Evening star., 1924-01-11
MACDONALD SPEECH y
HITS AMERICAN AID
Daily Telegraph Comments on
Curious Omission" Of
This Country.
COURT ISSUE DELICATE"
French Greet Labor Government
With Open Mind.

reference to America" in his Albert
Hall speech is emphasized by
the diplomatic correspondent of the
Daily Telegraph. who assumes that
labor's experts on foreign affairs have
given due weight to the consideration
that the summoning of league in
tsSyention means the exclusion OF
American cooperation In solving the
problems of Europe in the present
circumstances.
"The question OF the world court
will be a delicate one," the writer
continues. here labor would have
to devise means to reconcile Its de-
votion to the league with Americas
decision not to join the court ofii-
cially unless the court is entirely
dissociated from the league. but am
league does not imply wholesale ap-
proval of It's present machinery and
methods
aLabor Not Satisfied,
Labor is not satisfied with the pres
ent constitution of the league council.
which II regards as oligarchfcal ano
1uitra-diplomatic. To democratize the
tonomy of both the court and the as
sembly mAy be the keynote to labors
attitude toward the league. Such
structural changes, however. Will re-
quire time, as also will the admission
of Russia and Germany unless spe-
cial extraordinary meeting OF the as
sembly Is contemplated"
An appreciation of the approaching
responsibilities of office, which mas
brought q tone of moderation to the
language and sentiments of the lead
ers and most of the members of the
labor party, has not yet extended TO
some of the extremists of that party.
The humdrum proceedings OF parlia-
men, which was engaged yesterday In
swearing in the members-a process
which was still incomplete when the
house adjourned-Was broken by the
violence of John Joseph Jones (Jack
Jones), labor member for West Ham,
who. because of some fancied griey-
ance against the house Of lords. came
into conflict with the speaker and
thereby earned the openly expressed
disapproval of the other members Of
his party.
Jones Register. Complaint.
The occasion was the procession of
| the commoners to the upper house to
hear the kings message of approval
| and thte election of the Rt. Hon.
] is mere formaiity. and only
This seems to have incensed Jones.
who with the other members of the
house of commons was In the gal
lery. from which point of vantage he
| audibly voiced his resentment.
On the members returning to their
own house Mr.. Jones, on a point of
| order. complained to the speaker that
with contempt. The speaker vainly
| tried to mollify the angry member
by promising to inquire into any
grievance, but Jones persistently
] continued the alteration. to the evil
members. who tried to induce him to
| resume hi sseat, which they even
tually did and the incident ended.
There were other trifiing disturb
ances OF the proceedings owing to the
/ the laborites ignoring the proper or
der in presenting themselves to the
speaker to take the oath. During the
Jones incident another iaborite be-
gan to whistle The Red Flag" but
was brought to order by a chorus
OF shouts.
Uncertainty for Future.
| All political activities of the pres
| ent moment reflect great uncertainty
| Jbrooding over the future. The labor
party at its meeting today merely re-
elected its officers temporarily, pend
ling further developments, and this
+! air of unreality surrounds the doings
Z of all the parties. The kings speech
has still to be drafted, and until its
terms are known Ramsay Macdonald
cannot draft an amendment, which
will pronounce non-confldence In the
government.
It is even alleged that the ministers
are trying to word the royal speech in
such a way as to prevent Mr.. Mac
Donald from framing non-conf1-
dence amendment that would secure
the support of the liberals. The news
1 papers are busy making Mr.. Mac
Donald's cabinet, but up to the pres
ent the labor leader has effectualiy
kept the secret Of his proposed
appointments.
one question much discussed is
| whether the labor party on coming
into power will maintain the same
scale of salaries for ministers
heretofore Many references are
made TO the dictum OF the famous
iaborite, John Burns, that no man
was worth more than $500 per an
4 mum. and 1t is believed that some OF
1.-The labor men are disposed to max g
a big cut in the scale OF ministerial
It is recalled. however. that when
the opportunity presented itseIt John
Burns accepted $4,000 per annum as
president Of the board Of trade. II
- stated. apparently on good au-
tbority. that Mr.. Macdonald has de-
cided to make no change, because to
reduce salaries, although 1t might be
| nonular with the working classes
would bring labor into needless con-
fiict with the older liberal and con-
lservative parties.
| sTIRs FRENCH INTEREST.