Evening star., 1927-05-01
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

aid to America has promoted
much discussion and speCula
ton as 10 the present political
situation in Great Britain.
Prime minister for brief period in
/ 1924, and today official leader Of the
/ opposition, Macdonald holds an obVi-
ously important position and, since he
/ is relatively young. may well return to
| Downing street to preside over stu
another Labor cabinet.
on the surface Of things there is
nothing to suggest that the Tory gov
ernmept in Britain will not be able to
hold Office to the end of the mandate
Of the present Parliament. which has
| still two years to run. Although the
ma iority has been reduced by several
lost seats. it still remains so over
whelming as to be hardly representa-
tive of the actual division In the Brit
ish electorate.
Two things are. however. clear.
First of all, the general trend of Brit
ish sentiment is against the party IN
| power, and secondly, despite passing
/ incidents. like the recent capture Of
two seats in Parliament. the Liberal
party continues to disintegrate. And
manifestly both things contribute to
swelling the strength of Labor. Hold
ing, as it does today, approximately
$50 seats in the House of Commons,
it is morally certain that a new cleo
ton would enable Labor to add at least
so seats and not impossibly hundred.
Disaster Overlook Labor.
The disaster which overlook Labor
in the Autumn of 1924 within limits
suggested that which befel the Demo
cratic party in the United States in
1920. Thus Labor lost so seats in
the House of Commons, and, Of course,
1.-The Macdonald cabinet fell as conse-
quence. But, nevertheless Labor did
add a round million to its voting
strength. AS a consequence, while 1t
holds only q quarter of the seats IN
Parliament, it's voting strength even
in 1924 was not less than third.
Since that time there has been the
great strike, in it's first stage a gen
eral strike and later a coal strike
which lasted for many months and
inflicted a terrible blow upon British
recovery. When it collapsed Labor
seemed mortally stricken.
Unhappily the Tories were unable
to bring about peace following the
unmistakable victory in May. On the
contrary, the moment passed, the pas
sions unclaimed by the coal strike
mounted, and for long months Brit
ish industry was paralyzed, class pas
sions were stimulated, and in the end
the strikers surrended to exhaustion
but without the smallest diminution of
their bitterness. Moreover. the basic
economic causes of the trouble in the
coal industry remained untouched and
survive to the present hour.
Situation Was Difficult.
While the domestic situation has
been difficult If not actually desperate,
from the economic point Of view, the
Tory government has had to face for
eign troubles of only less gravity. To
be sure, Locarno was a triumph for
Chamberlain, although in reality the
Tory cabinet did little more than fol
low the pathway shown by Labor
But in China the civil disturbance has
inflicted enormous losses upon British
commerce, while British prestige has
suffered as a consequence of the var:-
Gus episodes which are to be attributed
to Russian activity,
Despite moderate improvement fol
lowing the end of the coal strike, the
economic condition of the British
Isles has been and remains unattrac-
tive A deficit of nearly 800, 200, 900
at the close of the fiscal year was only
one evidence. Actually last year, for
the first time in modern history, Brit
ish exports plus revenues from ship
ping and other services and returns
of foreign investments were made
quate to meet the costs of British pur-
chases abroad. The margin was not
considerable, but the fact was signifi-
cant.
The coal strike deprived the British
| OF immediate business, and in addition
long-term contracts were made by
countries naturally British customers
with Britain's competitors.
Prospects Are Bleak.
In this situation it Is patent how
difficult is the situation and how bleak
the prospects of political party which
must two years hence go before the
people and seek a new mandate. IT
may be questioned whether any gov
ernment in Britain could do much to
improve a situation which is funda-
mentally bad and calls for reforms
which go beyond anything COnSOnant
with British tradition or conception
But naturally the party in power is
held responsible.
The Tory Party Is manifestly di
vided. Stanley Baldwin, despite OBJ
vious good intentions and earnest eff
forts, has not been at any stage a
shining success as prime minister and
his cabinet has been at all times un-
dermined by intrigues which We're di-
rected at replacing the chief. More
over, as Baldwin himself is a moder-
ate the inner activities have been di-
| rected at replacing him by a man
! with a heavier hand and more reac-
tionary policy. Baldwin seeks to
placate Labor; certain of his asso-
| ciates, who did actually oVerbear him
| at the moment of the general strike.
| would like TO import the manner if
not the methods of Mussolini.
Tendency Is Revealed.
A fair indication of this tendency
| is revealed i'll the pending legislation
| directed at regulation of labor unions
| TO make any new general strike il
/ legal. The simple fact is that Labor
| having tried the general strike and
found 1t a disastrous failure. has
practically abandoned il as a possible
weapon on the other hand, it is
bound to fight legislation which seeks
| TO extend hostile government super
[ vision over unions.
/ AT bottom the British situation re-
mains difficult for Americans to un-
| derstand, because. whereas capital
| and labor in the United States have
accepted the principle of cooperation
| and the policy of maximum prOduc-
| tion and output, between British cap
| ital and labor a state of war actually
exists and while capital strives to re-
| duce wages and increase hours of Ia
| Dor, the working men aim at restrict |
| ing output and preventing the adop- /
| ton of machinery.
| For at least a year, now, there has !
been an unmistakable increase In the |
strength of Labor. The drift of ma
| tional sentiment is toward the oppo- |
| Sition The sense of failure on the |
part of the Baldwin cabinet increases. |
| But Labor itself is very far from be- |
| ing united. On the contrary, just as |