the government by a magnifi- cent majority of nIne!''
 What do you think of the attitude of the Liberals:" your correspondent asked Macdonald. He replied: Y"I am very gratified to see that ma iority of the Liberals who voted flouted the little minded appeals of their leaders, and remembering principles hnd sound parliamentary tactics, came into the lobby with us"
 The Premier continued: This kind of obstruction makes legislation prac. tically impossible, and''-stated with emphasis-'The sovernnient is going to eat out of no party's hand and will not. tolerate suehlpettifogging humbug as it's opponents are trying to impose upon the ministry. I hope that the friends of labor are watching very care fully the recent actions in the House of Commons and will see that from every platform in the land the truth about Mondays discreditable performance is told" 4
 After some discussion of the diff. faculties of legislating under the limit ing. and obstructive conditions imposed by the fact that labor is in the miner. ity in the House of Commons, yon. correspondent asked Macdonald to de. fine what labor is seeking to achieve in its legislation this session.
 Carries Out Promise
 Macdonald replied We are carry. ing out our promise 10 make unem- ployment insurance more satisfactory and to bring it into closer relationship with the living requirements of work ing class families than we found it, but this is not constructive. although it is a necessary piece of patching.
 "The housing scheme is our most im- portant legislative item. It is really the biggest piece of constructive indus trial organization which has. probably, ever been attempted. It IS not only q scheme for building houses but for the cooperation between all interests con cerned."
 Macdonald. evidently aware of the sharp criticism of the failure of tho government so far to produce concrete projects of social reform, continued There are some people in the House of Commons who seek to obtain fame or notoriety by putting impatient ques- tIons as to the government program. They seem to be annoyed that we haven't created new world since Janu- ary 23. My answer to them is that if we succeed with this scheme for building houses by scientifically or ganiZed industry, it will be looked upon in time to come as the most important contribution yet made to industrial
 Hopeful For Foreign Policy
 The correspondent asked the premier to discuss the state of Europe and his own policy abroad. There was added seriousness in his voice when he said. "As to my foreign policy, l am still very hopeful. but readers of this inter- view must not imagine that I am the overly optimistic person that some newspapers represent me to be. I can not promise an immediate and com prehensive European settlement All can do is declare that conditions are more favorable for such a settlement than they have been. and that the ad- vent of the labor government has had an enormous influence for good.
 "On the other hand, the influence of the mischief-manger is still lamat- ably great. A recent speech made by Mir Lloyd George in the House of Commons might have seriously affected our good regulations with France Luckily it was simply partisan at tack on our government and would not be likely to influencee our policy ont way or the other. Preparations, the Ruhr debts anG security are problems still to be solved but the government has taken an i'm portant step toward that end. It has established confidence that they are be ing considered by people who will dc their very best to eome to fair an( workable agreementS."
 What About Germany?
 Mir. Macdonald was asked, "What about Germany"
 Il have never made any secret of m! firm conviction that in any settlemen Germany must play the part of ma | tion voluntarily cooperating" the pre- mier replied. 'It is folly to imagine that we can impose conditions. upOI other people. We must bring then along with us and establish a deter imitation on both sides to carry ou mutual obliga tions. Our policy hither to has destroyed the democratic ant the pacifist sections of Germany. should like to persuade my foreign col leagues to stop all that. and to give our selves as we'll as Germany a change. is terribly slow"
 When asked to explain his position on world disarmament, Mir. MacDonal, said, "The position regarding arma ments is simple. Until there is an in ternational agreement certain nucleu of forces must be kept in existence Until we get such an agreement it i futile to assume that we are out of tn military stage. Absolutism in this re spect is neither more virtuous nor wise l than the hnmdrum method of MOrkin.