Evening star., 1924-01-25
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL y COLLINS

The arrival of the labor party into
power in England raises the question
as to what 1t will do to the great IN
terests. of the country. outside OK
those Of labor, as we'll as to how
radical will be it's measures for the
betterment Of the interests Of the
wage earners themselves, whose Lead
ers and spokesmen for the first time
ind themselves no longer the kings
opposition. but his majesty's govern
ment.
The death of Lenin, the leader OF
the proletariat OF Russia, comes al
most simultaneously with the rise to
supreme responsibility Of J. Ramsay
Macdonald as premier OF England. Is
Premier Macdonald to repeat the ex-
perimsnts OF his Russian prototype.
or will he profit by the utter failure
OF most Of the early radicalism Of
soviet Russia7 Lenin. had the courage
to profit by the unexpected failures Of
the early socialisfic or communistic
experimental. and to reverse the
theories and policies Of his govern
ment. It IL inconceivRble that the
sober and rather phlegmatin English
easily rnisled Russian proletariat)
could countenance such radicalism an
plunged Russia into the abyss of
starvation and suffering.
It is declared by leading members
or the socialist partv in Washington
that the principles Of socialism which
Macdonald uRholds will lead to a
capital lew" because of the rreat
industrial distress due to unemnlov-
ment:: and that the doctrines OF the
socialists are Just the same in. all
countries. including the United States.
Nevertheless the assurance Is given
that there would he no thousht Of q
capital levy" in the United States IL
the socialists were IN power, because
there Is no such distress here as in
1t is three years since the problem
OF unemployment in the United States,
involving some 100000 idle men,
brought to Washington q conference
OF labor leaders with employers and
government officials. Somehow the
problem from that time has been
solved. and men have found employ
ment everywhere. Today there ia
no body OF idle anywhere in the
. United States. and never have wages
been maintained at so high a SCALE
NOT so in EnRland-nor anywhere
else In distracted Europe. Last Sep
, tember there was held in Luxembourg,
France. a conference Of the Interna-
! tional Association on Unemployment
after inactivity on account of the
war-and this conference was at
tended semi officially by representa-
itives Of our Department Of Commerce
After considering the disturbed eco
GffIQfinn "a at "a ~
, countries represented. resolutions
were adopted setting forth certain
recommendations. chief of which was
that all countries ought to encour-
which then were largely reserving
! their productions to their own wage
earners Qike the United States)
| should open their ports to the prod
ucts of other 1aborers in other coun-
tries. There were also recommends
! tions as to public works for the pur-
pose OF supplying employment. but
special emphasis was laid on the
idea that 'it is increasingly apparent
that only through a policy of inter
national solidarity can the material
and moral patrimony OF each nation
be preserved"
y r !:
Yet. in spite Of that appeal for free
| interchange OF products OF labor be-
tween all nations, the first and most
radical step of ultra-protection to
homo labor comes from France. in ar
announcement alleging that Premier
Poincare will undertake to bar abso-
lutely all imports into France, to the
end that the French market shall be
exclusively for French labor.
If that radical step be taken by
Premier Poincare. what will be the
natural reaction Of England. with its
millions of idle laborers and with
the leaders of the labor party in
power?
Since 1920 England has faced In
creasing distress Of unemployment Of